It’s taken a while, but after a painful journey of awful rock, strained ballads and a cartoonish play on minority ethnicity, the Czech Republic might finally have got Eurovision. Last year Mikolas Josef and his roguish charm catapulted the nation to the giddy heights of a record 6th place (and catapulted himself into hospital after a first rehearsal tumble).
Sixth place may not be as high as the best aim for at Eurovision, but it was only two short years ago that it was the same best placing as Portugal had ever achieved, and who would have thought we’d now have a Contest in Lisbon behind us?
The country builds on the modern sound of Josef with a fresh, upbeat, and happy pop song. It’s a playful three minutes of playing down an unrequited attraction to a childhood neighbour, now grown up and piquing our protagonist’s interests afresh.
A national final of sorts selected the song from eight music videos, rather than live performances. It’s a novel way of engaging with emerging talent, but given Eurovision relies on stage presence, it does carry inherent risk. We’ve seen the band in the Ukrainian final, and whilst undeniably perky, I did feel the lead singer lacked something in connection.
The video though is a clever splice of Instagram-like connecting scenes, suggesting somewhere there’s a creative force behind the visuals that could yet see this translate well to Tel Aviv. Until then there’s a question mark, but one I hope they find the answer to.
Monty’s score: 7 points