Tim: There’s a school of thought that reckons Anna Book actually did herself a favour getting kicked out – as a schlager track, it went down very well as an interval performance, inside the stadium and outside, but would likely have been utterly rejected by the voters had it actually been competing. This track, ending up as it did in seventh place, adds a lot of weight to that.
Tom: Well, that was unexpected. And then, unexpectedly good. That’s a really good chorus: riffing on I Will Survive, and a half-dozen other disco classics, but never actually quite going there.
Tim: A drag act with a chorus of “come out like a star, glisten after dark, take a step into the light as your true self, open the closet, time for your entrance, come out like a star, a true superstar”.
Tom: Mm. I feel I’ve seen that schtick somewhere before. Oh, yes: that would be on stage, in Copenhagen, in Eurovision 2014.
Tim: Yes, and there it was big DRAMA taking itself very seriously; here it’s less so, instead being just plain camp, more for entertainment than for a political statement. Directly talking about how great Lady Gaga, Madonna, Beyoncé and Cher are, and a key change that goes through the ceiling. It brings an enormous reaction in the stadium, but that heart barely starts beating.
Tom: Could you explain that heart? Is it some sort of live-voting thing?
Tim: Pretty much – the intensity of the heart, which goes from grey to lightning-zapping pink, via dark purple and quiet pink, represents the number of app votes that are coming in for each song, which can only be done while the song is on. Brought in a couple of years ago, apparently to make viewers feel more involved with the show. And here it shows – Sweden knows this is a song that would be awful for Eurovision, but is just so enjoyable to watch – and I’m fully in agreement with that.