MALTA

The Maltese Final was held on February 8th at the Malta Fairs & Convention Centre in Ta' Qali, hosted by Gianluca Bezzina, Ira Losco & Moira Delia. There was a semi-final on February 7th where 20 songs were reduced to 14. After a mix of "expert" jury (6/7) and televoting (1/7), Firelight singing "Coming Home" was announced as the winner.

 

Although I did not watch the Maltese final (or semi-final) the comments and reactions in social networks to the shows and results were very interesting and have made this review a little mixed. Generally the songs were of a very wide range, although a lot of the singers are almost veterans to the Maltese Eurovision qualification scene. There were a few stand out songs of differing genres including that of the winner.

 

The set up of the song is very simple with the band sat around playing their instruments and an Appalachian mountain dulcimer of all things! It seems a very coherent group and considering there are already 5 on stage there is probably room enough for another backing singer but no need for dancers. The staging of the song, as well as the name of the song, has brought comparisons to Iceland's 2011 entry of the same name. The style is similar, the band set up is similar and the style isn't far off either.

 

The thing about this one is that the blending of the voices and the harmonies from all the participants on stage is the key to the success of this song. All of the singers are good singers and the blending of their voices at times is just sublime. They also look like they are enjoying themselves and that the song is within their normal ranges. Main singers, Richard Edwards & Michelle Mifsud, are Maltese preselection veterans - the former coming a close second in 2011. Obviously if under the pressure of a semi-final they get nervous and it is just that little bit off, it could sound bloody awful.

 

There are however many concerns with this song. Obviously there are, and have already been, comments about its similarity to Mumford & Suns and especially to the Gary Barlow song "Let Go" which the chorus almost becomes. I am not sure how well this style would go down with the whole of Europe.

Another problem occurs when you see that both Malta and Switzerland have chosen basically the same song AND are in the same semi-final. As DR will be in chare of the running order I would hope that there 2 are placed as far away as possible, for their own good. Personally, although Firelight are the better and more polished singers, Sebalter's song is far superior. Looking forward, I am now hoping that there will be the ONLY two songs of this genre in the competition. If there end up being even more, then there may well be a further problem to look into.

 

There was a lot of discussion on social media regarding the seemingly unfair voting system used to choose this song. The televote mark only represented just over 14% of the scoring. However, looking back at the Maltese finals over the last 3 years, the voting weighting has always been highly in favour of the jury rather than the televote (between 14 and 33% weighting in different contests) Although I understand how this can seem unfair, it is at least consistent.

 

A slightly surprising choice from Malta, moving that folky sound from last year in a different direction. Not sure if it will grab the hearts of Europe or get them singing along. Purists will like this as a song and as a technical piece of singing but more is needed to make people pick up their phones.

 

Artist - Firelight
Song - Coming Home
Music - Richard Micallef

Lyrics - Richard Micallef