Omar from Slovenia is up now. I’ve already commented in my Countdown how I think he’s got an uphill struggle, and he’s not really doing everything he could to help himself.
The staging works – mostly. They’ve descended Sven, the much-touted ‘chandelier’ lighting rig, from the ceiling and spaced it around him, which brings a feeling of intimacy to the vast space that could otherwise swallow him. It lifts to build a powerful crescendo later in the song, with down spotlighting creating a nice impact, although at times it does rather remind me of the moment Fallon was inexplicably abducted by aliens in The Colbys, which – whilst criminally under-appreciated as a seminal moment in trash TV – is not the effect I suspect he’s after.
He kneels for the second verse too, which is just totally incongruent. He’s got a nice face though, and this does look good on screen, apart from a few awkward moments of close-up where he momentarily looks a little bemused. Vocally though this does have power, and whilst I think his struggle is still there it’s not without the realms of possibility that he might – just – squeeze through.
Monty x