Does Slovenia have a hit on their hands with Tinkara Kovač's "Round and Round", or are they just going in circles?
Country: Slovenia
Song Title: "Round and Round"
Artist: Tinkara Kovač
Semi-Final: Second, Position 14
Last year's entry: Hannah, "Straight Into Love" - (DNQ - 16th Place, SF1)
Slovenia totally got a raw deal in last year's Eurovision Song Contest, if you ask me. While Hannah's "Straight Into Love" was a little generic lyrically and seemed a little too focused on tapping into the EDM/dubstep drop trend that seemed like a plague, the song was nowhere near the worst in its semifinal and deserved a few more points. This year's entry, Tinkara Kovač's "Round and Round", seems poised to improve on last year, especially after some tweaking:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVAnopmdJT4
I think "Round and Round" has a decent chance to surprise with its performance in the second semi-final. The instrumentation is thoughtful while retaining a pop sensibility, something that will appeal to both televoters and the individual juries. I don't quite see the "Only Teardrops" references Mike saw in his First listen, but Tinkara's vocals are strong, and the English parts of the song don't feel clunky or awkward and flow just as naturally as the Slovene parts. I also like the use of circular camerawork to tie in with the song's message and title - hopefully this gets used in the live performance as well.
Looking at its position in the performance line-up, Slovenia is wedged right between what I think will be two other crowd-pleasers, Greece and Romania. These two seem poised to both do well in the competition, and if Slovenia's doesn't give a strong enough performance, I think there's a slight chance they could be washed out by falling in the middle of these two powerhouses, however, if all three provide memorable moments, it's just as easy to see them moving as a group to the Grand Final.
Slovenia shouldn't be feeling deja vu this year - "Round and Round" has what it takes to potentially surprise us in Copenhagen.