Stockholm 2016

Xtra Review: Poland's Krajowe Eliminacje

Poland is currently #1 with bookmakers, despite not even having an entry for Stockholm just yet. TVP are returning to a national final after two years of qualifying for the Grand Final with an internally selected entry. Nine entries have made the cuts: Eight Polish acts and one… Belarussian. On the list: A former Eurovision runner-up and an entry co-composed by a former Eurovision artist who came third. Does Poland have what it takes to bring us to Warsaw (or Gdańsk/Krakow) for 2017? Nick has taken a look at their nine entries. You can read his thoughts below and check out all entries through here.

Dorota Osińska – Universal

That voice is exceptional – if she can do this live. It’s a nice ballad, but I wonder how it’s going to stand out. The only way I can imagine is through her voice. She’s not the biggest name in this selection, so I don’t know where it’s going to get its votes from either. A typical case of nice, but really not nice enough to stand out from the pack: Not the biggest name, not the best ballad – that kind of situation.

Edyta Górniak – Grateful

Now this is more like it. We’ve waited 22 years for Edyta Górniak to come back to Eurovision after their début with To Nie Ja. Edyta’s voice is still spectacular and it’s hard not to be captivated by such a vocal. Even after 22 years, her vocal is still absolutely stunning. I can see a lot of dry ace and cameras going around Edyta with this – in terms of staging, this is quite an easy. It’s a rather mysterious effort, but definitely (and thankfully) on the ballad side. We lack a brilliant ballad this year and this might be it. I’m liking this a lot.

Kasia Moś – Addiction

More mystery coming in for Poland here. Another ballad/midtempo effort (not quite sure where it’s sitting), but it has more of an electronic feel. Once again, I fail to see how this would stand out. Yes, it’s (so far) the only electro song in, but even in its genre it lacks a punch. It just doesn’t do enough for me to make me excited. Her voice is nice, but comparing it to Edyta and Dorota, and even that makes her no stand-out. Too bad!

Margaret – Cool Me Down

So this is the song that brought Poland to #1 with bookmakers. I can see why that is as this is a rather contemporary entry that could fly straight into the charts all over Europe and even the United States. It has its hints of Rihanna in there and Margaret is a convincing performer. Performer, not vocalist: It’ll be a challenge to see how she does this vocally, because she needs to absolutely nail it. It’s a true earworm and I’m a fan of that. Definitely a favourite for victory in Poland.

Michał Szpak – Color Of Your Life

A minor detail, but a major annoyance: Michał, we’re in Europe, we don’t actually need to spell ‘colour’ the American way. It’s another midtempo effort which, for me, just sits there without doing anything for me. I would expect myself to at least have an opinion on the lyrics or the music, but it leaves me stone dead cold. It does nothing, it’s there for three minutes and doesn’t make any sort of impression. It’s really not bad, I don’t hate it at all, but it’s just nothingy.

NAPOLI – My Universe

This song already came second in this year’s Belarussian final, so when I saw this on the Polish list, I had to laugh a little. Poland has massively upped its game this year, so not quite sure why a Belarussian reject would fit in that line-up. That said, this beats Ivan by about a thousand miles. It’s nice, it’s pop, it’s a little anthemic. Sadly, it’s in Poland and not in Belarus. It should’ve beaten Ivan, but it shouldn’t beat Margaret, Edyta or some of the next entries. It’s a nice entry though.

Natalia Szroeder – Lustra

The only effort in Polish this year and this girl has some good names behind her, like Liber. Lustra captured me from the first seconds. It’s not a punchy entry like Cool Me Down or as mysterious as Grateful, but this song has everything for me. It puts a smile to my face every time I hear this. This entry is simply lovely and I totally get why Margaret is the favourite to win, but this is my personal favourite by far. I love it to bits and I have a bit of hope that this, being the only entry in Polish, can upset the odds.

Ola Gintrowska – Missing

This song starts off nicely, a few string instruments and the drums in the background really promiss a big chorus to follow. But that big chorus doesn’t happen. The drums stay, the string instruments stay and it keeps promising that build-up for three minutes without ever happening. A nice album filler on an album I’d definitely buy, but not a favourite to win the national final for me. It’s coming close to being something, but it just isn’t. It’s so middle of the road, it’d fit right in Dansk Melodi Grand Prix to come fourth there.

Taraka – In The Rain

Oh Poland, why oh why do you always need to have that one entry that just doesn’t fit in with anything? This is a bit of Fools Garden meeting a bit of Elaiza with a deep male voice on it. No idea where to start with this, except for saying it’d be a true car crash to get this to Eurovision after that line-up. It’s fun, it’s enjoyable, it’ll have its crowd (and even I’d be that crowd in the right mood), but this should come nowhere to winnng Krajow Eliminacje. The more I hear this, the more Elaiza it is. Let’s just not.

Who will we see in Stockholm?

Margaret. I think no one will be surprised with such a prediction, but Margaret’s song is just the most chart friendly song in there. Is her song a contender for Stockholm? I’m not too sure, but it would probably do very well if Margaret gets the staging and vocals right. As you can read above, Margaret is however not my personal favourite: That’s Natalia Szroeder. I hope Natalia can challenge Margaret for the crown. And then there’s always that Eurovision star: Edyta Górniak. It’s hard to exclude her from having a chance in Krajowe Eliminacje.
All in all, if Margaret does what she’ll have to do, we’ll see her in Stockholm. If not, Natalia and Edyta will be waiting to take away the crown from her. But who do you want to see winning Krajowe Eliminacje?

Who should win Krajowe Eliminacje?
Dorota Osińska – Universal
Edyta Górniak – Grateful
Kasia Moś – Addiction
Margaret – Cool Me Down
Michał Szpak – Color Of Your Life
NAPOLI – My Universe
Natalia Szroeder – Lustra
Ola Gintrowska – Missing
Taraka – In The Rain

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