BELGIUM

The Belgian Final was held on December 16th on Radio Vivacité, hosted by Jean-Louis Lahaye. The internally selected singer, Roberto Bellarosa, sang all the songs and the winning song was chosen by televoting (50%) and "expert" jury (50%). This turned out to be "Love Kills"

Unlike most Eurovision finals, this was a radio based show although there was a webcam available to show Roberto singing the song. There has obviously been some criticism about this as this obviously focuses too much on the sound of the song and not on the presentation - something integral to modern Euro songs.

The song is a slow building pop song with an up beat edge. The song needs to have a much bolder beat in the background as it doesn't grow and build as it possibly should. The break part in the middle is very weak and doesn't work as it stands. The final key change in the last chorus is obviously too much for Roberto as most of the last part is totally flat. Roberto has a nice voice but he does have quite a strong accent which can make listening to the song a little tricky.

One could say that the main positive about this selection is that it really cannot get any worse. With a bit of reworking in the song, a bit of extra practise and some presentation skills it might just get better. Don't book a hotel for Brussels, Antwerp or Hasselt in May next year.

Artist - Roberto Bellarosa
Song - Love Kills
Music - Jukka Immonen, Iain Farquharson, Andreas Anastasiou
Lyrics - Jukka Immonen, Iain Farquharson, Andreas Anastasiou