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You’ve got six songs today in a bumper Juke Box Jury episode, with new judges, old friends, and a few terrible puns from Ewan.
Eurovision Insight Podcast: Juke Box Jury #5
with AJ Clay (@uisgebeatha) and Alice Beverton-Palmer (@Alice / The Dorothy Project).Belgium: Gustaph, Because of You.
Croatia: Let 3, Mama ŠČ!
Romania: Theodor Andrei, D.G.T. (Off and On).
Switzerland: Remo Forrer, Watergun.
Albania: Albina & Familja Kelmendi, Duje.
United Kingdom: Mae Muller, I Wrote A Song.
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.
Belgium: Maybe..only because SF2 is weak and Gustaph is an infectious guy. The song is very uninspiring and if it makes the final, will be low down.
Croatia: Hit… purely on grounds of visuals and satiric bite. Will get instant recognition on reprise playback. Musically, song is a real curate’s egg.
Romania: miss. Drab, has no hook and one of the country’s worst ever efforts. Ain’t no Tornero!
Switzerland: maybe….battling with Netherlands and Portugal for qualification in SF1. Piano intro and end are charming, vocals are pretty decent. Perhaps too serious and low brow for an all televote final.
Albania: miss. Another high powered female entry with Scottish Widows ad shawl on. Feel I’ve heard it for year after year. No .
UK: hit. Earworm, feelgood, girly bop. Signals from pre Eurovision party performances not very encouraging. But despite drawn at 26, should creep onto left hand side ..just .
Belgium: HIT. This was an entry I liked immediately. I’m a huge fan of 90s dance music so it wasn’t a surprise I gravitated to it so quickly. The familiar nature is lifted by Gustaph himself, who really sells it and sounds fantastic live as do his backing singers. I think this should have no trouble qualifying and getting a similar result to Belgium’s last couple of entries.
Croatia: MAYBE. The first time I saw it I had a WTF reaction, but not a positive one. A few more listens and an understanding of what the song is about made me like it a lot more. It’s not an easy listen, but it stands out so much in SF1 and they’re such a well-known band in the Balkans that they’ll probably stand out and qualify. How it does in the final will depend on how people react to it seeing it for the first time.
Romania: MISS. Even with the revamp slowing down the first part, I find it hard to get into this song. There’s not really a hook and the staging at the NF was reminiscent of bad 00s staging where there’s women wearing just their underwear to make you notice the song, and the clothing rip off to reveal an anti-war slogan that has nothing to do with the song. Being on early in SF2 won’t help it either, nor will being squeezed between Armenia and Estonia. I don’t think it will qualify.
Switzerland: MISS. This is a pretty bland ballad sung by a talented young artist with a great voice. Despite its subject matter, it doesn’t elicit much emotion from me because it isn’t getting across the anti-war message in a way that feels fresh. It seems like Switzerland has gone for the same thing as last year: choose someone for their voice and saddle them with something safe and forgettable. I agree about the optics; I find it disingenuous to have an anti-war song when there’s one of the competing nations literally at war for their very existence as a sovereign nation, and sung by a young man who is incredibly unlikely to ever have to face combat.
Albania: MISS. When it first came out I thought it was ok and it’s never moved up much from that. It’s unusual for a whole family to be on stage, but I think it becomes apparent that even though they can all sing, Albina is the only one with star quality and good stage presence. Albania normally does well with songs in their own language, but I don’t think this one will elicit enough televote support to qualify.
United Kingdom: HIT. Another great choice from the UK and a more contemporary sound than last year. I think the subject matter is great and the twist on getting over an ex. Mae seems super excited to be at Eurovision like Sam was last year. If there’s another fantastic staging I think it could be top 10 again for the UK, maybe even a top 5.
Belgium-
The subject of the song is inspiring. Finding someone who will support you can be life changing experience. Unfortunately I find his voice annoying. It is a bit nasaal and is lack of depth. I also think the arrangement should have been different, with more power in it than what we hear now. I like the gospel vibe of the chorus but as a whole, it doesn’t move me as it should have been. Something is just missing in the whole package to make it more interesting for me – MAYBE
Croatia-
If you are sending a protest song, you should make it musically interesting. You draw the listeners to the song by the music and you convey your message in a way that punch them in the stomach. This is just not doing any of this. It’s not an interesting composition, musically and the lyrics sounds like something you write in an anti war demonstration – MISS
Romania-
You sing a song you wrote by yourself and yet you are off-key through the whole performance. This means you either don’t know your own limits or you just couldn’t find anyone else to sing this song and decided to sing the song by yourself. The staging doesn’t add up to the song and the whole affair can be described as a hot mess-MISS
Switzerland-
Musically it’s quite pleasant and he seems to be doing quite a good job in selling the song. I am not sure if anyone knows this but army service is mandatory in Switzerland for all men between 18-30 years(you can also apply for a civilian service, but this comes after you have been found fit for an army service). In addition, after serving on the army you are also required to have an yearly training . While you are on service you keep you rifles and guns at home. So while Switzerland is neutral and the chances they ever participate in a war is quite low, they are still having a mandatory army service, preparing themselves for the worst case scenario. In that sense, he as singer have the right to sing about his fear of becoming a real soldier as oppose to the soldier games he used to play when he was a child. I don’t think it’s a bad song or even a groundbreaking song but his place in the 1st semi final is quite a big hurdle to overcome – MAYBE
Albania-
This is a classic Albanian song. When I first heard this, after winning the Albanian national selection, I thought it was quite nice and was hopping they will not destroy it by their usual revamp process. They did a revamp, which is more fine tuning than completely overhauling. Something in the mix of voices works here better and sounds better than it was in the national final. There is nothing similar like this in their semi. It is qualifying but getting the usual Albanian mid-table result in the final – MAYBE
United Kingdom-
We live in world where everything is public and when someone get hurt, he/she sometime find the need to get a revenge against the person who hurt him/her. This is the classic revenge song, pointing out all the options and choosing to sing about it instead doing something much more dramatic.It’s catchy and memorable and you get the song after 1 listen. It’s really a perfect pop song, which sounds current without being cheesy. It should give the United Kingdom another good result and it should be also a summer radio hit – HIT