Editorials & OpinionFeatures🇦🇩 Andorra

🇦🇩 Slideback Sunday: Andorra made a decision

Slideback Sunday this week takes us to Andorra’s last entry. The hapless microstate never qualified for the grand final and after ‘La Teva Decisió (Get A Life)’, they ‘got a life’ and left, never to come back. What does ESCXtra think of this entry?

If you only ever watched the finals or came into the Eurovision fandom in 2010, like me, or later, then chances are good you’ve never seen an Andorran entry live. Perhaps you didn’t even know they used to enter. But they did, for six years between 2004 and 2009. Sadly none of those entries made it to the grand final. This probably played a major part in why they haven’t entered since. From 2009, ‘La Teva Decisió (Get A Life)’, performed by Susanne Georgi is to date, the most recent Andorran entry.

This pretty cute guitar-pop song failed to win over Europe, coming in 15th in its semi-final and with only 8 points, half of which came from fellow Iberian nation Portugal. As was becoming normal for Andorran entries, it’s a mix of Catalan and English. Catalan is the national language of Andorra and is present in all six of their Eurovision entries.

Susanne and her team obviously gave it a fun, cheery go of it with the performance. However this feels a bit dwarfed by the massive stage that Eurovision had become. Sadly, her voice also just isn’t present enough to really sell this. I can’t fault its enthusiasm, it’s charming, but it’s also not hard to see why it failed. The song never comes together in a way that makes me say ‘wow, that was good’, rather it feels more like a small annoyance. Like background noise from a TV music channel. It’s not something I would think to come back to outside of the interesting context of it being Andorra’s last entry.

And with regards to that, it wasn’t a spectacular failure, but a quiet one that signalled to Andorra the true difficulty of sourcing a song that Europe would notice. When a song like this, that Ireland or Denmark could easily have sent at any point in the last 20 years, gets roundly dismissed, it’s hard to see a way forward. A reduction in spending the following year resulted in their withdrawal. Though Eurovision fans would love to see them back at the contest some day, for the foreseeable future that seems unlikely.

What the team think

Costa

Andorra will forever be known as the most unfortunate country in Eurovision history, but this is a gem in my book. I can’t say it has aged like fine wine, but “La Teva Decisio” is an entry the microstate should be proud of. The Eurovision Archives are not short of twee, saccharine ditties, but this is one of my absolute favourites. The song is 100% sugary sweet noughties frothiness, never pretending to be anything else. This song makes me feel like the lead in a Zoey 101 teen series for three minutes, and it’s glorious. The chorus is insanely catchy and the ‘ah ah ah ahs’ crawl straight under my skin for hours after I listen. I could sing the chorus without listening to the song first and no Eurovision entrant can say that. That’s talent, folks!

Angelos

‘What is there to say about “La teva decisio”? Not much as I had almost forgot about it’s existence which says a lot.
Susanne is a nice performer and in my opinion she gave a decent performance. It’s a quite happy song, but somehow it passes you by totally, failing to make any bigger impression enough to stand out.
Andorra tried to add English lyrics during their last attempts before pulling out completely, in order to maybe qualify, but the main thing was the never the language itself. Neither on this song, nor their previous entries.
However I hope to see Andorra back again soon!’

Luke

I absolutely loved this – it’s so much fun, so catchy, I don’t understand why this didn’t do so much better…well I do, back in 2009 diaspora was still pretty strong in Eurovision, and with Andorra being such a small country…

This was so current for its time though and to think that such a song as this came from little Andorra of all places! This was Andorra’s most recent entry, and after doing so poorly with such a great song as this, I can really see why they quit the contest and why they’re reluctant to return. If they can’t do well with this in 2009, what would they do well with? Hopefully San Marino’s success last year might encourage them to make a return soon – I’d love to see them back!

Wiv

To be perfectly honest; I actually struggle a bit remembering that Andorra ever took part in Eurovision. I always have to really concentrate to remind myself of their entries. Even though none of their songs are among my least favorites, they’re also not anywhere near my top. I think the main problem is that the Andorran entries are so “middle of the road” they don’t make an impression at all. “La Teva Decisio” is perhaps the best example of this; pleasant enough, but not catchy enough for anyone to pick up their phone to vote for it. My favorite out of their six entries is “Salvem el Mon” from 2007. The studio version, that is. Still, and to keep in line with the title of this Slideback; it would be fun if Andorra made another decision…to return to Eurovision!

What’s your opinion on ‘La Teva Decisió (Get A Life)’? Do you want to see Andorra back in Eurovision? Do you agree with the team? Let us know! Be sure to stay updated by following @ESCXTRA on Twitter, @escxtra on Instagram and liking our Facebook page for the latest updates!

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