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Another week of hits, misses, and maybes as five songs join us in the court of Juke Box Jury. We’ll discuss their chances, share our opinions, and enjoy the songs heading to Liverpool!
Eurovision Insight Podcast: Juke Box Jury #3
with Monty Moncrieff (secondcherry.vision) and Olympia (Novympia).Australia: Promise, by Voyager.
Poland: Solo, by Blanka.
Greece: What They Say, by Victor Vernicos.
Czechia: My Sister’s Crown, by Vesna.
Finland: Cha Cha Cha, by Käärijä.
Stay up to date with all the discussions, news, and reviews as we get ready to travel to Liverpool for Eurovision 2023 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.
Australia
I like the electronic sound but I am not very much a rock person and yet that mix of electronic sound and rock makes the song more accessible for me than it should ever have been in the first place. It’s not bad song and there elements in the song I like but there are also elements in the song that I don’t like or maybe can’t appreciate that much – MAYBE
Poland
It’s a weak and uninspiring song. The writing is lazy and the song is in the wrong tempo. It is one of these songs, you hear passing by and than forget you have ever heard them – MISS
Greece
It’s a risky move from Greece. It is not that instant and the question is whether you like this kind of of song and whether you can relate to it. I am also wondering how do you stage such a song without alienating the audience. I am on the fence on this one – MAYBE(on the high end of it and almost a HIT)
Czechia
There is a lot of good things going for this song. The ethnic vibe combined with some modern sound, the hypnotic like beat and even the rap, which I usually don’t like, doesn’t stand in the way of me liking it quite a lot. My question mark is how this will sound live and how this will be presented. If they get everything right, this is and should be a HIT
Finland
I am not suppose to like this song. It’s 2 songs in 1. It starts as high energy rap and somewhere in the middle it turns into an high energy schlager. By the time the song ends you find yourself dancing and singing Cha Cha Cha. The fact it is in Finish just add to the enjoyment I have from this song. It’s by far my favourite in this year’s line up and I wouldn’t mind if this wins. It sounds like a real song as oppose to a manufactured product. My only point of critic is the staging. The NF staging was a bit messy and need to be tighten up – if you have’t understood by now, it is a HIT
Australia: MISS. I was disappointed with this when it came out. I enjoy the music in the song but to me there’s a mismatch with the lyrical content and the harder sound of the instrumentation. All that rock just to have to main hook being ‘promise me it’s gonna be alright’, which is too beige. They look like they’re all really into it so that’ll play well down the camera. I think the pimp slot in SF2 might help its chances but it’s on the bubble at best.
Poland: MISS. This is a case of a pretty standard radio bop with good streaming numbers being let down with the live performance. Blanka looks the part but finds it difficult to dance and sing really well at the same time, something that many performers find tough. A good backing singer picking up the slack could help that. Poland isn’t known for staging songs really well so I think this will be overlooked and not qualify.
Greece: MISS. Victor wrote and composed this himself and really poured his heart out in the song. Some of the lyrics are good and some don’t quite make sense. When you sing ‘you know what they say’ you can’t then have a phrase nobody says. It’s also difficult to understand everything he sings. The song stays in the same gear the whole time so doesn’t grab you. Another song on the bubble of qualification.
Czechia: HIT. Here’s a song with something to say and bags of personality. I enjoy the mix of languages, especially having three Slavic languages and some English to make sure the message goes further. It has a good running order slot too. There’s been some concern about the live performance and staging. I think if last year was anything to go by then the staging should be solid. If they can find some way of making the performance as memorable as the music video then this should sail into the final and possibly into the top 10.
Finland: HIT. This is my favourite song this year. It’s such a creative entry and Käarija has such star quality. I watched UMK and had only heard a tiny clip of the song beforehand. I immediately saw why everyone was so excited about it. The mix of genres and the two part nature of the song is so enjoyable. I thought the UMK stage presentation was fantastic and would need little changed at ESC. I think this will be challenging for the win.