ESC Covers start the Eurovision 2024 countdown from position 37 to the top place. We are using the review of Morten Thomassen from Norway. ESC Covers google translated it from Norwegian to English.

This is a blog entry and represents only writer Morten Thomassen’s own views.

In the second semi-final it was very close at the bottom of the results list, only 5 points separated the 4 countries who in their own way fought for the last place and with only 1 point margin our Albanian friend BESA avoided the last place and then, as the odds meant, a second last place in that semi.

As an artist, you may not make much of a difference in the position when it is so far down the results list, but this country actually has the benefit of coming in last place, so in that sense they still haven’t gotten to feel that exact feeling even if it was on their hair this year.

True to tradition, our Albanian friends change the song that wins the national final just before Christmas and that change is not always for the better, much of the song’s identity has a bad tendency to disappear and you are left with ordinary European pop.

As possibly the only artist this year, BESA wore different costumes to the two tests the week before and by the time of the semi-final she had surely found something new in her wardrobe then as well.

In terms of performance, the vocals are a bit rusty at times and it is a bit difficult to understand what kind of message she is trying to convey to us on stage, but she should still have plus points for having two choristers with her on stage, they will soon be on the red list of endangered species.

The song is probably not terribly original either, and then she loses the audience pretty quickly and the feeling of blandness creeps in for many.

Maybe a return to rock in Albanian is what’s needed, the quota of big vocal ballads seems a bit crowded from that edge now.

Featured image – Sarah Louise Bennett EBU