1) The Result
Sadly, few people appreciated the quirky indie rock of “Lock Me In” by Circus Mircus (admittedly, the vocals weren’t quite there on the night), and it finished last in the second semi.
2) The Process
After Circus Mircus were chosen through an internal selection, but the Georgian broadcaster decided to return to using The Voice to choose its entry for this year, as it had done for most of the last few years. Iru was the winner of this process, tellingly by covering Loreen’s “Euphoria” in the Voice final.
3) The Artist
Irina Khechanovi (Iru) first came to the attention of the Eurovision world as part of girl-group Candy, who represented Georgia at Junior Eurovision in 2011 and won, so you could say she’s a returning artist. Her solo career didn’t kick-start until a few years ago; she’s released a handful of singles since.
4) The Song
When you listen to an instrumental version of this song, it’s striking how simple it is. For most of the track, it’s little more than percussion, some atmospheric synths and backing vocals. It just goes to show how much volume Iru’s impressive voice is able to bring to the arrangement that it sounds much fuller with her present.
5) The Verdict
Starting to feel like a broken record here, but what happened to the lyrics? They feel like words thrown together, often with unintentionally comic results. I always make some allowance for the fact that English proficiency varies quite a bit across Eurovision countries, but I know Georgia could have done much better than this. Strong as Iru’s vocals are, I’m afraid I can’t sing along to something that barely makes any sense.
My ranking: 35th
EUROVISION, SERIOUSLY 