Valentina Monetta to represent San Marino for the fourth time
Valentina Monetta is becoming quite the legend under some of the diehard Eurovision fans. The singer already represented San Marino three times in the Eurovision Song Contest, proving ‘third time lucky’ is actually a thing. With her first two attempts she failed to reach the final, but in 2014 she she managed to secure a spot for her tiny country in the show on Saturday, ending up on the 24th position. After two failed attempts by other artists, Valentina is back to save the day and this time she is not on her own. She will perform the duet ‘Spirit of the Night’ with Jimmie Wilson.
As some people start to wonder if Valentina Monetta is actually the only singer in San Marino, she herself claims she came back to please her fans. Either way, it is clear miss Monetta can’t get enough! Just like in her previous three participations, songwriting senior Ralph Siegel penned the song and by this point it should not surprise anyone ‘Spirit of the Night’ sounds hopelessly dated. Chameleon Valentina tries out some disco this time around and the upbeat duet echoes the 90s revival of the genre, but unfortunately it lacks a chorus that makes you want to dance or at least sit at the edge of your seat. ‘Spirit of the Night’ unfortunately is quite repetitive and uneventful, with the key changes missing their purpose.
Both Valentina and Jimmie are more than decent vocalists so that part of the performance should be fine, but if the music video is anything to go by, the choreography for their show in May needs a lot of work. The main worry however is that Valentina comes back for a fourth time, but does not insist on performing a better song. 2013’s ‘Crisalide (Vola)’ is still her best effort and even that one, although deserving of a place in the final, was not even close to excellent. I predict San Marino will have a hard time to qualify for the big final.
UPDATE – review on semi final performance:
The result was a performance that resembled a karaoke bar with a disco night. The dancing was awkward, the staging cheap, but I have to hand it to Valentina and Jimmie. Their vocals were on point and they looked like they had a great time on stage. Of course this never really stood a chance to qualify, but I’m sure we will see Valentina again rather sooner than later, hopefully with a better song.
UPDATE – Semi final results:
Not surprisingly, San Marino finished last in the second semi final. While juries did not give them any points, at least televoting awarded them 1!
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