Barbora Mochowa - my personal number one for this year
"True Colors" was incredibly special for me, right from the moment I first heard Barbora singing it in the Czechia preview. I was sad that this didn't make it to Eurovision but I accept that Lake Malawi was a better bet in hindsight - I was delighted that OGAE Czechia did put this forward for the OGAE Second Chance Contest 2019 and it was therefore obvious where my twelve points were going! More about that later as this article is part OGAE SCC and part show 59 of "Let Me Be The One" that went out this Tuesday on Bradley Stoke Radio. No interviews this week - you have had six weeks in a row so I thought that two hours of music was the key! It is a mix of news, new material plus my favs from Second Chance - have a listen...
And here is the playlist:
"Sister" (acoustic version) - S!sters
"Amanecer" (Versión Sinfónico-Coral) - Edurne
"Fuego" - Eleni Foureira
"Siren Song" - Maruv
"Seninle Bir Dakika" - Semiha Yankı
"Hatrið mun sigra" - Hatari
"La Voix" - Malena Ernman
"Tonight Again" - Guy Sebastian
"Iemand als jij" - Barbara Dex
"Angel" - Mika Newton
"Ne Partez Pas Sans Moi" - Celine Dion
"Ceol an ghrá" - Sandie Jones
"Girl Like Me" - lilly among clouds
"Umbrele" - Vera Turcanu
"Vill ha dig" - KEiiNO
"First Clash Lovers" - OG3NE
"Un bel niente" - Senhit
"Dzīvot Citādāk" - Aminata & Tautumeitas
"Muérdeme" - María Villar
"2000 and Whatever" - Electric Fields
"Light On" - Monika Marija
"Musica che resta" - Il Volo
"En Livredd Mann" - Mørland
"Tous les deux" - Seemone
"True Colors" - Barbora Mochowa
"Let Me Be The One" - The Shadows
There was plenty of news to be linked to this week, which was quite surprising, but it helps when Barbara Dex opens a boutique and Celine Dion gives an interview on BBC Radio 2! It was an enjoyable show to produce but also a difficult one in that the results of the Second Chance Contest were revealed during the show - at the most, I gave hints as to who might be doing well but I did not give away the result, as I knew some listeners might be watching that video after my show.
I was closely involved with the Contest again, as I have been since 2014 when Helena Paparizou won for Sweden after a neck and neck tussle with Spain's Brequette. So this was my sixth vote as part of the UK jury and I applied the same criteria to each entry as I have done for this and the SECHUK Jury voting - that used by jurors at Eurovision. Those categories are:
Vocal Capacity
Stage Performance
Composition / Originality
Overall Impression
If any acts were tied, I then moved onto good old 'which do I like the most'! Scoring in that way, the lowest total this year was 4.5/10, which is not bad at all compared to some years. My top was double that (9/10) - I am not going to list them all, just my top five, although I did play Spain and Australia (María Villar's "Muérdeme" and Electric Fields'"2000 and Whatever") on the show, who were my 7th and 6th place. So who did I have where (you know already if you have listened to the show)...
5th - Lithuania (Monika Marija "Light On")
Vocal Capability 4.5/5
Stage Performance 3.5/5
Composition / Originality 4.0/5
Overall Impression 4.0/5
I really hope that Monika gives it another go in 2020 - I would be delighted to see her ready to go to Rotterdam, as her perfect vocals deserve a worldwide audience.
4th - Italy (Il Volo "Musica che resta")
Vocal Capability 5.0/5
Stage Performance 3.0/5
Composition / Originality 4.0/5
Overall Impression 4.5/5
Just a touch above Monika, 16.5/20 in total (8/10) - to be honest, Il Volo and my third and second places all ended up with the same score, so that "gut feeling" came into play...
3rd - Norway (Mørland "En Livredd Mann")
Vocal Capability 4.5/5
Stage Performance 4.5/5
Composition / Originality 3.5/5
Overall Impression 4.0/5
I think that singing in his native tongue was Mørland's downfall - a real shame in that he didn't do better but in hindsight he was never going to beat eventual Eurovision televote winners KEiiNO. My number two probably would have done better in Tel Aviv than the actual winner in her NF...
2nd - France (Seemone "Tous les deux")
Vocal Capability 5.0/5
Stage Performance 3.0/5
Composition / Originality 4.0/5
Overall Impression 4.5/5
Nerves in the NF performance saw my score for staging lower than the rest but otherwise this was my second place here and not far behind my top entry this year. Tough competition but I had a feeling that Seemone might find wider appeal than my number one...
1st - Czechia (Barbora Mochowa "True Colors")
Vocal Capability 5.0/5
Stage Performance 4.0/5
Composition / Originality 4.0/5
Overall Impression 5.0/5
Barbora is one of those few artists at Eurovision or NFs that made me want to find out more about her back catalogue and listen to it all. She was truly deserving of the 12 points from me this year. The only thing to do now is to watch how the scoring went and it was a cliffhanger all the way until the final jury:
Wasn't that an incredibly tight race to the finish? We almost had the hosts defending their title, just missing out on that final set of scores from Cyprus. Having said that, Seemone for France was ahead for all bar one jury throughout the marks, so it would have been a real gut wrencher for all those supporting her if she hadn't finished top of the leader board:
Given that my number one finished eighth, I couldn't have been happier that my second choice, my personal ten points, finished top of the tree this year. I am aware that Seemone's pure vocal style and understated performance is not everyone's cup of tea this year and personally I thought that Electric Fields would be challenging for the win (great first year in the SCC though, Australia) but I am very happy with this result and how engrossing and tension filled this Final ended up being. A shout out to Kerrie Anne too from the UK - 13th is a pretty good finish compared to other years for my nation!
Out with 2019, in with 2020!