I was looking forward to Australia’s rehearsal so much. I met Jessica at the London Eurovision Party and she was an absolute delight. I also saw the schedule of performers that listed her as solo on the stage. I was a bit worried by that.
Jessica is in a shiny purple dress, short, and with a trailing bit dangling from one side with a splash of detail in gold. It’s unfortunately reminiscent of the purple hazelnut and caramel in a box of Quality Street. There are some diagonal neon strip light forming a kind of chevron behind her, giving a close focus. Your eyes can’t go anywhere but on her, which is some pressure to carry.
The start feels very dark; you can see they’re trying to create a visual mood with the changing of close shot camera framing and it’s working at times, but at others it’s rather more exposing than enhancing.
I can’t help thinking this would be improved by the addition of some backing dancers – something to pull the attention away from just her for a while and let her tell the story of the song. For a lyric based on the togetherness of “we” she’s strangely stranded and needlessly vulnerable as she performs this. It could have so much more impact, particularly the parts with the tribal drumming where it’s crying out for something more to happen.
I’d seen this as the type of song that could pick up steady sevens and eights and nudge a win were the top votes divided between a number of songs, but I’m struggling to see how she can even manage that if this is what was being voted on right now.