If you don’t know (or didn’t know), here’s part 5 of the run through of this year’s contestants! Will they be beautiful butterflies, or rather moths that have to hide away in the dark?
First of all, a bit of framework for the judging – I’ll be looking at the song, the vocal performance and the stage presentation (or concept of the video if we haven’t seen a stage performance) and I’ll round up by putting them to the DIMI test (do I think it’s Dramatic, Intriguing and/or Modern enough to Include in my iTunes library?). I’ll score the entries from 1 to 5 on each of those points, resulting in a score out of a possible maximum of 20.
9. Montenegro – Who See feat. Nina Žižić – Igranka
The Song: A word of warning before you open the video above: hold on to your butt. This is by far the strangest entry this year. Which doesn’t mean it’s necessarily bad, it just takes some getting used to. Not too fond of the rap bits I have to admit but they don’t exactly feel out of place either. Love how contemporary this sounds, another one thinking out of the box and for that reason alone they deserve at least a couple of butterflies. It’s like the good twin of last year’s disaster, basically.
Verdict:
The Voice: Well, rappers do not necessarily need to be vocally talented, as long as they get the timing and feeling right. Then there’s the almost essential female vocal to balance it all out, and if Nina manages to come across as powerful on stage as she does in the studio version this might well be the surprise of the evening. IF.
Verdict:
The Performance: Very curious to see how they’ll try to sell this. The video is hilarious but is the Eurovision audience ready for this? I wonder.
Verdict:
The DIMI test: Kuddos to Montenegro for avoiding every single cliché in the Eurovision manual. Welcome to my iTunes library.
Verdict:
PERSONAL TOTAL: 13/20
PREDICTION: I think this is a stretch too far for most people tuning in on May 14th, and Montenegro’s qualifying record doesn’t bring much confidence to the table either. Stuck in the semi, but I would gladly be proven wrong on this one.
10. Lithuania- Andrius Pojavis – Something
The Song: With a singer and a performance like that it’s hard to focus on the song, even though the chorus is quite nice. In fact, the chorus is the only convincing part of this but it does save A LOT. To me, the verses are practically non-existent – which might have something to do with the way they’re performed – and the lyrics might try to be poetic but they just come across as bewildering. Which again might have something to do with the performance. Or not. This confuses me a lot.
Verdict:
The Voice: Flat as a paved road. There’s just no involvement at all and it rapes the song. I’d rather listen to the instrumental version of the song.
Verdict:
The Performance: He looks stoned, doesn’t he? Or he’s on his own planet. Which is basically the same somehow. Either way: this boy should not be on a stage. Rather in a locked ward.
Verdict:
The DIMI test: If it had been sung by someone else: perhaps. In this case: so long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, goodbye!
Verdict:
PERSONAL TOTAL: 5/20
PREDICTION: Considering Lithuania qualified with the worst kind of tripe in 2011 I don’t dare write this off completely but at the moment I really can’t see this making the final.
Tomorrow: Belarus & Moldova