AUSTRALIA 2022

The Australian Final (Australia Decides) was held on February 26th at the Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre, hosted by Myf Warhurst and Joel Creasey. The winner was chosen by 50/50 mix of jury and phone voting which actually started the day before the final. Going to Turin is Sheldon Riley singing "Not the same"

Sheldon Riley (real name Sheldon Hernandez) first started to play the piano and write songs at the age of ten. This was his outlet for dealing with bullying and his Aspergers diagnosis. He started to take part in school productions and in 2015 he won best actor in a school/youth musical at the Gold Coast Theatre Awards for his performance in "13". He first came to national prominence during the 2018 series of The Voice Australia. During his blind audition all 4 mentors turned but he chose to be on Boy George's team - this comes as no surprise when you sing "Do you really want to hurt me?" by Culture Club as your opening gambit! Eventually Sheldon made his way to the final, coming in third place. In 2019 he returned to the Voice in an 'all stars' series where he was eliminated in the semi final. He also appeared on the 2020 series of America's Got Talent getting through to the live shows. Many of his performances have been in a dramatic ballad style and sporting his customary stylised masked look.

The singing begins immediately with a moody and emotionally driven lyric on top of a piano backing. The verse starts off low and quiet but as it develops his voice and tone gets bigger before retreating again for the rather minimalist chorus. At about 45 seconds in the second verse comes with a thready beat and influx of violins. The chorus here extends to 4 lines rather than two and allows the backing to maintain its volume into the bridge. This part is much more staccato; full of shorter lines and rhymes made more urgent by the more prominent drum beat. At the 2.15 the song comes to a peak, mirroring Sheldon's 'unmasking' then drops away again before a final emotional repetition of the chorus.

The styling and setting is dark and mysterious which reflects the story being told. Sheldon is wearing an elaborate black gown (possibly coat/cape) with many layers. Over his face he wears his trademark mask which he takes off during the last minute. Although his face may be obscured, emotion comes pouring through his voice and his body language, especially the middle part of the song. His voice seems to soar in his higher register and has great control and skill going through his vocal registers.

I just feel like something is not quite right with the song. For starters the whole mask narrative is fine If you know about it before. Had I not had this explained during the postcard I might not have understood its meaning. Although the actual unmasking is dramatic and very much the moment of the song, I feel like this comes at the wrong point in the song. It either needs to come earlier in the song so there is more time to grow OR needs to come as close to the end as possible to make that part the high point. At least this song and performer has a story and personality which weave intrinsically together seamlessly. being the only male ballad (up to now) may well work to their advantage.

ARTIST -Sheldon Riley

SONG - Not the same

WRITING/PRODUCTION CREDITS - Cam Nascon, Brendon Riley

UKRAINE 2022 updated

The Ukrainian Final was held on February 12th at the Centre of Culture and Arts of the National Aviation University in Kiev, hosted by Masha Efrosinina and Timur Miroshnichenko. The winner was selected by a 50/50 split of SMS and jury voting, However the winner on the night, Alina Pash, was then under scrutiny for entering Crimea in 2015. The delegation then suspended her pending an investigation but then Alina withdrew herself from the Eurovision candidacy. Several days later it was reported that the broadcaster had offered the place to the runners up from Vidbir - Kalush Orchestra with the song "Stefania".

Kalush was formed in 2019 and named after founder member Oleh Psiuk's hometown. The band's first videos were uploaded onto youtube in 2019 and from here they signed an agreement with Def Jam Recordings. February 2021, the band's debut album Hotin was released and July of the same year saw the release of their second. The group then launched a parallel project, Kalush Orchestra. While Kalush is mainly a rap/hip-hop outlet, Kalush Orchestra focuses on rap with folk and Ukrainian traditional music. 

After a few bars of atmospheric intro the song starts with the chorus. The singer's voice is very haunting and strong and tune is very simplistic and earwormy. From here the pace picks up straight away into verse one - and almost breathless explosion of rap between the other two members of the band. The verse ends suddenly with a lullaby refrain before going back into the chorus but unlike the intro the hip hop beat continues. After this comes the flute refrain, again with the beats underneath. There comes another verse, refrain and 2 versions of the chorus: one sang as before and the second as a kind of chanted clap along getting the audience fully involved. This is then followed by a long instrumental outro with the band doing their very best b-boy dance moves. 

Visually this performance is very eye catching: from the nature inspired kaleidoscope of a backdrop to the eye-catching folky outfits to the unusual array of instruments being played. In a weird kind of way their incongruence  made the whole thing more encompassing of a wider feeling. The song is a homage to mothers and the Stefania is the song is Oleh Psiuk's own mother and there is even a shot of her during the performance. The song, albeit entirely in Ukrainian, is full of earworms and pulsating rhythms and the repetition of the name gets into your head straight away. The dancing is also stand out especially the kind of "Buffalo Stance" groove the guys get in during the first half of the song. That all said and done, Eurovision is the least of their worries. However, after the recent EBU debacle and recent country embargo I honestly hope Ukraine and Kalush get to go to Eurovision as the support, love and camaraderie will be warm and plentiful.

ARTIST - Kalush Orchestra

SONG - Stefania

WRITING/PRODUCTION CREDITS - Ihor Didenchuk, Vitalii Duzhyk, Ivan Klimenko, Tymofii Muzychuk, Oleh Psiuk

SAN MARINO 2022

The final of the San Marinese selection process "Una voce per San Marino" was held on February 19th at Teatro Nuovo in Dogana, hosted by Senhit and Jonathan Kashanian.  After four days of qualifying, nine emerging artists joined 10 established singers in the final). The winner, chosen solely by jury,  was Achille Lauro with the song "Stripper".

Achille Lauro (real name Lauro De Marinis) grew up in Rome. At the age of 14 he moved to live with his brother who is a producer. From here, he get involved in the underground rap and punk scenes which influenced much of his early work in terms of mixtapes and live shows. Up to now he has released 8 albums, numerous singles and countless appearances/collaborations with other artists. He later competed in at the Sanremo Music Festival 2019 with the song "Rolls Royce", at the 2020 edition with "Me ne frego" and reappeared at the 2022 concert with the song "Domenica". His more recent music has been more rock based with shades of David Bowie/Ziggy Stardust in his stage persona and musical direction.

This song a a rock number with some glam rock influences. As the title suggests the whole thing is rather extravagant and provocative. The first verse kicks off  straight away and gets down to business straight away. Throughout the verse and pre-horus the beat of the song comes in and out which creates tension and engages you in the song. The chorus is full on in terms of beat the the clever use of call and response means I can already imagine this being sung at the sop of the audience's lungs in the hall. Verse 2 starts after a brief lull to reset but this time it goes straight into the chorus when it ends it goes into a variant of the pre-chorus and an extended instrumental. There is then one final version of the chorus but the parts are layered on top of each ocher instead of one after the other which adds a different feeling to the earworms of the song.

 

This is quite the coup. Already a fan fave thanks to his appearances - competitive and non-competitive - at Sanremo, his unique sound and look has made him a 'must see' at Eurovision. Never did we dare to think it would happen. Never did we think it would be for San Marino! Valentina Monetta, Serhat, Senhit and now Achille Lauro. With these superstars you are really spoiling us! Unfortunately there has already been some bad press calling Lauro  'a traitor' for not representing Italy. In fairness to him we *was* in Sanremo this year and didn't win - why should be not have and jump at the chance from another nation? Many people have thought that the similarity to last year's winners is too great. Again in fairness to Lauro he has been doing this kind of thing MUCH longer than Måneskin have and so there are no questions about authenticity. Yes, his voice is not the best and his ability to sing in English is little questionable. I have to wonder if this song is provocative enough - or even too provocative - for Eurovision. One thing is for sure - I cannot wait to see what outfits he's got in stone for us! The home crowd will certainly be cheering him on and I sincerely hope this venture at Eurovision will be a successful one.

ARTIST - Achille Lauro
SONG -Stripper
WRITING/PRODUCTION CREDITS - Banf, G Calculli, M Ciceroni, Frenetik, Orang3, Simon P, D Petrella, M Lancs, A Lauro, F Viscovo

MALTA 2022

The Maltese Final (Malta Eurovision Song Contest 2022) was held on February 19th at the Malta Fairs & Convention Centre in Ta' Qali, hosted by Stephanie Spiteri, Quinton Scerri, Ron Briffa, Josmar and Ryan Borg. Before the final was be a semi-final on February 17th, where the long list of 22 songs was reduced to 16 - plus a wildcard - for the final. The winner was chosen by jury (6/7) and SMS voting (1/7). This winner was Emma Muscat singing "Out of Sight"

Music was a huge part of Emma's life from an early age. She enrolled at the University of Performing Arts; honing her skills in singing, dancing, and playing the piano. in 2016 she started uploading her songs and videos onto youtube. In 2018 she took part in the Maltese  talent show "Amici di Maria De Filippi" finishing with fourth place in the singing category and winning a contract with Warner Music Italy. Since then she has released more singles and albums including duets with rappers Shade and Astol and featuring on songs by Biondo and Junior Cally.

Emma starts sat behind the piano playing the introduction to her song. The first verse is rather lengthy compared to many on offer and has a lilting contemporary singer-songwriter melody. This goes into the pre-chorus which stepped up the pace with more staccato, quick rhymes. The chorus shows of Emma's higher register and the lines here have notes held for longer and the words are emphasised. The second verse kicks off with a bit more beat in the backing track and a little more sass in the performance. After the end of the last chorus there is a brief interlude of oh-oh-ohing; before the backing track dies down and she repeats the last 2 lines of the chorus.

The staging of this needs to be thought through. The use of her face on the backdrop is a little ghostly and the reunion with her 'mini me' at the end made me feel a little icky so I guess it is a good job it can't happen at Eurovision itself because of the age restrictions. I can also understand that Emma wants to strut her stuff in her rather spangly outfit but I feel like conveying the message of the song should be the most important thing. Overall this is a nice song sung by a pretty girl in a nice outfit but I honestly cannot get that excited about it. After several listens back I can't really remember the tune or any many chunks of the lyrics. In a semi that already shows promise as being rather full on and in your face, this could easily get memory holed. Alternately during such a wild ride in the top half of semi 2 this might just be the break and slice of normality the viewers are after.

ARTIST - Emma Muscat

SONG - Out of Sight

WRITING/PRODUCTION CREDITS - Antonio Caputo, Emma Muscat, Gabriel Rossi, Lorenzo Santarelli, Marco Salvaderi

POLAND 2022

The Polish final "Tu bije serce Europy! Wybieramy hit na Eurowizję "was held on February 19th at the TVP TV Studios in Warsaw, hosted by Rafal Brzozowski, Malgorzata Tomaszewska and Ida Nowakowska. The winner, chosen by a 50/50 split of jury and televoting was Ocham, with the song "River".

Krystian Ochman was born and raised in the USA and came from a musical background. Although he was more interested in sport and wanting to play football, he was encouraged to learn piano and trumpet. In 2020 he participated in the Polish version of "The Voice" where he joined the team of former Eurovision participant  Michał Szpak and ended up winning the whole competition.

The song starts off with a rather sombre piano introduction, as Ochman starts to sing the drums break up the rather sparse backing track. The very short verse starts with a immediate mention of the title. Unusually (although you don't realise this until the very end) the title of the track is not in the chorus and more a mention in other parts of the song. This is followed by a short pre-chorus before going into the falsetto of the chorus. This set is repeated  which takes us up to the two minute mark. Here there is a more free-form bridge which slows the pace right down. Finally the last chorus comes punching in and than the first line of the first verse is repeated again as a slow outro.

Ochman has a very wide ranging voice. It also covers a lot of tones. textures and skills all of which seem to be showcased in this 3 minute song. At some points it does feel like one person is singing the parts that the individual parts of a group should be doing. That said, he does not look or sound uncomfortable about pushing himself in that way. Although I think the first and last line containing the name of the song as being rather clever, it does leave a lot of the song without a clear identity. Therefore the delegation may need to be savvy about which part of the song they use as a recap clip for the voting. There are also clear parallels between this song and "Arcade" - even the oooohing part feels extremely close. There are also some similarities to "O Jardim" too although this Polish song seems very lacking in emotion when compared. I wonder if part of this is down to him not connecting down the camera. Many of the shots used in the national final were sweeping & wide and he spends a lot of time either not opening his eyes at all or looking slightly past the camera. I am sure this song will pull together the diaspora and will get the voting but I am not sure if this is going to set all the voters and jury mmebers alight.

ARTIST - Ochman

SONG - River

WRITING/PRODUCTION CREDITS - Ashley Hicklin, Krystian Ochman, Mikołaj Trybulec, Adam Wiśniewski

NORWAY 2022

The finals of the Norwegian song and artist selection "Melodi Grand Prix" was held on February 19th at the H3 Arena in Fornebu, Bærum, hosted by Kåre Magnus Bergh, Annika Momrak & Mikkel Niva. Competing were five that had been preselected for the final, the four semi-final winners and the  'last chance' selection. The winner was Subwoolfer with "Give that wolf a banana".

Very little is publicly known about the group although there has been plenty of speculation. The three members go under the pseudonyms Keith and Jim (the names mentioned in the song) and backed by DJ Astronaut. They have stated that the group was was founded 4.5 billion years ago, have come from the moon and have "conquered every planet musically". Their music is in a dance EDM style with a hint of fun and humour in their lyrics

The song starts of with a very muted and tuneful first verse. Once it goes into the chorus the backing track starts to fill out and becomes the driving force behind the tune. The second verse in shorter and keep the momentum through to another chorus. Following this is a chanted part focusing on the syllables of banana. It is a weak point of the song but allows the performers involved a time to collect themselves vocally as well as slow the pace down before the build up to the end. Finally we have one more full rendition oft eh chorus ending with a short reprise on part of the first verse. The whole this is performed with 3 extra dancers with Jim and Keith joining in full throttle and DJ Astronaut to the side on some decks. In addition there are lyric graphics during the chorus.

This song and performance has really divided the fandom. Many take the opinion that this as a tacky joke entry with little substance and to be honest many people were taken aback by the whole song's oeuvre. I myself had some reticence and doubt as to the complexity and seriousness of this entry. What one cannot deny is the packaging and dedication of the performance. Just as Israel's entry is channelling Drag Race, this is taking advantage of another successful worldwide tv franchise "The Masked Singer". Who is actually singing out of the members onstage? Is the DJ doing the heavy lifting? Are there different people off stage whose voices we can hear? Who is underneath the masks? Do we know who they are? All these questions and constant guesses has kept this act on the tip of social media tongues. The song also has a ready made and iconic dance routine which will be on Tik Tok before you can phone up Fyffes for more Eurovision advertising. The song's lyrics are rather simple/stupid but non-English speakers would totally understand what's going on because of it's basic use of English and repetitive lyrics. I do have questions about the use of voice processing and which parts are deemed 'backing vocals' to see how much of this stylised sound can be actually kept, that is assuming the men in masks AREN'T doing all the singing!. A fully live version would probably compromise and ruin the impact of the whole production. Like Latvia, this act and song has gone viral and there is no such thing as bad publicity. Personally I am so glad this song is here and although my preference would be for it not to win.

ARTIST - Subwoolfer

SONG - Give that wolf a banana

WRITING/PRODUCTION CREDITS - JJ LUSH, DJ Astronaut, Keith, Jim

CROATIA 2022

The Croatian final known as "Dora" was held on February 19th at the Marino Cvetkovic Sports Hall in Opatija, hosted by Duško Curlic, Franka Batelic & Elizabeta Brodic. The winner was chosen by amalgamating the votes of  10 regional "expert" juries and public televoting. Going to Turin is Mia Dimšić with the song "Guilty Pleasure".

Mia's career started in 2014 when she accompanied the band Džentlmeni on tour through North Americas. Soon after she started a solo career and her debut album "Život nije siv" was released in 2016. The lead single from this album stayed in the Croatian charts for two whole years. This album gained Mia a total of 5 Porin awards (Croatian Phonographic Association) in 2017. Her music is influenced a lot by pop-country artists and uses a lot of acoustic guitar.

The song is a ballad with slight country overtones and starts with her singing along while she plays the guitar. As the song continues there is an undertone of strings and a very subtle beat. The song continues verse-chorus-post chorus twice over with little gap between each roundle and takes us up to the two minute mark. This leads straight into a repetitive bridge followed by the last chorus and post-chorus. The bridge is repeated again but this time as an outro to the end of the song.

This song has a really laid back and subtle groove. Mia's voice is soft and clear and sounds very distinctive over the simplistic backdrop. The rather pared back and intimate set up is also rather eye catching, specially when compared to a lot of the manic and involved staging we have seen up to now. Mia is joined by a male dancer who does some rather acrobatic choreo all around, and involving, Mia. I just wish they would interact together a bit more and tell the story through their movement, especially as when they are together they look really good Maybe having him sitting next to her listening to the song would help the story along. I hope that the setup changes as little as possible - sometimes less is more!  I think in the long run this is a rather savvy choice as it is a style not seen at so far this year although it does fit in nicely with some of the countryfied songs on the platter

ARTIST - Mia Dimšić
SONG - Guilty Pleasure
WRITING/PRODUCTION CREDITS - Damir Bačić, Mia Dimšić, Vjekoslav Dimter, Ante Gelo

SLOVENIA 2022

The selection process to find the Slovenian song and singer "EMA" was held on February 19th at the RTVSLO TV Studios in Ljubljana, hosted by Melani Mekicar & Bojan Cvjeticanin. Before the final there were two semi-finals where the competing 20 songs were reduced to 12. The winner , chosen by combining the votes of 5 regional juries with public televoting was LPS and their song "Disko" (Disco)

The 5-piece band LPS (short for Last Pizza Slice) formed in 2018 at their school in the town of Celje. Over the past four years they have entered a number of domestic music contests such as Špil Liga, Šourock, Stresi Oder and won Centrovizija with their first original song. They were invited to appear in EMA Freš, the new music section of EMA and from there they were voted into the final, which they then won. Their music is a suave and stylised mix of soul, pop, funk and jazz.

After a short staccato intro the band starts of with two short verses followed by a chorus. This is followed by a slightly odd instrumental which goes back into another chorus. Another verse comes in but right at the end it slows down into a very lowkey and slightly sad bridge. Luckily it picks up again for a final - and slightly extended - rendition of the chorus. The band is well spaced out on stage with mirror ball projection behind. They are all dressed in a natty way in their suits and ties and all kind of fits in wit the energy of the song.

I did not really pay much attention to this national selection this year but it is fair to say that out of the finalists this was the one that stood out for me. It has that kind of laid back vibe one may have expected from a Czech Republic entry. The song is completely in Slovenian and the song actually sounds really nice in this style. From a song construction point, I feel that the instrumental break after the first chorus has a very unusual structure and doesn't quite go where you think it should. A similar thing could be said of the slowed down bridge. Although they don't need to tinker with the song to make it shorter I would think about how these parts are performed and/or presented. I would say that with a more stylised visual back drop and more refined camera angles (a la Lake Malawi) this might elevate the whole thing. This is a lovely little number although I am not sure this is going to be setting Eurovision alight this year.

ARTIST - LPS

SONG -Disko (Disco)

WRITING/PRODUCTION CREDITS - Gašper Hlupič, Jakob Korošec, Mark Semeja, Zala Velenšek, Filip Vidušin, Žiga Žvižej

LATVIA 2022

The Latvian Final was be held on February 12th at the LTV TV Studios in Riga, hosted by Ketija Šenberga & Lauris Reiniks. Before the final there was a semi-final  which reduced the list from 17 to 11. The winner was chosen by a mix of televoting and jury and was Citi Zēni with "Eat Your Salad"

The six-piece group, whose name translates as 'Other Boys' first met in 2020 as part of a songwriting camp and from there they started working together as a band. They have catapulted to stardom in a rather short period of and time and this is mainly due to social media. Their music tends towards funk & rap with splashes of hip hop and soul and have self-proclaimed themselves as trading in "alternative unicorn pop". They have performed and released work in their native Latvian language as well as English and include some 'fun and satirical' lyrics.

After short bombastic brass intro the song follows a chorus-pre chorus-chorus structure which repeats twice through. After this there is what can only be described as a 'epic sax guy inspired instrumental' before going into another chorus. There is then another short instrumental before one last chorus. The verses are mainly rapped by one member of the band while the pre chorus/chorus is sung by another.

Let's engage with the elephant in the room. The reason this song has gained so much traction and publicity is because of *that* first line. Yes, there is similar crudeness and double entendre elsewhere but the opening gambit of this song - pardon the pun - has balls. The groove of the song is really fun and catchy, especially the chorus. The singer of the chorus has a very nice voice - and even looks a bit like James Newman -  and overall everybody is having a great time on stage in their smart casual suits. The rapping parts need a lot of listening to, in particular the live versions are a little garbled or over-emphasised. The meaning of the song, albeit sung in a slightly tongue in cheek way, is actually quite important and put across in this way gives it a different spin on the topic. Overall I think this is actually a really good fun song.... spoiled by a stupid first line. Will they be able to keep that first line? Will they get away with omitting it from the live version? This song has gone viral and people who don't know about Eurovision know about this song. People will vote for this because they already know it. No such thing as bad publicity...

ARTIST - Citi Zēni

SONG -Eat your salad

WRITING/PRODUCTION CREDITS - JJ LUSH, Jānis Pētersons, Dagnis Roziņš

LITHUANIA 2022

The Lithuanian final "Pabandom iš naujo!" was held on February 12th at the LRT TV Studios in Vilnius, hosted by Giedrius Masalskis & Ieva Stasiuleviciute. Before the final there were quarter finals and semi finals, reducing the 34 songs down to a final of 8. The winner was chosen by and equal split of televoting and jury voting. Going to Turin is Monika Liu with the son "Sentimentai" (Sentiments)

Monika Liubinaitė is currently best known in as a coach/judge on the Voice and Masked singer in Lithuania. She has 3 albums under her belt and released many singles however her work only really became successful when she began to explore a more retro/jazzy sound and started writing songs in the Lithuanian language. Her earlier work is described as being more electro pop and being "less bizarre version of Björk". in 2002 she won "Dainų dainelė" a prestigious song competition in her homeland and from her she moved to Boston, then to London before returning home.

The song has a very simplistic laid back structure which mirrors its mellow uncomplicated groove. The songs has a verse-chorus-verse-chorus-chorus structure although the verses have a slightly different structure to each other. The chorus is very memorable; it has a great, simple tune and is sung effortlessly. The chorus is relatively short which means its impact is rather more punchy than many but also makes it seem as just as you get into it, it has moved on. The backing track has some odd little percussion parts which are rather pleasing to the ear.

It is fair to say that this little entry has a lovely personality. The start of the song really grabs your attention and this is kept going by the Lithuanian language. Overall the song's jazzy/cabaret-esque show is rather unique and well put together. The visual of the song is also strong; Monika has a great look (note the page boy hair cut) and the front AND back of her dress is very beautiful. The lack of movement on stage is tempered by the use of her image on the background walls. One thing I do notice is that Monika does a lot of 'not looking down the camera' and ends up doing a lot of faraway glances into the open which may fit in with the song's meaning and Monika will need to make more of an effort to sell this to the non-Lithuanian people at home. My fear was that the only reason this song won was because Monika is one of the biggest names in the homegrown music scene and not actually based on the song. I think this song will do a great job at elevating Lithuania's music scene, especially that in native tongue, but unfortunately I am not sure if this is going to seen Eurovision alight. I give then applause for doing something different but I fear this will not translate into votes. Diaspora votes may be enough to get traction into the final but this is not a winner.

ARTIST - Monika Liu

SONG - Sentimentai (Sentiments)

WRITING/PRODUCTION CREDITS - Miles James, Monika Liubinaitė

ESTONIA 2022

The Estonian final "Eesti Laul" was held on February 12th at Saku Suurhall in Tallinn. Before the final there were quarter finals and semi finals in order to get the long list of 40 songs down to a final of 10. The winner was chosen through two rounds of voting. In the round one, the top 3 was voted on by televoting and international jury. In round two, the winner was chosen solely through televoting. Going to Eurovision is STEFAN with "Hope".

Stefan is an Estonian singer of Armernian heritage. As a child he loved singing and was encouraged to do so and entered the "Laulukarussell" singing competition on television where he reached the final. His 2022 appearance in Eesti Laul was his fourth try at getting to Eurovision. His first try was as part of the duo Vaje and the others he was a solo artist and had reached the final 3 times.

The song starts with a very stylised Western film type earworm, with accompanying whistle tones. The verses are extremely short and have a slightly uneven structure which makes it rather intriguing. The bridge part that follows is longer and has a rather peculiar set up into the chorus which is short and not very memorable. This structure is repeated but with a heaver beat to the track. This second time round the whole thing ends with the "I hope" repetitive post chorus. Just before the two minute mark, we have an elongated third verse, leading into the chorus and an elongated "I hope" roundel to the end which peters out to its haunting guitar melody.

The song has a strong visual identity. It has deep sepia tones and use of narrow filmic letterbox aperture. Behind him the video wall shows rocky panoramas and swooping eagles - all  creating this kind of Western movie character. Stefan plays the guitar in a rather high stance and is wearing causal clothing. Part of the way through he is joined on stage by two shadowy characters seemingly re-enacting a kind of duel. The song has promise but I feel like the soundtrack doesn't live up to the screenplay. Stefan's delivery is a bit on the mumbling side and the meaning is somewhat lost. I am also confused why the main hook of the song - and main title carrier - is left so late into proceedings. I would feel that having tidier runs into the chorus (see verse 3) would leave more room for a chant of "I hope" after ever chorus not just shoved as a mass when it can be fitted in. Personally, I felt like this year's Eesti Laul was lacking in imagination and many of the songs had no personality. Although this was probably the best choice on offer, it is going to need some tweaks.

ARTIST - STEFAN

SONG - Hope

WRITING/PRODUCTION CREDITS - Stefan Airapetjan, Alika Milova, Karl-Ander Reismann

UKRAINE 2022

The Ukrainian Final was held on February 12th at the Centre of Culture and Arts of the National Aviation University in Kiev, hosted by Masha Efrosinina & Timur Miroshnichenko. The winner, chosen by a 50/50 split of SMS and jury voting, was Alina Pash with “Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors”

Alina Pash first became a big name in Ukraine after become a finalist in the 6th series of X-Factor Ukraine . That said, she had taken part in many singing festivals, competitions and programmes as a child. Since her big break in 2105 she has released a number of songs, collaborations and video clips. he most recent solo project "Norov" saw her take folk sensibilities and intertwine them with R&B beats. Her style of music is more electro/R&B and includes rapping on many of hee tracks.

The song starts with some haunting almost animalistic yelps and shouts by Alina from the darkness of the stage. The flow of the song it rather disjointed. There is a verse then a pre chorus then chorus proper. The second 'verse' is actually a rap and this takes us up to the 2 minute mark. From here the song goes into another chorus and then another but this is mainly sung over by a freeform Alina who ends with more chirruping as done at the start.

This song is extremely stylised - which has its positives and negatives. Its identity and meaning is undeniable and in the current climate a song this authentic (some may every suggest political) is pretty much expected. The videos, and the video screen assembled near the end, are very clever and would definitely work on the Eurovision stage. The use of the map might raise a few eyebrows of course. The Ukrainian language sounds really good in the song and the English lines fit in reasonably well. The part that has received some comment is the rap. Personally I think the rap is very interesting and her voice has an intriguing and interesting quality. That said the words come thick and fast, her accent is rather pronounced at times and the content of the rap is rather highbrow (although fits perfectly with the meaning of the song) . The result being it has taken me a few listens to relax through it and understand how it all fits together within the song. On first listen this might not get the welcome it deserves but its strong identity, twinned with the current political situation in Ukraine, means this will get votes. The staging, including the outfits, hits the mark but in other ways there is a lot going on. A bit like Ukraine itself.

ARTIST - Alina Pash

SONG - Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors

WRITING/PRODUCTION CREDITS - Taras Bazeev, Alina Pash

ITALY 2022

The Italian Final was held on February 5th at the at the Ariston Theatre in Sanremo, hosted by Amadeus accompanied by several co-presenters over the week: Ornella Muti, Lorena Cesarini, Drusilla Foer, Maria Chiara Giannetta and Sabrina Ferilli. The Sanremo festival consisted 5 nights of performances with different voting rounds each night such as press vote, demoscopic jury and televoting. On the 5th night: entrants were judged by televoting alone then added up to the results obtained that far. The top 3 from this were put through to a superfinal with a 50/50 split between juries and teletoving. The winners were Mahmood & Blanco with "Brividi" (Shivers)

Mahmood is a returner to Eurovision having come a triumphant second in 2019. He first came to the public eye through X Factor Italy in 2012 but was eliminated in the third live show. Fast forward to 2018 he was chosen to compete in the Giovani section of Sanremo and he gained a spot in the festival proper the next year, which he promptly won. Blanco however is only 18 but already has archived much in his burgeoning career. He has had 6 top 10 songs (7 if you include this song) and his debut album has gone three times platinum. Although Blanco has a pop and rap discography, and Mahmood has more of a R&B lilt, this song is more of a romantic, sensitive ballad.

The song starts with a simple piano intro which prefaces Mahmood singing the first verse. Blanco then joins in for the chorus with some parts sung together, some parts separate. Blanco then sings the second verse followed by another chorus. Next is a  stand alone part where Blanco raps and Mahmood sings which then sets up the song for the very last rendition of the chorus. The song is extremely simple in set up but the lyrical and harmonic quality is certainly not.

On stage the duo is joined on stage by a piano and pianist although I am not sure if the performance needs this as the focus of the song should be the two singers. Their voices sound so good together especially when they seem too looks and sound so different initially. The chemistry between the two is amazing and they do a great job of solidifying the meaning of the song without being too over the top. The Sanremo stage is rather small and intimate, which suited the song, but the Eurovision setup will be very different. Making this song 'a moment' will be very important moreover as this song is a beacon for queer visibility. Being lesser known names around Europe they may have to work on their connection down the camera as well as getting the meaning to the song to non-Italian speakers. This is a very beautiful song and its tune is clear, memorable and heartfelt. It is a great host entry and although this probably won't give Italy a back-to-back win, this will hopefully do better than many host entries of late. The main decision point right now is how to get it down to 3 minutes without ruining the flow and ambiance - this may well be a tough call.

ARTIST - Mahmood & BLANCO

SONG - Brividi (Shivers)

WRITING/PRODUCTION CREDITS - Riccardo Fabbriconi, Alessandro Mahmoud, Michelangelo

ISRAEL 2022

The Israeli Final was held on February 5th at the at the Menora Mivtachim Arena in Tel Aviv, hosted by Liron Weizman. The Israeli broadcaster used the series of the X-Factor to choose their winner and competing song. The winner was chosen via a series of duals then the top 3 performed their potential ESC entries where it was judged using a combination of  jury, the X-Factor judges (25% each) &  a combination of televoting and app voting (50%). The winner was Michael Ben-David with the song "I.M"

Michael Ben David is 26 and comes from just outside previous Eurovision host city Tel Aviv. After completing his military service, Michael came into modelling and the performing arts. His style throughout the x-Factor show was rather varied and has sung everything from musical theatre numbers to club classics to Israeli ballads. This song in particular leans firmly on his LGBTQ identity and his love of dance.

First we have a very sassy introduction before going into the pulsating banger bassline The first verse which is extremely long, in fact it sounds more like 2 verses with parts of the chorus shoved together. It then slows down and builds up again during the pre-chorus, then into a short instrumental an then into the chorus. The second verse starts up and is much shorter and has a different rhythm and emphasis than before, with almost too many words and syllables to fit into the actual song. At just before the 2 minute mark there is a Middle Easter section with typical instrumentation and dance moves. We conclude with a pre-chorus, chorus and a kind of outro which links part for the introduction and chorus together to a finish.

This song is very much about the performance and the performance is very in your face. The changing backdrop with the letters I.M on in different ways emphasises the name of the song (I.M being a stylised way of saying "I am") The use of a runway is interesting but I don't think it is utilised well; the dancers getting off and on it is cumbersome and this sometimes detracts from the real action. Overall the kind of 'drag race lop sync' feel is not a bad one as this is a franchise seen all over the world. The nods to ball culture and voguing makes is easy to remember and make connection to. Personally there are too many 'bits'  - the two verses are totally different and the pre-chorus goes on a bit - although this is somewhat saved by the catchy and repetitive use of the title throughout. It's very memorable, but not always for positive reasons although I feel this has a big enough personality and enough identity to make its way into the final

ARTIST - Michael Ben David

SONG - I.M

WRITING/PRODUCTION CREDITS - Chen Aharoni, Lidor Saadia, Assi Tal

IRELAND 2022

The Irish Final was held on February 4th at the RTE TV Studios in Dublin during The Late Late Show, hosted by Ryan Tubridy. The winner was chosen by mix of televoting, professional jury and international with each part weighted equally. Going to Turin is Brooke with the song "That's Rich"

Brooke is from Derry, Northern Ireland, and studied Drama at Ulster University. Before her appearance on the Late Late Eurosong show, she had performed as support for Nathan Carter, been an extra in Game of Throne and Derry Girls but was also a contestant on The Voice UK in 2020. During that series she chose Meghan Trainor as her coach and eventually came 3rd in the competition. Most of her Instagram and TikTok videos are of her doing contemporary covers - pop with an r'n'b tint - but her Eurovision song is rather more in your face Gaga-ish dance pop.

The song begins with a infectious bassline which grab your attention straight away and relentlessly keeps the whole thing chugging along. The song has a pretty steady "verse into pre-chorus into chorus" setup which gets repeated twice. The chorus has the title repeated at the start of each line and gets in your head almost immediately. Just shy of the 2 minute mark the song takes a bit of a swerve with a spoken word/rap part which Brooke does in a OTT Valley Girl accent which then leads number of chorus repeats with a few slight tweaks to the tune.

Firstly I am going to address some of the visual aspects of the show and this entry. Yes, the staging limitations were many and the audio standard was not up to par. Although I appreciate the effort RTE have gone into making a national final, blowing any of these songs up to a Eurovision stage performance would require a lot of imagination. Brooke's show is youthful and has the right amount of attitude to come across well and not like a spoilt brat! I would love for her and her two dancers to take a leaf out of KaYra's book and do more together like they do in verse two. The outfits definitely need to go as it looks like the three of them have just got out of bed. That all said and done this was definitely the most individual and stand out song and performance on the night and will definitely get a lot of traction online. One a bigger staging this could looks small and lost so will need to think very carefully about the camera angles and any use of backdrop/props. Her voice can get a bit garbled, especially when she does the squeaky bits but hopefully she can rehearse this to keep the energy but keep it legible. I think she will be a great personality during the pre-party and media circles but will this song come across as characterful and youthful or will people think this is a bit cringey and rude? I feel like the whole thing has a lot of promise but the whole package needs rethinking. I suggest they had better start now.

ARTIST - Brooke

SONG - That's Rich

WRITING/PRODUCTION CREDITS - Brooke Scullion, Izzy Warner, Karl Zine

NORTH MACEDONIA 2022

The results of the North Macedonian selection "Za Evrosong" were revealed on February 4th. The songs were initially presented on January 28th where the voting window then opened. The winner was chosen by an equal split of online voting and an international jury. Going to Turin is Andrea with the song "Circles"

Andrea is a newcomer to the music scene with her first song being released at the end of 2020. At the age of 5 Andrea moved with her family to New York, became interested jazz and rhythm & blues which influenced her to sing and learn the guitar and piano. More recently, she posted short videos on Instagram when producer  Aleksandar Masevski stumbled across her posts and they started a collaboration. She was then encouraged to study singing at the Faculty of Music in Skopje  Her first song "I Know" has had more than 4 million views on TikTok.

The song follows a very simplistic structure. The first verse and chorus takes us to 1.20 and then Andrea starts to repeat the first verse again but with a slightly different melody and then segues into a slew of choruses until the very end. The backing track starts off rather minimal with just a piano but grows in intensity with a chirruping drum beat. The song sounds very familiar and he tune is a little predictable which is not always a bad thing when you are trying to get people to remember your song.

The lack of a proper live performance is a shame although the video shows she is able to look down the camera and connect with such a perceptive song. During the live but mimed version she keeps he eyes shut a lot which is a little limiting but not a deal breaker. Her voice is very distinctive with that vibrato during the end words and it will be interesting to see if she can replicate this live and keep the intensity of the voice over the whole range of the song. I feel like Andrea is not a dancer - not that this song needs that at all -  but she does move and emote a lot when singing and with some concentrated lighting and some directed looks down the camera her style could look effective on stage.  In Eurovision terms, this song reminds me of "Beautiful Mess" from Bulgaria a few years ago but would hope for a different visual outlook.  I would hazard a guess that the whole package is going to have some Billie Eilish type vibes and will probably we a very pared down, intimate performance. I could possibly image some kind of contemporary dancing at the side and maybe some circle-related animations on the back drop but Andrea needs to be the centre of attention. It's a great contemporary entry and I feel like this could stand out if the staging compliments the song.

ARTIST - Andrea

SONG - Circles

WRITING/PRODUCTION CREDITS - Andrea Koevska, Aleksandar Masevski

SPAIN 2022

The Spanish Final was held on January 29th at the Palau Municipal d’Esports l'Illa de Benidorm, hosted by Inés Hernand, Màxim Huerta & Alaska. Before the final of the invigorated "Benidorm Fest" there were two semi-finals with the top 4 in each semi-final qualifying. The qualifiers, and eventual winner, were chosen by a mixture of jury (50%), televote and demoscopic jury (25% each). Going to Turin is Chanel with "SloMo"

This Cuban born singer moved to Spain when she was just 3. From a young age she studied different performance styles and became involved with many different musical productions including The Lion King, Mamma Mia! and Flashdance. She has also helped choreograph routines for many Spanish TV shows but may well be most famous in her homeland for her role in the Spanish comedy series "Gym Tony"

The song starts with the sounds of cameras flashing and photos being taken and a rather basic bassline pumps up behind it. As Chanel starts singing the song beefs up immediately which really perks your ears up. The song follows a rather simplistic structure of verse-pre chorus-chorus which leads to a rather long instrumental where Chanel's epic dance solo fits in. After this is a slew of pre-choruses and choruses until the end. All in all is song is as much to do with the visual presentation and the dance routine than it is about the song..

Many people will rightly comment that this is riding on the coattails of the success Cyprus have had over the last few years with their Latino inspired bangers. This one even has a title ending with the letter O too. It does, however, have a tad more authenticity because this is a Spanish sounding song, sung mainly in Spanish and is the actual Spanish entry.  On the negative side the lyrics are rather cringeworthy, especially the mentions of "mami", "daddies", " booty" and "yummy" (other words ending in the *ee* sound are surely available?!?!?). Although this is still a song contest the performance quotient is very much there to sway the televoters and this has bags of character. The dance routine is outstanding and the costuming is simplistic but very effective (her semi outfit I think worked better than the one she wore in the final). In an odd way, the voracity of the dance routine and the prominence it is given almost justifies the use of recorded backing vocals. I feel that Chanel was somewhat lucky to win the national final, especially after the results were revealed, but I think this song would be much more accessible to an international audience than many of the other songs favoured by the internal televote. Chanel has great stage presence and the show as is just works. They would be LOCO to change it - they wouldn't dare... would they....?

ARTIST - Chanel

SONG - SloMo

WRITING/PRODUCTION CREDITS - Iberê Fortes, Keith Harris, Leroy Sanchez, SWACQ, Maggie Szabo

MOLDOVA 2022

The Moldovan Final was held on January 29th at the TRM TV Studios in Chisinau. Initially the this particular date was set to be the  'online audition day' followed by a with a national final proper in March but just a day before the auditions were held it was announced the selection would be wrapped up after the auditions show. The winning act and song, chosen solely by a jury was Zdob și Zdub & Frații Advahov with the song "Trenuletul" (The Train)

Zdob și Zdub are stalwarts of the Moldovan Eurovision experience. They were the nation's first ever act at Eurovision in 2005 coming in an impressive 6th place  They then returned in 2012 and came 12th. The band formed almost 30 years ago although the only original member from that formation is singer, Roman. They have a plethora of experience with many concerts and festivals behind them mostly throughout Moldova, Romania and the former Soviet states. Their style or music can mostly be filed under the 'ethno-rock' genre although their music has definite nods towards punk, folk and Balkan sounds. The Advhov Brothers are the founders of a folk orchestra which shares their name and have been bestowed with many Moldovan honors for their contribution and promotion of the Moldovan Folk tradition.

The song starts with a very jolly accordion earworm which dips in and out of the singing. I say singing, it is more like monotone chanting/rapping which actually contrasts quite well with the ever changing backing track. Roman's vocals are very strong and, albeit mostly in Romanian, his diction and intention is very clear. The distinction between the verses and choruses is very marked too especially with the introduction of a very basic dance routine between the two. After two rounds of verse-chorus there is a instrumental break before another round of the chorus. There is then a more frenetic instrumental break an rather more shouty verse concluding with one more roundel of the chorus. They certainly get a lot in for under 3 minutes! The whole atmosphere and relentless nature of the song even sounds like a train - even more so as some of the elongated yelps sound like train whistles.

This is true Balkan style although some might  hear some of the ska-like qualities of the fast and repetitive instrumentation.  The staging and costuming is very basic due to the rushed nature of the staging set up. The lead singer is joined on stage by 3 of his band mates and the two Advahov Brothers. They all seem to be having a great time and seem rather enthused despite the rather simplistic setup. All this plainness leaves the door open to wonder what the band and delegation could have in store for their Eurovision performance - their last two ESC attempts included a drum-playing grandma and a lady on a unicycle. This song will appeal greatly to the Balkan crowd but I also know that this will be fun and heartwarming to those who are not. This will go down BIG in the hall and will have everybody up and dancing (probably doing some kind of train-related conga). Everyone on stage has been doing this for long enough to know how to perform and how get the votes in.

ARTIST - Zdob și Zdub & Frații Advahov
SONG - Trenuletul (The Train)
WRITING/PRODUCTION CREDITS - Zdob și Zdub & Frații Advahov