So I set my ground rules years ago. You’ve got to ignore the country name, I said. You’ve got to just judge the song and the singer and the performance without prejudice, I said. Obviously, there could never be a problem with doing that, I said. It’s a SONG contest not a country contest, I said.
Well *adopts Margo Leadbetter accent*, thank you VERY much Russia for screwing all my beliefs up in a little ball and throwing them back in my face. Polina is brilliant, but not in a nice way. It’s cold and clinical and every second of every shot is carefully considered, and the whole song’s basically been written as an act of passive aggression with a key change. “It’s not *us* that’s the problem” is the subtext, “because we lurrrrve peace and the whole world”, and if you just join the million voices you’ll never be lonely again.
It makes me feel a little nauseous. But if I judge it without prejudice as a song and performance and *try* to ignore all the subtext, it really is good. Ugh. Give me something fluffy and cheerful and simple without any side to it next, please, to get the taste out of my mouth.