GREECE

The Greek song was unveiled on March 6th via a special programme on ERT2 that was also broadcast live on facebook. Last month, the Greek broadcaster internally selected Canadian born Katerine Duska to represent them at Eurovision. Her song is called “Better love”.

The accompanying music video, is rather visual if not a little on the abstract side. Katerine is seen in a number of different settings wearing a rather oversized pink dress made of what seems to be mesh or netting. Other wise there are scenes involcing lots of female models mostly dressed in shades of white and tan with hair akin to Crystal Tipps doing lost of strange movements and carrying odd props. As far as I can see I am not sure how any of this could be translated to the stage.

The song is an anthemic number which really shows off Katerine’s rather unusually toned voice. Her voice is very smooth but also quite low in its tone which sounds doubly odd when attempting the higher notes. The song has a really good flow and the parts of the song flow in and out of each other really well. The verses are quite wordy, with an almost spoken word feel whilst in the pre chorus the there are less words but more melody. This leads into the chorus which is basically the words ‘better love’ repeated but the beat is very prominent here which keeps the flow going. After the second chorus there is a small bridge before running into the chorus a few tie. However I have to say the more free form bit of the whole song to me is a bit of a let down and I feel I would rather have this part straight after the bridge then ending with a chorus rather than the other way around.

Katerine’s voice sounds great on the track but with all of these internally selected song that come without live performances I wonder how she will cope singing the song live. If her live version is anything like this and can get the crowd behind here this could be a real anthemic number that could really translate don the camera lens. The video is very odd and I hope the stage idea is more literal than figurative although the colour palette of the video is quite pleasant. Depending on your preferences and pre-conceived ideas the fact that this doesn't sound particularly Greek could sway its critics one way or another.
In a semi with many voting friendly countries this really shouldn’t fail to qualify, unless the vocal performance is dodgy. I also get the feeling this is a very safe jury choice and has of the melodic cues of ‘Nobody but you” from last year which was very much the jury favourite. It’s a bit of a grower – but don’t let the video put you off!

ARTIST –  Katerine Duska
SONG –  Better love
MUSIC -  Katerine Duska, Leon of Athens, David Sneddon
LYRICS - Katerine Duska, Leon of Athens, David Sneddon

CYPRUS

The Cypriot entry was unveiled on March 5th with its premier play via the evening news bulletin whist the video was simultaneously being released on youtube. Way back in December, the broadcaster CyBC announced that Greek singer Tamta would be representing the island nation. Her song is called “Replay”

In the accompanying music video, Tamta is in a variety of situations, none of which give us much of a clue as to how this might be performed live. She is also in a variety of clothes although all of them deliver a lot of looks. The monogrammed outfits might prove popular as a merchandising opportunity of nothing else! My favourite look is that of her whit the silver cap and black suit although I don’t think her look on stage will look anything like this. There are a lot of slow motion going on and shots of Tamta in different poses whilst singing at the same time. I had imagined her dancing and singing at the same time, but that’s not to say she won’t do this on stage.

The song is an fairly straight forward and very commercial dance pop song with hints of reggaeton and latino rhythms. The structure of the song is very simplistic and because of that it is easy to get hooked into. There is a sizeable staccato verse followed by a much more melodic pre-chorus. The chorus itself is basically the word ‘replay’ on repeat AND highly compressed and synthesised. This cycle is completed twice, each lasting about a minute each. The final minute starts with a shorter and slower mini verse and a shorter and slightly higher pre-chorus before going back into the pre-chorus and chorus proper

Although it is hard to judge what the performance style and vocal ability by the video but the song is very strong and very catchy. It is very easy, and quite right too, to make comparisons to last years song, and on the surface hey are very similar in structure but I would say that this is much more instant than Fuego. I think that with a similar team on her side Tamta can ride on the same wave of success as long as the song has its own vibe and not just copying last year’s success. It will be interesting to see if there is a band of dancers like last year or if she will need more intricate backing singers for the chorus and pre-chorus. Will they synthesise that chorus live?

This should qualify with ease, not just because it is a good song, but because it’s semi contains several friendly countries. As much as I think this could be a winner part of me wonders if the one-a-year Eurovision fan might think this is just a bit to reminiscent to Fuego and decide not to give this their vote.

ARTIST –  Tamta

SONG – Replay

MUSIC -  Alex Papaconstantinou

LYRICS - Alex Papaconstantinou

SERBIA

The Serbian Final was held on March 3rd at the RTS TV Studios in Belgrade, hosted by Dragana Kosjerina, Ivan Mihailovic, Kristina Radenkovic & Slaven Došlo. Before the final there were 2 semis with 6 qualifying from each. The winner was chosen by SMS voting (50%) & an "expert" jury (50%). Going to Tel-Aviv is former Moje 3 member, Nevena Božović, singing her self-penning song“Kruna” (Crown).

Nevena is on her own centre stage wearing black dress cut shorter at the front and longer at the back. The dress is strapless and her neck wrists and upper arms all adorn various silver jewellery. Behind her the backdrop is black/dark blue and white, reminiscent of bokei city lights. Near the end there are a couple of pyrotechnic displays. Not very much happens on stage and there is very little movement.

The song is a ballad although not necessarily in the pure Balkan style. Although it starts off quietly it gains momentum in the choruses and by the time the last chorus comes the song has more of a rock edge. The song starts off in a quite nondescript way when your ears prick up for the two line bridge which is the only bits in English. The chorus starts and is much more melodic and powerful than the rest of the song. Then there is a break when Nevena starts oh-oh-ohing which actually stops the flow of the song. But here the song starts to get quite intricate as the next verse cuts over the rhythms of before and sounds very different. The English bridge comes in then there is a full length chorus followed by a repetition of the last line but the finish just stops a little too suddenly. If she omitted the oh-oh-ohing she might be able to elongate this last section to a proper finish.

There is no doubt that Nevena is a great singer and you can tell that she has written and composed this song to show off her vocal strengths but I have to say in many respects I am left lacking. The song doesn’t really have any instant appeal, there is no way I would remember this if it was near the start of song contest semi or final. At times, her passion and feeling for the song comes across more as shouty and angry, possibly also because it is not particularly clear what or who she is singing about. This could be easily rectified through the staging or possibly by having a dancer or two on stage. This would help with the storytelling and create much needed movement on stage.

Personally I feel like this is a less impressive version of Mall with many of the lyrical qualities of Croatia’s 1998 entry but with any of the personality erased from it. I personally don’t rate this and think it is just a bit to introverted to make an initial wow statement on the stage. That said, in a sea of quirkier, edgier and more up-tempo songs this might provide a welcome change of direction. Either way this just does not do it for me at all.

ARTIST –  Nevena Božović

SONG –  Kruna (Crown)

MUSIC -  Nevena Božović

LYRICS - Nevena Božović

GEORGIA

The Georgian Final was held on March 3rd at the Tbilisi Concert Hall, hosted by Vaniko Tarkhnishvili & Ruska Makashvili. Before the final there were elimination shows to whittle down the contestants to a final 4. The voting will be a mixture of televoting & Facebook Messenger. The winning act was Oto Nemsadze and he will be singing the song and he will be singing “Sul Tsin Iare” (Go ahead)

During the show Oto was alone on stage although he had a full band kit behind him not being used which looked very odd indeed! He is centre stage with 5 male singers on backing to his side. For the first part of the show the video screens display blue skies with fluffy white clouds but then this is overlaid with fluttering Georgian flags. It certainly comes across as quite nationalistic, which doesn’t come across well at Eurovision but may also just have been celebrating the fact this is Georgian Idol! There are even some smoke and pyrotechnics used during the song.

The song is a rocky, impassioned ballad entirely in Georgian. Oto has quite a growly powerful tone which very much suits the songs structure but less so the song’s production, but this could be changed/vamped up between now and then. The song starts off quite small and low in tone. It also takes quite a long time to get into gear which is frustrating as there are not many clues to tell you quite what’s going on. The song finally starts taking shape just before the 2 minute mark after the first chorus. Oto’s voice really soars in the second half but the ending comes too quickly and ends up being a bit of a jolt. All in all,there is promise but not much seems to happen, progress or deveop.

The bare bones of this song are not bad but the direction of this piece is all over the place. Oto, very clearly, has a rock voice but the instrumentation on the backing track is very weak and this makes it look like he is over singing the song. If the backing was more echoey, fiercer and contained more guitars the balance of the track could be restored. Obviously the production values of the national final and parameters such as cameras, stage size and costume will be vastly different in Israel and one might hope that a more intricate show would also help.

As dramatic as this is, right now it really doesn’t work. Although Georgia is an ex-Soviet stave, only two of them are in the their semi. Last year’s Georgian language number didn’t translate well at all into actual votes, however this is in a much more accessible genre which could be its saving grace.

ARTIST –  Oto Nemsadze

SONG –  Sul Tsin Iare (Go ahead)

MUSIC -  Roman Giorgadze

LYRICS - Einar Stefánsson Roman Giorgadze

PORTUGAL

The Portuguese Final was held on March 2nd at the Portimão Arena, hosted by Filomena Cautela & Vasco Palmeirim. Before the final there were 2 semi-finals with four qualifying from each. The winner, chosen by televoting (50%) & regional juries (50%), was Conan Osiris with “Telemóveis” (Mobile phones)

Conan is joined on stage by his dancer, João Reis Moreira and they are dressed similarly in white fluffy gowns and trousers and both have long gold finger adornments. Conan is also wearing a gold face piece which covers his chin and cheeks. Also on the stage is a small flight of stairs that is used through the performance to go up, down and sit on. The background is fairly innocuous as there is so much on stage to look at but mostly consists of red flashing lights and the motif of a red rose that is blooming.

The song is a multi-faceted song with nods to minimal techno, indie, world music and fado. Unlike most commercial songs this doesn’t really have a reoccurring verse/chorus repetitive structure although the backing track has certain rhythms and themes that repeat as well as some lines that come back time and again. The backing track Is really the star of the show with lots of minor key macro beats with yelps and bells interspersed between them. It has a real visceral tribal feel to it which is really brought home by the dancing. The ending of the song is oddly elongated, which creates premature clapping and keeps it going until the conclusion.

This is a piece of art. Like all art, some people get it some people don’t. The same is true with this. It is visually and aurally stunning and intricate but this might just be a bit too much for the everyday common watcher of Eurovision. It has certainly polarised the fans - even some of the people who wanted it to win lauded its creativity but are not that fond of the actual song – but being talked about is always better than not being talked about. This does need work and if anything he can afford to make this more outrageous, more strange and more weird. Although the Portuguese language makes this rather an unintelligible piece to the average listener, it does give him the scope to focus on the outrageousness of the performance. I just hope that Conan keeps control of his show and is not persuaded to change or add things he is not happy with. However odd this might be, you really get the sense that this is authentic. I personally love its quirks and how I hear or see something different on every play. This is possibly a bit too out there and a bit too alternative for Eurovision but I think it is a really pointer to the way in which the contest is going.

Considering the amount of publicity this has got and will get during the contest, this will be getting a lot of eyes on sets during its semi final – the song and its performance went viral before it even got to the final of Festival Da Cancao. People who love this will absolutely love it and those who don’t will find it confusing, find it just too weird or find it absurd. Whichever way it goes this is a must must MUST see event.

ARTIST –  Conan Osiris with

SONG – Telemóveis (Mobile phones)

MUSIC -  Conan Osiris

LYRICS - Conan Osiris

NORWAY

The Norwegian Final was held on March 2nd at the Spektrum in Oslo, hosted by Kåre Magnus Bergh & Heidi Ruud Ellingsen. The winner was chosen in three rounds of voting. In round one the top 4 was selected by televoting/internet/app voting (50%) & 10 international juries (50%). In round two, these four competed in duels with the two winners qualified for a ‘super final’. In both of these rounds, the winners were chosen solely by view voting by phone, internet or via the app. The winner was KEiiNO with “Spirit in the sky”.

The setting of the song is quite dark and mystical but I am not quite sure this works. I think the backdrop is supposed to be the Northern Lights and if it is it doesn’t come across very well. The three members of the band are together on stage and as the camera pans around them you can see a male then a female dancer near them. Throughout the whole piece they stand together but don’t really interact with each other which I think is a shame. They are also dressed quite differently to each other although they are all quite muted. I would much prefer them to be in something a bit more distinct and unique. At the two minute mark, a band of drummers come on which is a welcome diversion but one that wouldn’t be possible at Eurovision itself then giant flags are seen waving in the audience (I mean is that classed as a person on stage or not?)

The song is folky electronic song which talks about the power of inclusivity and strength of being and individual. The beginning is rather minimal and atmospheric and the tune is rather unusual which keeps you intrigued. During the next part, the tune and backing change into something slightly more formulaic. The chorus includes the Sami joik which at first is quite odd and doesn’t seem to go with the rest of the song but as the song progresses is seems to fit better. The joik part around the 2 minute mark again sounds a little incongruous but with a better visual this would definitely work better.

As song to listen to there are a lot of things to catch your ear on. The three singers have vastly different voices and there are lot of divergent rhythms and tunes. The song definitely keeps you on your toes. However the performance was really lacking as well as including many facets than need to be changed for Eurovision. They definitely need better outfits for starters to emphasis the meaning of the song. They also need to work on their chemistry towards each other which seems non-existent. The setting is also far too dark and needs to lighten up especially in the chorus. They will need backing singers/dancers too which might give more power to the chorus.

This is a really interesting song but needs a much more structured and direct approach to its performance, otherwise it will dilute its power. On one hand it finds itself with quite a few neighbourly countries so will get some votes but will need to work much harder to get the Europe wide vote.

ARTIST –  KEiiNO

SONG – Spirit in the sky

MUSIC -  Tom Hugo, Fred-Rene Buljo, Alexandra Rotan, Henrik Tala, Alexander N. Olsson, Rûdiger Schramm

LYRICS -  Tom Hugo, Fred-Rene Buljo, Alexandra Rotan, Henrik Tala, Alexander N. Olsson, Rûdiger Schramm

MOLDOVA

The Moldovan Final was held on March 2nd at the TRM TV Studios in Chisinau. There was due to be a semi final but this was scrapped in favour of a one-shot final. The winner was chosen by a 50/50 split of by televoting and jury. The winning act was Anna Odobescu with the song “Stay”.

Anna is right at the front of the stage whilst 3 backing singers are to the side on her left. She is dressed in what seems to be a gold shimmery leotard with a belt tied around her middle with strips of white cloth tied around it. It doesn’t look too bad when still but as soon as she moves it the skirt starts to look very cheap. Behind her the video screens start off with a dark shimmering setting then turn into puffs of white smoke. There is also the odd moments of redness too as well as shots of a mouth (possibly hers) lip syncing the lyrics.

The song a mid tempo song, slightly tipping towards the ballad side. The backing track is quite synthesised although I think the whole thing could be beefed up by making it more rocky by using electric guitars Straight off the bat, Anna is singing full blast, which at first provides an initial bit of power but becomes quite tedious quite quickly. The chorus flows nicely in and out of the verses but you almost miss it when it’s gone. There is a quiet part around the 2 minute mark which provides some light relief but goes back into shouty mode very quickly. The last chorus also comes with a key change. The ending would also work much better if there was more light and shade in the rest of the song.

Anna has a very strong voice but in this song it just comes across as a bit too angry and loud. Maybe if there was more scope, tone and the ability to show off different parts of her voice it would not come across as so one-dimensional. The staging is also quite boring and doesn’t really have any hook to memorise it by. The only thing I can really remember is that really bad dress. When Moldova goes full out on something it’s done with energy and attack this has none of that. That’s not to say it couldn’t change things around. Ideally I’d make it more rock influenced, make the first verse a little softer so the chorus gives the power blow and I’d give her a much better wardrobe.

It’s not a bad song but the attention is in the detail and this is seriously lacking. Unless this is gone through with a fine tooth comb it’s not qualifying.

ARTIST –  Anna Odobescu

SONG – Stay

MUSIC -  Georgios Kalpakidis, Thomas Reil, Jeppe Reil, Maria Broberg

LYRICS - Georgios Kalpakidis, Thomas Reil, Jeppe Reil, Maria Broberg

ICELAND

The Icelandic Final was held on March 2nd at Laugardalshöll in Reykjavik, hosted by Fannar Sveinsson & Benedikt Valsson. Before the final there were 2 semi-finals where 2 songs qualified from each by right plus a wildcard. The winner waschosen in two rounds of voting - in the first round the top 2 were chosen by a mixture of televoting and a jury but in the second round the overall winner was chosen solely by televoting. The winning act was Hatari with “Hatrið mun sigra” (Hate will prevail)

The three members of the band are joined on stage by two female singer/dancers and one male dancer. One member of the band is stood on a small plinth whilst he bangs out the beat of the song on the boxes next to him whist the other two alternately sing parts of the songs in their very differing musical styles. The whole troupe is dressed in its signature bondage style whilst the back drop is mainly flashing red. Most of the dancing and action is very gestural with walking, pointing, fist-making and back bending motifs.

The song is a very raw industrial tinged electronic dance song. There is a very hard beat to the song which is further emphasised but the pendulum-esque drumming on stage. The verses are sung with a highly compressed effect on it to make it sound like it’s coming out of a megaphone. It also makes the voice come across as shouty and angry. The chorus is sung much more gently and as a kind of tune to it, however the hard backing track de not let up and you end up with a very odd juxtaposition of sounds. By the end of the song there is a false finish twinned with an even more unexpected key change which eventually brings both singers together at the same times which culminates in its finish. Although the whole song is sung in Icelandic, the emotion and passion of the song comes flooding through the screen.

Needless to say there has never been anything quite like this at Eurovision so working out how this will do is a real 'finger in the air and see which way the wind is blowing’ kind of moment. It is certainly a song and act that gives you a bit of a jolt and demands to be watched, whether that be with shock, awe or disgust. One also does have to wonder if they might be asked to tone the visuals down, especially for some of the afternoon shows or this might be another performance blurred out in some media strands. On the other hand their outrageous personas and their apparent political stance will get a lot of press for them and the whole contest.

Will this qualify? Who knows! What I will say is that although some western countries may well appreciate the dynamics of the performance and vote for something a it subversive, part of me thinks this might be a little be too much for more traditional countries but more so for some of the jury members. People working as vocal coaches, orchestral musicians or members over 60 might not see the funny side of this at all. Good for them for trying something new!

ARTIST –  Hatari

SONG –  Hatrið mun sigra (Hate will prevail)

MUSIC -  Einar Hrafn Stefánsson, Klemens Nikulásson Hannigan, Matthías Tryggvi Haraldsson

LYRICS - Einar Hrafn Stefánsson, Klemens Nikulásson Hannigan, Matthías Tryggvi Haraldsson

FINLAND

The Finnish Final was held at Logomo in Turku on March 2nd, hosted by Mikko Silvennoinen & Krista Siegfrids. Back in January, YLE announced that they had internally selected Darude to represent the country at Eurovision although he’d be joined on stage by Sebastian Rejman who would sing the vocals anal the tracks. Like last year’s Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu, there were three songs to choose from. The winner was chosen by and equal weighting of televoting & an international jury. The winning song is “Look Away”

The staging of this is relatively simple compared to others of the night, which is maybe why it won. Darude is inside an open-fronted white box where he plays keyboards and on top of it is a female dancer dressed in green. Sebastian starts inside the box but moves to a mic stand just outside. The box rotates as the song goes on until the second verse when the dancer disappears. The back of the box is then revealed to be a video screen and shows the dancers moving through water, which Sebastian interacts with. She then reappears during the last rendition of the chorus.

The song is an electronic number where the backing track is much more intricate than the tune. The verses are a little more piano based and atmospheric whist the beat is quicker in the chorus. The song also has an interesting feature in the fact that not only is the chorus very sparse in terms of words – being ‘look away’ repeated numerous times – but the pre chorus is also used a post chorus too, like a bumper either side of the chorus. Sebastian’s voice is not bad although it is noticeable that he has quite a bit of backing during the chorus which at least tells us where the spare 3 places on stage will be going! The whole thing is really brought together by the backing track which although alternating between different beat speeds, never seems contrived or clunky.

Although nothing about his entry is really outstanding, it does prove that if you put the right bits together something can add up more to the sum of its parts. The visual motifs of the global warming picture s and the underwater dancer works very well to put the song into context, however I think Sebastian needs more time looking into the camera. My main bug bear is that this song to me sounds very close to 2 other songs. Parts of the verses sound like “Keep me hanging on” and the look away bit is exactly the same as Emelie Sande’s “Heaven” and I am actually surprised nothing has been looked into about this. if Jack White can get a writing credit on “Toy” anything can happen!

This is a nice, almost stereotypical, dance number for Eurovision. It does, however, already have a lot of competition in this area, plus some rather alternative dance numbers, so does this have enough to stand out? That is a very tough call to answer. It has direct competition from Estonia in this semi, as well as Slovenia and Belgium in the electronic stakes and I cannot see all 5 of these qualifying. However the fact that Finland has a known name representing them may well get some extra familiarity votes too. This one is really on the cusp.

ARTIST –  Darude ft. Sebastian Rejman

SONG – Look away

MUSIC -  Sebastian Rejman, Ville Virtanen

LYRICS - Sebastian Rejman, Ville Virtanen

BELGIUM

The Belgian song was unveiled on February 28th with its premier play on radio station MNM and its simultaneous release on spotify and youtube. Back in January, the Wallonian broadcaster RTBF announced that another former "The Voice Belgique" contestant, Eliot Vassamillet, had been internally selected. His song is called “Wake up”

In the accompanying music video, Eliot is dimply lit with various types of light usually striping and strobing across his face. As the song progresses more and more people come out of the darkness, they are all dressed in white and are lip synching along with teh track. Not very much actually happens in the video, there is not much narrative but I guess this leaves more to the imagination as to what they could bring to the live staging. It must also be said that Eliot has been given a very Loic-esque look in the video and he certainly does moody very well!

The song is an electronic ballad with a slight ‘80s tinge to it. The beginning is rather echoey and atmospheric and Eliot’s voice comes across and quite smooth and soft. The verses are also suite sparse when it comes to words and there is quite a lot of lengthening of notes to fill the space. The chorus however has a very punchy beginning which is echoed in the backing track. There is a lot of repetition and a slight pick up of the pace which at first listen is a little jarring. But at the end of the chorus the beat, although still quite quiet, is double time and the second chorus starts up which is very intriguing but once again the chorus messes up the flow. The bridge before the last chorus works much better and sets up the end of the song nicely but once again the staccato chorus is too much of a change although this time is gets quieter into its finish.

Eliot’s voice comes across really well in this song and shows off the texture of his voice, rather than the range and/or vocal dexterity. It will be interesting to see how/if he can sing the song live. In the video he certainly seems to have a presence down the camera. As I’ve already stated the video and performance is rather open and gives few clues as to what the performance could be. I could see some kind of light show to fit in with the beat or possibly some dancers although as the song is similar in places to Blanche they might keep it very, very simple.

This is a really good song and the writing cues towards “City Lights” are quite clear although more commercial. In my opinion the verses and much more interesting that the chorus and I think a trick has been missed by not keeping the beat of the verses threading through each chorus, especially during the final rendition. From a song formulation point of view this is one of the best of the year but the lack of information about the context of the song makes it hard to judge its trajectory. In a semi with quite a few electronic entries this will need to be solid to progress and progress well.

ARTIST –  Eliot Vassamillet

SONG – Wake up

MUSIC -  Pierre Dumoulin

LYRICS - Pierre Dumoulin