LUM!X feat. Pia Maria – Halo
Upon first listen to the Austrian song it seems that someone has been reading the “How to be Greece or Cyprus” big book of Eurovision, as they have seemingly gone down the lowest common denominator route to appeal to the usual constituency.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I don’t think it’s a bad song at all – in fact, its one of the few songs that I have actively listened to again whist writing these reviews, just to make sure that my first impressions were correct.
From the outset, though it should be noted that Mr Lumix is not the vocal talent, that’s all down to Pia – and she carries the song off well, despite very bizarre lyrics at the start mentioning philosophers like Socrates (takes me back to 1988 for a brief moment), then, as the young ‘uns clearly don’t say, the beat drops. The chorus is very strong if a touch repetitive, but then again you only have three minutes to make a first impression.
Which is, and thanks for asking, it’s the Hi-NRG stuff that the cool kids in the 90’s might have liked, and now they have grown up, they might just vote for it. It’ll stand out above the sea of ballads for precisely that reason. Let’s just hope it ends up more like JOWST than Gromee.
Phil’s Score – 6 Points.
The DJ in the background, playing his record table and the singer in the front is something which doesn’t really work well in Eurovision(exceptions exist) and let’s just hope that it will work in this case because this song brings much needed energy to the stage which is missing in this year line up. It’s the kind of song that televoters will vote for and the jurries will fail to understand or reward. Won’t be a surprise if this will get the last position in its semi, which will almost guarantee its qualifying.
One thing though – I hope she can sing this live because otherwise it will miserably fail.