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Another five songs in front of the judges this week for lots of discussions and opinions, by al means continue the hits, misses, and maybes, in toe comments!
Eurovision Insight Podcast: Juke Box Jury #4
with Matthew Ker and Scott Reid.Portugal: Saudade, Saudade, by Maro.
Israel: I.M., by Michael Ben-David
Azerbaijan: Fade To Black, by Nadir Rustamli.
United Kingdom: Space Man, by Sam Ryder.
Spain: SloMo, by Chanel.
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PORTUGAL: Oh Ewan–you really seem to have a blind spot for Portuguese songs…Conan was a hit for you and you ignored the redeeming value of The Black Mamba right after giving James Newman’s Embers a HIT (we know how that turned out)…here you are sleeping on Maro’s sublime voice and the beautiful harmonies that few songs have this year…this is an emotional ethereal standout that is already getting covers and very positive standout reactions on YouTube…the only thing that can sink it is the overwhelming number of female tracks in the second half of semi 1 where this was given the lead slot…my heart (and my gut) says HIT
ISRAEL: Sorry Michael, but this year’s gay-them is SloMo…lucky for you she’s not in your Semi…I think the song is lacking in so many areas and agree this is a poor man’s DragRace song with only Michael’s voice redeeming it…MISS
AZERBAIJAN: I am shocked they waited until the last minute to release this and did so after so many sad boy ballads already announced…agree that Azerbaijan could have a staging ace up its sleeve, but it doesn’t take away from this being a very nothing ballad competing for votes with Poland and Australia in this semi…I was hoping for a Chingiz modern track and instead got another Hour of the Wolf…I would say a non-qualifier but Hour of the Wolf squeaked by at #10 from its Semi and then ended up on the left side of the board on Final night–so this can end up Top 10 for all I know, especially without Russia sucking up Soviet votes…MAYBE
UNITED KINGDOM: First thing, I do like this song…I do have a question mark of how a social influencer can adapt to a big stage and a big audience and being LIVE without his controlled environment that he’s typically in or that BBC has given him for his prior performances…it is bound to get some goodwill votes from folks who won’t forget last year’s 00 for the UK…but if this was so great–why wouldn’t it already be a bigger song in its native UK?…it is a tad repetitive, so he needs to nail vocals, show no-nerves, not use James Newman’s stylist and staging needs to be out of the world (get it?) for it to be more than a MAYBE
SPAIN: You guys were killing me with your analysis for so many reasons…first, this song is pure reggaeton and while there’s been many pop diva dance tracks at ESC, there’s never been a song that falls in this specific genre at the contest…second, the reason you don’t hear this genre from Spain before, is that it’s a Latin America genre with some presence in Spain, is not really sung by many Spaniard music artists–in fact none of the 5 songwriters on this song are based in Spain–most are US-based…third, her Cuban background clearly is influencing her choices (song, dance, styling) here…fourth, she only managed 3rd place with the Spanish public, but secured high enough marks from the 5-person jury which was heavy with international members…still, like you guys proved, this falls into a stereotype of what non-Spaniards think “Spanish” music is all about because it’s what most people worldwide are exposed to–the Jennifer Lopez-Ricky Martin-Despacito-fication of what ‘spanish music’ is…and for that reason (and Chanel’s utter commitment to that performance and star-making turn), this will scream “SPAIN!!” and without any major pop bangers in the competition this year (Romania and Albania seeming to be it’s only other song-adjacent competitors), this has a very good inside track of winning this year and being a HIT
PORTUGAL: This is quality and will stand out in the competition. Do I see a big televote for this? No. But in Semi 1 it should be able to place top 5 or 6 with the juries which will be enough to see it through
ISRAEL: I can’t see juries going for this, so in Semi 2 it could end up being 12th or 13th at best with juries. It needs therefore to come 6-8/10 in the televote to stand a realistic chance of qualification, beating the likes of Romania, Cyprus and San Marino who will be fishing for a similar televote ranking. A tall order? Maybe. But what I.M has going for it is that Michael is a competent singer and performer, and Israel generally do well with staging. Israel will also probably benefit from the fact that at least a couple of more fancied songs in this semi may crash out of contention owing to poor live vocals.
AZERBAIJAN: In my book, Fade to Black has a lot to commend it musically. The panel, however, have pinpointed its flaws as a competition song, not least the seeming reticence about providing a chorus and the crass ‘blame the weather’ lyrics which, as Matthew rightly points out, impede the song’s connection on an emotional level. However, I don’t agree that this entry’s progress will depend on the staging. Azerbaijan’s ace card is Nadir’s vocal, which is probably the strongest in the entire contest. I’m expecting the live performance to bring this package up a notch or two and the song to place 5-7 with juries in Semi Two, which would be enough for qualification, especially as a couple of other potential jury picks from this semi, namely Czech Republic and Montenegro, are likely to bomb, based on the evidence of live vocals.
UNITED KINGDOM: What the UK entry has got going for it is a strong charismatic singer (there are some concerns around his control of the falsetto notes) and a song that viewers can pretty much ‘get’ on first listen. Is the song quite as jury friendly as an Italy, Greece, Poland, Netherlands or Sweden and does it have the televote pull of an Italy, Ukraine, Poland, Norway or France? In answer, let’s just say that nobody ever got rich in recent years backing the UK to do well at Eurovision. My feeling is that Space Man will be around 5 or 6 with juries but may not be one of the 9 or 10 countries that attract the big televotes. That still adds up to a left hand side finish, which would represent substantial progress for the UK.
SPAIN: Ewan makes the very good point that in the long record of Latino bangers at Eurovision, when it comes to finishing positions, Fuego is very much an outlier. Is SloMo a Fuego? Certainly, Chanel and (probably) the staging are likely to be every bit as good. Songwise, SloMo is not great (the chorus lets it down) but neither was Fuego. Very few people were saying what a brilliant song it was until it arrived at the Contest. To my mind, the rocket under Fuego was less some fan community ‘meme’ (which probably only the Ewans of this world know anything about), but the staging reveal and the semi final pimp slot. Unless Spain can persuade the EBU at this late stage to let them take up Russia’s vacant Semi-Final One berth, then SloMo won’t have the opportunity to build this momentum. From memory, even with all the hype, in the Grand Final, Fuego only came 5 or 6 with the juries. Even if juries reward Chanel’s stellar performance, the best I can see SloMo doing with juries is 6-10 and in reality we are probably looking at 11-16. There is televote potential, but again I can see more likely candidates for the big votes – Ukraine, Poland (diaspora), Norway, France, Finland and then some of the jury songs – Italy and perhaps one or two of Netherlands, Greece, Sweden or UK. So, Spain is a hard one to call, but my best guess is 6 -16, which, by recent standards, would represent a decent result for them.
Portugal-
If I praise Georgia for taking their own course in Eurovision, I should do te same when we talk of Portugal.
I have a strange relation with Portugees songs at Eurovision. In general they are split into 3 groups. In the 1st group are the songs I liked from first time hearing. In the 2nd group are all the songs I never understood or just didn’t like. The 3rd group consist of songs I discovered how much I like them after the contest ended. I think this year’s song belong to the 3rd group. It’s not an instant love but I do appreciatie what there are doing here. The harmonies between the singer and her backing singers are just beautiful. The way the staging is done, made me wonder if this is a group singing, only to discover that it’s a solo artist and these are her backing singing. The jump from Portugees to English is done effortlessly. The whole atmosphere is just natural, almost magical. It also a song which you need to listen more than once in order to appriciate.
There is a lot to love hear. Unfortunately as a song for a contest it has no chance at all – MAYBE(because I know I would love it hereafter, but right now, I am not there yet)
Israel-
It’s going to be a long rant.
Those who venture this site for a while, know I have a soft spot for the Israeli entries in Eurovision. I was born and raised in Israel and spent a little more than half of my life there, until I moved to The Netherlands. On most time I can defend an Israeli entry. Unfortunately this year’s entry is very hard to defend because frankly, it’s just a bad song.
We start with the title – Why call a song I.M.(which is impossible to pronounce with out the letter A before the M)when you actually sing I am? Or is this suppose to be reference to your name as in I Michael. We’ll never know.
Than they created a beat based song and forgot to have a melody in the song, added mish-mash of words which suppose to give you a sense of empowerment but sound hollow and not really convincing and voila a song which isn’t really song as a song but more of sketch for a song.The build-up of the song and the orchestration have no logic at all. It seems they were throwing in idea’s randomly and added some sound, just to cover how weak and bad this song is.
At the end they made 2 crimes against Eurovision – creating a song that you can’t remember at the end of it and it’s also a song you have no wish to hear it again.
The original song was bad, the revamp made it even worse as it sound like a song ready for the dance floor and not a song for a song contest. The sad thing about the whole thing is Michael himself. He has a voice, he can sing(some of his performance during X Factor, are a proof for that) and he has a chrisma any performance would kill for. He is better than the song he has.This should stay at the semi and should be a warning signal for KAN so they rethink their strategy – (a huge)MISS
Azerbaijan-
Another one of those ballads that this year is full of them. It really doesn’t matter if it is a male ballad or a female ballad, but if you are singing a ballad make sure it’s engaging and draw me as a listener inside the song. This is not doing it for me. Just an average and forgettable song. Finished hearing it a few seconds ago and can’t even remember how it goes. Not a good sign by any means.
And here is something I don’t understand – someone got paid for a song that has no chorus or a a logic structure. A waste of money – MISS
United Kingdom –
On first listen, I was a bit annoyed from his voice but on 2nd and 3rd listening I learned to appreciate how unique his voice is. It reminds ne the Bee Gees and their way of singing.
As for the song itself, yes it is a ballad but more a soaring ballad than the down beat and sad ballads we have a lot off this year and his voice make it sounds different. I think it also very accessible and memorable song , one you get after 1 listen.I found myself humming the chorus after 2 listening, and I do like the structure of the song, which is a classical song structure. The 3 minutes Eurovision version didn’t harm the song just made it a bit tighter, which is a good thing.
Sam himself seems to be a very charismatic and engaging performance, which is an asset when it comes to Eurovision. BBC-just don’t f**k the staging up and you may have something in your hands. Is this a winner?not sure but it has a chance to have a good result and right now this is what the BBC needs – HIT
Spain-
Her national final performance was ready made for Eurovision. The thing is that it all sounds a bit clinical, calculated and cold as oppose to the sensual and warm it should have been. I am not really getting any vibe form this song. It could end anywhere on the scoreboard – MAYBE
Portugal: MAYBE. This is a high quality and lovely entry from Portugal. The mix of languages really helps everyone to understand what this is about, even though ‘saudade’ is one of those cultural words without an exact translation in other languages. The clapping part really adds to the folk sound. In SF1 the nearest other entry to compare it to is Iceland, but I think it is more competitive. Portugal was really helped out by the juries last year and if that’s the case again they should have a chance at qualification.
Israel: MISS. This is a song we’ve heard many times before at the contest in terms of lyrical content and it ends up sounding very clichéd. You need to do something interesting with the song structure, like Serbia 2015 to really stand out. I watched the NF and was surprised when it won. However, all the entries competing to represent Israel felt weak and rushed and this one just felt like one idea for a song that never had time to be expanded in a distinct way. There’s a line between being accepting of yourself and comfortable in your own skin and arrogance and the song is the wrong side of the line in my opinion. Even with the revamp it sounds cheap, especially those flutes. It’s also the second Israeli entry in a row to mention which year it’s competing in! The good things I can say about it is that Michael really seems to love performing and singing the song, which always translates well on the screen. Despite that, I think this will struggle to qualify.
Azerbaijan: MISS. Nadir said that he really loves the song and was glad that it was the one chosen for him to sing. However, yet again I think the Azerbaijani broadcaster’s late call for entries and then matching an import to a local artist results in a missed opportunity. I find this song very hard to remember after I’ve heard it and it isn’t one I tend to revisit. I agree that it doesn’t make you feel any emotions in listening to it, despite being teased as an ’emotional ballad’ before its release. It sounds like it was chosen specifically to showcase Nadir’s voice, a bit like their 2015 entry which happened to be stronger. That entry was in a ballad heavy year and actually wouldn’t have qualified with the current scoring system. I think this has a a chance to qualify but would easily be lost in the final.
United Kingdom: HIT. This is a self-reflective song that has an uplifting feel to it, tells a story and puts a smile on your face. Sam gets to show off the range in his voice, most notably his falsetto. This is a great choice for the UK and Sam seems up for the task and very excited to be at Eurovision. This has the potential to be top 10 or even top 5 this year. We’ll have to see if the staging is better than the usual attempts by the BBC. Last year was an incredibly basic letdown but if TaP have more decision power there’s a better chance of something memorable. Sam is somewhat green to being on a huge stage too but I think he should be able to blossom. I always feel nervous thinking the UK entry will do well – I though Children of the Universe was going to be a solid top 10 and was ill-prepared for us to come 17th.
Spain: HIT. This will stand out a lot as one of the really uptempo songs this year. The lyrics are a bit shallow, but this is supposed to be a dance floor filler and it does that very well. Chanel is very engaging and the choreography is memorable and impressive, especially in the dance break 2 minutes into the song. It sounds like a song that would be a big hit on US radio and feels very contemporary. The mix of languages works and even though there’s quite a bit of English you would never forget it was the Spanish entry. I’m not worried about the staging because it’s basically ready to go. The decisions will just be what to have on the screens and what outfits to put her and her dancers in. I think this will probably be top 10 or maybe get into the top 5 and should be Spain’s highest entry since the early 00s.
Portugal- HIT – Stunning song and and vocals, authentic and moving. I think a lot of people will be feeling this.
Israel- MISS- I am so tired of narcissistic hype.
Azerbaijan- a HIT on my playlist. This song is spacial for me: there is a stillness and an absence, and then a swelling of emotion, the urgent need to push through and reconnect. My favorite male ballad of the year. That said, the panel has convinced me I might be wrong about its quality and potential.
UK- MAYBE- He is an excellent singer who will most likely give a commanding performance, and I am looking forward to that. I just don’t relate to the song, so I don’t listen to it.
Spain- MAYBE- the song is a miss but the performance has hit potential.