[LMBTO] The Battle of Eurovision Snow - Lithuania and Austria...

Shoes on or off?  That might be one of the key decisions that the lovely Ieva Zasimauskaitė has to make in Lisbon - she swapped between flats, pumps and barefoot in Lithuania during her numerous live 'rehearsals' on Eurovizijos.  I say rehearsals but they were competitive rounds - what singing "When We're Old" five times did was provide the Lithuanian public with familiarity and Ieva with the ability to tweak her vocals and staging to make this the choice for Eurovision:

People power swept her to victory with a convincing televote that saw Ieva over the finish line, despite just missing out on the jury top spot by one vote.  Like Sweden, this was a selection process that I only watched at the Final stage, mainly because I have yet to invest my time in weeks and weeks of what is obviously a successful format in Lithuania.  Having said that, I might well do so in future seasons if the likely winner is of such high quality again.  Now why would I say that?  Let's start with one of the strongest parts of this entry - the lyrics:

If it wasn't for the story about unrequited love in "Funny Girl", this would be THE standout poem of ESC 2018.  How beautiful are those words?  The sentiment of having someone so special that you can't bear to let them go and you can only imagine growing old together with them and only them.  Absolutely wonderful writing and that is the basis of what I feel is a damn fine love song.


She has a distinctive vocal style and I mean that in a good way - her voice almost seems to 'break' throughout and she can come across as quite breathless but that adds to the charm of this entry.  This is a believable message of love, with nothing being OTT, nothing overwrought.  The music itself plays its part - there is a definite 'heartbeat' throughout, with the gentle slow pace being maintained by the piano in such a mellow and slow fashion and yet the three minutes fly by, despite what could be viewed as a slow motion musical composition.

Onto the staging - this is the icing on the cake as far as I am concerned.  The live show plus the official video both build on the love story throughout time - the video with couples of all ages (including Ieva and her husband) in the Lithuanian snow:

And then on stage, when the music pauses and an audible click kicks in:
The idea of mimicking a home movie projector really resonated with me - it made the footage of the older couples come to life more somehow.  I am aware that there won't be any big screens in Lisbon but I suspect that some sort of smaller portable screen could be used in this way.  The rest of the stage show is minimalistic in the extreme - Ieva spends a large part of the song sitting on the floor, just singing to the camera which works perfectly for the pace and content of this entry.  It isn't fast enough to do anything else - no need for dancers, no need for anyone else on stage throughout the song bar her husband at the end, a really nice touch and one that could really sell Lithuania's entry to viewers across all ages and countries:
As you can tell, in my opinion all of the Baltic states have sent such amazing entries to Eurovision this year - opera from Estonia, my number one from Latvia and now this evocative love song from Lithuania.  I have to say that this is already one of my favourite entries from this nation and I would love for this to make it into the Final...

Realistically though, where do I see this mini masterpiece finishing in Lisbon?  Unfortunately this will probably struggle to escape its SF, being in the first one where it is difficult to see how to lose nine nations, given the quality that is there.  That would be a tragedy for "When We're Old" - this refined and restrained message of the ultimate love deserves to be heard by the biggest audience on Saturday night but the likelihood is that it will only get one tv showing.  At least I will be at the Jury and Public SF1 so I will get to watch and listen to Ieva at least twice...


From a lady who had to emerge from one of the most gruelling selection processes in Eurovision to get to Lisbon, to a guy who got the nod from his nation internally and just took his time to reveal his entry.  Cesár Sampson is the Austrian singer:

And "Nobody But You" is his entry.  One thing is immediately apparent about his promo material:

I have always been a lover of well constructed and artistically directed pop videos and this one is one of the best I have seen for a very long time.  For a Eurovision song, this is a masterpiece - all of the video is focussed on the artist himself, whether that be with special effects such as 'smudging', phasing him into inanimate objects and then merging him into a 'town and country' running show.


The scenery of the snow covered forest really adds to the view (as it did for Ieva) and this is a very enjoyable watch, directed by someone who really knew what they were doing as far as showing Cesár off at his best was concerned.  It would be difficult, admittedly, to make this guy look bad visually and his model looks makes even a straight guy like me go 'wow, what a handsome guy'!  Of course the video won't have any resemblance to the staging of this song in the Altice Arena but it helps with building up a profile with fans...
As for the song itself, up to its release we really had little to go on as to what it was going to sound like - Mr Sampson gave us all a few clues in interviews:

He was definitely true to his word - an intro of blues that neatly passes into an amazing gospel revival, with what sounds like a full choir (although I suspect that it is just the five, so the Austrian delegation are all ready for Lisbon for six maximum on the stage).  Not sure that there is much classic rock, even when we get to the fastest paced section of the entry but that doesn't matter - this is an amazing song, one that stays in your head due to the musical arrangement of piano in the intro and then onto the more traditional pop instruments of drums and guitar. 


This is an instant hit for all listeners - not an 'in your face' song but it has lots of interest there that keeps the memorability and the refresh/repeat rate high.  We have yet to hear a live version of this song - that should happen for the first time at The London Eurovision Party...
As far as the lyrics are concerned, the nod to the roots of gospel church music are there but minimally - most of the words show the passion this guy has for his love interest that he is in danger of letting go and the music fits perfectly with the various sections of the prose:


Not a huge amount of variety here but as it has those blues and gospel tones behind them, the ability to almost chant the chorus in an evangelical way is key, so repetition towards the end won't matter.  "Nobody But You" will be an entry where the whole package of singer, song and staging coming together will determine how well Austria do this year...

My thoughts on how well Cesár will do this year?  He is in the more competitive SF1 but unless he has a total mare in the Jury or Public show, I would expect "Nobody But You" to be in the Final (assuming of course that he can sing this live to the same standard).  Once there, this could finish anywhere - his experience with Bulgaria the past two years will hold him in good stead for the pressure of the big day and that voice will gather him lots of positive jury and public vote totals.  If this is the close Eurovision that many think it will be, Austria have a reasonable chance of another Eurovision win but then again so will many other acts.  We will have a clearer picture of Cesár's chances when rehearsals have finished...