History and experience cannot deny that Niamh Kavanagh is a fine singer and she’s clearly the class act here in Oslo in spite of the odd bum note this morning. Also having met her on several occasions now I can confirm that she is one of the nicest people in the world.
My problem is I simply can’t get excited about this song. It’s really quite incredibly dull, one of the dullest to ever grace this contest and you have to think with the plethora of uptempo and bizarre fair in semi final two that it’s got a fight on it’s hands to qualify.
Niamh manages to hit the key change high note but has struggled with the end note on every performance so far. The presentation is simple as probably befits it. There are one or two unwise close up chin shots.
I’m sure that Keith Mills will tell you a completely different story but this isn’t the shoe in for the final that everyone has been saying it is, something I’ve thought all along.
Good luck to Niamh for the fun and warm person that she genuinely is, but it might not be a bad idea if she checks to see if the skies are open on Friday 28th just in case.
Phil: This song is straddling New and Old Eurovision.
On the Old side, it’s a jury ballad sung, well, reasonably well by a former Eurovision winner, it ticks all the right boxes where that is concerned. We all know that Niamh can sing and knows what to do and it will appeal for those with a hankering for the old days.
However, at the moment my new Eurovision head says that this song is a ball of cheese, hankering after the old days, sung by someone trying to recapture past glories and it won’t have mass appeal in places that either didn’t exist or didn’t see 1993.
We also get a feeling that Niamh is holding back a lot and pulls out of the high note at the end of the song and she has a look about her that says “I’m not that happy”. She, however as we all know, can sing the song well, and does nothing you would expect and I have no doubt that it is going to qualify.
Project this song into the final though and something tells me that my New European head will win the day and it could well end up 6th-10th.
Nick: This is worrying me. The trouble here is that we’re in stunning high definition – I mean, real, proper, professional TV high definition rather than our brand of HD. Niamh’s hair looks like it’s been washed in Radium Shampoo to make it soft, fluorescent and manageable. The 30 minute make-up consultation that each delegation has after its press conference may not be long enough. And at times the backdrop looks like the hugest slab of Gruyere cheese you’ve ever seen in your entire life, and I haven’t had lunch yet.
Things are improving through the rehearsals, mind – there’s a little bit of Olsens smileyness going on at times which gives it a warmth and likeability. Not sure. It’s wobbling between “yeah, it’s alright, that” and “Umm, umm, umm, umm… not sure”. Ummm.
Not sure.