No brassy, turbofolk, countryside wedding music from Moldova this year.
Moldova is one of our favorite countries in Eurovision when they stick to what they know best. From an outsider’s view it seems like the Moldovans have a lively domestic music scene, with a flair for mixing traditional music with new modern beats. They seem proud of their musical heritage and not afraid to play with stereotypes. There’s a confidence in what they do we find very appealing and we have loved their tongue in cheek approach reminding us all about the fact that Eurovision is an entertainment show and we should all have some fun with it. Besides, showcasing homegrown talent in Eurovision has by far produced the most successful results for the Moldovans in the past.
That’s why we cannot see the need for inviting Danish and Swedish writers of generic assembly line pop to take part in their national selection, it simply does not make any sense. We apologize on behalf of the whole of Scandinavia for meddling.
Admittedly we don’t know what was on offer in this year’s O melodie pentru Europa. Yes, we are hardcore Eurovision fans but even we must draw the line somewhere on how much time we spend on national selection shows. So, when Anna Odobescu with Stay emerges as the winner it makes us question the overall quality and/or whether the voting somehow was manipulated.
There’s something helplessly lackluster over the whole package coming from Moldova this year, from the poorly written bio on eurovision.tv and the cringy music video to the promo pictures making Anna look like a 90s soap star. So far, we do not doubt her ability to sing in key and represent Moldova competently, but being equipped with this pompous and dated power ballad complete with terrible, cliché-ridden lyrics, she’s pretty much doomed. Not even the keychange can save this from crashing in the semi-final.
We hope the Moldovans learn their lesson and come back next year with the usual good stuff.
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