The song and act representing Belgium was announced on 19th February with a simultaneous reveal of the track on youtube, the Belgian TV channel La Une and radio station Vivacité. Going to Vienna is Essyla performing "Dancing on the ice".
The video is in colour but the lighting and outfits are in black and white with fast cuts and changes of lighting. At the end, the white on the backdrop turns to red. The song uses the title as a metaphor for exploring the jeopardy of connections which can be exciting, confidence building or coercive. Essyla is joined by a group of male and female dancers who do the bulk of the choreography in the video. Essyla spends a lot of time walking and standing, as a solo tight shot or surrounded by her dancers. The song is in English and has a good strong synth-led beat. The lyrics are simplistic, uses a lot of harmony in the pre-chorus and very earwormy repetitive chorus but the main pull of the song is its synthy brassy bassline. This is carries on from many past Belgian entries with a strong synth sound but also seems to borrow commercial ideas from Lorde and Billie Eilish.
This is hard to judge because of the stylistic choices and lack of audience reaction. The presentation of Essyla makes it look like she is less comfortable with dancing and movement. Her facial mien is slightly one-note; better gestures and poses could give her a more curious or playful tone, however she may just come to life with a live audience. Although the song has some good earworms, and a catchy title, it will need more than this and effective strobing effects, to make it qualification worthy/certain.
ARTIST - Essyla
SONG – Dancing on the ice
WRITING/PRODUCTION CREDITS – Nicolas d'Avell, Alice Van Eesbeeck, Barbara Petitjean, Emil Stengele
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