Blanche was one of the first Eurovision 2017 acts to be announced, and there were months between her selection and the song release. All of a sudden, Belgium went from zero to hero as soon as the song was released, with fans going absolutely insane over her song City Lights. With Belgium finally finding their groove at Eurovision since Loïc Nottet back in 2015, then Laura Tesoro last year, Belgium is definitely on the path to score a Eurovision win, which would be their second in Eurovision history. Does Blanche have what it takes to bring the win to Belgium?
I think Blanche has incredible potential at Eurovision, but I still don’t think Belgium has this one in the bag. The song itself for me was something completely unexpected, but not in a negative way. The song is a very modern synthpop entry which could happily find its place on radio stations across the world, and her voice is unique, which has worked for Belgium before in the form of Loïc. Although this song does have a catchy melody, it falls into that same trap that Cyprus does, which is that it is very repetitive and doesn’t quite reach that peak. Out of the two, I think this diversifies more in the last minute, although I just feel like it needs that extra little bit. I do enjoy when she moves into those higher notes towards the end of the song, and I wish she potentially used those more throughout the song to create more interest.
This song seems more suitable for those watching on TV, rather than for those watching in the arena. Songs like Montenegro’s for example, would get the fans present in the arena going, whereas this song is the type where fans might find it more difficult to bop around to. However, this is not a bad thing if they really stage this well. Since a huge amount of viewers will be watching this from home on a TV, if they can create an interesting atmosphere for this song on stage that translates well to television, this is bound to get votes. I also don’t yet know what Blanche is like performing live. The risk could be that a lack of interest on stage amplifies the repetitive nature of the song, rather than creating something spectacular to maintain attention from the viewers. Even something as simple as a creative use of light would be enough to give this song a boost. I’ll be interested to see how this turns out.
Overall, I think this is another strong entry from Belgium. I’m happy that they’ve finally worked out what works well at Eurovision, because it would be nice to see them finally score another win. I think this is essentially a guaranteed qualifier in semi-final 1, and I can see it coming mid to high results table in the final. For me, it’s mid to high as well, and for that reason I’m giving it a 7/10.
