Poland

For Life Isis Gee

There generally aren't many countries in the Eurovision Song Contest who have started out as strongly and then lost their way as completely as Poland. Whether or not you actually like their early entries, you would be up against it trying to disprove their musical calibre, which is something you would be on safer ground claiming was lacking from more recent efforts. Some might argue that the downturn coincided with the switch to English, but in Poland's case that's not as clear-cut, with three songs in the last five years being partly or entirely performed in other languages. Nevertheless, the country's golden age (in critical terms at least, if not necessarily reflected on the scoreboard) was the mid-1990s, with three consecutive entries in particular - Sama, Chcę Znać Swój Grzech and Ale Jestem - standing out for their sheer quality.

The country's greatest success at the contest though remains its debut entry, 1994's To Nie Ja, a powerful ballad given a breathtaking performance, so it came as little surprise to see the Polish public plumping for a similar number in their national final this year after their third successive failure to reach the final and fourth mediocre result in a row in 2007. The logic - what worked once should work for us again - would be impeccable if it weren't for the fact that 1) goodness me how times have changed since the heady days of Edyta Górniak and 2) For Life and Isis Gee are but pale imitations of the song and singer whose success they will be attempting to emulate.

Well OK, that's perhaps a little harsh. As ballads go For Life is quite good, at least in a 'this bit then this bit' kind of way. The studio version is rather appealing, with attractive orchestration and an arrangement that does exactly what you would expect it to without being particularly inspired or inspiring. In that sense it can be placed in the same basket as the Slovenian entry; indeed, the ingredients might be different, and the end result might look different, but it leaves much the same taste in your mouth, and in such close proximity to one another I doubt either are going to be helped by it, however dissimilar the genres and performances.

Of course, Eurovision has shown us on more than one occasion that even the most pedestrian ballad can work a treat when performed simply and sincerely. Two recent examples came in the same contest for me when, in 2005, the Maltese and Israeli entries barely rated with me until I saw them live and they made perfect sense. Poland here might then want to pray for a Chiaraesque showing from Isis Gee: unless she has been holding back all this time, she is unlikely to provide us with a Shiri Maimon experience, let alone anything with the enthralling power and effortless intensity of Edyta Górniak.

While by no means a bad singer, Ms Gee is certainly one who operates within boundaries. She will not want to test them in Belgrade: even the slightest delusion of grandeur and the song will come crashing down around her. Her national final performance, though lapped up by the audience, seemed precariously perched on the verge of a nervous breakdown, and I'm not convinced she has what it takes to really project the song through the screen to the televoters without them thinking she's getting above her station. That said, I would be pleased for Poland if she brings it all together on the night and sees them through to the final. If she belts it out and makes it look like she means it, they may do rather better than anyone expects.