UKRAINE 2010 - Sweet People

Ah, Ukraine ... perhaps the most schizo participant in the ESC. They send some great entries, some bizarre entries, and some embarrassingly shitty entries ... sorry, but last year was really a low point. Their results have, unsurprisingly, varied greatly. However, they have also won the whole shebang ... and that was only on their second try. So, you never know what to expect from the Ukrainians.

This year ... this year I'm in two minds about their entry. In a way it's good, I like it a lot, but on the other hand there are problems with it too that I think will be a stumbling block for Ukraine this year.

The song is interesting, it's quite original and I applaud their efforts to stand out from the crowd. The theme of the song is good, not just the usual love & heartbreak stuff. The singer is pretty standard ... a pretty blonde with a low-cut dress ... but she gives a good performance, and her voice is unusual, it has a lot of character. The problem with the song is that it's rather unmelodious ... it has a difficult melody that I think may be too ambitious for the ESC audience. It took me a while to like it, I had to listen to it a few times. But, alas, the voters won't have that luxury. I think the majority aren't like me and don't know half the songs by heart weeks before the event. ;-) So although I like the song and I'm impressed with their level of ambition, I'm not sure it'll do very well. I hope it does, fingers crossed ... but I think it's immediate appeal isn't really there. But we'll see. The professional juries will probably react very favorably to this song, and hopefully their input will be enough to push this song into a good score. :-)

This is Alyosha performing Sweet People by Borys Kukoba, Olena Kucher and Vadim Lisitsa. They will be competing for Ukraine on Thursday, May 27th.



Lyrics here.