Some ESC years are bad because the mix doesn't really work. Tallinn 2002 is the perfect example of this. Most of the songs are fine, really, but there are few standouts and when you heard all the songs you are left with the impression that most songs were a bit samey.
That's when people suddenly will warm to something nobody would have expected them to warm to. Very much like when Europe suddenly embraced Estonia's Tanel & Dave the year before, the televoting audience suddenly fell headlong for Malta's Ira Losco.
Not many would have seen that one coming before the rehearsals start. The Maltese entry was just a happy little ditty with a typical lyric stacking words on top of each other with the only purpose of making them rhyme.
But when Ira entered the stage, she oozed with confidence and managed to convince the audience that her little song actually meant something. That is was relevant, somehow. Very few contenders in the 2002 final had managed to do the same. Many of them had better songs but for some reason they passed the voters by.
And when Ira has passed the bridge and suddenly blows Europe a silver kiss - in one of the cheesiest yet most brilliant gimmicks ever - she almost seems to know she has hit home. Some more points and it would have earned her a victory.
A deserved 2nd place?
Yes. Anyone who can take a song that originally means as little as this one and turn it into something convincing and instantly likeable deserves at least a second place.
Ira Losco - 7th Wonder (Malta 2002)
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