Alright, so when I made my first couple of run-throughs of the songs I didn't pay this one much mind. There's something in me that instantly recoils at the regulation Eurovision peace ballad, so I listened to a bit and then skipped on to the next one. But in this game, a strong performance can dredge a regulation performance out of the mire of anonymity - and boy did our Bella manage that in bucketloads!
From the start her cowelled garb, pallid anti-make up and alien expression set the viewer on edge, her strong but fractured voice emoting the song's lyric like she was actually standing there in a warzone like some kind of battle scarred bat. But then when she swooshed back her robe to reveal naught but gauze and bandage, it all started to get a bit intense.
You won't see many singers this season working the camera to a more powerful result, and in the three long minutes Bella swung me from not caring a fig about another worthy battle song to believing every damn minute of it and hoping she was going to win the ticket to Stockholm. She deserved a superfinal place at the very least, although we suspect the Elly V loving jury vote put paid to that. Bella versus Zoé? What an interesting battle that would have been.
Here's the Youtube Link:
ReplyDeletehttps://youtu.be/7gEyNTqFmHU
Oh, and as much as I respected her performance for being edgy, in your face and non-sugary, I still found it painful and am glad that Zoe won.
Cheers old boy!
ReplyDeleteI'm with you on the Zoé win, but there was something in me that wishes Bella had nipped it. It had all the ingredients of a song that I really shouldn't have enjoyed, but there was something about her demeanour that hooked me in.
I guess I just have a thing for terrifying women!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQDgSggtbSY
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