THE NETHERLANDS

The Dutch song was premiered during a live press conference aired on Radio station sterren.nl on March 11th. Back in October, the national broadcaster TROS revealed that Anouk would be flying their flag in Malmo. She will be singing the song "Birds".

 

During the press conference the song was just played, however on the same day she recorded a very simple live version on camera, which is the version below. She has stated that her performance in Malmo will be very simple, with just her on stage. I imagine a set up similar to that of Patricia Kaas a few year back. If the artwork of her song is anything to go by it will have a  monochrome look, in an old fashioned way, which will mirror aspects of the song.

Birds is a very simple almost stripped back ballad in 3/4 time. It is quite a dark song with a very sorrowful tone and laid back style. Her voice is very clear and the message of the song gets through. The song doesnt really grow and stays on the same level throughout although the backing track does provide some suspence at times. The song is very atypical of recent Eurovision fayre and seems like something more likely to have appeared at the early years of the ESC.

On first listen this is a very odd song. It does not sound like a Eurovision song at all. However after a few listens the song you warm to it and it becomes very familiar very quickly. Although the contest seems to be full of ballads this one is very unique. I honestly feel that a lot of this song's pull will be about the performance. Anouk is a well rehearsed performer with lots of experience and as it shows in the live clip she can perform this song effortlessly. A absolute idea of how well it will do cannot really be made until it has been put 'on show'. Initially I though this was very poor but has grown on me. This could be a dark horse or a complete failure.

Artist - Anouk

Song - Birds
Music - Anouk, Tore Johanson, Martin Gjerstad
Lyrics - Anouk