Part six of the Eurovision series! I can’t believe that in about month’s time, this amazing competition will happen! This post will feature artists and songs from these three countries: Greece, San Marino, and Armenia.
If you haven’t check it out already, please check out Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, and Part V of the series. Those three blog posts feature songs from the Czech Republic, Hungary, Montenegro, Belarus, Cyprus, Finland, Serbia, Poland, Slovenia, Australia, Belgium, Estonia, and Iceland, Georgia, and Portugal.
Katerine Duska is another member of the 1989 birthday club! She is also a Greek Canadian as she was born in Montreal and now lives in Athens. She made her musical debut in 2014 with the single “One in a Million”. Before 2019, she released 1 album and two singles.
“Better Love” is Duska’s entry for this year’s Eurovision. It is an art-pop tune with a bit of EDM added in. Duska reminds me of another famous female singer who can’t put a name to (but if you can, let me know in the comments below!).
The Canadian-Greek singer-songwriter explained about how she wrote the lyrics by saying:
“I wanted to write a song that would sound like an invitation, feel like an embrace. A tender song with a fighting spirit about a word we profusely use, but rarely actually mean. It really is the way to love, whomever you love.”
One of the things that I like about “Better Love” is the singer’s rich vocals. Duska has gorgeous vocals, She brings a certain warmth and a lovely texture to this to the song with her vocals. But, it doesn’t mean she has a limited range as you can hear that she goes in a higher range with ease.
Also, the lyrics are profound. The song’s meaning, for me, is about finding yourself a better way to love, whether it’s with lovers or just yourself. You have to fight for love but also fight for whatever you believe in.
I don’t know if “Better Love” will win the competition. Even though the vocals and the lyrics are great, the instrumentation is bland. The song’s instrumentation is basically like any EDM song that you hear anywhere on the radio. It doesn’t have that wow factor that past Eurovision winners had. Nevertheless, I think it will make it to the finals because of Duska’s vocals and the profound lyrics.
San Marino: Serhat – “Say Na NaNa”
Turkish singer, producer, and TV presenter Serhat is representing the tiny country San Marino in this year’s Eurovision with the song “Say Na NaNa.” This isn’t the first time that Serhat is representing this tiny country as he did three years ago with the song “I Didn’t Know.” However, he failed to make to finals. (Interesting fact: He did re-record this song — more in a disco fashion — in 2018 with former Weather Girls’ member Martha Welsh.)
What I like about “Sing Na Na” is the positive vibe it contains. Although many could argue that the song isn’t really talented or it has no redeeming factors, I think the message and the vibe make the song wonderful. It is about believing in yourself, believe in others, and just be happy while living. This positive message is backed by a positive, easygoing, and lovable instrumental track that makes anyone want to get up and dance and sing “nana nana nana.”
Serhat’s vocals don’t have a lot of range and sound a bit rough to some. But, I think his vocals are pretty much okay as his deep tone compliments the bright and fun-loving instrumental very well. And, he is mostly on pitch, so it isn’t that terrible.
I think “Sing Na Na” will make it to the finals because it’s wonderful with its fun-loving “believe in yourself” message. Songs like this one need to be promoted more because the message is something we don’t hear a lot or believe in anymore. “Sing Na Na” is a perfect song to remind each day to have fun, stay positive, and just believe in yourself.
Armenia: Srbuk – “Walking Out”
Srbuk got her start in 2010 when she first competed in the music competition show The X Factor in her home country. She came in second place but decided to form a band called Allusion. The Armenian singer then competed in another competition, The Voice of Ukraine, in 2018, where she placed fourth. Srbuk has released about five singles since her debut as a singer in 2019. Interestingly enough, her musical influences are Aretha Franklin, Etta James, Ella Fitzgerald, Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles, and Michael Jackson.[1]
“Walking Out” is a powerful song. From the lyrics to the vocals, and then to the instrumentation, this song is seeping with vibrant power. I love the Srbuk’s vocalist because they are so strong and powerful, but also that she has a lot of texture in her vocals filled with vibrant tones. There is never a dull moment in this song as the instrumentation is powerful too with the blazing horn synthesized sound.
The lyrics are also powerful as there are a lot of emotions displayed, like anger, sadness, and bitterness. This feels like a song that is about a past love, but the singer is mad at a past lover as that and abused her emotionally. Because of this, there is raw anger and bitterness in the song, and it’s really shown throughout the instrumental and the vocals.
This song is most definitely a song for the finals in this competition. I love the energy that it eminent as well as the talent from the vocals, the musicians, and even the people behind the song.
So what do you think, which song is your favorite? Comment below!
And, since I have a lot of travel bloggers and readers from the world who visit this blog, what are your favorite memories or sites in the Czech Republic, Hungary, or Montenegro? Let me know in the comments below.
Since this is an ongoing series, I am going to share my prediction scorecard at the end of each post. It is a way for me to keep track of my predictions and see if they came true in May.
