NORTH MACEDONIA 2022

The results of the North Macedonian selection "Za Evrosong" were revealed on February 4th. The songs were initially presented on January 28th where the voting window then opened. The winner was chosen by an equal split of online voting and an international jury. Going to Turin is Andrea with the song "Circles"

Andrea is a newcomer to the music scene with her first song being released at the end of 2020. At the age of 5 Andrea moved with her family to New York, became interested jazz and rhythm & blues which influenced her to sing and learn the guitar and piano. More recently, she posted short videos on Instagram when producer  Aleksandar Masevski stumbled across her posts and they started a collaboration. She was then encouraged to study singing at the Faculty of Music in Skopje  Her first song "I Know" has had more than 4 million views on TikTok.

The song follows a very simplistic structure. The first verse and chorus takes us to 1.20 and then Andrea starts to repeat the first verse again but with a slightly different melody and then segues into a slew of choruses until the very end. The backing track starts off rather minimal with just a piano but grows in intensity with a chirruping drum beat. The song sounds very familiar and he tune is a little predictable which is not always a bad thing when you are trying to get people to remember your song.

The lack of a proper live performance is a shame although the video shows she is able to look down the camera and connect with such a perceptive song. During the live but mimed version she keeps he eyes shut a lot which is a little limiting but not a deal breaker. Her voice is very distinctive with that vibrato during the end words and it will be interesting to see if she can replicate this live and keep the intensity of the voice over the whole range of the song. I feel like Andrea is not a dancer - not that this song needs that at all -  but she does move and emote a lot when singing and with some concentrated lighting and some directed looks down the camera her style could look effective on stage.  In Eurovision terms, this song reminds me of "Beautiful Mess" from Bulgaria a few years ago but would hope for a different visual outlook.  I would hazard a guess that the whole package is going to have some Billie Eilish type vibes and will probably we a very pared down, intimate performance. I could possibly image some kind of contemporary dancing at the side and maybe some circle-related animations on the back drop but Andrea needs to be the centre of attention. It's a great contemporary entry and I feel like this could stand out if the staging compliments the song.

ARTIST - Andrea

SONG - Circles

WRITING/PRODUCTION CREDITS - Andrea Koevska, Aleksandar Masevski

NORTH MACEDONIA 2021

The North Macedonian song was released on March 11th, with the video being premiered on youtube. Vasil was reselected by the Macedonian broadcaster, MRT to represent the Balkan nation with another internally selected song. His song is called "Here I stand"

The music video is filmed in the National Gallery of Macedonia in Skopje, surrounded by artwork by past and present Macedonian artists. This is intercut with footage of Vasil and the orchestra recording the song. The setting is absolutely glorious and dramatic however this has got him into a little bit of hot water as one exhibit in the museum (now edited out) looked like the flag of Bulgaria - even though the artist herself said the artwork is a triptych inspired by Jesus and is actually cream, green and orange - many people didn't like it :/

After a couple of piano notes the first verse starts and as we will discover this is the one and only verse in the song and takes us to just over half a minute As the song progresses the backing track becomes more and more full with instruments added throughout. We then have 2 renditions of the chorus; the first being straight forward, the second with Vasil doing some extended runs while the choir continues on. This then leaves about 40 seconds to the end. The song regroups and becomes small again before Vasil hits the big note and the choir chants the chorus underneath to the finish.

Vasil Garvanliev has been in the singing business since he was a child - he released his first album aged just eight!  In his early teens his family to the United States and he joined the Chicago Children's Choir becoming their main soloist and has performed with numerous musical theatre and pop acts. After some time in Italy and the UK he gained a scholarship at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto in 2004. From here on he performed extensively in Canada as a baritone. Vasil settled back to Macedonia where he juggled a opera and pop/jazz career including being credited as a backing vocalist for Chance the Rapper and releasing his own songs in Macedonian. Vasil is no stranger to Eurovision having taken part in Skopje Fest and singing backing vocals for Tamara in 2019.

The song is VERY musical theatre and overly dramatic but I think the build up, flow and level of emotions has blocked the flow of the song writing. There are too many places where I think the song is going to go in one direction and doesn't. In particular the chorus has too many odd phrasings and frankly goes on for too long. The long note at the end would be a perfect quiet ending for such a bombastic song but the addition of the choir is too much. All in all, the song ends up being an intro, two long choruses and an outro which just isn't the right formula for a Eurovision song. I feel like any people in the jury, especially of a musical theatre persuasion, will enjoy this but that doesn't make it memorable or give it impetuous to vote for it. Ultimately I think a lot of people are going to see this as rather old-fashioned - even cheesy - and not something that the modern televoter will vote for. It's a nice song, just not quite right for this.

ARTIST - Vasil
SONG - Here I stand
WRITING CREDITS - Vasil Garvanliev