Review: Michael Rice - Bigger Than Us - United Kingdom
1 Day YouTube Views: 42,501
1 Day YouTube Likes: 2,844
After Surie's "Storm" hit major headwinds at Eurovision 2018 (despite the possibility of a little sympathy after the stage-invasion). Michael Rice steps up to the plate to represent the United Kingdom in 2019 with "Bigger Than Us", a rehashed version of the same uplifting, key-change, vocalisation generic-fest that we send every year.
Let's start with the positives - Rice won the first series of the BBC's "All Together Now" competition with an estimated audience of around half-a-dozen people, his performances to date however, have demonstrated that this was merited, he's an excellent vocalist. It does at least suggest that the United Kingdom could be saved another humiliation by the generosity of the jury votes on the basis of his voice.
As a song, it's perfect for the person who wants to hear the word "Bigger" 38 times in 3 minutes and 22 seconds (that averages as a "Bigger" every 5.3 seconds). To be serious though, in what is shaping up to be quite a decent-quality, arguably a little more open Eurovision year, "Bigger Than Us" doesn't provide the audience with anything new musically - or in a superior format, such as Sweden's offering.
The stats don't paint a much more promising picture, low social media follower stats, low YouTube stats, nothing too out of the ordinary on iTunes stats. As one of the Big 5, the United Kingdom doesn't need to concern itself with semi-final qualification, which is a blessing every year it seems. If the juries look kindly on the UK performance, we could perhaps see a decent boost from them, however the televote will absolutely decimate this entry. We'd be surprised to see "Bigger Than Us" do better than 18th place on the night.
Let us know what you think in the comments below.
Review: Miki - La Venda - Spain
1 Day YouTube Views: 84,588
1 Day YouTube Likes: 6,699
With an upbeat, anthemic track that wouldn't feel out of place at a football match, Spain present Miki singing La Venda as their Eurovision 2019 entry.
Despite early excitement, last year's entry "Tu Cancion" proved to be a major disappointment in the final, a poor vocal performance and running order position meant the hype never materialised to votes. Spain have once again received early hype this year, but this time the song requires much less finesse.
The comparison to a football chant has been made by many pundits and it's a great angle to take to Eurovision. Football chants are the antithesis of cerebral listening, they're designed to create an atmosphere and to be simple for even a first-time listener to immediately pick up and sing along to. In a continent with diverse languages, "La Venda" seems to tick all the boxes.
As a song, it's clear that everything is building up to the chorus sections where the real action happens, the lyrics of the verses are insightful but obviously meaningless to the majority of Europe. The excited, repeated chorus is the payoff for the anticipation, the trumpets making it all the better.
Spain, as one of the Big 5, don't need to worry about semi-finals. Miki has produced solid recreations of song and seems to know how to put on a decent performance. If the staging of the grand final is anything like the national final, Spain stand a good chance of a potential Top 10 placing.
Let us know what you think in the comments below.
Review: Tamta - Replay - Cyprus
1 Day YouTube Views: 71,649
1 Day YouTube Likes: 4,368
After being pipped to the post in 2018, Cyprus have another crack at Eurovision with Replay by Tamta. "Replay" being an apt title - the track is identical to 2018's "Fuego"!
We originally poo-pooed Fuego, it came across as cheap, disposable, heavily-autotuned pop - which it is. Of the 3 elements that make up a performance: song, staging and dancing, the song was always the weakest element of the three, however in "Fuego"'s case, the pyrotechnics and Beyonce-dancing made up for the weaknesses of the song itself. I feel that this will largely be the case for "Replay" which is just as cheap, disposable and heavily-autotuned - the entire tone of the song cries out for some insane staging.
The song really is similar though, if it'd had been any other country then perhaps it might be brushed off as coincidence or a nod to Cyprus' success. However the fact that it's Cyprus once again releasing it may actually give juries a reason to mark it down.
Cyprus perform in the first-half of the first semi-final, there's no question it'll qualify - and if last year is anything to go by, will probably perform well in the televote too. While I do like the song, I actually feel like Fuego packed more of a punch, particularly in the chorus section.
Tamta appears to be gathering a decent following, her social media follower stats are on the higher end of the scale and she's already hit a few countries in the Top 100 iTunes chart. Cyprus is currently the favourite to qualify from the first semi. If you fancy yourself an easy, stress-free 6% profit on your money, that'd be the one to go for.
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Review: Sarah McTernan - 22 - Ireland
1 Day YouTube Views: 44,374
1 Day YouTube Likes: 1,789
As the country with the most Eurovision wins under their belt, you'd perhaps think that Ireland would take Eurovision seriously, but the past few years entries seem to suggest they've lost interest these days. 2019's entry is 22 by Sarah McTernan, a soulful, radio-friendly pop song with a hint of Joss Stone.
The rumour is that Ireland had to rush the entry this year which could explain the under-produced song, the abrupt ending and simple music video. To it's credit though, "22" is a solid enough song for radio - enjoyable and accessible from the first listen, there's no reason if it were released as a sing that it couldn't do well.
The problem, of course, is that "22" is being sung among dozens of other tracks, Ireland sing in the first-half of a competitive second semi-final. Not to mention that mid-tempo Eurovision songs already have an arguable disadvantage as it is. But with the competition it'll be facing in that semi, it's almost certainly a non-qualifier.
To top off the bad news, Ireland's YouTube stats are towards the bottom of the table, with even dirge like Montenegro getting twice the Likes in 24 hours. To be fair to Sarah McTernan, her social media follower increases aren't the worst, but unfortunately once again, still near the bottom of the pack. Ireland have now had a few years of very radio-friendly tracks, now it's time to start thinking about Eurovision-friendly tracks.
Let us know what you think in the comments below.
Review: KEiiNO - Spirit In The Sky - Norway
1 Day YouTube Views: 80,138
1 Day YouTube Likes: 3,820
After last year's hype-fest for Alexander Rybak's doomed "That's How You Write A Song", Norway are back with Spirit In The Sky by KEiiNO, a track that's more-or-less the very definition of Europop, with a splash of ethnic joik singing blended in.
The joik sections are actually what make this song stand out - particularly the solo section two-thirds the way in, "Spirit In The Sky" would just be another cheesy, dated dance track otherwise. I fear though that most of Europe won't know the origins of joik singing, so to many viewers it'll just look like two youthful singers have dragged their mate Dave onto the stage to do a bit of singing too.
As for it's chances at Eurovision, it's catchy enough so it may well progress past it's semi, particularly a semi filled with countries from Western Europe including Sweden, Denmark and Iceland. In terms of the final though, it'll probably end up somewhere around 15th place like last years entry. This is primarily because the song will probably do well with the televote but be torn apart by the juries who (usually) demand something of a little more substance.
KEiiNO's social media follower statistics aren't the worst but also not close to the upper echelons that other nations occupy. Similarly their YouTube stats are in the lower-middle range. However, as above, purely on the musical level, particularly the accessibility of the song, we expect Norway to progress.
Let us know what you think in the comments below.