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 

GEORGIA 2023

The Georgian song was revealed on March 16th via the premiere of the official music video on youtube. Their representative, however, was selected through the fifth season of The Voice Georgia, which concluded with a final on 2nd February. Winning the ticket to Liverpool is Iru and her song is called "Echo".

Irina Khechanovi is 22 years old and is from Tblisi. She first came to prominence as a member of the girl group Candy who won the 2011 edition of  Junior Eurovision. In 2019, Khechanovi was a participant in Georgian Idol which would choose their Eurovision representative but she was eliminated early on. Iru returned to the jESC stage in 2022 as part of a previous winners' medley but also co-wrote the song "I Believe" by Mariam Bigvava, the Georgian entry for that year's contest.

The video is full of slow-motion dancing and movement twinned with lots of floaty twisting fabric shots with each style or type in a different colour.. We begin with a shortened the chorus which is definitely the most memorable part of the song.  At the first verse starts the backing track is rather sparse and any instrumentation is rather high and tinny almost. As the chorus comes back, in the backing changes into something more expansive and lower in the range. Verse two is rather disjointed and is more a repetition on certain lines interspaced with scatting and is followed by another chorus. Just before the last rendition of the chorus there is a short bridge which almost feels like the only 'normal' part of the song. This is followed by some vocalising before the last chorus which ends again the with scatting refrain. 

This song is underpinned with ethnic drum beats and percussion and has a very Georgian jazzy-ethereal-eastern feel. I feel like this song is more about the soundscape rather than the song having a big meaning. I say this as Iru's voice has a very distinctive timbre and sometimes I feel you listen to the voice and tune rather than the words. Her voice is well embedded into the mix and I sense the song will have a very different dynamic when performed live. The second verse in particular might be quite tricky to fully perform live so it will be interesting to see how the singing and scatting is divided up between Iru, the backing track and/or backing vocalists on stage. Also, on looking at the lyrics, they have meaning but not necessarily in a grammatical sense. Oddly the name of the song does not appear in the text.

The video nods to what the show might look like and can imagine some of this being used on the back drops. Maybe there will be some clever fabric wafting by the dancers or for those who remember the song "Izin kórem" from Turkvision, I can imagine some clever windography! The instrumental of this song is really pretty and I hope that this is appreciated by those voting. This style of song will definitely appeal to the Caucasus regions but I am not 100% who else will especially as some of the words seem a little non-sensical. This is another song which I feel will be recognised more by juries than televoters and so could find itself in a dangerous position trying to get into the final. Georgia does not have the diaspora of other countries so could find itself at a disadvantage. This definitely has a place at Eurovision but I don't think this will be up there at the end.

ARTIST - Iru

SONG - Echo

WRITING/PRODUCTION CREDITS - Beni Kadagidze, Irina Khechanovi, Giga Kukhianidze

GEORGIA 2021

The Georgian song was revealed on March 15th, with the song's premiere will taking place on the 1TV channel. Back in January it was confirmed that last year's act, Tornike Kipiani, had been reselected to represent Georgia. His internally selected song is titled "You".

The self-directed music video is shot in different places around Georgia. The video is very elemental with Tornike walking along a shoreline, climbing over man made boulders, looking out from a boat and walking through a lush green forest. There is a lot of focus on details with some sharp detailed views against others that are more dream-like with a lot of slow motion views. He is also seated on stage in an empty auditorium singing the song with views of a very wafty ballerina.

In essence, this is in a Viennese Waltz tempo (to put it in Strictly terms) but there is a lot of gliding over the bars which makes it a little unusual to the ear. The format of the song is more akin to three verses with repeated some lines within. The song starts with a short atmospheric intro which doesn't really give anything away as to how the song would progress. Tornike's voice is very low, slightly hushed over the top of the guitar. For the next verse he moves up an octave and uses a much stronger voice but not shouty. For the final stanza he moves back down to the hushed tone before belting out the 'my love' part. There is then a brief instrumental with some rhythmic 'oooooohing' on top before another repetition of the 'my love' part but this time much stronger but not quite a cry or shout. The end slightly peters out and is a little underwhelming.

Tornike Kipiani formed his first band when he was 19 not intending to become its vocalist but ended up filling that gap. In 2014, Tornike won X Factor Georgia, where his mentor was Tamta, who would later appear at Eurovision for Cyprus. In 2017, Tornike (with Giorgi Bolotashvili) tried to represent Georgia at Eurovision with an industrial dance song. In 2019, won Georgian Idol with one of the prizes being the chance to represent the country at Eurovision.

I feel like I have to offer this song a HUGE apology. When I first heard this song I was absolutely *aghast*. This was wholly due to my own perception and hopes as to what this song was going to be. I was hoping/expecting loud guitars, shouty vocals, manic lyrics;what I got was so far away from this that I just could not compute. Having left the song on the back burner of a week and listened to it again - this time with an emptier mind. This is a really beautiful song and has a very heartfelt sentiment and makes it very individual. It kind of reminds me of a hymn akin to "Annie's Song" by John Denver and has that cross-genre appeal which shows very clever songwriting. However as a eurovision entry I fear this is going to get left behind. Unless there is some kind of visual moment that pull on the heartstrings I don't really know who would vote for this or why. That said and done, I am actually really glad that it's here.

ARTIST - Tornike Kipiani
SONG - You
WRITING CREDITS - Tornike Kipiani

19/02/12 GEORGIA

The Georgian Final was held on February 19th at the 1TV Studios in Tbilisi, hosted by Temo Kvirkvelia. The winner was chosen by televoting (50%) and an "expert" jury (50%).

The winner, which was the only placing to be announced, was Anri Jokhadze with the song “I’m a Jocker” which I think is supposed to be spelt ‘joker’ – but who knows… or frankly cares.

In fairness his song did stand out at the national final as most of the songs were very rocky, Emo-type songs which are fine but when you hear several in a row, it gets monotonous. Saying that, the song and performance are both just ridiculous. His voice and accent is really awful and he seems to screech and shout his way through the song. No effort seemed to have been made in writing the song and certainly little thought went into the styling or production of the performance. What he needs to do is make it a really OTT performance following the list of type of people included in his song with lots of interaction with the backing singers (which were on the backing track but not in person on the stage)

I really don’t know why they even bothered. DNQ all the way

The video below is a little chopped up but many of the videos available online have been dubbed over by the studio version which is very sneaky but still makes it no better.

SONG  -  I’m a joker

ARTIST – Anri Jokhadze

COMPOSERS – Rusudan Chkhaidze, Bibi Kvachadze
LANGUAGE – English

UPDATE 4

Lots of official videos have been released this week.

GEORGIA – As revealed in and earlier update, Eldrine have a new lead singer, Sopho Toroshelidze. They have finally finished the new version of “One More Day” and the new song can beard in their brand new video clip below.




ITALY – the official video clip for the Italian Eurovision entry has been released. As well as showing Raphael and his trumpeter, it also shows inserts of a film. The song is slightly different to the one Raphael sang at San Remo it has been re-written with a few more lines in English, but is also still a bit too long.




FINLAND –We have not heard much from the Finnish entry since it was chosen back in January, however Paradise Oskar has released his official video clip. The video tries to focus on the environmental message of “Da Da Dam” as well as focusing on the artist.




UK – Just 2 days after the song “I can” was premiered on the BBC, Blue have released their pop video. The song is centred around the skyline of London, possibly with some very subconscious references to the upcoming Olympics. 2012 could be a very British year !




ROMANIA – It was way back on New Year Eve when Hotel FM was announced as the Romanian entry. They group has been doing a lot of promotion (as well as being involved in a minor sex scandal!) but they have finally released their promotional clip for the song “Change”. Like last years video, a lot of video trickery is used as well as being a ‘Visit Romania’ showcase!




ALBANIA – It was further back in December when Aurela Gace was voted as the Albanian winner for the ticket to Germany. However it was announced that an English version would be presented at the contest. The preview clip of the new song “Feel the Passion” has been released. The video shows lots of views of Albania whilst Aurelia, in a very strange dress flies about. Note also that the clip is still way over 3mins.




CROATIA – As suggested on the previous update, Daria’s song has had a total overhaul. “Lahor” was changed to “Break a leg” and that English version has been re-written to make the finalised entry “Celebrate” The track has been available for a while but the promo video has just been released. The clip has a party atmosphere as well as lots of costume changes.

UPDATE 1

As the songs are selected and time goes on, things change.
In these updates I hope to very briefly add any news (good or bad!!!) about the songs or acts chosen for this year’s Eurovision.


UKRAINE – Just like last year, this year’s national final turned out to be a total fiasco!
It was announced at the time that Mika Newton had won the final with her song “Angel”. After the result many, including some of the other participating singers, protested the results. After some investigating it was discovered that there was a major voting anomaly with the public televote. Although Mika recieved the most SMS and internet votes, those votes came from very few unique phone numbers and IP addresses, inferring block voting and rigged voting.
To try and address the situation NTU announced a “Top three run off” between Mika Jamala and Zlata. However just a few days later Jamala withdrew from this new final – then Zlata did the same. So NTU were back at square one and decided to just go with Mika. Rumours of a new song for Mika to sing were uncovered but both Mike and NTU have decided to keep with the original song.

GEORGIA – just a week after Eldrine won the ticket to Düsseldorf, the lead singer was sacked! Tako Vadachkoria has been replaced by Sopho Toroshelidze, one of the backing singers from last year’s contest. A video featuring the new singer is to be produced.

BELARUS – Firstly, it was decided that the lyrics to their selected song were to be changed, to reflect the new “Belarus” rather than of the nation during Soviet times. Then a video emerged of this song being played in April last year, well before the EBU’s cut off date. No official word yet has been made by Belarusian TV or the EBU about the song or country’s disqualification.

NETHERLANDS - As expected, the Dutch act, 3JS have decided to sing their winning entry in English. The song is now renamed “Never alone” and the song and video are being recorded as we speak. Rumours from the band suggest that the intro of the song will be changed and more guitar-led. In addition they will be doing all the singing themselves without the help of extra backing vocals.

SLOVAKIA – The selected act TWiiNS presented their song at the close of the Miss Slovakia contest on the 5th March. Unfortunately the girls were very much miming and the TV director seemed more interested in getting views of the winning (and losing) ladies f the competition. We are no closer to knowing if they can sing yet or what their presentation will be like.

GEORGIA

The Georgian final took place on the 19th February in Tblisi
The seven act final was won by the group Eldrine performing “One More Day”

The song is very unusual for Eurovision. The whole style of the performance seems to encompass lots of genres of music- some rock, some electronica, even a little bit of RnB, as well as rap.
Five members of the group play instruments whilst a female is the main singer. One could say that this mish-mash of styles means that there will be a part for everyone to like, others may say it is too confusing and lacking flow. The song is reminiscent of something Limp Bizkit, Evanescence or Paramore might produce. A band member joins in half way through and raps with the main singer. The main singer has to hit a lot of very high notes in the chorus and although she gets through it once the next few times she is very badly straining and eventually has to change down a key and alter the tune. She looks very uncomfortable during this part.

There is almost zero performance value to the song, apart from the rapping. The female singer just stands and sings. This song will need to engage much, much more with the audience at home to get any more votes at all. As there are 6 in the band ,they cannot add any more singers or dancers so they are going to have to set the band in such a way, or give the singer suitable choreography to make the performance come alive.


SINGER – Eldrine
SONG – OneMore Day
MUSIC – Beso Tsikhelashvili
WORDS - Mikheil Chelidze, DJ Rock