Georgia’s Tamara Gachechiladze tells us to ‘Keep The Faith’
Georgia entered the Eurovision Song Contest for the first time in 2007. Ever since they only missed the final during two of their participations, but at the same time, they also made it into the top 10 of the final only twice. After last year’s surprise qualifier Nika Kocharov & the Young Georgian Lolitaz with their take on Britpop, the country goes for a big and dramatic ballad this year. Tamara Gachechiladze will defend the honours of her country on the big stage in Kiev with the song ‘Keep The Faith’.

As there are quite a lot of ballads selected for Eurovision 2017, Georgia seems to be in a similar position to Albania. Both countries selected a ballad with some larger than life vocals and a world bettering message, but without a powerful hook. ‘Keep The Faith’ starts out quietly, but quickly builds up to full force with a choir of backing vocals joining in and Tamara giving it her all, which definitely towards the last chorus turns out to be a bit too much. There is a fine line between singing and screaming and it feels like she crosses that line ever so slightly. Moreover, the louder and louder repetition of the title gets tedious about midway through the track. Although this might sound quite negative, all hope is not yet lost for Georgia. Tamara is a very convincing performer and turns out to be a true diva on stage. I definitely would not miss ‘Keep The Faith’ on Saturday if it does not qualify, but at the same time it would not surprise me if the message and Tamara’s performance will make enough of an impact on European voters.

UPDATE – Review on first semi final performance:
Before the contest, Georgia was near the bottom of my list, but I have to hand it to her. She gave an impressive vocal performance and she is a true diva on stage. Too bad her song is awfully repetitive towards the end and even her vocals could not keep things interesting. The message is nice and all, but lyrically it was all a bit too cliche. Based on performance and vocal talent, Georgia definitely deserved a spot in the final, but in the end we are talking about a song contest and ‘Keep The Faith’ just did not cut it.

UPDATE – Semi final result:
Turns out Tamara from Georgia was the unlucky number 11 in the first semi final. The juries put her on the 8th spot, enough to qualify, but televoters at home only voted her 13th.

Check all Eurovision 2017 reviews: Albania – Armenia – Australia – Austria – Azerbaijan – Belarus – Belgium – Bulgaria – Croatia – Cyprus – Czech Republic – Denmark – Estonia – Finland – France – FYR Macedonia – Georgia – Germany – Greece – Hungary – Iceland – Ireland – Israel – Italy – Latvia – Lithuania – Malta – Moldova – Montenegro – The Netherlands – Norway – Poland – Portugal – Romania – San Marino – Serbia – Slovenia – Spain – Sweden – Switzerland – Ukraine – United Kingdom