GEORGIA 2024

The Georgian song was revealed on March 11th - the official video was also available on the official Eurovision youtube channel. Early January, GPB announced their act and that the chosen song would be revealed in March. The Georgian act for Malmö is Nutsa Buzaladze singing the song "Firefighter".

Nutsa Buzaladze was born in Tbilisi but grew up in Turkey. As a child she sang as part of a children's choir and also played the guitar and piano. In 2011, she took part in "Georgia's Got Talent", where she reached the semi-finals. In fact, Nutsa also taken part in many reality talent shows including the Georgian versions of "The Voice" and "Your Face Sounds Familiar. In 2014 she was the Georgian representative at the New Wave song festival and became only the third Georgian to win the contest. In 2017 she submitted the song "White Horses Run" to the Georgian national final coming second place. Her biggest international breakthrough happened last year. She participated in American Idol 2023 making it all the way to the final 12. She currently lives in Dubai.

Firefighter has a middle eastern/eastern European quality to it - it also contains a slight dancehall off beat to it that is reminiscent of so many style of song.The song starts with an ethereal intro before going into a much pacier chorus and pre-shirus. During the start of the chorus the  backing track quietens and slows down which really affects the flow of he song the slowly builds up into the instrumental/dance break section. We then have verse two and the pre-chorus. This time about the chorus is slightly elongated with the first repeat being sung under a gentle string accompaniment. The second repeat the backing track combined the beat and strings and during the third and final part the strings and choir are prominent behind Nutsa's lead vocal to a big finish.

The video has a number of different settings; sometimes on her own, sometimes with a number of dancers. The dancing is very commercial most of the time and rather repetitive.The music video shows that Nutsa moves very well and has a good connection down the camera. I feel like the show will need dancers but I hope that the choreography is a little more imaginative than what is seen in the video. Her looks are quite diverse but I personally prefer her with her hair down. I also hope she is wearing something a little more exciting on the night as most the outfits seem to give off an interesting silhouette but don't lend themselves to dancing or to be memorable. Overall I am slightly underwhelmed by this entry. The verses and pre-chorus both have impact and really build the song up.  The way the chorus stops dead at the start and builds up again loses all the momentum gained in the verses and feels a bit like a lost opportunity. Also, the elongated ending just goes on that little bit too long and, again, could have been made into something a bit less typical. If this entry can gain a better and more visual identity, it might just tip it over the edge. Right now, this just feels a tad safe and lacklustre.

ARTIST - Nutsa Buzaladze

SONG - Firefighter

WRITING/PRODUCTION CREDITS - Darko Dimitrov, Ada Skitka