For me, there was a lot wrong here. Firstly let me be clear, the song itself is a cracker and, as expected, Duncan delivered all the notes in the right order. Also as expected, the staging was minimalist, with just him at the old piano.
My problem with it was that as a performer, Duncan failed to connect.
The hook of the song is “loving YOU is a losing game”, and yet not once did he actually connect with any sort of “you“. His sheepish furtive sideways glances to the camera bordered on creepy, and there were way too many wide shots to keep my interest.
It’s supposed to be an intimate song and yet it wasn’t made so by negative camerawork and an artist seemingly unwilling to interact with the people who will award half his score.
The delegation (or people involved) need to have a word with Duncan and say: “Stop with the art, start with the connections NOW, otherwise this will not win”.
There is still time to change things and it needs to happen.
Piano, that’s what they came with
Piano, that’s what they came with