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Into the back half of the songs to review for Juke Box Jury, as everyone gets ready for the trip to Malmö 2024. But will they get a hit, a miss, or a maybe stamped on their ticket across the Oresund Bridge?
Eurovision Insight Podcast: Juke Box Jury #5
with Nova and Olympia (The Novympia Channel on YouTube).Slovenia: Veronika, by Raiven.
Armenia: Jako, by Ladaniva.
Portugal: Grito, by Iolanda.
Norway: Ulveham, by Gåte.
Lithuania: Luktelk, by Silvester Belt.
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Slovenia: MISS. Think the Raiven presence is stronger than the song itself. Hard to get on first listen. Starts to gel after a few listens but that’s too much time. Surprise NQ?
Armenia: MAYBE. Ploughs its own furrow and the chorus is an earworm. Will annoy some fans but its ethnic vibrancy and rhythm will appeal to quite a few televoters.
Portugal: HIT. But maybe a NQ hit?! Has “Saudade Saudade” subtlety. Love the whiteness of the dreamy fantasy staging. Nothing like this in the competition but as Ewan says, is it just too “Portuguese” to exert wider appeal. Deserves to be in the final.
Norway: HIT. Raw and energetic. The stage show will be very powerful and first native language entry since 2006 for Norway. People are sleeping on this for a top ten finish, I agree. Stellar vocalist. Doesn’t matter that it’s marmite…people will pick up the phone for it.
Lithuania: HIT. Cool, tuneful and easy on the ear. Maybe lacks a climactic moment or reveal but he’s very relatable. See this finishing 8-12 in the grand final.
PS..is this the first edition of JBJ with all songs with one word titles?!
Slovenia – This has grown on me quite a bit lately, but a couple of weeks ago if you’d asked me about the Slovenian entry, I wouldn’t have been able to tell you the artist or the song, let along sing it. Now I quite like it, but maybe it’s just not instant enough, unless the staging is amazing. MAYBE
Armenia – The exact opposite of Slovenia. I loved it at first listen, the energy, the positivity, the cheerfulness – it’s all wonderful. But a few listens in I find myself tiring of the song, as it is, in fact, very repetitive. I struggle to predict an outcome for Ladaniva, but I’d love to see it in the final. MAYBE
Portugal – Hmm. I can appreciate that this is good music, but it simply doesn’t touch me. When it’s on, I still have to check what country it’s from (even though it’s in Portuguese!), and I never select this song on its own. I wouldn’t be surprised to see it stay in the semi, especially with no jury to push it over the finish line. MISS
Norway – I have never heard anyone pronounce Gåte as Gaute. Wow. 😉 I watched the Norwegian final and I found this to be the best candidate, but mostly due to a lack of a real hit (for me). I like it more now than I did then, and I can understand why it speask to many people, but it’s not really my cup of tea. I don’t hate it either, it’s perfectly fine, but I don’t think it’ll make the move to my all-time playlist. MAYBE/HIT
Lithuania – This wasn’t quite instant with me either, but it climbed my ladder much faster and higher than most other songs. It is very cool, and I love to see modern songs in the native language, not just folky stuff and ballads. Of this bunch it is clearly my favourite, although I don’t really see it winning either. But it’s certainly going to give Lithuania a result to be proud of. HIT
Slovenia-
It is not a safe song. There is an intriguing built up to the song. It tries to surprise you with each turn and goes sometime through an unexpected way. This song demand a powerful voice and I hope she can carry this song and make it happens. That said, it is not a accessible song, something in the song is pushing you away instead of drawing you in. One moment it is a MAYBE , the other moment it becomes a HIT(and vise versa)
Armenia-
When hearing this song you know it is from Armenia. Language and local sound. Not sure what she is sigining about , but it does sound joyful and in a way harmless. Almost in childlish way. It does lacks some power but it remian quite inoffensive. MAYBE(the high segment of MAYBE, almost on the verge of being a HIT)
Portugal-
It is very Portugues, but it is also a very long 3 minutes, with no hook or a chorus. It is very artistic, but unfortunately doesn’t really manage to connect with me on any level-MISS
Norway-
For the 1st time since I don’t know when, Norway send a song in Norwigan. On first listen, when this was selected, I thought it was strong. Before writing this review I have listened to song again, even several times, and I am not sure why I sort of liked it. Something went off for me for this song. Not sure what and why but some of the charm it had, is just gone-MAYBE(at best).
P.S. –
1.I won’t be surprise if this song will be a HIT in ESC, but I think after the contest, it will be a bit forgotten.
2. I wonder how they will stage this song in Malmö, as the audience will be all arround them, and this is a group performing. The way it was staged during the national final, will look awkward in Malmö
Lithuania –
There is a nice beat to this one. It goes to a different direction than you would have expected from the first notes, and while this is an upbeat song, it still has some low key balance in it, which I quite like. There are signs of techno in the beat, but it is not dominant. This could be a great dance track, with the right remix. This should do well – HIT
For me, it’s miss, hit, miss, maybe, maybe. Regarding Slovenia, I fear that a Fuego-esque breakthrough is just not possible these days now that rehearsals are closed down with no press centre in week one. If the song hasn’t already clicked, there’s not enough time to build momentum, particularly in semi 1.
Slovenia: MAYBE. An atmospheric and intriguing song. I’ve had a hard time connecting to Raiven’s songs in the past that I’ve seen at EMA, but this entry is less of a challenge sonically and structurally in a positive way. It’s hard to get the story from the music video; the staging for the contest from what I’ve seen looks pretty similar. She’s an experienced and talented artist, but this is on the bubble for qualification I feel due to not being instant enough.
Armenia: MAYBE. A charming song and a breath of fresh air showcasing Armenian music. Saying this, it feels like there needs to be more to it as it’s very short and stays in the same gear. I think there’s enough here to put it on the bubble for qualification but it’ll need to be visually memorable to push it over the edge.
Portugal: MISS. Iolanda has a beautiful voice and performance but apart from that I can’t find much to grab onto in the song, and it isn’t one I’ve gone back and listened to. I don’t think the FdC staging is making it more accessible, and they’re keeping that staging for Malmö. Portugal has had a good qualification streak recently but this is the kind of entry that doesn’t qualify for them.
Norway: HIT. A striking and inventive entry. The combination of rock, traditional instruments and a type of folk singing I don’t think we’ve seen at the contest before helps make this very memorable. Visually, the MGP performance was strong and I hope they take it to Malmö. I think it will qualify and come mid-table because I think there’ll be too many songs crowding it out of the top 10.
Lithuania: HIT. Another entry that stands out sonically and visually. It’s so encouraging to see Lithuania choosing entries in Lithuanian that will be successful at the contest. The visuals and the punchy bass sounds keep you watching and listening and wanting to dance to it. It seems like a simple song but the lyrics have something to say. I think this will easily qualify and should be top 10.