The press room seems to be very full for the big five, which is how it should be, and the French now have come onto stage. The buzz in the room is palpable.
The first thing that you will see when you watch this is a gurt big look picture of Bilal raining rainbow tears and unsurprisingly it seems to carry on in that vein. The juxtapose between the heavier-set dancer and the thinner dancer is clearly evident and made a thing of on stage to get the whole inclusivity vibe to the audience.
And it seems to go on in that vein for three minutes. I hate to tell the French delegation this but the whole “you can be who you want to be” thing has been done, by Netta, and others. It doesn’t make Bilal a trendsetter, it makes him a follower in the Eurovision sense.
Vocally, Bilal is spot on but to me the key seems to be a touch lower that we are used to and the two dancers seem to distract from a song that is, essentially, a vehicle for Bilal to transition from YouTube to mainstream.
The attention is gained in the first minute, and the shock factor is the selling point of this song but, when it boils down, you’re visually distracting from a song that doesn’t have any musically different ideas.
It’s now become more message than song for me.