Armenia sends first song completely in native language
Armenia is one of the most successful Eurovision countries in recent memory. Since they joined the contest in 2006, they have only missed out on the final one single time in 2011. Their best result so far is a 4th spot, both in 2008 and 2014. The country must be hungry for a win by now. This year they are represented by Sevak Khanagyan, who won a national competition to get the ticket to Lisbon. He will sing the song ‘Qami’ in the incredibly competitive first semi final. Will he able to to finish in top 10 to proceed to the grand final?
If we were to believe the bookmakers, then Armenia will make it to the final yet again, but not by a big margin. Possibly inspired by Portugal’s win last year, the Armenian team chose a song with emotional lyrics completely in their native language. The chorus serves drama and Sevak sure sings his heart out, but there is something about the repitition of the one word chorus that stops the track from going all the way. Although Khanagyan is a charismatic performer with strong vocals, he does not manage to touch me with this song. Now of course the viewers at home might experience this in a completely different manner, but still I think Armenia will depend more on juries this year, even with their televoting diaspora. It could be enough to get them through to the final, but I don’t expect a top 10 finish there.
Review of Semi Final Performance:
Armenia’s Sevak Khanagyan sang his dramatic ballad ‘Qami’ in his own language. He served us vocals, but that was about it. His voice is gorgeous, but the song is quite repetitive and did not translate to the screen too well. With Portugal’s winning performance last year, it was just a guy and his microphone too, but ‘Qami’ certainly does not have the same emotional power ‘Amar Pelos Dois’ had. Armenia does not miss qualification for the Eurovision final often, but in all honesty, I won’t miss this performance on Saturday night.
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