Review: Eurovision 2015: Malta: L-Aħwa: Beautiful to Me

Gianluca Bezzina of family group L-Aħwa

Image by Albin Olsson (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

The singing doctor, Gianluca Bezzina, returns to Malta's Eurovision stage after a one year break, joining his siblings in the family group L-Aħwa.

As you might remember, Gianluca was Malta's representative in Sweden in 2013, where he finished in a very respectable eighth place with the song Tomorrow. This time, he takes on the lead vocals on a not too dissimilar composition called Beautiful to Me.  

Possessing a jaunty melody, Gianluca's distinctive vocals and with his brother and sisters backing him up, you could be forgiven for thinking that it's The Partridge Family meets The New Seekers. 

While there is strong evidence that the whole concept embraces the "cute factor", it never crosses the line to become twee and sickly.

In fact, Gianluca's infectious smile and immense likability and popularity should easily carry this catchy number through to the Maltese final on November 22, where it has a very strong chance of becoming the island's representative in Vienna.

What do you think?

 

L-Aħwa perform in 16th position out of 20 competitors in the semi-final on November 21.

+ Read more reviews of the songs participating at the Maltese semi-final. 

Eurovision 2013: Winners & Losers: SF2

More surprises were unveiled as the results from the second semi-final of the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest were announced last night (see above). What some believed to be cast iron pre-show predictions, instead turned out to be as reliable as a chocolate teapot.

I include myself among those who believed that 2013 was the year for San Marino to finally qualify. How wrong were we? Very wrong, as it turned out. Valentina Monetta's second valiant attempt to be included in Saturday's Final failed. How badly, we don't know as yet...but, even so, there is now talk of San Marino withdrawing from next year's competition.

After withdrawing last year, Armenia unexpectedly bounced back to become one of the ten qualifiers. The Tony Iommi composed Lonely Planet was never considered to be a strong contender, but Dorians pulled off the second surprise of the evening amid some ugly booing.

No booing for Hungary though. ByeAlex was the first qualifier to be announced and they seemed as surprised as many pundits. I've made no secret of my liking for this simple toe tapper and was very pleased to see it progress. All of that online promotion by Alex Márta has really paid off.

 
By Albin Olsson (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Last to perform was the Romanian entry and, much to my despair, Europe decided to put this monstrosity through. Cezar and his performance has had much publicity during the lead up to the semi-finals and his novelty factor paid handsomely on the night. There were a couple of other more deserving songs, but obviously the public and the juries saw it differently.

All in all, this semi-final was a disappointment. Only three or four of the songs are credible successors to Loreen's title. In the frame are, I believe: Azerbaijan, Finland (coming up on the rails) and my winner from these ten, Norway. Greece will cheer up a lot of voters, but not enough to worry the front runners.

So to the final. Do any of the songs from Thursday's semi-final include your choice of winner?

Eurovision 2013: Malta: Tomorrow

Gianluca: Tomorrow

Doctor Gianluca Bezzina won the Maltese national final back in early February and will sing the island's Eurovision entry: Tomorrow.

Gianluca follows a part time singing career, having had some success on Malta as part of the group Funk Initiative. No funk involved in this song, however. Tomorrow, much like Hungary's entry Kedvesem, is a very simple tune. In fact, it would not go amiss on a Jason Mraz album. Think ukulele and staccato vocals.

Gianluca sings it well, even if he does have to put up with some silly lyrics at the beginning. It's light, cheery, hummable and strangely catchy. The more I hear it, the more I like it. But that may be its problem: is it memorable enough first time around to qualify?

There is nothing like it in its semi-final, which in my opinion is the weaker of the two. That should help it, as will its singalong refrain, which hopefully the crowd will join along with. Hopefully, we'll hear this one again in the Final.

Malta will perform in sixth place in the second semi-final on May 16.

What do you feel about Tomorrow?