A Swede who lives in Finland and who is lost in Euroland - the wonderful world of Eurovision
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Friday, April 24, 2015

Semi 2: 08 Czech republic

The Czech republic took part three times with disastrous results before pulling out and I for one thought they had left the party forever with no intention of returning. That they decided to come back could be seen as a big a surprise as Australia's participation.

In a seemingly ambitious internal selection they singled out this dark and moody ballad, performed by two of the most established rock vocalists to be found on the local scene. And the final result feels polished and professional.

Marta and Václav are most appealing together and have great voices but unfortunately the song in itself never takes off. It slowly builds and builds, promising a climax that never really comes.

Most of all, it reminds me of neighbouring Slovakia's 2009 effort which was also musically solid and performed by a talented duo and - as a cherry on top - had a vocal explosion on offer by the end of the song. All that hard work and all they got was a second last place in their semi.

I'm afraid the Czech couple won't do much better. I always like this song every time it plays and then I'm perfectly incapable of remembering a single note of it once it's gone.

Qualifier:
No. Sadly not. I would have wished it to, just to encourage Czech television to stay with us this time. Czech republic is the only country in this year's line-up that has never performed in an ESC final. Hope never dies.

My grade: 2/5



Marta Jandová & Václav Noid Bárta - Hope Never Dies (Czech republic 2015)

2 comments:

  1. Nice try, though these cheeky Czechs. The duo sounds good but it just doesn't look good, and I feel like towards the end of the chorus it's destined to turn into a country ballad....

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  2. Hope Never Dies is significant title. This song is uncomparably better live (check out especially their London Eurovision Party performance), they both have great charisma, likable personalities and thanks to many hilarious interviews with them on YouTube, people started to care about the song notably more during past week or so. I think it will be qualifier from 9th or 10th place. Hope so. :)

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