ESC Etc.

Country: Malta
Artist: Sarah Bonnici
Title: Loop
Songwriter(s): Kevin Lee, Leire Gotxi Angel, Micheal Joe Cini, Sarah Bonnici, Sebastian Pritchard-James
Tempo: 110 BPM Mode: Minor Key: G♯/A♭ Duration: 3:00

I have to commend Malta for trying something new this year, focusing on fewer songs and more of a staging effort in the final, especially compared to last year’s more chaotic approach which also ended up involving Aidan’s preposterous disqualification. What this year ended up lacking then is perhaps a bop like Reġina – a track where production, lyrics, vocal, staging, and performance just kind of come together effortlessly. In reviewing this national final, I had isolated a number of slower pop ballads/midtempos that felt modern and polished, if not necessarily groundbreaking, and if you read that post you might recall that Loop was nowhere to be found.

I really wish I could say that I find this competitive in spite of my own personal appreciation for it (which is exactly where I’m at with Norway, for example), but I don’t. While I do understand how this ended up winning – the staging put so much stress on acrobatics and choreo (including a sudden assisted flip executed with blindfolds on) that it all ended up burying the other more uneventful entries – it does feel as though juries and voters rewarded a gimmick rather than a fully realized package. Taken at face value, Loop is a somewhat generic pop/dance track about two people being horny for each other that just lacks any distinctive quality – the production is just ok, the vocal is a bit all over the place, the chorus sorta comes and goes, the pacing feels off, and it all just does not really feel special. In a sense, it almost feels like the stage show attached to it was engineered to make up for these shortcomings. Now that the semifinals have been drawn and we know that Sarah will compete in the first half of her semi, it’s hard not to imagine this getting shoved second or third in the running order (which is what happened to Malta last year), which would further hamper its chances.

Jury Potential: What I said about Luxembourg applies here, as well. Juries do appreciate outstanding pop productions in English with good vocals…when they’re outstanding. And there’s a good vocal.
Televote Potential: 100% televote means this could potentially squeak by in a weaker semi, but I don’t think this is a surefire qualifier at this point.