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| Highway: On the road to Stockholm |
With the first semi-final of Eurovision 2016 drawing ever closer, time is now tight and hence these truncated reviews, starting off with:
Montenegro: Highway with The Real Thing
No Balkan ballad from Montenegro this year. Instead, the country has decided to send former X-Factor Adria contestants Highway to Stockholm with their guitar-grinding rock track, The Real Thing.
Apart from Lordi's cartoon rock, the genre has never really fared that well at Eurovision. However, it's nice to see Montenegro trying something a little different again this year, but Highway's sound is probably too niche to have a wide enough appeal either with the juries or the public.
Although there's a melody hidden away in the grunge, this one is bound to fail, breaking the recent run of Final appearances by Montenegro.
Appearance: Semi-Final 1, performing 15th.
Russia: Sergey Lazarev with You Are the Only One
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| Could Sergey be 'The One' in Sweden? |
Already installed as one of the favourites to win the whole caboodle, Lazarev and his song tick many of the required Eurovision boxes: a handsome, athletic male singer who will appeal to (in part) both genders and singing a naggingly catchy - if a little outdated - entry, You Are the Only One.
Its construction is very much à la Eric Saade's Popular or even Sakis Rouvas' This is Our Night: a thumping, in your face pop song with a chorus which will quickly get into your head and then refuse to leave. Add in a mandatory key change and you have the archetypal winning formula.
Will he succeed where Saade and Rouvas failed? Only time (and probably political voting) will tell, but you can be sure that this one will be there or thereabouts.
Appearance: Semi-Final 1, performing 9th.
Estonia: Jüri Pootsmann with Play
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| Jüri Pootsmann is ready to play in Stockholm |
Like Sergey, the young Mr. Pootsmann is well-known in his home country since winning Estonia's version of Pop Idol. This fact, no doubt, helped his victory in Eesti Laul (the name of the nation's national final) as possibly did the song's link with last year's Estonian representative, Stig Rästa.
Stig is co-composer of Play - and it shows. If you recall Estonia's cracking song entry from 2015, Goodbye to Yesterday, then Jüri's effort for 2016 will come as little surprise. It's as moody as one would expect while the contemporary George Ezra-style vocals from Jüri lift the track from what could have been an unremarkable pop song into a more classy, soulful affair.
It's something of a grower, too. However, once the chorus kicks in there's no denying that Play should be considered more than just another Eurovision semi-final filler. In some ways, it feels (and looks) just a little too sophisticated for the competition but, hopefully, Jüri will display more than sufficient charisma to reel in enough votes to lift him into the Grand Final. This song deserves it.
Appearance: Semi-Final 1, performing 13th.
Stig is co-composer of Play - and it shows. If you recall Estonia's cracking song entry from 2015, Goodbye to Yesterday, then Jüri's effort for 2016 will come as little surprise. It's as moody as one would expect while the contemporary George Ezra-style vocals from Jüri lift the track from what could have been an unremarkable pop song into a more classy, soulful affair.
It's something of a grower, too. However, once the chorus kicks in there's no denying that Play should be considered more than just another Eurovision semi-final filler. In some ways, it feels (and looks) just a little too sophisticated for the competition but, hopefully, Jüri will display more than sufficient charisma to reel in enough votes to lift him into the Grand Final. This song deserves it.
Appearance: Semi-Final 1, performing 13th.
What are your thoughts about these songs?
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