Sad but true, good intentions are rarely rewarded at Eurovision. Any country whose Head of Delegation excuses the lack of ambition displayed by its entry with claims of it 'bringing quality to the contest' or 'representing their linguistic and cultural heritage' is bound to have a hard time on the scoreboard. Though fans often take to such songs as much because they are overlooked as for any reasons of quality, it doesn't change the fact that they're unlikely to get very far with the wider European audience unless they drop the agenda. One participating nation that has done just that is Andorra: after thinking outside of the box for their entry in Helsinki, they have ditched it altogether for Belgrade. And the transformation couldn't be any more complete: after three and a half years of misplaced values they have gone positively Estonian, shipping in a singer from a neighbouring country with a second-rate piece of schlager sung entirely in English.Inevitably, the irony of replacing one rigid formula with another you presume to be closer to something that will actually appeal to people is that it has arguably produced the tiny principality's weakest entry to date. Casanova is pop trash at its most pure, and while it might eschew the key change it needs to make the leap to super-schlager status, it does everything else you expect of such a song. In fact for what it is it's rather good: it has a clearly delineated structure of musical signposts that never leave you scratching your head as to what's coming next, a catchy chorus and the requisite non-taxing lyrics anyone who bothered to listen to them would understand. (The one line in Catalan is odd, and would be better delivered in a whisper given the context in which it is sung, but then I doubt that anyone will either notice or care that such layers of thought and meaning have not gone into the song.)
If the measure of success of the entry is qualifying for the final, I suspect Andorra may once again come away from the contest disappointed. Sandwiched between two more memorable entries, Gisela will have to give the performance of the night to even stand a chance of making it through, especially when she's singing the kind of song that only seems to go down well when done (better) by Sweden. Then again, the obvious lack of ambiguity Casanova presents may stand it in good stead, tapping a vein of straightforward appeal among those who want nothing more from Eurovision than an attractive girl with a decent voice and a dance routine singing an upbeat song with a smile on her face.
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Poor old Andorra! After years of delivering decent quality songs, the best they have to show for it is narrowly missing out on final qualification last year with their most adventurous outing to date. Admittedly they have to take a fair bit of the blame themselves, having given us a series of performances that ranged from half-baked to downright disastrous. So finally they adopt the tried and tested mini-state strategy of jetting in an established outside performer with a song that's textbook Melodifestivalen and still the signs aren't good.
While Gisela seems far more likely to deliver a watchable three minutes than a toothy Dutch expat hotelier or a chubby checkout girl, this is by no means the surefire qualifier they must have been banking on when they assembled their neat little Euro package. Wedged between Ireland and Bosnia's eye-catching antics and preceding a whole slew of hot contenders, surely they are in danger of being overlooked this time around too? Personally I'd love to see their cumulative efforts being rewarded and though I initially dismissed the song as too formulaic by half, I have come to like it more with repeated listens. But the prospect of a repeat performance in Belgrade isn't looking terribly likely at this stage.
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