For two years in a row now, we’ve seen Estonia fail to qualify to the Eurovision final with what were considered strong entries, so it’s been a disappointing couple of years to say the least. With the usual format of Eesti Laul, the nation landed on their winner, Elina Nechayeva, who won by a complete landslide. Will Elina be able to turn things around for the often successful Eurovision nation with her song La Forza?
There are always a few songs each year that are completely surrounded by hype, and for a huge part of this year’s national final season, this was the hyped song. Interestingly, I’ve found that the hype for this one hasn’t been long lasting, and I credit that to Israel’s song release – but we’ll get to that in Israel’s song review! With that said, I think the momentum has definitely slowed on this song, but there’s still no denying its Eurovision potential!
This is a BIG song, but this is the type of song that has the potential to completely divide viewers. I think that is also a side effect of being such a big favourite. Straight up, I never found myself on team La Forza. While listening to this song, I can appreciate it for what it is, an operatic ballad with incredible power, but after listening to this song, I want to move onto the next. Over the national final season after it was chosen, I never had the urge to listen to this song, and it isn’t until now reviewing this song that I’m listening to it again.
However, now that I’m listening to the song with more a fresh mind, I do see the Eurovision potential in this song. It’s an understated beginning leading into a very intense and powerful ending, and Elina is hands down one of the best vocalists of the year, so if nothing else, we can expect a flawless vocal performance from her on the night. As a performer, she is also flawless. The way she moves throughout the song is so fluid, and it adds to the overall performance.
Saying that, without the visual performance of this song, it is just not the same. We’ve heard murmurs about the Estonian team not having the funds to bring the incredible performance costume with them to Lisbon, and although this staging isn’t really original (think back to Aliona Moon or Cezar), this song needs something larger than life. It will be interesting to see how they go about this if the reports are in fact correct in that the dress isn’t coming to Lisbon, because this is a package deal, with the song comes the performance.
All aboard… the opera train!
It’s not too often we see an operatic song at Eurovision, and each time it seems to divide viewers. I think Estonia probably made the right choice in Eesti Laul, and this would be their best chance at reaching the final, but with the momentum really dropping lately, I’m starting to worry about Estonia here. I would say I’m confident in that this will qualify, but many were confident about Laura and Koit Toome qualifying, and we all know how that ends. I just have a feeling we’ll see some of the bigger favourites fall, and perhaps this could be one of them.
Our rating: 7/10
If you support Estonia at Eurovision, make sure to vote for Elina in our poll! Watch her official video below, and follow our Eurovision 2018 playlist on Spotify
