Tom: This was by far my favourite track of this year’s Eurovision: in fact, I’d say it was the only one that got above “yeah, okay, I guess”. I know, my grading is harsher than most, but this is literally the only one where I perked up and went “that’s good”.
Tom: I remember you describing it as “Italian Keane”, which isn’t unfair — and also isn’t an insult. This is, basically, your standard piano-builder track.
Tim: Yeah, and I absolutely didn’t mean it as an insult. There are a hell of a lot of things it does right.
Tom: There are several things that, for me, lift it up out of the morass that was this year’s selection.
His voice. There’s a brilliant vocal quality there: clear and powerful in the chorus, quiet and calm in the verses. And crucially, he can hit those notes live, extremely well.
Then there’s the composition. Sure, it starts slow, but it clues you in very early that it’s a builder, and it delivers perfectly.
Tim: This is annoying: I agree with every single point you’ve made, and yet I still prefer yesterday’s. Thing is, while this is a builder, and it does make it clear from the off, what it also makes clear is “you’re gonna have to wait a bit, but honestly it will get there”. And I’m just not sure that works so well for Eurovision.
Tom: And sure, it helps that the final chorus would fit nicely in the voting recap. But I reckon this would have ended up like John Lundvik last year: loved by the jury, riding high all the way through the first part of the results, only to then get knackered by the televote. Because it’s not a modern audience-appeal pop song: plus, it’s in Italian, and sure, in the end it’s just another ballad. But it’s a very, very good ballad.