[LMBTO] September and November Finally Get Their Eurovision Songs - Aisel And Sennek...

It has been 126 days since this lady was announced as the Azerbaijani artist for Eurovision and even longer for Sennek:
166 days!  These two nations definitely wanted to get their 'names' out there early and yet their respective songs only appeared about ten days ago.  Both female soloists, both with beautiful live vocals, both with jazz influences - what were their songs going to sound like?  Not pure jazz, that's for sure - let's have a listen in the order they were announced, so first up is Aisel with "X My Heart":



I had a feeling that we were going to hear a different side to this lady, as soon as I knew that the Philip Kirkorov Dream Team of Dimitris Kontopoulos, Sandra Bjurman and Tim Bran were going to be involved somehow.  Slow jazz is never their thing so it is not surprising that we have a very catchy pop song instead with an undercurrent of electronica, the staple of many a Eurovision Song Contest.  My last post highlighted Poland's entry this year and Azerbaijan have really 'walked down the same path':


As I said then, this is not a bad thing!  Aisel's voice works really well with this song and it sounds quite Katy Perry-ish in tone and production, again nothing to be sniffed at.  This could be played on any radio station and if you had flagged "X My Heart" as the new song from someone like Ms Perry, listeners would be judging it on that alone and not considering it to be weird or out of place.  As far as televoters are concerned, I believe that this will be a big plus in Lisbon - from listening to and watching Aisel's past live performances online, I cannot imagine that this will be performed anything other than perfectly and I have this sneaking suspicion that Azerbaijan might be onto another great result in 2018.
Aisel looks amazing, she comes across as very watchable on stage and has a demeanor that radiates happiness and fun, emotional traits that will add to memorability in the SF and Final.  If she wears something like the beautifully fashionable white dress in the video, that will add to the whole feeling of positivity that this song brings.  Most viewers will only catch the main snippets of the lyrics - these have been pilloried a bit for the abstract rhymes and occasional nonsensical phrases by some pundits:


Okay, so rhyming 'firewalls' and 'cannonballs' might not be the best but most of pop history is littered with prose that Shakespeare would shiver at - I have no idea what 'Luna moon me up' means either (although it could relate to "Aisel" meaning "the path of the moon" in Azeri) but if this song wins Eurovision, I can guarantee everyone will have no problems singing along to it.  I prefer to not be part of the 'Rhyme Police' and look past those minor indiscretions, focusing on the fact that this is a damn fine pop song and the lyrics magnify the joyfulness of it all, reflecting on a woman in love who finds that everything she sees and does reminds her of her special one.  Love makes people talk gibberish at times...
My predictions for "X My Heart"?  A definite Final placing beckons for Azerbaijan and in this year of no clear outstanding track from any nation, this is just as likely to be there or thereabouts at the end of the evening.  Perhaps a top ten finish might be more realistic - I have it 8th at present but with the right staging, a decent draw and of course Aisel's amazing voice and assured stagecraft, who knows?  'Luna moon me up' indeed...


Revealed ahead of schedule due to a leak (how often has that happened this year), Sennek gave us Belgium's entry, "A Matter Of Time":



Everybody's first reaction?

Which isn't such a shock if anyone can remember back that far to my original post about Laura/Sennek, where I flagged up this live performance:



I highlighted it there to show off the Sennek voice, her stage persona and the ability to perform.  Little did I realise that she would actually be singing something that could easily be the theme for 'Bond 25' (as the next film of that series is known, given that there hasn't been a working title released) - "A Matter Of Time" wouldn't sound that bad, would it?  It does have all of the necessary qualities for a movie song:


Talking of those lyrics, it is a story of how Sennek wants to shake up her relationship, to make it fresh again, to do something outlandish but in reality coming to the realisation that it is all ending:


A very intelligent and thoughtful set of lyrics that are conveyed masterfully by Sennek, with the requisite amounts of passion and poise.  This is definitely a song to sit down on a comfortable chair, take a moment to settle and then press 'Play', allowing the music and words to flow over you.  "A Matter Of Time" is a very classy track, one that by the end of it you will have the melody and Sennek's voice repeating the chorus in your head over and over again.


The entry itself may not be immediate enough to get the televote piling up high though - this is one that you want to play over and over again but that desire comes after a couple of listens.  Due to that fact, I think that a LHS finish on Final night is the most likely placing for Sennek, with a possible top ten depending on draw of her song and what is around it.  This artistic melody could get lost if sandwiched between two of the favourites but then again we will then know that it is not to be Belgium's year - unfortunately for her, this nation's recent record now leads to the expectation of a top ten every Contest.
Moody and thoughtful may not be the route to success for 2018...