escYOUnited
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Armenia ARMENIA 2020 - Athena Manoukian - Chains on You
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Uto
Veteran
Just listened to all the entries. Was rough, not going to lie about that. Lot of songs with bad production values, also melodically weak all across the board. Worse yet, there are no alternatives, all options are going to run into direct competition and they're going to lose that battle. Feel like Armenia is going to be hopeless even if they were to send their best song.
Just Go Home Tier:
Barely Viable Tier:
Leaves three songs:
This isn't good. It just isn't good. It's a very obvious piece of contemporary urban Americana, but it lacks the 'cool' the Americans add to this stuff which is what makes it work according to me (admittedly I have never really delved into this stuff, but I do know there's a growing divide between the US and Europe when it comes to hiphop exactly because the Americans are turning to pretty a-musical hip-hop which is something 'we' don't seem to like unless certain unknown factors are met). What I do like is that this is a ballsy entry and given the distinct lack of quality coming from Armenia this is the ideal situation to just bet the farm on a song like this. Would be fairly happy if they send this, but I have absolutely no idea how this will perform. I also have no clue how to do successful staging for a song like this.
This is here because it's a song that has good production values and apparently a decent vocalist, but it pretty much stops there which shows you how weak I think the Armenian line-up is. The song itself is boring and just not a good choice. Melodically it's trite and it's just 3 minutes of boredom really. Hardly any message, hardly any dynamics, just three minutes of nothing to save you from something much worse. This should not be chosen, but it won't be embarrassing if it is.
Really it's a two horse race in Armenia. Either you take a huge risk on Athena or you go for TOKIONINE. There's something really not right with this song though. The producer(s) really need to learn how to use an equalizer, but there's still ample time for a bit of reworking. Beyond that this is a song that is melodically decent and very much reminiscent of The Weeknd which is good. It wouldn't be something that he would put out as a single because there are just too many problems here and the chorus isn't world class, but this could definitely be on an album for instance. As such it's a solid decision to send this and it's my pick of the bunch.
Just Go Home Tier:
Karina EVN | Why? |
Gabriel Jeeg | It's Your Turn |
ERNA Tamazyan | Life Faces |
Arthur Aleq | Heaven |
Agop | Butterflies |
Music Hayk | What It Is to Be In Love |
Sergey and Nickolay Arutyunov | Ha, Take a Step |
Barely Viable Tier:
Vladimir Arzumanyan | What's Going On Mama |
EVA Rida | No Love |
Leaves three songs:
Athena Manoukian | Chains On You |
Miriam Baghdassarian | Run Away |
TOKIONINE | Save Me |
Zonne147
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Only listened to "Chains on You" and "Save Me".
I truly enjoyed "Save Me", it's a nice pop song with some interesting elements.
Don't get the hype around "Chains on You" though... what's so special about the song?
Hope the rest is better.
If not, then I would be happy with TOKIONINE.
I truly enjoyed "Save Me", it's a nice pop song with some interesting elements.
Don't get the hype around "Chains on You" though... what's so special about the song?
Hope the rest is better.
If not, then I would be happy with TOKIONINE.
Well I've gone through the entries now and I must say there really isn't a great deal of anything that excites me, but it's not even close to being the worse NF this year because there is potential. What I sense is that there is plenty here that Armenia can stage the hell out off. They're usually super great when it comes to staging so I imagine some of these will come alive more stage and look visually great. I didn't think more to Athenas song on first listen, but on a 2nd listen I like it a bit more but there isn't much that makes me want to go back and listen.
BarefootBoogaloo
Veteran
Save Me by TOKIONINE
Ha, Take A Step by Sergey and Nickolay Arutyunov
Why? by Karina EVN
Run Away by Miriam Baghdassarian
Butterflies by Agop
Life Faces by Erna Tamazyan
No Love by EVA Rida
What's Going On Mama by Vladimir Arzumanyan
It's Your Turn by Gabriel Jeeg
What It Is To Be In Love by Music Hayk
Chains On You by Athena Manoukian
Heaven by Arthur Aleq
I see alot of potential in Chains on You. I think the song lacks a bit more ethnic elements, add them and you have a Turkish ESC song that woud have finished top 5 in the past decade. I'm not even talking about the staging potential. After 2 years missing the final, I think Armenia should not risk it this year and send Athena straight to Rotterdam. I'm just a bit worried cuz ARMTV did not serve the best sound quality in the 2018 NF and many singers sounded off.
'Save me' looks like hit or miss. I could see it NQ if the NF is full of solo male pop songs that are better than this one, which is a quite high possibility tbh.
In any case, I want Armenia to win one day, but looks like this year they're just gonna pass. I'd be happy with having them back in the final.
'Save me' looks like hit or miss. I could see it NQ if the NF is full of solo male pop songs that are better than this one, which is a quite high possibility tbh.
In any case, I want Armenia to win one day, but looks like this year they're just gonna pass. I'd be happy with having them back in the final.
Is this real?
Uto
Veteran
This is not a bad idea by any means. Right now it's definitely missing some variety and by adding some of those Turkic melodies it will sound much more interesting. It's also something that will find an audience in Western Europe because a lot of kids of Turkic descent are incorporating those melodies in their music, mainly in hip-hop where this works like a charm.
choda
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- March 29, 2019
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Interview with lovely Athena - toughest one i had to do - with internet going down because of the stormy weather and such, but still - Athena was so humble and nice. Take a look at this short interview 
www.youtube.com
ES Intervju: ATHENA MANOUKIAN (Depi Evratesil 2020)
Evrovizijski studio - Intervju sa Atinom Manukijan, učesnicom jermenskog izbora za Pesmu Evrovizije 2020.Razgovor vodio: Danilo Jovanovićhttp://www.evropesma...
www.youtube.com
njdevils94
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- June 16, 2018
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