Eurovision season is now in full swing, with many countries pulling out all the stores to find the perfect entry. Another 2 songs have been selected last weekend! Ireland held its annual ‘Eurosong’ and picked Bambie Thug with their song “Doomsday Blue”. On Saturday evening Luxembourg chose their representative for their long anticipated return. After a fabulous show and a thrilling voting sequence they picked Tali and her entry “Fighter”.
Apart from 2 new entries for this years Eurovision Song Contest, both Norway and Lithuania held their third semi finals last Saturday night! You can find our reaction to Norway’s semi final 3 right here. In the meantime join me in reviewing the 8 songs that competed in EurovizijaLT for another 2 tickets to the final on 17 February.
Quick reminder of the line up:
- Anžela Adamovič-Gečienė – Paskubėk
- Sid Hallow – Here We Go Again
- MeidĖ – Zoo
- Pluie de Comètes – Be careful
- Sun Francisco – Trauka
- Mary Mo – Done
- Baltos varnos – In the Night
- Shower – Impossible
Anžela Adamovič-Gečienė – Paskubėk
Starting off brutally with a rock song! Let’s kick it off with her styling: Anžela looks rather good in a black dress and jacket with chains and lots of shiny thingies. Her hair kinda reminds me of Bonnie Tyler in “Total Eclipse of the Heart”. Towards the end of the song she reveals what I can only describe as small round mirrors dangling from her dress. The light reflecting on them makes for a pretty cool effect. She’s a very energetic woman pulling out all of her dance moves. Some of them are questionable but I’m hardly a dancer myself so what do I know? On paper this entry has everything a rock song should have, except for a decent chorus, which I found rather underwhelming. Not a bad start to the show though!
Sid Hallow – Here We Go Again
We’re starting at the piano with some pink and purple lighting. From the start this immediately feels rather dated and cliché. The lyrics prove me right. After the first chorus he steps away from the piano, which to some miracle keeps playing on its own. Ring any bells? I noticed he has 4 backing singer who look to be dressed in some sort of candy colored priest robes, or however you call them. Honestly Sid sings the song rather well, though there are some bum notes here and there. There’s a very unnecessary falsetto towards the end of the performance but overall this was a decent vocal. It won’t surprise anyone to know that he did not make it…
MeidĖ – Zoo
The beginning of this performance is quite interesting. She starts off on her knees in total darkness, with just one spotlight on her. Then as the intro starts her dancers walk in on her and she gets up. This is rather artsy and I like it. She has that typical young girl way of singing. I don’t know how to explain it but it’s all very dark and gloomy. She’s hitting all the notes she has to, though I sometimes have trouble understanding what she’s singing. Not the biggest fan of her outfit but the staging to this one is actually pretty interesting, with a cool backdrop. This feels like the first contemporary modern entry for Eurovizija since “Luktelk” in the first heat. How did this not qualify? The crowd is giving it a very lukewarm reaction so that explains it I guess. I’m expecting the 2 qualifiers to be very good, but somehow I fear that might be a tad optimistic of me.
Pluie de Comètes – Be careful
The name of this band already intrigues me so I’m pretty curious to get into it. And I have to say I’m not dissapointed. The performance starts off in darkness with just some blue lights. The lead singer is looking absolutely stunning in a long silver dress that appears to change color as the lights change. The backdrop is quite simple but very effective. This is very loungy and sexy. I can see why this qualified but the song in itself is nothing special. What sells this is her voice and her charisma, of which she has a ton! I’ve said this many times before, but never underestimate the power of good staging. Towards the end there is a shower of fireworks which honestly ruins the vibe a little. It was rather distractive. The performance ends the way it started, with a similar backdrop and some blue lights. Definitely one of the better options for Lithuania!
Sun Francisco – Trauka
You need a very strong act to be able to follow Pluie De Comètes and overshadow them. Sadly this was nothing of the sort. I had a short bathroom break before getting into this one which is a pity cause this would have been the perfect opportunity for that. The song has a bit of a 70-80ies feel but unfortunately that doesn’t make it any more interesting. With so many artists these days being influenced by that era you need to come up with something that absolutely pops to make sure it stands out. It also doesn’t help that the chorus felt very repetitive. There was a weird little moment where it goes almost completely silent for a couple seconds as the camera turns to the pianist. Only he didn’t actually do anything, which was just confusing. I can’t describe this in any other way than: boring. Sorry bout it…
Mary Mo – Done
We start off with a red back drop that later changes into black and white with some interesting graphics. Mary Mo is wearing a long white shirt dress with a black tie and a black corset to cinch her waist. Honestly she looks like she’s ready to accept the Barbara Dex Award. The song seems to be a mixture of r&b and pop rock with some electronic influences. Cool as the backdrop may be, the song is anything but. There’s some rap bits in the verses here and there which just don’t fit the look or the vibe. I don’t get it. It all comes across very amateuristic. The ending is very sudden, as is proven by the reaction of the audience.
Baltos varnos – In the Night
That was… something. Started off interestingly but went down as fast as a sack of potatoes. It kicks off with a deep red backdrop and black trees. The styling of this group is absolutely horrendous. The first thing that came to mind was Amish. I get what they were going for but it was just all wrong. I think they meant to go for wood nymphs of some sort but they failed. There are 5 people on stage but for some reason you can’t distinguish the singers from the backing dancers, apart from them holding a mic.
The song is another mixture of genres, this time combining pop, folk and electronic music. The instrumentation is not bad but it doesn’t exactly pop. If you’re going to go traditional you need to stand out as there’s usually quite a bit of that at Eurovision. Sadly I found the chorus very disappointing. It all just didn’t make any sense.
Shower – Impossible
Honestly this wasn’t what I was expecting. The guy has a very good voice but sadly that for me is the only interesting part of this entry. The chorus just doesn’t grab me. I think this may have benefited from coming last in the running order. I doubt we’ll see this going to Malmö. That being said the performance is quite lovely and it comes off genuine. I believe what he sings so there’s definitely stage presence and charisma there. It’s just the song that doesn’t really go anywhere. There appear to be white mannequins standing randomly at the back of the stage for no apparent reason. I guess that’s one way of bypassing the 6 people rule. The performance ends with the lead singer walking off stage as the backdrop turns black, sort of like the doors of an elevator closing in on him.
Well there you have it! Those were my thoughts on Heat 3 of EurovizijaLT. We’ve now gotten over halfway through Lithuania’s search for glory. Tune in next week as I’ll be reviewing the last heat ahead of the final. Let us know in the comments below what you thought of the 8 songs from last Saturday. Have we heard the winner yet? Do you agree with the qualifiers, or did you have other favorites? Don’t forget we have loads of content coming for you this week. The final 3 reaction video’s to the UMK entries will be coming shortly. And we will be reacting to both semi finals of Benidorm Fest! Until then have look at our YouTube channel where you can find reactions to MGP and UMK. See you next time!
