Contact us

Albania ALBANIA 2018 - Eugent Bushpepa - Mall

How do you rate this entry?

  • 12

    37 17.8%
  • 10

    26 12.5%
  • 8

    24 11.5%
  • 7

    34 16.3%
  • 6

    22 10.6%
  • 5

    11 5.3%
  • 4

    14 6.7%
  • 3

    14 6.7%
  • 2

    5 2.4%
  • 1

    7 3.4%
  • 0

    14 6.7%

  • Total voters
    208

cegs5

Well-known member
Joined
March 6, 2012
Posts
6,360
I actually appreciate they want to put his voice at the centre stage, and bless that they left the OOOhh ooooh only to the very last. Perhaps we've been already used to the original version and this needs more listenings. I don't think it has lost impact, the song is still the same.
 

burrito

Well-known member
Joined
April 7, 2017
Posts
667
Location
behind you
dear :al:, congratz, you did it again xslap my favorite is offcially ruined.

Checked up the revamped version once, gonna stay with the original. They should have shorten the song only, not get rid of all the anthemic feeling. Still a nice entry, but now it lacks a lot.
 

ESCada

Active member
Joined
March 2, 2016
Posts
1,444
Location
Skopje, Macedonia
I actually prefer the revamp.
The song was too long for my liking and they managed not to loose out on the pure emotion of the song by shortening it.
Good Job Albania.
 

QwaarJet

ESC Moderator
Joined
March 27, 2010
Posts
9,209
Location
Kilmacolm,Scotland
Albania's legendary revamp record continues. Self-sabotage on an unprecedented scale.
 

DaFlo

Banned
Joined
March 3, 2014
Posts
8,868
Well now it's just uber meh lol xcookie

Looks like another DNQ for them.. that awkward moment when their only qualification in the last few years was with a song that didn't win Festivali i Këngës.. might need to rethink their selection method finally.
 

Alaska49

Well-known member
Joined
April 18, 2013
Posts
2,895
um, it sounds exactly like i expected it to sound when you have to CUT ONE ENTIRE THIRD OF THE SONG. i don't know what kind of expectations you guys had.

albania's self sabotage is not in the revamp itself and in the fact they put themselves in the situation of needing to butcher a song to begin with. what they need to revamp is the entire festivali i kenges format, or use another selection method.
 

SwissKung

Active member
Joined
January 31, 2015
Posts
875
Location
Lausanne, Switzerland
What did you expect? Cutting almost 1/3 of the song was going to be extremely difficult, the fan-made ones on youtube didn't feel organic so I actually think Albania did a great job with the revamp. I still love the song and will vote for it.
 

Kaz

Well-known member
Joined
January 12, 2014
Posts
2,081
What did you expect? Cutting almost 1/3 of the song was going to be extremely difficult.

Yes, but they could have done it without sacrificing all the power in the instrumentation. I will admit the revamp is growing on me, and it certainly isn’t as horrendous as other Albanian revamps, but I think Albania’s chances of qualification have pretty much disappeared now.
 

hijirio

Veteran
Joined
April 25, 2012
Posts
6,286
Location
Gay
I was never fond of his voice.
The only thing I liked about this song was the instrumentation, and now it's gone, nothing left to support here now.
 

Krishoes

Well-known member
Joined
May 4, 2013
Posts
6,054
Location
Italy
Italy and Albania share the same problem. But while Sanremo is not officially a selection for the song, and I understand why there isn't a rule that force artists to enter 3-min songs (I would insert it, tho), Festivali i Kenges is. I don't get why he entered a 4.30 entry.
 

BernadetteCydonia

Well-known member
Joined
May 15, 2015
Posts
3,974
Location
#makinglithuaniafamous
FiK isn't an official ESC selection per se either... so there are no lenght restrictions there either
 

Matt

Admin Schmadmin
Staff member
Joined
June 1, 2009
Posts
23,479
Location
Los Angeles, USA
BernadetteCydonia is correct. FiK isn't an official ESC selection either. It existed way before Albania was a thing in Eurovision so it should be considered a STandalone festival just like Sanremo.
 

burrito

Well-known member
Joined
April 7, 2017
Posts
667
Location
behind you
What did you expect? Cutting almost 1/3 of the song was going to be extremely difficult, the fan-made ones on youtube didn't feel organic so I actually think Albania did a great job with the revamp. I still love the song and will vote for it.

Gotta disagree. While the fanmade versions were of course kinda amateurish, they had one thing the revamped version is short of, and it's the power. It was obvious that a huge part of the song will have to be cut off, but they did not have to get rid of the heavy sound which was the absolute highlight here. Even the lyrics do not fit the revamp as well as the original imho. If they maintained that heavy instrumentation instead of turning the whole thing into light-sounding pretty song, it still would be beautiful. Now it's just decent.

I see what they were trying to do here - they wanted to put more emphasis on Eugent's voice, fine. But I think that he sounded more convincing in the previous version. No more emphasis was needed, because the raw emotion in his voice and the way he sings were not in any way enshadowed by the instruments. On the contrary they were complimenting each other and the outcome was just perfect. Now Eugent's voice is theoretically heard better, but so what if the melody does not fit his singing anymore? I do not think it's a carwreck, but it makes me really bitter because this song spoke to me on so many levels, and they made it sound light enough for it to lose half of it's appeal. Still hoping for it to sail through tho, albeit it's going to be really hard and that's a shame because it's a very valuable entry.
 

mauve

Veteran
Joined
February 28, 2018
Posts
10,710
Location
Germany
Ok, thanks for keeping it in Albanian, but WHAT THE HELL Eugent?

You stripped the song from all likable elements it had going for it, to turn it into yet another boring ballad.
Where are the high notes? the guitars? The backing vocals? the power? and most of all the Emotion???!!!!!

I still like this entry and will continue to support it because so little people already do, but Albania has really shot itself in the foot again with these revamps.

I agree with all the things you said. The power is gone and what I liked are the high notes: also gone. It's still good, but the original originality vanished. I am truly disappointed. :cry:
 

DanielLuis

Well-known member
Joined
March 14, 2011
Posts
8,605
I agree with the previous comments. The revamp really made the song lose a lot of power and punch. The other version progressed very well and when the chorus came it was a great wall of sound (though it did last a little bit too long). It was hard to make this work within 3 minutes without changing the song much though. I'm afraid it will be very hard for Albania to qualify now :(
 

Krishoes

Well-known member
Joined
May 4, 2013
Posts
6,054
Location
Italy
FiK isn't an official ESC selection per se either... so there are no lenght restrictions there either

BernadetteCydonia is correct. FiK isn't an official ESC selection either. It existed way before Albania was a thing in Eurovision so it should be considered a STandalone festival just like Sanremo.

I get what you both say, but my point is, have they ever selected an entry that was not a winner of Festivali i Kenges?

And we all know there are many reasons to not count Elhaida Dani.:mrgreen:

It's clear and obvious that the winner of FiK is going to Eurovision with the winning song, instead of Sanremo. So entering a 4.30 entry is still weird to me. Also, don't consider FiK an official ESC selection is highly questionable, tbh, they are using the exact same format since their debut in 2004 :?
 

Alaska49

Well-known member
Joined
April 18, 2013
Posts
2,895
i agree that FiK is its own thing that predates albania in eurovision by decades but that's exactly why they need to change. FiK wasn't made for eurovision and they need to use something that was.
 
Top Bottom