Eighteen year old Roko is stood centre stage along for the
whole performance surrounded by swathes of dry ice. At first, he sings with a
mic stand then without. Behind him are videos of clouds floating by in
different speeds. However the main thing that needs to be pointed out it that
he is dressed totally in white and sporting a huge pair of feathered wings.
The song starts off quite mysteriously as the backing track
is quite spars but also melodic. Roko starts of quite quietly through the first
verse,then belts out the first rendition of the chorus. By this time wes are
already halfway through the time limit and here we take a rather awkward
instrumental break. Roko then revives a pre-chorus and chorus but this time in
mother tongue AND with a key change sandwiched between the two. It then ends
with a bit of oh-oh-ohing and a victorious fist pump.
To describe this simply, the staging is killing this. Roko
is one belter of a singer and you can tell he is trying his very hardest to
keep those high notes under control. But the way he has been dressed, styled
and produced on set is all shades of wrong. The wings are a gimmick that a)
looks awful b) has already been done at Eurovision and c) is actually affecting
the singer’s integrity and message. I can predict that scenes of this will be
used in the ‘isn’t Eurovision wacky!!!’ video packages regurgitated every year
to so how crazy Europeans are. Change it now, PLEASE. Don’t even keep him in
the white leather jacket because this song isn’t rocky or rebellious in the
slightest. Put him in a white suit, tidy shirt and trousers just make him look
smart and serious, make him look and feel his age!!! On the plus side,with
better direction to the camera I think Roko would be able to pull off a one-man
show without the need of any extra dancers, although they may make the decision
to add singers for power.
This is just not my cup of tea at all. It’s over saccharine,
over dramatic and really, really over-done in terms of Eurovision. Roko has
been lead by his mentor Jacques Houdek and I don’t like the direction he’s been
taken. Can it qualify? Possibly, although it’s only Balkan neighbour in their
semi is North Macedonia and has a few other friendly countries on its side.
Should it? As it is right now - absolutely not.
ARTIST – Roko Blažević
SONG – The Dream
MUSIC - Jacques
Houdek
LYRICS - Jacques Houdek, Andrea Ćurić, Charlie Mason
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