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