Time for me to review the Italian entry this year
Il Volo - Grande Amore
Status: ok
Song: I wasn't fond of the song that much from the very beginning, because I watched the Sanremo festival live and I felt like some songs were better than this to me: Chiara's Straordinario, Nek's Fatti Avanti Amore and Irene Grandi's Un Vento Senza Nome. However, I wasn't mad at them for winning because, even though it sounds like a cliché Italian song, it was still one of the strongest and perhaps the wisest choice for Eurovision because its appeal was instant. So even though I didn't like it that much, I thought this would finally end in my top10 because it would be one of the best songs of this year. BUT the cut made to the song has ruined its chances to do so
I still think they should have kept a short part of the second verse and totally scrap the pre-chorus because I felt like it was basically two choruses one after the other, which reduced the strength of the song imo. So now, it's out of my top 10 because of that. Otherwise, good composition, very dramatic, kinda over-the-top but it's ok considering the whole package.
Voice: Well, nothing to say about Il Volo's operatic voices. As expected, their vocals were neat and strong. Performance-Wise, they seemed a little bit stiff, but nothing wrong.
Staging: The staging looked like the one they had in Sanremo, that is over-the-top visuals that matched the song. It was kinda dark but it was ok I guess. Not much happening on stage but they didn't need extra cheesiness.
Outcome: To me, it was a tough one to predict. They were definitely top 10 but it's nice to see they achieved a top 3 thanks to the televote that ranked them first. Would have been a much deserved winner considering who was at the top. Too bad the juries didn't like it as much. Good job Italy, I liked "L'ammore è femmina" and "La mia citta" more than "Grande Amore" but you didn't steal your place.
Wish you good luck for next year.