Margaret was catapulted into the Eurovision spotlight back in 2016 when she participated in the Polish national selection with the song ‘Cool Me Down’. Despite failing to reach Eurovision, she remained an icon in the Eurovision world.
Krajowe Eliminacje was the format used to select the Polish Eurovision act in 2016, and the line-up featured some notable names. Edyta Górniak was Poland’s first Eurovision entrant back in 1994, and still to this day, is Poland’s best result at the contest. Joining Edyta on stage was Kasia Moś, who as we know, went on to represent Poland at Eurovision in the following year. Belarusian national final addict NAPOLI also joined the line-up with ‘My Universe’ which had already competed in the Belarusian national final and finished second. Despite the strong line-up, Margaret remained as a hot favourite.
It’s easy to see why Margaret was a clear favourite. Her song was incredibly contemporary, and had strong Eurovision potential. The catchy entry was radio-friendly, but still had potential in the live performance aspect. The choruses are memorable, and I’m sure most Eurovision fans would still be able to recite the lyrics, even after all these years. You just have to look at the songwriters to know that this song was bound to be a hit. All the listed songwriters and producers have been involved with Eurovision or National finals such as Melodifestivalen, and with success too. It should have been a landslide victory, right?
Margaret has a unique vocal tone, which also added to the interest of the song, but it all comes down to live vocals. Realistically, Margaret isn’t the greatest live singer. Her performance at Krajowe Eliminacje wasn’t the best, but also wasn’t a total disaster. It could have been easily disguised with some better backing singers.
Margaret ended up finishing in second place behind Michał Szpak, and while he ended up with a Top 10 result at Eurovision, Margaret had the potential to achieve more. Her song was considerably better, however Michał had the vocals to back his song. Had ‘Cool Me Down’ ended up in Eurovision, I think it may have been the ‘Fuego’ of Eurovision 2016. With a strong staging and backing vocal team, it certainly had the potential to do well.
Regardless of her failure to reach Eurovision that year, her song was incredibly successful in Poland and beyond. Even though she had worked in the music industry prior to this performance, it was this performance that really put her in the spotlight. Of course we saw her participate in Melodifestivalen just a few years later and has since had a very fruitful career.
Cool Me Down remains as one of the best entries to never make it to Eurovision, and it’s a shame we never got to see it play out. It’s a 9/10 from me.
Profile
Year: 2016
Country: Poland
Artist: Margaret
Song: Cool Me Down