Vincent Gross – Half A Smile
This song picks up the wave of the chart-EDM. Even the thin voice reminds me of AVICII. Wait AVICII? Wasn’t there something last year? ;-) The idea of ‘jumping on somebody else’s train’ rarely never worked in ESC. The songs that picked up the same musical idea of the last year’s winner song never succeeded in the ESC. The video is a little disturbing. A bad lip-synchronised teenager with a guitar is followed by twelve or so girlie with mobile phones. It’s not like: “Wow. He must be famous.” It’s more like: “Wow. He didn’t find more people acting in the video as his class-mates and younger sisters?”
Who likes the song? 9th graders which accidentally switched to the video
Reminds me of: Måns Zelmerlöw, AVICII
Hot or Not – for ESC? This song can work with the youth. It is catchy and has nicely composed parts. The question is if Vincent Gross can stand the stage-fright of the “Entscheidungsshow”. It seems that he has no stage-experience so far. But with some mental and vocal coaching he can make it to the Swiss Top Three as the youth magazine hero.
Stanley Miller – Feel The Love
This is a good structured ESC-song with a good looking singer with velvet voice. The song starts as a crystal clear ballad but raises to an EDM-like drop and continues as a modern Euro-Beat song with EDM-elements. The voice is skilled with a soft vibrato and no pressure. The text is simple and shallow – who cares?
Who likes the song? The ESC-Gay-Community and night-clubbing females
Sounds like: Lionel Richie, Rick Astley
Hot or Not – for ESC? This song would go straight to the grand final in Stockholm. But is Switzerland about to nominate a good song after all the years?
Rykka – The Last Of Our Kind
Ok. Innovative parts and catchy sound. A good combination for a song that gets far at the ESC. The beginning is the part that flashes your music-mind. From the chorus the song becomes average but listenable. All together it is a modern pop-ballad, good enough to end TOP 3 in the “Entscheidungsshow”. If the writers and composers would have managed to get back to the beginning at the end of the song I just would have this ultra-strong part in mind. So it bubbles along a bit too long.
Who likes the song? Radio stations and single women
Sounds like: Roxette, Loreen, Sia
Hot or Not – for ESC? It sounds a little Scandinavian and it has a flow that Europe might love. One of the good choices for Switzerland.
Bella C – Another World
This is easy listening in James Bond Theme style. Nothing bad to say about the song. But it just hops in one hear and out of the second and leaves nothing behind. Maybe it’s because there is just vacuum between my two ears, but the song is too characterless for my ESC-vacuum-brain.
Who likes the song? Elevator using James Bond soundtrack lovers
Reminds me of: Conchita Wurst, Shirley Bassey
Hot or Not – for ESC? Austria took it all in 2014. There is no time for Big Band and Symphonic Movie Themes at the ESC at the moment. Maybe there comes a time when the live-orchestra is coming back to ESC, then we can talk about it again.
Stéphanie Palazzo – Perché mi guardi cosi?
The song has the very special melancholic-orchestral sound of an Italian pop-ballad. The words are not just vocals they are an instrument as well. You can feel the grief of the world in every note. I felt the music.
Who would like the song? Most of the Italians older than 60.
Reminds me of: Battisti, Al Bano e Romina Power
Hot or Not – for ESC? I think the sound is a bit too pathetic and too special to succeed in the “Entscheidungsshow”.
Theo – Because Of You
An easy pop song with a songwriter feeling. It sounds like it’s written for piano/guitar and voice and then filled with instruments and voices until it has the right volume to persist the “Entscheidungsshow”. It also sounds as if the song was cut after three minutes and a complete verse is missing. And if you think about the design of a song too much it’s not the right one for the ESC.
Who likes the song? City hipsters and young university students drinking coffee in a lounge
Reminds me of: Passenger, Milow, James Blunt
Hot or Not – for ESC? I would like to listen to the demo-tape. I think that could be a nice tune. But the mixing process destroyed the atmosphere of the song. (By the way: I heard more than six voices in the song. Even if they are gentle, in the playback are no voices or instruments sounding like choir or voices allowed. So Theo needs to stands on stage with five more background-singers to get the sound of his contest entry.)
special thanks to Marco Boehm (Germany)
