AUSTRALIA 2022

The Australian Final (Australia Decides) was held on February 26th at the Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre, hosted by Myf Warhurst and Joel Creasey. The winner was chosen by 50/50 mix of jury and phone voting which actually started the day before the final. Going to Turin is Sheldon Riley singing "Not the same"

Sheldon Riley (real name Sheldon Hernandez) first started to play the piano and write songs at the age of ten. This was his outlet for dealing with bullying and his Aspergers diagnosis. He started to take part in school productions and in 2015 he won best actor in a school/youth musical at the Gold Coast Theatre Awards for his performance in "13". He first came to national prominence during the 2018 series of The Voice Australia. During his blind audition all 4 mentors turned but he chose to be on Boy George's team - this comes as no surprise when you sing "Do you really want to hurt me?" by Culture Club as your opening gambit! Eventually Sheldon made his way to the final, coming in third place. In 2019 he returned to the Voice in an 'all stars' series where he was eliminated in the semi final. He also appeared on the 2020 series of America's Got Talent getting through to the live shows. Many of his performances have been in a dramatic ballad style and sporting his customary stylised masked look.

The singing begins immediately with a moody and emotionally driven lyric on top of a piano backing. The verse starts off low and quiet but as it develops his voice and tone gets bigger before retreating again for the rather minimalist chorus. At about 45 seconds in the second verse comes with a thready beat and influx of violins. The chorus here extends to 4 lines rather than two and allows the backing to maintain its volume into the bridge. This part is much more staccato; full of shorter lines and rhymes made more urgent by the more prominent drum beat. At the 2.15 the song comes to a peak, mirroring Sheldon's 'unmasking' then drops away again before a final emotional repetition of the chorus.

The styling and setting is dark and mysterious which reflects the story being told. Sheldon is wearing an elaborate black gown (possibly coat/cape) with many layers. Over his face he wears his trademark mask which he takes off during the last minute. Although his face may be obscured, emotion comes pouring through his voice and his body language, especially the middle part of the song. His voice seems to soar in his higher register and has great control and skill going through his vocal registers.

I just feel like something is not quite right with the song. For starters the whole mask narrative is fine If you know about it before. Had I not had this explained during the postcard I might not have understood its meaning. Although the actual unmasking is dramatic and very much the moment of the song, I feel like this comes at the wrong point in the song. It either needs to come earlier in the song so there is more time to grow OR needs to come as close to the end as possible to make that part the high point. At least this song and performer has a story and personality which weave intrinsically together seamlessly. being the only male ballad (up to now) may well work to their advantage.

ARTIST -Sheldon Riley

SONG - Not the same

WRITING/PRODUCTION CREDITS - Cam Nascon, Brendon Riley

UKRAINE 2022 updated

The Ukrainian Final was held on February 12th at the Centre of Culture and Arts of the National Aviation University in Kiev, hosted by Masha Efrosinina and Timur Miroshnichenko. The winner was selected by a 50/50 split of SMS and jury voting, However the winner on the night, Alina Pash, was then under scrutiny for entering Crimea in 2015. The delegation then suspended her pending an investigation but then Alina withdrew herself from the Eurovision candidacy. Several days later it was reported that the broadcaster had offered the place to the runners up from Vidbir - Kalush Orchestra with the song "Stefania".

Kalush was formed in 2019 and named after founder member Oleh Psiuk's hometown. The band's first videos were uploaded onto youtube in 2019 and from here they signed an agreement with Def Jam Recordings. February 2021, the band's debut album Hotin was released and July of the same year saw the release of their second. The group then launched a parallel project, Kalush Orchestra. While Kalush is mainly a rap/hip-hop outlet, Kalush Orchestra focuses on rap with folk and Ukrainian traditional music. 

After a few bars of atmospheric intro the song starts with the chorus. The singer's voice is very haunting and strong and tune is very simplistic and earwormy. From here the pace picks up straight away into verse one - and almost breathless explosion of rap between the other two members of the band. The verse ends suddenly with a lullaby refrain before going back into the chorus but unlike the intro the hip hop beat continues. After this comes the flute refrain, again with the beats underneath. There comes another verse, refrain and 2 versions of the chorus: one sang as before and the second as a kind of chanted clap along getting the audience fully involved. This is then followed by a long instrumental outro with the band doing their very best b-boy dance moves. 

Visually this performance is very eye catching: from the nature inspired kaleidoscope of a backdrop to the eye-catching folky outfits to the unusual array of instruments being played. In a weird kind of way their incongruence  made the whole thing more encompassing of a wider feeling. The song is a homage to mothers and the Stefania is the song is Oleh Psiuk's own mother and there is even a shot of her during the performance. The song, albeit entirely in Ukrainian, is full of earworms and pulsating rhythms and the repetition of the name gets into your head straight away. The dancing is also stand out especially the kind of "Buffalo Stance" groove the guys get in during the first half of the song. That all said and done, Eurovision is the least of their worries. However, after the recent EBU debacle and recent country embargo I honestly hope Ukraine and Kalush get to go to Eurovision as the support, love and camaraderie will be warm and plentiful.

ARTIST - Kalush Orchestra

SONG - Stefania

WRITING/PRODUCTION CREDITS - Ihor Didenchuk, Vitalii Duzhyk, Ivan Klimenko, Tymofii Muzychuk, Oleh Psiuk

SAN MARINO 2022

The final of the San Marinese selection process "Una voce per San Marino" was held on February 19th at Teatro Nuovo in Dogana, hosted by Senhit and Jonathan Kashanian.  After four days of qualifying, nine emerging artists joined 10 established singers in the final). The winner, chosen solely by jury,  was Achille Lauro with the song "Stripper".

Achille Lauro (real name Lauro De Marinis) grew up in Rome. At the age of 14 he moved to live with his brother who is a producer. From here, he get involved in the underground rap and punk scenes which influenced much of his early work in terms of mixtapes and live shows. Up to now he has released 8 albums, numerous singles and countless appearances/collaborations with other artists. He later competed in at the Sanremo Music Festival 2019 with the song "Rolls Royce", at the 2020 edition with "Me ne frego" and reappeared at the 2022 concert with the song "Domenica". His more recent music has been more rock based with shades of David Bowie/Ziggy Stardust in his stage persona and musical direction.

This song a a rock number with some glam rock influences. As the title suggests the whole thing is rather extravagant and provocative. The first verse kicks off  straight away and gets down to business straight away. Throughout the verse and pre-horus the beat of the song comes in and out which creates tension and engages you in the song. The chorus is full on in terms of beat the the clever use of call and response means I can already imagine this being sung at the sop of the audience's lungs in the hall. Verse 2 starts after a brief lull to reset but this time it goes straight into the chorus when it ends it goes into a variant of the pre-chorus and an extended instrumental. There is then one final version of the chorus but the parts are layered on top of each ocher instead of one after the other which adds a different feeling to the earworms of the song.

 

This is quite the coup. Already a fan fave thanks to his appearances - competitive and non-competitive - at Sanremo, his unique sound and look has made him a 'must see' at Eurovision. Never did we dare to think it would happen. Never did we think it would be for San Marino! Valentina Monetta, Serhat, Senhit and now Achille Lauro. With these superstars you are really spoiling us! Unfortunately there has already been some bad press calling Lauro  'a traitor' for not representing Italy. In fairness to him we *was* in Sanremo this year and didn't win - why should be not have and jump at the chance from another nation? Many people have thought that the similarity to last year's winners is too great. Again in fairness to Lauro he has been doing this kind of thing MUCH longer than Måneskin have and so there are no questions about authenticity. Yes, his voice is not the best and his ability to sing in English is little questionable. I have to wonder if this song is provocative enough - or even too provocative - for Eurovision. One thing is for sure - I cannot wait to see what outfits he's got in stone for us! The home crowd will certainly be cheering him on and I sincerely hope this venture at Eurovision will be a successful one.

ARTIST - Achille Lauro
SONG -Stripper
WRITING/PRODUCTION CREDITS - Banf, G Calculli, M Ciceroni, Frenetik, Orang3, Simon P, D Petrella, M Lancs, A Lauro, F Viscovo

MALTA 2022

The Maltese Final (Malta Eurovision Song Contest 2022) was held on February 19th at the Malta Fairs & Convention Centre in Ta' Qali, hosted by Stephanie Spiteri, Quinton Scerri, Ron Briffa, Josmar and Ryan Borg. Before the final was be a semi-final on February 17th, where the long list of 22 songs was reduced to 16 - plus a wildcard - for the final. The winner was chosen by jury (6/7) and SMS voting (1/7). This winner was Emma Muscat singing "Out of Sight"

Music was a huge part of Emma's life from an early age. She enrolled at the University of Performing Arts; honing her skills in singing, dancing, and playing the piano. in 2016 she started uploading her songs and videos onto youtube. In 2018 she took part in the Maltese  talent show "Amici di Maria De Filippi" finishing with fourth place in the singing category and winning a contract with Warner Music Italy. Since then she has released more singles and albums including duets with rappers Shade and Astol and featuring on songs by Biondo and Junior Cally.

Emma starts sat behind the piano playing the introduction to her song. The first verse is rather lengthy compared to many on offer and has a lilting contemporary singer-songwriter melody. This goes into the pre-chorus which stepped up the pace with more staccato, quick rhymes. The chorus shows of Emma's higher register and the lines here have notes held for longer and the words are emphasised. The second verse kicks off with a bit more beat in the backing track and a little more sass in the performance. After the end of the last chorus there is a brief interlude of oh-oh-ohing; before the backing track dies down and she repeats the last 2 lines of the chorus.

The staging of this needs to be thought through. The use of her face on the backdrop is a little ghostly and the reunion with her 'mini me' at the end made me feel a little icky so I guess it is a good job it can't happen at Eurovision itself because of the age restrictions. I can also understand that Emma wants to strut her stuff in her rather spangly outfit but I feel like conveying the message of the song should be the most important thing. Overall this is a nice song sung by a pretty girl in a nice outfit but I honestly cannot get that excited about it. After several listens back I can't really remember the tune or any many chunks of the lyrics. In a semi that already shows promise as being rather full on and in your face, this could easily get memory holed. Alternately during such a wild ride in the top half of semi 2 this might just be the break and slice of normality the viewers are after.

ARTIST - Emma Muscat

SONG - Out of Sight

WRITING/PRODUCTION CREDITS - Antonio Caputo, Emma Muscat, Gabriel Rossi, Lorenzo Santarelli, Marco Salvaderi

POLAND 2022

The Polish final "Tu bije serce Europy! Wybieramy hit na Eurowizję "was held on February 19th at the TVP TV Studios in Warsaw, hosted by Rafal Brzozowski, Malgorzata Tomaszewska and Ida Nowakowska. The winner, chosen by a 50/50 split of jury and televoting was Ocham, with the song "River".

Krystian Ochman was born and raised in the USA and came from a musical background. Although he was more interested in sport and wanting to play football, he was encouraged to learn piano and trumpet. In 2020 he participated in the Polish version of "The Voice" where he joined the team of former Eurovision participant  Michał Szpak and ended up winning the whole competition.

The song starts off with a rather sombre piano introduction, as Ochman starts to sing the drums break up the rather sparse backing track. The very short verse starts with a immediate mention of the title. Unusually (although you don't realise this until the very end) the title of the track is not in the chorus and more a mention in other parts of the song. This is followed by a short pre-chorus before going into the falsetto of the chorus. This set is repeated  which takes us up to the two minute mark. Here there is a more free-form bridge which slows the pace right down. Finally the last chorus comes punching in and than the first line of the first verse is repeated again as a slow outro.

Ochman has a very wide ranging voice. It also covers a lot of tones. textures and skills all of which seem to be showcased in this 3 minute song. At some points it does feel like one person is singing the parts that the individual parts of a group should be doing. That said, he does not look or sound uncomfortable about pushing himself in that way. Although I think the first and last line containing the name of the song as being rather clever, it does leave a lot of the song without a clear identity. Therefore the delegation may need to be savvy about which part of the song they use as a recap clip for the voting. There are also clear parallels between this song and "Arcade" - even the oooohing part feels extremely close. There are also some similarities to "O Jardim" too although this Polish song seems very lacking in emotion when compared. I wonder if part of this is down to him not connecting down the camera. Many of the shots used in the national final were sweeping & wide and he spends a lot of time either not opening his eyes at all or looking slightly past the camera. I am sure this song will pull together the diaspora and will get the voting but I am not sure if this is going to set all the voters and jury mmebers alight.

ARTIST - Ochman

SONG - River

WRITING/PRODUCTION CREDITS - Ashley Hicklin, Krystian Ochman, Mikołaj Trybulec, Adam Wiśniewski

NORWAY 2022

The finals of the Norwegian song and artist selection "Melodi Grand Prix" was held on February 19th at the H3 Arena in Fornebu, Bærum, hosted by Kåre Magnus Bergh, Annika Momrak & Mikkel Niva. Competing were five that had been preselected for the final, the four semi-final winners and the  'last chance' selection. The winner was Subwoolfer with "Give that wolf a banana".

Very little is publicly known about the group although there has been plenty of speculation. The three members go under the pseudonyms Keith and Jim (the names mentioned in the song) and backed by DJ Astronaut. They have stated that the group was was founded 4.5 billion years ago, have come from the moon and have "conquered every planet musically". Their music is in a dance EDM style with a hint of fun and humour in their lyrics

The song starts of with a very muted and tuneful first verse. Once it goes into the chorus the backing track starts to fill out and becomes the driving force behind the tune. The second verse in shorter and keep the momentum through to another chorus. Following this is a chanted part focusing on the syllables of banana. It is a weak point of the song but allows the performers involved a time to collect themselves vocally as well as slow the pace down before the build up to the end. Finally we have one more full rendition oft eh chorus ending with a short reprise on part of the first verse. The whole this is performed with 3 extra dancers with Jim and Keith joining in full throttle and DJ Astronaut to the side on some decks. In addition there are lyric graphics during the chorus.

This song and performance has really divided the fandom. Many take the opinion that this as a tacky joke entry with little substance and to be honest many people were taken aback by the whole song's oeuvre. I myself had some reticence and doubt as to the complexity and seriousness of this entry. What one cannot deny is the packaging and dedication of the performance. Just as Israel's entry is channelling Drag Race, this is taking advantage of another successful worldwide tv franchise "The Masked Singer". Who is actually singing out of the members onstage? Is the DJ doing the heavy lifting? Are there different people off stage whose voices we can hear? Who is underneath the masks? Do we know who they are? All these questions and constant guesses has kept this act on the tip of social media tongues. The song also has a ready made and iconic dance routine which will be on Tik Tok before you can phone up Fyffes for more Eurovision advertising. The song's lyrics are rather simple/stupid but non-English speakers would totally understand what's going on because of it's basic use of English and repetitive lyrics. I do have questions about the use of voice processing and which parts are deemed 'backing vocals' to see how much of this stylised sound can be actually kept, that is assuming the men in masks AREN'T doing all the singing!. A fully live version would probably compromise and ruin the impact of the whole production. Like Latvia, this act and song has gone viral and there is no such thing as bad publicity. Personally I am so glad this song is here and although my preference would be for it not to win.

ARTIST - Subwoolfer

SONG - Give that wolf a banana

WRITING/PRODUCTION CREDITS - JJ LUSH, DJ Astronaut, Keith, Jim

CROATIA 2022

The Croatian final known as "Dora" was held on February 19th at the Marino Cvetkovic Sports Hall in Opatija, hosted by Duško Curlic, Franka Batelic & Elizabeta Brodic. The winner was chosen by amalgamating the votes of  10 regional "expert" juries and public televoting. Going to Turin is Mia Dimšić with the song "Guilty Pleasure".

Mia's career started in 2014 when she accompanied the band Džentlmeni on tour through North Americas. Soon after she started a solo career and her debut album "Život nije siv" was released in 2016. The lead single from this album stayed in the Croatian charts for two whole years. This album gained Mia a total of 5 Porin awards (Croatian Phonographic Association) in 2017. Her music is influenced a lot by pop-country artists and uses a lot of acoustic guitar.

The song is a ballad with slight country overtones and starts with her singing along while she plays the guitar. As the song continues there is an undertone of strings and a very subtle beat. The song continues verse-chorus-post chorus twice over with little gap between each roundle and takes us up to the two minute mark. This leads straight into a repetitive bridge followed by the last chorus and post-chorus. The bridge is repeated again but this time as an outro to the end of the song.

This song has a really laid back and subtle groove. Mia's voice is soft and clear and sounds very distinctive over the simplistic backdrop. The rather pared back and intimate set up is also rather eye catching, specially when compared to a lot of the manic and involved staging we have seen up to now. Mia is joined by a male dancer who does some rather acrobatic choreo all around, and involving, Mia. I just wish they would interact together a bit more and tell the story through their movement, especially as when they are together they look really good Maybe having him sitting next to her listening to the song would help the story along. I hope that the setup changes as little as possible - sometimes less is more!  I think in the long run this is a rather savvy choice as it is a style not seen at so far this year although it does fit in nicely with some of the countryfied songs on the platter

ARTIST - Mia Dimšić
SONG - Guilty Pleasure
WRITING/PRODUCTION CREDITS - Damir Bačić, Mia Dimšić, Vjekoslav Dimter, Ante Gelo

SLOVENIA 2022

The selection process to find the Slovenian song and singer "EMA" was held on February 19th at the RTVSLO TV Studios in Ljubljana, hosted by Melani Mekicar & Bojan Cvjeticanin. Before the final there were two semi-finals where the competing 20 songs were reduced to 12. The winner , chosen by combining the votes of 5 regional juries with public televoting was LPS and their song "Disko" (Disco)

The 5-piece band LPS (short for Last Pizza Slice) formed in 2018 at their school in the town of Celje. Over the past four years they have entered a number of domestic music contests such as Špil Liga, Šourock, Stresi Oder and won Centrovizija with their first original song. They were invited to appear in EMA Freš, the new music section of EMA and from there they were voted into the final, which they then won. Their music is a suave and stylised mix of soul, pop, funk and jazz.

After a short staccato intro the band starts of with two short verses followed by a chorus. This is followed by a slightly odd instrumental which goes back into another chorus. Another verse comes in but right at the end it slows down into a very lowkey and slightly sad bridge. Luckily it picks up again for a final - and slightly extended - rendition of the chorus. The band is well spaced out on stage with mirror ball projection behind. They are all dressed in a natty way in their suits and ties and all kind of fits in wit the energy of the song.

I did not really pay much attention to this national selection this year but it is fair to say that out of the finalists this was the one that stood out for me. It has that kind of laid back vibe one may have expected from a Czech Republic entry. The song is completely in Slovenian and the song actually sounds really nice in this style. From a song construction point, I feel that the instrumental break after the first chorus has a very unusual structure and doesn't quite go where you think it should. A similar thing could be said of the slowed down bridge. Although they don't need to tinker with the song to make it shorter I would think about how these parts are performed and/or presented. I would say that with a more stylised visual back drop and more refined camera angles (a la Lake Malawi) this might elevate the whole thing. This is a lovely little number although I am not sure this is going to be setting Eurovision alight this year.

ARTIST - LPS

SONG -Disko (Disco)

WRITING/PRODUCTION CREDITS - Gašper Hlupič, Jakob Korošec, Mark Semeja, Zala Velenšek, Filip Vidušin, Žiga Žvižej

LATVIA 2022

The Latvian Final was be held on February 12th at the LTV TV Studios in Riga, hosted by Ketija Šenberga & Lauris Reiniks. Before the final there was a semi-final  which reduced the list from 17 to 11. The winner was chosen by a mix of televoting and jury and was Citi Zēni with "Eat Your Salad"

The six-piece group, whose name translates as 'Other Boys' first met in 2020 as part of a songwriting camp and from there they started working together as a band. They have catapulted to stardom in a rather short period of and time and this is mainly due to social media. Their music tends towards funk & rap with splashes of hip hop and soul and have self-proclaimed themselves as trading in "alternative unicorn pop". They have performed and released work in their native Latvian language as well as English and include some 'fun and satirical' lyrics.

After short bombastic brass intro the song follows a chorus-pre chorus-chorus structure which repeats twice through. After this there is what can only be described as a 'epic sax guy inspired instrumental' before going into another chorus. There is then another short instrumental before one last chorus. The verses are mainly rapped by one member of the band while the pre chorus/chorus is sung by another.

Let's engage with the elephant in the room. The reason this song has gained so much traction and publicity is because of *that* first line. Yes, there is similar crudeness and double entendre elsewhere but the opening gambit of this song - pardon the pun - has balls. The groove of the song is really fun and catchy, especially the chorus. The singer of the chorus has a very nice voice - and even looks a bit like James Newman -  and overall everybody is having a great time on stage in their smart casual suits. The rapping parts need a lot of listening to, in particular the live versions are a little garbled or over-emphasised. The meaning of the song, albeit sung in a slightly tongue in cheek way, is actually quite important and put across in this way gives it a different spin on the topic. Overall I think this is actually a really good fun song.... spoiled by a stupid first line. Will they be able to keep that first line? Will they get away with omitting it from the live version? This song has gone viral and people who don't know about Eurovision know about this song. People will vote for this because they already know it. No such thing as bad publicity...

ARTIST - Citi Zēni

SONG -Eat your salad

WRITING/PRODUCTION CREDITS - JJ LUSH, Jānis Pētersons, Dagnis Roziņš

LITHUANIA 2022

The Lithuanian final "Pabandom iš naujo!" was held on February 12th at the LRT TV Studios in Vilnius, hosted by Giedrius Masalskis & Ieva Stasiuleviciute. Before the final there were quarter finals and semi finals, reducing the 34 songs down to a final of 8. The winner was chosen by and equal split of televoting and jury voting. Going to Turin is Monika Liu with the son "Sentimentai" (Sentiments)

Monika Liubinaitė is currently best known in as a coach/judge on the Voice and Masked singer in Lithuania. She has 3 albums under her belt and released many singles however her work only really became successful when she began to explore a more retro/jazzy sound and started writing songs in the Lithuanian language. Her earlier work is described as being more electro pop and being "less bizarre version of Björk". in 2002 she won "Dainų dainelė" a prestigious song competition in her homeland and from her she moved to Boston, then to London before returning home.

The song has a very simplistic laid back structure which mirrors its mellow uncomplicated groove. The songs has a verse-chorus-verse-chorus-chorus structure although the verses have a slightly different structure to each other. The chorus is very memorable; it has a great, simple tune and is sung effortlessly. The chorus is relatively short which means its impact is rather more punchy than many but also makes it seem as just as you get into it, it has moved on. The backing track has some odd little percussion parts which are rather pleasing to the ear.

It is fair to say that this little entry has a lovely personality. The start of the song really grabs your attention and this is kept going by the Lithuanian language. Overall the song's jazzy/cabaret-esque show is rather unique and well put together. The visual of the song is also strong; Monika has a great look (note the page boy hair cut) and the front AND back of her dress is very beautiful. The lack of movement on stage is tempered by the use of her image on the background walls. One thing I do notice is that Monika does a lot of 'not looking down the camera' and ends up doing a lot of faraway glances into the open which may fit in with the song's meaning and Monika will need to make more of an effort to sell this to the non-Lithuanian people at home. My fear was that the only reason this song won was because Monika is one of the biggest names in the homegrown music scene and not actually based on the song. I think this song will do a great job at elevating Lithuania's music scene, especially that in native tongue, but unfortunately I am not sure if this is going to seen Eurovision alight. I give then applause for doing something different but I fear this will not translate into votes. Diaspora votes may be enough to get traction into the final but this is not a winner.

ARTIST - Monika Liu

SONG - Sentimentai (Sentiments)

WRITING/PRODUCTION CREDITS - Miles James, Monika Liubinaitė