This has all the right elements for a good song – and yet in spite of that, seems to have something missing for me to make it great.
It has a simple and powerful staging: two sets of stairs, one with Nadir on and the other with two dancers who cavort nicely with scant regard for health and safety.
It’s shot mostly with a dark stage, backlit so the dramatic effect is enhanced. Nadir sings the song well and emotes his way through and, yes, he is certainly giving it his all.
Drowning
And yet, after the three songs immediately preceding it (which were mental in their own way), and taking to the stage right before Georgia – which is going to be a whole different level of bonkers (hopefully) and San Marino, the Azeris find themselves drowning in a sea of mental.
There is no passing piece of driftwood to cling to here. The song is “nice” enough if not spectacular or memorable enough in the right ways. That staging is “nice”. The singing “nice”, the overall visual look “nice”. It’s just apathy in a sea of batshit, and that is the ultimate vote loser, no matter how well this goes down in the press centre. As one of my colleagues said “Baku?, Bakant!”
There’s no denying, #Azerbaijan dude can sing beautifully. But the rest of it just just two blokes pissing about on some steps over a vapour weak song. The international signal for a wee break. But can the sewers of Europe take the deluge? #Eurovision
— EurovisionApocalypse (@ESCApocalypse) May 5, 2022
#Azerbaijan – This is so cinematic and theatrical. Excellent use of the waterfall. Nice use of the lighting. Juries will reward but doubtful about public connecting #Eurovision2022 #Eurovision
— TVTips.UK (@TvtipsUk) May 5, 2022
Azerbaijan had to have decent staging cause the song is so tremendously forgettable.
I think they just about pull it off. But up against Australia and Poland?
We’ll see. #Eurovision
— Pif Paf Blog (@ESCPifPaf) May 5, 2022