Time for me to review this year's German entry
Jamie-Lee Kriewitz - Ghost
Status: ok-ish
Song: For me, Germany has been kind of an unpredictable country in Eurovision lately - I really don't know what to expect from them year after year - but I think they overall have had a truly decent track record according to my taste: in the big 5 group, I'd rank them below Italy, but above the others (France, Spain, the UK). I liked most of their efforts (2009 was a guilty pleasure; 2010 grew on me after the contest; 2012 was nice imo); "Is It Right" (2014) was a nice effort, but I've never been that fond of it; otherwise, I particularly loved their odd-year entries (2011 is my favourite German entry to date, 2013 = I'm a Cascada fan
, and 2015 was such a jam tbh). Anyway, I recognise that Germans have sent several good entries, yet I never really considered them "reliable" enough to have have high expectations towards them, I don't know why but that's ok, as they have positively surprised me on numerous occasions
Since I started watching Eurovision, I don't think they have proposed bland songs, some of them were indeed radio-friendly but with some alternative freshness (Satellite, Is It Right) and I truly appreciate that they have never been as lazy and unadventurous as some other participants tbh. "Ghost" - their 2016 entry - is a rather dark mid-tempo ballad sung by a super kawaii young woman called Jamie-Lee. The lyrics are about two lovers who broke up and partly moved on, but one of them (Jamie-Lee) hasn't completely got over her love; haunted by good memories and reflections about what might have caused the end of their relationship, she thinks a new beginning is possible. I find the lyrics just ok, the subject matter is quite common in pop music: for the text to be truly interesting and original, the few present good metaphorical images should have been developped further imo (the dragon and its gold, and the treasure chest), but unfortunately most of the lines are rather common ideas (love story pictured as a book, puzzle pieces that represent separation and disarray), even the song title "ghost" could have generated some nice metaphors, but the lyricist didn't exploit it. Regarding the musical aspect, it starts off with a gloomy synthesizer (whose part is almost organ-material imo) and Jamie-Lee's voice that sings the first verse right away. The atmosphere is set very quickly but at this point, it is impossible to know how it will build up. During the pre-chorus, a finger-snap beat appears, an electronic "dirty" sound gets louder towards the end and the melodic lines change: their ascending progression is unusual and nice to me (it's my favourite part of the song and these high-register notes compliment the singer's voice imo) and the following line supported by backing voices - like a ghostly answer - give a sadder/stranger feel to the song. But the vibe going on suddenly disappears when the chorus begins: a clear and heavy drum beat was used to strengthen the impactfulness of that part, unfortunately I don't think the chorus is memorable at all. Personally, I find this part so disappointing: after such a dark development, I was expecting the chorus to "explode" or at least bring an even more dramatic twist to the song. On the contrary, it is flat, the melody is vanilla, and it's even borderline boring. I'm one of those who feel that Rihanna's Umbrella vibe, I don't know if it's because of the phrasing or the beat.
Anyway, the chorus is followed by two additional lines - mainly supported by backing voices - before the second verse begins: the arrangements are the same as for the first one, they just added the loud beat of the chorus to give it more oomph I guess. Actually I do enjoy these parts (verses and pre-choruses), it's just too bad the chorus is so dull. The other weakness of the song is in its structure as there is no bridge to actually break the monotony and the chorus repeated twice at the end was a very bad idea imo because the chorus itself is pretty repetitive already: they could have changed the lyrics for the last part or added significant vocal variations since the present ad-libs just don't make up for that repetitiveness to me. Overall, I see "Ghost" as a demo: there are some good ideas that haven't been either exploited or developed further, and it could have made the song so much better than it is: a better fitting chorus first (with a melody that actually doesn't ruin the atmosphere set), a bridge instead of an additional chorus, and maybe more refined arrangements. Lyrically, it's the same: why so many ordinary lines while there was a good basis for creativity?
I do enjoy the song when it plays, but that's all, I can't help thinking it was just too lazy to be good enough.
Voice: Jamie-Lee has a pleasant voice, she can sing and I think she did her best during the grand final. But like Freddie, one can have a kick-ass voice and give a spot-on performance, if the song is not good enough, there is nothing one can do about it. I believe Jamie-Lee was better than her song, she was smiling and doing her thing, she seemed genuinely happy to be on stage and live that unique moment in her career, but the song... :?
Staging: It seems like Germany transposed the NF presentation to the Eurovision stage, which isn't a bad thing when it works. Jamie-Lee started singing in the dark, all one could see was her silhouette and a dead tree made distinguishable thanks to the full moon behind her. She stood at the center of the stage, surrounded by dead trees emitting green laser beams and forming a gloomy imaginary forest. The floor was displaying purple moving blurred shapes and waves on dark background, as if there was a ground fog. Some discreet bigger purplish trees appeared on the sides (I don't know whether they were holograms or not). The stage got significantly lighter when Jamie-Lee went to the b-stage towards the end of the song, I guess the backdrops displayed flowered trees with petals and flowers blown away by the wind, as well as the "evergreen" full moon at the center. Personally, I think it was a decent presentation - even though there wasn't much going on - the visuals were in line with the music and even her appearance. Jamie-Lee wore a unique (probably homemade) manga-inspired outfit (she said she was inspired by Korean fashion, but it looks more Japanese to me) composed of shiny platform shoes, light blue and purple high striped tights, a puffed-out blue dress with various blue and silver shiny embellishments and busy shoulder pads. A unique head decorative accessory made of blue/pink/lilac/white ribbons, hearts/plants and other items completed the look. Without digging her looks, I'm glad she didn't dress differently if that's how she wanted to present herself, I don't know much about Manga-inspired fashion but I'll be careful not to call it trash or ugly as I appreciate and respect fashion. I don't know why some people made such a big deal out of her outfit, I know Eurovision is getting real serious but way crazier outfits were still commonplace not so long ago.
Outcome: Germany placed dead last for the second time in a row, that is 26th out of 26 countries in the grand final. While I do recognise "Ghost" was certainly not the song of the year and - as I pointed out - had quite a lot of flaws imo, I don't think it deserved to be last (the UK would have deserved it more tbh) and I didn't have that "gonna end last" feel, but again I was shocked about "Black Smoke" outer space flop, so...
1 point from the juries was bad, especially when a bland cheese ended up receiving about 320 points from them :? I mean I can see why that song didn't do well (unlike Black Smoke) and I didn't expect more than a low place realistically but last place was too harsh imo. In my personal ranking, "Ghost" is placed 20th out of 42: I can't say I really like it but that was better than half the songs this year to me
Yes, there were way worse songs! Germans did have two really bad years unfortunately (I still believe Black Smoke deserved at least top 15), but I hope these failure will encourage their broadcaster to improve the level of quality of the songs they'll select next year. Good luck in Ukraine guys
