BELGIUM 2023

The Belgian final "Eurosong 2023" was held on January 14th at Paleis 12 in Brussel and was presented by Peter Van de Veire. In the week leading up to the final, the seven acts performed their 2 potential entries in full then self selected their favourite to perform on the Saturday night final. The winner was chosen by a 50/50 split of televoting and jury ranking. Going to Liverpool is Gustaph singing "Because of You"

Stef Caers - also known under the pseudonyms of Steffen or Gustaph -  is a singer, musician, producer and singing teacher. Back in 2000 he released "Gonna Lose You" which placed number 22 on the Flemish Ultratop chart. He then released a small number of songs - solo and in collaboration-  but with less commercial success. From then on his focus shifted to production and songwriting but also kept up some stage work by playing piano and providing backing vocals for other acts and DJing.  In the mid 2010s he worked with the dance music group Hercules & Love Affair providing some vocals and writing credits on their album "The feast of the broken heart". He also currently teaches pop, rock and jazz courses at schools in his home town of Gent. Gustaph is no stranger to the Eurovision experience. He was a backing singer for both Sennek and Hooverphonic although both times he was off stage.

Gusaph is centre stage dressed in his trademark wide brimmed hat, an extremely frilly pink shirt and a black and pink patterned over jacket. His is backed by 2 singers (who had live mics) dressed in black who weave their way around the stage at different points and add real power to the song. Words from the lyrics are interspersed on the backdrop with shots of dancers in shadow and close ups of the artists. The song begins with a version of the chorus but under a pino backing. but soon this is joined by a '90s club beat and synthesized ear worm. The song follows a verse-pre chorus-chorus formula twice over before a slower bridge and then a final elongated chorus to finish. 

Gustaph's soulful voice suits this retro dance tune very well and performs the whole thing with gusto and confidence. He moves well although I feel his chorography could be a lot more over the top without straying too far away from his gestural moves. His sartorial choices are eye-catching if not a little odd but seemed rather tame compared to some of the other finalists on show. The whole concept could be easily worked on and I think the backdrop in particular is very apt to the sound and feel. The two backing singers add some well needed interaction. I almost feel like they should add more backing singers to the mix to really emphasise that ensemble approach. It also goes against the new notion of backing vocals on tape!

During the final Gustaph scored only 3rd with the juries but clear 2nd with the public vote, However, because of the way the other votes went he ended up winning the final by one point. The pre-final fan faves ended 3rd and 4th. There seemed much consternation at this 'accidental' win but the diversity of the finalist's songs were echoed in the distribution of all the votes. Gustaph had a solid and accessible performance. There is a familiarity to the genre and Gustaph also seems like a very likeable and talented person. One also needs to remember that the juries are now no longer voting in the semifinal. Having a solid audience score will probably be enough to qualify - and I hope it does too.

ARTIST - Gustaph

SONG - Because of you

WRITING/PRODUCTION CREDITS - Jaouad Alloul, Stef Caers

ALBANIA 2023

The Albanian final "Festivali i Këngës" was held on December 22nd at the Palace of Congress in Tirana, hosted by Arbana Osmani. In the days before the final there were two semi-finals which whittled down the field of 26 to 21. In a change to previous editions, although the winner of the festival was determined by the jury vote, the act going to Eurovision would be chosen solely by the SMS voting during the show. Going to Liverpool will be Albina and Familja Kelmendi with the song "Duje"(To Love)

Albina Kelmendi was born in Kosovo and performed with her family from a young ages and came to prominence during the 2014 edition of The Voice Albania where she was the runner up. She has released many songs as had collaborated with numerous Albanian artists over the years but it was only until 2022 when she released her first solo album. It was then announced that Albina, backed by five of her family members, would be participating in Festivali i Këngës

The song begins with Albina centre stage dressed in a black cloak and starts with what seems like a good 30 seconds of familial Albanian wailing. Underneath this the guitar starts revving up and the song finally starts proper. The drum beat keeps the song going through the verse which doesn't really go anywhere. However, the songs changes as the two older members of the family, dressed in white, start on the chorus - a much more memorable part of the song. There is then a brief instrumental accompanied by some simplistic shimmying before another rendition of the verse. We then have an elongated final chorus with Albina becoming very impassioned and finishing the song knelt down on the floor.

This entry caters very well for the home-based FiK audience but as an outsider this song is rather impenetrable. For me, the song only gets going during the repetition of the chorus and that is far too late. The song is on the cusp of the 3 minute mark - rather short compared to many entries chosen from FiK -  so this bodes well for a sympathetic glow up. It needs a clearer direction musically although the use of the orchestra during the festival can give songs a different sound compared to the studio version. It also needs to be much more striking visually with more made of the family aspect of the act and the song, Many of the other members on stage looked scared and unsure on stage and maybe more definite staging would help e.g. the hand movement during the chorus really makes the group look and feel like a cohesive unit. It has already been confirmed the song will stay in Albanian which is a smart move. This song has hints of promise but right now lacks clear direction and personality. 

For me this song is all about that chorus. Shorten the warbling at the start and make the second verse shorter, there might be more space to add more parts of the chorus and make a bigger feature at the end. Unfortunately Albania has a habit of ruining its Eurovision songs either in the revamp/shortening process or by making the stage show more complicated. This song is currently too muddled and takes too many listens to become familiar enough to remember. That all said, there is something charming and lovely about a family performing together. I hope it can be pulled together to make something more notable.

ARTIST - Albina and Familja Kelmendi

SONG - Duje (To Love)

WRITING/PRODUCTION CREDITS - Enis Mullaj, Eriona Rushiti

UKRAINE 2023

The Ukrainian final "Vidbir" was held on December 17th at Maidan Nezalezhnosti Metro Station in Kyiv, hosted by Timur Miroshnichenko, Kateryna Pavlenko and Zlata Ognevich. The winner was chosen by a 50-50 mix of jury and audience vote. Going to Liverpool will be Tvorchi with the song "Heart Of Steel"

Andrii Hutsulyak and Geoffrey Kenny have been working as the group Tvorchi - sometimes stylised as TVORCHI - since they met as students at university. Their first song was released in 2017. Since then they have participated in song competitions and have 4 albums to date. In 2020 they participated in Vidbir with the song "Bonfire" and in 2021 they won three YUNA awards

Although the national final was set in an underground metro station the production values were first rate. Andrii with a keyboard was on one side of the stage while Geoffrey was stood slightly obscured in the gaps between four large projection screens. After the first verse and chorus they are joined on stage by two dancers wearing boiler suits and stylistic gas masks. There is then another verse followed by an elongated chorus repeating the title of the songs and then the song just kind of ends.
This entry makes for an interesting addition to the final. The visual identity of the song - incorporating the visuals, lighting and outfits - is good but could be made even stronger.  The use of projections, in particular with the dancers, is very clever and could easily be scaled up for the Eurovision final. In fact I feel like they broke the magic of this trick far too early and could be extended to add even more optical illusions. I also suspect they many need to tone down or change some of their more pointed symbolism such as the children in gas masks.

This has such a different feel from the more folky-inspired numbers of Kalush Orchestra and GO_A however this vibe is possibly more contemporary and indicative of a more RnB feel. Personally I found this song very hard to get into and remember although many people in the ESC community have had some very strong immediate feels for this song too. That said after a few weeks of bedding this the song has very much grown on me. Part of me wishes that the song was either a little quicker or progressed musically a little more than it does. The song is also quite short at just over the 2;30 mark. I am not hinting that they should mess around with the structure of the song but something somewhere could be added but I am not sure what. It's going to be quite the moment when it appears in the final.

ARTIST - Tvorchi
SONG - Heart Of Steel
WRITING/PRODUCTION CREDITS - Andreas Stone Johansson, Sebastian Schub, Thomas Stengaard, Anderz Wrethov