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The Xtra Files 2018: We Review Estonia’s ‘La Forza’ by Elina Nechayeva!

Welcome to The Xtra Files, our 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 Estonia.

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 on 30 April! We will also each give a score out of 10 for every entry, and create an ESCXTRA leaderboard of the entries!

Today we have reviews of the Estonian entry, ‘La Forza’ by Elina Nechayeva, from Dominik, Miki, Lisa, Rigmo, Rodrigo and Tim. Let’s get started!

La ForzaThe Reviews

Dominik

I needed some time with Estonia this year. At first I wasn’t clear, why the song is one of the favorites this year. Of course, she sings it perfectly, but I wasn’t convinced after the first listen. It later climed near my Top 10. I’m curious to see what Europe will think after the first listen.

Miki

I think I’d need to be in a very specific mode to put on the studio version of “La Forza” on loop (that hasn’t happened yet). But Elina’s live performance I could watch for hours and hours, The staging, her vocals and the general feeling of the song truly deliver a magical experience. And in true Eurovision spirit, this truly does stand out despite me not being the biggest opera fan.

Lisa

Aside from the utterly note perfect Soprano vocal and that incredible staging, what sets this apart from the other more ‘Popera’ attempts at Eurovision is the quality in the production. The orchestral strings have been fused with an electronic bassline running through the melody to give it a modern twist from traditional opera. Not difficult to see why we might be going to Tallinn next year.

Rigmo

First Koit and Laura get lost in Verona and now here’s Elina trying to resist the dark side of the force in Italian? At this rate, we’ll have more Estonians taking poart of Sanremo than Italians. I may not be the biggest fan of popera, but this is pure magic on stage (No, go away Jüri, do your card tricks somewhere else) and transcends the genre. She manages to looks graceful, elegant and beautiful while stuck in fabric long enough to cover most of Estonia. And that voice leaves Eimear Quinn and every single glass cup nearby shaking. The force is strong with this one or as they say in Estonian: La forza è potente con questa!

Rodrigo

Am I a fan of this? No. Is this a terrible entry from Estonia? Also no. I am struggling to understand, though, how this has become one of the wildest favourites to win the contest. Admittedly, she has a phenomenal voice and she carries the song very well. But the problem is the song itself. Is it too much show and not enough substance? Will popera finally get its break at Eurovision? Time will tell, but I think this, together with Bulgaria, may have been the most overhyped entry of the year and a lot of fans may be very disappointed come May. This has Verona 2.0 written all over it.

Tim

Can someone spare me some ear plugs come May. As much as I love opera, this is not out of my personal taste… Am I a bad person to say that I find this much worse than Cesar in 2013. The screeches make me cringey and give me a bit of a headache. I really do not see the appeal to the Eurovision fandom over this.

Scores

Dominik  7.5 Nick  8 Tim  4
Hlynur  1 Riccardo  6 Tom  8
Lisa  7 Rigmo  9 Vincent  8.5
Luke  3.5 Rodrigo  6 Wiv  5
Matt  6.5 Ryan  8 Yassia  6.5
Miki  8 Sami  0
Nathan  5 Simon  4

Therefore, the average score for Estonia is 5.86.

Leaderboard

Elina’s voice can go high enough to break glass, but our combined score leaves her climbing no higher than 12th position. Right smack dab in the middle of our scoreboard, which matches the mixed opinions on our team.

  1. Finland – 7.66
  2. Bulgaria – 7.63
  3. France – 7.50
  4. Sweden – 7.21
  5. Germany – 6.95
  6. Ukraine – 6.92
  7. Austria – 6.79
  8. Australia – 6.76
  9. Lithuania – 6.50
  10. Italy – 6.39
  11. Azerbaijan – 6.05
  12. Estonia – 5.86
  13. Latvia – 5.61
  14. Albania – 5.50
  15. Serbia – 5.05
  16. Belarus – 4.97
  17. Moldova – 4.92
  18. Romania – 4.73
  19. Montenegro – 4.71
  20. Hungary – 4.65
  21. Armenia – 4.29
  22. Georgia – 4.18
  23. Iceland – 4.18
  24. San Marino – 4.03

Tomorrow, it will be the turn of Portugal to be reviewed.

Do you agree with our reviews of Estonia? What are your thoughts on La Forza?

Let us know in the comments below and on social media @ESCXTRA!

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