SLOVENIA 2017 - Omar Naber - On My Way

[escYOUnited]

[John1]

I was surprised by the general negative feedback of their members (after praising the snippet, William changed his opinion after listening to the whole thing). But then again, it seems that the people who liked it the most couldn't share their reviews, hence why the ones who were shortlisted to give their opinions did "stand out". It's interesting because - as a huge fan of the song - I do agree with the fact that it could (not should) have been even better crafted than it is: more harp throughout the verses, a more lyrically-filled bridge, vocal variations during the last chorus... there is almost always room for improvement in songs. However, I think their marks were really severe. And then, they all raved about "Heart Of Gold"... which imho wasn't the Holy Grail in terms of composition either.

Actually, their reaction is in line with their reputation as they often tend to favour schlagers and "boom boom" acts over anything else. Zažarim obviously didn't fit that category, it was slow - maybe too slow and uneventful for them - but it was meant to be like that. While EMA 2017 lineup was quite diverse and nice overall, Raiven was the only stand out for me.

They're usually rooting for the weirdest or the overhyped entries which are competing at the Eurovision such as 'Verona'. Thus, this is kinda logical that they're less fond of some songs with mystical vibes like 'Zažarim'.

How irritating sometimes though.

[tuorem]

My review of "On My Way":

-It's been two years now that I've been following the Slovenian NF live and, twice in a row, the outcome has been disappointing for me. Props to RTVSLO for re-shaping their EMA show, which allows both more artists to take part and more options for presentation due to the big stage they have designed especially for the occasion. I really enjoyed all three shows (it was very professional) and the relative diversity in songs, which isn't always easy to achieve for small countries. I won't linger over the "peculiar" voting system - which obviously has its flaws - but most of the songs I liked qualified for the final. And despite having a handful of decent options for the contest this year, "On My Way" ended up winning the whole thing while - ironically - I believed this was one of the two qualifiers with the least potential for Eurovision (along with King Foo's "Wild Ride"). What to say about the song? Well, it's hard for me to talk about it without coming across as rude because it's wrong in so many ways: musically, this is pretty much a summary of all the formulaic musical-theater-inspired ballads that have been heard before at the contest in the 90's/00's. I don't mind it when a song has an old-fashioned vibe as long as it is tastefully done and the era it refers to has stood the test of time (because some past trends won't become edgy ever again). Unfortunately, "On My Way" doesn't fit that category: it's dated in a bad way, the melody has been heard before countless times, the lyrics are an abysmal bunch of uninspired rhyming lines, and the arrangements (even after the revamp) are over-the-top and not even suitable as far as the mood of the song is concerned. Everything in this song oozes boredom and clichés. And while songs like these can still be found in countries like Belarus or Malta, they never win because we are in 2017 - as I said, I love me some timeless throwback-like piece of music - but tasteless relics should really stay at home. I personally find it really offensive to send such a song in this day and age, especially when the artist has already competed 12 years ago with an actual great song that hasn't aged one bit ("Stop" is one of the best Slovenian entries ever imo). Pros: absolutely none to me. Cons: everything, special mention to the annoying bridge and the key change. Ew.

The "highlight" of this song to me is the intro and the first 15 seconds of the verse of the revamped version. I really like the mix of Omar's vocal lines in major key and the instrumental including minor chord progression. This isn't a combination one hears a lot, I thought it was really interesting and I wished the whole song were designed like that, like a musical translation of bittersweet feelings. But oh well, that's all I liked.

-Vocally, we all know Omar is a great vocalist, few male pop singers can belt out notes like he does. The live performance was faultless as always, however, I'm under the impression that he held himself back for some reason. He was a lot more vocally demonstrative at the NF.

-Visually, it was actually better than I expected since Omar didn't have any staging at all in the NF (yeah, I don't consider a few white spotlights moving around as a staging per se). I liked the beginning with the sparkling floor and its white wave. I guess Slovenia were the only ones to use the "chandelier" structure as an essential part of the presentation, at least it stood out from the rest in this regard. Clever idea, but they should have exploited it more throughout the song (there was potential), as the rest is just plain blue with white lights, nothing really special. If I had to make a dodgy comparison with Estonia: they also relied a lot on two colours and lights, but their final product was mastered and sophisticated, so the issue here is elsewhere (lack of ideas maybe?). Outfit-wise, it was a huge YES for me! Omar went from 90's boys band revival to Robbie Williams levels of classiness. I approve of the sober and shimmery black suit, it makes a man look good. On a side note, I always felt like Omar was reminding me of someone familiar - strangely it took me quite some time to realise it - my first boyfriend looked a LOT like him actually.

-Results-wise: I'm not gonna lie - despite being obviously used as a foil between Armenia and Latvia (like I foretold) - I feared "On My Way" could qualify out of nowhere and spit on all the Slovenian masterpieces that didn't get through. Thankfully, that didn't happen and I'm glad to see both juries and people agreed on that one. Slovenia did worse than I expected though - I hadn't hoped for a second-to-last place - but that's just as well. You guys had a way better option (Raiven was robbed, she would have been my number one) and your juries missed the point of their job: they're supposed to reward musical merit, but also acts that stand out enough to get votes once at Eurovision. RTVSLO may not want to win, I don't know, but reaching the final should be a goal at least, and it's not with songs like "On My Way" that you'll get there. Please wake up Slovenija! You're my favourite ESC nation but you've picked the wrong song twice in a row. Fingers crossed for next year, I don't want to see you lost in the bottom of my personal ranking again.

[Edward]

Still loving it, still easily in my top 3-5.

One thing I wanted to mention a long time ago...listening to this song on the official album and watching the performance at Kiev are two worlds apart. The recording sounds slacky but both the beautiful staging and Omar's charismatic performance brought this song to a whole new level.

[Mrm]

Still loving it, still easily in my top 3-5.

One thing I wanted to mention a long time ago...listening to this song on the official album and watching the performance at Kiev are two worlds apart. The recording sounds slacky but both the beautiful staging and Omar's charismatic performance brought this song to a whole new level.

And the level of points and results was very high and new it seems..

[Edward]

Your point being?

Can't believe you're still spamming this section of the forum with your impossible to understand English, kid

[CC92]

Such an inspriring and lovely song, my favourite of its semifinal. Yet somehow it failed to connect with fans and general viewers despite a great performance.

[Mainshow]

3 points - The song itself is ridiculous in the sense that Omar and Slovenia really thought that it has chances to do well in 2018.. it clearly screams 90s and it should have stayed there (or be sent to a Disney production). I sometimes do like some cheese though.. the transition (chorus to verse) is quite enjoyable, though and I like the strings.

[tuorem]

And after all this time, I found out "On My Way" had a Slovenian version. I still don't think the song was musically good enough for Eurovision in 2017, but it sounded way less old-fashioned and cliché with the musicality of Slovenian language imo. Language does matter.