Review: Alexander Rybak - That's How You Write A Song - Norway
7 Day YouTube Views: 324,143
7 Day YouTube Likes: 7,928
Rybak is back and opening semi-final 2 with his song That's How You Write A Song, a song so cheesy that if someone walked into the room while you watched the video you'd quickly switch the tab to porn to save yourself the embarrassment.
Although the song is a cheese-fest and almost certainly due for a mauling from the judges, it actually contains lots of elements that make it perfect for Eurovision - Rybak's no fool. First is the singer himself, Alexander is a fan favourite thanks to his 2009 Eurovision win (from which he apparently hasn't aged a day). The song itself has a very strong but simple hook that anyone can get into. He's incorporated a call and response into the song which is bound to not only go down well with the Lisbon audience, it's also a great USP. The song builds with a great violin section in the second third which again, is bound to get the audience worked up. Alexander's live performances have been excellent, combined with his previous experience at Eurovision and he's likely to put on a good show.
For the negatives, the song's lyrics are (ironically, given the title) one of it's weakest areas, the whole thing is a little Barney The Dinosaur-esque in general but there are also just some jarringly 'off' lines - "Enjoy the small things, in time they will get big" is one that stood out to me from the first time I heard it. The music video is beyond cringeworthy, the only highlight being the lovechild of Jack Nicholson and Gyles Brandreth dancing around. While I said the call and response scatting section would be fantastic for the Eurovision audience, it feels very tacked on and lazy in the song itself ("Boogie boogie boogie!").
Most people agree that this song won't win the competition but the betting markets have Norway 6th favourite to win, only a week ago it was 10th favourite. I feel 6th is perhaps stretching things a bit, but the track's bound to do well with the televote, likely Top 10 in my book.
Review: Alekseev - Forever - Belarus
7 Day YouTube Views: 193,003
7 Day YouTube Likes: 7,004
Belarus offer Forever by Alekseev, a contestant marred by controversy regarding the song, his selection to represent Belarus and even his singing ability.
Forever is a dark and brooding song with a music video that starts in a similar manner, symbolically stabbing himself in the hand with a fountain pen and more. However it does lighten up towards the end with shots of him playing football and laughing as he pours water over himself, doesn't really seem to go with the song. The same can be said about a potential staging idea Belarus have had in which Alekseev wears a body suit that blends with the lighting effects in the background. They may or may not run with this idea in the semi-finals but it has something of the "Sergei"s (Russia, 2016) about it in that it has no relation to the song.
The song itself isn't bad, the build up in the verses is good, the melody of the chorus is very reptitive though and the tune begins to grate after the first few listens. Despite how long this song has been knocking around (the Russian version pre-dating the English version), it almost feels half-finished. The track doesn't seem to build and then ends very abruptly. Further, Alekseev may lack the ability to sing it, while the studio version sounds good, his live performances have been pretty terrible and he may be exposed come the live shows.
The betting markets have places Alekseev right in the middle, 21st out of the 43 countries competing. I personally feel this is about right but I'm very wary of his chances of qualifying from semi-final 1. He's sandwiched between the two big hitters of the competition, Israel and Estonia and I feel like he'll be forgotten between those acts. Belarus' YouTube stats don't inspire much confidence either. Once again, this goes down for me as a no-qualifier though things could have been different had Belarus had a more advantageous position in the running order.
Review: Vanja Radovanovic - Inje - Montenegro
7 Day YouTube Views: 143,590
7 Day YouTube Likes: 2,856
A native-language track from Montenegro, Inje strong on piano and strings with a music video that more than resembles scenes from an X-Men movie.
As mentioned in other reviews, a song sung in a native language needs to communicate the message and tone of the song more explicitly so that listeners can understand the tone of the song. In this respect, I think I can generally understand the tone behind Montenegro's track. There's an uplifting feeling towards the end with a haunting tone at the beginning.
The song is actually feels like it has a a degree of quality behind it however the melody doesn't quite grab the attention, particularly the verses. You can an easily imagine the staging for this song not being particularly arresting too - a song to which many will turn on the kettle - even though I feel it deserves a little more attention.
Montenegro are near the bottom of the betting markets indicating that audiences don't believe it will progress past it's semi. I think it's unfortunate but ultimately agree. YouTube Stats are again rather low - the Views / Likes ratio is particularly poor. Semi-Final 2 is much less competitive than semi-final 1, and despite Montenegro's decent running order slot (3rd from last) - I have to put this down as a no-qualifier, likely finishing around 12th.
Review: Jessika (ft. Jenifer Brening) - Who We Are - San Marino
7 Day YouTube Views: 115,840
7 Day YouTube Likes: 1,645
San Marino continue their tradition of sending terrible acts to Eurovision with Who We Are sung by Jessika ft. Jenifer Brening. The title of the song is slightly ironic, aside from Eurovision - nobody knows a damn thing about San Marino, is it just a made-up country Eurovision invented to see who'd notice? Does it even have space to host Eurovision if it ever won? Does this explain it's succession of poor acts?
Who We Are is difficult to review because it's basically a rather generic pop song with even lazier lyrics than the average chart record, a tiny USP is the rap in the middle sung by Jenifer. Jessika's vocal stylings are vaguely reminiscent of Britney Spears and the song has about the same sort of quality, half of the track is just "Woaaah Oooh Ohhh".
The rap segment is similar to the spoken segment of the Spice Girls 'Wannabe', introducing the singers - even including the lyric "you'd better listen carefully". There is a lot of dross this year and if I'd much sooner listen to this song than some of the others, especially some higher in the betting odds, however that isn't much of a compliment.
San Marino sing 4th in the second semi-final. Even though that semi is far more wide-open than the first semi, San Marino still don't stand a chance of qualifying. Their odds are right at the bottom of the pile and YouTube stats are down there too. It's just a lazy effort with "also-ran" written all over it. No question at all for this one, not a qualifier.
Review: Eugent Bushpepa - Mall - Albania
7 Day YouTube Views: 204,928
7 Day YouTube Likes: 3,969
Albania bring us a rock/pop hybrid this year with Mall, but what's it all about? More importantly, will it be good enough to qualify from it's semi-final?
Songs sung in native language need to communicate the message much more explicitly than those sung in English, Albania fails in this respect. What's the message? Is it an upbeat song? Is it melancholic? Is he singing about how much he loves life or is he singing about a lost love? Who knows.
The song itself doesn't seem to have a hook that the first-time listener can latch onto, even when listened to multiple times it's still not easy to get into the swing of the song. Eugent sings very well but the quality of the song itself is poor, I listened multiple times hoping to gain a greater appreciation and although the song grew on me very slightly, it didn't turn me on enough to be memorable compared to some other tracks on offer this year.
Albania is considered 35th most likely to win the show this year according to the betting markets, they're also considered to have an extremely low chance of progressing past their semi-final, especially with a terrible 3rd slot in the first semi running order. YouTube stats are on par with other no-hopers in that end of the betting market.
The song doesn't really provide anything unique and it seems that people have already collectively come to that consensus. Albania is a no-qualifier.