Contact us

Albania ALBANIA 2020 - Arilena Ara - Fall From The Sky

How do you rate this entry?

  • 12

    9 10.7%
  • 10

    7 8.3%
  • 8

    7 8.3%
  • 7

    7 8.3%
  • 6

    10 11.9%
  • 5

    13 15.5%
  • 4

    11 13.1%
  • 3

    5 6.0%
  • 2

    9 10.7%
  • 1

    1 1.2%
  • 0

    5 6.0%

  • Total voters
    84

escYOUnited

Administrator
Joined
September 28, 2009
Posts
1,355
ALB-scaled.jpg


 

Alaska49

Well-known member
Joined
April 18, 2013
Posts
2,895
memba i told you. i'm keeping my 4 because that was already my score based on where this trainwreck was going to end up, tbh. it's every single time, you guys. why do you bother having faith? why are you not jaded by the cruelty of this world? why do you cling to your futile ingenuity?

the choir sings forever, elvana gjata was robbed.
 

tuorem

Well-known member
Joined
January 17, 2012
Posts
9,592
Location
GN-z11
Now that the long-awaited Albanian revamp is out, I'm a bit on the fence about the entry.

Ironically, what bothers me the most is the fact that it's now in English and some of the lyrics are cliché imo (I can't at the whole "wings- destined to fly" situation, it doesn't even sound that good tbh).

Musically, it feels more like a composition inspired by "Shaj" than an actual revamp:

-I don't know why they changed the melody of the verses, which were fine, but I don't mind what they did there. It still got some melancholy in them, just a different one.

-I thought the instrumental bridge with the violin and backing voices was pretty much the highlight of the song, and they ditched it... Shame! But instead they added a few lines to build on the second chorus. Changing that part was unnecessary, but what they did remains acceptable-ish I guess.

-I'm not that into the "contemporary" varnish they went for, it's neither epic nor particularly modern imo. The choruses sound less powerful that way and any kind of charm is gone. It's almost treading the "Don't Break Me" territory and I'm not here for it.

The best element is the piano (aka the only instrument left :ROFLMAO:) and I admit the "Fall From The Sky" line right before the last chorus has got a bit of magic to it. And that's it.

With that being said, while I think reworking the song was unnecessary and given how the final product was meant to standardise the whole composition, I think they definitely are safe qualifiers. Yes, semi 2 has a lot of ballads, but they have no direct competition: "Fall From The Sky" remains one of the strongest ones melodically-speaking, Arilena is a seasoned performer and from the hint they gave about the staging, I don't worry for them at all.

I simply wish that Albanians' bad habits won't come back next year, because that's not what I call "improving" a song.

7 points for this revamp.
 

Leydan

Worldvision Mod
Staff member
Joined
March 1, 2013
Posts
18,237
Location
UK
I have no idea why they made this English, the Albanian disguised how basic and Vanilla the lyrics were and also added so much the song. Admittedly i wasn't a huge fan to begin with, but I had hoped they would have given a great revamp. This is a downgrade tbh, they should have saved the air fair and money spent on fancy American studios and producers and just listened to the fans. 3 points
 
Last edited:

Zonne147

Well-known member
Joined
March 6, 2019
Posts
1,601
Oh no. This is how you destroy a classy, gorgeous, unique and amazing song and Imo one of the best of the year.

You have taken me the end of the song, that gave me goosebumps...

It's just another English ballad for me and it is far from being one of the strongest... I think I prefer "Me Tana" now :(

From :8: (:10: in January) to :6:. Some of the melody is still there but the unique elements are not
 

RevNet

Well-known member
Joined
March 12, 2012
Posts
712
Location
Alabama, USA
Ok, critiquing the revamp:

It still sounds good, but "Araj" had much more going on. She still sings pretty well, but the sound here is more typical than in "Araj". Based on that, I am giving the revamp 8 points.
 

njdevils94

Veteran
Joined
June 16, 2018
Posts
6,243
Revamp is nice and just like in FiK Arilena will prove the doubters wrong in ESC with her emotional vocals.
 

RainyWoods

Croak-kay
Joined
February 9, 2012
Posts
25,202
Location
London
As punishment for devamping one of my most beloved songs of Eurovision 2020, I hereby exclude Arilena from my new signature of icons. May it be a lesson to her. Mikaela Minga didn't end her career and go into hiding for this to happen. Disgraceful.

Still 10, 12-ish points though.
 
Top Bottom