As the Contest is getting closer and closer to starting, already more buzz happening. Just recently, more OGAE’s revealed their points and mine had a voting deadline of the 10th and the reveal the following day. Yes, I did place my votes.
For this blog, I thought I’d review the three alpine nations I didn’t review. Most of them I reviewed when I did the Big Five. So here are the three:
AUSTRIA 🇦🇹
Performer: Kaleen
Song: “We Will Rave”
Last year Austria found itself back in the Grand Final with a super-catchy song about Edgar Allan Poe. This year, Austria’s entry is Kaleen who’s no stranger to Eurovision. Since 2018, she’s been involved with Eurovision as a stand-in singer, dancer, choreographer and creative director for some Eurovision and Junior Eurovision performances. This time, she sings Austria’s song “We Will Rave,” another catchy entry from Austria. For many, including myself, it will remind them of 1990’s EuroDance. This song doesn’t just bring those EuroDance sounds back. It captures the best essences and the energy of that style of dance music. Easy to see why it’s caught on.
ESC Chances: Once again Austria brings a catchy song with buzz. Thing is Austria’s most recent entries have been hurt by bad staging. 2021’s was boring, 2022’s looked like they were ‘caged in,’ and last year’s looked very lacklustre and probably cost them their Top 10 chances. Here Austria has another chance for a Top 10 result. I don’t think bad staging will hurt their qualifying chances but staging will be important for Kaleen to get a Top 10 finish. Kaleen could even include some dance moves.
SAN MARINO 🇸🇲
Performer: Megara
Song: “11:11”
San Marino is the microstate that refuses to give up. This year makes it their fourteenth time into the Contest and their entry this year is the Spanish band Megara, who previously attempted to represent Spain by competing at last year’s Benidorm Fest. They bring a hard rock sound to Eurovision and their song is in Spanish. Also the song will remind you they’re from Spain with the instrumental bridge before the last chorus. If you give this song a fair chance, you will like the energy and even the ‘going crazy’ vibe of it. It’s worth liking on its own.
ESC Chances: Seems like this year, there are a lot of hard rock or goth rock entries. Croatia, Czechia, Ireland and San Marino. It’s possible to catch on but it has a lot of hard competition in its semi final. One important thing to note: all three San Marino entries that made it to the Grand Final were all entries who previously represented San Marino in the past. Megara is a fresh entry and they will need a lot going for them if they want to qualify, like an excellent stage show and then some.
SWITZERLAND 🇨🇭
Performer: Nemo
Song: “The Code”
Switzerland has had it pretty good this decade; present in every Grand Final. This year, their entry is Nemo who sings, raps, plays the violin, piano and drums. Nemo has been very active in the Swiss music scene since 2016. Nemo’s Eurovision entry “The Code” is something else. The song is about Nemo coming to terms with their non-binary identity. The song itself appears to mix a lot of genres like pop, trance, opera and rap. It’s one of those quirky songs that gets you liking it more and more each time you listen to it. Also Nemo really goes for the high notes!
ESC Chances: Switzerland’s last win was Celine Dion in 1988. Hard to explain what exactly the buzz is for this song. The song itself, the beat, the vocal gymnastics, the gender-bending, the attitude, the stage performance? Whatever it is, this song has already taken the lead for odds to win. It has a lot of aspects that label it a winner. This song also may not be everyone’s cup of tea. The question remains for Eurovision voters. They made a transsexual winner of Dana International in 1998. They made a drag winner with Conchita Wurst in 2014. Can they make Nemo a non-binary winner? We’ll see in the future.
And there you go. That’s my look at this year’s songs from three Alpine nations. We’re getting closer and closer to the start of the Contest and the excitement just grows!
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