The Xtra Files: We Review Australia’s ‘Don’t Come Easy’ by Isaiah!

Welcome to The Xtra Files, our new series which will give you an insight into what the team at escXtra think of your favourite entries into this year’s contest! Today, we review Australia.

Now that all the songs have been released, we are able to review each and every one of them. Our honest and brutal reviews will keep you entertained until the rehearsals start in May! We will also each give a score out of 10 for every entry, and create an escXtra leaderboard of the entries! You can see our preview reviews here.
Today, it is the turn of Australia’s entry, ‘Don’t Come Easy’ by Isaiah, to be reviewed by Luke, Matteo, Nick, Ryan, Simon, and Yassia. Let’s get started!

The Reviews

Luke

Clearly, creating a Eurovision winner does not come easy to Isaiah. I actually REALLY wanted Isaiah to be the representative for Australia; I love his previous song, “It’s Gotta Be You”. But it seems like my opinion was very “It’s Gotta Be That Song”, since I’m quite disappointed by Don’t Come Easy. It’s a bit slow and doesn’t really go anywhere, although it is distinctive with the metallic banging sounds.

Matteo

Dami Im’s song has raised the bar so much that I was expecting too much from Australia. I like the song, I find it better than many other ballads in the contest, but I’m unsure about how they’ll stage this. He looks too young for a difficult song like this.

Nick

Ah, Australia know their Eurovision. After two solid to good entries, you need to send mediocre, bland things. Just think Anouk – Common Linnets -… Trijnwreck Oosterhuis. I guess this will qualify and do reasonably well, but it’s a typical ‘dip’ after two good years. What is it with that cursed third entry. I don’t have much more to say about this, it’s just there. Which is still a surprise to some, seeing it’s Australia.

Ryan

A modern ballad with elements of Sam Smith, although I find Isaiah’s voice more listenable than Sam’s. The ‘woahs’ at the end of the song add an anthemic quality although I think this song relies on Isaiah elevating it live just as Dami did last year.

Simon

Musically unremarkable, but some nice lyrics and a good voice. The oh-ohs to finish seem placed there because they ‘should’ be rather than because it works. Will need a focus on stage.

Yassia

I definitely love the voice of Isaiah. The song is just ok (the melody is pleasant), but I don’t think it will end up high.

Scores

When we remove the top score of 10 and the lowest score of 5, the average score for Australia is 7.25.
(Removing the top score and the lowest score helps to make the average score more reliable and less affected by outliers.)

Leaderboard

Australia reaches 1st place in our leaderboard with a score of 7.25.

1. Australia – 7.25
2. Hungary – 6.79
3. Moldova – 6.58
4. Norway – 6.33
5. United Kingdom – 6.00

Tomorrow, we will review Latvia.
Do you agree with our reviews of Australia? What are your thoughts on ‘Don’t Come Easy’? Let us know in the comments!