Last night Eurovision Song Contest 2024 season kicked off with the first semi final of MESC2024, the Maltese national final, which saw its first 9 acts taking XOW Tv show stage to present to the world their entries, and it was a night full of surprise to say the least.
As explained in previous posts from us, MESC2024 started earlier than other editions, having its 4 semifinals aired every Friday from last night 27th of October, until the 4th semifinal taking place on 17th of November. In each show, 9 song will be taking the stage to showcase their voices and songs with no props just focusing on the voice. On Friday 24th of November, on a fight show, we will get to know the combined results form both juries and televote and the names of the 12 finalists will be finally revealed.
The first 9 acts that took the stage last night were as follows:
- Kurt Calleja – “Misunderstood”
- Sarah Bonnici – “Loop”
- Gail Attard – “Wild Card”
- Mark Anthony Bartolo – “Condition or Friction”
- Eliana Gomez Blanco – “There’s Only Flowers”
- Oxygyn – “Cloudmaker”
- Nathan – “Ghost”
- Lyndsay Pace – “Fire Proof”
- Dominic Cini – “Bewsa” (Kiss)
First semifinal of MESC2024 proved that PBS, the Maltese broadcast, really made an effort on elevating the quality of the songs for this year’s competition, and we hope that in the upcoming weeks the quality will only be the as good or even better. Although the sound and setting of the semi final wasn’t the best, it was enough for the audience to have a glimpse of what these songs could potentially do at the finals, where they will be able to showcase a full-on live-on-tape performance with props, lighting and atrezzo, plus a polished music video with the help of 5000 Euro that each finalist will receive from PBS.
The songs were premiered on the TVM1 show XOW, which had as gusts Eurovision 2011 Maltese entry Gian Vella, and Eurovision 2012 Maltese entry Kurt Calleja, some of the acts created great expectation and hype amongst the Eurovision community both before and after the show, Sarah Bonnici and Eliana Gomez Blanco being the two favourites to go to the finals from last night.
The first one taking the stage last night was Kurt Calleja (a different one from the Eurovision 2012 star) with the song “Misunderstood” written by Aidan O’Connor and Richard Micallef. The young artist comes to fight for the MESC2024 finalist ticket with a song with country undertone. His interesting voice caught our attention. However, the song does not stand out from the rest of the 9 songs, and his vocals were not the best of the night specially in the low registers.
Second act taking the stage of XOW was the highly expected and probably the act that shine the most on the night Sarah Bonnici with the song “Loop” written by Leire Gotxi Angel, Sebastian Pritchard-James, Michael Joe Cini (producer of the Maltese entry for Eurovision 2022 “Dance (Our own party)” by the Busker) and Sarah Bonnici herself – a pop banger with all the Eurovision bop flavours that Eleni Foureira and Chanel brought to Eurovision: catchy melodies, sexy moves and, of course, an amazing dance break. Loop is very different from Sarah’s entry for MESC2022 that kept us literally on the loop of the song with its catchiness and fresh sound. She looked confident, fierce and stunning on black leather clothes, and defended the song fearlessly and owning the stage. Giving that they only had 4 days to prepare the performance since the semifinalist were announced last week, no major choreo or staging were expected for any of the acts last night. But somehow, Sarah managed to deliver a solid and captivating performance with great vocals which let us wanting to see more of what this amazing song can potentially offer to MESC finals and likely to the Eurovision stage. We can’t wait to see what Sarah and her team are working on, as all the social media went crazy after she performed last night, people even saying that we could have even heard the first Eurovision 2024 song with this. A revamp of Loop is expected as with more time, refinement on the song production and staging could make Malta follow Spain’s and Cyprus’ steps with this style of songs, proving the potential of the song at making a great job at the big Eurovision stage and in the international charts.
Third person taking the stage was Gail Attard with “Wild Card”, written by Junior Eurovision 2016 Maltese entry Christina Magrin. Like the song the Christina wrote last year for MESC2023, “Wild card” is a dark and emotional ballad that suited amazingly Gail’s voice. Her flawless vocals were amongst the best of the night, and even if we have seen these kind of songs from Malta several times in the past, this one seemed more special and touched the public’s hearts. We predict people getting behind this entry and chances of making it ot the finals are pretty high. We can’t wait to see how this song could shine even more with the right staging on the finals!
Fourth entry of the night was Mark Anthony Bartolo with “Condition or Friction” written by Mark Anthony himself. As usual, Mark Anthony performed his song with his guitar – an intimate pop song very true to himself that did not bring anything new to the contest as his previous years’ entries, which had the same undertone. He did not stand out from the rest of his competitors and sadly, his pass to the finals will be a difficult one.
Song number 5 of the night was “There’s Only Flowers” by Junior Eurovision 2019 alumni Eliana Gomez Blanco, a song written by Eliana herself. Leire Gotxi Angel and Sebastian Pritchard-James – a strong and emotional ballad that got us on the verge of crying as soon as Eliana hit those high notes. As usual, Eliana got us used to her amazing vocals, which made the deep meaning of the song resonate even stronger.
However, the sound quality of the whole show wasn’t stable, and this really affected negatively to Eliana, sounding dry and screamy at times. We hope this is not the case for the final, as this song has a great potential of becoming a fan favourite by moving the audience with the right staging and if delivered wisely with the correct sound quality and effects. Her pass to the finals is secured and we hope to feel those goosebumps once again at the finals of MESC2024 and even at the Eurovision 2024 stage, who knows.
Sixth performers of the night were Oxygyn with the song “Cloudmaker” -written by Janelle Borg, Kurt Abela. Luke Camilleri and Zack Camilleri. Oxygyn were the only group of the night, and due to their aesthetics, the very differentiated style of the song and the fact that they filled that empty stage of XOW, they stand out. Cloudmaker is an intimate folk song that reminded to those songs that we could hear at Festival Do Cancao in Portugal every year. We can see locals getting behind this, but will it be well received by the international audience? We have our reservations.
Next singer taking the stage was Nathan with the song “Ghost” written by Alexander Olsson, Cyprian Cassar, Eurovision 2019 public voting winner’s from Norway, Keiino, lead singer, Tom Hugo Hermansen and Nathan himself. Ghost is a dynamic ballad which starts as a soft ballad showcasing Nathan’s stunning vocals, which develops as the song progressess adding some EDM sounds in the verses and towards the end of the song, where Nathan’s vocal capabilities reach their highest point. This song is clearly influenced by the Nordic pop music sound, and has a great potential of doing well at the MESC2024 final stage and even at Eurovision 2024.
Second-to-last performer taking the stage was Lyndsay Pace with the song “Fire Proof” written by Linda Persson, Peter Frödin, Rodrigo Pinto and Ylva Persson, a dancepop number with catchy melodies and international production. Lyndsay vocals were not the best of the night, and her shaky voice, the unpolished choreo plus the averageness of the song, made Fire Proof be felt flat and not memorable, making Lyndsay pass to the final a hard one.
Last one of the night was Dominic Cini with the only song in Maltese of the night “Bewsa” (Kiss) , written by Dominic Cini himself and Etienne Micallef – a feel good and festive song that felt truly Maltese and unique compared to the rest of the song of the night. Although the song and his vocals being average, he sold the song very well, and one can predict Maltese audience getting behind him, making his pass to the final a very likely one. Our main concern is that the song itself does not allow room to have a memorable staging and could sound forgettable at the big Eurovision stage.
Once all the acts took the stage, the lines opened for 30 minutes and Maltese audience could cast their votes by SMS, while the contestants entertained the audience with games and challenged with the hosts of the show. Checking the reaction of the audience online, and the different polls on the night, there were 4 clear favorites for the audience that were the most praised and commented ones:
- Sarah Bonnici – Loop
- Eliana Gomez Blanco – There’s Only Flowers
- Nathan – Ghost
- Dominic Cini – “Bewsa” (Kiss)
Interestingly, the two most liked songs of the night “Loop” and “There’s only flowers” were written by the same composers: Leire Gotxi Angel and Sebastian Pritchard-James, with their songs being carachterized by the fresh, international and catchy sounds. These two singer/songwriters from London have also 5 more songs coming up at the following semifinals of MESC2024 with Thea Aquilina, Miguel Bonello, Kyle George, Haley Azzopardi and Michela Galea – giving us a hint of what we can expect from these acts in the upcoming weeks semifinals. Will these songs be part of MESC2024 finals as well as we predict for Sarah Bonnici and Eliana Gomez Blanco? We hope so!
Overall, we can conclude that MESC2024 has improved in the quality of the songs, and some very interesting songs from some of the semifinalist on this first show, make us excited seeing the potential of the public’s favourites could have on the big stage of the grand finale of MESC2024. Follow us in our Twitter and Instagram accounts to follow the latests news on MESC2024 and we will see you next week to analyse the second semifinals acts!
Things are getting excited at the small island of the Mediterranean this year, and we can’t get out of the loop anymore!