BELARUS

The Belarussian Final was held on February 16th at BTRC Studio 600 Metrov in Minsk, hosted by Olga Ryzhikova & Teo. The winner was chosen by televoting (50%) and an "expert" jury (50%). Winning both parts of the vote was Alekseev with the song “Forever”

The singer is alone on stage throughout the whole number. He is dressed in an led suit which lights up in different patterns and colours depending on the part of the song he is singing. The backdrop works in tandem with the suit showing a myriad of monochrome images, shapes and strobing lines. As a concept, this is an interesting one, however I think this is an idea more for those in the hall than on TV. |On a wide shot the effect works fine but on close up it looks far too random and the sight of the bulbs so close up almost ruins the ‘magic’.

The song itself is a smooth contemporary ballad. The tune of the song seems very memorable and the chord progression quite familiar. The repetitive piano accompaniment is something well used in modern pop songs. He starts off singing very very low which really sound at all good but once he gets to the next part he goes up an octave which feels much more comfortable. The chorus also roves a problems as several times during each reprise of it he falls flat on many of the big notes. In addition the lyrics, if not a little banal and written in slightly broken English, is made worse by Alekseev’s poor pronunciation. In fact the part he sings best is the bridge at the 2 min. mark.

One of the many problems one has as a Eurovision fan is that sometimes the back story behind an act can overshadow how you view of the song itself. Alekseev had initially entered this into his homeland national final, Ukraine, but withdrew so he could enter Eurofest in Belarus. Many see this as quite a cowardly and unnerving move especially seeing the pool of acts entering the NF for Belarus was much smaller. Add this to the fact that a Russian language version of this has been available for quite a while might have made this ineligible but yet it still stands. Whatever I may think of the ‘legality’ of the song not much can get past the fact that as good as the song is, it is very badly sung. In addition looking at the other songs and acts in its semi this is vanilla plus with few neighbours to boost its votes they are already on the back foot. If they get through to the final with this I will be very surprised.

ARTIST – Alekseev

SONG – Forever

MUSIC - Kyrylo Pavlov, Evhen Matyushenko

LYRICS - Kyrylo Pavlov, Evhen Matyushenko

GREECE

The Greek Final was due be held on February 22nd at the ERT TV Studios in Athens where the 3 selected songs would be presented as video clips and a winner solely chosen by televoting. However on February 15^th it was revealed that 2 of the songs had been effectively disqualified due to the record company’s non-payment of funds to subsidise the trip to Eurovision. This left only one song left in the running and was therefore declared the winner. Going to Lisbon will be Yianna Terzi singing the song "Oneiro Mou" (My Dream)

Unfortunately we know nothing about the visuals about this song. There is no official video as yet and only really have the cover art for its single release to go on. This has is quite dark looking although it is quite light and floaty like it is either way up high or underwater. The only thing I can deduce from the song is that it will needs quite a few backing singers and possibly some on stage drums.

The song is very Greek in sound and has a very ethereal, other-worldly feel about it. The backing singers do a lot of work in this song and they are going to need to be very strong, especially as the backing is so sparse. The tune of the song is not that complex but the ay Yianna sings it with lots of runs and trills at the end of phrases emphasises that atmosphere. The chorus is quite strong although what it needs is a bigger build up in the orchestration so that you know it is coming. The song carries on in a typical way until just after the 2 minute mark where there is quite a lengthy drum-lead instrumental. This of course opens up the scope for something in the staging. The song ends after a final reprise of the chorus and does so quite suddenly and a little lackadaisically for my taste. Once you have heard the first minute of the song you’ve basically heard it all which means it gets quite boring quite quickly.

In one way it is nice to see Greece going back to something a bit more cultural and trying something a little bit different, however due to the unfortunate circumstances of the song’s selection I end up with more questions than answers. The whole feeling of the song is very nice but it gets very samey very quickly. It is in desperate need of more oomph during the different segments of the song. In fact getting someone to do a trancy remix could be what it needs. Of course I have quite a few reservations about how this song could sound live as well as how it would look visually. On initial reflections this is not bad song but needs a lot of work to make this stand out.  As is, I don’t think this should qualify but looking at the other countries in its semi, it may well do.

ARTIST – Yianna Terzi

SONG – Oneiro Mou (My Dream)

MUSIC - Michalis Papathanasiou, Dimitris Stamatiou

LYRICS - Aris Kalimeris, Yianna Terzi

ITALY

The Italian entry was selected and confirmed on February 10th during the annual Sanremo Music Festival, hosted by Claudio Baglioni, Michelle Hunziker and Pierfrancesco Favino. During the final evening of competition, the winner was chosen via a combination of a demographic jury (30%) expert jury (30%) and televoting (40%). As with the last couple of years, the overall winner of the festival is given first refusal as to whether they want to represent the country at Eurovision. During the press conference, the winner confirmed they would go to Lisbon. The winning act was Ermal Meta and Fabrizio Moro with the song "Non mi avete fatto niente" (You didn’t do anything to me)

The background of this song is a flood of red lights. There is no video, no background just a basic colouration. The duo stand next to each other with microphone stands. Ermal is wearing a generic smart-casual buttoned up suit while Fabrizio’s open jacketed suit is not too dissimilar but has a slightly more shiny, rock-inspired tinge to it. Ermal’s performance style is more inward with little movement and small hand gestures. Fabrizio is much more animated with wide leg stances and lots of pointing. You can tell the two men are passionate, almost angry, yet show two different ways of portraying that emotion. Around the 2 minute mark the guys are shown in split screen from slightly different angles which make for a very interesting viewing position considering they are actually next to each other.

The song starts off quietly and with very little backing. Ermal’s voice is well balanced,  clear and  gentle whilst Fabrizio’s voice is a little scratchier. The lyrics of the songs are really quick and the tune is repetitive. Although the song is in Italian you can pick out the odd place name as well as pick up the tune very easily. After the first chorus, the drums pick up speed turning the song into a bouncier, syncopated tune which almost sounds like a country song. There has been some controversy about the song ’borrowing’ its chorus from a song previously entered, but not selected, to Sanremo 2 years ago. However, the Sanremo committee said that no rules, as far as they were concerned, had been broken but the EBU might have a different view. As it stands the song is also about 25 seconds too long and I would not like to the be the person given the job of streamlining this one down.

This was the big favourite before the final and it was no surprise that it won. I personally like the tune and its repetitive nature. I like the combination of the 2 voices and styles and I feel that you are bound to like or enjoy one of the singers if not both of them. The official video of the song shows more of the meaning and feeling behind the story (there are motions during the song of places that have been the subject of terrorist attacks or war) and something like this on a video screen would have worked but as this won’t be happening this year they may have to be creative about how to get this message across. There is also the possibility, albeit it small, that some of the song might be sung in English – this might help with getting its message to more viewers but might cutup the flow of the song. If you like Italian song this will be right up your street, otherwise if might be a bit Marmite. A good song but I don’t see this one battling for the win

ARTIST – Ermal Meta & Fabrizio Moro

SONG – Non mi avete fatto niente (You didn’t do anything to me)

MUSIC - Ermal Meta, Fabrizio Moro

LYRICS - Andrea Febo, Ermal Meta, Fabrizio Moro

(RAI Uno place Sanremo songs on youtube but they are not embeddable so here's a link)

https://youtu.be/R0NF8BZlH4I

DENMARK

The Danish Final was held on February 10th at the Gigantium in Aalborg, hosted by Annette Heick & Johannes Nymark. There were two rounds of voting - the first to select the top 3 and the second to select the winner. The scoring was equally weighted between SMS/mobile app voting and jury. Representing Denmark is Rasmussen with the song “Higher Ground"

The singer is joined on stage for almost all of the song by some backing singer/dancers who join him in some gross motor armography as well as some rhythmic stomping and marching around the stage. They are all wrapped up well for winter in a similar fashion sporting coats, scarves and hats which all waft about as the song goes on. In addition the stage has a small ramp that the singers use at time to time as well as a couple of abstractly designed sails. There is also a whisper of dry ice or smoke to add atmosphere which is later joined by a force 9 gale AND fake snow. At the very end one of the people on stage starts flag waving. There is an unmissable ambience created on stage and one that is expressively and unashamedly Nordic.

This feels like it should be the theme tune to a historical Scandi-drama and have a very earthy sensation about it (no pun intended!). The song starts off quite ethereal and after the first verse the drums kick in followed by the first rendition of the chorus. This pattern continues until about the 2 minute mark where the choir joins in with a lot of oh-oh-oh-ing which is possibly the weakest part of the song. Eventually after an instrumental of stomping they get back to the chorus. Rasmussen has a very clear voice and copes really well with selling the story of the song and keeping the character. The only real issue I have is the fact that the vocals were not only pre-recorded but were highly processed and I would love to see how they recreate this live.

This is very much a mood piece. It screams Vikings and Game of Thrones and Medieval seafaring adventures and will be an easy association for anybody with an affinity to any of those. The song has a really infectious hook aurally and visually it is a real stand apart act. Visually there is not much than needs to be changed. Whether they will be able to get away with smoke and wind and snow during the competition is another question. They have 3 months now to work out what they are going to do about backing vocals – the rest is a done deal. Brilliant work Denmark!


ARTIST – Rasmussen

SONG – Higher Ground

MUSIC - Niclas Arn, Karl Eurén

LYRICS - Niclas Arn, Karl Eurén

UNITED KINGDOM

The UK Final was held on February 7th at The Brighton Dome, hosted by Mel Giedroyc & Måns Zelmerlöw. The winner was chosen by an "expert" jury (50%) & televoting (50%).Going to Lisbon is SuRie with the song “Storm”

The staging of this song is decidedly static. I imagined her being much more mobile as to emphasise the slowing and quickening of the song’s beat. She is wearing a greeny/blue number with a hidden cape – again she could have shown of the latent potential of the cape during the song if she had moved around! The screen behind her is reminiscent of descending a tunnel changing colour as we get deeper inside. There are also some light up poles scattered around which really don’t serve a purpose unless you are in the arena itself or constantly watching it on a wide shot.

The song is a real rollercoaster for it starts off quietly with SuRie gently singing, almost whispering, the first lines, then the beat kicks in which initiates the crowd to start clapping along with it. A similar thing happens when the chorus goes up a gear. The best part of the song, in my opinion is the chanting and drum part around the 2:10 mark which doesn’t go on long enough for my ears then is followed by a quiet rendition of the chorus which totally loses the momentum built up to that point. I find the lyrics a little too saccharine and predictable at times.

Before the final, I had decided that I wouldn’t mind 4 of the 6 winning. This wasn’t one of them. I must admit taat she seems like a lovely person and someone who is going to be great fun in Lisbon – but I just wish that some of that personality came out during her performance. I think she is much much better than the song allows her to show. That said I admit that it has grown on me – but only a bit. The current visuals don’t match the flow of the song and I wish she would move around the stage. She stays very still for a girl talking about storms! I just find this a little too stereotypical and possibly a little dated. Compared to the other songs on offer this feels very non-descript and middle of the road - UK version on Nathan Trent perhaps…?

On the other hand in a year when some countries are being slightly more experimental and cultural in their entries, this might stand out as something accessible to all. I then start to wonder if this has a touch of the ‘Love shine a light’ about it – like Katrina’s song this is a metaphorical song about optimism. Oh God I really don't know.

ARTIST – SuRie

SONG – Storm

MUSIC - Nicole Blair, Gil Lewis, Sean Hargreaves

LYRICS - Nicole Blair, Gil Lewis, Sean Hargreaves

SWITZERLAND

The Swiss Final was held on February 4th at the SRF TV Studios in Zürich, hosted by Sven Epiney. The winner was chosen by an international jury (50%) and televoting (50%). The winning song is called “Stones” and is performed by brother-sister duo Zibbz.

The duo is centre stage - Stee on drums/keyboard, Corinne on vocals and single drum - inside neon tetrahedra. He stays with the instruments whilst she staggers around. She reminds me very much of Anouk, in fashion sense and in vocal style. The background has a slightly outer space feel with a black background with the white outline of stones moving around. This is emphasised by the use of an on screen graphic imitating the stones coming through the tv screen at the start of the chorus which is a nice memorable touch.

The song has a quite retro, stripped back minimalistic feel about it at the start but changes as the song progresses. The mood starts off reminiscent of a rocky Paloma Faith then moves more towards modern pop rock singers like Kelly Clarkson. The verses are quite conversational in their tone and cadence whilst the chorus starts off louder, higher and punchier but the title of the song is said right at the end of each line and in a slightly lower tone which could be missed. Her voice is a little all over the place. Her diction is a little croaky and it doesn’t seem to get better when she’s belting it out either. Around the 2 minute mark there is a small bridge where both siblings are drumming, I am sure with better camera angles and willing audience this could be made into something much bigger. The ending is also very nondescript and I think they could scrap the last 5 seconds totally.

In what seems to be becoming a yearly tradition, the Swiss final was a very poor affair. The six songs were not of a terrible quality but very little really stood out as a Eurovision contender. This was more or less the best out of an average bunch. Although the studio used had a great setup it felt very small and intimate, which is no bad thing, but this cannot replicate the conditions of Eurovision itself. This isn’t a bad song but I find it really hard to remember even after 24 hours of watching and listening to it, so I dare say its chances of being remembered after one go in the semi-final very slim indeed.

ARTIST – Zibbz

SONG – Stones

MUSIC - Corinne Gfeller, Stee Gfeller, Laurell Barker

LYRICS - Corinne Gfeller, Stee Gfeller, Laurell Barker

MALTA

The Maltese Final was held on February 3rd at the Malta Fairs & Convention Centre in Ta' Qali, hosted by Colin Fitz. The winner was chosen by a 50/50 televoting and jury vote. The winning act was Christabelle and she will be singing the song “Taboo”.

The colour palate of this song is very dark: full of shadows, silhouettes and flashing lights. There is no ‘backdrop’ apart from swirling colours and blackouts but there is extensive use of a screen/box which has images projected onto is as well as trapping the dancers inside! Christabelle is wearing a dark top with a short black skirt. It looks ok but I think the skirt should be a longer, less dishevelled and waftier – the use of a wind machine for the end might create more movement and peril to match the emotion of the song at the end. During parts of the song words flash up on the backdrop which is making a statement of kinds but also feels slightly disconnected to the words coming out of Christabelle’s mouth. During the final parts of the song there is a short firework show which also feels disingenuous to the song's message.

The song and performance is quite reminiscent of Loreen’s “Euphoria” but this should come to no surprise when you see who it is co-written by. To a non-Eurovision ear it has tones of “Green Light” by Lorde and the tune of “Remedy” by Little Boots. Christabelle’s voice really suits the tone and pitch of the song, at no point did I feel like she wouldn’t be able to hit any of the notes and her diction is very clear. She connects well with the camera although this is blighted by the fact she moves around the stage a lot. I think she could do even better by moving around less and letting the camera do more of the action. With better camera angles and better production values, this could improve greatly.

Although I didn’t watch the whole show, I did watch the recap clips several times at the end of the NF and this seemed to be the most cohesive and well rounded production of the night. The overall concept is very good and memorable. I also like the fact it is not too backdrop-heavy (as we know there will little if not no led screens in Lisbon) I hope they keep the whole box concept alive as I think it is very eye catching but tweaks will need to be made. One issue that will need addressing is the balance of dancers/backing singers. If singers are required will having less dancers affect the story? Can they find people who can do both? On first listen it didn’t really stand out but after a couple of watches and listens it really grows on you. This is the type of song that might scrape into the semis then suddenly grow and do better in the final. Of course there are several songs left to pick and if anybody else has a similar concept the power of this song could be easily lost.

ARTIST – Christabelle

SONG – Taboo

MUSIC - Johnny Sanchez, Thomas G:son, Christabelle Borg, Muxu

LYRICS - Johnny Sanchez, Thomas G:son, Christabelle Borg, Muxu

SPAIN

The Spanish Final was held on January 29th at Parc Audiovisual de Catalunya in Terrassa, hosted by Roberto Leal. The winner was chosen by televoting in two rounds of voting - the first to select the top 3 and the second to select the winner. The show was eventually won by the song "Tu canción" sung by Alfred & Amaia.

The setting of the song is ultra simple. There are each sat on a piano – one black, one white mimicking the yin yang symbol. This isn’t really made much of after this point so feels like a useless message. After the first verse they move towards the middle of the stage for the chorus. They then spend the rest of the song singing very close to each other incusing a very awkward swaying thing where they change sides of the stage. They are VERY close to each other and almost unaware of the audience and cameras and end with a small kiss.

The song has a slight jazz edge to it and the backing track is very quiet with piano being the most prominent instrument. It is not until the “oh oh oh” part around the 2 minute mark dose the orchestration ramp up, only to ebb way again for the final reprise of the chorus. Their voices aren’t too bad his, in particular, really suits this style of song. Amaia’s voice is very clear although during the last chorus you start to wonder how confident she is – I felt that she could hit a bum note any moment.

It has been quite a while since Spain used the Operación Triunfo show to select their entrant and singer and I think at least this mechanism has gone down well with the Spanish public and has garnered ore interests and support for the contest. On first watch and listen, I found this quite uncomfortable and a bit cringy to watch. The visuals need a lot of work, and in fairness they have not had a lot of time to really work on it. Their singing is not bad, considering my concerns, and it’s not really a bad song. It’s quite a sweet song, almost like a lullaby, however some people have already commented it is too close to “Amar Pelos Dois” to feel really authentic. Also how lasting is the real-life duet – what if they break up between now and May?!?!!? Awks. In my opinion, the other two songs in the final 3 were much better than this and even though we are only 4 songs down this is by far the weakest song yet.

ARTIST – Alfred & Amaia

SONG – Tu canción (Your song)

MUSIC - Raúl Gómez, Sylvia Santoro

LYRICS - Raúl Gómez, Sylvia Santoro

CZECH REPUBLIC

The Czech entry was announced on January 29th during a national news broadcast. The songs in the running were announced on 8^th January and televoting was open until  22^nd January. An international jury was also announced made up of past Eurovision artists which would count for the other 50% of the vote. Going to Lisbon is Mikolas Josef with the song "Lie to Me"

The songs were all selected using video clips rather than live presentations although such performances were available if you looked for them. The video comprises mostly of shots of Mikolas singing and dancing (although mostly from the waist up) and a plethora of dancers. He also, quite oddly, appears halfway though singing on a camel! The video is quite brightly shot with vivid backgrounds and “Single Ladies”-esque moving shadows. I think with the right amount of practice and choreography this could be a very fun presentation.

The song starts off with a trumpet earworm. This is repeated several times during the song and you get to know this part of the song probably better than anything Mikolas actually sings. The song starts off in a pretty modern way with a kind of half singing/rapping fast paced way. Unusually instead of getting louder and higher he actually goes down in his register until he is almost at a croak. The ‘lie to me’ chorus is much of a muchness although the rhythm of it saves it more than the lyrics. The ending has an extended trumpet solo which could get the crowd clapping and waving away at.

Like a few of countries this year, the Czech Republic have gone back to a national final (of sorts!) and it is nice to see that delegations are wanting the input of their fellow countrymen as well as the opinion of the wider fanbase. I think that out of the 6 songs on offer this was by far the most ear-catching and visually slick and on that basis I am happy with this result. There are, however, some big questions that need answering. By the sound of it he will need a good set of backing singers as there is a lot of overlapping and a lot of parts that need emphasis. This then impinges on the visual side of it as I feel the show would benefit from some dancers – can they get people who can do both?

The other big stumbling point or the lyrics. There is quite the bit of swearing during the second verse and some of the lyrics seem to objectify women in a stereotypical way andI think with a bit of help these could be re-written in a stronger and less offensive way. On the whole I like this choice and think it is an interesting addition to what is looking to be a very diverse line-up. Not my favourite but not far off.

ARTIST – Mikolas Josef

SONG – Lie to me

MUSIC - Mikolas Josef

LYRICS - Mikolas Josef

FRANCE

The French Final was held on January 27th at the Studios de France in Saint-Denis, Paris, hosted by Garou. Before the final there were 2 semi-finals of 9 entries with the top 4 from each continuing on. The finalists were chosen solely by jury, but in the final this was changed to an international jury (50%) & televoting (50%). The winning act was Madame Monsieur with their song “Mercy”.

The song starts off with Émilie and Jean-Karl stood opposite each other with the camera spinning round until both of them come into view. You notice quite quickly that both of them are dressed the same in a black polo neck top, black trousers and red shoes. He is playing the guitar but also provides backing vocals during the second half of the song. He stays mainly in the background whilst she does more of the emoting to camera. Behind them are small videos of the sea bobbing up and down in a sepia tone, later on this becomes a multicoloured sea of faces. During the chanting part at the end, the audience join in with some hand choreography.

The song is quite understated and stats with Émilie singing very low. I like the fact that the first line ends with the phrase “Je m’apelle Mercy” – a  phrase most of us would have learnt or heard at school! The song moves into a better range before going into the chorus. The chorus has a very memorable pattern and tune which will help those viewers who don’t speak French. There is not a lot of repetition but the song is simple enough to get into your head very quickly. Plus it is full of simple words one would have learnt at school e.g. enfant, mer,  je suis, vie. Around the 2:30 mark she starts the “Mercy, Mercy” chant which adds an extra ending earworm to the end of the song

This is the first real national final France have had for a long time (they did have a small final in 2014 but that was just from of 3 entries) Although the quality has been mixed, the diversity of acts and song genres has been wide and made all the songs very interesting to watch. Mercy” has a great message and follows on from the sensibility that Salvador had during 2017 (we all remember the SOS Refugees jumper he got told off for wearing during rehearsals) The song sounds and looks very French and has that very slick and understated feel to it. Although the song won the French televote quite convincingly (27% of the total votes cast) the jury vote was very mixed and unless they sort out a more visually stunning look and/or get a good starting position in the final, this could flop. However,on a wider note I feel that Eurovision is reaching a turning point. Maybe Eurovision *is* political after all and if this is the kind of thing we should see more of then I really won’t complain. I would much rather have seen something more complex to have won (Igit or Malo') but out of the big favourites I think this was the best option.

ARTIST – Madame Monsieur

SONG – Mercy

MUSIC - Émilie Satt, Jean-Karl Lucas

LYRICS - Émilie Satt, Jean-Karl Lucas