Tim: Three months to go, so let’s have a wander around Europe and see which songs weren’t considered quite good enough to represent their country at Eurovision. We start with this from Malta, placing 7th out of 20 contestants.
Tim: So, ANALYSIS, and I think the main problem here is structure, and growth.
Tom: And cleavage. Sorry, what?
Tim: Structure and growth, Tom, please pay attention. Because we like both of those things, and for the first two thirds of this song they work together absolutely perfectly. First verse, quiet, STANDARD. First chorus, build on that, STANDARD. Second verse, build some more, WHAT, because this is not meant to happen. We’ve got a whole euphoric trance layer suddenly appearing and it’s WONDERFUL, so MORE THAN full marks so far. Second chorus, build up again, STANDARD but still ABOVE EXPECTED.
Tom: Yep, that trance beat took me by surprise too: I thought this was going to be by-the-numbers, and I was surprised. Then I thought it was going to be MASSIVE in the final chorus, and…
Tim: But then. BUT THEN. Oh, why? What happened? Dip for the middle eight, fine, but then you need, NEED, to come back with an explosion, especially if you’ve set expectations that high. You’re building, building, building, and then…flatline. Nothing more than you had for the second chorus.
Tom: To be fair, even that second chorus wasn’t exactly euphoric. A great opportunity, wasted.
Tim: Yep – and then at the end you’re only saying thank you to the crowd, rather than yelling it out with a massive grin on your face. Oh, Corazon.