BELARUS

The Belarussian Final was held on March 7th at BTRC Studio 600 Metrov in Minsk, hosted by Olga Ryzhikova & Teo. A month earlier there had been a broadcast audition process where 73 different songs and acts performed and 10 were chosen to advance to the televised final. The winner, solely chosen by a 6-person jury, was ZENA with “Like it”.

The staging of this is quite simple with ZENA in a white crop top and trousers whilst her four female backing singers are wearing black tops and black trousers with white detailing. On the background behind them which changes between pinks, purples and blue shades also flashes up some of the words of the song albeit in a rather thin font. The girls on stage are really tight visually although the choreography is rather simplistic.

The song is an mid-tempo pop song reminiscent of the early Britney Spears or Christina Aguilera era. The verses are quite fast and wordy and because this is in the lower part of her register it is not always clear what she is saying. During the bridge the pace of singing slows down but also moves up her register which piques your interest. The chorus is very repetitive with the ‘yes you’re going to like it’ line repeated over however the first two times are in her lower register followed by two lines in her clearer higher register. This is then followed by a short instrumental and then a more free form ending before finishing on a short version of the chorus,

ZENA copes well with singing and dancing at the same time and her voice sounds as good at the start as it does at the end. The staging is a little bit dated, especially the dancing, and I think this could be made more exciting and dynamic without affecting her vocals too much. The stage in Tel-Aviv will also be much bigger so they will need to think more about moving around more, engaging the arena audience, connecting with the camera and filling the stage. It must also be said that ZENA is only 16 and I certainly would not want her to change anything about the performance that would over sexualise her or look too old. I like the black and white styling but think the backdrop needs to be much more dramatic and possibly changing in time with the beat of the song. If this was an audio contest I feel this would be a nice radio-friendly number that would sound safe and familiar.

Unluckily for Belarus most of its ex-Soviet pals are in semi 2 so friendly votes will be few and far between. I also feel that in a semi with such diverse songs this might be a little too formulaic to be remembered. I feel this is more of a song that the juries might find safer to vote for than the public but I don't this will be quite good enough to progress.

ARTIST –  ZENA

SONG –  Love it

MUSIC -  Yulia Kireeva, Viktor Drobysh

LYRICS - Yulia Kireeva, Viktor Drobysh