As I mentioned in a previous post, we are back for another season of Eurovision. As countries begin to select their songs, I’m going to do a brief recap of what I think about the ‘current’ songs.
We’ve made it to the end. My song reviews for Eurovision 2023 will conclude with Portugal, Sweden, Azerbaijan, Greece, Armenia, and Georgia.
Current ranking:
PORTUGAL 🇵🇹: MIMICAT — AI CORAÇÃO
National Selection – Festival Da Canção (***)
Ok, I kind of cheated with this one because I accidentally watched Mimicat’s national selection performance. Right now, I absolutely love this song – it’s upbeat, fun, and catchy with a taste of kitsch. I definitely kept my hands clapping and feet tapping throughout the entire song. I’m pleasantly surprised with this entry because Portugal tends to send sad, slow, and/or somewhat depressing songs to the contest, so this is a well-received breath of fresh air. Oh, there is a lovely sustained note at the end of the song, which I really hope Mimicat can still pull off in May. I have a feeling that this one will firmly stay in my top ten.
SWEDEN 🇸🇪: LOREEN — TATTOO
National Selection Performance – Melodifestivalen (***)
The queen of Eurovision (according to some) is back. Why is Loreen considered the queen of Eurovision? Although she won Eurovision 2012 with her song Euphoria, some consider her the queen because Euphoria has come in 1st place for the past 10 ten years on the ESC Top 250 countdown. The song was dethroned this past year by Chanel (Spain) SloMo, which came in 3rd place during ESC 2022. Overall, I think it’s a great song; however, I expect a little more from Loreen. While they are two different songs, Tatto (structurally) reminds me of Euphoria. I guess this is a case of if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it since Euphoria won back in 2012. I will say that I’m very impressed with how well Loreen’s vocals have held up over the last decade.
AZERBAIJAN 🇦🇿: TURALTURANX — TELL ME MORE
Internal Selection – Music Video (***)
I’m gonna say that I feel tricked. 😉 Due to many years of criticism for using non-Azerbaijani songwriters, we were told that this year’s submission would be authored by folks from Azerbaijan. Perhaps, this was my own ignorance, but I assume this meant they were going to send an ethnic bop, not a pretty general pop-rock song. I think Azerbaijan had an excellent opportunity to send something quite unique for this year’s contest especially since last year’s mid-tempo song received zero televotes in its semifinal. Overall, I don’t think this year’s song is bad at all, but it’s leaving me underwhelmed. That said, I don’t think it is the weakest song in the bunch. For instance, this is a great song to include in a long road trip playlist. I guess we’ll see what they bring to the stage for this one.
Conspiracy alert: See Azerbaijan think that they are slick. If this song does not do well in this year’s contest, I think they’ll use this as a reason to hire songwriters outside of Azerbaijan (e.g. Sweden) for future Eurovisions.
GREECE 🇬🇷: VICTOR VERNICOS — WHAT THEY SAY
Internal Selection – Music Video (***)
Wow, I cannot believe this impressive voice is coming from someone who is only 16-years old. I wish that my voice was that deep at 16 years old. Awesome, deep voice aside, I gotta say that the song does nothing for me right now. For some reason, I just could not get into the song, and it simply feels flat tp me. Maybe this will change over the next couple of months.
ARMENIA 🇦🇲: BRUNETTE — FUTURE LOVER
Internal Selection – Music Video (***)
Ok, I’m sooooooo loving this one from Armenia. With the softness, but edginess of her voice, she reminds me a bit of Lana Del Rey (who I love). Extra points for having a bit of Armenian in the song something else that I also love. For songs submitted in English, I wish more contestants would incorporate some of their national language(s) into the song. Eh, I guess this will be the hill that I die on. While I pretty much love everything about this song, I think it takes too long to get into the faster part of the song. If they do a revamp, they probably should shave off 30 seconds of the slower part.
THE UK 🇬🇧: MAE MULLER — I WROTE A SONG GEORGIA 🇬🇪: IRU — ECHO
Internal Selection – Music Video (***) Internal Selection – Music Video (***)
Last but not least, we have Georgia. I was hoping to wrap up this series of reviews on a positive note, but here we are. Ok, I love the musical arrangement, styling, and lyrics, but I really dislike her voice. It’s a bit too high-pitched for me. Honestly, I probably would have given this one 2 hearts if they released the instrumental to the song. IMO, Iru is not a bad singer; I simply don’t like the tone in which she sings this song.
Social Media Plug:
kosjrphd
(deactivated until Easter)