22 - Ukraine
Artist - O.Torvald
Song - Time
Comments - There’s a bit of a penchant for host countries to send not so great entries to avoid having to host the contest for a second year in a row, mainly because of the cost of staging it. Ireland allegedly attempted this in 1994 when they were hosting it for the second year in a row (having won in 1992, then hosted – and won – 1993), but then ended up winning! This was of course famously parodied by Father Ted in 1996. Have Ukraine gone down this route this year? Well, it’s certainly staged pretty well, and the vocals are decent. It’s also a rock song, which will definitely help it stand out among the other songs in the final, and it’s already drawn a decent slot in the running order of 22nd. Unfortunately, rock music doesn’t seem to have a terribly good history at Eurovision, with Lordi’s win in 2006 and maNga’s second place for Turkey in 2010 being the only real exceptions. I’ve seen a couple of comments online that O.Torvald give off a bit of a Linkin Park vibe in this song, and I think I can see that as well. I have a feeling it’ll probably end up finishing in the middle of the table, which is respectable. They should be aiming higher, but they probably don’t want to host it again next year, and know they don’t have to qualify through the semi-finals this year, so can perhaps get away with sending a slightly weaker entry. Still, I do think Ukraine’s entry this year is one of the better ones among a sea of ballads.
France
Artist - Alma
Song - Requiem
Languages - French, English
Comments - France last won in 1977, but haven’t fared so well recently, with their dreadful effort in 2014 finishing bottom of the table with only two points. As with Portugal, they have a penchant for mainly singing in the same language (obviously in this case, it would be French), which isn’t always a good thing. Last year, Amir’s excellent ‘J’ai cherché’ finished in a solid 6th place, which was their best result since 8th in 2009. Alma is flying the Tricolore this year, and her song has already caused a bit of controversy. Originally, it was just going to be in French, but it was discovered that she had performed it in 2015, which is completely against the rules for the Contest. There was speculation that the entry might be disqualified as a result. However, it was re-written as a bilingual French-English song instead, which must’ve got them off the hook. As for the song itself? Well, Alma’s got a good voice, and switches between French and English very smoothly. There’s a slight Latin dance feel to it as well, which I’m hopeful will be replicated in May, and the official video makes good usage of some Parisian landmarks. Live at Amsterdam’s preview party, I was impressed with Alma’s vocal performance. As an entire package, I don’t think it’s quite as good as last year’s effort, but it’s another solid entry from France that I think should see them finish in the middle of the table. Maybe in the top 10 if they’re lucky!
Germany
Artist - Levina
Song - Perfect Life
Comments - Germany may have won twice at Eurovision, but have finished in last quite a bit, with the ignominy of nul points three times (the latest of which in 2015 was incredibly unfair, in my opinion, as I thought the entry was quite decent, but the live performance on the night let it down). Levina won the right to represent Germany at Eurovision this year, and, erm…Oh dear. The introduction and opening notes have quite clearly been lifted directly from David Guetta and Sia’s ‘Titanium’, which is a cracking song in its own right. Levina’s vocals are decent, but the song itself just feels like it’s got nothing going for it. It’s too light for something that’s lifted bits from a dance track, and there’s no really strong contrast between the verse and chorus, either. There’s a bit more percussion towards the end, but to me, it’s too little too late. Her live performance at the national final did show some slightly out-of-tune and wavering vocals, which is a concern to me when it comes to performing in Kiev, and her performance at Amsterdam’s preview party had more of the same. A disappointment from Germany, and one I don’t see getting out of the bottom five.
Italy
Artist - Francesco Gabbani
Song - Occidentali's Karma (Westerner's Karma)
Language - Italian (Contains some words in Ancient Greek, English, Pali and Sanskrit)
Comments - Italy took a lengthy break from Eurovision in the mid-1990s and during the whole of the 2000s (making one appearance in 1997), but finished in 2nd on their return in 2011. They’ve had three further top 10 finishes since then, including 3rd in 2015 with the powerfully operatic ‘Grande Amore’ from Il Volo. Francesco Gabbani’s entry is odds-on favourite to win with many bookmakers, and it’s an entry that’s got so many people talking. Catchy music? Check. Vibrant on-stage visuals? Check. Dancing gorilla? Check. Yes, the song features a dancing gorilla (well, someone dressed up as one). Bet you any money there’ll be a few references to Harambe by the general public. Francesco’s dancing is a bit cheesy, I’ll admit, but the song itself is a bit on the cheesy side anyway. In a good way, mind! The dance in the chorus has apparently gone viral across Italy as well. Francesco looks like he’s loving the performance, and come the final in Kiev, it’s got great potential for staging. Most of the graphics should be able to be transferred over, if not all of them, and the dancing gorilla will certainly help to liven things up. The song itself makes plenty of references to Oriental spirituality, and how a lot of Westerners seek spiritual fulfilment in said spirituality. I could go into further details about this, but Wiwibloggs has a good article on the song. His performance at Amsterdam’s preview party was fantastic – so much stage presence, and his vocals live are superb – for me, the performance of the night there. The big question, though is this. Does it deserve the odds it’s been given? What are its chances of winning? Yes, and very strong. We might be seeing a first win for one of the Big Five since Germany’s win in 2010 (OK, it was technically called the Big Four at that point, given Italy weren’t competing that year, but it’s the equivalent). And I think it’d be a deserved win if it managed it! The song has annoyingly had to be shortened to comply with the 3-minute limit for Eurovision, but it’s still got pretty much everything that made the original version so, so good. The first video released has become the most-viewed Eurovision song in history on YouTube, now hitting over 100 million views! I know that may seem a bit like clutching at straws, but for one Eurovision song to get so many YouTube views weeks before the Contest has even happened is a pretty good sign for its prospects when it comes to the final in Kiev.Spain
Artist - Manel Navarro
Song - Do It for Your Lover
Languages - Spanish, English
Comments - Despite two wins, Spain haven’t done terribly well as of late. Since 2000, they’ve had five top 10 finishes, but have otherwise been in the middle of the table, if not towards the bottom. So one would hope that they might send a decent entry this year. However, erm…Let’s see. The selection of the entry was controversial, with there being a deadlock at the national final between Manel Navarro and Mirela, both entries having achieved 58 points in the voting. It therefore went to the three-member jury to decide, and they opted for Manel on two votes to one. The crowd were not at all happy, and it was alleged that one of the jurors had a conflict of interest due to promoting Manel’s entry on his own radio show. An investigation was made, but everything was cleared. Anyway, back to the song. Yet again, it’s another sodding ballad ballad, and hasn’t really got anything that makes it stand out from anything else, other than it’s guitar-led. Manel’s vocals are decent, but there’s not much else going for it. There’s virtually no variation at all between verse and chorus, other than transitioning between Spanish and English, and the chorus just feels so repetitive. Honest opinion of this entry? I just get the vibe of ‘douchebag with a guitar’ whenever I hear this song, and even when I look at Manel, I get that feeling. Even live at the national final and at Amsterdam’s preview party, I can find no real redeeming features of the song at all. Despite being one of my least favourite songs this year, it’s irritatingly catchy. Spain will once again be lucky to get out of the bottom five.
United Kingdom
Artist - Lucie Jones
Song - Never Give Up on You
Comments - And now, we finally get to the UK. We’ve had a fair bit of success in the past, but have also suffered the dreaded nul points in 2003 (the less said about Jemini, the better, really). Since our last win, we’ve finished in 2nd (1998), one 3rd (2002), and 5th (2009). We’ve tried a couple of different things to select a contestant and song (internal selection of a big-name act for 2011-2013, and then internal selection of an unknown act for 2014 and 2015), but they’ve come to nothing. Last year saw the return of a televised national final, with six entries being presented to us. How generous. Especially when Sweden’s Melodifestivalen had 28 this year. 28!!! Still, at least we have the choice of who represents us now, so if it all goes to pot, we’ll only have ourselves to blame. Which seems to be what happened last year with Joe & Jake. This year, Lucie Jones deservedly won the selection with the strongest live performance of the lot. It’s a ballad, I know, but I’ve got a bit of a soft spot for it. Plus one of the writers was the 2013 winner, Emmelie de Forest, so it’s also got that going for it. Lucie’s vocal performance is very good, and the backing is simple, but it’s worked well into the song. Staging-wise, it could do with some work. The camerawork in the national final was a bit off, and could do with focusing more on Lucie from different angles. Lighting could be used to help provide a greater contrast between the different parts of the song. Since the national final, the song’s seen a bit of a revamp. There are some added synths in the chorus, which certainly helps it along, and there’s a stronger beat that kicks in at the start of the second verse which carries on throughout the following chorus. Fading out to almost nothing for the middle eight also works, before building slightly to the pre-chorus and then kicking in a fair bit more for the last chorus. The revamped version is certainly better than the original by quite a bit, but the original was still good in its own right. It just needed that little bit extra to give it a bit more oomph when it comes to the final in Kiev. Her live performance at Amsterdam’s preview party was very good, and she can certainly sing it live very well. What surprised me with it was that the crowd were singing along in the chorus. I didn’t expect that at all! In fairness, you’d expect a former X Factor contestant and West End musical actress to be able to perform live (Lucie has played the part of Cosette in Les Miserables, for example, and more recently has played the role of Maureen Jones in the touring production of Rent). It’s not going to win, I know that, but I think it should get to the upper right corner of the scoreboard. If we’re lucky, it could jump over to the left hand side!
Who will win?
This is the really tricky part, not helped by the fact that so many entries are so similar. For me, the stronger entries in the first semi-final are Sweden, Portugal and Armenia, with Finland being a potential dark horse and Moldova being one of the more upbeat entries. In semi-final 2, I think the stronger entries are Serbia, Bulgaria and Belarus, despite me not really being overly keen on Bulgaria. As for the automatic qualifiers? Well, as much as I like Ukraine's entry, the best one of those six just has to be Italy. The worst entries are Montenegro from semi-final 1, Lithuania from semi-final 2, and Germany and Spain from the automatic qualifiers. With regard to the overall winner, I can see Portugal causing a potential upset, and they should be on course for their best ever Eurovision result anyway. In all honesty, I think the trophy this year is more than likely going to Italy.
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