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Albania

Eugent Bushpepa - Mall

Albania select their entry towards the end of this month and these are the 22 acts and songs fighting for the crown

 

AKULLTHYESIT – “Divorci” (Divorce)

Artemisa Mithi – “E dua botën” (I love the world)

Bojken Lako – “Sytë e shpirtit” (The eyes of the soul)

David & Genc Tukiqi – “Të pandarë” (Inseperable)

Denisa Gjezo – “Zemër ku je” (Dear heart, where you are)

Elton Deda – “Fjalët” – (Words)

Ergi Bregu-Latifllari – “Bum Bum”

Eugent Bushpepa “Mall” (Yearning)

Evans Rama – “Gjurmët” (Traces)

Inest Neziri – “Piedestal” – (Pedestal)

LORELA – “Pritem edhe pak” (Wait a little longer)

LYNX – “Vonë” (Late)

Manjola Nallbani – “I njejti qiell” (The same sky)

Mariza Ikonomi – “Unë” (Me)

NA & Festina Mezini – “Tjetër jetë” (Another life)

Orgesa Zaimi – “Ngrije zërin” (Speak up)

Redon Makashi – “Ekzistoj” (I exist)

Rezarta Samja & Luis Ejlli – “Ra një yll” (A star fell)

Stefi & Endri Prifti – “Mesazh” (Message)

Tahir Gjoci – “Orë e ndaluar” (Stopped clock)

Voltan Prodani – “Pse të desha” (Why would I love you?)

Xhesika Polo – “Përjetë” (Forever)

 

The entries can be heard already in studio form via a playlist available on this link

 

If anyone has time to go through them all or if Addy can provide his insight to who might be in with a chance, do let us know what's worth listening to :P

Xhesika Polo has probably the best one of this bunch (and is conveniently three minutes long as well!) but I don't know if we really need ANOTHER dramatic rock influenced Albanian female power ballad.

Speak for yourself... Albania are my favourite eternally doomed country these days.

Ok I need to find time to listen to all of them but based on names alone they should send Manjola Nallbani :wub:

 

She can slay vocals live :wub:

 

Contenders:

 

1.Manjola Nallbani

2.Mariza Ikonomi

3.Elton Deda

4.Xhesika Polo

5.Bojken Lako

 

These are all veterans besides Xhesika.

 

And Albania will never ever win ESC with RTSH...its so old skool...they need to move to Ka nga Magjike

Xhesika Polo is out, but the rest of those contenders are among the finalists

 

Artemisa Mithi

Bojken Lako

Denisa Gjezo

Elton Deda

Eugent Bushpepa

Inis Neziri

Mariza Ikonomi

Manjola Nallbani

Grupi NA & Fejstina Mezini

Orgesa Zaimi

Rezarta Smaja & Luiz Ejlli

Tiri Gjoci

Redon Makashi

Voltan Prodani

Widely considered to be a battle between Eugent and Inis so it’ll be interesting to see how it plays out against the veterans!

Eugent wins, with Redon 2nd and Inis 3rd!

 

Would've loved Inis, but Eugent is a fantastic alternative. Something different for Albania after several female ballads and I think they have a good chance of qualifying revamp-dependent. That said I think Inis would've had a chance of qualifying too, it seemed more accessible than the likes of World and Fairytale.

Albania's HoD tweeted during Eugent's performance saying "imagine this in English and 3 minutes long" so it looks like its being translated!

This is just okay...I like the melody in verses but the chorus ruins it for me.

 

I just can't fully stand behind any albanian entry since Rona Nishliu and Elhaida Dani.

 

 

He has a great vocal but this is just another typically dated entry for Albania. This isn't qualifying for the final.

I really like this! Quite an anthem and if Ryan's right about this going into English I think it'd be silly to count them out, it's uplifting already and that's just in Albanian!

Albania's always a funny one to predict from the first announcement because of the substantial revamp and as we saw last year, a bit of a dodgy revamp can really scupper a song's potential.

 

As it stands it's a pretty good example of an anthemic rock ballad and there's probably a market for that somewhere.

The revamp that was planned to be revealed tonight has been postponed, possibly until the end of the week.

The 3 minute revamp is now here:

 

 

I'd say they've done a pretty good job with this - compared to previous years anyway!! The guitar's been cut back a bit, which will take some getting used to, but on the whole I'm still liking this. Bonus points for keeping it in Albanian!

Edited March 16, 20187 yr by Alpha.

Oh I'm quite disappointed! It feels like its lost a lot of its soul to me :(

 

Thought this had a chance to sneak in the final in like 8th or 9th place but in that semi of death, I can't see this making it out alive anymore unfortunately, a real shame as the original is superb.

 

I am so glad they kept it in Albanian.

Ugh

I really enjoyed that new performance but that is SO going out. It always was.

How dare they take out my guitar :angry:

 

It's still good but aww, this is very doomed among the lineup. I do think if the revamp had been better it would have qualified but this is not the right direction for that.