With a pile of exciting laminating to complete for the day job, I tuned in on Friday night to watch RTSH’s Junior Fest, Albania’s National Selection for the Junior Eurovision Song Contest.
My first impressions were great. I know Tirana’s pyramid is such an iconic piece of brutalist architecture, but it also made for a stunning platform for the young performers to dazzle on while performing on the national broadcaster’s main channel. I often say that for Eurovision broadcasters, all things Junior Eurovision are a labour of love, there’s far less possibility of extracting rating hits or commercial success in this under-15 competition, we invest because it is the right thing to do. Giving such a platform to sixteen different young acts on Friday night was that showcase of love.
I also had my head turned from the arduous lamination exercise by some very special singers. This was not a surprise; we’ve heard Albanian singers on the various Eurovision stages, year after year, be some of the best vocalists of the year. But sadly the majority of those head-turning vocals from the stage belonged to the interval acts interspersed within the broadcast, from the performers older than fifteen years.
Viola Gjyzeli won this year’s Junior Fest to take the place to fly across to France in November. Of the contestants her vocals did catch my attention sufficiently to squeeze into that head-turning category. ‘Bota Ime’, her entry for Nice, starts off unassuming but does creep in intensity quite well and it’s a worthy addition to the Junior Eurovision lineup.
Competitive? Not a chance.
To explain why let’s take a gander over at the Junior Eurovision TV spectacle a day later. Junior Songfestival from Durch broadcaster AVROTROS in the Netherlands, is the National Final I look out for amongst them all. Its modern-day format is a fast-paced entertainment show from the Rotterdam Ahoy where four acts compete with kid-pop songs so similar in style and production they make Melodifestivalen look the bastion of musical diversity.
But that production is a world apart from what Albania churns out. These Dutch Junior Eurovision wannabes are performing three-minute routines of bright colours, swish dancing and on-message lyrics about sticking with your friends that scream both public service and family-focused entertainment. And that’s exactly why it’s been on my calendar for months – a lovely pre-bedtime family show for us all to enjoy together and with just the right amount of fun for my four-year-old to enjoy.
If there was something about Albania’s show that was aimed at an under-15 audience, I didn’t find it on Friday night. Indeed the combination of static stagings, production quality a few notches behind the Dutch and buffering rates that took me back to my own teenage Eurovision fan days made that viewing a chore, even when I’d already relegated it to background entertainment.
The Dutch juries and online vote gave a landslide victory to ‘Holding On To You’ by Sep and Jasmijn. It’s so obviously a Dutch Junior Eurovision entry normally I’d be the first to bemoan how generic and predictable this musically and lyrically is, but I’m afraid I can’t bring myself to. If you are going to bring the EDM sound to a kids contest in 2023 you have to produce it to perfection and this is faultless in that regard, despite being squeaky-clean to the extreme.
Once again the Dutch have a song of the potential to be in contention for the Junior Eurovision podium spots. This hits so many criteria to do well. This is the type of number jury members young and old would expect to hear from something labelled Junior Eurovision. This has the catchiness to appeal to Junior Eurovision fans and TV viewers across the continent, as well as the all-important demographics living within your nation who can vote for themselves.
The Albanian entry isn’t that. Most Albanian entries are not. Albania debuted at the 2012 Junior Eurovision and while they have sent worthy songs their top 10 placing percentage is 12.5%. For the Dutch, it is 73% since the same date. Rash prediction here but I think those statistics will become more extreme over the next few years. In the next few years, I can fully imagine the Dutch winning Junior Eurovision once more. On the other hand, I’m quite confident what Albania brings to Junior Eurovision is never going to be close to winning contention in my lifetime.
And I’m only 35.
The scoreboard should not be the be-all and end-all of all things Junior Eurovision. But I’m always left uneasy that the gulf between the nations is so vast, arguably wider than it is at the Song Contest in May. I wish Junior Eurovision was more balanced and with more equal opportunity, but the voting system and the level of production broadcasters bring to the table exacerbate the already uneven playing field.