Preface:
As I mentioned in a previous post (Random Thoughts Thursday: Eurovision), I’m going to start reviewing and making my predictions for ESC2022 as countries begin to name their artists and release their songs. While these songs will be performed at Eurovision, countries have some time to revamp the song (mainly to fit it into the 3-minute window) and staging.
In addition to making comments about the current entry, I’ll provide information about the country’s entry from last year’s Eurovision just as a comparison.
Mia DimÅ¡ić – Guilty Pleasure
Vocal:
Mia definitely gives me Taylor Swift vibes with an Eastern European twist. Interestingly, the studio version of this song is slightly better than her live performance during Croatia’s national selection. While she has a nice melodic voice, she came off a bit breathy and off-key/pitch during certain parts of the song (especially right before she left the platform without her guitar). I just wish that she could have pulled off belting a nice long note towards the end of the song to elevate it.
Musical Arrangement:
I cannot say much about the musical arrangement. It sounds like a pretty general pop song, which necessarily is not a bad thing.
Staging:
Here’s the unfortunate thing with her staging, I found myself focusing more on the acrobat/dancer than the singer. He’s AMAZING.
So the performance felt more like a contemporary dance routine supplemented with a vocal performance rather than a vocal performance supplemented with a dance routine.
Final Thoughts:
While I think this is a decent song and Mia has a nice voice, I do not see this qualifying to the finals. Now if I had to vote for the dancer, that dude would definitely qualify. 😉 Besides the acrobat, who steals a lot of the performance’s thunder, there is not much drawing me into Mia’s performance. Since the studio version sounds pretty decent, I’ll attribute some of the shaky vocals to Mia’s nerves (perhaps, something else was going on behind the scenes).
Croatia in last year’s Eurovision:
Albina – Tick-Tock
- Semi-final results: 11th place out of 16 performances (110 total points – 57 national juries and 53 public votes
- Final results: Since she did not make the top 10, she did not compete in the final. Man, she was so close because she missed the 10th spot by a mere five points.
Boy were the folks from Croatia maaaaaaaaaad that she did not qualify to the finals. I mean she had it all pop-divaness, exceptional staging, decent looking dancers, a decent voice. One small (kinda sorta mean opinion): I thought the dancers’ costumes looked a little low budget; however, Albina’s costume was fine. For Albina, I think she did not qualify because there were just so many pop divas in ESC2021. Out of the 16 performers in her semi-heat, there were 12 female single or lead singers. Out of those 12 female singers, there were 7-8 (depending on how you categorize the songs) singing poppy, upbeat music. Additionally, quite a few of those 12 female singers or leads either had stronger vocals or dancing in their performances.
Social Media Plug:
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