My review of "Breathlessly":
-Malta is one of those countries that - since I started following the contest in 2009 - I've never been able to root for. They have a particular music style that just doesn't do anything to me. Last year, I carefully avoided calling "Walk On Water" their best entry because it was nothing more than a Swedish import. When I heard "Breathlessly" won, I was sad that we wouldn't hear the only song in Maltese we've had on offer in ages, but as soon as I discovered Faniello's effort during the semi, I changed my mind: it might have been in English, but it was the best song of their NF this year imo. "Breathlessly" remains within the purely classic Maltese ballads tradition, it doesn't push any boundary like everything Malta has been sending this decade, HOWEVER I surprised myself by actually enjoying it live. The composition is relatively lovely to listen to and tasteful enough not to cross the threshold of cheesiness, the arrangements come from another time - that's for sure - but that's a Maltese signature, kind of. Still, it kind of borders on genericness at times. I'm glad there isn't any big note or overpowering choir at some point, Claudia remains in control of the song without trying anything else than convey her message through emotions. I think it's a decent effort for what it claims to be, and would say it's my favourite Maltese entry ever, even though I have yet to genuinely fall in love with one their songs. The chorus is really lovely, somehow the melodic line of "Climbing over walls that always felt too high" reminds me of the evergreen "Colors Of The Wind" song from Pocahontas. Besides, I appreciate that the build-up of the song just relies on drums, giving it a pop-rock-ish feel. Pros: honest and modest song, nice melody during the chorus. Cons: it's not that super remarkable overall. It lacks an extra spark to be compelling within the framework of a pop-music-driven song contest like Eurovision.
To me the highlight is definitely the "Climbing over walls that always felt too high" part, which does bring back memories of the wonderful Pocahontas movie.
-Vocally, Claudia is probably the reason why this song existed and made it to the contest: her hoarse vocal tone is a delight and gives character to both her interpretation and song. She can deliver anytime and seems to always be sincere and emotional when singing. She's the opposite of Ira Losco the diva, she's just giving what she has with heart, without trying to be more than that, which I deeply respect. Her semi performance was emotional, well done.
-Visually, Malta kept it very simple, certainly not to drown the emotional potential of the song in pointless gimmicks. It was basically Claudia standing alone on stage and connecting to the camera. The stage was bathed in blue light for the most part, with occasional shots of her face and body from the official MV displayed on the led background. I wonder who had this idea, but like many acts this year, this "selfie" thing was a miss for me. I don't know if it wouldn't have looked better with less giant closeups, anyway I didn't feel like this was suitable for the song. Outfit-wise, Claudia wore a shining long white evening dress: it was nice enough but maybe a little bit too old-fashioned-looking to me.
-Results-wise, she was a definite non-qualifier to me from the start, and performing right before Romania put the final nail in the coffin. On one hand, she got zero points from the televoting - which was harsh but somehow understandable as I believe she got overshadowed and forgotten - and on the other hand, juries supported it, which isn't a surprise either because Malta is always favoured by them for some reason. In brief, 16th place in the semi was maybe not totally deserved, but quite expected imo. In my book, they would have been around 12th place in the semi I guess. Better luck next year guys, "Breathlessly" was a decent enough song, but from the very beginning, it was quite clear it would have difficulties standing out. See you next year