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Before we move on to our last “Expert” Panel review of 2018, we must take a look at what #YOU thought of the Danish entry. How well received was “Higher Ground”?
Nefertiti (Forum) – “Denmark’s song this year is an instant impact one, so, adding the good live performance and the cool viking themed staging, this is going to do well with the televote. I personally think this is going to be one of the surprises of the night (I will say dark horse, but people already like this so I guess that’s not the correct word for this).”
bochan (Forum) – “Sorry, but this appears to me like an JESC interval act or something like that. It is said to be dark… but all I see is a joyful and playful show. Like the pirates vikings boat in a carnival parade. Not truly dark. Not at all, indeed. It’s all about a role game which definitely I’m not playing.”
Sunwell (Forum) – “One of my favourites. I think a deeper voice would fit the song, but it’s still nice. I love their dance!”
Denmark end up with 66 points from the ‘televote’ result, but we will see where this places them later. Last but not least, it’s time for Ukraine!
43. UKRAINE – Mélovin – Under the Ladder
10 points
Stefan – “Are we going back to Ukraine? I’m totally up for it! The song is great, I am hoping for a similar performance as it was at the NF, ‘cause it was amazing! IMO, it is going straight to the top!”
8 points
Sean – “This was probably my first obsession of this year’s national final season so I have a soft spot for this one and I’m so glad it won for Ukraine. It has fallen slightly down my rankings but Mélovin is a very confident and likeable performer and the structure of this song is unique yet accessible. I can see a big stage performance in Lisbon and I still think this could be a dark horse. Great job as always Ukraine!”
7 points
Connor – “I definitely love Mélovin and enjoy the enthusiasm he brings to the stage, but there’s something missing for me in the song. I can’t place my finger on it, but I think it’s the track mix itself that needs to be fixed a bit to give it more character. I’m not sure how this song will fare without LEDs though.”
Christian – “I have heard this a few times without having any clue what it was since I share my Spotify account with someone else. So when opening Spotify and hearing the song I always had to check who this is again. I like the song. Nothing wrong with it. But my fear is if others have to do the same as I do when listening to it. Fear number two is it could drown a bit when compared to the other songs. To not do so it has to impress so much in its live delivery to make us remember it and vote for it.”
David – “First of all, I’m shocked to think that Ukraine decided to pick a sole male artist, ain’t that insane?! Anyway, there is just something about how Mélovin sings and his overall style. Despite the questionable bad English, I find it charming, and all of it mixed with a great up-tempo song makes it all very good. But that right eye of his freaks me out, it’s just so strange, yet interesting to look at, so hopefully it doesn’t take away all of the attention from the song, cause he’s quite the performer.”
6 points
Matt – “Blah blah blah blah blah…under the ladder…blah blah blah…That’s all I understand and I’d like to think my English is pretty darn good. It’s one of those songs where I don’t have much to whine about, but also can’t find myself raving about it. It’s a bit average melodically but Mélovin is a charismatic and energetic performer so Ukraine will do just fine.”
Robert – “This leaves me feeling a little confused because I’m not sure how I feel about various aspects of the song. I don’t have a lot of confidence in Mélovin as a singer which leaves me wondering how it will go down at Eurovision itself, but I feel that he performs the song well regardless. I also have my doubts about the overall flow of the song and the use of the electronic beats, although I do adore the overuse of “oh oh ohoh” and think it is really catchy. The music overall is pretty good and I enjoy the bridge section a lot as well. Oh it’s a tricky one, but I think I overall like!”
Zack – “Definitely a Lady Gaga-inspired track. And a great performer with a unique musical on-stage persona. Another song with great potential, but I feel like something is missing. The visuals at the Ukraine national selection were more distracting than helpful to the song. I am hoping things are rethought at Lisbon.”
4 points
Efe – “I just want to ask why… WHY DIDN’T YOU CHOOSE TAYANNA?! She was way better than Mélovin… She could be in the top 10 easily but this year it’s really doubtful for me to say that Ukraine will even be in the top 15. Sorry Ukraine.”
3 points
Calvin – “The verses and pre-chorus to this song are moderately listenable, especially the “oh oh oh oh, won’t get any better” section. It has some element of mystery to it, which is fun. But the momentum of the song gets thrown away in the chorus, which is pretty irksome. I’m not a fan of the decision to take the vocal louder, the chirpy melody, or the stomping instrumentation. The brief piano interlude is arbitrary and out-of-place as well. The song is pretty difficult to enjoy, unfortunately.”
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- 🇮🇱 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)
- 🇬🇷 Greece – Yianna Terzi – Oniro Mou (144)
- 🇵🇹 Portugal – Cláudia Pascoal – O jardim (144)
- 🇮🇹 Italy – Ermal Meta & Fabrizio Moro – Non mi avete fatto niente (142)
- 🇫🇮 Finland – Saara Aalto – Monsters (142)
- 🇧🇪 Belgium – Sennek – A Matter of Time (139)
- 🇪🇪 Estonia – Elina Nechayeva – La Forza (139)
- 🇳🇱 Netherlands – Waylon – Outlaw in ’em (137)
- 🇨🇾 Cyprus – Eleni Foureira – Fuego (130)
- 🇦🇺 Australia – Jessica Mauboy – We Got Love (130)
- 🇨🇭 Switzerland – Zibbz – Stones (129)
- 🇩🇰 Denmark – Rasmussen – Higher Ground (128)
- 🇭🇺 Hungary – AWS – Viszlát nyár (127)
- 🇷🇴 Romania – The Humans – Goodbye (127)
- 🇵🇱 Poland – Gromee ft. Lukas Meijer – Light Me Up (126)
- 🇨🇿 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)
- 🇲🇪 Montenegro – Vanja Radovanovic – Inje (113)
- 🇪🇸 Spain – Alfred & Amaia – Tu canción (112)
- 🇸🇮 Slovenia – Lea Sirk – Hvala, ne! (109)
- 🇷🇸 Serbia – Sanja Ilić & Balkanika – Nova deca (109)
- 🇲🇹 Malta – Christabelle – Taboo (107)
- 🇱🇻 Latvia – Laura Rizzotto – Funny Girl (107)
- 🇬🇧 United Kingdom – SuRie – Storm (104)
- 🇬🇪 Georgia – Iriao – For You (104)
- 🇮🇪 Ireland – Ryan O’Shaughnessy – Together (103)
- 🇱🇹 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)
- 🇷🇺 Russia – Yulia Samoylova – I Won’t Break (66)
- Ukraine – Mélovin – Under the Ladder (64)
Denmark move into 16th place with a decent score from both parties. Israel’s hopes of the “Expert” Panel trophy for 2018 rest on Ukraine’s televote score – could the improbably happen? It’s up to #YOU!
Share your short reviews of the Ukrainian entry below in the comments, on our forum HERE and on social media @escunited and we will bring #YOU the best of these reviews tomorrow. Don’t forget to also vote in the poll below as the crucial final points of 2018!
Tomorrow, it’s the last “Expert” Panel article, where we will reveal the winner as well as the ‘televote’ and ‘jury’ split. #YOU don’t want to miss this!
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