The next couple of entries are penned by the Eurovision legends and schlager celebrities Phillip Vella and Gerard James Borg. They bid you welcome to the Eurovision planet that exists in a parallel universe outside the regular music industry.
Don’t wake up Jessika!
Being behind a gazillion songs competing in national finals in a number of countries, and having represented Malta five times internationally in ESC, it’s safe to say that the songwriter duo behind Hypnotica have almost created a music genre of their own. It makes us wonder if there’s a secret brotherhood for Eurovision wizards, where Vella and Borg is joined by Thomas G:son, Ralph Siegel and a couple of others. We imagine them meeting once a year to distribute Europe’s national finals among them and to discuss how to shove in as many key changes as possible.
As a result we end up with a bunch of songs sounding very similar and accusations of plagiarism are not uncommon, Hypnotica being no exception (think Euphoria meets My Heart is Refusing Me meets Glorious). What annoys us the most is the absolutely ridiculous lyrics. If someone could please stub out their joint and tell us exactly where Hypnotica is located it would be much appreciated. We’re also worried this number will not work live with Jessika’s rather thin and forced vocal. Add a somewhat intricate dance routine on top of that and we’re headed straight for yet another trainwreck performance. But the song is catchy and a definite floor filler in Euroclub in May, so the potential is there. We’re on the fence on this one and won’t pass our final judgment until we’ve seen it performed live.
Promising from Raquel
From Eurotrash to a more contemporary r&b ballad, competently sung by Raquel (17) who cannot imagine her life without music. And by the look if it she won’t have to as she shows enough talent to stick around for a while. A dramatic staging, a fabulous frock and some decent coaching for Raquel can do wonders for this number. Raquel needs to boost her confidence on stage, lose the scowly facial expressions and stop clinging to the microphone stand as her life depended on it. One of the better ballads in the line-up.
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