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With the National Final season at an end, we have our forty songs for Turin. That means its time for Juke Box Jury to return to the podcast! Five songs per show, eight shows, and when we have all our hits, misses, and maybes, it’ll be time to start watching rehearsals!
Eurovision Insight Podcast: Juke Box Jury #1
with Monty Moncrieff (Second Cherry) and Chris Halpin (Chris Talks Eurovision).Sweden: Hold Me Closer, by Cornelia Jakobs.
Switzerland: Boys Don’t Cry, by Marius Bear.
Romania: Llamame, by WRS.
North Macedonia: Circles, by Andrea.
Albania: Sekret, by Ronela Hajati.
Stay up to date with all the discussions, news, and reviews as we get ready to travel to Turin for Eurovision 2022 with ESC Insight. You’ll find the show in iTunes, Google Podcasts, and Spotify. A direct RSS feed is available. We have a regular email newsletter which you can sign up to here., and you can support us on Patreon here.
Hold Me Closer will do really well–deservedly so–but I suspect it will be top 2 with juries and top 10 with televoters. I think it’s that rare entry that just *moves* a lot of people. I suspect the sentiment skews a bit older that the archetypal ESC televoter. It’s the first Swedish entry I absolutely adore since Euphoria.
Welcome back JBJ. You almost caught me by surprise, starting before we have all the songs.
I previously thought 2022 was a weak year, and it is compared to the vintage contest that was 2021. Nevertheless, some of the songs are growing on me and there are very few that are out and out poor songs (cough Slovenia, cough cough Denmark). Instead, we have a lot of what I would rank 3 out of 5s. This could make qualification hinge on live vocals and staging more than ever.
Sweden – It’s a classy pop song, with a good chorus, with the par for the course high standard Swedish staging. It is the best Swedish entry since Heroes. All that said, I’m not getting the excitement of the Eurovision fandom and I don’t see the ‘edginess’ and ‘raw emotion’ that everyone is talking about. For me, personally, there are other ballads in this year’s field that engage more with the emotions, notably Greece, Italy, Portugal and Montenegro, and there are a lot that are better sung. Having said that, I believe Hold Me Closer will be top 5 with the juries and probably 4-10 overall.
Switzerland – This is rather a sweet song that is different from anything else in the field. If Marius can sing as well live as he does on the video, this may do just about enough to get out of the semi.
Romania – The song and the staging are a bit on the dark side for a contest that, this year, is crying out for more unadulterated optimistic bangers. Also, the singer misses that high note. There are not really any other obvious candidates in Semi 2 for the pimp slot and this may help it garner enough televote support to scrape a qualification.
North Macedonia – I’m with Chris in that I quite like the song, although it is a bit repetitive. Watching the video of Andrea perform this live at the Romanian National Final gives no confidence whatsoever that she has the experience to deliver qualification.
Albania – This is the out and out optimistic dance banger that I was talking about Romania not having. Looking at semi-final one, I see this garnering more than enough televotes to qualify. How successful they are with the staging will be a big factor in determining whether they achieve the big televote they need on the Saturday to get on to the left hand side of the board.
Finally, Ewan, if you are anywhere near the Euroclub this May, would you kindly post a video of your dance moves to a track with that throbbing base beat that you love? That is something all us ESC Insight fans and patrons would score as a HIT.
Haha, you may be waiting a while. I think the last time I may have spotted Ewan on a dancefloor was in Dusseldorf.
Was that the night that Hotel FM’s David Bryan introduced us to Pingu?
Yes, yes it was.
Before I start reviewing the songs I have to make a confession. I think this is going to be a difficult year. Of all the songs chosen, I haven’t got any connection to any of the song. Not one song gives me a winner vibe or a song I would like to listen after the contest. There are a lot of ballads / middle of the road songs, which will give an headache for producers, when making the running order.
For me, this year is one of the worse Eurovision year I can remember and my memory goes quite far back.
If anything, I will use JBJ this year to rediscover the songs. Maybe just maybe, I will get a better connection with them.
Sweden –
So Sweden the queen of slik pop songs is sending a slik ballad. I have to say that I like the colour of her voice and contrary to years before I don’t really hate the song. For me the song lies closer to the realms of Sweden 2010 than to the ones from 2014 and here are where my doubts and concerns are. Is this authentic enough to make people connect to it?Will the audience feel that this is real emotions or will the audience will not buy this at all?Will qualify because there are worse songs than this one in its semi.
Jurries will lap this up, not so sure about the televoters – MAYBE(considering my track record in the last years, where Sweden always ended up as a miss, that’s almost a victory)
Switzerland –
There is a very melancholic atmosphere to this song. There is also something jazzy to it. It’s all very nice but nice never wins Eurovision. I also have no idea if he can sing this live and I do miss some emotional layer to his singing. There are also too many songs that fishing at the same pond, so may get lost in the crowd -MAYBE
Romania-
This one sounds different than anything around him in this semi.It’s one of the few uptempo songs in this year contest and it works to some extent. The oriental instrumentation and the sound are refreshing, when compare to what else in this semi. On the other hand it lacks a bit energy to the performance and song, which would have made it even a better song – MAYBE(on the verge of being a HIT)
Nort Macedonia-
Unfortunately, on a certain moment, the song becomes quite repetitieve, musically and textually. Someone was running out of ideas and the result is a song which I really don’t care about – MISS
Albania
In Albanian standards, this is quite restraint.And I do like some parts of the song but I just miss something in the song that wold make go crazy about it. Should qualify with ease but I don’t think it will give Albania its best result – MAYBE
Shai, if I had a pound for every time someone comes on sites like this and says, ‘this is the worst Eurovision Year ever’. I distinctly recall someone coming on here last year and declaring that the 2021 songs were so bad that he had had it with Eurovision! And this about the contest that led to the victory and subsequent worldwide acclaim of the brilliant rock band that is Maneskin.
Of course, everyone is entitled to an opinion, even a pessimistic one. For what it’s worth, 2022 is by no means a vintage year and is (as you say) ballad heavy, but there are very few bad songs and some bold artistic choices. So, let’s see what Turin in May brings.
Eurojock – In all the time I place comments here, I have never used the term “worse Eurovision ever”. It’s just not a term I easily use.
There were contests I liked less but there were still songs I liked in that contest.
This year mark my 50th year of watching the contest and this year, song wise, is really in the bottom 3.
At this point of the season, I usually have 5-10 songs that I like, songs I find myself humming. This year, none of the songs have achieved this status yet.
Sweden: This will always start off form a high place with juries because that’s what Sweden does…but it’s the kind of song that I can see doing quite well and (as often happens) in uneven years, a song like this can squeak to victory and years later we will look back and be like “how did that win?!”…pains me to have another winner so closely named to Hold Me Now–but it wouldn’t shock me…leaves me slightly cold, but her voice lifts it…HIT
Switzerland: after hearing this sounds like a Christmas song, I now can’t unhear it…it’s basically off Michael Buble’s next holiday album…I do love his voice and can see some people taking a liking to it…but feels overly twee…MAYBE
Romania: if this was 2000, this would be top 5…but I think the contest moved on from this…but in a year with a lack of fun songs–at least this feels like it could be appreciated for what it is–a badly sung throwback that is just fun…MAYBE
North Macedonia: it’s not the worse song but (pardon the expression) but it does got slightly in circles…I thought it was a borderline qualifier but now after some of her live performances and knowing this faces Sweden and Poland in second half of semi 2, this is a MISS
Albania: I don’t like this song as much as other people, but I can understand it’s appeal…the drop is not my favorite, but love the chorus…regardless, this is pure Eurovision…HIT
Sweden: HIT. This is Sweden’s best entry for several years and a refreshing change from the formula of 2013-2021, and should sail through to the final and probably be top 5. The simple and engaging staging suits the song well and Cornelia knows how to sell the song to the camera. There’s a lot of winner talk for this song and I’m still skeptical at this point as to whether it will win. I’d only heard a clip of it before watching the Melfest final and on first listen, while I liked it quite a bit, I wasn’t blown away. There’s a lot of ballads this year about relationship breakups so it’s competing for votes with a lot of other entries.
Switzerland: MAYBE. This was quite an unexpected choice from Switzerland. It reminds me of a Randy Newman style song written for a Disney film and sung by Louis Armstrong. The pros for this one are that the audience may get captured by his voice and the sentimentality of the song. I did watch his first live performance of the song today and didn’t find him a hugely engaging stage presence. Some clever staging can fix that. It’s also too repetitive and doesn’t build very much at all. The early 4th slot in SF1 might not help but I do think there’s a slight chance it could qualify.
Romania: HIT. One of the few uptempo songs this year and one I think will stand out in SF2. He has good stage presence and sells the song well and I love the choreography. It’s not a groundbreaking entry by any means but I think it will end Romania’s string of non-qualifications. I’m not sure how it will do in the final, but I think it will be more popular with televoters than jurors.
North Macedonia: MISS. I like the lyrics and how they describe the relationship and I like her voice. There needs to be more variety to the lyrics though. I think she’s spent some time in the US and this song has an American R&B sound to it. It’s a decent song that isn’t very competitive and I think it won’t stick in voters’ and jurors’ memories.
Albania: HIT. I think this is one of Albania’s best entries and a nice departure from their normal style. Ronela has such great stage presence and the song is quite different from everything else in terms of sound. She also knows how to stage an entry without it feeling like there’s too much going on. My only concern with it is that maybe there’s too many instrumental parts of the song considering how hooky all the lyric parts are. This will make a fantastic opener to the contest this year and should be sailing through to the final and I think it could get Albania to the top 10 for the 3rd time.
Sweden: More craft than art. Relatable message. “Written to be competitive” – seems genuine and yet inauthentic at the same time, so it is a Maybe for me.
Switzerland: Tame and trite with cringy lyrics. Miss.
Romania: Enjoyable Maybe.
North Macedonia: College talent show goodish. Poor production and instrumentation. MISS.
Albania: Somehow Ronela holds all this craziness together. Strong Maybe.
I’m really late to all of this because I’ve only started listening to the songs about a week or so ago – I didn’t watch any national selections (except my own country’s), I don’t watch the videos or any live performances, so for the most part I’m judging purely on the audios.
Sweden: The first few listens this just passed me by, because like Ewan, the Sweden power ballad usually does nothing for me. But then something happened and now I’m completely hooked. I think for the first time in ages (seriously, a really long time) I wouldn’t mind Sweden winning. Do I think they will? Not really. But it’s still a HIT for me.
Switzerland: Gosh, this is so boring. I can’t even concentrate on it long enough to notice how weird the lyrics are. Unless he can really, really sell this live on stage (most likely to the jurors), I don’t think we’ll see Marius twice. MISS.
Romania: Nice enough, but nothing special either. One of the songs I actually notice when it’s on, so that’s something. MAYBE.
North Macedonia: I have a soft spot for this, although objectively I know this isn’t a very good song. But I do find myself humming it sometimes, somehow I like it. However, I cannot truthfully see it making it out of its semi, especially given the competition it faces. MAYBE/MISS.
Albania: Noticeable and enjoyable, though not a song that will stick with me for a long time after the contest. I expect this to do relatively well in the final, qualification is a no-brainer anyway. But it’s not a huge hit either, so for me it’s a strong MAYBE.