[LMBTO] We hear Belgium's Eurovision entry - the 'cut price' version...

Part two of the Belgian Eurosong trilogy happened on Sunday just gone (10th January) - after we had seen Amaryllis crowned as best of the five when singing Eurovision Covers the week before (Belgium start their Eurovision Journey), we got to see what her, Astrid, Tom, Laura and Adil were actually bringing to this year's Eurovision party.  All five of them performed their songs live but in a pared down format - no dancers, no pyros, no excess staging, just them singing their song with maybe a bit of basic staging and choreography that they had come up with themselves.  We could judge from this what the songs would sound like, maybe gain an insight into what their favourite style of singing was and see if Ms.Uitterlinden could stay ahead of the rest...

First up was the aforementioned Amaryllis - could she build on 'Euphoria' with 'Kick The Habit'?

Alas no - this took her almost all the way to the back of the pack.  Put aside the weird shoulder affliction she had throughout the song, at best this sounded as though it was a ditty sung by a minor character in an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical about some sort of addiction, at worst it was comparable to the female solo spot on 'The Two Ronnies', a very quiet middle-of-the-road three minute filler.  If this was all Amaryllis as far as the staging was concerned, she desperately needs some professional help as it was very, very cringeworthy!  The side-on start after the spins in silhouette, the shoulders, the aimless walking - it was not good.  The song is quirky and witty but it was not catchy, most of the words couldn't be deciphered and it just didn't fit with a Eurovision selection process.  I felt the song was a real waste of the vocal ability she showed in the first Eurosong show and the music overpowered it all.  The experts felt this lacked punch and wouldn't be competitive - I had to agree 100% with them.  I cannot see how this could be saved enough to put Amaryllis back in contention next Sunday - 6.0.


Next up was mid-table Adil, could 'In Our Nature' kick-start this show?

The answer was 'yes, sort of'.  Starting and finishing your routine with an iconic move from 'Rhythm Inside' (the laying on the stage bit) would hint at not having ideas of your own as far as stagecraft is concerned but his vocals were spot on for his song.  It all builds nicely, it's quite a mellow sound and has a lot of emotional content in it although it didn't seem to go anywhere after the second minute.  Another one who really needs some work on his staging, particularly focusing on the camera more than the studio crowd but this was an entry that could be massively improved upon with some decent choreography - 7.0.


Now what a difference a week makes - Laura was next up with "What's The Pressure":

Covering Hadise wasn't her thing last week but this entry was the real deal!  The first few bars of the song sounded like the intro to "Rapper's Delight" and hooked me in immediately, in addition to Laura sitting on a chair centre stage, almost Cabaret-like.  Once off the chair, she owned the stage with this funk-pop song, covering every inch of the floor in a skillful way and she fed off the enthusiasm of the studio audience which helped project the performance even more.  If I had to slightly critical, she was at the top of her vocal range and she almost 'ran out of steam' at the end of the song but this was by far and away THE entry to watch!  Her exposure to The Voice and previous acting obviously helped in her picking out every single camera as well and her energy and sex appeal oozed through the screen.  If this had been the Final show, there would have been no doubt as to the winner - 9.0.


My favourite in the first show was up next but like Belgium's favourite last week, 'Everybody Aches' was all a bit underwhelming:

Focusing on Astrid's beautiful features is always a good place to start and this was a no frills performance, mainly singing at the mike, with a bit of movement around the stage.  Unfortunately it was all a bit ordinary, slow paced throughout, barely picking up as the main part of the chorus was reached.  The electro beats didn't add much to this either and judging by Astrid's general demeanor, I cannot see what staging she can be given to make how it looks a whole lot better.  Such a shame but I think that this lady is out of the running as well - 6.5.


 Last up this week - newcomer Tom with 'I'm Not Lost':

The uptempo tunes won it this week - Tom's raspy voice compliments the thudding drum beats and high pace of this song well.  It dips a bit during each verse and he risks going too quiet but the chorus sticks in your head and his enthusiasm is visible for all to see.  His stagecraft is pretty poor though and he doesn't connect with the camera at all - something to work on for next week!  At least this entry has some oomph to it and it was the only entry that came anywhere near Laura's 'tour de force' - 7.5.


Another snap SMS poll saw Laura 'win' this week's show - hopefully that won't be the kiss of death for her!

So my rankings for this week were:

I could combine my sets of scores but all that would show is that only one and a half marks separates all of them, which would tend to indicate a close contest but in my opinion at the moment, there is only one artist who will be going to Stockholm to represent Belgium:
Of course, having dancers, pyros and props might help some of these entries but Laura looks the real deal already, amazing for me when you consider how much I panned her covering "Düm Tek Tek" the week before.