North Macedonia brings back Tamara Todevska with power ballad ‘Proud’
The Macedonians desperately need some Eurovision success. Their country, which was formerly known as the Former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia, but is now called North Macedonia, has reached the final of the contest only once in over ten years! The last time we saw them perform during the big final was in 2012, when Kaliopi reached the 13th place with ‘Crno I Belo’. In 2019 they bring back Tamara Todevska who participated in Eurovision in 2008, together with Vrčak and Adrian. Their track ‘Let Me Love You’ reached the 10th position in their semi final, which normally is enough to qualify, but back then juries picked one finalist other than the top 9 in televoting and opted for Sweden instead of the Macedonian entry. Todevska is trying her luck with power ballad ‘Proud’ this time!
Tamara Todevska performs a song co-composed by Darko Dimitrov, who worked on a handful of previous Macedonian Eurovision entries, including Elena Risteska’s ‘Ninanajna’ which finished 12th in 2006, still the country’s best result to date. ‘Proud’ is a big, traditional ballad that starts out with just piano and Tamara’s vocals, but builds to a climax with strings and some proper ad libs. The chorus could be described as dramatic and bombastic and it seems tailor-made for Eurovision, although one could wonder if it does not sound too traditional to make an impression in 2019.
The message of the lyrics however, is a lot more progressive, as Todevska gives advice to young girls to follow their path and become who they want to be in a male dominated world. If she and her team could find ways to make this message even more clear in the stage act, this will definitely help them stand out. North Macedonia really needs a place in the final at this point and the bookmakers seem to believe in Tamara’s chances, placing her 9th out of 18 in the second semi final at the time of writing. What we need from her is a vocally powerful and pitch perfect performance and then she could and should snatch that ticket to the grand final!
Review on semi-final performance:
Tamara Todevska belted out the traditional ballad ‘Proud’ with a progressive message for women’s rights, aimed at young girls. The visuals on the screen behind her are powerful, but it is her outstanding voice and interpretation of the lyrics that leaves a true impression. Tamara brought her country to the final for the first time since 2012 and she can definitely be proud of both that and her emotive performance tonight. I can’t wait to hear this again on Saturday!
Review on her final performance and result:
North Macedonia was easily the biggest suprise to me in the result show. Tamara Todevska performed her empowering and emotional, yet quite traditional ballad ‘Proud’ with passion, although the nerves did influence her voice at the start of the performance somewhat. She improved throughout, hitting all the big notes towards the end. The juries absolutely loved her, giving her the most points out of all countries. Televoters were slightly less impressed and put her in the 12th position, giving North Macedonia a very respectable 7th place overall. This is the best Macedonian result ever so Tamara Todevska sure can be ‘Proud’ of that!
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