This year marks the 7th participation of Albania at Junior Eurovision, with their best result achieved in 2015. Hoping to bring the nation their second top 10 result is Anna Gjebrea and her song, ‘Stand By You’.
Anita:
Song + Vocals
Despite their mediocre results at Junior Eurovision, I believe that Albania offers a unique flavour to the contest. Their last two results felt criminally underrated, and I am hoping that this year sees the nation achieve what they deserve. Stand By You is an enjoyable, contemporary entry that has the ability to stand out at the contest this year.
The verse melody is very catchy, and arguably the best part of the song. It builds well into the chorus, although it’s not as punchy as I would like for a chorus. The transition to English isn’t too jarring, and it helps share the strong message of the song. The bridge is underwhelming, but overall doesn’t sour the song.
Performance + Act
Looking back at Albania at Junior Eurovision, there is a common theme. The nation often places their singer solo on stage, and with an upbeat entry like this, it could be detrimental. I think they really need to capitalise on the message of the song and show a real camaraderie on stage, which will mean having backing dancers. I do hope the nation can deliver with the staging this year, as it has certainly been a downfall for them in previous years.
Conclusions
There is a lot of promise with this entry at Junior Eurovision, but it also has the potential to fall flat with underwhelming vocals and an undercooked stage performance. I would like to think that it will make the Top 10, but I’ve said that about previous Albanian entries. Hopefully this year will be different.
Rating
7.5/10
Dennis:
Song + Vocals
Albania brings us a contemporary song, an uplifting anthem with a strong chorus. In the studio Anna Gjebrea sings her song well and convincingly. She also seems able to show much fun she is having whilst performing, which is a strong feature. I am not such a fan of the multilingual Albanian-English, but we see this is often done at Junior Eurovision.
Performance + Act
I expect Albania to copy the energy from their videoclip to the stage in Paris. Especially during the anthem-alike chorus and the strong arm movements there is potential for a strong group-feeling in the act.
Conclusions
Albania has a strong entry for the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2021. Personally I am not too fond of the English lines in the song, which are more distracting than adding anything to the message of the song to me. Overall I expect this to do well in the competition.
Rating
7.5/10
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