Yuksek Sadakat – So is Live It Up a Yuksek Sadakat song?
Yes. Since it’s in English, it has to be judged on entirely different grounds, but Live It Up is also a song with Turkish lyrics. In fact, the original is Turkish and it lasts 4 minutes and 20 seconds. That’s how it will be on our third album, which is coming out in the fall. Although listening to a song in another language changes the whole perception and emotion, one thing is sure: we’ve adapted this song to the Eurovision criteria. For one thing, we reduced it to three minutes. However, the point isn’t whether it’s a Yuksek Sadakat song. The recording, the production and the mix are all down to foreigners. It is their touch that has made this song what it is.
Live It Up has elements of 70’s rock, 80’s sound and 90’s infrastructure. You added the bit about being positive, staying in the moment and living life in the 2000’s. Was that a conscious choice?
Yes, there’s something from all time in it. We’re very cunning, aren’t we? We’ve cracked the Eurovision code! This is going to be the most successful song of the last 40 years. Ha ha ha. All kidding aside, the guy who wrote the lyrics (Ergun Arsal) let us in on a little secret. What he said was that it should be a song with strong energy that’s over quickly, that’s based on rock’n’roll and that’s got lyrics that meet Eurovision standards. No big philosophical ideas but a song that will get into the listener’s head, is easy to learn, has lots of repeats, uses ordinary English words and that everybody can understand easily…
Eurovision criteria
And what are those Eurovision criteria?
Yuksek Sadakat – English words, fast tempo, easy to learn, catchy… The show is very important too. The costumes, how you appear on stage… We’re getting professional help in those areas. I’m reeling them off here, but it shouldn’t really be thought of as a formula.
