Skip to main content

EUROVISION 2023: EUROVISION MALTA 2023 REVIEW


Malta's long and adventurous selection comes to an end on SuperSaturday February 11, 2023. Along the way we lost one of the favorites, Aidan and his Regina as he was disqualified, threatened a lawsuit but then the dust settled and we are left with 16 songs, selected through the submissions and the 40 selected songs were presented in three quarter finals, cut down to 24 for the semifinal. Along the way we also lost most Maltese language entries and Eurovision veteran Jessika, but Fabrizio Faniello made it. In the final there will be 50/50 jury/televote and hold your horses, this is Malta. The winning song may not end up to Liverpool, only the singer if they manage to buy a better song to her/him/them..... A fact that I find very ridiculous and unfair. Brooke seems to be the front runner (again) now that Aidan is out of the picture.

Brooke - Checkmate **
She's not here for the first time and this time she could make it. This is a kind of song fandom will go crazy while the bigger audience less so. I'm not a fan. Generic pop with some what aggressive vocals.
Cheryl Balzan - La la land *
Maltese rock? Fire and flames? Guitars and chorus beat that was old already in the 80s? Besides she seems like a wrong singer for that. Voice ok, but her attitude, lol. No thank you. 
Chris Grech - Indescribable ** 1/2
He's back with his voice singing a boyband ballad from the 1990's. Beautiful piano though. 
Christian Arding - Eku ċar ****
He's left alone to defend the Maltese language with his timeless, classic ballad that is sung wonderfully. Sadly I think this won't go anywhere but in my playlist. 
Dan - It'll be OK ***
Ok, that staging wa something new. Is this Maltese Don't worry, be happy? This is so annoying it's already good. Maybe I'm in the modd today but I'm just humming along. Maybe tomorrow I hate this. 
Eliana Gomez Blanco - Guess what **
Nice interval act. She looks a bit uncomfortable styled like that. Also she does her best to avoid any eye contact with the camera. 
Fabrizio Faniello - Try to be better **
And time stood still. And the drummer steals the show.
Geo Debono - The mirror **
He's so much better than the song or non existing staging, the dancer don't help in the last second. 
Giada - I depend on you ***
There's something nice about this one, maybe it's laid back not overproduced  arrangement and she sings well instead of the usual Maltese way aka screaming out all you've got. 
Ian - On my own ***
Michael ben David 30 years later, is it? Prime example how vocals and suitable perfect choreography can lift a song to new heights; he seems comfortable in all he does. DILF power. 
Matt Blxck - Up ***
Ok, now this is something else. I liked him a lot last time, this isn't as strong but still fun to watch. For a couple of times.
Maxine Pace - Alone ***
Why am I thinkin German Lena? Something about her. It's nice, I like the arrangement but then yes, let's scream out all we've got in the end. Huge applause and one of the favorites I understand. Not sure if I want to listen to this several times, or who knows? Maybe it's a grower that clicks with the second or third hearing?
Nathan - Creeping walls *
He needs to grow and gain experience in performing as now it looks very rehearsed and there's no eye contact whatsoever. Theatrical pretentious song.
Ryan Hili- In the silence ***
I'm glad Malta has this year favored these kind of song instead of girly uptempo plastic. This is a bit Duncan Laurence or any American talent show song. He has a beautiful voice, and the song's not so bad either. 
Stefan - Heartbreaker **
Ok, nothing to write home about here either. Generic and heard before a zillion times. Forgotten before it's finished.
The Busker - Dance (Our own party) ***
This is something one would expect from some random Moldova that end up doing surprisingly well. Nice gimmick having Chiara, Renato and Ira on stage with them. Somehow this left me wanting for more.....This gets a bit repetitive. 




Comments

Popular posts from this blog

SONGS OF THE YEAR 2015: #5 KRISTA SIEGFRIDS - ON & OFF

Krista Siegfrids is delivering nice pop tunes one after another and this one is particularly catchy and soon you will be singing along..... Hopefully her Melodifestivalen entry will be equally good!

ESC 2016 WISH LIST: MARGARET FOR POLAND

Małgorzata Jamroży aka Margaret has also been tipped for Eurovision and apparently she did turn it down but she'd be perfect. She's got a look and persona you can't unnotice nor forget, she's got hit songs, she has been voted or nominated for everything from Trendy artist to the Hope of the Year, Fashion Icon and Glamour Woman of the year besides the usual best video, song, album, debut..... Oh she's also a fashion designer! She's very clever with social medias and would surely use it to her advantage if selected for Stockholm 2016. Her debut album is titled Add the blonde , do we need to say more? Except it includes mostly Swedish written pop tunes like Tell me how are ya , Wasted , Start a fire and Heartbeat . And of course her debut single and internationally noticed Thank you very much that you can enjoy below with all its anti-textil feel. I think she's Eurovision perfection, she's cheeky and fun, can we have her?

ESC 2016 BELARUS: NAKED WITH WOLVES?

Today's funniest Eurovision related story comes from Belarus. Some sources claim Ivan wants to perform on stage naked and with live wolf or wolves. It surely would be a first on Eurovision stage! We have seen some forgotten underwear over the years, and some cardbox animals though..... Is it time to take things a bit further?  No, according the rules live animals are not allowed, and Eurovision being a family show nudity won't do either. (It seems to be ok to be half naked if you are a dancer though..... )

GREECE: HELENA PAPARIZOU HITS AGAIN WITH HAIDE

Eurovision song contest 2005 winner Helena Paparizou has been enjoying Top-5 hits every year since 2003 with the exception of 2010 and 2014, this latest one being already her 27th! And Haide is charting also in Bulgaria and Finland, of all places. The catchiness of her hits has changed less over the years than her face....  Here's the English version , below the Greek version. 

FINLAND: CONGRATS HANNA PAKARINEN - BABY IS COMING!

No more leave me alones as Eurovision 2007 veteran Hanna Pakarinen has published in her Youtube channel a video unboxing the Finnish state's maternity box aka layette set thus announcing she's due to have a baby later this spring. Congratulations!

COUNTDOWN TO EUROVISION 2023 - CHOSEN ARTISTS, SONGS AND NATIONAL FINALS

Here's a recap of everything happening in the Eurovision 2023 bubble; all selections, internal selections and the rest. Enjoy! To be updated until all is said and done. ISRAEL  Artist (Internal): Noa Kirel (read more) Song: Unicorn (8.3.2023) Read more here CYPRUS Artist (internal):  Andrew Lambrou (read more) Song: Break a broken heart (2.3.2023) Read more here NETHERLANDS Artists (internal): Mia Nikolai & Dion Cooper (read more) Song: Burning daylight (1.3.2023) Read more here SLOVENIA Artist (internal) : Joker Out   ( read more ) Song: Carpe diem UKRAINE (Vidbir 17.12.2022) Read more here Artist: Tvorchi Song: Heart of steel Read more here ALBANIA (Festivali i Këngës 19-22.12.2022) Artist: Albina and Familja Kelmendi Song: Duje  Read more here Read more here FRANCE  Artist (internal): La Zarra ( read more ) Song: Èvidemment 19.2 BELGIUM (Eurosong 14.1.2023) Artist: Gustaph Song: Because of you Read more here GREECE  (internal, 30.1.2023) Art...

CAROLA'S BOOBS STEAL THE SHOW, SVT APOLOGIES

Update! Another thing got Swedes talking last night: Carola's boobs when she was giving away an award. This is not the first time her boombs cause headlines; her misfortunate adventures in the 80's in Japan wer explained with her boobs being too big for Japanese market. Ok.... Or was it the song ? Anyways, Carola apologies and says she thinks the dress is stylish and elegant (even her friends said so) and she's a mature woman in her 40s, not a 16-year-old girl and looks like one. The Swedish Oscars, Guldbagge awards were given out last night. Carola was there as a guest star to sing Barbra Streisand's The way we were when honoring the movie stars who passed away during 2012. However, the cameras were too much on Carola, not on the stars showed in photos in the background and that upset many viewers as that part of the show was to celebrate them, not Carola. Oh well...  The producer of the show tells in Aftonbladet the part of the show was made the sam...

CONCHITA WURST RELEASES YOU ARE UNSTOPPABLE VIDEO

Just awhile before her debut album simply titled Conchita will be released Conchita Wurst has released a video to her latest single You are unstoppable . And yes, she does Loreen or goes topless. Beautifully shot in black and white the video once again provides some beautiful imaginary and shots. And she's off to Australia for promotion soon..... 

TIM SCHOU AND HIS NAKED GRAVITY

Tim Schou has a pretty good solo career going since he left his friends in London. He's travelling the world and relesing songs and videos. The latest one is a great track and comes with a steamy video that kinda takes away from the song really. But who's complaining. If you got it, flaunt it. Enjoy the video below. This post coming after the other Dane, Rasmus Seebach as wishlist for Eurovision. To think about it, Tim would do nicely, too. Maybe he should give it another go?