Review: Sevak Khanagyan - Qami - Armenia

TellyStats Rating:

7 Day YouTube Views: 398,048
7 Day YouTube Likes: 9,465

Armenia entertain us this year with Qami, one of many non-English tracks in the running in 2018.

Despite being sung in Armenian, Qami is surprisingly accessible to non-Armenian speakers. The progression of the track is predictable enough to be enjoyable and the repeated refrain of 'Qami' keeps the audience from getting lost in the language barrier. The track starts at a regular pace before ending with the repeated cries of Qami alongside backing vocals - and this is where the song can really come into it's own on the Eurovision stage. If they ramp up Sevak's vocals (more than they do in the official video) in the second half of the song, those repeated cries become quite powerful.

As a track, I was quite comfortable listening to Qami repeatedly without feeling bored, actually increasing how much I liked it each time. While the Eurovision audience will only get one listen, I feel this could be like a Hungary 2017 entry, despite being sung in the native language it still feels powerful enough to get votes. Armenia are another country bundled into the ultra-competitive first semi-final where at least 5 songs are almost guaranteed qualifiers leaving little wriggle room for everyone else.

On the basis that this track is unique, will go down well with the juries, and I think, the audience - I'm hoping it will qualify, it's late slot in the semi may help it to secure that. The betting markets currently have it 24th favourite, a touch stingy but with the uncertainty around the semi, it's to be expected. YouTube stats are almost exactly the same as Lithuania (in 26th place) though this is a far better song than When We're Old which stands little chance of qualifying. The market considers Armenia's chances of qualifying to be on a knife-edge, this track will almost certainly be in the 8th - 12th place rankings.