CZECHIA 2025

The Czech song was revealed on March 7th with the song being released on streaming platforms and official video premiere later that same afternoon. December 2024, ČT (the Czech broadcaster) announced their singer but that the song would be revealed in March. However, an acoustic version of the song was presented during the first semi of the Maltese Eurovision Song Contest show. Going to Basel is Adonxs with the song "Kiss Kiss Goodbye".

Adam Pavlovčin, the real name of Adonxs (pronounced Adonis) was raised in Senica, Slovakia. He took up dancing and singing at an early age; joining a junior dance crew, taking singing lessons and learning  to play the piano. However he stopped singing in his teens and concentrating on dancing, wining the Slovak street dance championships five times in junior and adult categories. He studied at BIMM in London where he gained a degree in Songwriting and Creative Musicianship. His big breakthrough was in 2021 after winning "SuperStar" ,the joint Czech-Slovak version of Idols and became the first openly queer winner of the show. His music style shifts from pop, rock, folk, alternative and synth although his lyrics often focus on love, heartache and loneliness. 

The video has Adonxs as bit of a human guinea pig, with scientists attempting to make him time travel. We see him in press conferences, undergoing physical tests and having therapy sessions all while being hooked up to various machines and drips. The colour palette is very muted and not at all colourful possibly alluding that the narrative is serious, sombre and a little bleak. The song starts with the first verse which has quite a slow beat but the lyrics can come quick and fast. The pre-chorus is a brief pause before the anthemic chorus comes in. This procedure is followed up again albeit with a shorter chorus. Then, surprisingly, comes a rather up-tempo dance break when he and some of the laboratory staff do a co-ordinated dance routine which lasts less than twenty seconds before reverting to the pre-chorus and then the title repeats over again before one final chorus to the end.

As a moody Viennese waltz ballad this is not bad. The backing track has gospel tones as well as a muted feel in the instrumentation. Adonxs vocal is high in the mix: breathy and intimate in the verses and more expressive in the chorus. The visuals, although well made, has a confusing narrative. It's certainly not the videol one was expecting and neither do I anticipate the video to be incorporated in the stage show. After the song's release, most of the discourse was about that dance break. Adonxs is an accomplished dancer and his performance in the video is polished however that instrumental and that chorography does not belong in that song. The dance break could've implemented the start of a faster tempoed section to finish but this was not the case. At the Maltese NF his acoustic version - just him at the piano - did not feel much different to this in retrospect. The future of this song may well hinge on the stage show and presentation because its identity right now is too mixed to judge.

ARTIST - Adonxs

SONG - Kiss Kiss Goodbye

WRITING/PRODUCTION CREDITS - L Calvo, M Charvátová, I Coulon, R Janeček, A Lopes da Silva, G Masters-Clark, A Pavlovčin  

CZECHIA 2024

The Czech act and song was revealed on December 13th 2023 although the selection show "ESCZ" was broadcast on December 4th. There were two strands to the online vote: 70% International online voting and 30% Czech online voting. Going to Malmö is Aiko performing the song "Pedestal".

Aiko, the stage name of Alena Shirmanova-Kostebelova, was born in Moscow but moved to Czechia  as a child where she took singing lessons and started to play the guitar. She took part in the 2015 series of "Česko Slovenská SuperStar" where she made it to the semi-finals. In 2022 she won the 10th edition of the Radio Wave Czeching competition. She has performed in multiple festivals and has supported Alice Morton on tour. Aiko has also released 3 solo albums. She currently resides in Brighton on the south coast of the United Kingdom.

"Pedestal" is a pop-rock song focusing on themes of self-esteem and toxic relationships. Aiko is on stage with two instrumentalists and two female dancers all dressed in different black outfits - Aiko's cutaway catsuit is particularly memorable! The song has a good driving beat and a very shoutable chorus which gets the crowd going. Aiko and her dancers writhe and jump about the stage with a lot of attack which mirrors the immediacy of the backing track. The instrumental is also highlighted by thin red lights strobing in time with the music at the back of the platform. The stage at ESCZ was very small and basic and the fact they were able to do so much with such tight parameters might hint towards a heightened and more free performance on a bigger stage.

Aiko's win was not a big surprise as the song had gone down with fans when the songs were first released but the live show did raise some questions with the fandom. The performance on the ESCZ stage was a little chaotic: a full on dance routine with backing dancers, the encouragement of the crowd and the nerves and adrenalin of live tv all conspired to make her vocals rather shouty and breathy. A larger stage may also open the door to a much fuller stage show - including more dancers. More dancers or not,  I feel Aiko's choreo could be made more gestural/positional. This would not only open the way to some memorable camera shots and silhouettes but also, more importantly, to save her voice. This entry has a lot of potential and, thanks to the early running of this national final, the team has plenty time to hone this into something stronger. Plans have already been laid out to improve the song - including making the song longer (it's currently 30-ish seconds short of 3 minutes) and making the song more impactful. I hope they do not interfere too much with the essence of the song as it does have a good core and a memorable spirit.

ARTIST - Aiko

SONG - Pedestal

WRITING/PRODUCTION CREDITS - Steven Ansell, Alena Shirmanova-Kostebelova

CZECHIA 2023

The Czech final "ESCZ 2023" was held on January 30th at the CT TV Studios in Prague and hosted by Adam Mišík although the result of said production was not revealed until February 7th. The winner was selected though app voting: 30% of the score coming from internal Czech voting and 70% from the international audience. The voting window was open right up until February 6th. The winning act was the girl group Vesna with "My Sister's Crown"

Vesna was formed in 2016 and was the idea of the groups' founder Patricie Fuxová. The groups encompasses folk song writing and instrumentation but with a modern sensibility. The band is named after a pagan Slavic goddess. They released their first song in 2017 which was recorded with the Czech National Symphony Orchestra. After a line up change in 2018, the group was announced as 'Discovery of the year" at the Anděl awards - the Czech equivalent of the Grammy. During the covid-19 pandemic, the group worked on a new album called Anima . It was released in October 2020 and focused on animal archetypes, and balancing the male-female worlds. Along with Patrici,e the current line up consists of Bára, Markéta, Olesya, Tanita and Tereza.

Although the song is mostly in English there are also parts in  Czech, Bulgarian and a Ukrainian refrain, During the national final the six-piece were dressed in a modern style and all very individual. There was plenty of movement on the small stage by the three singers but everything seemed really natural and reactive rather than over stylised and forced. The song starts with chant which then becomes more urban. The verses are more staccato, almost rap-like, and the lyrics are quite pointed - either between the girls or directly to the audience. The pre-chorus shows another change in direction before going full tilt into a fully-sang chorus. There follows a rapped verse in Bulgarian then back into the pre-chorus/chorus which is followed by a short bridge before a longer rendition of the final chorus. The ending is not unexpected but is a little uneventful.

The song is vocally and visually catchy. The live version is also much more punchy and direct than the studio version where their voices are mixed much more smoothly. The different rhythms and languages keep you on your toes and the chorus particularly - even though in Ukrainian - almost invites you to join in. The individual characters in the group have time to shine and even though they have different styling it works because the song is about the appreciation of everyone's identity and having solidarity. This almost feels like a second part to Manizha's "Russian Woman" or a slightly less racy/more intellectual "We are Slavic". The fact that these two songs qualified from their semi-finals suggests a positive route to the final for this entry.

It needs to be said that the ESCZ staging was not particularly big or impressive and their particular set up worked for that purpose. I hope they can replicate a similar 'sisterhood' feeling on a bigger stage because we know that this message works. The music video for this song is very stylised with lots of colourful costumes and characterisation and maybe they can bring some of this vibrancy to their backdrops rather than their actual performers. I can also imagine translations of some of the part being graffitied onto the backdrops as they sing as well as lots of crown imagery. Whatever they do I feel they need to keep the mood more relatable down the camera to the voters at home. This is such a great mix of cultures and styles and I think a lot of people will find this engaging, accessible as well as charismatic and a cultural window into Czech music.

ARTIST - Vesna

SONG - My sister's crown

WRITING/PRODUCTION CREDITS - Patricie Kaňok Fuxová, Kateryna Vatchenko, Tanita Yankova

CZECHIA 2022

The Czech act and song was revealed on 16th December via a streamed press conference held at the ČT Headquarters in Prague. An online selection was held called "Eurovision Song CZ 2022" where the winner was determined by the combination of votes from a twelve-member international jury panel (50%), an international public vote (25%) and a Czech public vote (25%). The winners were the group We Are Domi with the song "Lights Off"

We Are Domi (sometimes also known and stylised as DOMI) formed as a group in 2018 after the trio met while studying at the Leeds Conservatoire. The group consists of Czech singer Dominika and Norwegian musicians Casper and Benjamin. They released with first single in 2019. Their music is described as both electropop and scandipop although their Eurovision song includes more trancey and ethereal themes.

The song begins rather minimalistic and mysterious. Dominika's monotone, almost spoken word,  vocal is surrounded by a more melodic underbed. This this then reversed during the bridge when Dominka almost comes across as a little bit country and makes for a transition period towards the rather more memorable chorus ending with a foghorn like 'Where are you now" just in case you hadn't woken up yet. We then have another verse-bridge-chorus roundel followed by a return to a small and monotone middle eight. This leads into the glow up to the last rendition of the chorus ending in a final 'Where are you now".

This song certainly pricks your ears up and has a very engaging and memorable tune. The vocals are varied throughout the song and could come across as a bit frenetic or irrational, especially if any of the parts become out of kilter or worse out of tune/time. Dominika may well be saved or helped by the addition of pre-recorded vocals (BOOOOOOOOO!) One small negative, which may need some clever editing around when if comes to voting recaps, is the fact that the title of the song is rather obscure in the mix unlike the belting out of "WHERE ARE YOU NOW". Although there is no proper video, they did create a performance of the song as part of the results show. For me, this was visually confusing - the choice of Play School-esque outfits whilst surrounded by a dark and ghostly backdrop was rather dissonant. However, the use of a bow to play the electric guitar is a particular highlight. I feel that this needs a very stylised stage show and needs to be visually stunning and could be a glow up with the right stage direction - something some past Czech Eurovision songs have done well.  This is already proving to be a fave with the fans and is certainly something that would no sound out of place on the playlists of Europe.

ARTIST - We Are Domi
SONG - Lights Off
WRITING CREDITS - Dominika Hasek, Casper Hatlestad, Abi F Jones, Einar Eriksen Kvaløy, Benjamin Rekstad

CZECHIA 2021

The Czech song was revealed on February 16h, via a video premiere on youtube. The song had been chosen internally by the artist. Benny Christo, who was to be the Czech representative in 2020, will sing the song "Omaga"

The song was premiered as a video clip rather than a live performance so this is what I will have to base by opinions upon. Benny is seen singing the song to a girl, however he is actually inside the telly and she is a viewer! In a slightly "Take on Me" style, his hand comes through the TV and drags her in to join him. From then on Benny is seen singing the song in a number of different situations, all influenced by classic TV and film clips such as Forrest Gump, The Shining and The Simpsons to name just three. These are also interspersed with views of Benny in a vividly lit room, almost psychedelic, whilst he dances around.

The song starts with what turns out to be part of the chorus but has a slightly softer timbre. As verse one starts of the beat is pronounced, the lyrics are much more staccato and sounds like a half sung rap. This leads into the pre-chorus which has a very repetitive staccato rhythm and offers a moment of slight rest before going into the chorus that is really infectious and happy. Verse two merges with the pre chorus - but does contain one line of Czech! This then leads into another chorus but this time a slightly longer version. This ends with the over emphasised "Omaga" sequence. We then have a short respite with another longer pre-chorus before ending with long chorus. The beat fades out by the end and the whole thing unexpectedly finishes a word too early.

Many fans were introduced to Benny through his 2020 entry which was slightly divisive as its Afrobeat feel - and the many remixes thereof - didn't quite hit the mark with everybody. Benny is very well known in his homeland having been a contestant on "Česko Slovenská Superstar" and later becoming a judge on it. Looking back on his discography, most of his back catalogue has this contemporary r'n'b/pop mix but is mostly in the Czech language. This song certainly feels very much like a song he would make full stop never mind a song for Eurovision.

I personally feel very conflicted about this song, or maybe that should be 'I feel conflicted about why I feel conflicted. 'The fact is - am I judging this against the other songs in the competition or am I judging this against this song last year? There is no doubt that this is a great up-tempo dance song with a hell of a lot of character. With the right kind of staging I could see this really getting the attention of the televoters at home and possibly getting the right kind of vibe with any audience that night be in the hall itself.. That said it took me a good few listens to get properly into is and get though some of the lyrical conundrums (such as apocalypse rhyming with lips and Omaga being a very bad pronunciation of oh my god) For me personally "Kemama" takes a lot of beating and I was - and still am - a little disappointed that the 2 artists that had songs with African elements in 2020 have not brought back the feels from last year. That said, this one is definitely up there at this early stage. Maybe when he wins he can do "Kemama" as the reprise....?

ARTIST - Benny Cristo
SONG - Omaga
WRITING CREDITS - Ben Cristovao,  Filip Vlček