Tulia to spread the ‘Fire of Love’ in Tel Aviv
Poland took a break from the Eurovision Song Contest in 2012 and 2013 after missing out on the final most of the time. They came back stronger, making it into the grand final from 2014 until 2017, even reaching top 10 in 2016. Last year, Gromee and Lukas Meijer did not qualify. Polish broadcaster TVP decided to internally select the folk group Tulia to send to Tel Aviv. They are going to represent their country with the bi-lingual ‘Fire of Love (Pali się)’. Does this have enough international appeal for Eurovision success?
The folk group Tulia, consisting of four female vocalists, took one of the songs of their album released last year and changed it slightly to make it more suitable for Eurovision. The song ‘Pali się’ will be performed half in English and is now titled ‘Fire of Love’. It is a loud and upbeat piece of folk mixed with pop elements with prominent drums and a thick bass line. Their vocal style is typically folk and they perform most lines with the four of them which gives especially the chorus more impact. The melodies are slightly repetitive, but their certainly is a catchy hook to be found in the chorus which settles in your mind quite easily.
Their live performance during Eurovision In Concert was both visually and vocally convincing, but the bookmakers are not as impressed yet, predicting they won’t make it into the final. They are at a 12th position for the first semi final at the time of writing, but of course a lot could still change. I don’t see these Polish girls make it to the top 10 of the final, but if Europe does not get scared off by their unusual (to most ears probably) vocal style, they could at least make it to Saturday’s show.
Review on their semi-final performance:
Vocally, Tulia sounded strong, although their loud sound needs some getting used to. Their stage show is very static and there is hardly any close ups or interaction with the camera. The result is a bit of a distant performance, which clearly did not click well enough with Europe as Poland did not make it into the final. I do applaud Poland for sending something authentic and true to their culture though. It turned out the juries stopped them from proceeding to the final, as they finished 8th with televoters. An 11th place with juries gave them the 11th place overall too.
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