My review:
AUSTRALIA 2020 - Montaigne - Don't Break Me : "back to the comfort zone... sigh"
Before saying anything, I swear I made peace with Jaguar Jonze losing a long time ago, so nothing other than the entry itself colours my opinion. I followed the NF and in a field of 10 songs, seven of them were the exact same, which was baffling but let''s move on. With that being said though - and because my badmouth mode is never far - the only explanation I see behind Montaigne's victory is the fact DNA are the composers of the song. I've been told they are the only songwriters in Australia, which would explain why they've written four Australian entries in six years of participation...
Musically, it is DNA, so it's radio-friendly, extremely basic and soulless. Nothing new under the sun sadly. None of their efforts got me on board, "Don't Come Easy" remains the most tolerable track for me, which says a lot. I think there's no point in going into detail composition-wise because it's factory-made and commercial to the max without any ounce of fantasy.
Vocally, let's call a spade a spade: I get Montaigne had a dance routine and everything but her voice also seems naturally unstable and shaky, so no wonder all she hit was a bunch of flat bum notes. The song is not fantastic to begin with, so if she can't even sing properly, I mean why bother?
Visually, this was cringe af. Nothing was right, from her looks to the dance, it was painful to watch. Instead of trying to put an artsy-fartsy varnish on a generic song, they should have asked Katerine Duska how it went for her, maybe they would have put more effort in the music first.
Prediction-wise, this had Jessica Mauboy 2.0 written all over it, with juries supporting it and people not giving a damn because it's lacking in every way possible.
To sum up, after a year of refreshing change with "Zero Gravity", Australians got back to their yawn-inducing comfort zone, which disappoints me greatly. But since their HoD literally thinks they're sending the trendiest music in this galaxy, I expect no less than another grey track in 2021, by DNA of course, who else? I won't blame Montaigne just yet though, if she learns how to sing and does the opposite of what she did, maybe the cancellation was a blessing in disguise for her (and a few of her colleagues).