ALBANIA 2024

The Albanian act and song was announced on December 22nd 2023 at the conclusion of the 62th  "Festivali i Këngës". Although the winner of the festival was decided by the in-house jury, a separate phone vote was responsible for the act and song sent to Eurovision. Going to Malmö is Besa Kokëdhima with the song "Zemrën n'dorë" (Heart in hand)

Although born in the Albanian city of Fier, Besa spent some of her teen years in the United Kingdom. She released her first song in 2003 - a collaboration with the band Produkt 28 - and her debut self-titled album was released in 2006. As well as participating in many of the song festivals in Albania and the Balkans, Besa became a mentor on The Voice of Albania in 2016. In 2022, Besa released a song in French "En Equilibre" with a French language album potentially in the pipeline. This is not her first foray at Eurovision as Besa appeared in the 2009 edition of Selecţia Naţională in Romania reaching the semi-finals.

This composition is wholly in Albanian, had live accompaniment from the orchestra and extra vocal support from the off stage backing singers. The visual background had a fairy tale/space theme that doesn't 100% concur with the lyrics but does fit a loose lost and found narrative therein. Besa is alone on stage and is engaging to watch. This is a mid-tempo catchy pop song with some r&b qualities. Besa’s voice sounds very strong and clear throughout. The structure of the song is a little predictable at first but the staccato rhythms of the second verse keeps you on your toes. There is however a lot of dead air/long bridges which could be cut down or utilised more effectively. In particular the chorus has a great tune and is really very memorable. Repeating this more would be of benefit to the listener than instrumental breaks.

Besa performed her song twice during the festival - once in the semi final and once in the final. Her attire was extremely different both times and both memorable for very different reasons. Personally I liked the semi final outfit better as this really made a statement on stage. I liked the slicked back hair and the silver breastplate - one might even say this was a sexier take on Blanca Paloma last year. In terms of performance style, I feel Besa will need to connect much more down the camera and possibly not slip up on her dress during the performance! I don’t think this needs any more people on stage, apart from maybe some backing singers at the side. There has been some talk about a language change on the song as there is an English/Albanian demo of this song. Personally I feel like the song works as it is. Dual language versions can sometimes feel shoo-ed in and, as languages do not always structure the same, the tunes and hooks are lessened.

ARTIST - Besa

SONG - Zemrën n'dorë

WRITING/PRODUCTION CREDITS - Kledi Bahiti, Besa Kokëdhima, Rozana Radi