Lost and Found / Eye Cue / North Macedonia | Review

Eye Cue: will they lose or find a place in the finals?

Over the years, North Macedonia has suffered a 'crossover' problem at Eurovision: much of their output has been lapped up by their Balkan neighbours but those voters further afield have been much less willing to award their entries many points.

Consequently, since 2008, they have only managed to progress to the Grand Final on one occasion when Kaliopi rose to 13th place with Crno i belo. It doesn't mean that their entire Eurovision back catalogue is dross as many of their songs have been reasonably acceptable. It's just that a lot of their entries sound 'foreign' to those listening outside of the Balkans.

Performed in English, co-written and produced by celebrated North Macedonian songwriter Darko Dimitrov, Eye Cue's Lost and Found appears to be an effort to focus on this predicament.

There’s much to enjoy about this song even if it sounds somewhat confusing. Eye Cue deliver a contemporary performance and the entry is a much more international production that’s only somewhat impaired by the fact that it sounds as if they have welded two or three different songs together. It moves from reggae to dubstep to dance to rock/pop without too much effort but it does sound rather clunky. Even so, it’s modern and is certainly a lot more accessible than many previous North Macedonian entries.

There is a concern, though, that in attempting to attract a wider audience, North Macedonia may have now caused themselves to become too inconspicuous. In a way, it's a no-win situation for the country. However, this style of song could be a much easier sell than an ethnic foreign language track like 2013's Pred da se razdeni, but it looks as if it's going to encounter a lot of opposition this year.

It would be a pity if North Macedonia missed out on the Grand Final once more, as there is a lot to like about this. At the moment, it’s an entry that is a borderline qualifier – and Semi-Final 1 seems to have many of those.

Image: Andres Putting Eurovision.tv

North Macedonia 

Artist: Eye Cue

Song: Lost and Found 

Semi-Final 1 | Second Half