Sometimes it is the moments when an artist isn't performing that provides the most realistic pictures - Natalia Gordienko was one of ELEVEN artists who made it to Rotterdam in the run up to Tuesday's 'Let Me Be The One'. She will be carrying Moldova's hopes this year and I will summarise how I feel that might go later on, along with all the others, including the guy who opened the show (have a listen now) and who graces the Mixcloud picture too:
James Newman is the UK artist this year and you will have read my thoughts on that in my previous blog article. Before I launch myself into what I think about each of those entries, here is the playlist for the show:
"My Last Breath" - James Newman
"Violent Thing" - Ben Dolic ft. B-OK
"Da Vidna" - VAL
"What Love Is" - Uku Suviste
"Prison" - Natalia Gordienko
"Divlji vjetre" - Damir Kedžo
"Think About Things" - Daði & Gagnamagnið
"SUPERG!RL" - Stefania
"Alcohol You" - ROXEN
"Hasta La Vista" - Hurricane
"Take Me As I Am" - Tornike Kipiani
"Yol Ayrici" - Samira Efendi
"Skibidi" - Little Big
"Troubled Waters" - Victor Crone
"Move" - The Mamas
"Winners" - Mohombi
"Brave" - Hanna Ferm
"Bulletproof" - Dotter
"Take A Chance" - Robin Bengtsson
"Shout It Out" - Mariette
"Kingdom Come" - Anna Bergendahl
"Black Leather" - KEiiNO
"Fighting The Blaze" - Jordan Anthony
It never pans out evenly over the pre-season, does it? Entries from the UNITED KINGDOM, GERMANY, BELARUS, ESTONIA, MOLDOVA, CROATIA, ICELAND, GREECE, ROMANIA, SERBIA and GEORGIA totally filled hour 1 this week, with the artist reveals from AZERBAIJAN and RUSSIA picking up the pace in hour 2! Add to that all the eight Direct Finalists from Melodifestivalen and there was barely time for the new release by KEiiNO, plus the charity song from Australia's JESC artist Jordan Anthony. I found it a really enjoyable show and I hope you did too. Let's get down to business as far as those new entries are concerned...
James Newman - "My Last Breath"Yep, it is all in my article and the newly released live version hasn't really upped my ranking for this song, available for UK readers/listeners to watch on BBC iPlayer at the moment. Admittedly watching the live in a tv studio won't have all the staging we might get in Rotterdam but it didn't seem to raise the song any more than the video which we have now all seen. James is a great singer but I knew that anyway - unfortunately his stage presence still cannot make up for the disconnect between the first 60 seconds of pure brilliance and the dip in intensity for the rest of the song. I hope that this makes it into the mid-table reaches of the scoreboard on Final night but "My Last Breath" is highly reliant on running order and who makes it out of the SFs - this year could end up being one of the most varied in genre choices we have ever seen and the UK entry may not stand out of that crowd.
Ben Dolic ft B-OK -"Violent Thing"A matter of hours after the UK entry was revealed, Germany appeared with their 45 minute tv show and "Violent Thing". It was a delight to see Barbara Schöneberger presenting again (the main reason I would so love a German win, just to see her present Eurovision) and the presentation of this great pop track with a dose of flirty lyrics and a funky bass line. Yes, it is as if "Dance You Off" has grown up but this is less cynical and the sharp sounds and production values are superb. Ben has a superb voice, as he proved whilst singing an acoustic version of his entry, and it wouldn't surprise me if Germany ended up being 'top of the Big 5' this year in Rotterdam. Currently this entry is my number 11 out of 31 with an 8/10 rating so competition is tight but this could give Ben's adoptive nation (he is Slovenian born) a top ten this year.VAL - "Da Vidna"Two things I loved about this entry - first, being sung in Belarusian for only the second time in the history of the nation's entries is a great things. Secondly, I loved Valeria's head adornment, it reminding me of Róisín Murphy's look in the official video of "Sing It Back" by Moloko. Unfortunately that is where my positives end for this EDM track - it is sung well and Valeria has stage presence but the song itself didn't connect with me at all. Hopefully the staging for this entry will have room to grow in the Ahoy in May, as compared to a relatively confined space in Belarus, and that might give this more of a chance of qualifying for the Final than I think it does at the moment.
Uku Suviste - "What Love Is"Uku has finally made it for Estonia but I feel that it is a year too late as far as his entry is concerned, "Pretty Little Liar" having a more interesting composition and making better use of his vocal talents in 2019 than "What Love Is" does this. I will always believe that "Beautiful Lie" was the better choice for Eurovision with its drama and superb staging but Estonia overwhelmingly went with this traditional power ballad - will Uku make the Final? It is up against some big hitters in the ballad stakes in SF2 from Switzerland, Albania, Poland and Moldova so I am not confident, given that this is all about Uku's charisma and vocals - the staging is very forgettable with numerous candles on the floor that even restricts his movement and possible connection with fans and camera. If nothing else, at least he has his Eurovision moment...
Natalia Gordienko - "Prison"The pictures show off one of Natalia's strengths which is her photogenicity and the connection with the camera - add to that a very simple but striking stage show that include four backing singers who interact with her and yet leave her as the absolute focus and we have a very strong if basic power ballad. Natalia isn't the strongest vocalist, as was shown next day at the Romanian NF where only she was on stage, but those four other singers raise the whole song to a level that I could see Moldova making the Final and possibly placing comfortably mid-table. There is a definite story being told within the performance and you get that drama within the three minutes on first watch/listen - I am delighted to see Natalia return in a more sophisticated way than her featuring as the 'object of desire' in 2006.
Damir Kedžo - "Divlji vjetre"We always need a Balkan ballad each Contest and Croatia are the ones to provide it this year! "Divlji vjetre" does 'what it says on the tin' - handsome singer provides perfect vocals for a traditional power ballad that we have all heard before and yet it works every time because that formula is a cast-iron success. Add to that five backing singers providing some harmonies and you don't really need any staging (as was the case at DORA 2020), just watch them sing and emote through the camera. I am delighted that this will stay in Croatian although that will mean that it will perhaps have a limited market - having said that, this style of song always seems to garner enough points to ease itself into the Final and I cannot see this entry doing anything different in Rotterdam.
Daði & Gagnamagnið - “Think About Things”Ah, the early hyped favourites! And that is all deserved in my opinion, irrespective of any conspiracy theories about Netflix. This entry for Iceland is an absolute masterclass in performance art - the song is catchy as hell, it is sung at a level that makes it accessible, it has a lovely back story about Daði's daughter, there is the family element there with his wife and sister in the group, the staging and routine are superb and it is three minutes of pure delight. Sure, "Is This Love?" in 2017 was almost a dry run for this win but that is what makes this so perfect - the Icelandic voters had been set up for this to triumph three years ago! This could be this year's runaway televote winner and the big question will be, how much do the juries care for this entry? Will we have a landslide winner or another KEiiNO? We will only find that out in May...
Stefania - "SUPERG!RL"Stefania has that 'girl next door' vibe about her and assuming she makes it to the Final, she will probably have the backing of the Dutch too, given that she lives there and also performed in JESC for them as part of Kisses! The entry itself is a very radio friendly track that will get listeners feeling that they have heard this sort of thing before - the important aspect for this entry will be how it is staged, to make it stand out from what is already a very eclectic mix of styles and genres in SF2. It is already popular among the Greek fans out there but that needs to spread - I like it and I think it will qualify but I'm not sure it will reach the heights of 2000s Greek entries. Baby steps, I suppose...ROXEN - "Alcohol You"![]()
Hurricane - "Hasta La Vista"Us Eurovision fans always cry out for a 'banger' or two each year and Serbia provided us with one at their NF, Hurricane being the stand out with "Hasta La Vista". They revamped this before the NF to make it more anthemic but it isn't the vocals that are the strength here, it is totally the performance. Sanja, Ksenija and Ivana all know their routine, all know their marks and have a great balance between movement and dance, making sure they aren't out of breath for their next line. It also helps that Sanja is the strongest vocalist and has been assigned all the 'money notes' throughout the song. The outfits looked a bit 'art school' but I am sure this will look slick and eye catching in May, the vocals being rehearsed to an inch of perfection - the entry screams 'show opener' to me and the whole routine will probably be enough to get Hurricane into the Final.
Tornike Kipiani - "Take Me As I Am"This landed the morning of the show and I was delighted to be able to include it on Tuesday as it is so different to anything else we are going to get at Rotterdam. You have to give it to Georgia - they chose Tornike to win Georgian Idol because he gave them something different to all the other singers and therefore they must have known that he would have come up with something as 'out there' as "Take Me As I Am". Rock/electro/dubstep - that is how the Georgian delegation were describing this entry before its release but I don't think even they could describe it but what is for sure is that this will be the hardest hitting rock track we will have this year and it will have its fans, it will sound like this live and it will be one of the standouts of SF2. Whether that will be enough to get Tornike through to the Final, I am not sure, but Georgia won't care either way - they are happy doing their own thing each year.
Along with the definite entries played on the show, you also got to hear from two artists who have been revealed as representing their nation:Samira Efendi for Azerbaijan and Little Big for Russia will be going to Rotterdam, Samira probably with the song "Cleopatra" and Little Big with "Uno dos quattro" - how they will sound may come to light on next week's show, if they are released in time. Talking about next week's show 83, there are still loads of entries to be revealed but you will definitely hear the winning entry from Sweden's Melodifestivalen - hopefully that being one of these three singers:I would be delighted to see one of Hanna, Dotter or Anna make it to Eurovision in May - it will be a pleasant change for Sweden to send a female singer and all their entries are superb. We currently have 32 entries revealed, 25 of those played on the show...
SIXTEEN left to play on LET ME BE THE ONE
That'll fill most of the show...
