[LMBTO] The current Junior 'kings' pick their Eurovision Adult...

See what you think about the song that Ira had to let go:

A beautiful love song, making the most of her voice and her wonderful stage charisma, enthralling the audience at home and the SF crowd.  Everything in tune, superb emotional output too - I think the very least that should have happened was that if this was one of the top 14 (I suspect it was easily in the top ten, if not higher), put it in the Final too and see how it finished position-wise.  What might have been...

Anyway, onto the Final - I must be getting immune to all things peripheral to the songs (or having two monitor screens means I can switch more easily) but I don't remember the adverts being so annoying this year - admittedly I didn't see Crosscraft or Mediterranean Bank mentioned but there were lots of 'banner ads' appearing as the artists were about to sing - another devious way of promoting goods in Malta!  The other thing I had forgotten was that the picture quality via eurovision.tv's excellent web player was of the 480p quality - how picky was I getting in today's HD/4K picture age!  Of the fourteen Finalists, eight of them were quite mediocre at best in their vocal or performance standards and to be honest I want to focus on the good that Malta had to offer.  There were six entries that could have won this Contest, all things being equal, these positions and points based on what I saw on the night....


6th place:  Christabelle - "Kingdom"


If an artist won an NF for attitude alone, Christabelle would have been in Stockholm the second this song finished!  A great live performance but it did seem to lose a bit of momentum halfway through, which was a real shame.  Her voice also dropped away too but it did get the crowd going and I could see that this was a contender.  I did prefer last year's entry "Rush" though - with hindsight, a missed opportunity for Malta then as that would have done better in Vienna than "Warrior" did.  7.0

This guy's voice just blows me away every time I hear it!  I still can't believe that it comes out of that mouth though - unfortunately this year's offering was all too theatrical for Eurovision, in my opinion, more like a sickly sweet love song in a Disney movie.  Even though this built beautifully and showed off his talents amazingly well, this was so wrong a song for him to get to Stockholm.  7.5

4th place:  Ira Losco - "Chameleon"


So you already know that this wasn't my favourite of Ira's two entries but we must deal with what made the Final, so here goes!  First thing to say - I cannot remember ever watching a National Final and experiencing how the crowd in house reacted to Ira singing, it was absolutely amazing!  It was if we were at one of HER concerts, instead of a competition with thirteen other artists - huge applause, chants for her BEFORE she was introduced by the host and general pandemonium all the way through her entry.  Song 13 was when I realised that there was likely to only be one person winning MESC 2016 but it still wasn't my personal favourite song.  She always looks gorgeous, her outfit was simple but stunning, she has solid vocals although I felt that 'Chameleon' stretched them more than her love ballad did, almost to the edges of it sounding a bit ragged.  The lyrics are meaningful though and brought out the emotional side of Ira, letting her connect with the crowd (maybe not so much with the television viewers though) - I feel that this song is very complex, maybe too complicated for Eurovision?  Whatever my views, it was obvious who Malta wanted to win.  8.0


3rd place:  Corazón - "Falling Glass"


Great voice, loved the switch in pace of the song, superb emotion in her delivery and some lovely lyrics to listen to.  The revealing outfit helped the old recall processes, as did those annoying contemporary dancers, a real bugbear of mine, although she did interact well with them.  This almost had the promise of a Euroclub classic and 'Falling Glass' was a catchy and memorable anthem in my eyes.  There was even the slow-mo homage to Euphoria at the end - an enjoyable entry to watch. 8.0


2nd place:  Brooke - "Golden"


Most years this would have been the winning song and going to Stockholm to represent Malta but this wasn't 'most years'.  Brooke was also warmly received by the crowd and rightly so - superb vocals, wonderful emotion towards the hall and the viewers, a classy presentation and it all exuded 'possible winner'.  The only downside with this was that it reminded me (and maybe the voting public) a bit of last year's winning song.  That aside, this performance was all the more amazing when you consider that this is her first Eurovision appearance - one definitely for the future!  Not quite my personal favourite on the night but not far off.  8.5


My favourite of MESC 2016:  Jasmine - "Alive"


This was the one for me that ticked all my boxes - I loved her vocals (the best of the night for me) and the way she put across a great set of lyrics exceedingly well in a 'this is me, watch me sing' sort of way.  Jasmine probably hit the highest notes of the night too - maybe the lack of any real staging (and the presence of two weird bearded figures) was the downfall of this entry in the end.  8.5 


After the last entry 'Lighthouse' had been sung, the public and jurors got to vote.  'New Malta' (Destiny) and 'Old Malta' (Amber) got to fill in the gaps, so to speak, as we waited to hear the results.  After the raucous reception that Ira Losco got before, during and after singing 'Chameleon', it was difficult to see who else could win MESC 2016.  It was possibly more surprising that, unlike Amber last year, Ira did not walk off with all the top marks (4 out of 6, including the televote) - Brooke ended up with the other two and finished a deserved second:
A clear win for Ira in the end and realistically a result that was never in doubt - TVM could have almost had an internal selection this year, if it wasn't for the fact that they must earn huge amounts of revenue during the show!
And so "The Queen of Malta" has made it to Eurovision again, 14 years after her second place in Tallinn with '7th Wonder'.  What are her chances this time in Stockholm?  She is a consummate professional, giving superb interviews and will be a favourite amongst the Eurovision press due to her photogenic nature and calm measured responses.  She has superb stagecraft and charisma, works the crowd well and knows how to connect with the camera (although that was lacking slightly at MESC).  The passion and emotion given to her vocals in Chameleon were a joy to listen to, even if that was at the expense of her voice 'being on the edge' for some of the song.

If she goes to Sweden with 'Chameleon' (the MESC rules allow a major tweak or a change of song entirely if everyone agrees there is something that would give a better result for Malta, remember), I don't think that history will repeat itself with a runners-up spot but I would be disappointed not to see Ira in the Final.  That's my heterosexual male head talking there...
Having got used to watching the Maltese Final now, despite its numerous interruptions for adverts, this island in the Mediterranean always gives a great show and produces a seemingly infinite number of superb singers!  Unfortunately for everyone else involved in 2016, this was always going to be Ira Losco's year...