Albania: Eugent Bushpepa – Mall

Felix: If you want to put the essence of longing into music, then you write exactly this song. The original version as performed on Festivali i Këngës gave me goosebumps on first listen, and we know Eugent can perform it really well, including the long high notes. However, not everybody is a fan of the Albanian song. Especially the new shortened version seems to be responsible for losing some fans, though we have certainly seen more destructive revamps in the recent history of Albanian entries.

How are its chances in Lisbon, then? It really could go either way. In its style, it’s unique in the line-up, and it’ll find some new fans in European homes – especially if Eugent Bushpepa hits those notes when it counts. The more traditional judges could like it too. But then there’s the running order, which isn’t really in Albania’s favour.

Shi: Whenever I listen to this I think it could have been an Icelandic entry (even the language here sounds like that to me, somehow), to the point I wonder whether putting it back-to-back wouldn’t cause people to – unfortunately – vote for Iceland instead, which won’t help in an already difficult uphill battle.

Martin: I can get that Icelandic comparison, actually. It sounds like it could be sung in runes. Maybe that’s one of the reasons I absolutely adore this song. I fear Albania will struggle in this tough semi-final, but it won’t be for want of a strong performance.

video and title image source: eurovision.tv