UKRAINE

The Ukrainian Final was held on February 24th at the Kyiv Polytechnic Institute, hosted by Sergiy Prytula. Before the final there were two semi-finals, three songs qualifying from each. The winner was chosen by a mixture of televoting (50%) and jury (50%). Going to Lisbon will be Mélovin with the song “Under the ladder”.

The staging for this one is rather more complex than what is seems at first glance. Mélovin appears at first in front of bright white lights wearing a long coat over his clothes. The white is then taken over by red and the stage is covered in red squiggles and a kind of spikey cog/spiral shape behind him. There is also some use of a wind machine at this point. It is also at this point you can see his backing singers behind him (just). At around the 2 minute mark he takes the coat off and runs up some steps where there is a piano and fire starts to burn underneath!

The song starts off quite quietly with piano backing. The tune of the song is quite simple with a lot of alternating between 2/3 notes – a bit like going up and down a ladder! At the end of that section the beat kicks in and the song flows from there.  The song doesn’t have a chorus of such, just some oh-oh-ohing which is a bit of a waste really. The title of can be heard in the song but you really have to listen for it. When he then walks up the staircase at the 2 minute mark the song suddenly quietens down and becomes more melodic and more interesting to the ear however the oh-oh-ohing starts once more before the song finishes rather suddenly.

This is a really interesting song with quite a few memorable hooks however I think the musical differences between verse and chorus in the first part of the song could be exaggerated even more to give it even more flow. He has an interesting look but I think he could go even further with it or be even more extravagant in his performance levels. Mélovin  doesn’t have a bad voice but his accent at times is intelligible which makes me switch off. Also the fact that the ‘chorus’ is just oh-oh-ohing annoys me quite a bit. I like the use of the piano staircase but not sure if this can be brought on and off again within a minute at Eurovision, so maybe they will need a different gimmick? As I say, this is not bad entry and  the studio version would not feel out of place on the radio but I think it is a little tame, if not disappointing, live. I suspect this will qualify but nowhere near a winner.

ARTIST –  Mélovin 

SONG – Under the ladder

MUSIC - Kostyantyn Bocharov, Anton Karskyi, Mike Ryals

LYRICS - Kostyantyn Bocharov, Anton Karskyi, Mike Ryals