Georgia GEORGIA 2025 - Mariam Shengelia - Freedom

[ESC United Mod Team]

 

[gigi_copp3]

What's this?

 

[mauve]

If I try and "he don't have internet" (reference: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GT7xws5XwAAIzcL.jpg) my way into ignoring the political stuff around it, this is a point entry, maybe a point one. I'll have a word with my G--d and figure out the extent to which I can actually do that.

Exactly feel the same way. Musically unlike others' opinions here, I LOVE the song, it is exactly what I want to hear from Georgia! But what the political intention is involved, it gives me deep stomache pain. So instead giving the full points (it would be my favorite entry next to Albania and Ukraine), with tears in my eyes I will only give .

 

[ESC94]

Well, it seems I´ll never be friends with at the ESC.

It's just too much mixed together for me. It starts as a "Bond ballad" in Georgian, then suddenly it turns into some kind of musical including a completely changed ryhthm and afterwards she´s suddenly singing in "English," which is really hard to understand because of her strong accent. The end sounds almost martial with this strange choir singing in the background. After the song has ended, I´m asking myself: What the hell did I just listen to??

No, there´s simply a clear line missing for me. Since I was at least able to listen to it completely and I don't think her voice is bad, it's enough for a . I think it will be very difficult for the country to reach the final again and even then I can´t see this doing much better than 18th at most.

 

[lavieenrose]

Exactly feel the same way. Musically unlike others' opinions here, I LOVE the song, it is exactly what I want to hear from Georgia! But what the political intention is involved, it gives me deep stomache pain. So instead giving the full points (it would be my favorite entry next to Albania and Ukraine), with tears in my eyes I will only give .

We stay in lockstep because I've given it a on the grounds of "I liked the experience of listening to it musically when I did and in this great year that's a rating I can give to songs I can pretend for all intents and purposes don't exist (i.e. leave it off my playlists, leave it out of my signature, etc.) while also not invalidating that I did enjoy listening to it when I did."

 

[RainyWoods]

If I try and "he don't have internet" (reference: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GT7xws5XwAAIzcL.jpg) my way into ignoring the political stuff around it, this is a point entry, maybe a point one. I'll have a word with my G--d and figure out the extent to which I can actually do that.

It's oddly comforting (although sad) to see I'm not the only Georgia super fan in turmoil here, and also @mauve I relate to what you've just shared too. If I listened to this entry without context, it's very likely that I'd support it (to an extent) as the composition is everything I love and have come to expect from Georgian entries. I really like when it slows down, becoming quite jazzy. It's lively, dramatic and rich. Something different than the other entries surrounding it. I did though see a comment comparing the song to the Coca Cola Christmas adverts which I now can't unhear.

It's just.. well, knowing stuff makes it very difficult to get behind the entry. And even putting the political aspect of it to one side, I don't like this Georgian entry as much as the majority of their songs from this past decade. There's a particular steely edge it just can't shake off. It makes me feel sad seeing Georgian people leaving comments on the video explaining how upset and hurt they are by the choice. I generally can separate art from the artist, and choose not to hand out 0s unless the composition is abysmal, and I will keep to that here. It's not a bad song. The entry for me musically speaking is about a 7 or 8 pointer. This entry is just a bad look. I won't be voting this May for a political entry that's damaging and upsetting to its country's people.

 

[Iker]

A grandiose nothingburger song about peace from a country ruled now by the authoritarian party that is pro-Putin Russia*. Blech.


*apparently went to win the last election largely due to a lot of intimidation tactics and whatnot

 

[Iker]

Well that was a vibe

Hell yeah, Georgia makes me wanna party so hard as ...

 

[njdevils94]

Not gonna put some song above her preferences, definitely not gonna close my eyes on her support of that party. If she supports and works for people who commit political atrocities, it's gonna weight more than the song
Also, the audacity of submitting a song called "Freedom" and supporting a party that introduced anti-LGBT laws

You think we will see any delegations file a complaint in this post Soviet ballad?

 

[Bobjan FR]

Last in MyEurovisionScoreboard, saving Serbia. It's a sure NQ

 

[Leydan]

You know, if I ignore the artists views and connotations around it, I find the song very much dull and in some places kinda dated. It's not horrible by any means, and I love that it's in Georgian but that's as far as it goes. However I cannot ignore the connotations and such that surrounds this. The optics of a Pro-government singer, singing about Freedom while said government is (in some cases) violently suppressing their own people. It may not be as aggressively blatant as Belarus 2021, but I think we can all see what is going on here. I don't want to go too deep into the politics of it, as it's not the right section, but there is no way i'm supporting this. As a rule I do not dish these out, even songs I hate I will give at least a 1. However, this can have a

 

[MAD20]

Nothing spectacular here, Georgia going back to the NQ tradition. points for the good voice.

 

[jatojo]

The chorus is like something from Eurovision of the 1970's. It's not typical at all, and I have to regard that as positive. But the song's being different also means that I have trouble connecting to the song (sort of like to "Ich komme"), so I'll give it my usual 4.

(As we speak, the bookmakers still have the entry at 19th spot, but surely it will drop a dozen places soon.)

 

[hijirio]

This will be a hot take, but I think it’s unfair to cancel an artist for their political views.

We can't possibly know every artist's stance on every political issue. Do we even know Nina Zizic's opinion on abortion? Maybe JJ secretly supports Russia too? Even if they actually make progressive statements to fit in, behind closed doors, they might hold entirely different opinions. We have NO WAY TO PROVE what's inside people's mind.

If you still follow Eurovision after EBU's decision to keep Israel in the contest, you have agreed to leave politics aside and focus on the music, as we are all actively promoting an institution that endorses Israel's genocide-pinkwashing political propaganda.

As for Mariam, she just can't hide her political opinion because of the broadcaster, but if we disclosed all the participants voting preferences we would have lost half of the lineup.

If I were a Georgian I would be so upset, I understand their disappointment... but introducing cancel culture to the contest is a slippery slope. And by the way, this is for anyone who assumes an artist is pro-Russia just because they support a certain political party—political views are often much more complex than we assume:

 

[EscGeek]

 

[Sammy]

love that!

Could you also include the option (right at the beginning): are these political views promoting hatred and discrimination against you? and show us to which conclusion it would lead in your diagram?

 

[gingerale]

We can't possibly know every artist's stance on every political issue. Do we even know Nina Zizic's opinion on abortion? Maybe JJ secretly supports Russia too?

Stop using blameless ESC artists for your strange point of view.

 

[EscGeek]

love that!

Could you also include the option (right at the beginning): are these political views promoting hatred and discrimination against you? and show us to which conclusion it would lead in your diagram?

I'm assuming you mean russian hostility towards Ukraine, EU, NATO and The west and its values in general.

As @hijirio said, political views can have lots of nuances. If the picture he posted is real, you can tell she wants peace in Ukraine as much as you and i, but i guess she's just against her country being under Brussels and Washington D.C.'s sphere of influence and that's unfortunate from our point of view, but it's not a good enough reason to hate her. Whatever happed to celebrating diversity? Or does that apply only for race and sexuallity? Speaking of that, by accepting to participate, i think she's comfortable with the show's core values at least on the surface level. But we definitely don't want the participants to fill a long ass questionnaire about topics we find important just so we could determine how much of a good person they are now don't we?

And if you think we have a trojan horse type of situation here: I really think some fans severly overestimate the effect a single eurovision participant can have to the whole country moving forward.

Maybe in the end it won't matter because even i, as one of the fans of the song can admit that it will struggle to qualify on merit alone. It's your typical georgian song that is usually only loved by the small minority of fans.

 

[SAYAY]

So, there is obviously a debate going on here for reasons. Understandably, cause there is a lot going on in Georgia right now and my goes out to all the brave people there. I have been debating with myself how to handle this one and I am for now choosing to focus on the music itself.

Idk what to say. There is a lot of different elements mixed together here that I feel like could maybe sound better if they were kept separated. I have the same problem with this one like I had with "Icebreaker" by Agnete back in the days, and it is that I feel like I am listening to two different songs at the same time. I am all for experimentation and breaking "the rules" production wise, but personally this is not quite my cup of tea. I do love ballads, but I dont really feel anything listening to this.

I am going to give point for good voice and point for the attempt = points.

 

[Sammy]

I'm assuming you mean russian hostility towards Ukraine, EU, NATO and The west and its values in general.

As @hijirio said, political views can have lots of nuances. If the picture he posted is real, you can tell she wants peace in Ukraine as much as you and i, but i guess she's just against her country being under Brussels and Washington D.C.'s sphere of influence and that's unfortunate from our point of view, but it's not a good enough reason to hate her. Whatever happed to celebrating diversity? Or does that apply only for race and sexuallity? Speaking of that, by accepting to participate, i think she's comfortable with the show's core values at least on the surface level. But we definitely don't want the participants to fill a long ass questionnaire about topics we find important just so we could determine how much of a good person they are now don't we?

And if you think we have a trojan horse type of situation here: I really think some fans severly overestimate the effect a single eurovision participant can have to the whole country moving forward.

Maybe in the end it won't matter because even i, as one of the fans of the song can admit that it will struggle to qualify on merit alone. It's your typical georgian song that is usually only loved by the small minority of fans.

no. As your post was a general scheme helping to take decisions, I was wondering on a general level how you‘d include the aspect I mentioned.

 

[njdevils94]

Was the whole music video shot in GPB Studios? Wasn't expecting much so can't be disappointed in that respect.

Ethnic parts at the beginning give some intrigue but around 1:15 fizzles it out rapidly into an old school 90's Soviet ballad. Not that much of a surprise looking at who wrote it. The English is hard to decipher. Would've better fully in Georgian. The whole thing is pretty boring.
Don't know how Mariam Shengelia is as a live singer but pretty sure this will be a contender for last place in Semifinal 2. It will be rather low in my personal rankings.