Eurovision 2023 Song Review: 4th Batch 🇨🇭🇲🇹🇷🇸🇳🇱🇩🇪🇸🇲

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. You can see my reason for this mode of attack in an earlier post (Link, ***)

For this recap, I’m going to chat about (in no particular order): Switzerland, Malta, Serbia, the Netherlands, Germany, and San Marino.

Current ranking:

SWITZERLAND🇨🇭: REMO FORRER — WATERGUN

Internal selection – Music Video (***)

I love how his deep vocal starts off the song. I thought it was going to be a super slow/depressing song, but it really picked up a bit as it progressed. Well, the lyrics are a bit depressing, but it’s not super slow and doesn’t make me want to fling myself out of my 2nd story window (phew). While he does a great job with singing Waterguns, the song itself leaves me wanting more. Perhaps, his staging will give me a bit more.

MALTA 🇲🇹: THE BUSKER — DANCE (OUR OWN PARTY)

National Selection Performance: Malta Eurovision Song Contest (***)

Ok, it already gets a couple of points because I do like the saxophone integration in the song. Because I’m cheesy, I think any song with a sax automatically will receive at least two hearts. ;) While I like the musical arrangement the most, I can see the lyrics and the vocals growing on me. I have to say that I wasn’t blown away by the song, which the exception of the saxophone (of course). Not sure if it’s me, but I would hope a song that mentions the word ‘dance’ so many times would be a bit more uptempo. Eh, oh well. Since the song is kind of mid-tempo, I probably would like it more if it had a bit more lyrical content. Buuuuut, who needs in-depth lyrics if you have great staging? Actually, instead of three hearts, I think this will be closer to 2.5 hearts for me. While it’s a decent package, I prefer the sax over the vocal.

SERBIA 🇷🇸: LUKE BLACK — SAMO MI SPAVA

National Selection Performance: Pesma Za Evrovizju (***)

Quick and random thought: Luke Black looks a bit like Ryan (BJ Novak) from the early seasons of The Office (when he didn’t have the beard).

Eh, maybe not, now that I’ve uploaded the side-by-side photos.

Ok, right off the bat, I know this song really isn’t my cup of tea. Right now, I do not think that I can really judge or rank the song because I think the staging will make or break it for me. However, it seems the folks on Twitter really liked this song and performance. Perhaps for this one, I need to rely on the ‘vision’ aspect of Eurovision to really appreciate the song.

THE NETHERLANDS 🇳🇱: MIA NICOLAI & DION COOPER — BURNING DAYLIGHT

Internal Selection: Music Video (***)

This is gonna bug me because this song sounds so familiar. Note: I’m not saying that they plagiarized the song, it just sounds like something that I’ve heard before, which tends to happen a bit in pop music. I’m really enjoying the slight vocal acrobats of Dion’s “I’m losing myself while chasing HIIIIIIIIIGHS”. He sings well, but I think Mia’s vocals really bring the song to light. Perhaps, it’s due to Mia singing the higher parts, which I guess would happen in a male-female duet. Since the Netherlands did well in last year’s contest with a song performed in Dutch, I’m surprised that they did not want to go with this option for this year’s contest.

GERMANY 🇩🇪: LORD OF THE LOST — BLOOD & GLITTER

Internal Selection – Music Video (***)

While I’m not a huge fan of heavy metal, I really like this one. Well . . . I hope it’s not because I just finished listening to the slow song from the Netherlands. Right off the bat, I really appreciated the lead singer’s voice. I dunno, there is something about the guttural tone that makes me want to pay attention to a song . . . or even a person speaking. I guess this is a good problem for me to have because I keep going back and forth between three and four hearts. After listening to the song a good four times, I’ll stick with the four hearts rating. Although I haven’t seen the stage performance . . . yet, I really hope that it’s going to be weird (in a good way) AF.

SAN MARINO 🇸🇲: PIQUED JACKS — LIKE AN ANIMAL

National Selection Performance – Una Voce Per San Marino (***)

I might have to listen to this one again. Since the song is not on Spotify (Grrrrr), I listened to the version from San Marino’s national selection. For whatever reason, the sound quality from Una Voce Per San Marino is terrible, which is not the group’s fault. I was somewhat vibing to the song until the lead singer tried for those high notes near the end of the song – she knows the WAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYY. I’m glad that someone knows the way because I sure as hell don’t know the way. Like I said, I’ll give this one another listen once the studio version is released on Spotify. That said, once they clean up the sound quality for the studio version, I don’t think this song (like many of San Marino’s entries) will do very well in the contest even if the group is in the second semifinal. Pretty much the fandom (including myself) has considered the second semifinal the weaker of the two.

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Eurovision 2023 - 3rd Batch 🇫🇮, 🇵🇱, 🇫🇷, 🇦🇺, 🇱🇹

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. You can see my reason for this mode of attack in an earlier post (

For this recap, I’m going to chat about (in no particular order): Finland 🇫🇮, Poland 🇵🇱, France 🇫🇷, Australia 🇦🇺, and Lithuania 🇱🇹.

Current ranking:

FINLAND 🇫🇮: KÄÄRIJÄ — CHA CHA CHA

National Selection Performance – Uuden Musiikin Kipailu (***)

Nine times out of ten, we can say that Finland will bring something interesting and unique to the contest. Whether you like it is a completely different question. To be frank, I had to listen to this song a couple of times to get it . . . and I still don’t think that I get it. That said, it definitely sounds like a party anthem. Since I ‘cheated’ by reading the Finish to English translation and saw the national final performance, my original assessment was correct. Hey, I managed to figure out that he was talking about pina coladas in the song without looking at the lyrics. Random thought: this song seems it should be driven by a tequila- and/or whiskey-inspired beverage rather than a pina colada. While I gave this one 3 hearts, I have a feeling that it will grow on me, and I will enjoy the updated staging come ESC2023 week.

AUSTRALIA 🇦🇺: VOYAGER — PROMISE

Music video (***)

Let’s take a voyage to the 80s. While I don’t like to give one-heart ratings for the first listen. At this point, the song really doesn’t do anything for me. I’m not saying that it’s a bad song, but there was nothing in it that made me want to hit the ‘play again’ button. Austrailia’s selection for this year is a bit interesting because I normally like its ESC songs . . . even the ones that are disliked by the fandom. Perhaps, Voyager will have some AMAZING staging, but as of now. I don’t see this bad boy qualifying.

FRANCE 🇫🇷: LA ZARRA — EVIDEMMENT

Music Video (***)

Lol, I’m going to be E-vi-de-mment’ing for the next three hours. I’m really feeling this song, and think it will be a great hit in this contest. I just really hope that her vocals are in line with the studio version. For instance, I really loved Andromache’s Ela from last year’s contest, but we all know how it sounded in real life. There’s something with the low-key vibe, with the 70s/80s bassline sound that really hits me in a fun place. The only small thing: I wish she had a more powerful note at the song’s climax about three-fourths into the song. Perhaps, La Zarra is saving that for the actual contest. You know, you don’t want to give the people too much before the contest.

POLAND 🇵🇱: BLANKA — SOLO

National Selection Performance – Tu bije serce Europy! Wybieramy hit na Eurowizję (*** – unfortunately, this isn’t available to view in the States)

Hmmmm. I wonder why Eurovision World does not have Blanka’s picture with the Eurovision heart design. Perhaps, there is some drama around Poland’s selection process in which Blanka won (of course, that depends on whom you ask). I’m sorry, but this song doesn’t do a whole lot for me. The song does not have any great lyrics, which is not a huge deal breaker for me. However, if the lyrical content is a bit weak, I expect strong vocals or a certain uniqueness that will make me wanna hit play again. Actually, on the 1st listen, I gave it two hearts, now I’m going to move down a notch. Hopefully, the staging will be amazing so the song will grow on me. After Poland took a decent song and ruined it with the staging in last year’s contest, I’m not 100% optimistic about this year’s staging or placement.

LITHUANIA 🇱🇹: MONIKA LINKYTE — STAY

National Selection Performance – Pabandom Is Naujo (***)

LOL didn’t Lithuania send a Monika to the contest last year? 😉 First, I love the mix of English and Lithuanian in the song, so that already scored a few extra points for me. I wish more countries that send songs in English would incorporate some of their official language(s) into the songs. Overall, I love Monika’s powerful yet fragile voice because you really get a sense that she is going through something. Ok, so the lyrics pretty much say that. However, it’s one thing to sing words and another to EMOTE. I think she does a great job in emoting the meaning of the song. Also, the song’s lyrics really resonate with me, especially this part: I took it all on myself. I asked for nobody’s help. I had to taste it and embrace it. All the bitterness of failure to find myself within me. Just stay with me. My heart is bleeding. I need your healing, and wait for me. Well, it ain’t easy to love someone like me.

After this quick review, I decided to cheat and check out her performance - I love the song even more. I’m quite surprised (in a good way) that three out of her four backup singers are Black. I wasn’t expecting this from a country such as Lithuania since the African/African-decent population is around 0.01% (according to Wikipedia). If she keeps the same backup singers (which I hope she does), I really want the delegation to change the lighting a bit. Since the song is a bit melancholic, I can understand why there is minimal lighting. However, you cannot really see the Black backup singers, but one can see the sole White backup singer quite clearly. Other than that, I love every aspect of the song and hope it does well in the contest. I have a feeling this one will stay (pun intended) in my top 10.

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Eurovision 2023 - 2nd Batch 🇮🇹, 🇪🇪, 🇷🇴, 🇭🇷, 🇩🇰, & 🇱🇻

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.

For this recap, I’m going to chat about (in no particular order): Italy🇮🇹, Estonia🇪🇪, Romania🇷🇴, Croatia🇭🇷, Denmark🇩🇰, and Latvia🇱🇻.

This year, I’m going to do things a bit differently as we move through the national selection season:

1. Review songs in batches of 7 or 8 rather than doing a country-by-country recap.

2. These reviews primarily are going to be about the song rather than the complete package.

3. I’m only going to watch the national selection final (or internal selection) once or twice.

4. I’m not going to constantly listen to the songs until we get into semifinal week.

Reasons 1-2: For this edition, I don’t have time to write 35+ posts (one per country) before getting into the actual contest. Also, what’s the point of doing an in-depth or half-assed review (depending on how much free time I have) before the delegations either revamp the song and/or the performance (I guess this would fall under the Reason 3 category)? Reason 4: I don’t want to get tired of the songs before the contest. Last year, I noticed that I was pretty much over the songs that were released early in the national final (January/February) season by April.

Like always, I’ll use my cheezy Eurovision meter to describe the songs.

In last week’s post, I did mention my rankings with the ‘current’ songs. I have to say that I’m getting a little worried because I don’t think there are many songs that will move from my Eurovision playlist to my general and running playlists. I’m keeping hope alive because we still have quite a few songs that are going to be released in March.

ITALY 🇮🇹: MARCO MENGONI — DUE VITE

National Selection Performance – Sanremo (***)

LOL. It’s the 10-Year Challenge: Eurovision edition because Marco competed in Eurovision 2013 and came in 7th place. What do you think, with or without the beard?

Overall, I really enjoy this song and think that it will do very well in the contest . . . even though we are still waiting for the release of 17 or so more songs. 😉 While Italy tends to send songs that are well-received by the public, his voice really kept me engaged with the song from start to finish. In most cases, I think Italy does well in the contest because Italian sounds so melodic (if that’s the correct term).

ESTONIA 🇪🇪: ALIKA — BRIDGES

National Selection Performance – EESTI LAUL (***)

OMG, I’m really feeling this song. Right off the bat, I love when women sing in a lower register, which she nails, and her vocal range is impressive. I think this will be a grower for me because I do like the message of the song and her vocal prowess is the icing on the cake. I could see myself liking it more with additional listens especially once the song picks up the pace at 1:40.

Romania 🇷🇴: Theodor andrei -- D.G.T. (off and on)

National Selection Performance – Selectiva Nationala (***)

I think I can rock with this based purely on the song and his vocal even if it’s a little different than my typical type of song.

CROATIA 🇭🇷: LET 3 MAMA ŠČ!

National Selection Performance – Dora (***)

My graphic doesn’t accurately reflect my feeling about the song, because you definitely will not fall asleep while listening to the song. In general, I kind of like the song, BUT there is WAAAAYYYY too much going on in the song – it’s like five or six songs in one. Even though there is a lot going on in the song musically, the song is very repetitive structurally (not necessarily a bad thing). Hey, I guess the group really wants to drive home the song’s message. However, I’m sure there are a lot of Croatian cultural references embedded in the song that I’m unaware of. While I have seen the national selection performance, I’m quite sure that it’s gonna be a unique experience on the ESC stage that will either make me want to watch it again and again or will make me want to give myself a lobotomy with a corkscrew.

DENMARK🇩🇰: REILEY -- BREAKING MY HEART

National Selection Performance – Melodi Grand Prix (***)

Soapbox moment: I really think the contest should go back to one where all vocals must be 100% live. Since 2021, Eurovision has allowed performers to use pre-recorded tracks, which was understandable because of the pandemic. Now, we are getting to a point where some artists might use these pre-recorded vocals to artificially enhance their vocals. *Maybe artificially and enhance are the wrong words.* While I’m sure Reily is singing in his natural voice during the verses, I don’t know what the hell is going on with the chorus – is it a vocoder, autotune, or something else? Eh, it is what it is. Yes, I get that it’s a song, not a vocal contest. In my opinion, the use of 100% live vocals was one of the things that it unique. Oh, back to this song. I’ll have to wait to see how this is performed on the Eurovision stage, before really commenting.

LATVIA 🇱🇻: AIJĀ -- SUDDEN LIGHTS

National Selection Performance – Supernova (***)

Only basing this brief review on the song, I’m sorry but this one does absolutely nothing for me. I guess I kinda like it when the song ramps/speeds up and ends on a slow note.

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