Dear Ukraine. How do you do it? I think most other regular Eurovision participants would be eager to know. Again we stand here with a song that is likely to go far, very far indeed.
Zlata Ognevich - Gravity (Ukraine 2013)
This is clearly the kind of song that Russian Dina should have had on her hands instead: a strong uptempo ballad that quickly unfolds from a delicate, almost whispered, start and starts building. And building and building and building into an impressive ending.
My only real concern here is that it took me forever to identify anything similar to a chorus, but even before I did this song worked really well thanks to a complete set of clever vocal gimmicks and a very polished performance by Zlata.
Given the usual Ukrainian ability of setting their songs alight on a eurovision stage, even in the years when the song itself is weak, this pearl could very well grow into a complete powerhouse before the rehearsals are over in Malmö.
Qualifier:
Yes. And a very strong contender in the final.
My grade: 4/5
A very promising song with interesting things happening during the first third. But after the first minute nothing really new happens. Good idea, but maybe they should have save some surprised for the latter half as well.
ReplyDeleteOne of my absolute favourites, too, but I fear that they may overdo it on stage. As you point out the Ukrainians tend to put a lot of effort into innovative performances, which can lift songs that have not felt entirely convincing in advance. However, with a song like this that is complex and interesting enough in it's own right there is a risk of overkill, particularly as the artist promises to "plunge the viewers into a fairytale". Are we to expect a butterfly-infested extravaganza? Going the way of say Belarus 2007, following a very baroque video with a striking but simple visual presentation on the ESC stage, might lead to a more pleasing result. Fingers crossed. Sometimes a bit of good taste isn't too bad, even in Eurovision.
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