FRANCE

The French song was unveiled on February 29th by France 2 via their website however it was not officially presented until March 12th on the Dicaire show. It was announced in late 2015 that the French entry for the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest would be selected internally. They were looking for performers 16 to 50 years of age and of any nationality. Songs were required to contain at least 80% French language lyrics. The selected singer is Amir Haddad who will be singing his latest release “J'ai cherché" (I searched)

The song is a standard pop song with some country/folk elements. The verses are in French and the chorus in English. During this performance he is backed by 4 female singer/dancers who alternate between hand microphones and and using microphone stands. They are also dressed the same and have tambourine each. The song structure builds well and the balance between the French and English is just right. Having the chorus in English is a clever turn as the verses sound very lyrical in French but the have all the memorable hooks in the chorus. The ooooh-ing starts right from the beginning sets up the motifs and ear worms straight away.

Amir was born in France but moved to Israel in the early 1990s. In 2006 he took part in Kokhav Nolad singing mainly French language songs, however he did not win. After the competition ended he signed a music deal with a French label where he released music in both French and Hebrew. He then entered the French version of “The Voice” in 2014. He sang “Candle in the wind” in his blind audition and all 4 judges turned but chose to be on Team Jenifer. He eventually came 3rd in the competition and joined the other competitors on the Voice Tour.

This needs a lot of work. Although this was presented as a 'show' I very much doubt this is what we will see in Stockholm. If it is then this is going to fall very flat. First of all the backing singers were miming and I don't think that the oooohing can sound that good live. Amir doesn't do all the singing so the extra singers need to be really very good. If it starts off badly I don't think this can crawl back. Amir needs to be the star of the show and with so much going on behind him it is a bit of a distraction. If it starts off badly I don't think this can crawl back. Oddly,if this was trying to qualify from a semi I think it would just because it stands out so much from everything else but as a ready made finalist I am not sure how well this would do. It is contemporary and quite radio friendly but the show needs much more direction. Maybe with the freedom of a bigger stage, better backdrop and more scope for camera angles, this could get something out of the bag. I can see this ending up in the low teens.

ARTIST – Amir Haddad

SONG – J'ai cherché (I searched)

MUSIC - Nazim Khaled, Silvio Lisbonne, Skydancers

LYRICS – Amir Haddad, Johan Errami, Nazim Khaled

AUSTRALIA

The Australian entry was finally was unveiled March 10^th  via a music video. On 3rd March, the act was revealed during Conchita Wurst’s concert at the Sydney Opera House. The song Dami Im will be singing is called “Sound of silence”. 

This is mid-tempo song with a repetitive and anthemic chorus. The first verse sets up the crescendo to the chorus really nicely and the whole thing really stands out. The chorus has a great tune to it and if she can belt this out live it will be amazing. However when you expect the second verse to a bit more power and beat to it, and it doesn’t it falls flat and that is it’s weak out – as is the ending which is a bit sudden. I’m not to sure about the ‘face time’ lyric either.

Dami Im was born in South Korea and emigrated to Australia when she was 9. Within a few years she has become a talented musician -  being finalist in the Yamaha Youth Piano Competition, and winning the Nora Baird Scholarship and the Queensland Piano Competition several times. In 2009 she graduated from the University of Queensland with first class honours in a Bachelor of Music. Dami then has a short lived career in Korea as a gospel singer before auditioning for X-Factor Australia. Initially she was eliminated at bootcamp but was reinstated when another contest pulled out of the Over 24s category but then she went on to win the whole contest.

This was a video presentation but might offer some clue as to what we could see on the night. I quite like the dancer and has that contemporary style that suits that kind of dancer. She will also need some backing singers as at the end she appears to be singing both parts. Part of me worries that Australia not having form or known allies in the semis will count against them. I also wonder what impact her race might have. Eurovision has not had many (if any) south Asian performers although the K-pop culture is very widespread. This is a very good song and one that could be heard and sell Europe-wide. She is also famed for her stage costumes and with something really classy and memorable this could be a stand out song. If she can belt this out in the semi, the juries will fawn over this like crazy and will have no problem making the final. I cannot see it winning but could be the big winner sales-wise.

ARTIST – Dami Im

SONG – Sound of silence

MUSIC – Anthony Egizii, David Musumeci

LYRICS – Anthony Egizii, David Musumeci

GREECE

The Greek entry was unveiled in March 10^th via a video and press conference. A month earlier, ERT announced that Argo (formerly Europond) has been internally selected by the broadcaster to represent them at Eurovision. Their song is called “Utopian land”

This is a typically Greek sounding song in terms of orchestration. It starts in 7/8 tie then reverts back to a more ear friendly 4/4 time, however it does go back to 7/8 near the end too.  The verses are rapped in Greek/Pontian whilst the chorus is sang in English. The rapping parts sound ok, as do the singing bits but put together they sound a little odd. Moreover the changes in time signature also jar a little. The backing track, as a whole, has a great quality to it shame that the instrumental parts are a little messy at times.

This is the first time for quite a while that a relatively unknown act has been sent to Eurovision to represent Greece. Argo consists of a four singers - Vladimiros Sofianidis (who also wrote the song) , Christina Lachana, Ilias Kesidis and Maria Elbrus and two instrumentalists - Konstantinos Topouzis playing the Pontian lyre and  Alexandros Papadopoulos is playing the tabor. The band has been going since 2001 from their base in Thessaloniki. Their work is normally performed in Greek and the dialect of Pontian although this song also has some English. Their work is inspired by hip-hop but they use a whole range of classical and national instruments as well.

The video gives us no clues at all about what the performance might be like in Stockholm as it seemingly does not contain any of the 6 performers of the band. Being 6 of them there is no room for extra singers or dancers to support them. The entry seems very lacklustre and lackadaisical and doesn’t really go anywhere or come to a peak. I am not sure how well this would go down in the hall as it doesn’t have enough power or emotion to get everybody going. Greece have a 100% qualifying record to the final and I think this puts that in serious jeopardy. Looking at its position in the first half of semi 1, they do have some neighbours and diaspora votes but I am not sure how a jury will react to this. If there’s any justice, this will not qualify. If it does, it is bound to be a very poor show in the final, possibly bottom 5.

ARTIST – Argo

SONG – Utopian Land

MUSIC – Vladimiros Sofianidis

LYRICS – Vladimiros Sofianidis

SAN MARINO

The San Marino entry was revealed on March 9th at a press conference held at the Grand Hotel Intercontinental in Paris. Back in January it was announced that SMTV has internally selected Turkish singer Serhat to represent the principality. The song he is singing is called “I didn’t know”

This is a gentle ballad with a slightly strange chorus setup. It starts with a slow Mediterranean-style guitar before going into the first verse. Serhat’s style of ‘singing’ is highly individual – it is extremely gravely and low and you have to listen very hard to understand what he is saying. The chorus, although odd, does stand out. It has groups of 3 lines, rather than the normal 4 and each line goes down a note rather than the usual up. However it has an interesting flow to it and has a lot of scope for repetition. The ending is quite sudden and very anti-climactic.

Serhat is a well known TV and music personality back in his homeland of Turkey. With his TV company , End Productions, he headed a Turkish version of “Jeopardy!” and a game based on Connect 4. For these, he won numerous hosting awards. He has also fronted his own chat show and produced numerous song and dance contests. He has released a number of songs, his first released back in 1997.  His most successful being “Je M’adore” which was number 1 on the Deutsche DJ Black/Pop Charts, and made the top 10 in the British, French and Swiss Dance Charts.

This was another video presentation however the video is very pointed in its story and look so one much wonder if this look will be transferred to the Eurovision stage. Part of me thinks that the publicity this got (San Marino was trending on twitter in the UK due to people talking about this entry on the day it was released) that even if the video is odd, they would be silly not to cash in on this and keep the style. He is definitely making a very bold statement with the strange head strap and detachable monocle... Serhat’s accent and vocal performance cannot be much worse than what is on this record. I think the broadcaster is hoping that the Turkish diaspora, who don’t have an entry in this year’s Eurovision, will vote for this instead. This will get points, but not from the jury. If this qualifies - there may well be a riot!

ARTIST – Serhat

SONG –  I didn’t know

MUSIC – Olcayto Ahmet Tugsuz

LYRICS – Nektarios Tyrakis

CROATIA

he Croatian entry was revealed on March 9th via HRT’s public radio station HR2. A few days previously it was confirmed that that Nina Kraljić will perform for them in Stockholm, The song is called “Lighthouse”.

This is an atmospheric song with more of a whiff of “Only Teardrops” about it. It almost has a slight Celtic sound about it. The verses are very predictable in terms of tune and lyric but her delivery has an interesting twist to it. I would describe it as “Ellie Gouding – if she could actually sing” The chorus, however,  is slightly disappointing from a lyric standpoint. She needs to sing along with the chorus rather than trilling over the top of it, she does so in the last chorus and has much more impact. The last chorus also has a key change.

Nina is no stranger to singing competitions. Back in 2009 she auditioned in the Croatian version of their “Got Talent” show. She got to the final but only made it to 10th place. Six years later she re-appeared on Croatian TV screens, popping up on “The Voice - Najljepši glas Hrvatske.” She joined Jacques Houdek’s team – a singer known in Croatian national finals circles. She reached the finals and won the series.

As a radio presentation, it offers no clues at all as to performance style or how she can sing this live. The style of the song is very individual and really suits her interesting voice. The title of the song suggests something sea worthy or something involving revolving, pulsating lights. This song really fits that ‘neo-folk’ genre that she has made her name and could be a breath of fresh air on the night. She also has a striking look and with the right dress she could look amazing.  My fear is that she won’t be able to do all the warbling and note changing on the night and will therefore lose its special sparkle. I really hope this does well as I think this song is something special but with even just an ok performance it might not be enough. This should do enough to qualify as it is different to everything else in the top half of semi 1. Should also be a jury favourite so will get a sizable amount of votes from them. I find this song very appealing and hope it does well.


ARTIST – Nina Kraljić
SONG – Lighthouse
MUSIC – Andreas Grass, Nikola Paryla
LYRICS – Andreas Grass, Nikola Paryla

FYR MACEDONIA

The Macedonian entry was unveiled on March 7th via a song presentation live on MRKTV. Back in November they announced that Kaliopi would once again be representing the former Yugoslav republic at Eurovision. The song she will be singing is called “Дона” (Dona)

This is typical Eurovision ballad with slight Balkan and Italian influences. The song is in her mother tongue of Macedonian. It stars off quite blandly, in particular the tune is very unpredictable and isn’t easy to track. The bridge between the verse and chorus though is very pretty and has a lovely lilting quality. The chorus on the other hand is more bombastic and dramatic and leads into a lovely orchestral part. This has a whiff of Pachabel’s Canon about it but then leads back into a dreary verse. The ending is extremely weak and far too sudden for a song of this genre and style.

Kaliopi has been sincing since she was a child having won the Zlatno Slavejče Festival in 1976. Her main break came with the formation of the band “Kaliopi” with Romeo Grill where they released a number of successful albums. She took a break away from music when the duo disbanded and returned in 1996 winning

Skopje Fest and had the chance to represent Macedonia at Eurovision. But during the one and only non-televised audio pre-selection, Macedonia was eliminated from the Contest. After a successful solo career of 15 years MRT invited Kaliopi to represent Macedonia in Eurovision 2012 in Baku, Azerbaijan. Kaliopi performed the song "Crno i belo" qualified from the second semi-final and was placed thirteenth in the final and has become a firm fan favourite.

This was a video presentation so one can only guess at what this might turn into live. The video was a bit amateurish and some of the backgrounds are really badly superimposed. Personally I find this song very boring. It has taken me several listens to get into the structure and even then I still cannot get my head around the verses. I would guess that she would be able to really pack a punch with this song and will go down well in the hall. Looking at the country breakdown of semi-final 2 this could struggle – partially due to the language barrier, partially neighbourly voting, partially due to the ballad heavy make up of the show. As much as Kaliopi is a great personality and great fun during ESC week, I cannot see this qualifying.

ARTIST – Kaliopi

SONG – Dona

MUSIC – Romeo Grill
LYRICS – Kaliopi

ROMANIA

The Romanian Final was held on March 6th at Sala Sporturilor Lascar Pana in Baia Mare, hosted by Cornel Ilie, Ioana Voicu & Jo. Before the final there was a semi-final where 6 of the 12 qualified for the final - four were selected by a jury the other two were chosen by televoting. Televoting only was used in the final. The winner was Ovidiu Anton with the song "Moment of Silence"

This is rock ballad straight out of musical theatre. It also has a slight medieval sound and after the first chorus it also has the orchestration of a Bond theme too. Ovidiu is joined by 4 very close backing singers who also strut around and emote the meaning of the song. There is also a leather-clad sword-wielding dancer on the podium to his right. The song has a very straightforward structure although it is not exactly straightforward to the ear. There isn’t much or a rise and fall and doesn’t grow in the way you would expect. It might help if Ovidiu kept a bit back at the start in order to build the song up.

Although Anton studied, classic guitar and piano at school, the music he loved was rock music. In 1998 he formed the group Carpe Diem and he toured with them for 4 years. He came 2nd at the Mamaia National Festival in 2003 and represented Romania at the Golden Stag International Festival in 2005. He then fronted Trupa Pasager band with which he performed hundreds of concerts and participated in Eurovision 2010 national selection. He participated in Selecția Națională four times previously, finally winning his place at Eurovision on his fifth attempt.

This I feel is going to be a real Marmite song – you either get it or you don’t. The rock style will appeal to some, the music edge to it will appeal to others. But many may also see it is quite stilted and possibly even over the top. Personally I find the song a dull and passionless vocally. Although Ovidiu looks like he’s giving it his all, it doesn’t sound it. In addition I find the setup quite stilted. I can see what they are trying to achieve but it is still too static. The dancer is a good idea - but not isolted at the side. I also get the concept of the costumes but think these need a bit of a revamp. Romania currently has a 100% qualification rate to the final and this is possibly the first song that may jeopardise that. But looking at the semi final split I think they have enough a) neighbours b) diaspora votes and c) rock loving countries to just get them through. This will do OK but not great and predict a finish around the 15-20 place mark.


ARTIST – Ovidiu Anton
SONG – Moment of silence
MUSIC – Ovidiu Anton
LYRICS – Ovidiu Anton

POLAND

The Polish Final was held on March 5th at the TVP TV Studios in Warsaw. The winner, chosen solely by televoting was Michał Szpak singing “Color of your life”.

The song is a typical rock ballad very with a very slight tinge of music theatre. The chorus of the song has a similar tune to the instrumental part of “I will survive” The verses tendto go on a little bit as the tune is a little mumbly. The key change comes too late and is also abit on the ‘will he – won’t he’ side.  He looks rather striking with his long curly hair, little moustache and black painted nails. I also quite like the dark suit under the red military style jacket but he needs some better shoes and trousers that don’t show his ankles. He is backed on stage by three electric violinists, cellist and pianist and the background screen was extremely non-descript for the song.

Michał is no stranger to television contests. In 2011, he took part in the first edition of the Polish version of X Factor. Although his preferred genre was hard rock he also performed in different genres and he eventually came second. Later that year he released his first album called XI. This contained songs in Polish and English In 2013 he entered the Russian Song Festival and won.

This was not the song we expected to win the national final, however I think that is because the favourites faltered rather than him performing amazingly. The whole thing is just OK and therein lies the problem. Michał has a really goo voice and a strong one at that but his accent is a little annoying and in particular cannot quite pronounce the 'th' phoneme correctly. The key changes are a little nervy an I wonder if they could drop the key ever so slightly to begin with in order to keep the power. Visually this needs a lot of work. In needs a background theme that will mirror the words of the song or have colour in it. He is too static on the stage and he either needs to 'rock out' a bit more or have some dancers with him. I don't think this will qualify but they have quite a few favourable nations in its semi final, this could offer up a shock.


ARTIST – Michał Szpak
SONG – Color of your life
MUSIC – Andy Palmer
LYRICS – Kamil Varen

ESTONIA

The Estonian Final was held on March 5th at the Saku Suurhall in Tallinn, hosted by Ott Sepp & Märt Avandi. Before the final there were 2 semi-finals with 5 songs qualifying from each.. In the first round of voting, a top 3 was be chosen through a50/50 combination of  televoting and jury. The second round was telvoting only. The winning artist was Jüri Pootsmann and song is called “Play”.

The song starts as a piano driven slow ballad but soon turns up a gear as the piano backing goes into double time almost. The flow between the verses and choruses work well as you are lead by the beat of the piano. Juri seems quite confident in his delivery of the song and the song certainly seems within him. Juri is mainly lit just on once side which makes him quite menacing but not quite sure this fits in with the song. The same can be said about the odd video screen behind him, although I loved the flashing balls! The semi-final staging was much more eye catching.

Jüri Pootsmann won the 2015 series of “Eesti otsib superstaari” this also having spawned other Eurovision artists such as Ott Lepland, Birgit Õigemeel and Getter Jani. Jüri was famed for his interpretations of old school soul classics. His Eurovision song was co-written my half of last year’s Estonian performers, Stig Rästa.

Firstly the performance needs a revamp. They need to tell more of the story through the staging as it is not obvious as it is. The song’s lyrics don’t seem menacing but the show as is certainly seems sinister. It is a tune led song so the lyrics and story needs help to get through. This is most evident as the title “Play” is not prominent enough in the song. This is a very stylised song sung in a very particular way. The good side about this is that is sounds very individual and will be easily remembered in the line up. The down side is that unless this is you preferred style or genre of music I don’t see who would vote for this. I think this should just scrape a qualification space -,on the basis that is has a few neighbourly countries and I think this will be a song the jury will love. That sad I would guess a very middling 15th-ish result in the final.

ARTIST – Jüri Pootsmann
SONG – Play
MUSIC – Fred Krieger, Stig Rästa, Vallo Kikas
LYRICS – Fred Krieger, Stig Rästa, Vallo Kikas

RUSSIA

The Russian entry was unveiled on March 5th first via a video first shared online then premiered on the RTR news broadcast. Back in December it was announced that Sergey Lazarev had been internally. His song is “You’re the only one”.

This is a up-tempo pop song with a strange beat. The beginning is a little odd and random but if he starts off from the gong it would make a much better start. The verses have a good structure and they key is very interesting to your ear. The ‘pre chorus’ is probably the stand out part of the song as the chorus proper is a little too predictable. At about 2.30 there is a slow part which goes on a bit too long and seems a little out of place but this is followed by a final chorus with a key change.

Sergey is one of Russia’s biggest stars having been involved in many singing, dancing and acting projects. As a youth he appeared in many plays, concerts TV shows and singing competitions. He was half of the duo Smash!!, formed in 2000 and having huge success around many ex-soviet states and most of Asia. However they split in 2004 releasing just two albums. His solo career then took off and has since released numerous singles and albums in Russian and English. Back in 2008 he tried to enter Eurovision but was beaten into 4th place, with Dima Bilan winning the national final.

Although this was a video presentation, there are a few clues as to the stage performance might be. There is the use of projections over his body which could be quite tricky to replicate but I really enjoy the overhead shots so you can see the video wall on the floor. Although some of these ideas might not be viable they themes, like the crumbling floor and falling, might be used in other ways. All in all this is a very slick and polished show. Obviously one has to take into account whether he will be able to pull this off live.

My main reservation is that this sounds like a song that was given to Sakis Rouvas first, he rejected it then was given to Sergey. In some ways it is quite reminiscent to Sakis’s 2009 Greek entry. Sergey even looks a bit like him in the video. Also from beginning to end it is about 10 seconds too long and by eliminating the start and possibly truncating the slow but it should come under 3 minutes .This is a very serious contender and will probably win semi-final 1 and is almost a definite top 5, if not top 3. Stylistically I would prefer this not to win but in the line up of past Russian entries, this sits much more comfortably with me.

ARTIST – Sergey Lazarev

SONG –You’re the only one

MUSIC – Philipp Kirkorov, Dimitris Kontopoulos, John Ballard, Ralph Charlie

LYRICS – Philipp Kirkorov, Dimitris Kontopoulos, John Ballard, Ralph Charlie