NORWAY

The Norwegian Final will be held on March 10th at the Spektrum in Oslo, hosted by Kåre Magnus Bergh & Silya Nymoen. There were 3 rounds of voting: one to select the top 4, another to select the top 2 and a final round to declare the victor. Going to Lisbon is 2009 Eurovision winner Alexander Rybak with “That’s how you write a song”

The staging for this song is very simple. Alexander starts on stage by himself and starts miming the instruments on the track. The outlines of these instruments are animated onto the tv screen so the float in and float away again. About a minute in he is then joined by 4 backing singers who then mimic the instrument playing from earlier on. With a minute to go he is reunited with his famous fiddle and continues the singing and dancing until the end. The background behind him looks like a blue Venetian blind effect with music notes floating on top.

Anybody wishing for “Fairytale part 2” will be seriously disappointed. As the song suggests this is a meta-song about the process of writing songs but also touches on the wider aspect of following dreams and progressing with any talent one might have. He starts sat on a stool for the first verse then stands up for the second. He is very active on stage interacting with the audience or dancing to the track. The chorus has a very catchy step one, step two approach which engages you straight away. After this we have a call and response scatting session which really seems to put the audience into a bit of a frenzy. After another chorus he then plays the violin and sings and dances at the same time. Right at the very end 2 fiddle players and two trumpeters come out at the very back. This puts the number of people on stage at 9, far more than is allowed at Eurovision

So, what it is absolutely no doubt is that this is a showman. Fairytale was brilliant song but this is something very, very different. He sings, he dances, he scats, he plays the fiddle – is there anything this man cannot do?!?!? But the question is – is this too much? When listening to the song alone, it feels very cheesy but the show that Alexander puts on is really something else. My fear is that this is just too much – just because you can do all those things doesn’t mean you should do all of them. I don’t hate this; I am somewhat disappointed by it but is growing on me. I feel like his name will get people watching in but will they be shocked by what they see?

ARTIST –  Alexander Rybak

SONG –  That's how you write a song

MUSIC - Alexander Rybak

LYRICS - Alexander Rybak

SWEDEN

The Swedish Final was held on March 10th at the Friends Arena in Solna, hosted by David Lindgren. Before the final there were 4 semi-finals and a second chance round for the runners up. 2018 The winner was chosen by televoting (50%) and 11 international juries (50%). The winning act was Benjamin Ingrosso with the song “Dance You Off”

Although this is a ‘stage’ performance it is micromanaged within an inch of its life for the cameras. A portion of the stage has been overlayed with a frame which goes behind and under the performer. This contains flashing strips of light which pulse to the music and creates different shapes, colours and themes throughout the song. Benjamin is dressed in black trousers and a black t-shirt with a jacket which he doesn’t really wear properly.

The song is a very Swedish production and has hints of Michael Jackson and Justin Timberlake is its look and feel. Throughout the song Benjamin does a quite intricate, although quite small, dance routine which fits with the style of music. The three minutes is quite understated and there really isn’t very much to the whole thing. The stage is barely lit as the first verse which lasts last than 20 seconds before we get into the chorus. At this point the frame comes to life and the lighting show begins. The chorus is quite lengthy, lasting almost 40 seconds for both parts. We then have another verse and chorus before a small instrumental, which doesn’t really go anywhere, followed by a last foray into the chorus. The backing track is very samey and doesn’t progress at all. There is no change in key or volume or beat and feels a little underwhelming. It must be said that the backing vocals on the track were suspiciously high during the chorus and you could barely hear him during those points.

Out of all of the songs in the Melodifestivalen final this was possibly the most polished visually and more radio friendly. We have seen and heard this kind of thing so many times and it is starting to feel a bit disingenuous and over confident and too predictable from a Swedish entry. This isn’t a stage show – this is a glorified music video. I personally like a song with shots of the crowd or at least some semblance that there is an audience in from of them. Also I have very suspicious of his live singing ability although I suspect he will have 5 backing singers off stage to ‘help’ him. My only question is – can this staging be transported to Lisbon? Does the stage in Lisbon have the capacity for such an idea? Can it be taken on and off within the postcard time limit? This song without its staging simply would not have won the show. Being in semi 2 this will probably qualify although I personally think it should not.

ARTIST –  Benjamin Ingrosso

SONG – Dance you off

MUSIC - Benjamin Ingrosso, MAG, Louis Schoorl, K Nita

LYRICS - Benjamin Ingrosso, MAG, Louis Schoorl, K Nita

IRELAND

The Irish song was unveiled on March 9^th via its première radio play on the Ray Darcy show on RTE Radio 1. Back in January the broadcaster announced that they had chosen Ryan O'Shaughnessy as their internally selected artist and that the song would be revealed in March. The song he is singing is “Together”

The video is a one-take shot detailing the journey of 2 men coming out of a place in Temple Bar, Dublin at night. They walk casually for the most part but during the chorus they start to dance using the street furniture and shop architecture to enable them to create different shapes and levels. It is subtly intricate, well produced and well made. It also fits very well with the mood and themes of the song. There is also a culture nod to the referendum in 2015 where the petition for same sex marriage was supported and approved. I could imagine such a dance routine being lifted to the stage but I feel they wIll need almost all of their personnel for the singing.

The song has a definite Ed Sheeran vibe to it but unlike the Englishman, Ryan seems to ride the wave between cheese and sincerity well.  The structure of the song is such that we actually get to hear 4 complete renditions of the chorus which shows some very clever song craft and I applaud the team for that. The song starts off like an acoustic guitar ballad and then there is a noticeable but slow beat that starts during the chorus. This then dies down again for the next verse then beefs up again for the chorus. Just before the 2 minute mark there is a bridge that goes into a gentle version of the chorus before having one final full on version. There is also a noticeable choir of backing singers on the track which gives it a more ensemble or group feel. Because of the repetition you get to know the song very quickly.

This is possibly the best thing they have sent for quite a few years – but this is such a low bar this isn’t really brilliant news. I think this is a decent enough radio friendly song and should get in some points. Although this has be drawn in the second half of semi 1 I feel this is going to struggle to be remembered at the end of the show. With a good stage show and a spot on vocal - anything can happen I guess. If this has been drawn in semi 2 I feel this would have had much more of a chance of getting to the final.

ARTIST –  Ryan O'Shaughnessy

SONG – Together

MUSIC - Laura Elizabeth Hughes, Candice Mark & Ryan O'Shaughnessy

LYRICS - Laura Elizabeth Hughes, Candice Mark & Ryan O'Shaughnessy

AUSTRIA

The Austrian song was unveiled on March 9^th on the radio station Hitradio Ö3 where the song had its premiere play then the music video was unveiled. Back in December ORT, the Austrian broadcaster, announced that Cesár Sampson had been internally selected to represent Austria at Eurovision but his song would not be revealed for several months. The song is called “Nobody but you”

The accompanying video is in almost all in black and white and is full of projections, optical illusions and shadows - there is also a lot of snow! There are also views (I assume) of Austria focusing on the architectural lines, statues and trams. He spends a lot of time in slow motion, usually running, The video is very clever and needs several watches to uncover the tricks involved. I quite like the use of overlayed projections and superimposed videos but I am not quite sure if this would take too much focus from Cesár and the song if done on the stage. There are backing singers and he will probably need all 5 he is allowed to recreate the power and oomph for the track.

The song has a kind of Rag’n’Bone Man/Aloe Blacc feel to it which puts it in the radio friendly pile. The song begins atmospherically, with an almost a cappela beginning which focuses your attention on his soulful voice. There is a slight uplift in the backing track as the first chorus starts up but doesn’t quite go full out. After this there is some gospel-tinged oh-ohing and the start of a progressive hand clap beat into the next verse. After the next chorus, mirrored in the use of colour in the video clip, the bridge into the final chorus is preceded by another gospel segment. This one seems much more outward and I could imagine him really singing to and interacting with the crowd at this stage.

The song is a grower. The first time I heard his I was really disappointed because I felt that the chorus was really weak compared to the driving verses but after a few listens it started becoming familiar quickly. If I had any real critique I would have loved to have heard more of the gospel stuff or had a bigger chunk after the second chorus. Cesár is not a newcomer to Eurovision he has provided backing vocals for the last 2 Bulgarian entries – both of which ended up top 4 – and the composers of these two entries is also behind Cesár’s solo song. If I had written this straight after the first listen it would have been a big fat no. Now, it’s very much a yes but this scares me very much.

ARTIST –  Cesár Sampson

SONG – Nobody but you

MUSIC - Boris Milanov, Sebastian Arman, Joacim Persson, Johan Alkenäs

LYRICS - Boris Milanov, Sebastian Arman, Joacim Persson, Johan Alkenäs

AUSTRALIA

The Australian song was unveiled on March 8^th via a music video on youtube. It was supposed to be revealed on the10th but due to leak of the song it was brought forward. Back in December the broadcaster announced that they had internally selected Jessica Mauboy, who was an interval act ESC n 2014, and the song would be made public in March. Her song is called “#We got love”

The performance of the song during the video is very simplistic. There are two main settings – inside a fame of multicoloured neon strip and laying down in a dimly lit pool in which you can see the water vibrating to the music. In both situations the background screen shows different colours scenes and situations. I could see the former of those ideas being used quite effectively. There are no other people in the video but I suggest she may need singers and/or dancers to help power the song along.

The song structure is pretty formulaic and very Eurovision. The first 2 minutes are filled with a verse/chorus/verse/chorus however the differences between the flow of these parts is so slight it might as well just be one long chorus. Just after the two minutes mark the backing becomes a bit more tribal and the beat finally intensifies before having one more rendition of the chorus, The song then ends with Jessica shouting “We got love” several times over the tune of the chorus.

This is not a bad song, but it could be much, much better. The song doesn’t really beef up enough or quick enough. The fact that the first 2 minutes is practically on the same level makes it quite boring and uninspiring very quickly, although they might be able to keep the attention visually. When remembering back to Jessica’s first foray on the Eurovision stage, the song she performed then “Sea of flags” is not a million miles way from this and for many fans this might be seen as a very safe choice. The team behind this song have been behind almost every sing Australian entry and it is getting a little predictable and samey. I want them to try something different, something that showcases something diverse about the Aussie music scene apart from this tiny slice of ‘down under’ musical pie. Luckily for them the second semi final is nowhere near as competitive as the first and I think they will probably get to the final and dive badly.

ARTIST –  Jessica Mauboy

SONG –  #We got love

MUSIC - Anthony Egizii, David Musumeci, Jessica Mauboy

LYRICS - Anthony Egizii, David Musumeci, Jessica Mauboy

CROATIA

The Croatian song was unveiled on March 6^th via the release of the official video on youtube. Last month, it was announced that Franka Batelić had been internally selected by HRT, the Croatian broadcaster, and that more details would be announced at a later date. Her song is called “Crazy”

The video has a very strong theme and although I don’t think it can moved as a whole to the Eurovision stage but in a reduced singing friendly form it could work. Franka is dressed in beigy/brown tones with nod to Grecian floaty dresses but with a warrior princess overtones. She is joined by a plethora of dancers who are dressed in a similar fashion and are used in quite a few different ways. There are also sand, underwater and glowing ball motifs too.

The song starts with a very odd horn/flute type noise which sounds quite folky and ethnic but the beat kicks in and takes it in a different direction. The song reminds me of Sam Brown’s “Stop” and “INXS’s “Never tear us apart” The first verse is very long and doesn’t have a lot of lyrics so feels even longer. The chorus is very short and again mostly has repetitions the title of the song. This is lone follower by a very annoying ear worm of the word ‘love’ but pronounce ‘lo-oh-oh-ove’ which is a very wasteful part of the 3 minutes. After the first verse/chorus rendition there is a very odd spoken word/rap part which sounds totally out of place in the song but also out of kilter with the style of music she is offering. Things like this never sound well, especially if their English is below par. After the second rendition there is then a quieter bridge before going into a final part chorus ending with another ‘lo-oh-oh-ove’’

The song is a bit wishy-washy for my taste and doesn’t really have that spark of pizzazz or that verve that makes it memorable. The parts of the song don’t really fit together and this lets down the main body of the song. I also think that this will probably sound awful live, in particular the rap part. It’s also found itself in a semi with only one other ex-Yugoslav country in it, so will not really benefit from the neighbourly voting. It’s a nice try but a no.

ARTIST –  Franka Batelić

SONG – Crazy

MUSIC - Branimir Mihaljević

LYRICS - Franka Batelić

BELGIUM

The Belgian song was unveiled on March 5^th via the release of the official video on youtube. The next day the song has its premiere on Belgian radio station MNM. Back in September, it was announced that Laura Groeseneken, under her stage name Sennek, had been internally selected by the Flemish broadcaster VRT and her song would be announced in March. The song she will be singing is “A matter of time”

The video takes place in a number of settings – a theatre, an empty swimming pool, staircases, fancy stated glass windows,  - and any of this, or none, could influence to the stage show. She is also wearing a number of different outfits any of which could be her stage costume. Most of the time she is looking away from the camera which is an interesting perspective and could possibly imagine her singing this in profile during the first verse.

The song is a very jazzy number with more than a nod to twenty-first century James Bond themes. It starts with a verse which is only backed by a few piano chords and this is then followed by another verse but this time the piano is joined by drumming. There is brief pre-chorus which is the lull before the chorus. The pace and pitch changes drastically and really catches your ear. In particular the repetition of the word ‘echoes’ is a very clever touch. The change back into the verse is a little clunky but it pretty hard to condense so much direction in 3 minutes. We have another verse, pre chorus and chorus before the song ends with the backing gently fading away like it is falling down a tunnel.

Overall this is a very classy, well-produced and well thought through entry. Obviously the proof will be in the live performances a as to how well she can actually deliver this and hopefully we will get some soon. This fits very well in the lineage of recent Belgian entries and long standing fans and watchers will not be disappointed by what Belgium deliver this year. The juries are going to absolutely lap this up but I am a little hesitant as to how encouraged televoters will be to sit up and vote for this. Although it is a great song, is it a song that compels you to vote for it. Although I would live for this to be up near the top at the end I have a feeling it will rumble just below where it deserves.

ARTIST –  Sennek

SONG – A matter of time

MUSIC - Laura Groeseneken, Alex Callier, Maxime Tribèche

LYRICS - Laura Groeseneken, Alex Callier, Maxime Tribèche

PORTUGAL

The Portuguese Final was held on March 4th at Pavilhão Multiusos in Guimarães, hosted by Filomena Cautela & Pedro Fernandes. Before the final there were 2 semi-finals where 6 qualified from each show. The winner waschosen by televoting (50%) & 7 regional juries (50%). Winning was Cláudia Pascoal with the song “O jardim” (The garden)

Cláudia stands in the middle of the stage in a long black dress this really punctuates her pink hair. Behind her on a chair facing backwards is her backing singer who just happens to be the writer of the song. She turns around part way through then turns back again. There is not much in the way of action and Cláudia sings the song very intensely and the emotion shows in her face and voice. The backdrop is blue and beneath her feet are the outlines of white petals and leaves.

This is quite a modern ethereal song, akin to something London Grammar might come out with. It starts with just piano backing. As the song progresses you suspect that an undercurrent, a beefed up beat will appear – but it never does. As the song progresses there is a very faint beat although it is more like a soft heart beat which fits with the words of the song. The lyrics are full of metaphors hinting at what the Portuguese call ‘saudade’ or longing, in this case being the thoughts and pain of those left behind when someone has died, all of which influences Cláudia’s emotional performance. You definitely feel a journey - a beginning, middle and end - when watching and listening.

The performance is very simple as is the song. The tune of the song is very memorable and repetitive but not in a bad way. It is much less orchestrated than Salvador’s entry last year and is much more insular in terms of meaning and performance. I think the language also sounds very pretty in the song. This is a great entry for the home crowd to support in my and also a great showcase of modern Portuguese singers and songwriters rather than the more traditional Fado. I think this will do well with the juries and will give a reasonable result for the home crowd.

ARTIST –  Cláudia Pascoal

SONG – O jardim (The garden)

MUSIC - Isaura

LYRICS - Isaura

AZERBAIJAN

The Azeri song was unveiled on March 4^th via a lyric video on youtube and song release on Spotify. Back in November the broadcaster announced that they had internally selected Aisel and the song would be made public in March. The song she will be singing is called “X my heart” (Cross my heart)

As there was no performance to the song, and only a lyric video (not even a full music video) we have very little to go on. All we can guess is that the lyrics allude to skies, stars and moons so maybe we can expect something dark and sparkly or maybe and emphasis on the letter X. I am guessing she will need quite a few backing singers to beef up the track and possibly some dancers who also do some singing. Azerbaijan are quite well known for their visual motifs so it will be interesting to see how they give this more traditional radio friendly pop song some clout.

Aisel has a jazzy, talky singing voice and is very easy to listen to and understand but I wonder how much of this is down to talent or production. The song follows a well trodden path and is also one of those songs that has an extensive bridge/pre-chorus that I find quite time consuming in Eurovision terms. In the lead up to the chorus the tune gets higher and if there is a point she will struggle it will be here. Her voice is also very level, which hints at the production values. If any of this I louder or quieter than other parts it might not work or sound great live.

I think it I fair to say that this is a bit of a mess. Don’t get me wrong I think that some of the parts of this entry work and make perfect sense but in this case the sum of those parts don’t gel together at all. Aisel’s voice seems a bit over-produced and if she can perform this assured on the night good for her but if not it is going to sound very messy. The lyrics in particular are very poor, some of the metaphors and descriptions don’t work and in some cases don’t even makes sense. I think that the backing track of the song is quite radio friendly but doesn’t particularly suit the words of the song (or vice versa). I personally find it quite baffling that this is entry the work of the ‘dream team’ of producer Philip Kirkorov, choreographer Ilias Kokotos, and composer Dimitris Kontopoulos. The question is how much can you polish a turd – I guess we will find out. Unfortunately this is probably going to qualify although it really, really shouldn’t.

ARTIST –  Aisel

SONG –  X my heart

MUSIC - Tim Bran

LYRICS - Dimitris Kontopoulos, Sandra Bjurman

ICELAND

The Icelandic Final was held on March 3rd at Laugardalshöll in Reykjavik, hosted by Ragnhildur Steinunn Jónsdóttir & Jón Jónsson. Before the final there were 2 semi-finals with 3 songs qualifying from each. During the semis all songs were performed in Icelandic but in the final they could be sung in their language of choice. The eventual winner was chosen in 2 rounds of voting - a top 2 was chosen by a jury (50%) and televoting (50%). Then a winner was then chosen solely by televoting. Going to Lisbon is Ari Ólafsson singing “Our Choice”

Ari is on stage with his back to the audience where the backdrop is a kind of purple colour with lights wafting in the air. When he turns round you can see he has a band on stage with him who also do a fair bit of backing singing. When the first chorus starts the backdrop turns to a picture of sky but by the end it turns into a generic dark blue background. Ari is dressed quite snazzily in a tight fitting maroon suit and seems quite smiley throughout. He is a little awkward moving around and sometimes his moves don't quite go with what he is singing.

When the song starts Ari is singing quietly and very low but seems to have a fair bit of control. The first part of the song takes a very long time to get going and it is not until 60 seconds have passed that the song starts. We then have the chorus (proper) twice before going into a jazzy bridge where Ari shows how wide his range is by doing quite a nice falsetto note. There is one more chorus before a slowing down for the ending. The main issue I have with this song is that the lyrics are very stayed and the themes and words used are too soppy to be taken seriously. The tune of the song seems more akin to an ‘80’s charity record.

In the semi-final, this was sung as “Heim” (Home) and he seemed much more confident singing this, however I found his singing voice in the final much stronger I guess a switch back would solve the issues of the bad lyrics but would not be able to paper over the other cracks this song has. This such a poor choice – and in fact the whole Icelandic selection was full of very mediocre songs – but Ari is a good singer so maybe people voted for that when there was a Hobson’s Choice on songs? This is plodding, old fashioned and very, very boring. Yawn.

ARTIST –  Ari Ólafsson

SONG – Our Choice

MUSIC -  Þórunn Erna Clausen

LYRICS - Þórunn Erna Clausen