Martin: You have to hand it to those 2020 entrants who were required to go through a national selection process instead of being automatically chosen for 2021. And while The Roop got a lot of attention by pulverising all competition in Lithuania, Uku Suviste’s Eesti Laul victory was also worthy of note, as he navigated the often unpredictable jury vote to set up a comfortable win with the public.

While not a direct rewrite of his 2020 effort, “The Lucky One” is fishing in very similar waters – so much so that the running order gods at the EBU rewarded him with slot #2 again. Last year he would have been preceded by Greece’s Stefania, and this time he’ll be counting on Senhit from San Marino to underperform, as that’s the only real way I would expect him to have any part to play in the qualification discussion.

If this comes across as a sensible, mature song and performance after a chaotic opening three minutes (especially if Flo Rida doesn’t show up in Rotterdam), and if Uku is a bit better-lit to allow him to connect with the camera and smoulder like he does, then I can see it picking up some votes here and there. Enough to reach the final, though? It’s hard to imagine.

Shi: I don’t dislike it as much as I disliked his entry last year, which is probably the most positive thing I have to say about this one. Similarly to last year’s entry, though, I still manage to not recognize it every time it comes up on my Spotify playlist.

Felix: Not a song I’d skip, just because it’s pretty inoffensive. It’s “nice enough”. But also, not good enough to have an effect on the envelopes, other than leaving a place in the final for something else. Composition and production? Fine, it’s all OK, but not enough to actually like it.

video and title image source: eurovision.tv