UKRAINE

The Ukrainian Final was held on December 23rd in Kiev. The winner, chosen by a mixture of SMS voting and jury, was the song Gravity sung by Zlata Ognevich.

I have been trying to think for days now about my opinion and feelings about this song but I am still very confused. First of all the girl can really sing. She has a lovely tone to her voice and the song shows the different parts of her voice really well. It is also nice to see a simple singing performance where the efforts of the backing singers are not ignored and shown to the full. It would be nice to have a similar visual performance in Malmo.

I guess my problem about the song is that it doesn't really have a strong predictable structure. (Unpredictability is normally a strength in pop songs but ESC songs require a strong structure and flow) It has a repeated bit which I guess is the chorus and a few extra bits which seem to come in and out at random patterns and these don't seem to have the same tune. Then there is also the weird fact that Zlata doesn't actually sing the title of the song...

Then there is the middle part. This part reminds me of "Love of the common people" by Paul Young or "Life in a Northern Town" by The Dream Academy. This middle part is possibly the best part and the part that most sticks out in my mind. It is also the part where it turns from a dreamy balland into something a bit stronger. A really great light show mirroring the different shouty parts would work really well here. Then there is the end which is a real damp squib. Just as you start getting into the song it end and ends poorly.

I think it is a safe to say it this early stage in the Eurovision season that this will qualify, plus I also think that this will be a clear Jury favourite. It is a singers song and has that kind of 'I'm from a musical' kind of quality. All in all I think this is a good strong song but something just doesn't sit right...

Artist - Zlata Ognevich
Song - Gravity
Music - Mikhail Nekrasov
Lyrics - Karen Kavaleryan