Review: Jonida Maliqi - Ktheju Tokes - Albania

TellyStats Rating:

1 Day YouTube Views: 208,748
1 Day YouTube Likes: 10,802

After an excellent result last year for what was a rather inaccessible song (in my opinion) - Albania return in 2019 with Jonida Maliqi singing Ktheju Tokes. An ethnic ballad with an air of urgency and pain - there's definitely some similarites to "1944" in the extended vocal cries.

I have to admit, I began listening to this feeling fairly certain I would be listening to another ethnic song that would leave me cold and none the wiser to it's meaning. I'm pleased to say that I've been converted. Ktheju Tokes starts slowly for first minute with the usual ethnic-sounding vocalisations, but the song really comes to life when the chorus kicks in.

Ktheju Tokes received some of the highest YouTube Views and Likes within 24 hours of the official video being released - this is despite Albania being the first country to decide on it's representative, the video of the national final had already been out for some time. You might think then that viewers had had their fill of their song, but clearly not. Jonida's social media follower counts have been impressive too, currently getting 400 new Instagram followers every day which is more than many of the competition's frontrunners.

This makes me think that Albania may worth a look for qualification, it's currently priced at 1.9 to qualify which means it's considered more likely to qualify than not. However, I can count around 6 "definite" qualifiers in Semi 2 so there aren't many free places to go around, it will be interesting to see how Jonida and the other entrants perform in the rehearsals. Like last year, could Albania sneak into the finals?

Let us know what you think in the comments below.