Macedonia might not qualify – shock!

Tamara Todevska
Tamara Todevska (Republic of Macedonia) performing Let Me Love You at second semi-final, Eurovision Song Contest 2008 in Belgrade, Serbia, May 22, 2008.

Phil: Now we have been exposed to the macadamia nuts on local television for days and day but seeing it on stage has revealed it’s full horror! To my somewhat untrained eye, it looks a total mash up of not a lot of things to be honest. It tries to be “street” and “cool” – but ends up being a typically Macedonian entry. All kinds of everything and big bits of nothing. This, in itself is usually not a bad thing, as it has enough friends to qualify it but, unfortunately, this time round there does not appear to be half as many friends for its usual qualification and therefore it is unlikely to get anywhere!

Nick: Last night, between courses, Phil was explaining the maths of it to me, and almost convinced me that (because of its position in the draw) Le Macedoine Nouveau will need to qualify on merit this year. We’ve bumped into it several times on the local music channels and that had made me think it might have some merit to offer. Now I put my Western European head on, I can’t quite see it. It’s a nice, bright, contemporary performance; and yet it doesn’t tick my boxes. The song still suffers from being Ninanajna part 2 … and a bit chaotic. I can’t even agree with myself on this one! It wouldn’t be on my personal shortlist for a televote though, I’ll certainly say that. It’s between 8th and 12th in the semi, I suspect. Final night heaven or semi-final airport? Who knows!