2022 is still over three weeks away, but already we have our first song for Eurovision thanks to Bulgaria’s internal selection of rock band Intelligent Music Project and their entry “Intention”. When Måneskin won the contest for Italy earlier this year with a hard rock anthem, it was immediately clear that 2022 would see an increase in rock entries, so we haven’t had to wait long for this to be confirmed. Going forward, I’ll be posting initial reviews of each confirmed entry to the contest, and then in the run-up to the semi-finals I’ll review them all again together in the context of where they are in the draw, hints at staging, etc.

The Good
From the opening guitar riff, it’s clear that this is meant to be a fun, accessible song with a beat you can easily bounce along to. The production is clean, and the lads clearly know what they’re doing. They’re clearly big fans of classic rock, and while it’s not a sound I usually have much time for, they’ve modernised it enough to find that balance between paying their dues and creating their own style. The guitar solo towards the end is a welcome addition to give the track a little kick just when it seemed to falling into a predictable routine.

The Bad
With three of the last five winners sung in languages other than English, you’d think more countries would be encouraged to try to emulate this success. And if not, the least they could do would be to hire a native English-speaker to write the lyrics. Around half the lines in this song do not parse well in English, and some barely make sense at all. This makes it much harder to sing along, which is what this kind of song really needs to be a success.

The Initial Verdict
This feels like a safe middle-of-the-road song that many people might like, but equally might not rate highly enough to figure in their voting plans.