When the first entry of 2022 was revealed to be rock, we speculated at the extent to which the genre would permeate the year given Måneskin’s spectacular victory last year. It turned out not to herald a rock saturation, something that, now we have a full line up, stands in Bulgaria’s favour. And let’s face it, it’s going to need all the luck it can get.
The Project is something of a supergroup touted for collaboration with several big names, although said collaborations themselves seem to be less well known. One member, drummer Stoyan, is no stranger to Eurovision having appeared twice with Elitsa with the frenzied drumming of 2007’s Voda and 2013’s Samo Shampioni. I’m glad he’s found something to do, as I last saw him shuffling forlornly following such a blazing on-stage row with Elitsa at a party in Malmö I feared he might never drum again.
If the choice to send a rock song on the back of Måneskin is to try to capture some of that success, then the choice of IMP fails at the first hurdle. It has none of the pizazz, sex appeal or X factor the Italians effortlessly exude that helped elevate them to victory. What they serve us is some rather uninspired rock, somewhere between the dad- and schlager- sub genres. It’s so insignificant that even as I write this there’s a query on its Wikipedia page as to whether the song has sufficient notability to warrant its own entry. Perhaps that says it all. It’s decidedly not for me.
My marks: nul points