A Swede who lives in Finland and who is lost in Euroland - the wonderful world of Eurovision
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Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Semi 1: 01 Armenia


The running order is no longer established by a draw in order to give every song the best possible starting position. So it would be nice to know why the first semi kicks off with this particular entry.



Aram Mp3 - Not Alone (Armenia 2014)

When Armenia announced that their internally selected entrant was a comedian-turned-singer I must admit to radically lowering my expectations but I was proved very wrong indeed. This is a modern, intriguing and very ambitious entry with a long and intense crescendo that finally turns into the most credible dubstep element to date in the ESC.

Passionate, tempestuous, exquisite.

But also the kind of entry that would need a couple of songs in front of it in order to stand out. You benefit less from being different if you are the first one on stage and the audience has nothing to compare you to. The choice of having Armenia open the semi is really hard to understand.

Not Alone is also a top favourite with the bookies. Why waste a song like that so early in the running order?

Qualifier: 
Absolutely. No bad starting position in the world could hold this entry back at this point. It will qualify with ease and then hopefully have a better spot in the final.

My grade: 5/5

3 comments:

  1. This is really a tricky song to judge, especially if you don't have time to listen to this many times. At first listen I liked the tender way the song starts and grows into something. Very promising beginning, but I am not sure that the middle bit delivers what you are waiting for. But I love how a noisy song ends in a feather light vein like it started.

    So, I love the first half and the last quarter, but the third quarter need more digesting as far as I am concerned.

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  2. I love this song. Unlike you Mikko I fell instantly in love with these accords. The last time I had this wow-effect from Loreen.
    I had been waiting for it for weeks. In this song you have all the elements for a winning song: tenderness with soft piano sounds, uplifting brass sounds and agony of love with dubstep.

    I keep on clicking this song on and on, I cannot stop listening to this addicting music. Now having listened to it at least 40 times I still get moved most the times. The orchestration is very professional.

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  3. I think it will definitely qualify going on my first impression expect a top 5 finish on the Saturday. It should score well with juries as fresh. Overtime I have found I like it less but as most viewers only hear the songs once or twice shouldn't be an issue

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