It’s time for the OGAE Second Chance Contest again! 22 acts will battle it out in the annual online competition to pick the best national final entry of the season. The question is: Who will take the crown? Who will be the successor of Margaret’s Cool Me Down, the 2016 winner?
OGAE Second Chance: The favourites
A while ago, we already introduced you to the OGAE Second Chance Contest. Today, we’ll take a closer look at four of the favourites. Four of us will each endorse one of the major favourites for victory. Of course, we’re very curious to see what you think too, so don’t hesitate to let us know!
Ryan Cobb: Greta Zazza – Like I Love You
Over the years, Lithuania’s Eurovizijos hasn’t been a must-watch selection process, particularly when you factor in its ten-week length. Nevertheless, the past couple of years have seen Lithuania become able to choose from a sudden upturn in the quality of entries. Donny Montell took the crown of being Lithuania’s best Eurovision entry in their history when he represented his country in Stockholm with I’ve Been Waiting For This Night. That crown should’ve been swiftly passed on to Greta Zazza with her magnificent Like I Love You.
Like I Love You is written by Jonas Thander, who was also behind Donny’s entry last year. If I were LRT, I would be asking Jonas to write all of their national final songs every year! Greta’s vocals proved to be competent and her performance skills came on impressively as the weeks of the national selection passed. Just compare Greta’s first performance of the song to her semi-final performance embedded below.
It’s notable that in the first round of heats, Greta found herself against eventual winners Fusedmarc. She took an easy victory in the heat while Fusedmarc stumbled into 4th place. Unfortunately, the lengthy selection process let her down. Hearing songs week in week out allowed certain songs to grow and for campaigns and momentum to build in Lithuania. What they should’ve focused on was that initial impact, and Greta evidently had that.
At the end of the day, Eurovision is a song contest and Like I Love You is pretty much the perfect pop song in 2017. There are the on-trend vocal samples, the tropical-pop vibe and a massive chorus. As soon as the studio version of the song was released around Christmas time, I instantly fell in love. This would’ve qualified in Kyiv and would have given Lithuania the opportunity for two top 10s in a row. Therefore, give Greta the victory in the Second Chance contest and put the song back into the Eurovision Song Contest. Pop anthems don’t get better than this.
Angelos Noutsos: BQL – Heart Of Gold
BQL became an instant fan favorite in this year’s EMA, especially after advancing from the semifinal, song is catchy and memorable composed by Maraaya, but despite winning the televote in the Slovenian final, it was not enough for the young guys to travel to Kiev since the regional juries placed them only 4th.
What a disappointment, especially losing to an anonymous soulless male ballad that didn’t make much of impression in Kiev.
But EMA was not the end of the world for the young male duo, by March their entry “heart of gold” was ranked on Spotify, appearing in “10 Tracks You Must Hear” category.
Later BQL were awarded the SLO TOP50 BUM award, as a result of their song being the most played single of the week following their Slovenian top50 chart debut.
They are the first home country artists at the Slovenian official singles charts SloTop50 and for now the only one who managed to hit the peak chart positions with two singles, one of them being “heart of gold” for four weeks.
For me, BQL are the clear winners for this year’s OGAE Second Chance Contest.
Nick van Lith: Tayanna – I Love You
For me, it’s a clear contest. Of the front runners, it should be Tayanna taking the crown, purely making up for the injustice she suffered. Tayanna entered the Ukrainian national final with a good ballad. The minute she however took to the stage and sang the first few notes, I was sold.
Tayanna had a magical voice. She carried the song as if there was nothing else that mattered at that very second. The minute I saw it during the semi, I was convinced that Ukraine had found their home entrant. Not a winner in Kyiv, but a very decent result was in the making. I was so sure she’d win, I didn’t even watch the national final.
Shock horror arrived when I saw Tayanna lost the national final to a bunch of guys with time bombs attached to their chests. To then think the song was ‘Time’, made this even worse. Tayanna needs to get revenge for the injustice she suffered. Not O.Torvald, but Tayanna should have been on stage in Kyiv. To make up for that, only Tayanna can be the justified winner of the OGAE Second Chance Contest.
Jack Cuffe: Kerli – Spirit Animal
Eesti Laul is always one of my favourite national finals and this years edition had an array of great quality songs, just look at the line-up they had there.
Eventual winners Laura and Koit sadly flopped in Kyiv although Kerli, the runner-up, would’ve done much better. Kerli was the big pre-contest favourite. Her performance was incredible and her song Spirit Animal was modern yet had an intriguing flare about it.
It’s not Kerli’s first Eurovision attempt and hope she tries again. If it were up to me, I’d love it if she’d do it with a song similar to Spirit Animal. And with such a song, I think she’ll do well for Estonia. That is exactly why I think Kerli is the perfect candidate to win the OGAE Second Chance Contest, over all other favourites. Estonia needs to take revenge and win the contest.
It’s up to you!
We’ve told you why we think each of these four songs deserves to take the crown in the contest. The question is: Who do you think has the strongest case? Or who do you predict as the winner? Make sure to vote in our poll below and let us know in a comment too!
Four favourites in the #OGAE Second Chance Contest. Who should win it, if it were up to you? Kerli, BQL, Tayanna or Greta Zazza? Vote below!
— ESCXTRA.com (@escxtra) July 15, 2017
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