Review: Polina Gagarina with A Million Voices

Europe, please welcome the queen of this year’s ballads! Russia has put all its feelings into a great voice and brings us A Million Voices, a powerful ballad made for lip-syncing in front of the mirror. Russia itself may not be welcomed in Europe, but this song surely will be.

It really has everything. It starts with a quiet beginning, leading to the chorus as the music intensifies and finally introducing the drums to make it more dramatic. And then, after the second chorus, the back-up singers get the song ready to the ecstatic “sing it out” ending. Everything comes at its exact moment, and the song grows until the very end, when Polina gives the rest. And this girl really knows how to sing! Her voice is clean, intense and perfect even singing live, where she has proven to be really comfortable with the song. The structure and positive message reminds me of Dina Garipova’s What If, but as I see it this song delivers much more emotion and could fill better Vienna’s stage. The song is so good itself that it doesn’t need any special scenography and definitely no seesaws. It is simple, but a good and powerful simple. I just love it.

For all this, I am pretty sure A Million Voices will sound on Saturday’s Grand Final, and I guess it will be one of the big moments of the night. We won’t go to Moscow for clear reasons next year, but it’s nice to see that great and beautiful songs are possible in one of Europe’s biggest shows.

Review: Knez with Adio

Following last year’s success with Moj Svijet, Montenegro has decided to keep the Balkan ballads flowing and brings us Adio. Knez was one of the first 2015 Eurovision artists to be announced, although we had to wait almost until the March deadline to hear his song. The question is: was it worth the wait?

The first time you listen to Adio you may want to skip the first 30 seconds. The music is ethnic, it is soft, it is nice but it is way too much for a three minutes song opening. The lyrics then are very romantic, and I think Montenegrin is just the perfect language for them (it’s hard to believe that Igranka was sung in Montenegrin too, as it sound so much harsh). That being said, the song is actually a little bit plain, and doesn’t try to grow until the very end. The female back up singers sound really good with Knez voice, and I don’t think it is a song you could actually dislike. As a whole, it is well constructed and it works, although it may seem a little repetitive and kind of boring at some parts (I just wish it had the strength it has after the second chorus). They’ve tried to repeat Moj Svijet’s formula, but I find Sergej much sweeter than Knez, and last year’s song a little bit stronger. The rest is quite the same.

Anyway, I really like Adio. It is very lyrical, warm and I find it somehow spring-like (although I can’t understand a single word).Unfortunately, I think it won’t make through the second semi-final, where there are so many good songs and seven have to go home. At least if they had taken any risk there would be something to blame on, but to me it is just the Moj Svijet-like song that wasn’t as good as Moj Svijet.

Review: Uzari and Maimuna with Time

Belarus gets into the duo mania bringing us Uzari and Maimuna, if you want to consider that him singing and her playing the violin is actually a duo. It is an up-beat song, which is really something in this year’s competition, played by two good-looking people and with a violin in it (something that has been proven to be a good thing in 2008 and 2009 winning songs). Could this be their ticket to success?

The song starts with a gentle piano, and gradually grows with some bass to finally introduce Maimuna’s violin. It is a good beginning, but I just don’t love Uzari’s voice. He doesn’t make any vocal effort throughout the whole song, and it would be literally naked without the back-up singers at some parts. Luckily, the violin gets some of the attention, and helps the bridge to sound special. Without it, Time would be a generic pop song, just that. It has a nice message and a catchy melody that sticks into your head for a while after listening to it, but there’s nothing more to it. At least, not for me.

Will it make through it semi-final? Yes. And it will probably make it to the left side of the chart on Saturday. I like it, and I don’t mind when it pops out in my playlist ‘cause it makes me dance a little bit, but it’s just not my favourite. Better song than last year’s Cheesecake, anyway, so well done, Belarus.

Review: Leonor Andrade with Há Um Mar Que Nos Separa

After making us dance with Quero Ser Tua, it seems that Portugal has grown up a little with Leonor Andrade’s song. It is darker, less cheerful and won’t make you dance. They are completely different, and although at first I just went through it with no special emotion, now I really like Há Um Mar Que Nos Separa.

First of all, I must say I love non-English entries in Eurovision. Listening to other languages is something I really like about the contest, and I think it is something that shouldn’t be lost. For this reason, I find Há Um Mar Que Nos Separa more special than if it was sung in English. The melody is fine, with some pop-rock attitude, but it lacks that growing part that could make it even better. Although it gets better and with more energy on the studio version, I see Leonor trying to deliver more emotion than the song actually lets her and I don’t like it. It sounds really good, but you don’t get surprised by anything in the whole song, at least in my opinion. It’s not a random ballad to add to the list, but I wish it was a little bit more of everything, something made really to shine in Eurovision stage.

The thing is, I like the song and I find it kind of warm. I like her voice, I like her style and as a whole it is a nice entry, but I’m afraid this won’t go through its semi-final. In the end, it’s not a risky entry, and I think that’s what countries like Portugal must  go for in Eurovision in order to reach to the people.