BULGARIA 2022

The Bulgarian song and act was revealed on December 5th via an interview & first play on Darik Radio and the release of the music video online. Going to Turin will be the Intelligent Music Project with the song "Intention".

The eponymous "Intelligent Music Project" is named after a music studio bankrolled by businessman Milen Vrabevski who created the centre to support contemporary Bulgarian music and culture. This 'supergroup' has been going for almost a decade and has a veritable revolving door of past and future members from a wide spectrum of past rock royalty. The Eurovision-based line up includes Chilean front man Ronnie Romero as well as two time Bulgarian Eurovision participant Stoyan Yankulov on drums. Their genre of music is mostly described as 'progressive rock' and their Eurovision entry follows this trend.

The song begins with a rather long, but building, guitar intro. This certainly sets the stall out very early and it doesn't waver much from there. The song the follows a pretty standard verse-bridge-chorus verse-bridge-chorus structure and the parts run seamlessly in and out of each other. At the 2 minute mark, the song enters in a laconic middle 8 followed by a frenetic guitar solo ending with a final rendition of the chorus. Although it comes across well as a cohesive unit the tune of the song is rather haphazard - it never quite goes how you want it go and is lacking any memorable hook. In some ways the instrumentation, lyrics and tune don't quite work together as a cohesive 3 minute unit. The video is also very confusing switching between boy playing computer game/blokes rocking out in a blank room/computer game of a woman getting staked... by herself narratives.

Considering some of the canny choices that BNT has made during the last decade this is something of a climbdown. It seems as though the coffers of the broadcaster have run dry and getting 6 rockers et al. to split the bill as being the best way to get Bulgarian representation to Eurovision. They may well get to Eurovision but I don't think they will be there very long... I can only see the group on stage rocking out as a suitable visual production note although live vocals may make it stand out a little more. The band looks and sounds very dated, and although this is trying (and failing) to ride on the coattails of a rock victory in 2021, this is more Blackpool Rock than Rock n Roll. 

ARTIST - Intelligent Music Project

SONG - Intention

WRITING CREDITS - Milen Vrabevski

BULGARIA 2021

The Bulgarian song was revealed on March 10th, via an online show called "A little dramatic concert" . After the cancellation of the 2020 concert, Victoria was once again selected to represent Bulgaria the next tear. 6 songs were in the running, all from her 'a little dramatic EP and after feedback from fans and critics her song was then internally selected. Her song is called "Growing up is getting old".

The video starts with a lengthy intro via a newsreader, inspired by the cancellation of last year's Eurovision. It has a retro feel with the television set, clothes and the slightly brown sepia tone the setting has. The plot seems to revolve around Victoria looking at some of the  objects around the house which inspire feelings of nostalgia and childhood. Part way through she song she sees a vision of her younger self follows her to the garden where they embrace. Once the song has ended Victoria picks up her suitcase and leaves.

The song is a very gentle ballad with orchestral qualities which accentuates Victoria's very softly spoken singing style. The short stringed introduction sets the tone as the first verse is accompanied only by violins which is very unusual for this year. This is followed by a shortened version of the chorus which has much more orchestration. This goes straight into another verse with enhanced backing vocals. We then finally have a full chorus followed a short bridge. There is then some repetition of the song title ending with a final chorus - almost acapella but with slightly different lyrics to finish.

Victoria is best known in Bulgaria for her appearance on X Factor Bulgaria in 2015 where she placed sixth. A year later she started releasing music in both Bulgarian and English. In 2018 she spent some time in America where she wrote her first self-penned English language song. In 2019 she began her Eurovision journey as she was unveiled as their 2020 participant which would then roll over to 2021.

First of all I feel like I have to address the elephant in the room which was that I found Victoria's 2020 entry a bit of an enigma - one I didn't have the passcode too. This entry, however, is less schmaltzy, less Disney and (most importantly) has a much better ending - one that this time doesn't make me want to burst out laughing inappropriately. Although I quite like her 2021 song, it has taken me well over a week of listens for it to bed in and finally make itself understood. I feel like this genre of song is a little divisive and not for everybody's ears. I also wonder if the sophisticated lightness of touch in the lyrics may be too clever to be noticed in a cold reading situation like this. The chorus hinges on the listener understanding the play on words therein and this is not always clear on a first listen, especially if you don't really know what you listening out for. I think that simplifying the structure of the song would enhance its character much more and make it a much straightforward listen. I almost feel like this is a much longer song that has been ripped up in the wrong way to make it fit the time limit. This will do well but I almost feel like this is just missing the mark.

 

ARTIST - Victoria
SONG - Growing up is getting old
WRITING CREDITS - Oliver Björkvall, Victoria Georgieva, Helena Larsson, Maya Nalani

29/02/12 BULGARIA

The Bulgarian Final was held on February 29th at the National Palace of Culture in Sofia, hosted by Milenita Nikolova, Drago Draganov & Alexander Sano. Before the final there was a semi-final where the list of 22 was whittled down to 12.  The winner was chosen by  SMS voting (50%) and "expert" jury (50%). However when the results came in there was a tie for first place between Sofi Marinova and New 5, therefore the SMS voting took precedence so Sofi took the ticket to Baku.

The song is an uptempo dance song. It starts off with a small ear worm or Sofi kind of yodelling which is repeated a few times during the song. The song is pretty formulaic and you can see where it is going quite easily. Most of the song is in Bulgarian so having a predictable melody isn’t such a bad thing. The chorus contains several different languages and it does come across as a little bit garbled. Also the chorus is sand at a very high pitch, almost to the point that every time she sings it you really fear that she isn’t going to hit those notes !

In both the semi and final, Sofi is on stage alone. She is able to command the stage quite well but I feel that the power of the song would benefit from some kind of extra presence on the stage. I also feel that giving her less to do will enable her to focus on her vocals, which as I have already stated need to be bang on during the chorus.

I would say that this kind of song will go down well with the Eastern European crowd with the language at that Romanian-style production values. I think this one will qualify and may do well with voters at home. I do feel that the song might benefit from a change of language at some point in the song.

Below are her performances from the final and semi-final

SONG - Love Unlimited

ARTIST – Sofi Marinova

COMPOSERS – Doni Vasileva,Yasen Kozev, Krum Georgiev

LANGUAGE – Bulgarian (plus a few words in various languages)

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?

BULGARIA

The Bulgarian final took place o the 23rd February at the National Palace of Culture in Sofia. 19 acts and songs were in the final, which was won by Poli Genova singing the songs “Na Inat” In fact she won the final gaining a maximum 12 points from both the jury and public televote.

“Na Inat” is a pop-rock song which starts out quite quiet. She starts on the floor and then as it gets to the chorus she is on here feet. Behind her are two backing singers playing instruments as well as a pianist and guitarist. She moves about the stage well and interacts with her band. The styling of the song needs a little tweaking and I am not sure the singers o the chairs work. Her voice is not bad and the song certainly suits and shows off her range. The songs and its presentation reminds me quite a lot of Pink – and Poli certainly looks a lot like her.

I would be very, very interested to know if an English version of this song will be made, or even presented at Eurovision as I feel the song would be greatly improved. An English version of this I think would be a massive hit and would be a song easily played on the radio throughout Europe. The song is quite catchy and is definitely something a bit different for Eurovision, especially with a female singer. Someof the more rock-influenced countries may like this a lot


SINGER – Poli Genova
SONG – Na Inat (In defiance)
MUSIC – Poli Genova, Sebastian Arman, Boris Milanov, David Bronner
WORDS – Poli Genova, Sebastian Arman, Boris Milanov, David Bronner