GEORGIA 2023

The Georgian song was revealed on March 16th via the premiere of the official music video on youtube. Their representative, however, was selected through the fifth season of The Voice Georgia, which concluded with a final on 2nd February. Winning the ticket to Liverpool is Iru and her song is called "Echo".

Irina Khechanovi is 22 years old and is from Tblisi. She first came to prominence as a member of the girl group Candy who won the 2011 edition of  Junior Eurovision. In 2019, Khechanovi was a participant in Georgian Idol which would choose their Eurovision representative but she was eliminated early on. Iru returned to the jESC stage in 2022 as part of a previous winners' medley but also co-wrote the song "I Believe" by Mariam Bigvava, the Georgian entry for that year's contest.

The video is full of slow-motion dancing and movement twinned with lots of floaty twisting fabric shots with each style or type in a different colour.. We begin with a shortened the chorus which is definitely the most memorable part of the song.  At the first verse starts the backing track is rather sparse and any instrumentation is rather high and tinny almost. As the chorus comes back, in the backing changes into something more expansive and lower in the range. Verse two is rather disjointed and is more a repetition on certain lines interspaced with scatting and is followed by another chorus. Just before the last rendition of the chorus there is a short bridge which almost feels like the only 'normal' part of the song. This is followed by some vocalising before the last chorus which ends again the with scatting refrain. 

This song is underpinned with ethnic drum beats and percussion and has a very Georgian jazzy-ethereal-eastern feel. I feel like this song is more about the soundscape rather than the song having a big meaning. I say this as Iru's voice has a very distinctive timbre and sometimes I feel you listen to the voice and tune rather than the words. Her voice is well embedded into the mix and I sense the song will have a very different dynamic when performed live. The second verse in particular might be quite tricky to fully perform live so it will be interesting to see how the singing and scatting is divided up between Iru, the backing track and/or backing vocalists on stage. Also, on looking at the lyrics, they have meaning but not necessarily in a grammatical sense. Oddly the name of the song does not appear in the text.

The video nods to what the show might look like and can imagine some of this being used on the back drops. Maybe there will be some clever fabric wafting by the dancers or for those who remember the song "Izin kórem" from Turkvision, I can imagine some clever windography! The instrumental of this song is really pretty and I hope that this is appreciated by those voting. This style of song will definitely appeal to the Caucasus regions but I am not 100% who else will especially as some of the words seem a little non-sensical. This is another song which I feel will be recognised more by juries than televoters and so could find itself in a dangerous position trying to get into the final. Georgia does not have the diaspora of other countries so could find itself at a disadvantage. This definitely has a place at Eurovision but I don't think this will be up there at the end.

ARTIST - Iru

SONG - Echo

WRITING/PRODUCTION CREDITS - Beni Kadagidze, Irina Khechanovi, Giga Kukhianidze

ARMENIA 2023

The Armenian song was revealed on March 15th via the premiere of the official music video on youtube. At the beginning of February, the Armenian broadcaster AMPTV announced that Brunette had been internally selected as their representative. The song she will be singing is "Future lover". 

Elen Yeremyan (aka Brunette) has been singing since the age of four and has written music since her teens. She released her debut single September 2019 and has since released songs in English and Armenian. As well as her solo work, she is also a member of Project 12 and part of the girl group En Aghjiknery. Brunette was part of the Armenian jury judging the songs of the Junior Eurovision held in December 2022. She is mostly described as a soul and R&B singer.

The song starts immediately with a very harmonised first verse. Her voice is very quiet, seems slightly high in her register and almost feels spoken. Underneath the singing is just a gentle piano tune. There is then another part which is probably a verse but has nothing in common with the previous one. This contains the name of the song. By the end of this you can feel the texture of the music start to increase. We then have the main refrain where you can definitely hear the orchestra more clearly. We then enter the long rap phase where her voice is much sparkier and, in the video, she looks much more animated. There is a short pause before returning to the orchestrated refrain then followed by another refrain this time in Armenian. The song ends with a the crescendo of the orchestra followed by a few small low piano notes. 

This is an odd song. Unlike some of this year's entries which mix up genres, this is a mis-match of odds and ends. I concede that his might have some contemporary appeal and does feel like one of those chop and change TikTok videos where one thing suddenly looks or sounds different - but through the lens of a three minute Eurovision song. I feel like this song is designed more towards a younger audience and one has to wonder if a) they will be watching and b) they will be compelled to vote. The video is lacklustre and feels cheap . Her main video outfit is odd and doesn't really go with the song and her looks to camera give me 'go girl give us nothing' vibes. Ironically she seems most animated at the word 'panic attack' which is not the best of looks. I also don't get the imagery of the bells on the stage as they are not on the track nor in the lyrics and feel like they they are there for decoration and to give Brunette something else to do.

I worry about which part the delegation will put in the recap clip because the chorus is lifeless, the rap is rather standard and the start has cringeworthy lyrics. The text in general is a little awkward and I personally find them a little embarrassing. In particular, the refrain of "I decide to be good, do good, look good" makes me reel off a big list of questions about why she feels the need to do this or what 'good' looks and feels like. On a positive note, the instrumental underneath the refrain sounds really nice but is wasted on such trite lyrics. In fact the Armenian refrain at the very end is probably the most beautiful part of this song. Shame it also coincides with the end. The song and video leave me with more questions than answers and I can only hope something more imaginative comes to the stage.

ARTIST - Brunette

SONG - Future lover

WRITING/PRODUCTION CREDITS - Nare Manukyan, Elen Yeremyan

AZERBAIJAN 2023

The Azeri song was revealed on March 13th via the premiere of the official music video on youtube. A few days earlier, the Azerbaijan state broadcaster İctimai Television announced that the act TuralTuranX had been internally selected as their representative. Their song is called "Tell me more"

TuralTuranX is a duo consisting of twin brothers Tural and Turan Bağmanov from Zaqatala in northwest Azerbaijan. After being introduced to the piano at school, their father bought them a second hand synthesizer. This then progressed to both brothers learning to play the guitar. Tural later moved to the capital Baku and founded the band TheRedJungle however Turan would also sometimes perform with them.

The song begins with a answerphone conversation which sets up an interesting point of view to the song. Unusually the song then begins with the chorus which has a very simplistic guitar riff and drum beat under a melancholic vocal. This then runs into the first verse which feels more like a spoken word chant than singing. Although a little staccato it contrasts nicely to the choruses that sandwich this part of the song. After the second chorus there is an instrumental break which builds up nicely to the second verse which is much more melody driven than the first - but is still as wordy. This then elongates into a melodious bridge which brings the mood down a little to a quieter rendition of the chorus to a nostalgic end. 

The song has a clear identity - albeit not the identity you might first associate with Azerbaijan! It's interesting that after using Swedish songwriters for most of their entries, the one year they use home grown songwriters they enter something very very British! The film clip is also rather well made, especially at the end where it feel like the boys are performing in a small club... maybe even the Cavern Club. The retro styling of this part would also go down a treat too. It would be nice to have this intimate feel to their stage show too, although Azerbaijan doing understated is not what they are known for!

This song is a wistful ditty with a knowing nod the the city the contest is taking place in. In fact I am rather surprised that this is the only obvious entry that seems to have actively taken inspiration from the Beatles and/or Britpop (depending on your age and genre of preference). On first listen it really feels like it should/could have been Circus Mircus under a(nother) pseudonym. Although I like this as a song, I fear that a live version may well be challenging to perform. It would be nice to know how the brothers divide up the singing on the song. Being twins, singing together will sound rather melodious, fitting in with the style of song, but as some of the lines are so very fast it may well be better to take parts in turn. With that all out the way, it needs to be said that this is is really not a competitive entry. There is no real immediate hook and may well get drowned out by all the other more character driven entries around it. A lovely song, a sentimental song but maybe not a Eurovision song.

ARTIST - TuralTuranX

SONG - Tell me more

WRITING/PRODUCTION CREDITS - Nihad Aliyev, Tural Baghmanov, Turan Baghmanov Tunar Taghiyev

GREECE 2023

The Greek song was revealed on March 12th via the premiere of the official music video on youtube. At the end of January the Greek broadcaster ERT, announced that Victor Vernicos had been internally selected as their representative. However due to a legal challenge over the transparency of the internal selection and the Greek rail tragedy the premiere was put off longer than expected. The song he will be singing is "What they say".

 

Victor Vernicos Jørgensen was born in Athens to a Danish father and a Greek mother. He started piano lessons at the age of four, singing lessons at eight,  guitar lessons at ten and began writing his own songs at the age of eleven. He has also been overseeing the production of his own music, attending Music Technology courses.  Most of this releases have been in English. In 2021 he released his first song in which he wrote music, lyrics but also produced it himself and has been taking voice and performance lessons with Nina Lotsari. He is set to be Greece's youngest Eurovision representative ever.

 

The song starts with Victor singing the first verse over the top of an atmospheric strumming guitar. As it runs into the pre-chorus a similarly atmospheric piano comes in too. The chorus is much more motivating and the drum beat comes in at almost double time, Victor's voice also goes from croaky and low to something a bit more open and tuneful. The driving beat continues through verse two but comes out again during the pre-chorus. There then begins two back-to-back choruses. The first starts with the atmospheric guitars then the slightly low down beat. The second has a stompy 'we will rock you' clap-along vibe to the finish.

This song has some contemporary appeal. His voice, especially the lower parts, is reminiscent of George Ezra while the music of the chorus takes a lot of influence from "Castle on the hill" by Ed Sheeran. I almost feel like this song would normally stand out as a Eurovision entry as well as be something that could easily be slipped in on any contemporary radio station. It is a little unclear from the video how much personality is going to come through to the tv screens - especially in the 100% televote semi final. Most of the video is spent sitting down, bending over, looking away from the camera and being a little too over-expressive in the arms. Finally, his main video outfit with the boots and shorts seems a rather odd choice.

There are, unfortunately for Victor, already a glut of male guitar-led ballads at this year's contest and with this one being one of the last to reveal, I am feeling some fatigue. To stand out betwixt all the other ballads and rock entries will require a lot of thought; to their credit Greece does have a decent record of providing interesting staging. I feel like this needs to go fully introvert until the final minute where it can kind of explode. I also hope he can actually emote clearly down the camera to the point where he doesn't effect his vocals. On the track they seem very produced and I will be very interested to see how this song sounds and feels with live vocals. If he is very good, I would love even more to see a pared down approach in order to show this off.

ARTIST - Victor Vernicos 

SONG - What they say

WRITING/PRODUCTION CREDITS - Vaggelis Gialamas, Kostas Kalimeris, Steve Sovolos, Victor Vernicos Jørgensen

PORTUGAL 2023

The Portuguese final "Festival da Canção 2023" was held on March 11th at the RTP TV Studios in Lisbon, hosted by long standing presenters Filomena Cautela and Vasco Palmeirim. Before the final there were two semi-finals where 6 songs qualified from each. However due to a technical problem in semi 1 an extra wildcard place was awarded. The winner was chosen by a 50-50 mix of jury and televoting. Going to Eurovision is Mimicat  singing "Ai Coração" (Oh, heart)

Marisa Isabel Lopes Mena - aka Mimicat - has been singing and writing since very young. Aged just 15, under the stage name Izamena, she participated in Festival da Canção 2001 but did not make it to the final. In 2009 she graduated in Sound and Image from the Escola Superior de Artes e Design das Caldas da Rainha. Her debut album "For you" came out in 2014 and this also produced her first single.  She has 2 studio albums and 6 singles under her belt, mostly in the English language. She has performed at many Portuguese and Brazilian festivals and has been affectionately named “The Amy Winehouse of the Tagus". Her style is described as pop, R&B and soul.

Mimicat is joined on stage by four dancers and a leather sofa. She is wearing a black dress with a red detailing on the back and front while the dancers are wearing Latin American inspired outfits with a slight nod to flamenco. The backdrop chops and changes between black, blue red and pink but most noticeably there is a heart shape with moving cogs on the inside. The song starts with a slow dramatics first verse sung on the sofa and uses some nice 'from above' camera angles. The backing starts off intermittently and more as punctuation but then comes in full throttle at almost breakneck syncopated speed. This continues into the chorus and out the other end with an elongated instrumental. Then follows another verse and chorus followed by a less frenetic instrumental break. The final chorus starts off just with a flamenco style guitar but soon builds up to the big finish and the lights going out.

This song really oozes personality. Mimicat, and her band of dancers, do a great job of bringing attitude, sass and the Sally Bowles energy. The song has a pounding beat which is also very waveable and clapable. There is certainly nothing like this this year. It feels Portuguese but not overly so. Without the words one might think this Spanish and with the instrumental it seems a little bit French. Mimicat's voice has a distinct timbre and although one may not understand what she is saying she is extremely emotive and has a great chemistry down the camera. It is a simple yet effective show that people may find an affinity with.

There is, however, a lot going on - one may even say too much. Between the different camera angles, the constant movement and the ever-changing lighting, it feels rather in your face. I feel that changing the background colours so they are not the same as the colours of the costume would help. As much as I love the dancers' outfits, I like Mimicat's less. I feel like the shape of the outfit either needs to be smaller and more fitted or be totally over the top. I also wonder if the larger space in the arena will help differentiate everything on stage more, even though I quite like the small, tight nature of the setting. Also, I wish they would make more use of the overhead camera angles as it really does give the act a distinct look and feel. My instinct tells me this will stand out, especially in the voting recap, but as to if the song compels people to vote - I am unsure. For those who get to the end and feel the need to bravo, they will vote for it. I feel that is this did get to the final, the jury will bump up its places.

ARTIST - Mimicat

SONG - Ai Coração

WRITING/PRODUCTION CREDITS - Marisa Mena, Luis Pereira

SWEDEN 2023

The Swedish final "Melodifestivalen" was held at the Friends Arena in Stockholm on March 11th, hosted by Jesper Rönndahl and Farah Abadi. Before the final there were 5 semi-finals held at different location around the country. The winner was chosen by an equal weighting of international juries and public vote. Going to Liverpool is Eurovision 2012 winner Loreen with "Tattoo".

Lorine Zineb Nora Talhaoui was born in Stockholm, Sweden, but spent most of her early life in Västerås. Loreen became known after taking part in the Swedish Idol 2004 eventually coming 4th. As well as singing opportunities, she also worked in front and behind the camera on numerous TV shows. Loreen then took part in Melodifestivalen 2011 with "My Heart Is Refusing Me", getting to Andra Chansen. The next year she returned with "Euphoria" which won Eurovision 2012 in Baku. She then reappeared at Melodifestivalen in 2017 with "Statements" but once again did not progress past the Andra Chansen round. Outside of ESC she has embarked on several tours, headlined the Vienna Life Ball, has released 2 albums and many more non-album one-off singles Loreen has also been an ambassador of the Swedish Committee for Afghanistan, a patron of the World's Children's Prize and recently performed at a live fundraising gala in support of Ukraine.

The staging is rather simplistic but is a rather large technical feat. Loreen starts lying on the floor with a large led screen suspended from the roof and millimetres from her body. As the song goes on Loreen dances around on the floor slowly 'pushing' the screen upwards. The colour palette is a kind of sandy beige colour which is mirrored in her outfit and the smoke colour. The first verse is very softly spoken but sung with intent. During he pre-chorus the song starts to get stronger vocally and in terms of instrumentation. The tune also starts increasing in tone up the scale. The chorus has a very repetitive and earwormy melody. This procedure is repeated again but in the second chorus the beat is really pounding. The song then regroups for a small bridge before exploding again for the final rendition of the chorus ending in the title of the song.

The name "Loreen" itself is enough to get the votes in. People will be expecting a 'Euphoria 2.0' and although this is different enough to not be called a copycat, there are definite similarities. In typical Loreen style this is a performance and singing masterclass. Loreen has the ability to sing and perform the simplest things and make it into an art form - however this does not mean I don't take issue with parts of it.

This is an entry of three parts. Firstly - Loreen herself. She is a known name, and a famous - nay game changing - winner of the contest.  People will marvel at her theatricality as well as her vocal prowess.  That all said, I wish Loreen would pronounce her words a little more during the chorus and pre-chorus as sometimes it can feel like just a wall of noise. Also I would like Loreen to put a little more finesse to her dance moves e.g. pointing her toes, curving her back. Secondly - the song. It is nothing particularly special - it is more to do which who is singing it. There have already been comparisons between the tune of this and ABBA's "The winner takes it all" which I feel is rather noticeable. Finally - the staging. There are big questions as to whether the "led ceiling" would be allowed or even viable in the Liverpool arena. I feel like the idea would work without the prop with some other lighting cues or even some interesting camera angles e.g. upside down or viewed from above. One would have to be very cynical not to think this stands a big chance of winning.

ARTIST - Loreen

SONG - Tattoo

WRITING/PRODUCTION CREDITS - Peter Boström, Thomas G:son, Jimmy Jansson, Jimmy Joker, Cazzi Opeia, Loreen Talhaoui

ITALY 2023

The Italian final "73º Festival della Canzone Italiana di Sanremo" was held over 5 nights with the final on February 11th. The main hosts of the event were Amadeus, who also served as the artistic director for the competition, multiple Sanremo participant Gianni Morandi as well as multiple special guests hosts over the festival. Over the 5 nights different votes were held including a press vote, a demoscopic jury vote and public televoting. When all the votes had been combined, the top 5 songs then participated in a superfinal where just the televote would decide the winner. The morning after the festival the winner announced they would be participating in Eurovision. However  the song he would sing was not confirmed as the entry until 13th March. Going to Liverpool is Italy's 2013 participant Marco Mengoni with his Sanremo song "Due Vite" (Two lives).

Marco Mengoni started taking singing lessons at 14 and sang in a five-piece vocal group. He enrolled in a degree in Languages in Rome but also performed in piano bars and weddings whilst also gaining experience as a sound mixer and as a music programmer. in 2009, Marco won Italian X Factor receiving a recording contract and a place in the Sanremo Music Festival 2010 where he eventually came 3rd. He returned to Sanremo in 2013 winning the festival with "L'essenziale" then coming a credible 7th at  Eurovision in Malmö. Over the past 13 years he has released 7 studio albums and won multiple MTV music awards.

On stage at Sanremo, Marco is alone although the orchestra is on either side. The staging is very still and the prominent colours are blue and white. The song starts with piano backing and Marco's vocals are staccato, almost spoken. In the pre chorus his vocal becomes stronger and as each line raises up a tone it creates some anticipation for the chorus. Here, the chorus returns to being more ethereal and strings based and is extremely complex in structure but ends noticeably with the title of the song. On the start of verse two there is a audible beat which runs into the pre chorus. The chorus once again loses the beat and returns to its string filled backing. This chorus runs a little short and runs into an oddly phrased bridge before returning one last time to a shortened chorus then title of the song is repeated at the very end.

As with many Italian language ballads the song is dynamic and dramatic. The music ebbs and flows and the lyrics can be drawn out or packed in quickly. This makes for an interesting sound journey. Marco's voice really shines with this style of song although he will need to think about playing not just to the audience in front of him but down the camera as well - unless they have some other visual technique for the audience to focus on. They may need something to hang the narrative on such as a dancer or dancers portraying the story or some kind of video loop playing it out.

The main thing the Italian delegation have to struggle with is that this song is almost a minute too long. The introduction isn't even that long, nor the outro, so finding cuts to this song may well be monumental. Unfortunately we have experienced so many songs from Sanremo, and its Albanian counterpart, that have been been cut so badly that the heart of the song has been ripped out. resulting in some acts' hopes of qualifying/winning going down the drain. I honestly do not know which parts of this song they can take away or shorten without harming its chances. I am guessing that as the Italian delegation did not replace the song - which they did say was a possibility -that some way of concentrating the song, rather than diluting it, has been found. I don't think this will be a winner but will be an all round class act on stage.

ARTIST - Marco Mengoni

SONG - Due Vite

WRITING/PRODUCTION CREDITS -  Edd, Marco Mengoni, Davide Petrella,  Davide Simonetta

UNITED KINGDOM 2023

The British song and act were both  revealed on March 9th via an announcement on the Zoe Ball Breakfast show on Radio 2.  Here, the BBC announced that Mae Muller had internally selected as the UK's representative. The song she will sing in Liverpool is called "I wrote a song".

Muller grew up listening to an eclectic mix of music from The Dixie Chicks, Gwen Stefani and Simon & Garfunkel. Mae started writing her own music at the age of eight and later attended Fine Arts College in Belsize Park. Her first claim to fame was being cast in the video for "Grace Kelly" by Mika. After college, she uploaded songs SoundCloud and Instagram where she was then discovered by her manager. Her debut extended play "After Hours" was released in February 2018, and her debut album "Chapter 1" came out in 2019. She has supported Little Mix on tour and, of late, has collaborated on songs with Marshmello, Sigala and Neiked - the latter of these became part of a TikTok challenge.

The first verse in quite softly sang and this is mirrored in the backing track, this continues through the pre-chorus which ends with an echo and sets up the chorus really well. The chorus is repetitive in its lyric, Mae has a quiet fierceness in her delivery and the backing track in maintained. This then ends with the 'da-da-da' refrain which creates a buffer to the next verse but also maintains the playful take on the subject matter. This the procedure is repeated again, albeit with some slight Spanish embellishments in the backing track and then the song almost shuts down. Mae then starts a short spoken word part before the song builds up for the final chorus which end with the name of the song.

This is a great example of a modern British pop song. It has a good beat, a simple structure and plenty of personality. The meaning of the song is pretty universal, although I will admit I was a little concerned that the song lyrics might be a little too negative but actually their delivery is smoother and less angsty than I envisaged. The chorus is a very well crafted piece of work; you end up getting the name of the title three times in one chorus without being too in your face. This is strengthened by the use of simple but useful rhymes. I hope Mae's live show will emphasise the the power and catchiness of the song. It is in essence a simple song and should not be too taxing to sing. I would like the delivery to stay simple and not be an excuse for Mae to include vocal gymnastics to the mix. I also hope there is a slightly better dance routine than that in the video.

I love the 'pack mentality' show in the film clip. My favourite part is when everyone is outside the house holding hands and running away. I can absolutely imagine Mae and her dancers having a quiet kiki about her ex and then exploding into a fun dance routine. It would be a nice way of making it a very solo singing performance but also making it a very cohesive group stage show. I am expecting this to be quite dynamic and considering there is a real lack of girl groups in this years show a show of 'girl power' would also be a strong motif. I feel like the song will go down very well in the hall but the on-stage team will need to ensure she comes across well down the camera and compels people to vote.

ARTIST - Mae Muller

SONG - I wrote a song

WRITING/PRODUCTION CREDITS - Mae Muller, Alfred Parx, Karen Poole, Lewis Thompson

ISRAEL 2023

The Israeli song was revealed on March 8th via the premiere of the official music video on youtube. Way ack in July  KAN, the Israeli broadcaster, announced that Noa Kirel had been internally selected as their representative. Her song is called "Unicorn".

Noa Kirel is from Ra'anana, Israel, and has two older brothers. In 2015 she performed her first song on YouTube named "Medabrim?". Her second release on line called "Killer" caused a stir due to the provocative video clip (she would have been 13). In 2016, she won the award "Singer of the Year" at the Israeli Kids' Choice Awards. In 2017, Kirel began hosting the "Lipstar" musical program on kidZ, and featured in the movie "Nearly Famous". In 2018 she became cone of the judges on Israel's Got Talent albeit still being a teenager. All in all she has scored four number 1 songs in Israel and numerous film, tv and presenting roles.

The song begins with a classical intro before petering out to a very low key backing track and Noa's voice takes centre stage. The song then progresses to the chorus and becomes quite stark and serious and dramatic which is a bit weird because the words coming out of her mouth really aren't! Verse two comes in and goes back to a more poppier bassline and before going into the chorus we have the repetitive 'phenomenal' refrain. The chorus here is shorter but the full force of beat and the strings fits in better than the first time round. There is another refrain before the song disintegrates once more, this time into shouts about dancing, a long instrumental and a final few chants of the name of the song.

This song, and its video, seems to be a collection of bits. These bits don't 100% flow into each other but sometimes this creates unusual balances and makes you more intrigued. On the whole the song stops and starts and fails to get going. These stops and starts will be interesting to see live as many of these will sound different and have a different energy. If she can do all of this live it is going to sound amazing. In addition the last half a minute being an effective dance break will be interesting live. Also she is rather chameleon-like in her appearance and I think there are a couple of looks she could use live. I would love to see her wearing something athletic, like the dance gear she wears at the end. I suspect there may be some kind of costuming reveal from one thing to another, possibly for the dance break at the end. Choosing a part for the vote recap will also be an interesting decision because different people will like/remember different parts of the song and not all of it can fit in a 20 second recap.

If I had any critque for the potential show it would be that Noa needs to be a little more positive facially. During the video she seems a little emotionless and almost little bit standoffish. Maybe being in front  off a live audience may make her personality shine a bit more I would imagine Noa being right on target for getting the younger generation vote but girls in particular would want something more engaging, fun, personal and relatable. I also think that for older viewers this attitude also might come across negatively. For such a modern song to appeal outside its bracket she will need to butter the public at home up. She may also need to rethink the 'hand to the head' gesture as it might lead to something a little more... vulgar... If she can sing and dance at the same time she will be showing off some epic skills, it would be a shame for a perceived aloofness to cost her votes

ARTIST - Noa Kirel

SONG - Unicorn

WRITING/PRODUCTION CREDITS - Noa Kirel, Doron Medali, May Sfadia, Yinon Yahel

AUSTRIA 2023

The Austrian song was revealed on March 8th via the premiere of the official music video on youtube and it's first play on Radio Ö3. On 31 January, ORF announced during the radio show Ö3-Wecker, that they had internally selected Teya & Salena to represent Austria in Liverpool. Their song is called "Who the hell is Edgar?"

Teya and Salena - Teodora Špirić and Selina-Maria Edbauer - met in 2021 when they were both contestants on the long running Austrian talent show Starmania. Salena had previously been on The Voice of Germany and was part of Samu Haber's team. Co-incidentally both of them had applied to represent Austria at ESC before their meeting. Teya made a submission under the name Thea Devy in 2020 with "Judgement Day". When this bid failed she then submitted this same song to the Serbian selection and came 10th in their national final with "Sudnji dan". Salena applied in 2019 with the song "Behind the Waterfall".

The song starts with a spoken intro before the beat clicks in. The bassline is quite funky but still straightforward. The verse is very staccato almost spoken then a rather spiritual, almost choral, section comes in before the repetitive 'Poe Poe Poe' chorus. This runs straight into the next verse where the girls' voices seem to be stronger, maybe even slightly angry, and the delivery certainly is more punchy. Once more the chorus comes in followed by the choral part again but this time still with the backing track behind it. This then makes way for a slightly sinister bridge with the repetition of the numbers. Finally the chorus and choral part are sang together before a final choral refrain and a farewell remark of the title of the song. 

This song is just plain madness. The lyrics are fun, if not slightly barmy, the video is bordering on absurd but the refrains are so very catchy. The song is quirky and rather unexpected which could throw a lot of people off but will also keep some people's attention from start to finish, for good or for bad! The hooks are so easy to catch and the use of a person's name - who most people will have at least heard of - is a clever trick. Whether on not people pick up on the digs about the music industry, the mechanics of song writing and the inability for artists to survive on the paltry remuneration from streaming services, it is a song that works on numerous levels.

On the other side there are concerns about the way this could be performed live. Will they bring in any of the themes in the video or will it be something brand new? How are they going to sing his live? Will they actually be able to sing the chorus? Will they have live backing singers? I would hope, after the floods of positivity after the video reveal, that some aspects of this are involved e.g. the typewriter (I can imagine the words being types on the backdrop), the 70s outfits at the start or even some of the additional cast members. The dance routine is a must to stay! This song has been eagerly awaited and I feel like this song is going to big, in particular this song is made for tiktok. No matter how successful this song may by in Liverpool, this will happily be revisited every year henceforth.

ARTIST - Teya & Salena

SONG - Who the hell is Edgar?

WRITING/PRODUCTION CREDITS - Selina Edbauer, Ronald Janeček, Pele Loriano, Teodora Spiric

SWITZERLAND 2023

The Swiss song was revealed on March 7th via the premiere of the official music video on you tube. Two weeks earlier, the Swiss broadcaster SRG announced that Remo Ferrer had been internally selected as their entrant. His song is called "Watergun".

Remo Forrer is from Hemberg St Gallen, a mostly German speaking area of  north Switzerland. As a child he played the flute, accordion, piano and took  singing lessons. He then began playing the piano and singing. In 2020 he won The Voice of Switzerland and in April of the same year, he released his winning single Home , which was written by his team coach on the show Noah Veraguth. In July 2022 he appeared on the RTL television show "I can see your voice" and was introduced as an estate agent.

The music video has Remo walking around an abandoned building. The colour palette is muted, foggy with flashes of red. At the end he walks into a wall of sparks and comes out the other end into a green field The song begins with a piano intro which is almost classical in its playing. Remo starts with the first verse which is unexpectedly low in its tone and gets even lower during the pre-chorus. The chorus is a little higher in his register and is repetitive in the lyrics and is accompanied by some strings. The piano introduction concludes the chorus and on the start of verse two there is a slow but prominent beat which vamps up in the pre-chorus. During the chorus it increases more and has almost a  military snare drum feel. The song them momentary drops the beat for for the build up tot he final lines which include the title of the song and repeats the piano played at the very start.

This song isn't breaking any new ground. The most interesting thing about this entry is the distinctive quality of Remo's voice in the verses - his face and his voice don't quite go together! The video is rather basic really especially as the words are rather visceral and the video is rather generic. He could literally be singing about anything if you had it on mute. The song is not particularly spectacular and the video does nothing to inspire one's imagination about a possible stage show. The more I listen, the more I am reminded of Hungary's entry in 2016 "Pioneer" which is similar in tune but not theme. I also don't like the way he over-exaggerates the 'er' sound on the end of the words 'soldier' and 'water' but maybe these may sound different when live.

When I first heard this song I was kind of speechless - and not in a good way. Maybe the writers thought this was allegorical enough, metaphorical enough - seeing war through the lens of a boy play fighting. However, when you have repeated trigger words such as war, real blood, tanks, guns, bullets and body bags the negative connotations these words have instantly taint the song also in a negative light. There have been plenty of Eurovision songs that have contained warlike imagery or been about conflict but all of these have had some tact and empathy, Yes, I understand that this is full of anti-war rhetoric but many people will be watching this show to get away from the woes in the world for a few hours and this 3 minutes basically sucks the life out of that escapism. This may chime strongly with some people, but not me.

ARTIST - Remo Ferrer

SONG - Watergun

WRITING/PRODUCTION CREDITS - Ashley Hicklin, Pele Loriano, Tom Oehler, Argyle Singh, Tribbs

SERBIA 2023

The Serbian final "Pesma za Evroviziju '23" was held on March 4th at the RTS TV Studios in Belgrade presented by Dragana Kosjerina and Milan Maric. On the two nights before the final there were two semis, 8 songs qualifying from each. The final result equally combined SMS voting and a jury score. Going to Liverpool is Luke Black with song "Samo mi se spava" (I'm just sleepy).

Luka Ivanović started his interest in music at the age of 12 when he started writing his own lyrics and later began creating and producing music. He then moved to Belgrade to study but also to learn more about the music business. In 2014, Black released his first single "Nebula Lullaby" and an EP followed this up the next year. One of his next songs "Demons" was also nominated to the internal selection process to represent Serbia in 2016. He has also embarked on a solo tour of China and performed as part of Berlin Alternative Fashion week. 

The stage show for this is very different. At the start Luke is reclining on what looks like a decayed white leaf podium and in front to him are four dancers that by thick tubing to the back of the stage. The choreography is very jerky and robotic. The backdrop has lines from the song as well as a rather strange crustacean-cum-swiss army knife computerised character. Luke himself is wearing a floaty white shirt with black trousers. He starts singing verse one from on the white plinth., which has a prominent piano backing. On sitting up the song moves into a short instrumental which has a very tinny over synthesised feel, almost to point where it feels distorted and dizzy. From here the chorus kicks in which has a great beat emphasised by the dancers. The next verse is in Serbian and leads once more into the distorted instrumental, which this time almost feels off key, and back into the chorus. From here there is a small refrain where Luke unhooks the cords from the dancers and they dance freely during the final chorus. We finish with the title of the song and the words ENEMY DEFEATED on the backdrop.

On the plus side this has a visual and aural identity like nothing else we've seen this year. The subject matter of the song is menacing and dark and the setting is stark and interesting. One might say the lighting in particular is too dark and I personally would like to see more of his face because he is very expressive. His vocal is quite whispery, which is a nice juxtaposition with the harsh synthesised sounds on the backing track, but I would like to hear more of his tone. I think the mixture of Serbian and English works well but again, it is sometimes unclear what he is saying because of the mix. The dancers are great and add a lot of the mix. Luke is a little bit less precise in his moves but is extremely enthusiastic.

However, I wonder if this is a little bit too odd and weird. For example the chorus part is extremely catchy and has a great beat but it doesn't last anywhere near long enough and I almost feel a little let down once it's over. The aural distortion is also a little disconcerting and would imagine some people finding this very uncomfortable to listen to, especially if you don't know it is coming. The staging is eye-catching but you don't quite get sucked into the story as much as I feel one probably should. This could be a "Rhythm Inside" artistic moment but needs more fine tuning in terms of stage direction, camera angles and vocal precision.

ARTIST - Luke Black

SONG - Samo mi se spava

WRITING/PRODUCTION CREDITS - Luke Black, Milovan Bošković, COMANAVAGO, Majed Kfoury

ICELAND 2023

The Icelandic final "Söngvakeppnin 2023" was held on March 4th at the RVK Studios in Gufunes, Reykjavík, presented by Unnsteinn Manuel Stefánsson, Ragnhildur Steinunn Jónsdóttir and Sigurður Þorri Gunnarsson. Before the final, two songs qualified from each of the 2 semi-finals plus a wildcard pass to the final. The winner was chosen in two rounds - a top 2 was chosen by a 50/50 split of televoting/app voting and an international jury/ These votes were carried forward to the second round where the winner was chosen by televoting and app voting alone. The winner was Diljá with the song "Power". 

Diljá made her name by participating in the talent show "Ísland Got Talent" in 2015 aged just 12 years old. She had actually auditioned the year before but did not progress past the first stage. In 2020, she moved to Copenhagen, where she alternated her studies in physiotherapy with singing lessons. Currently she is is balancing her singing career with studying physiotherapy at the University of Iceland. In the semi-final of Söngvakeppnin she sang her entry in Icelandic but changed to English in the final as this was the way the song was originally sung.

Diljá is wearing a grey spangly trouser suit with a sliver top. Her hair is in two buns ether side of her head. As the song begins we realise she is lying on the floor as the starts to sing and begins to stand up after the first verse. The songs structure is very simplistic and it's repetitive structure, especially in the/ short but effective chorus, really gets into your head. The song starts verse - pre chorus - chorus. This then repeats again and finally a shortened pre chorus and a final chorus. During the verses the backing track is quite basic but in the verse the track has a really quick beat and drives the song onwards. Diljá is very effective at finding the camera but she also uses a lot of gesture and jerky choreography to emphasise the beat and  meaning of the song. The backdrop is quite plain in the verses but explodes to colour as is shows different pictures and short clips of flowers

This is a very active entry but this does not affect the clarity and technique of the vocals. She has a slightly raspy-Bjork-esque growl to her vocal which gives it a lot of character.  Diljá is an engaging performer and is not afraid to not play to the camera. I appreciate that the staging is not as bombastic as others because this show makes her the star. I could imagine a lot of young girls liking the song and her and getting a lot of votes through this. I feel like the staging needs a slight overhaul, mainly in the backdrop although I hope they keep Diljá running amok on stage. 

My main concern with this entry is that this show is a little more rough and ready and lacking polish. Whilst many might see this as a bit of a charm, many could see this as being slightly amateurish. If this got to the final I would hope that jury members would reward her vocal dexterity rather than sanction her stage craft. I just wonder if this song has the personality to stand out against the groups and rock numbers. I also feel the the start of the song is the least engaging part and people might take this as an excuse to have a toilet or tea beak.

ARTIST - Diljá

SONG - Power

WRITING/PRODUCTION CREDITS - Pálmi Ragnar Ásgeirsson, Diljá Pétursdóttir

MOLDOVA 2023

The Moldovan final "Etapa națională 2023" was held on March 4th at the TRM TV Studios in Chisinau. The winner was chosen by a 50-50 mix of jury and televote/online vote. Going to Liverpool is previous Moldovan representative and songwriter Pasha Parfeni with "Soarele şi luna" (The sun and the moon)

Pavel Parfeni was brought up around music; his mother was a piano teacher while his father was a singer and a guitarist and Pasha himself took up the piano. In 2002 he enrolled at Tiraspol Music College then continued his studies at the State Academy of Music, Theatre and Fine Arts. He then became the singer of SunStroke Project and entered the race to represent Moldova at ESC 2009 coming 3rd. He then left the band to pursue a solo career. He returned to the Moldovan national finals in 2010 and 2011 but eventually won with "Lăutar" which came 11th in the Eurovision final. The next year he wrote "O Mie" for Aliona Moon. Pasha has dipped in and out of the Moldovan selection processes ever since as a songwriter and/or performer.

Pasha is joined on stage by two drummers and is sporadically joined by two antlered female backing singers and a male flautist. The stage is dark and atmospheric; the mood palette of the piece is muted and neutral until the end when a giant sun appears on the backdrop. The song starts with a tribal drum background a flute tune very low in the mix. Pasha sings whisperingly along with the drummers swaying with the music. The two female singers appear and the chorus starts. Pasha kicks towards the camera and behind him appears a flautist who dances around the stage. The beat is very prominent now and the singers reconvene to repeat the chorus again. There is then another verse then a slightly disjointed version of the verse before the flautist and heavy beat appears again. The music drops for a bridge which helps build the song back up for its final chorus to the end.

This song is strangely catchy, without being too in your face or earwormy. The choral nature of the chorus makes the different parts really stand out. The drums give the song a distinctive heartbeat and the flue part gives it a folky edge that their neighbours GO_A would be proud of. There were a lot of technical issues. in particular with the microphones which seemed to be set at the wrong levels. Half the time you couldn't hear Pasha sing and the backing singers sounded very loud. That said, one would hope better sound mixing and equipment would put pay to this in May. Although the stage in Moldova was basic, the stage show idea is extremely strong - the choreography is simple but strong and the costuming in particular is really effective.

Part of me thinks that this is the kind of sound that modern Eurovision is really into. It has echoes of acts such as Kalush, GO_A, KEiiNO, Manizha and Zdob și Zdub all of which have done well - most notably in the public televote. These acts have not only showed that folk electronica works but also that singing in a language that is not English is no barrier to success in this competition. Hopefully they will keep the essence of the stage show and just polish it up. I can imagine the audience waving their flags in time and jumping up and down to it. This will sail through to Saturday night barring a total fail in the vocals department and could be a low key televote winner. Probably won't win but may skew the vote enough to make for an exciting final!

ARTIST - Pasha Parfeni

SONG - Soarele şi luna"

WRITING/PRODUCTION CREDITS -  Pasha Parfeni, Yuliana Scutaru, Andrei Vulpe

GERMANY 2023

The German final "Unser Lied für Liverpool" was held on March 3rd at the MMC Studios in Cologne, as ever, presented by Barbara Schöneberger. Before the final there was a tik tok based wildcard to select an extra finalist. There were due to be nine acts in the final but Frida Gold withdrew because of illness. The winner was chosen by a 50/50 split of 8 international juries and online voting/televoting which was open for a week before the final. The winner was Lord of the Lost with the song "Blood and glitter".

Lord of the Lost was founded in 2007 by Chris Harms as a solo project, but set out to recruit a band from the Hamburg music scene so his songs could be played live rather than just recorded and uploaded online. Their first proper single was released in 2009 and the first of their 8 studio albums was released in 2010. They have a good live track record as they have opened for multiple rock acts such as Mono Inc, Letze Instanz, KMFDM and Iron Maiden. In 2013 they were part of the Gothic Meets Klassik event at the Leipzig Gewandhaus and in 2014 they toured the US mainly thanks to crowdfunding. Their songs range from heavy metal, industrial music to glam rock. Harms voice is extremely distinctive, low but operatic, while their outfits are very over the top and dramatic.

The group is dressed in similar red outfits and the musicians are dotted around the stage - the singer and two guitarists on stage and the drummer and keyboarder play on two scaffolding platforms on either side. The lighting is quite dark - mainly red -  and there is a lot of smoke/dry ice. The song starts with the first two lines of the chorus sung quietly and with little backing then the drums and guitars come in along with a screamy shout of the song title. These changes of feeling and delivery right at the start sets you up for the chop and change nature of the song.. The verse in quite slow lyrically but this leads into a very staccato pre chorus. The chorus is very repetitive but in this first instance the music stops and slowly builds up  to s stereotypical shouty end.. There is then another verse and pre-chorus but the chorus this time has the music turned up to 11 the whole way through. This chorus has an extended shouty part and some extra synthesised noises in the background. This crescendo then drops into a quieter last version of the chorus which builds up once more to the repetitive shouting of the title.

The national final was a rather odd affair as the international juries really did not vote the same as in the domestic televote at home - this scored 42 points with the jury but 146 with the German public. That said, this was probably one of the more competent and stand out acts of the night - in a good way!  When it comes to the Eurovision televote, this should do ok, especially with central and eastern countries and the Scandinavian/Baltic countries. I can imagine their section in the vote recap will stand out a mile. As the international jury may foreshadow, this song may not do as well in the jury portion of the voting.

Visually this has a great identity, as it does sonically, but it needs defining and some paring down. I am not sure having the red outfits with red lighting works but as the stage in Liverpool will be bigger, being more spread out stage may help. Although the music is obviously loud it is very important that the singer can be heard clearly, which isn't always the case. This is more apparent when he is using that low register. The repetition of the title as the first word of the chorus is very effective and makes it very easy to repeat. If some of these points can be ironed out I can't see this being a last place, even more so if many of the rockier entries are eliminated before hand in the semi-finals. It is also good to see Germany sending something that isn't radio-friendly or generic and is something that feels more artistically Germanic.

ARTIST - Lord of the Lost

SONG - Blood and glitter

WRITING/PRODUCTION CREDITS -  Corvin Bahn, Anthony J. Brown, Chris Harms, Rupert Keplinger, Pi Stoffers

CYPRUS 2023

The Cypriot song was revealed on March 2nd via the premiere of the official music video on you tube. Way back in October, Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation (CyBC) announced that Andrew Lambrou had been internally selected as their entrant. His song is called "Break a broken heart".

Andrew Lambrou was born in Sydney Australia to a Greek-Cypriot family. As a child he took part in local singing competitions and on seeing his talent his mother enrolled him into a music school. To start his music career he uploaded cover songs onto his youtube channel and Instagram. In 2015 he took part in X Factor Australia but was eliminated before the live shows. He returned to posting cover songs and in early 2021 he signed to City Pop Records releasing his debut single "Throne". Lambrou came to the attention of Eurovision fans when he entered "Eurovision – Australia Decides" in 2022 with the song "Electrify" eventually coming seventh.

The video documents the breaking up of a relationship. The song is partially set in a swimming pool (I guess at least it isn't a horse-related), a restaurant and an odd run down building where he is to be found with the band. The song starts with a voice synthesised beginning and an atmospheric backing track. This song is pretty non stop after here. There is a verse-pre chorus-chorus roundel which is then repeated. At the two minute mark there is a bridge, made up of lines from the previous verses before repetition of the title of the song to the end.

Although it is nice to see Cyprus try something a little different, it is slightly unfortunate that it just seems to be joining the queue along with all the other rock infused entries already chosen. From a qualification perspective this is not a bad choice as both Australia and Greece are in its semi which will hopefully turn into televotes. On the down side the proliferation of similar songs in its semi might mean that people are likely to vote for one or two or the rock songs but not all, possibly weakening the status of all the rock songs, not just this one. This song reminds me a little of Hovig's entry in 2017 but that song was much more ambiguous in its theme while this song has a definite narrative.

The main problem with this song is that if feels quite moany. With so many bouncy, happy, and catchy rock songs this lacks positive rapport. The video doesn't help matters either and obviously the staging is something that needs to be factored in. Hopefully it will not just be "Andrew in front of a band" because this will not help his chances of standing out. In fact I honestly don't know what this should look like without feeling obvious or cheesy. I don't want him with a band neither do I want him with dancers. Who knows what this will look like or sound like in May and from that perspective I almost have no expectations.

ARTIST - Andrew Lambrou

SONG - Break a broken heart

WRITING/PRODUCTION CREDITS -  Jimmy Jansson, Jimmy Joker, Thomas Stengaard, Marcus Winther-John

NETHERLANDS 2023

The Dutch song was revealed on March 1st during the BNNVARA show "Khalid & Sophie," as well as simultaneous premier  of the official music video on youtube. Way back in November, the Dutch broadcaster announced that the duo of Mia Nicolai and Dion Cooper had been internally selected as their act. Their song is called "Burning Daylight".

Mia Nicolaï was born in Amsterdam and is half-Dutch, half-Russian. As a child, she started taking drama and ballet classes which led to an interest in music and began piano and violin lessons. In 2018 she released "At Last" her first single, and has released 5 songs in total. She has recorded around the world including New York and Melbourne. Dion Cuiper, known professionally as Dion Cooper, came to prominence as a contestant on of The Voice of Holland in 2015 but was eliminated in the battle rounds. In 2021, he supported Duncan Laurence during his Dutch tour, and then released his debut EP  ‘Too Young, Too Dumb’ which and is almost at 2 million streams. Although Mia and Dion are performing as a duo, they were put together especially for the contest - a suggestion by Laurence's husband Jordan Garfield.

The music video sees the duo in different stressful and emotional situations and at the end they escape those environments and sing the song together. The song starts with an atmospheric piano intro. Dion sings first verse and starts with a croaky whispery soulful tone. This progresses though the pre-chorus and then has a much more powerful feel during the chorus. Mia then takes up verse 2 and again in the pre chorus. She reaches much higher notes during this part but her voice doesn't seem to alter much in terms of power but this might be more to do with the mix rather than lack of power. For the next chorus they sing together and they sing the same tune together rather than in harmony. Their voices work ok together although this may need to change when singing live. Finally there is the repetitive outro which starts off bombastic and almost angry then peters out to a finish.

This act is a little different to their Dutch predecessors as it is slightly untested and neither are that well known. As the song was previewed as a video it is hard to say how this will translate to the stage. Part of me hopes that their voices will pop much more on stage and that they have the chemistry with the audience and with themselves to boot. Because the song is not a classical duet - they are not singing to or about each other - the song needs a setting, a narrative and a memorable visual hook which it doesn't have right now. I like the sound of Dion's voice and once I got into the song I almost wished this wasn't a duet. This is not to diss Mia's voice, more that I don't really know what her - or any other voice - adds to the sound. 

The song is rather mid-tempo. Although there are gentle peaks and troughs in the song, on first listen it feels samey. On repeat listen the music becomes more memorable and pronounced. This is definitely a ball in the jury's court which may make things tricky when getting out of a 100% televote semi-final. If it does reach the final its chances of going up the leader board therein are much greater. Once you realise that this is a Duncan Laurence vehicle you can definitely hear echoes of "Arcade" in its production. This is not a bad thing as this is as ESC winning song, not so good for me because I never have been the biggest fan of "Arcade". After a few tentative listens, this song is a grower and would not sound out of place on adult contemporary radio stations and playlists. It took me several listens to get the song, mainly because I found parts of the music video rather in your face and I am not sure it actually compliments the song. I don't think it has enough character to be a winner but does has status in terms of its technical acumen.

ARTIST - Mia Nicolai and Dion Cooper

SONG - Burning Daylight

WRITING/PRODUCTION CREDITS - D Cooper, Jordan Garfield, Duncan Laurence, LUKAZ, Sean Myer, M Nicolai