ARMENIA 2025

The Armenian song and act was selected on February 16th through the show "Depi Evratesil". The winner was selected by combining the score of an international jury, a national jury and SMS voting. Going to Eurovision is Parg with the song "Survivor".

Pargev Vardanyan, is from Hayravank on the shores of Lake Sevan and sung in a local choir from an early age. His family then moved to Volgograd in Russia and graduated with a degree Theatre Arts & Acting from the state institute. At this point he was part of a band called The Edge Chronicles which toured many of the nearby ex-Soviet states for 3 years and they broke up in 2019. Parg returned to Armenia in 2022 and in a short space of time he collaborated with 2024 ESC representative Brunette and was a support act for French singer Zaz at the  HAYA Festival in Yerevan. His style of music is generally in the pop sphere and has released songs in English and Armenian.

Parg is wearing a sleeve of armour on his left arm; underneath he is wearing a black vest top and black trousers. The staging starts with flashing lights and smoke. This post-apocalyptic scene becomes clearer as the camera pans out and we see Parg next to a centrepiece which which has has a fault line through the middle. Later on in these parts fit back together and Parg stands astride the fracture. The choreography is minimal and naturalistic, centring on fist punches, foot stomping and headbanging. The song's structure is all over the place with multiple parts in different rhythms. We start with 2 short verses then a pre chorus. Next comes a longer, slower refrain which one thinks is the chorus but isn't - that part comes next! There are then 3 more part before another chorus. The pace slows considerably here with a sluggish slow-tempo bridge before another rendition of the refrain before finishing with a last chorus proper.

This song fits snuggly between the 'hard rock' and pop genres seen at Eurovision, and many will like or recognise the Imagine Dragons arena rock context of the song seems to sit in. Parg is on stage alone which is quite the risk. In a song where the singer proclaims and declares they are a 'survivor' he has no-one (apart from the audience) to bounce off. Maybe it is just surprisingly sparse on stage but this may also the thing to make it stand out against other similar solo male songs. Parg, though, commands the stage; he can catch the camera at any time and has confidence in his movements. On the flip side the structure of the song is all over the place. It feels like the 8 people it took to create this song weren't on the same page - or the same room - when creating it. There are too many ideas and there is no flow. In addition Parg's vocal is not great. He gets away with it - too some extent -  because the rock tinge gives him a bit of license to be more gruff. An OK performance at Eurovision will be too obvious to ignore when compared to some very technically good singers in this contest, espeially by the juries if this gets to the final.

ARTIST - Parg

SONG - Survivor

WRITING/PRODUCTION CREDITS - B Alasu,  J Curran,  T G:son,  M Mooradian,  A Paul,  P Vardanyan,  E Voskanian,  A Wilke

ARMENIA 2024

The Armenian song was revealed on March 13th - the music video premiere was made on the official youtube channel. A few days earlier, Armenian broadcaster AMPTV announced their act and that the song would be revealed soon after. Going to Malmö is Ladaniva with the song "Jako".

Ladaniva (named after a type of vehicle) is a duo that was formed in Lille in 2019. Singer, Jaklin Baghdasaryan, was born in Armenia, grew up Belarus and emigrated to France in 2014 enrolling at the Conservatoire de Lille. French instrumentalist Louis Thomas makes up the other half of the duo. He is from Lille and also studied at the same conservatory. The two met by chance during a jam session in the old part of Lille. They have released 5 singles, and accompanying video,s and in 2023 they released their self-titled album. Their musical style is inspired by traditional songs and singers from Eastern Europe and, but also Latin America, Africa and Reunion Island - a department of France in the Indian Ocean.

The song is wholly in Armenian, which I believe is a first for the language in the adult contest, although the refrain is mostly a chorus of 'la la las'. The song talks about 'Jako' which is the nickname of the singer. The build into the song starts mainly with the trumpet which is a very prominent instrument in the track. This then feeds into the chorus refrain before the first verse. The verses are quite short and have a clear, almost spoken, quality and are followed almost immediately by the chorus again. After two verses and choruses, we a have a slight change in direction where the instrumentai trumpet is replaced with a more light hearted pipe/flute. Then follows a call and response part before a final reprieve of the la-la-las.

For the video, the two members seem to be in a typical rural Armenian village and Jaklin is dressed in ethic style clothing and has braided hair. The setting really reflects the ethic nature of the song and obviously reflects the language choice. There is a lot of movement and interaction which also reflects the pace of the song.They seem to have a good connection with each other and Jaklin really plays to the camera. For me, the backing track here is the absolet star. It has juch an infectious and ear-catching rhythm. Jaklins voice is so clear in the verses but seems part of the mix vocally and instrumentally in the chorus. I am intrigued as to how this might sound live for many reasons. Firstly, I feel like this might need some staging to come alive on stage. Just having these two on stage will feel very bare. Some dancers, some props, some background screens might be needs to either inhibit the stage or make it slightly more compact. I am hoping that the crowd will lift this performance, especially during the call and response part. I am hesitant but have high hopes on an interesting and individual show.

ARTIST - Ladaniva

SONG - Jako

WRITING/PRODUCTION CREDITS - Jaklin Baghdasaryan, Audrey Leclercq, Louis Thomas

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

ARMENIA

The Armenian entry was released on March 10^th on various listening and video services. Way back in November, it was revealed that Srbuk, a former Armenian X Factor and Voice of Ukraine participant, had been internally chosen by the local broadcaster. Her song is called “Walking out”.

The video is shot in black and white although some of the shots bring through the colour red. Even though the narrative of the video is quite simplistic is bring out a lot of emotion from the song. Most of the video takes place in what seems like a studio but with a ceiling of strobing and flashing lights. She is surrounded by a number of male dancers who interact with her but not always in a positive manner. There is a lot of barging and pushing around and a lot of anguished faces. There are also shots of female dancers in different guises randomly inserted into the shots but each one only lasts a second or so, if that. Although it breaks the firey tension in the bulk of the video, these scenes are rather abstract and don't actually add or distract from the main body.

The song heavy ballad and that has very bluesy/urban feel to it. The song starts off which 2 verses in quick succession. The tune of this is very staccato and a lot of it is quite talkative and monotone. This leads into a short pre-chorus which is much more melodic and shows Srbuk’s higher register. This leads to the chorus which is quite full on again but only lasts 15 seconds which just isn’t long enough to get it into your system. We then have two more verses but this time it goes straight back into the chorus but this rendition is longer, almost 30 seconds, which works much , much better. There is then a very mellow coda which leads into the final goes of the chorus AND a key change! Most of the work here is done by the backing singers whilst Srbuk is freestyling and shouting her way through until the end

On the face of it this is a really good song. The hook is catchy in the chorus and some of the melodies and repetitions make it feel like it could be a really cool jazz song. But it is not. This song is swallowed up by the production values and I actually think that in the verses she is fighting against the music rather than being complimented by it. I also wonder if her stage show will be this aggressive as I don’t think that will be something people will vote for. I also wish there was a tad more room for light and shade in her voice because it just seems full on in the main chorus..

I think that this should qualify from semi two although it will have a lot of male ballads to fight off. I think this is just too busy and loud  in the main parts of the song to make a serious impact

ARTIST –  Srbuk

SONG – Walking out

MUSIC -  Lost Capital, tokionin

LYRICS - Garik Papoyan

UPDATE 8

SLOVENIA – Maja Keuc has released a video to go with her song “No One” The video has a very strange narrative and at times I really don’t understand what is going on…. Maybe she doesn’t either…





BULGARIA
Poli Genova (now seemingly going under the name Polly) has releases her offical video for "Na Inat". Although the main focus of the video is on her and the band it is intersperced by footage of natural disasters and the human cost.





LATVIA
Musiqq has released the video of "Angel in Disguise" The video sees the duo sitting down singing their song, seemingly in the same outfits they used in their preselection victory. Although a very simple (ie cheap) video, it does bring out the strength of Marats's modern vocals.





ARMENIA
Emmy has released the video for "Boom Boom" The video has a boxing theme and some of the action makes place in a boxing ring. I am not really to sure about the dancing and will be very surprised to see anything like this on the night.





AZERBAIJAN
After (another) name change Eldar and Nigar haverealsed the offical video to their song "Running Scared". The video was directed by the Estonian producer of the 2002 Eurovision contest and looks extremely professional. But will they be able to tranlate this onto the stage?

ARMENIA

The Armenian Final was held on March 5th and the winning song was chosen by a 50/50 mixture of televoting and an "expert" jury. Back in December, Emmy was revealed to be the singer of the song in Dusseldorf. The national final was supposed to be early February, but was moved back to allow more time for songs. The pre-selection was postponed again after Emmy’s after died suddenly.

The show starts with a solo performance by Armenia’s winning entry of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest, Vladimir Arzumanyan

Emmy is then introduced to the crowd with enthusiasm from the crowd. She is wearing a nice black dress with oversized shoulder parts which have printed on them the Eurovision 2011 logo – nice touch! She then does a draw to see in which order the 4 selected songs will be sing tonight.

HI – This is an ethnic dance pop song. She seems to be constantly singing during the song. (although in this case I should say mime) The chorus is quite catchy although the structure of the whole song is a little confusing. The most redeeming factor of the song is the call and response part in the middle. Not a bad song, but I doubt if she could sing this live.

BOOM BOOM – Another ethnic dance song, with a slightly Spanish type feel to it. The verses of the song sound very familiar, but the chorus of this song is far too cheesy. Emmy seems to be moving around the stage much more comfortable to this song. Again, she is miming but I feel that this song would be much easier to sing live.

AYO – This is a more dramatic song. It starts off quite slow then the beat kicks in. The backing track feels much more electronic than the previous two. The chorus is again very simplistic and not very memorable. There is a heavy reliance on backing singers too for this song.

GOODBYE – This is the only ballad of the night. The song has a slight blue feel to it. The chorus is well constructed and is at least memorable after just one listen. As she is once again miming it is not clear how much strength and push she really has to get the high notes in the middle part. I get the feeling from the selection though that a up tempo song wants to be chosen.

I am actually quite disappointed in the selection process this year as very little effort seems to have been taken with the visuals of the songs (no dancers or backing singers) and that all the songs this year have been mimed. Either they have total confidence in Emmy’s ability – or they have none…

The phone lines are no open for 15 minutes.
In the mean time we are treated to some performances by previous Armenian Eurovision participants – Andre, Sirusho and Hayko – all performing recently released material.

The wining song is revealed to be …Boom Boom !

SINGER – Emmy
SONG – Boom Boom
MUSIC – Hayk Harutyunyan, Hayk Hovhannisyan
WORDS – Sosi Khanikyan