Czechia debuted their seven competing entries at Club Roxy in Prague earlier this week and as well know by now…it was an unmitigated disaster. Ghastly stage production, catastrophic sound mixing issues, vocals obtained under torture…I don’t recall another national final turning into such a huge dumpster fire in constrast to absolutely passable to great studio cuts for all the tracks involved. Here’s how I ranked all seven entries (with the understanding that all of them save perhaps from my #1 need a vocal coach and/or a trip to Lourdes):
Leaving aside the fact that everything that could’ve gone wrong here did and then some, even the absolutely competent studio cut of this track just isn’t impactful enough to do anything at ESC. She’s basically just walking around singing an album track like it’s a school talent show.
It’s a shouty mess with no real purpose or direction but at least they look like they’re having fun? I don’t know how this could be refurbished or repurposed especially since there really seems to be no vocal whatsoever behind it and it kinda goes nowhere. The bodysuits are giving body horror, which I’m kinda into.
This isn’t particularly competitive for what it is (a somewhat sleepy ballad about self-empowerment) so it desperately needed a powerful, compelling, heart-rending performance to make up for it. Instead we got this paper-thin, whispery, raspy lead vocal that also sounds consistently flat and that’s just not enough to make the track exciting. There’s an adult feel to it that I can appreciate, but that’s about it.
4: Tom Sean – Dopamine Overdose
Again, a completely inoffensive little pop ditty about nothing completely undone by the vocal. Could Tom hear himself? He’s 19 and he’s obviously having a blast with the TikTok-ready choreo, but this just needs more work across the board – we might need to give this kid a bit more time to sort himself out. The production on the studio cut has a minimalistic feel that at least makes it feel current.
3: Tomas Robin – Out of My Mind
The chorus has a bit of a body to it with an interesting chord progression, but the discrepancy between the studio cut vocal and the live one is…shocking? Off-pitch cursive singing that just clashes with the ’90s indie UK pop vibes of the production, and it all gets rather repetitive towards the end. Before we get to the top 2 I just have to wonder…were there really no songs in Czech good enough to throw into the mix? Anyway.
This is realistically what’s going to win this national selection, and I don’t think it’s a terrible choice. The vocal does need a lot of work, but there are layers that make the production interesting, the overall esthetic should do well with televoters at ESC, and it’s a fun, silly track with visual and novelty appeal. The cussing getting bleeped out to harmonize with the melody is half the reason why it’s ranked so high.
This is the highest rated song of the bunch on Eurovision World, and I would have to agree. I downloaded the studio cut to my Spotify playlist and it makes for a really satisfying listen – it’s a stomper with a great electronic production, there’s color and drama to the lyrics, and it is a carbon copy of the song structure template for Tattoo by Loreen, which means it ends on a compelling, pulsating crescendo. Elly also had the most together vocals out of everyone else on the night (which is not saying much), but she does need to figure out what she’s gonna do to in terms of kinetics once she’s up on that stage.
Winner is chosen after worldwide online voting ends tomorrow. Revamp likely to follow no matter who it is. Let’s see what happens!
ESC Etc. 
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