Eurovision Throwback: Anjeza Shahini – The Image of You

Upon request, this week’s Eurovision Throwback takes us back to 2004 – back to an era which could confidently be labelled the dark ages. I think this song personifies what I mean by the dark ages. Reaching 7^th place in the final is a great achievement, and this along with the positive comments on the YouTube video, with quite bold statements such as ‘best Albanian song ever!’ set the bar pretty high. However, for me, that bar needed to be a lot lower, and here’s why.

Let’s start off with the verses. An inoffensive piano intro, followed by a questionable melody doesn’t make for the best start. There’s only one thing that could have made the song worse, and that’s changing to a faster pop tempo. Tick. The chorus is probably the least offensive part of the song vocally, however there’s just a tone or sound within Anjeza’s voice which just doesn’t sit well with my sensibilities. At some points, I think her voice just doesn’t suit that style of pop, or at least that song. For me, this is most apparent during the verses, where words seem to blend into one big word, and also the final parts of the song, where it’s borderline off key consistently.

The staging is quite simple, and let’s just say, it could have been worse. I can’t say I love the backing singers’ extremely choreographed movements but it would have been more distracting with actual backing dancers. I think in comparison with the common staging of the dark ages, this song does well to keep it relatively simple, however it unfortunately doesn’t make up for the fact that the song is quite so-so.

This song definitely is outdated, however, I do suppose that in the context of 2004, 7^th place is probably reasonable. Musical quality was questionable in 2004, and watching the recap now, most of the songs are equally outdated, and equally as terrible (sorry). Overall, I don’t hate it but I certainly don’t like it, and I don’t have a desire to listen to it again. Either I’m missing the appeal (it’s the same deal with Elitsa & Stoyan from Bulgaria 2007 – I just don’t get it????), or this is just genuinely an average song. With that said, I’ll welcome any opposing opinions, so please feel free to comment down below!

I’m going to give this a 4/10, for me, just below average.