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Thank you for all your kind words from last week’s Juke Box Jury episode, and our return to the world of hits, misses, and maybes with voices old and new. It’s the same mix again this week!
Eurovision Insight Podcast: Juke Box Jury #2
with AJ Clay (Lockdown Transmissions) and Ariadne Griffin (ariadnereviews.com).Greece: Die Together, by Amanda Tenfjord.
Cyprus: Andromache, by Ela.
Australia: Not the Same, by Sheldon Riley.
Czech Republic: Lights Off, by We Are Domi .
Lithuania: Sentimentai, by Monika Liu.
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.
My thoughts: Czech Republic is a borderline Q and may very well fail to qualify.
Lithuania is classy but won’t win Eurovision. Come on.
Greece-
It could have been sung by any country and it wouldn’t make any different. There is nothing that screams Greece for me. It’s safe and not taking any risks. It’s also very low key and mute. The Greece diaspora have failed to support several acts in the past, which resulted in Greece not qualifying – MISS
Cyprus-
This song would have benefited from a different arrangement and a different tempo, which would have made it the explosive song that is hiding there under the surface. Unfortunately we are left with a song that want to be artistic and sophisticated but fail to be both. It’s too quiet and after you heard it, it just slip away from your memory – MISS
Australia –
We are in the sad/crying boy territory, of which we have quite a lot this year. The question is what makes this one unique and makes him stand out the busy crowd.
To his credit the song feels personal and you can also feel the pain he has while telling his story. He also has a strong voice and he carries the tune very well, making the story more compelling. But it is also very dark, so I am not sure if the audience will be in the mood for such dark story.
As for the staging – Eurovision is a TV show. Connecting with the audience at home is important. The mask he has refrain him from making a direct eye contact with camera and the audience at home, which is a death sentence when it comes to Eurovision performance – (a very, very big)MAYBE
Czech Republic-
I am pleasantly surprised by this one. I think my 1st reaction after this was chosen , was- it’s an ok song. Nothing special. I think, and not 100% sure, that they slightly enhanced some elements in the song that make it a bit more engaging than what it was before. If anything it does need a strong voice, which would have given it an extra push. As it is, the song is better than the one singing it. Not a winner but has a chance of doing well – (a semi) HIT
Lithuania –
This is such a niche song. It sounds like a song you will hear in a dark and smokey bar. Is it a bad song- not necessarily but it has no wide appeal that can bring him to the top of Eurovision. The question is- who is going to vote for this song? The answer is probably no one. It’s so quiet that it will be the toilet break of the its semi – MISS
Greece and Czechia are my 2 favourites. The only two songs from the contest that I listen to daily. I’ll certainly be voting for them.
Greece: ‘Where’s the moment to make you pick up the phone’? The memorable chorus, the emotional lyric, the excellent production, the build of the song, the transition from the middle eight to the chorus, the big note in the final chorus, the beautiful voice, the beautiful young woman who looks straight down the camera with the skill of an actress. Not everyone will like the dark message or the acapella beginning. Die Together’s downsides have been compared to Bulgaria’s ‘failure’ in 2021. But remember, Bulgaria was only just shaded into 11th in a much stronger year. Top 5 jury. Top 10 overall. At worst.
Cyprus: Ela, to my ears, is nothing like Fuego and in some ways is a welcome departure from Cypriot entries of recent years. It feels authentic to Cyprus and makes very pleasant listening. Andromache can sing, but I’m struggling to envisage the staging that will put this across in a live competition and will deliver the televotes needed to qualify.
Australia: Ewan says he has personally never known the sort of bullying ‘Not the Same’ references. Well JBJ listeners, I have to share with you my own experiences as a young man where I was badly afflicted by early onset baldness and had to endure daily taunts of ‘slaphead’, ‘cueball’ and, worst of all, ‘Bobby Charlton.’ Inspired by Sheldon’s brave example, I have resolved to take to the Eurovision stage to bring my suffering to the attention of the world. I will wear a ghastly humiliating toupee, which I will comb forward so that none of the 180 million people watching at home can see my face. To underline the depth of my inner pain, at certain pre-planned moments of the song, my voice will begin to crack to the point where I can no longer get the words out, but somehow, in the nick of time, I will find the strength to sing the next line perfectly before juries are tempted to mark me down. Then, at the climax of the middle eight, with trembling hands I will raise the toupee above my head and cast it aside in a gesture signalling the ultimate triumph of courage over adversity designed to inspire baldies the world over. Finally, despite my emotions now having reached boiling point, like Sheldon, I will retain the presence of mind to do a quick hair check (in my case make that a quick head polish) before launching into the last chorus. As with ‘Not the Same,’ my rendition of ‘Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow’ will be guaranteed to generate a lot of ‘feelings’ among the Eurovision audience. Mainly nausea, I suspect.
Czech Republic – In spite of thinking that for most of this episode of JBJ, Ewan and his guests were talking complete and utter tripe (Caveat 1 – which they are perfectly entitled to do, of course. Caveat 2 – events in Turin may prove them correct and me wrong. For instance, I tipped Malta last year), I generally agree with the jury on this one. The song is better than most this year and We Are Domi have already shown they can stage and perform it live. There is more than enough jury and televote potential here for a qualification and possibly a left hand side in the final.
Lithuania – Monica is a good singer and performer but this ‘classy’ but rather one note song has neither the jury or televote appeal to make it remotely competitive. So AJ and Ariadne, this is going to beat Italy, Ukraine, Poland, Sweden, Greece or The Netherlands? More likely it will need the diaspora vote to come out to scrape it through the semi in 9th or 10th.
Czech Republic Update – I’ve just listened to the live vocal both from the Barcelona Pre-Party and the Romanian National Final performances. How shall I put this? NIL POINT. NQ. MISS.
Greece: HIT. A really good and surprising choice from Greece. The song has a cool, Nordic sound to it and the lyrics get your attention and the build is the song is great. I’m not sure how easy it will be to perform live. I hear the staging will be very influenced by ancient Greek imagery which will give a visual reminder to everyone which country the song represents. It has a great position in SF1 and should get to the final easily and could come top 10, but I agree that it could do well with the juries and then the televoters drag it out of the top 10 like with Bulgaria last year.
Cyprus: MAYBE. I haven’t completely warmed up to this one yet. I enjoy it when I listen to it but it doesn’t stay with me afterwards. I’m not sure if that’s because of the languid music video. I love that they’ve brought Greek back to one of their entries and it’s a departure from the last few Cypriot entries. I think there’s a case for it to qualify, but in the final it may get stuck in the bottom half of the results.
Australia: HIT. Sheldon has a beautiful and expressive voice that will really stand out. The verses are written so well, it’s a shame the chorus is so repetitive and the very last part is just another repeating of ‘we’re not the same’. I hope he finds a different way to stage it to the NF and that he doesn’t have the mask on for so long. I think it stops the audience from connecting with him, especially as he knows how to sell the song to the camera. I think this entry will easily get to the final and then do about as well as Zero Gravity did.
Czech Republic: HIT. I’ve enjoyed this since it was chosen in December. I like that it’s a song about missing someone but is uptempo too. The real challenge with this is how it will be performed live. They’ve been given the pimp slot in SF2 which would infer that there’ll be some memorable staging. If they pull it off this will get to the final.
Lithuania: MAYBE. A great choice from Lithuania and so refreshing to hear the Lithuanian language at the contest. Monika has a lot of personality and that stands out on screen and helps this gentle song out. It doesn’t sound like any other entry either. I think it’s on the bubble in terms of qualification. I think it would be a lot more likely to qualify from SF2. Performing 3rd will make it difficult too.
GREECE: I tend to like my Greek songs to sound every bit Greek and this feels like generic Nordic pop…still, it feels like a safe choice for juries and the Greek diaspora might come through–although nothing in it feels like it’s a nod to the homeland–and this is now the third consecutive internal Greek choice of a young girl that was neither born in Greece, nor makes Greece her permanent residence singing generic pop…I am not as taken by this as other Eurofans–but they also liked Katerine Duska’s Better Love than I did and that didn’t crack top 20 on Final night…MAYBE
CYPRUS: And to make up for lack of Greek identity–here comes Cyprus bringing it in spades…this is the kinda music you hear often on the radio in those countries–so I appreciate Cyprus giving us another kind of song other than bop with girating diva…I find it a bit soft–but I do think if the Greek diaspora want to reward a bit of their identity–this stands a better chance…MAYBE
AUSTRALIA: The first time I heard this song, I couldn’t even connect with a melody…after seeing the performance, all I can think of is how much of a vocal exercise this was versus an actual song…I do think this might work with juries, but masking his face will hinder his connection to the audience…and this just feels incredibly overwrought and manipulative…if he cries at the end of every performance even during his rehearsals, then you know this is all for affect…for me it’s a huge ‘miss’, but seems like people are falling all over themselves with this song even as it competes for similar votes with Poland, Azerbaijan, N Macedonia and Montenegro…MAYBE
CZECH REPUBLIC: I’m way more skeptical about this than JBJ…these electro songs tend to not work well at Eurovision and it wouldn’t be the first time one was asked to close the semi and then fail to qualify…I do think it’s perfectly radio-friendly, but the live vocals need to be on point…MAYBE
LITHUANIA: Part of me feels this is so unique and enchanting that it can be Top 5…another part thinks this is more Hooverphonic and might just please the juries…still, there’s something oddly professional and secure in this performance and there is nothing else in this year’s contest like it…biggest issue is that there are so many female soloists in Semi 1 and the show saddled her with a very early position, but she is surrounded by such brash bands that this screams like it can withstand anything…potential shock non-qualifier, but until then…HIT
Greece. MAYBE. Seems like they successfully created the song they wanted to make, and it’s a nice recording. How will it sound and will it come alive on stage?
Cyprus. MAYBE. Seems like a solid composition, and I enjoy it. Will it be competitive?
Australia. MISS. Seems like a song that has not yet been finished, but he makes up for that with stage presence and vocals. As story, I can relate on many levels. As a song to hear, I don’t enjoy it. He seems to be feeling all the feelings for everyone, and it feels overwhelming to me.
Czech Republic. HIT. Yes to everything the panel said. Lyrics, mood, vocals, instrumentation are all playing their part perfectly.
Lithuania. MAYBE. She is charming and so is the song. I think she will get everything just right, and I will enjoy the performance, but I still won’t listen to the song very much afterwards.