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Five more songs in front of the judges this week, as the hits, misses, and maybes, and getting ready to be handed out.
Eurovision Insight Podcast: Juke Box Jury #3
with Sharleen Wright, and Fin Ross Russell.Croatia: Guilty Pleasure, by Mia Dimšić.
Poland: River, by Ochman.
Estonia: Hope, by Stefan.
Georgia: Lock Me In, by Circus Mircus.
Iceland: Með hækkandi sól, Systurs.
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.
With the goodwill deservedly enjoyed by Poland these days and a truly good song – second only to Mike Starling perhaps – I think Poland is going to do quite well, upper left on the scoreboard for certain. Croatia and Iceland : meh. Georgia: no. Just no. But I love Estonia. No, it won’t get Americans abroad to the phones, for that this is too Spanish coastal desert, but as a film historian in general and euro trash historian in particular, this is just fab! That video, oh boy, they sure got that right. As for staging in Turin – oh, well, I still like the song, Ennio Morricone notwithstanding,
They’re called Daughters of Reykjavik, not Sisters of Reykjavik 😆
Ewan, you might ignore the predictions you got wrong, but some of the rest of us will no doubt be reminding you – for years.
Croatia – The best bit of this is Mia’s relationship with the camera. The song is inconsequential and Armenia later in the same semi could consign it to the memory hole. It has a chance of qualification but I have 10 or 11 songs in Semi 1 ahead of it.
Poland – Sharleen, I’m with you on this (apart from you mentioning that ghastly overblown Sheldon Riley performance in the same breath!). Juries will lap this up and on the televote side at the very least the Polish diaspora will come out for it. When you have positives on both sides of the equation you are in for a good result. This could be top 5 overall. Ochman could do with some lessons from Mia at looking into the camera though.
Estonia – Before listening to the podcast I watched a video where Stefan was performing an acoustic version in a concert for Ukraine. There were lyrics provided in the comments. Believe me, Ewan, there is a hell of a lot under the crust. This is less Colorado desert 1880 and more Ukraine 2022 and Nagorno – Karabakh 2020. It should qualify. If Stefan wants to place on the left hand side in the final, he needs to ditch the crass Spaghetti Western staging for something all Europe today can relate to. He should also take daily English diction lessons between now and May.
Georgia – Like Fin, it makes me smile. But it is incredibly quirky (much more quirky than Midnight Gold), maybe too much for Eurovision juries and the bulk of the Eurovision audience. For me, Saturday night is a far from given. Lock Me In has staging potential but they are going to have to stage the hell out of it to get out of the semi.
Iceland – Very pleasant background music, but background music nevertheless. I can’t see this qualifying.
Heh
“Ewan, you might ignore the predictions you got wrong, but some of the rest of us will no doubt be reminding you – for years.”
Ah, to be remembered, the greatest gift any creative can have.
Croatia-
I like this song. There is something gentle and mellow in the way the song is constructed and delivered. Her voice fits the song perfectly and the mix between the lyrics and the rather sweet but slightly sad tone of the music set the right tone. I don’t think it will win but it should do very well indeed(and the Taylor Swift comparison just pass me by as I don’t listen to her music) – HIT
Poland-
It’s quite an accessible song. The song has a strong structure and isn’t boring or annoying.The singer match the song and with him they found a secure performance who carries the song very well.Between all the male singers of this year, he sounds slightly different. I also watched his live performance at the Polish national final and he looks a bit distance and remote, not making eye contact with the camera or the audience – Somewhere between MAYBE and a HIT
Estonia-
On listening the frist notes of the song, I thought I was watching a Spaghetti Western movie. There is contrast between the rather cheerful music and the rather bleak lyrics, but in order to understand what he is singing about, you will need to read the text as his diction is quite horrible. It has a familiar sound to it which may help carry him beyond the semi-final. I am not sure how the audience will react to this song. It might have an unpredictably success or a it may just failed miserably – MAYBE
Georgia-
Since I don’t know when, Georgia takes its own course in Eurovision. They stopped thinking about what will be good for Eurovision and they sending songs they like. I have to admire them just for that. Sometimes it delivers am interesting song, even though the songs are being forgotten before even reaching Eurovision stage. This is one of these songs, it’s happy and quite retro but doesn’t feel dated. I am finding myself liking the song even if I know it has no chance when it comes to Eurovision- (a personal) HIT, but probably a MISS(for the contest)
Iceland-
It’s a pleasant listen but it’s just not strong enough to leave any impression on the audience.It’s nice to hear Icelandic on stage but this only insures that no one will vote for it-MISS
CROATIA: I like this enough, but find it to be a slight trifle..with that said, it’s not that distant of a cousin to Austria’s Loin d’ici or Denmark’s Love is Forever–pretty girl, winning smile, positive song…it’s biggest disadvantage might be the overabundance of ballad/midtempo female songs in this semi…MAYBE
POLAND: I still think this River flows too close to Arcade with a slightly more thumping beat for me to see this winning…although with the Polish diaspora and the favorable juri points–anything is possible, but this would probably feel a hollow victor in a few year’s time and that weird bridge just takes me out of the song completely…HIT
ESTONIA: Eesti Laul is slowly turning into the Maltese National Selection when folks who enter enough, eventually get the ticket to ESC…and so here you have Stefan in his fourth attempt and on the heels of winning Masked Singer…it seemed this had lots of fans outside Estonia when it won, but so much of that heat faded…it’s biggest crime is Stefan mumbling his way through the song to capture that affected voice…and I don’t think it’s a function of his diction as he never had major pronunciation issues in past entries–I really do think he’s trying to pull some kind of affect and is painful/confusing to my ear…I still think inspiration by spaghetti westerns feels unique enough especially on Italian soil, but that EL staging needs to be rethought and elevated…MAYBE
GEORGIA: I nearly fell off my carseat listening this JKJ heaping praise on this…I find it excruciating and everything I’ve seen from this group reads as a bad joke…I can’t imagine juries going for this and it’s saving grace might be that all the “joke” entries seem loaded onto Semi 1, but this notion that ‘it’s not even a question this will make it to Saturday night’ seems generous by a mile…MISS
ICELAND: it’s interesting the comparison to The Black Mamba, because my comment on this forum post-JBJ about them was that you can’t underestimate a band that gets on stage and plays their own musical instruments and just gives you a proper song…it worked for The Black Mamba and for Hooverphonic…getting enough juri votes to compensate for being forgotten by the public…I think this can squeak by as well, but it would need to stave off votes from Portugal and Denmark that could cut into it’s ‘oh wow, harmonies!’ and ‘proper girl band’ votes…MAYBE
Estonia gives me Lee Hazlewood, minus Nancy Sinatra.
Just want to say that anyone who discounts Poland for the win is not taking this stellar vocalist and fab song seriously… You get it on ONE listen..a major asset
I would agree, and it does feel like its flying under the radar – particularly now that similar act Sheldon has appeared at previews and is charming people. But of course, all that promo means little for a general viewer when it comes to the Saturday night.
I am with Mark Down(and Sharleen’s latest comment) on Poland – Since I listened to the song, for JBJ, it got stucked in my head. The only song so far from the class of 2022 to have achieved this status. Song wise, it’s more a HIT than a Maybe right now for me.
Croatia: MAYBE. This song is easy to like and I liked it from the first listen. My concern with this one is it getting lost in SF1 and the other ballads. Mia has a good voice but the team need to find a way to make the staging memorable. I thought the dancer in the Dora performance was quite effective but I think they need something a bit more original to get this one over the qualification line. As it stands it has a chance to qualify but could easily miss out as Croatia has done a lot since 2010. A song everybody can like but nobody’s favourite?
Poland: HIT. I love this song and think it could be one of the contenders for the win. It feels like it has a less traditional structure to the other entries and Ochman’s voice lures you in immediately. His live performances are just as good if not better than the studio version. The performance at the NF, although vocally fantastic, wasn’t near as engaging as it could be. He needs to look down the camera more to help his voice sell what is such an emotional song. If the staging is there it could win. If not, Poland should at least be looking at their second top 5 placing ever.
Estonia: HIT. This is a unique song and a country song that doesn’t sound like any we’ve had at the contest so far and that does it a lot of favours. It doesn’t even sound like a modern country song but like a classic that could have been in a spaghetti western film. He has such a strong voice that has an unusual and likeable quality to it. I think the lyrics about standing up for yourself, for who you are and for truth are very relevant to the current global political climate. I think it should qualify without too many problems. I think it could actually have a chance to be top 10!
Georgia: MISS. Despite all the theatricality, this feels like quite an anonymous song. I find the whole fact we still don’t know who the band are quite tedious, unlike Norway where they’re actually playing characters. In the official video that just came out, none of the band members in the official press photos are in it. The song reminds me of a lesser Daft Punk track that sounds fine as part of an album, but was never supposed to be released as single or performed live in any way. How they’re going to pull this off live I have no idea. If Nika Kocharov is part of it he could surprise me and find an effective staging like 2016 but this is just not enough of a song to pull off a similar feat.
Iceland: MISS. A lovely and pretty song but not a competitive one. It washes over you like a gentle wave, helped by the harmony of their voices and the light instrumentation. As nice as it is, I don’t think it has much chance to get enough points to even get near to qualify.
Croatia. MISS for me. Nice as background music. Lyrical content makes the character seem flippant and unkind. She doesn’t actually seem to be feeling guilty, so that narrative doesn’t connect for me.
Poland. HIT. I have my fingers crossed for amazing staging. Stunning vocals. I do wish there was more development in the lyrics.
Estonia. HIT. I find this to be much more substantial than the panel. A story about facing peril, standing up to the enemy, and finding courage and hope within. Potent lyrics in context of these times. I think the musical heritage here is actually cinematic westerns with scores by Italian composers.
Georgia. MISS. Fun for a few listens. Somewhat grating on repeat. Though the staging could have great entertainment value.
Iceland. HIT for me personally. Vivid lyrics and the music tells the story perfectly.