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#ESC 2014 SAN MARINO: VALENTINA MONETTA - MAYBE

San Marino participates for the fifth time and for the third year in a row it's Valentina Monetta for them, making her only the fourth artist to achieve this in the 59 years of Eurovision. Also, she has improved her placing every year (14th and 11th in the semifinal) and so has San Marino (19th, 16th, 14th, 11th). The big question is will they make it to the final finally? Her Eurovision path has been rocky; two years ago she stepped in the last minute to replace someone else, and her song was laughed a lot, while last year she was voted the runner up in OGAE polls right behind the eventual winner. This year the response has been more timid. Like I said there's only one goal: the final.  Maybe.
Robert: Let's hope its third time lucky for Valentina. Like Udo Jurgens did in the sixties, she sings already three times in a row. For Udo, it became a victory the third time but Valentina will not reach that for sure. Reaching the final nowadays is already a triumph and I'm sure Valentina will already be very happy with that. Maybe is a bit of classical pop tune, it has a nice melody but it could also have been on the Eurovision stage decades ago. It's not a contempary song and San Marino could be punished for that. However, if Valentina manages to reach the right notes, and if the staging, light and performance are right, she has a chance to slide through to the final.
Blogilkar: Last but not least.... San Marino. When you read this I have already joined the Sammarinese team in Copenhagen and will be hoping like all of us that one of the ten slots in the final would be for San Marino for the very first time. The song might be old fashioned, having hints of Bond themes, musicals, ABBA harmonies and classic Siegel of late 70's and early 80's. But Valentina makes it work, it fits her voice and she owns the song, singing it in a sincere, heartfelt way. It's catchy and melodic, well written. The arrangement is so retro it actually sounds good. And even if I'm a firm believer national languages are better, for some reason English fits this song better than Italian. A bilingual version would have been a bit confusing so fully English it is. Like it or not, Valentina has worked a lot for this third participation, released a new album, is making history with this triplet. She deserves a final place. Vote! Vote! Vote!

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