Belgium have not qualified for the Eurovision Song Contest final since 2010, when the representative song was Me and My Guitar. This year the country is hoping for better things with the selection of Love Kills sung by 18-year-old Roberto Bellarosa.
Like Tom Dice, Bellarosa is a product of a TV reality show. In the case of the latter, it was as the winner of The Voice Belgique that brought him to public attention. On the back of this success, he has since released an album, Ma Voie, which took him into the Belgian Top 20. This prompted his choice as singer of the Belgian entry which has been written by Iain Farquharson and Jukka Immonen.
Having read comments from other Eurovision fans it seems that I am in a minority for liking Love Kills. Yes, it does sound like something you might hear from a substandard boy band, but it does have a strong hook and this is necessary when we're talking about this competition. It will no doubt have the audience up on their feet dancing along to its electronic back beat, which can only help its chances of qualifying.
Bellarosa will perform the song in 15th position of the first semi-final on May 14.
What do you think of his chances on advancing to the Final?
I am afraid I am with the majority and my opinion is based on every live performance I have seen of this song, rather than the video. If he could sing the song like that live, Belgium might stand a chance of getting out of their SF - unfortunately each live version I have seen has been awful! If he was The Voice in Belgium, he must have sung better songs as this doesn't suit him. Combined with the fact he is after Cyprus, whom I don't think will qualify either due to their song not being memorable, but it is sung so, so, so, so much better than 'Love Kills' and is likely to show his poor live singing off to the voters. He is then hit with the triple whammy that is Serbia to finish off the show - his only saving grace is that he is the penultimate act...
ReplyDeleteIf Roberto sings like the video, he has a chance. Otherwise, none at all...