San Marino's finally sent an artist other than Valentina Monetta! Now they just need to find a new songwriter...
I never thought I'd see the day when the San Marinese entry for the Eurovision Song Contest wasn't Valentina Monetta - the microstate seemed perfectly happy to keep sending a song written by Ralph Siegel and sung by her, and they finally managed to find a combination that made it all the way to the finals((even if "Crysalide" was the superior of the three songs))! Times change, I guess, and it was nice to see another name listed for their entry. Let's see if Ania & Michele's "Chain of Lights" is a step up or down from reliable Valentina...
From a performance standpoint, this is nice - Anita and Michele clearly have performing experience((even if not together--apparent Michele found out he was performing a duet in the car on the way to the press conference)) and can hold their own with this song. Which makes it unfortunate that San Marino seems to be happy to let Ralph Siegel steer their ship((I only like Siegel when I'm mishearing his lyrics)). His songs, while nice, tend to be overly sappy and reflect a side of Eurovision that's a bit out of vogue at the moment. "Chain of Light" is no exception - it's the type of let's-hold-hands, dreams-come-true thing that's overdone, and his melodies tend to be a bit saccharine when mixed with English lyrics. Depending on the field in their semi-final, this could sneak through to the final, but I don't expect it to place well if it makes it there.