UKRAINE

The Ukrainian Final was held on February 25th at the Kyiv Polytechnic Institute, hosted by Sergiy Prytula. Before the final there were 3 semi-finals where 2 songs qualified from each, The winner was chosen by an "expert" jury (50%) & televoting (50%). However, once all the results were in, there was a tie for first place. In this case the tieing act with the better televote score would be declared the winner. Performing for the home team in in May will be O.Torvald with the song “Time”

The performance in the semi-final was different to that of the final but I will only be using the final performance for my review. The 4 man band is standing on plinths akin to large rocks or moon craters whilst on the floor there is a keyboard player on one side and a backing singer on the other. They are all dressed very shabbily in flesh coloured rags. Protruding through the chest of their shirts are digital clocks which could down to the end of the song. This clock motif is also projected on the video wall behind. There are a lot of beam of light used throughout the show and during the instrumental breakdown there are plumes of fire from the front of the stage as well as on the back 2 rocks.

Their style is punky-grungy rock and not really something Eurovision has seen for quite a while. The verses are more accessible than the choruses which are much more full on in terms of sound. The singer actually has a good voice although he looks very strained – almost like he’s in pain – when he’s singing the chorus. There is also a lengthy instrumental which is very in your face and will either be thought as really epic and spine-tingling or is a whole bunch of noise that cuts the flow of the song. The ending though is very odd and doesn’t fit the rest of the song.

One gets the feeling that Ukraine are not wanting to win again. This is a very bold choice – the kind of choice a host country can afford to make. You get to show off your country’s musical genres and styles but not feel the pressure of wanting to win the contest. That said, it is VERY different to anything else currently on offer and casual watchers of Eurovision who like this style might be persuaded to vote in their support – however I don’t think it has the accessible feel that last year’s Georgian entry. I personally quite like the song, and the performance, as it is a style of music I don't mind however general Eurovision watchers although would not say this was Eurovision material. This won’t be near the bottom but anything in the teens will be seen as a moral victory.

ARTIST – O.Torvald

SONG - Time

MUSIC - O.Torvald

LYRICS - Galich Eugene, Eugene Kamenchuk