Carpe Diem by Joker Out.
In a year heavy on (mostly) male band and duos anyone making up these numbers needs to stand out. Joker Out manage this best this year, in my opinion. They’ve been willing to engage with the fandom since the start and have won most of us over with such likable natural charm.
The charm offensive is needed because they’ve chosen to stick with Slovenian for their guitar-based indie-pop song. Granted, national language seems to be paying off once more at Eurovision: the past five Contests have seen three non-English winners and 10 non-English top 5 placings. Still, it feels like an additional challenge the band has set themselves.
Despite this it’s fun all the way for the boys. Their video depicts them attending a clandestine party in a hotel suite. The concierge comes to tick them off but ends up joining in himself. The performance videos we’ve seen show the band all living their best lives – literally Carpe-ing the Diem. It’s lovely to see.
Will this translate to a wider TV audience, oblivious to all the pre-show engagement the band has done? I’m not sure. Fun as it all is for those of us engaged at this level it all means jack once we get to the televised shows with an audience who’ll have to be wooed and wowed anew. Joker Out has enough charm to do this but will need to play their cards absolutely perfectly to do it.
My marks: 8 points