Dutch Eurovision entry is nice, but will it do?
This year’s Eurovision Song Festival entry is from 23-year-old Douwe Bob from Amsterdam who will perform his song ‘Slow Down’, which is in English and sounds a lot like country music with a touch of the 1970s. He’s popular, has won a lot of prizes, seems really positive about his chances, but his song is not an earworm. I do like his pronunciation, although his lyrics are too simplistic for my taste. Then again, that’s probably good considering the level of people’s English at Eurovision.
The comments on YouTube are very positive and we’ve been wrong before. I can’t seem to remember the song after a few listens. Problem is, ‘J’ai cherché’, the French entry by Amir is an earworm for me even though it has a television commercial quality to it, and the chorus is in English. A few others have more sticking potential like ‘You Are the Only One’ by Sergey Lazarev of Russia, a typical dramatic Eurovision techno song, with a break, a bridge, and the almost obligatory modulation near the end.
Will it blend or not? Give Douwe Bob a spin:
(Links: www.eurovision.tv, Photo of Microphone by visual dichotomy, some rights reserved)
I like Laura Tesoro from Belgium this year. Her song is What’s the Pressure. Nothing else comes close for me. I saw her live presentation of it and it was great, she’s cute and has a really great energy and voice. That is usually what it takes to put you over the top, not just the song, but the performance. Last year is proof of that. The Common Linnets almost pulled it off because people liked their performance (yeah, they should have won). I don’t see Douwe Bob having an outstanding performance of that song.
I like the synthesizer work in the Russian song, but I cannot help wondering about which country they are singing and when it is going to be annexed.