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We are all set to move on to the next country but first, what did #YOU think of Italy’s song for Lisbon?
James C. (Facebook) – “One of my faves for sure. Builds wonderfully with a country vibe, powerful heartfelt lyrics that move me to tears. A stunning entry, I hope it does really well.”
lacrymea (Forum) – “It was my second favorite of the year. Now I declare it number 1. It is a fabulous song. Grazie, Italia!”
Heather S. (Facebook) – “I fell in love with it when I first heard it – even more so when I found the lyrics translation. Even without understanding the words, you could tell they were singing about something important to them. Might not be everyone’s winner, but it’s my out and out favourite song this year.”
These three reviewers clearly enjoyed Italy and it seems a lot of our readers did too, with the Big 5 nation earning 74 points in total from the ‘televote’! Now it’s time to review Georgia!
32. GEORGIA – Iriao – For You
10 points
Calvin – “This entry is a great effort from Georgia. I love that it throws together a lot of musical motifs. At first, I thought the build was somewhat cliché, but having heard the song a lot, it now feels friendly and comfortable – like a cross between a Japanese adventure game and a really great Christmas carol. The vocals are impeccable and wonderfully used; I love the harmonies, especially the very first time multiple vocalists sing and the second vocalist holds a slightly nasal note. Striking the right balance between warm and creative, Georgia have hit it out of the park.”
Matt – “Whether it is the amazing harmonies, the unpredictable progression or the beautiful orchestration – Georgia put forward a masterpiece. It is so detailed and unique, I am blown away. Iriao just adds to the diversity and this is definitely different, for better or worse. I’m in love and this just deserves credit for being daring and out of people’s comfort zone. Did I mention that I’m in love with this?”
Sean – “It took a while to grow, but what an utterly, utterly gorgeous entry this is. I have no idea what the lyrics are but I can feel every ounce of this song. Their vocals blend so wonderfully together and it has a real timeless, classic feel to it. The way this song builds to a powerful finale is expertly crafted and it’s so refreshing to hear a language like Georgian in Eurovision. In a few words then, I’m in love. Thank you for being you, Georgia!”
8 points
Christian – “Their name is actually equally to their style! This does remind me of a traditional Danish lullaby in the rhyme and I love the intro that took me back to an 80s ballad and I like their harmonies. I always wanted to visit Georgia and must realise I will not be visting Georgia for Eurovision 2019 but hey I can go on my own then. #joinme”
6 points
Robert – “This starts off very slowly and softly – possibly overly so as it takes a while to get into the meat of the song! I’m also somewhat put-off by the build into the chorus which then disappears totally and leaves me disappointed. Not a fan! Having said that, they have fantastic voices and they harmonise extremely well. I also cannot deny that they build to a very good finale during the song. Overall a decent effort, but the song does not quite tick enough boxes for me to be a huge fan.”
Zack – “Give it up to Georgia for going against the Eurovision grain and taking risks. It seems that every “even” year, they take risks and go back to playing things a bit safe in the “odd” years. Because of this, we’ve had “I’m a Joker,” “Three Minutes to Earth,” “Midnight Gold” and now “For You”. It’s a decent song with a nice melody. But as I’ve said before, nice does not win Eurovision. And let’s be honest – it will take a miracle for this to qualify. But then again, we’ve seen crazier things happen at Eurovision and a risk succeeding always makes for a great moment.”
5 points
Connor – “I’ll be honest, I wasn’t sure what we were going to get out of Georgia this year, but I’m not mad about this entry. Sure it’s not my favorite entry, but it’s not what I thought we’d get from the highly folky group. It’s a very middle of the road song, but honestly I wouldn’t be mad if this qualified.”
3 points
Efe – “I don’t have much to say. I pushed myself to love the song but I couldn’t even understand what the chorus and the verse were. Sorry Georgia, but I don’t see you in the final this year.”
2 points
David – “I’ll be honest, I did fear, that we could’ve got something that reminded of Georgia 2014, when learning that Iriao is an ethno jazz band. However, they’ve showed me, that ethno jazz from Georgia is indeed something else than what I feared. That said, is it that special? Not to me. A calm and easy going song, but it does fails to capture my complete attention, and once again we stand with a song that is just there.”
1 point
Stefan – “Boring, boring, boring. #yawn”
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Some big scores for Georgia there but an overall mixed response gives an overall impression of 61 points from our jury. As ever, we’ll see how this changes tomorrow. Here’s the latest scoreboard…
- 🇮🇱 Israel – Netta – Toy (157)
- 🇫🇷 France – Madame Monsieur – Mercy (153)
- 🇦🇹 Austria – Cesár Sampson – Nobody But You (153)
- 🇧🇬 Bulgaria – Equinox – Bones (153)
- 🇲🇰 (FYR) Macedonia – Eye Cue – Lost and Found (153)
- 🇵🇹 Portugal – Cláudia Pascoal – O jardim (144)
- 🇮🇹 Italy – Ermal Meta & Fabrizio Moro – Non mi avete fatto niente (142, higher televote score)
- 🇫🇮 Finland – Saara Aalto – Monsters (142)
- 🇳🇱 Netherlands – Waylon – Outlaw in ’em (137)
- 🇨🇾 Cyprus – Eleni Foureira – Fuego (130)
- 🇨🇭 Switzerland – Zibbz – Stones (129)
- 🇭🇺 Hungary – AWS – Viszlát nyár (127)
- 🇷🇴 Romania – The Humans – Goodbye (127)
- 🇨🇿 Czech Republic – Mikolas Josef – Lie to Me (120)
- 🇩🇪 Germany – Michael Schulte – You Let Me Walk Alone (120)
- 🇸🇪 Sweden – Benjamin Ingrosso – Dance You Off (118)
- 🇦🇲 Armenia – Sevak Khanagyan – Qami (116)
- 🇦🇿 Azerbaijan – Aisel – X My Heart (116)
- 🇦🇱 Albania – Eugent Bushpepa – Mall (115)
- 🇭🇷 Croatia – Franka – Crazy (113)
- 🇪🇸 Spain – Alfred & Amaia – Tu canción (112)
- 🇷🇸 Serbia – Sanja Ilić & Balkanika – Nova deca (109)
- 🇲🇹 Malta – Christabelle – Taboo (107)
- 🇱🇻 Latvia – Laura Rizzotto – Funny Girl (107)
- 🇬🇧 United Kingdom – SuRie – Storm (104)
- 🇱🇹 Lithuania – Ieva Zasimauskaite – When We’re Old (102)
- 🇧🇾 Belarus – Alekseev – Forever (96)
- 🇲🇩 Moldova – DoReDos – My Lucky Day (96)
- 🇳🇴 Norway – Alexander Rybak – That’s How You Write a Song (88)
- 🇮🇸 Iceland – Ari Ólafsson – Our Choice (81)
- 🇸🇲 San Marino – Jessika ft. Jenifer B – Who We Are (76)
- 🇬🇪 Georgia – Iriao – For You (61)
A big televoting score pushes Italy up to joint 7th place, although they are ahead of Finland with a higher public voting score. We will see how Georgia’s entry does tomorrow…
Now it’s over to #YOU! Share your thoughts on the Georgian song in a short review on social media @escunited, on our forum HERE or below in the comments and we’ll share the best reviews tomorrow. Don’t forget to also make your voice heard in the poll below.
We stay east for the next entry as another big favourite faces the panel. How keen are we on Estonia’s powerful opera entry “La Forza”?
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