Eurovision 2013: Malta

It's a race against time to get my reviews of the national finals in before the first semi on Tuesday morning, and it wasn't a smart thing for me to put off the Maltese national final.

Malta's final, broadcast back on February 2nd, is the largest final in this Eurovision season, with sixteen songs competing for a chance to be sent to Malmö.

An underdog won the contest.

This song was expected to win:

 

Kevin Borg   "Needing You"

 

 

Borg made a name for himself in Sweden, where be became the winner of Swedish Idol, and establishing himself as a musical presence in that company.  So it was kind of expected that he would win Malta's Eurovision Song.

 

However, Borg was pipped to the post by the singer of this song.

 

 

Gianluca Bezzina   "Tomorrow"

 

Gianluca is a doctor who sings in a band for fun, and his performance of the pop story song "Tomorrow" scored incredibly well with the both the jury and the public.  It gave him the win.

 

I can see how Bezzinna topped Borg, and it's due to the performance styles.  Bezzina's freshness and enthusiactic charisma is so much more compelling that Borg's smooth professionalism.  It makes Bezzina stand out and is my choice between the two songs.

 

But had I been a Maltese juror, I wouldn't have given either of them my top score.  I would have chosen this song as my favorite.

 



 

Davinia Pace   "Betrayal"

 

I enjoy the faux-Bond "Betrayal", and Pace's voice is quite entrancing.  I must admit her stage presence leaves a bit to be desired, but that could be corrected.  What shocked me is the fact that I got sucked in by a Thomas G:son song.  

 

G:son is currently the darling of the Eurovision world, having composed last year's winning number, and has had songs performed in finals all over Europe.  I feel kind of ashamed by being sucked in by one of his songs; I feel I should be cooler.  (It's just taught me to be more accepting of what's popular.  Popular doesn't always equal bad.)

 

As finals go, however, I have to say that the Maltese final as a whole was really quite good.  Who would have thought in a country of less than half a million people would have such good singers and be able to put on such a good show.  I recommend you go and watch the entire show.  PBS did quite a good job and all of them would have been worthy choices to go to Eurovision. 

 

Well, almost...

 

 

Dominique   "Too Little Too Late"

 

Sorry Dominique, you have a clear voice, but the song was a little above your skill level.