"Sister trio O'G3NE of the Netherlands revealed their entry "Lights & Shadows" for Eurovision 2017. Our first impression: needs more of both.<!--more-->
Since their selection as the Netherlands' Eurovision Song Contest representative for the 2017 competition in Kyiv, O'G3NE has established full control of the process. Their father has written and produced their entry "Lights & Shadows." It was also recently reported by Eurovoix that the group has decided not to work with the stage director the Netherlands has used for the last few years. I find this last development troubling, given how "Light & Shadows" sounds:
https://play.spotify.com/track/5pTMXokyHE9OQyIDvi7ayz
I was hoping the official music video was responsible for some of the over-production happening on this track but, sadly, this is not the case. Upon my first listen of the track, my immediate reaction brought to mind the Coco Chanel quote "Once you've dressed, and before you leave the house, look in the mirror and take at least one thing off." Here's a short list of things to remove:
- Unnecessary reverb on the harmonies
- Too many harmonies at the same volume level
- The electric guitar string after the second verse
- The 80s piano riff during the second chorus
- The keychange isn't fully unearned, but the track is so aggressive with its wall of sound that it is difficult to listen all the way to that point in the song.
I think the Netherlands could be in trouble with this track. Unless there is some light and shadow introduced in the presentation instead of its current ALL CAPS delivery, this could be an uncomfortable three minutes to sit through."