Review: Victor Crone - Storm - Estonia
1 Day YouTube Views: 37,462
1 Day YouTube Likes: 2,428
After last year's respectable 8th place finish, Estonia pivot from opera back to pop with "Storm" sung by Victor Crone, a man so handsome it's actually quite infuriating.
"Storm" immediately reminded me of a early-2010's David Guetta track, which is shockingly modern by Eurovision standards. It builds well and gives the audience exactly what they want when the beat drops. Merging cleanly from slow guitar, to club track and back to guitar - it's a song that would do well in the charts, let alone Eurovision.
Estonia may have held out the begging bowl last year but the production of the National Final looks slick and modern - computer graphics, audience stooges and an energetic camera pace. It's not all good news though, one significant factor to note is that Crone's voice falters in the quieter parts of the track where it's easier to come exposed, this is evident in the footage of the Eurovision pre-party in Estonia - he very much appeared to show a degree of relief when the banging beat came back in.
Nevertheless, such a conventionally strong track will do well at Eurovision, and with a late slot in the first semi-final, I suspect Crone will simply have to smile into the camera to progress. A top 15 finish is a fairly likely, top 10, quite possible. It would feel like a waste for this song to get an early slot in the final so I feel it's quite likely that Estonia will have a good night on May 18th.
Despite the decent track, Estonia's social media stats have been rather muted. We suspect the YouTube figures are quite low because the official Eurovision channel has he 'Official Video' as Crone's national final performance whereas Victor Crone's own channel has the real music video, so YouTube stats can be discounted. However his social media stats are certainly nothing special, he has at least charted in Greece as well as Estonia on the iTunes charts. So Estonia's social media results will definitely be one to watch during the semi final.
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Review: Carousel - That Night - Latvia
1 Day YouTube Views: 47,871
1 Day YouTube Likes: 1,974
Latvia got a tough break last year with Laura Rizzotto missing out on a place in the final, perhaps the audience didn't feel that "Funny Girl" had enough bite. If that's the case then they're absolutely going to hate Latvia's 2019 entry entitled "That Night" sung by Carousel.
"Love, where are you?", are the lyrics and also the thought that passed through my mind listening to this track - where's the song? Is this really a Eurovision track submitted with the aim of winning the competition? Like a carousel it's a pleasant enough experience, but also like a carousel, it just goes round in circles. The chorus gets repetitive by the end of the track and the three minutes feels like a very long time.
In any case, Latvia perform early in the second semi-final, sandwiched between far superior songs. Leonora from Denmark performs not long after singing a similarly simple but much better song. "That Night" is a certain no-qualifier.
Latvia's social media following stats are among the lowest of any competitor, the YouTube stats are weak and it hasn't even touched the Top 100 in the iTunes chart of Latvia itself. Overall, the song isn't bad - but it's just a nothing entry - Latvia are clearly entering to make up the numbers.
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Review: Kobi Marimi - Home - Israel
1 Day YouTube Views: 154,362
1 Day YouTube Likes: 6,249
Host nation Israel could be forgiven for not putting in too much effort this year - and it seems they have indeed taken their foot off the gas a little. That's not to say that "Home" by Kobi Marimi is a bad song, quite the opposite actually.
A simple piano-led ballad that grows in intensity as the song progresses, it's a highly traditional track with an uplifting feel. Upon seeing the image of Kobi dressed in a tux, I was ready to dislike this track but I actually found it quite beautiful and surprisingly unique entry in a field of 41.
As the hosts, Israel needn't concern themselves with semi-final qualification - and it's unlikely they'll make much of a mark on the night of the final either. Israel is the only country we currently know the running order for - they'll be right in the middle singing 14th. This likely leaves a decent number of high-energy, high-tempo songs to push it down the memory-hole afterwards. Overall though, Israel has no reason to be ashamed of this entry.
Number 1 on iTunes in Israel as you might expect, 93rd in Finland is all "Home" has achieved in terms of music charts. Kobi's social media stats are also nothing to write home about, a likely mid table finish for Israel.
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Review: Roko - The Dream - Croatia
1 Day YouTube Views: 73,875
1 Day YouTube Likes: 3,221
Cross it off your Eurovision bingo cards, folks. This year's young man dressed entirely in white singing about how we should all love one another has arrived. Last year it was Ari Olafsson's "Our Choice", this year it's Croatia's entry by Roko entitled "The Dream". In contrast to Ari's creepy stare into the camera, Roko displays some of the best pained expressions I think I've ever seen in any music video.
To be fair to Roko, his vocals are great and could score him some points from juries on that basis if he can pull it out of the bag - but then again, the juries have in the past shown a degree of taste by rejecting all these "why can't we all just get along" type songs. Even if the overall song is cheesy, the chorus is strong and may land a few points from the televote.
Croatia perform in the second semi-final. Once again, it's tight at the bottom of the barrel for this semi with so many mediocre songs vying for those last 3-4 available spaces once the obvious contenders have qualified. I don't count "The Dream" as a qualifier and in any case it'd likely be embarrassed by it's result in the final as it'd certainly be one of the frontrunners to come last.
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Review: PAENDA - Limits - Austria
1 Day YouTube Views: 94,229
1 Day YouTube Likes: 2,599
After last year's surprise success with Cezar Sampson topping the Jury votes and finishing in 3rd place, you may expect Austria to come back with their eyes on the prize. However, after listening to 2019's entry, "Limits" by Paenda, it's clear they Austrian delegation are biding their time.
Sung in a high-pitched Ellie Goulding/Janet Devlin-style whisper, Limits is a simple, emotional ballad (so emotional in fact, the singer wipes a tear from her eye in the music video in a definitely non-contrived way). I personally can't stand these kinds of breathy songs, as I wrote about Portugal last year - songs sung in this style are generally done so as to maximise the emotional appeal of a track whilst displaying the minimum of singing ability. Portugal's Claudia Pascoal sung a song in a similar style in 2018 and placed last.
I feel any debate as to whether "Limits" can qualify is immediately crushed by the fact that Austria are singing in the second semi-final where perhaps 3-4 places are realistically up for grabs outside the top-tier competitors. Even compared to many of the tracks in the 'Maybe' pile, Austria still fall short, "Limits" might work in the charts, or in the soundtrack to a movie - but perhaps not Eurovision.
Like Belarus, Austria's YouTube Likes/Views ratio is very low indeed. The social media followers stats are some of the lowest of any of this year's competitors and there's been no iTunes activity. Once again, a fairly easy-to-call no qualifier.
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