It’s Day 2 in the Big Brother House. Oh, no, different pressure chamber, it’s the Eurovision Press Centre. I’m recovering from a hike up Lisbon’s beautiful but steep hills after going out to that Rosé’s Sunday Curry ‘n’ Caipirinha Club. We’re here waiting for Macedonia (FYR of), who are on stage but not yet on screen for us to see. We can though see the looping promotional video for Portuguese tourism, which looks stunning, but gives us, and through us you, less of an idea what’s going on in the hall. Oh, wait… We have movement! Oh, it’s the test card for the signal on the satellite complete with a shrill tone that’s going right though us.
Finally, we get the feed for the last run through. This song is a mish-mash of styles, jumping between the reggae verse and dance chorus. Marija is in a shocking fuchsia number, cut open at the back with a silver trim, with an asymmetrical hemline, short at the front, with a couple of flaps, VERY short at the back, revealing a pair of silver hotpants. It’s a bit distracting, which given the chop and change aspect of the song is the last thing this presentation needs.
Bojan is in a nice crisp white shirt with a black geometric design. There are three backing singers who also dance, a bit disinterestedly. Well, a lot disinterestedly, actually. There’s some strutting around, some of which works, some of which doesn’t, and an awkward ending as the backing dancers move across the bridge and Bojan and Marija stand at the end of it as the camera moves towards them, and the whole thing just fizzles out.
Bringing a song like this was a bold move, and one that needs to dazzle on stage. Unfortunately this just looks a bit strained, and as yet does little to convince you why you’d want to vote for it.