2015 marks the return of the Czech Republic after sitting out for the last five years, and there are many things to be learned from this return – for example, the importance of context. One could say that the Czech effort for the 2015 has the potential to give the country its best result ever. This would be correct, but would also be slightly more ambitious if the Czech record in Eurovision didn’t include all of three participations (2007 – 2009) which earned a total of 10 points (including one nul points) and two last places. But for what it’s worth, Austria’s northern neighbor should be able to take the “best scoring Czech entry” crown from Tereza Kerndlová, who has held on to her 18th place in the semi and 9 points since 2008.

The honor of performing the least useless Czech Republic entry to date belongs to yet another female/male duo in this year’s line-up, Marta Jandová & Václav Noid Bárta, who will sing the appropriately titled Hope Never Dies in Vienna.

40-year-old Marta is a seasoned metal and rock singer, known mostly in Germany both as the lead singer of alternative rock band, Die Happy, and as a Bundesvision competitor, in 2005 with Finnish band Apocalyptica and winning in 2007 with German band Oomph!. At 34, Václav Noid Bárta juggles singing, composing, acting and modeling, and is also the composer of the 2015 entry.

As both singers are rooted in rock and metal music and dabble in acting, it is no surprise that Hope Never Dies is a rock ballad with dramatic flair. Even in the studio version, it is obvious that this is familiar territory for both and they feel extremely comfortable in it. However, despite some throwbacks to familiar rock melodies, Hope Never Dies lacks a memorable hook and will need to be an absolute visual and vocal spectacle if it wants to stand out in a difficult semi.

It is easy to complain about how many countries aimed at the juries this year, or were inspired by a particularly successful 2014 entry sung also by a duo, and seeing how the first half of the second semi includes four male/female duets it’s not even too far-fetched. However, this would imply that someone in the Czech Republic actually paid enough attention to Eurovision and in their case it’s a positive sign which led to a step in the right direction.

My verdict? Singing at the 8th position of the running order – the last of the semi’s 4 duets – and sandwiched between the forgettable pleasantry that is Portugal and the cheerful silliness of the Israeli entry, the Czech Republic received the best position it could have asked for. The main drawback of its position is that it’s only a song away from another dramatic and much more popular duet, courtesy of Norway. Even though we do not have a live performance of the Czech song, this looks like it will be very good vocally, which could definitely be rewarded by the juries. The other good news for the Czech Republic is that Germany votes in this semi.

The big question is whether this will be enough to grab the attention of the televoters, and I suspect it will not. I imagine that it will come across as much more professional than any of their previous attempts (again, not a particularly challenging task), but drama and impressive vocals are not a substitute for substance, and the song doesn’t have enough from the latter. It could, perhaps, get close enough to qualification (or, if the impossible happens, qualify and finish 23rd in the final) to make the powers that be at Česká televize decide to stick around for another year. Maybe next time they’ll do even better. Hope never dies.

(I’m sorry. I had to).

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