The Czech Republic are surely amongst some of the most unlucky nations at Eurovision, with majority of their participations (which to be fair, has been few) ending in being stuck in the semi-final, or worse, coming last in the semi-final. It wasn’t until last year that the nation actually managed to make the final, and so now they’re on a bit of a high and hoping to improve on their 2016 result. The lucky representative was internally selected this year, and it’s Martina Bárta who will be representing the nation with the song My Turn – so, is it the Czech Republic’s turn to win the contest?
This is really quite something. It’s a song that perhaps isn’t seen that often at Eurovision. It’s more of a jazz inspired entry, think Magdi from 2007. In fact, it’s like a toned down and soulful version of Hungary’s 2007 song Unsubstantial, which Magdi really did over-sing on stage, whereas I find this just the right amount of jazzy, soulful vibes. I find the lyrics to be meaningful, and sung in a meaningful way, and in a beautiful melody. The piano backing is really stunning, and overall it feels really well produced. Despite all those great things, it still isn’t quite reaching the top of my list. For me, it’s a song I want to listen to once or twice, and every now and then, whereas a bunch of the other 2017 songs are constantly on repeat on my playlists. This is not to say it’s a bad song, and in reality, for most of the millions of Eurovision viewers, they’re going to be hearing this for the first time live on stage, and the emotion she carries through the live performance could very much be a qualifying combination.
What is really great to see is the effort put into not only the song, but the video clip as well, which is really stunning. I really hope they capture the artistic nature of this song and video clip in order to create a really atmospheric staging. The great thing about this film clip is that I really do think it’s transferable to a stage show with a bunch of backing dancers. I found with last year’s entry, Gabriela looked quite lonely on stage, so I hope they use people power in this performance.
Overall, I think it’s a really nice song. I’d pretty safely say that it’s not threatening the pre-contest favourites, but this could easily make it through to the final, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it does. Well, I’d also not be surprised if it doesn’t make the final – it’s just one of those songs that if it does make it through, it will probably be by a hair. I’m personally going to give this song a 6.5/10.
