Did Malta take our notes on revising its Eurovision entry, or is Amber's "Warrior" likely to be lost in the battle of its semifinal?
Country: Malta
Song Title: "Warrior"
Artist: Amber
Semi-Final: Second, Position 5
Last year's entry: "Coming Home" - Firelight (23rd Place)
Malta never seems to be my favorite in the Eurovision song contest. The Maltese seem to prefer songs that while nice, can be a bit bland, and they especially love relatively motionless performances on stage. Last year's entry, "Coming Home", left most of the fancy motion to the cameras while the band played their song. It did well enough to make it to the finals, but lingered near the bottom when more dynamic performances stole the show. How does this year's entry, Amber's "Warrior", fare in comparison?
Since the last time we checked in, it doesn't seem like there's been any major changes in the song itself or its lyrics, but the backing instrumentation has gotten an upgrade. Switching out the more synthetic backing for something more organic gives the song more earned gravitas than it previously had. There's also a little more dynamic control on Amber's part during the verses, giving some depth to what had previously been a bit one note.
Mike mentioned that this seemed a little close to last year's winner, "Rise Like a Phoenix", but I think the only similarity I can hear is a cinematic scale. This sounds like this should be laying over the end sequence of a movie((in a good way)). Every listen I give it makes me want to listen again, and there's a real sticking power.
Looking at Malta's staging last year and (so far) this year, I really want them to break away from their rut of letting the camera guys do all the work when it comes to putting on a dynamic performance. Amber clearly has the pipes to pull this song off, so give her something a little more dramatic to do - the song's called "Warrior", after all. By virtue of song along they're more dynamic than Montenegro (who performs before them), but it feels like Norway's entry does some similar things and could easily overshadow this if their performance is a little more memorable.