BELGIUM

The Belgian entry was released on March 8th during a special press conference, afterwards the official video clip was distributed online. Way back in September,the Belgian Walloon broadcaster RTBF announced that Blanche (Ellie Delvaux) would be the internally selected singer and that her song would be revealed at a much later date. She will be singing the song “City Lights”.

The video is set at night at deserted apartment block. The video follows Blanche walking inside and outside the building, followed what looks like cannon balls of light that shoot through the building. On the outside of the building, lights flash, strips of glowing neon appear and the trees start glowing bright white. At times you follow Blanche walking around the place or have close ups of her singing the song. Although there seems no real narrative to the story apart from being linked to the title, I would see a light show and video screen using these elements being very identifiable and memorable on the stage.

The song is extremely modern. It nods to electro-pop as well as more modern figures like Lorde and Hozier. Blanche also has a very distinctive tone of voice - especially when you consider she is only 17 years old. The instrumentation and beat is very intriguing and although the tempo of the song is not that fast the beat feels like double speed. The song starts off with the chorus, although it is not obvious this is the case until it is repeated. The chorus itself is oddly phrased with a line with a beat of 6 followed by a beat of 8 which keeps you on your toes without feeling ‘wrong’. The ending is very sudden but the repitition of the last line builds up to it in a fair enough way. Blanche’s voice is very low and deep and it makes me wonder a) how comfortable this is for her to sing live and b) how much production has been used to create such an atmospheric voice.

This is the most contemporary song we have up to now in this year’s Eurovision and the Walloon broadcaster seem to have used the momentum from Loic 2 years ago and built on it. Even if it is not your style of music, within the confines of Eurovision this really stands out. It seems as though they are trying to keep on at the younger demographic for Eurovision and appealing at those viewers – or even children of viewers - who may not normally watch but might be switched on my this song.

Qualification shouldn’t be a struggle but semi 1 is very East-heavy and won’t gain particularly from much neighbourly voting. However, I think the strength and individuality of the song will see it through and should (if the correct instructions are given) be heavily favoured by the juries. If justice was done, this would probably be an easy top 10, possibly top 5.

ARTIST - Blanche

SONG - City lights

MUSIC - Pierre Dumoulin

LYRICS - Pierre Dumoulin