[LMBTO] It Was Really Tight On Eurovision Night - Poland and Iceland...

I'm not sure that LOT Polish Airlines will accept that as a boarding pass - whose ticket would it be anyway?  In yet another close run NF, the guys in the hats (so many this year, Waylon and CoCo from Zibbz have some competition now) were the winners of Krajowe Eliminacje 2018 by one point with their extremely radio friendly slice of modern pop, "Light Me Up" - this year's Polish representatives, Gromee ft. Lukas Meijer:



There's definitely one thing you can say about Poland and Eurovision recently - it is never dull and it is always varied!  We've gone on a journey from Slavic hip hop in Copenhagen, through a gentle 'washing powder' love song in Vienna, a ringmaster delivering a power ballad in Stockholm, up to dark orchestral pop with the lovely Kasia in Kyiv.  2018 sees us with "Light Me Up", a combination of the mixing deck of Andrzej Gromala (Gromee to you and me), Polish DJ and record producer, joining forces with Lukas, Swedish rock musician and songwriter.  Gromee's biggest hit to date was his collaboration with Mahan Moin and "Spirit":



Mahan also co-wrote Poland's 2018 entry and was the driving force in getting the two guys together.  Lukas is the vocalist for the band "No Sleep For Lucy", one of their best tracks being "Don't Let Go":



Teamed together on "Light Me Up", the mix was good enough to see them take the Polish ticket to Lisbon by just a point:
I can see why the results were so tight - nobody really excelled in every aspect of their entry.  Some songs were a bit too weird soundwise, some were a mess on stage - even Lukas wasn't the strongest as far as live vocals were concerned but he sounded good enough to put that excellent song across, get the crowd buzzing and participating with him.


The visuals of this gig performance were very well cut together by the Polish tv director - focusing on all the band members at some time, the two backing singers as well, highlighting the main emotion of this whole performance:


The lyrics reinforce this feeling too, although there isn't a lot to remember, which is a good thing with pop songs:


It was a great watch and listen too - Gromee working the decks was a visual delight and he was, as all great DJs are, really into the music.  The wave motion of his hands will suit #AllAboard in Lisbon and the point to the sky was a great final gesture.  For me, this is a summer hit in the making as this is so damn catchy, musically well produced and would be a suitable song to, as Lukas was commanding the crowd to do, jump!  Of course, being Poland, this should be a sure-fire certainty for a Final place but there is a reason why this is my number 7 and I have mentioned it before:

Surely that isn't a good thing, I can hear you say - that means that it would merge in with every other track on their playlists?  Not stand out at all?  Of course that may be true if this was on, say, an commercial radio station in the UK but we are talking about Eurovision.  How many songs like this have we got this year, or indeed any other year for that matter?  None - exactly!


It is a track that would be introduced as "Gromee ft Lukas Meijer" with "Light Me Up" and listeners would judge it on its own merits, especially if what I consider to be one of the best produced associated videos is also linked to it:



This entry has had little in the way of 'love' or even attention from Eurovision fans, probably because it is not your run-of-the-mill entry, it is not a power ballad nor some sort of odd pop or a feat of vocal/visual skill.  It is a chart and radio friendly song that ordinary viewers will lap up, in my opinion, and I have a feeling we might see yet another top ten placing for this duo and that leading onto a summer blockbuster.  The Polish Eurovision fans will be happy, as will Gromee and Lukas...


Iceland saw a relatively close run affair too and their method of selecting an entry went much the same way as many of the previous Icelandic NFs have done.  Let me explain - what has happened in the past with Söngvakeppnin is that the entries in the Final all get their go and typically two of them are out in front, one of which is the clear 'winner'.  Those two then go into the 'ring' up against each other and the second place entry then will end up winning the whole show, flipping the whole state of play on its head.  And often not in a good way - as was the case this year, in my opinion...

The winner in Iceland this year?  Ari Ólafsson singing "Our Choice":



As artists go, Ari appeals to a certain demographic that I am 40 years too old and the wrong sex for - he is a very good looking, clean living sort of guy who I am sure that a partner could take home to their parents, safe in the knowledge that they would be congratulated with making a great choice.


The downfall with this entry, apart from his unnecessary bobbing about when singing the high parts of this song?  The lyrical content of "Our Choice":