Over the years, Belarus has offered us a range of different songs of varying success. They’re consistently one of the nations in Eurovision where you don’t know what to expect, because either they’ll completely change their song or artist, or they’ll pull something completely whimsical out for their stage performance. There has been one consistent thing across all the songs Belarus has sent, and that has been that all the songs have been in English – until now. Naviband were selected by the Belarusian public to represent the nation with their song Historyja majho žyccia, the first ever entry from Belarus to be in Belarusian language. Is this the change they have needed to take them to the top of the table?
I couldn’t have been happier to see Naviband win the national final. This is the best possible choice they could have made from the songs performed during the national selection. The song is incredibly catchy and is just so full of life. In amongst a bunch of slower entries, this song is going to stand out like no other. It is just so refreshing to hear a national language, but the positive thing about this song is that it still has that catch in the song in ‘Hey Hey Hayayayo’ which is universal, and the duo have used that as their little catch phrase through the promotional tour. This is the type of song you want to clap, you want to dance to and sing along to because it just makes you feel good. Their energy is infectious!
What Navi band have managed to do is combine a catchy melody with a truly cultural package. I can envisage an incredible stage performance, backed by the Belarusian cultural symbol. I can see something colourful but clean that highlights the cultural and unique elements of this song, and I am genuinely excited to see the finished product.
This is easily one of my favourite songs of 2017, and has been since its selection all those months ago. Hearing them live over the promotional tour, I’m not too worried at all, especially as they have the mix of good vocals and an incredible stage presence full of energy and excitement. Hearing everyone sing along with the Hey Hey’s gives this incredible atmosphere, and this is with small audiences at the Eurovision pre-parties, so just imagine an arena full of Eurovision fans singing along – it will be out of this world!
I’m so excited about this song, and can see it qualifying to the final. If it didn’t, not only would I be super sad, but also disappointed that such an uplifting and just overall fantastic song doesn’t get to see the final. I’d really love this to get a Top 10 position, and if it does reach the final, I’ll sure be voting for it! An easy 10/10 for this one!
