[LMBTO] "Let Me Be The One" Eurovision Show 128 - A Song For Eden...

Like all Eurovision obsessives, I was watching a livestream from Israel on Monday evening, seeing which of the three songs shortlisted for Eden to sing at Rotterdam would be selected by the Israeli public.  Despite having minimal knowledge of Hebrew, I found the show 'HaShir Shelanu L'Eurovizion' to be very entertaining visually and I got the impression that Israel is far more interested in learning the background behind the singer and the song than most other nations.  Lucy Ayoub did an amazing job in hosting throughout and watching the official videos in context gave the entries more life.  Having said that, I did get the feeling that Eden was less of the focus than at 'HaShir HaBa L'Eurovizion' last year, and I also got the feeling that "Set Me Free" was not necessarily her favoured choice when that song was announced as the winner.  Despite that being the song that the Jury effectively saved after the initial public vote that put "La La Love" and "Ue La La" into the Final, the vote for the winning song was massive, 71% as against 17% and 12% respectively.

"Shoulders" would have been my personal choice of the original 9 and "La La Love" from the final 3 - having said that, I was never comfortable with the lyrics about 'infecting my generation'/'disease'/'medication' and I think that might have been the reason for that's song's demise.  As for 'Ue La La', I loved the demo as it was very contemporary, very urban, had a great mix of languages and would have been something to hear in streaming charts.  The Eden version became too sanitised for me though, perhaps to keep her image mainstream and more her age - "Ue La La" would have worked perfectly on stage with a raunchy show and her being the super confident and savvy girl but I didn't see any of that in the video.  That possibly explains the third placing for that entry.

My thoughts on "Set Me Free"?  First thing to say is that I did like the video - it is stylish, Eden looks great in her white jumpsuit and red/black braids, and the incorporation of the characters smiling in it really sets off the darkness of the piece.  The use of the neon lights as frames is also a clever idea and this could work really well if all the entries for Eurovision have to be filmed in their home nations in a tv studio.  The song itself is a bit of a compromise however - it shows off Eden's vocals well but there is nothing to stretch her in that regard.  The song is memorable, which for me is a bonus this season as Anxhela's "Karma" from Albania still doesn't have any recall whatsoever.  The lyrics don't have anything out of the ordinary in them though - they also seemed to be out of context with the video:

It does all add up to a nice, low impact, standard pop song lyrically - no real message, sounds like numerous mainstream radio tracks and because of that I feel "Set Me Free" is in danger of blending into the background when we get more entries for Rotterdam.  This is a real shame and something I worried about when 2020 was cancelled, as "Feker Libi" was in my top ten and that really had that wow factor, with Eden giving a superb performance with her backing singers and the dancers, making for a potential televote hit.  I am always loathe to compare artist's previous efforts but I do feel that Eden has been sold short with the winning song here - "Shoulders" was the song that would have been most like her 2020 entry vocally and potentially visually too but that wasn't to be.  Getting back to "Set Me Free", the staging might be THE factor in whether Israel make the Final in Rotterdam but there is a long way to go and 39 other entries to look over.  At least Eden is my favourite at the moment:

The one thing that I was pleased about was that this result was announced in time for Israel's song to be included in this week's edition, a big deal in that I was the first to play it on any Eurovision radio show.  Have a listen to the whole two hours with Eden being on second to last in hour two:

Vasil (@VGarvanliev) will represent 🇲🇰 North Macedonia again at the 2021 Eurovision Song Contest!

He was supposed to sing “YOU” at the 2020 edition in Rotterdam.

More details to be revealed at a later date. #ESC2021 | #openuppic.twitter.com/GaBlJLRJid

— 🇲🇰 Macedonia in Eurovision (@esc_macedonia) January 20, 2021

Another act that might almost certainly will return in 2021, after missing out with one of the red hot favourite entries of 2020, is THE ROOP with "Discoteque".  Released on Friday, the outstanding video came out soon after:

And that was just in time to set everyone up for their first live performance during the second Heat of Pabandom iš naujo!...

Song - great hook, hypnotic beat, simple but effective lyrics and sung as well as "On Fire";

Video - far, far superior to "On Fire", themed perfectly, nice nod to their 2020 song as a farewell and yet incredible choreography, co-ordinated outfits and dancing, plus those nice funny touches of the moving fingers and the pointing, actual laugh out loud moments;

Live - as visually engaging as 2020 but more polished, more exaggerated detail and the band are involved more too.

I cannot imagine the Lithuanian public, who voted in their droves last year for "On Fire", NOT then voting in the same way (and more) for "Discoteque" which has ramped up the staging by a couple of notches.  The lyrics and musicianship are at least as good, if not better this year too, so it would not surprise me if this swept the board pointwise.  I am not sure where the challenge will come from - Martyna Jezepčikaitė's "Thank You Very Much" has been to date the clear televote winner, double the amount of runner-up in Heat 1, with Gebrasy in Heat 2 got a max vote from both jury and public but neither really have that visual wow of "Discoteque".  We will find out the five entries that will join THE ROOP in the Final but in my opinion they are all playing for a Final place and 'who will be second'...

My rankings based purely on the studio AND video presentations of the UMK 2021 entries are above - things may change when we get the actual Final night on February 20th, especially as I will be watching events in Finland and not in Norway, Melodi Grand Prix being the place where most fans will be watching.  My reason for watching these seven acts instead of an evening with KEiiNO?

Even though Laura and Aksel, the two NF winners, are my bottom two of the seven, their songs are wonderful to listen to as well.  There are no 'duff' songs in this line-up and I think that this contest will be the one to watch that night.  I absolutely love the intensity and sentiment of Oskr's "Lie", the dry humour and delivery by Danny, the superb vocals and quiet emotion of Ilta, the full on power and drive of Blind Channel, the pure 90s pop feel by Teflon Brothers and Pandora, the journey of Laura into Country & Western plus those angelic vocals of Aksel.  Any of these acts would do a top notch job for Finland in May, some with more of a chance of a top ten admittedly - the fact that all of them are so good is why I have already decided to forego MGP 2021 this year as a live event.  You have now heard all seven songs on the show - that is France and Finland totally covered this year!

I am fascinated that such a wonderful song did not have the backing of RAI at Eurovision and it has made me want to find out more.  The interview itself also had embedded the Sanremo version of "Fiumi di parole" in it - a real treasure and a moment that turned that Contest on its head, by the sounds of it!  Alessandra Drusian provided us with one of the purest, most beautiful vocals ever at Eurovision and it is always a pleasure to play it on the show.

By the time we get to show 129 next week, one of the acts above will have claimed the French place at Rotterdam and of course you will hear it on LET ME BE THE ONE.  I am delighted that it will be the second play, as "Eurovision France : c'est vous qui décidez!" was the first selection process of the 2021 season that I had played all the entries from.  Will Barbara Pravi be the chosen one of the French voters, as she is with the Eurovision fandom, or will someone else come through?  Perhaps the singers who make up my personal top two...