Eurovision 2019 is the year of jury darlings. No less than 9 times this preselection season, a song won without the support of the televoters. ESCDaily introduces them all to you in the build-up to Tel Aviv, starting with Lake Malawi from the Czech Republic.
On January 28th, the Czech Republic announced that Lake Malawi would represent the central European nation in Tel Aviv. The indie pop band had become victorious in an 8 song preselection with one final round. In the weeks leading up to the final, Eurovision fans from in- and outside of Czechia had the chance to vote through the Eurovision app. It was the first time ever that broadcaster CT allowed for international voting.
However, those international voters did not exactly favor Lake Malawi. Instead, they voted for the song “Space Sushi” by Jakub Ondra. Lake Malawi finished second in the televote. They thanked their ticket to Tel Aviv to the international jury, in which former Eurovision participants from 10 different countries gave them the highest score of 108 points.
“Friend of a friend” (Czech Republic, Eurovision 2019)
The song “Friend of a friend” is quite an earworm and a catchy song. One would assume it appeals to televoters based on this fact. The band Lake Malawi also has a charismatic singer. There is just not a huge call to action within the entry, a hook that televoters can easily hop on to. Big question for Tel Aviv: will Eurovision fans take their second chance they get to vote for Lake Malawi on the Eurovision app?
The Czech Eurovision entry, however, does have a lot of green jury flags. The song is middle of the road and radio friendly, and even a little bit dated to adjust to common Eurovision jury taste. The entry nor the singer seem both pretty harmless, and vocals seemed solid during their live performance at the Ukranian national final.
The alternative: Jakub Ondra – Space Sushi
Jakub Ondra won the televote in Czech Republic’s national final with the song “Space Sushi”. Do you think Czech Republic should have gone for him instead of Lake Malawi?
the alternative to me sounds too calculated or computer composed. im with the former artists as “Friend of” is more appealing. Yet its just a nice song so no one will place this last, but more killing, televoters won’t call for this either, does not stand out enough. so CZ will collect some points from expert juries. i fear it will be a result something like “I stand”