GEORGIA

The Georgian Final was held on January 20th at the Philharmonic Concert Hall in Tbilisi. The final consisted of 25 acts. Once all the songs were performed the top 5 were announced. The winner was decided by a combination of international jury (70%) & televoting (30%).The winning act was Tako Gachechiladze with her self-penned number “Keep the faith”

The setting of the song is reminiscent of Conchita Wurst, and she also wears a similar dress – although even that has its surprises. The background is blank for the first part of the song but then springs into life projecting photos and videos of war zones and past and future newspaper headlines. This has the effect of making it more memorable but also pulling the heartstrings of the Georgian public. (NOTE – Tako was a member of Stephane and 3G which was ‘banned' from ESC 2009 for its political play on words “We don’t wanna put in”)

The song starts off quite timidly and shows Tako off as having a Mariah Carey-esque vocal range and ability. It has echoes of a more traditional, almost old-school type Eurovision entry but has a lot more power and sass that would've been expetced. The song is powerful and dynamic for a ballad but relies very heavily on backing vocalists in the chorus. The last minute is rather epic with multiple key changes, a ‘we will rock you’ hand-clap style chorus AND the spectacle of her dress suddenly lighting up like neon veins. Although this ends on a great high it then makes you feel like the first two minutes is very badly structured and therefore wasted. I would suggest that more is made of the clapping parts –  simple and effective audience participation would look and sound amazing – and that the crescendo to the ending was more powerful.

This was possibly the best of a thin, if not diverse, national final. Tako is a very good singer and has an interesting look and voice. She wrote the song herself so you can tell she has a personal relationship with it and utilises her range perfectly. The whole thing really requires an up-vamp and is in serious need of some production values to make it a truly professional package. One may be tempted to say that as G:son has had a hand in a couple of the last Georgian entries his magic wand would work wonders on this dramatic, almost schlager-esque, ballad.

As it is, I think it would probably scrape through a semi-final but with a decent revamp this should be a sure-fire qualifier (Georgia have only failed to qualify once in their Eurovision history). Not much needs to be done to the lyrics but may need a cut down in some areas and elongating in others. Hopefuly they will leave Tako alone, provide her with a properly orchestrated backing track, some top notch backing singers and backdrop that provides drama and meaning without being too provocative. 

ARTIST - Tako Gachechiladze

SONG – Keep the Faith

MUSIC - Tako Gachechiladze

LYRICS - Tako Gachechiladze