Belgium have achieved some real highs and lows in recent years, from achieving various top 10 results, to the disappointing non-qualifications. Hoping to return to the top 10 this year, Belgium puts their faith in Jérémie Makiese who will sing ‘Miss You’.
Anita
Song and Vocals
Belgium selected their acts early in the season, with Jérémie Makiese fresh off The Voice Belgique, which he won. You would assume that winning The Voice and being an exceptional vocalist would go hand in hand, but unfortunately I didn’t get those feelings from his previous performances. Regardless, I reserved full judgement for when the Eurovision song was released.
Miss You as a studio version is soulful and overall quite a likeable song. The song makes use of his style of voice, without being overly complex. The song begins more in a ballad style, with his voice really capturing your attention straight away. The first chorus doesn’t have a lot of backing instrumentation, keeping with the ballad style. After the first chorus, the beat kicks in and the song morphs into a mid-tempo pop track. The chorus is catchy, and it doesn’t take many listens to pick up the lyrics. The gospel bridge gives extra depth to the song, and we get a very soulful conclusion to the song.
Prior to rehearsals, we saw Jérémie give a live performance of the song, and the vocals were underwhelming. In terms of Eurovision, I think this song is not as competitive, but rather a radio friendly song. The performance needs strength and soul, and I don’t know if we can rely on Jérémie for those elements.
Performance and Act
Being a mid-tempo track, it may be difficult to stage this song. It’s not really a song that can handle a lot of choreography, or if it can, it has to be within a specific style to suit the actual song. They could definitely play on the soul and gospel feel of the track, however again that might come across as too cliche. It’s a difficult one, and I’m not sure if Belgium is up to the task.
Conclusions
This song is going to rely on vocals, and I don’t have full faith that they will be delivered. Being towards the end of the running order plays into the hands of Belgium, but this alone will certainly not be enough to see the nation reach the final. I’m not sure about this one.
Rating
7.5/10
Dennis
Song and Vocals
Belgium has one of the more soulistic songs of the year and Jérémie should be able to pull off this risky and difficult song, having proven himself as a winner of The Voice. However, in some live performances he sparked some doubt with me about his vocal qualities. This song has a high risk factor of going offkey, but if he manages to pull it off he could be rewarded highly because of it.
Performance and Act
There is a bit in the videoclip where Jérémie is dancing on the street with a crew of dancers around him. I kinda expect these images and dance routine to be included in his actual performance as well. Starting alone and then being joined by his crew.
Conclusions
Belgium has a good song but also a very difficult one to perform. This is a swing and miss because if he messes up vocally, it will affect all the impact the composition could make. Therefore Belgium is a hard one to predict for me beforehand and it can really go each way.
Rating
8/10
Team Scores
Steef: 7/10
Erik: 7/10
Josh: 8/10
Heath: 8.5/10
Kaitlin: 8/10
Selim: 7/10
Morena: 9/10
Average Score: 7.8/10
What do you think of Miss You? Follow our Eurovision 2022 reviews here. You can support your favourite acts in our Eurovision 2022 poll, which you can find here.