ALBANIA 2022

The Albanian Final was held on December 29th at the Palace of Congress in Tirana, hosted by Jonida Maliqi, Isli Islami, Xhemi Shehu & Kelvi Kadilli. Before the final of Festivali i Këngës there was a semi-final where 3 of the newcomers were selected to continue on in the competition. The winner, chosen by a jury, was Ronela Hajati with the song "Sekret" (Secret)

Ronela has been an active performer, entering singing and dancing competitions, since she was a child. She scored her first charting single in 2016 and has been almost ever present in the charts since then. As well as a performer she has penned many of her own songs and has written for last year's Albanian representative Anxela Peristeri. Ronela's music is generally in the pop genre but her singing and performance style is extremely varied with influences of R'n'B, Latin, Balkan music and even reggae. 

The song starts with what turns out to be a slower and elaborate choral interpretation of the chorus tagline which is then repeated by the backing singers. After 30 seconds the ethnic bassy rhythms come out and the song starts proper. The monotone verse is followed by the melodic chorus which breaks down to a chanted part with a lengthy instrumental and accompanying dance routine. There is then another verse (but bares little or no relation to the first) followed by another chorus and outro dance routine. The song ends with another earwormy outro to the end. This performance is about attitude and feeling more than tune and melody.

Let's get some elephants out of the room straight way. Firstly the song is about 35 seconds over the Eurovision time limit although this is not unknown for competing FiK or Sanremo entries. But as many good songs have been butchered by bad editing as the amount that have been dealt with sympathetically. The edit may be tricky as the song needs to keep its repetition but also leave the instrumental breaks as not to lessen the dance sections. Secondly, the choir of backing vocalists and live orchestra gives the performance a real live feeling and, when the re-recorded version is made, it will be interesting to see if the same kind of magic can be conjured up. Finally, there are way more than 6 people on the stage. The delegation may decide to pare down this staging and keep the overall aesthetic - possibly utilising any LED screens - or they may start again from scratch. 
With all this to take into account it is rather hard to say how this will go down. However, this was the hot fan favourite before the show began and it is easy to see why. Ronela's voice is shown off perfectly using every single part of her diverse range. The repetitive rhythm and lyrics, albeit mostly in Albanian, is very catchy and even the odd English line did not sound out of place. The on pointe dance routine is striking and copyable. The identical black outfits for the dancers makes them a cohesive unit with Ronela as their captain. My main worry is that the song does feel like a collection of parts and the lack of an extra chorus - or even another verse - at the very end of the song might lessen the impact made at the very start.

ARTIST - Ronela Hajati
SONG - Sekret (Secret)
WRITING/PRODUCTION CREDITS - Ronela Hajati, Marko Polo

CZECHIA 2022

The Czech act and song was revealed on 16th December via a streamed press conference held at the ČT Headquarters in Prague. An online selection was held called "Eurovision Song CZ 2022" where the winner was determined by the combination of votes from a twelve-member international jury panel (50%), an international public vote (25%) and a Czech public vote (25%). The winners were the group We Are Domi with the song "Lights Off"

We Are Domi (sometimes also known and stylised as DOMI) formed as a group in 2018 after the trio met while studying at the Leeds Conservatoire. The group consists of Czech singer Dominika and Norwegian musicians Casper and Benjamin. They released with first single in 2019. Their music is described as both electropop and scandipop although their Eurovision song includes more trancey and ethereal themes.

The song begins rather minimalistic and mysterious. Dominika's monotone, almost spoken word,  vocal is surrounded by a more melodic underbed. This this then reversed during the bridge when Dominka almost comes across as a little bit country and makes for a transition period towards the rather more memorable chorus ending with a foghorn like 'Where are you now" just in case you hadn't woken up yet. We then have another verse-bridge-chorus roundel followed by a return to a small and monotone middle eight. This leads into the glow up to the last rendition of the chorus ending in a final 'Where are you now".

This song certainly pricks your ears up and has a very engaging and memorable tune. The vocals are varied throughout the song and could come across as a bit frenetic or irrational, especially if any of the parts become out of kilter or worse out of tune/time. Dominika may well be saved or helped by the addition of pre-recorded vocals (BOOOOOOOOO!) One small negative, which may need some clever editing around when if comes to voting recaps, is the fact that the title of the song is rather obscure in the mix unlike the belting out of "WHERE ARE YOU NOW". Although there is no proper video, they did create a performance of the song as part of the results show. For me, this was visually confusing - the choice of Play School-esque outfits whilst surrounded by a dark and ghostly backdrop was rather dissonant. However, the use of a bow to play the electric guitar is a particular highlight. I feel that this needs a very stylised stage show and needs to be visually stunning and could be a glow up with the right stage direction - something some past Czech Eurovision songs have done well.  This is already proving to be a fave with the fans and is certainly something that would no sound out of place on the playlists of Europe.

ARTIST - We Are Domi
SONG - Lights Off
WRITING CREDITS - Dominika Hasek, Casper Hatlestad, Abi F Jones, Einar Eriksen Kvaløy, Benjamin Rekstad

BULGARIA 2022

The Bulgarian song and act was revealed on December 5th via an interview & first play on Darik Radio and the release of the music video online. Going to Turin will be the Intelligent Music Project with the song "Intention".

The eponymous "Intelligent Music Project" is named after a music studio bankrolled by businessman Milen Vrabevski who created the centre to support contemporary Bulgarian music and culture. This 'supergroup' has been going for almost a decade and has a veritable revolving door of past and future members from a wide spectrum of past rock royalty. The Eurovision-based line up includes Chilean front man Ronnie Romero as well as two time Bulgarian Eurovision participant Stoyan Yankulov on drums. Their genre of music is mostly described as 'progressive rock' and their Eurovision entry follows this trend.

The song begins with a rather long, but building, guitar intro. This certainly sets the stall out very early and it doesn't waver much from there. The song the follows a pretty standard verse-bridge-chorus verse-bridge-chorus structure and the parts run seamlessly in and out of each other. At the 2 minute mark, the song enters in a laconic middle 8 followed by a frenetic guitar solo ending with a final rendition of the chorus. Although it comes across well as a cohesive unit the tune of the song is rather haphazard - it never quite goes how you want it go and is lacking any memorable hook. In some ways the instrumentation, lyrics and tune don't quite work together as a cohesive 3 minute unit. The video is also very confusing switching between boy playing computer game/blokes rocking out in a blank room/computer game of a woman getting staked... by herself narratives.

Considering some of the canny choices that BNT has made during the last decade this is something of a climbdown. It seems as though the coffers of the broadcaster have run dry and getting 6 rockers et al. to split the bill as being the best way to get Bulgarian representation to Eurovision. They may well get to Eurovision but I don't think they will be there very long... I can only see the group on stage rocking out as a suitable visual production note although live vocals may make it stand out a little more. The band looks and sounds very dated, and although this is trying (and failing) to ride on the coattails of a rock victory in 2021, this is more Blackpool Rock than Rock n Roll. 

ARTIST - Intelligent Music Project

SONG - Intention

WRITING CREDITS - Milen Vrabevski