In the lead up to this year’s Junior Eurovision, we are looking back on the previous editions of the contest to rediscover the songs we love! Our Top 5 will likely be different to yours, but that’s part of the joy! We encourage you to join the discussion by sharing your Top 5 too!
Today we rewind back to the Junior Eurovision Song Contest of 2015, a contest with a total of 17 nations competing. The show, which was held in Bulgaria, featured two debuting countries of Australia and Ireland and two returning countries of Albania and FYR Macedonia. Unfortunately we saw Cyprus, Croatia and Sweden withdraw from the contest. Now, let’s get into our Top 5!
5. Lenina Pesma – Lena Stamenković (Serbia)
Serbia can be hit or miss when it comes to Junior Eurovision, but in 2015, they really hit it out of the park. Lenina Pesma is a beautiful ethno inspired ballad which wouldn’t sound out of place at Eurovision. With some big notes throughout, Lena proved her talent during the performance of this song, especially as the song begins to build in the second half of the three minutes. The stage performance is simple but allows you to focus on the song, and it certainly is a song worth focusing on. Their 7th place finish seems quite underwhelming, however their position in the running order didn’t do Serbia too many favours. That aside, this is a fantastic entry from Serbia.
4. Not My Soul – Destiny Chukunyere (Malta)
There’s no denying that Destiny has incredible talent, and even if this song wasn’t your personal favourite, you can recognise that Destiny is surely one of the best vocalists we’ve seen at the contest. This entry encapsulates Junior Eurovision well, it’s a song that has a message behind it, but is also both catchy and fun. We love a good bop at Junior Eurovision, and this was a well-executed bop that was very much deserving of the win. Even though she performs on stage alone, she has a commanding stage presence that is fantastic to watch as a viewer, and that confidence makes this song even better.
3. Love – Mika (Armenia)
Armenia just really understand Junior Eurovision and what it’s all about. This is a prime example of Armenia understanding the contest, as Love is such a catchy but interesting entry. Armenia know how to create unique and memorable entries, and that’s why we see them more often than not high up in the results. It helps their case when they send performers who even at a young age have charming and entertaining personalities, and Mika was such a confident performer in terms of vocals and choreography. The stage performance gave even more interest to the song, and suited the song well. Sorry in advance for the pun, but this song is very loveable!
2. Prva Ljubezen – Lina Kuduzović (Slovenia)
This song was at the top of many people’s rankings for 2015, and it’s easy to see why. This stunning ballad could have easily represented Slovenia at Eurovision and garnered a pretty good result, but finishing 3rd at Junior Eurovision is somehow both commendable but also underwhelming. This is a fantastic song that is fronted by a very talented young artist who nails the performance of a vocally challenging song. The melody is beautiful from verse to chorus, and as the song grows it becomes even more impressive. The stage performance is a winter wonderland, and it’s definitely visually appealing. All round a great entry from Slovenia, and certainly their best.
- Volshebstvo – Ruslan Aslanov (Belarus)
This has to be one of my personal favourite Junior Eurovision entries of all time (the list just keeps growing!) The running theme of this post is Junior Eurovision songs exceeding the quality of music at Eurovision, and this is another prime example. Excuse the pun, but this song is truly magical even from the starting seconds. When an artist can not only replicate the studio version but actually serve up a more impressive performance is incredibly satisfying, and I definitely think Ruslan did just that. His vocals are out of this world on a song that definitely has some intense moments. I usually don’t mind if the entries feature a verse or chorus of English in their song, but in this case I do wish it was all kept in national language. It did lose a bit of power with the English lyrics, but overall this was a spectacular performance all round.
Check out the previous posts in this series here: