The Czech song was revealed on February 16h, via a video premiere on youtube. The song had been chosen internally by the artist. Benny Christo, who was to be the Czech representative in 2020, will sing the song "Omaga"
The song was premiered as a video clip rather than a live performance so this is what I will have to base by opinions upon. Benny is seen singing the song to a girl, however he is actually inside the telly and she is a viewer! In a slightly "Take on Me" style, his hand comes through the TV and drags her in to join him. From then on Benny is seen singing the song in a number of different situations, all influenced by classic TV and film clips such as Forrest Gump, The Shining and The Simpsons to name just three. These are also interspersed with views of Benny in a vividly lit room, almost psychedelic, whilst he dances around.
The song starts with what turns out to be part of the chorus but has a slightly softer timbre. As verse one starts of the beat is pronounced, the lyrics are much more staccato and sounds like a half sung rap. This leads into the pre-chorus which has a very repetitive staccato rhythm and offers a moment of slight rest before going into the chorus that is really infectious and happy. Verse two merges with the pre chorus - but does contain one line of Czech! This then leads into another chorus but this time a slightly longer version. This ends with the over emphasised "Omaga" sequence. We then have a short respite with another longer pre-chorus before ending with long chorus. The beat fades out by the end and the whole thing unexpectedly finishes a word too early.
Many fans were introduced to Benny through his 2020 entry which was slightly divisive as its Afrobeat feel - and the many remixes thereof - didn't quite hit the mark with everybody. Benny is very well known in his homeland having been a contestant on "Česko Slovenská Superstar" and later becoming a judge on it. Looking back on his discography, most of his back catalogue has this contemporary r'n'b/pop mix but is mostly in the Czech language. This song certainly feels very much like a song he would make full stop never mind a song for Eurovision.
I personally feel very conflicted about this song, or maybe that should be 'I feel conflicted about why I feel conflicted. 'The fact is - am I judging this against the other songs in the competition or am I judging this against this song last year? There is no doubt that this is a great up-tempo dance song with a hell of a lot of character. With the right kind of staging I could see this really getting the attention of the televoters at home and possibly getting the right kind of vibe with any audience that night be in the hall itself.. That said it took me a good few listens to get properly into is and get though some of the lyrical conundrums (such as apocalypse rhyming with lips and Omaga being a very bad pronunciation of oh my god) For me personally "Kemama" takes a lot of beating and I was - and still am - a little disappointed that the 2 artists that had songs with African elements in 2020 have not brought back the feels from last year. That said, this one is definitely up there at this early stage. Maybe when he wins he can do "Kemama" as the reprise....?
ARTIST - Benny Cristo
SONG - Omaga
WRITING CREDITS - Ben Cristovao, Filip Vlček
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