FYR Macedonia certainly aren’t the luckiest Eurovision nation, and have yet to win, and incredibly they are yet to even hit the top 10. Their best result was back in 2006 with 12th place, so with that in mind, the nation needed a bit of a shake up to get in the Eurovision groove. This year they decided to internally select Jana Burčeska, and later on in the national final season, they released the song Dance Alone. The song was written by the same writers as both Serbia’s and Bulgaria’s songs, which are both in semi-final two as well. Is this the year FYR Macedonia could reach the top 10?
I’ll straight up say, this is not at all what I was expecting from FYR Macedonia. By using highly credible former Eurovision songwriters, the nation was making the right choice, because finally it feels like FYR Macedonia is up with the times. This song actually feels simultaneously retro and modern, and that’s a hard thing to achieve. It doesn’t feel like a Eurovision song, but more a radio friendly tune which isn’t a bad thing at all, seeing as I feel the contest is heading in that direction. The verses are enjoyable, but by far the best part is the chorus. For the fans in the audience, I can just imagine them all belting out the lyrics to the chorus, and that will really create an incredible atmosphere in the arena. The song somehow feels mysterious and dark, but yet keeps that catchy pop beat and melody, right until the end of the song where she eerily sings that final line, which is an unexpected but welcome ending to the song.
Where this song goes wrong is the live performance. Her voice in the studio version is just that right level of unique or quirky, but watching the live performances, and this especially applies to the verses, it sounds a bit more awkward and put on. This might be remedied by an incredible stage performance, and if they manage to create the vibe of their film clip on stage, the rigidness in her voice (not to mention some awkward dance moves) might not matter too much. Staging will be incredibly important for this song.
Overall, I do enjoy this song, however in small doses. As long as I don’t overplay it, I do enjoy it, but as for its chances of success, I really can’t say. They were unlucky to be in the second semi-final, and also stuck in 3rd place in the running order. I just have this feeling that this is going to be left behind. It would be sad to see this not make the final, since I believe this is by far one of the best Macedonian entries. With all that said, I’m going to give this a 7/10.
