Storm / SuRie / United Kingdom | Review

Will SuRie kick up a Storm in Lisbon?

It's a little over ten days since the British public and a somewhat anonymous panel of  judges chose - from among six other hopefuls - its song for this years's Eurovision. The outcome: SuRie has unexpectedly earned the UK ticket to travel to Portugal with the exuberantly positive track, Storm.

The result was something of a surprise among those who had already heard the previously-released half dozen tracks. A clear favourite had emerged (Asanda's Legends) but studio-based and live performances can sometimes turn out to be streets apart. Unfortunately for Asanda she did not live up to all the pre-show buzz, ultimately running out of gas before the end of her song.

So, it was classically-trained SuRie (Susanna Cork) who stepped up to the plate and effortlessly stole the whole show, raising the roof at the Brighton Dome by engaging the entire audience with her assured performance of this dynamic mixture of ballad-cum-pop thumper.

Her decidedly rich vocals have been cultivated at local venues in Bishop's Stortford - albeit at the top of her register they sounded stretched towards the end of the song. Hopefully, this is just an isolated episode and her live vocal should not prove a concern in Lisbon. 

While her voice should hold up, what about the song? It's an entry far removed from Lucie Jones's 2017 plaintive effort. Storm is a highly listenable pop composition which seems perfect for Eurovision. It builds from a piano ballad beginning and develops into an example of a full-on toe-tapping, hand clapping party piece. Along with its uplifting lyrics, it has the potential to repeat the kind of atmosphere it created in Brighton when it hits the stage in May.  

Over the coming weeks though, the song will be the subject of a revamp, so any review is somewhat tempered until Storm's full impact is revealed.  

However, marrying the entry with the right visuals and production design, the UK may  surprise a few people this year. It may not win the Contest, but its memorable refrain gives it the potential to climb further up the scoreboard than the doubters would have you believe.

United Kingdom

Artist: SuRie

Song: Storm

Big 5 Finalist

Revamped version of Storm: