The 2015 “Expert” Panel – ITALY

Grande amore MP3

The ESC United “Expert” Panel is back once again reviewing all Eurovision songs and rank them accordingly.

You are probably asking yourself on how we pick our panel and the criteria. We looked at people from all walks of life to bring together a unique group of panelists with a wide range in taste. They all bring different skills and tastes to the table so who are they?

Anselm – The Alternative Guy
Arie – The Professional Musician
Daniel – The Noob
Katja – The Schlager Queen
Mike – The Smart One
Olivia – The Journalist

You can read more about them HERE

Disclaimer: While we picked, what we perceived individuals with a wide range in taste, it is subjective to a certain degree so just enjoy their thoughts and if you don’t agree, feel free to post your comments below.

The betting odds has Italy as one of their favorites with their song “Grande Amore” but that doesn’t necessarily mean our panel is going to agree with that. Let’s find out if they have a different opinion. Here are Il Volo:

Arie – The Professional Musician
Yes, yes, yes!!! ( One for each of these silver voiced Italian tenors).  Italy has a specific brand of contemporary ballad and this song contains everything about the genre that ignites me!  Dramatic strings, powerful singing, and harmony!  The melody is a winner:  both intricate and hummable.  The orchestration:  theatric and cinematic.  The vocals:  vibrant and flawless!  Since I have to say something constructive, I would say that the only part of the song that I would change is the ending phrases where they are singing at top level but seem to be faded out (digitally).  I think it loses some momentum whenever this happens.  However, with the velocity the song is already going, this mere hiccup seems to not slow it down at all.
Points: 10/10

Olivia – The Journalist
Ciao bello! Phwoar – this is quite something. Italian, once again, proves itself to be one of the most attractive languages to sing in. And my, does this show off the country’s fine operatic tradition. It’s a HUGE song. So big in fact, that it almost erupts by the time it gets to the chorus!  This entry is going to blow any other song either side of it out the water. The vocalists don’t mess around –they’re highly trained, beautifully married together, and mean business. This is probably Italy’s strongest entry in years. This is genius – they’ve made classic opera cool. Anthemic and spine-tingingly. Forza forza! Even if you hate this genre of music, you will somehow learn to love it. Dark horse!
Points: 9/10

Mike – The Smart One
Every Italophile bone in my body loves this song.  The singing is stellar.  The trio’s harmony is beautifully done and very balanced so that no one part dominates.  The lyrics are very Italian and, while not necessarily part of other European cultures, very much part of Italian.  The Italian, itself, is easy to understand and beautifully enunciated as well.  The young guys are appealing, especially the guy with the eyebrows who has grown up from earlier videos I watched.  And the bass/baritone in me was delighted to have a low baritone as the star of this song.  If there were anything edgy in this song a ten.
Points: 9/10

Daniel – The Noob
This is what I call a typical Italian song. You can literally tell immediately that this representative was sent by Italy to Vienna without really knowing. You have to know that I do not speak Italian. I know four Italian words in the best case. Two of them are “grande” and “amore”. Those two words build the title of this song. Because of that this song seems very unimaginative. For any reason I think every Italian song has “amore” in it’s title. However I am not a fan of this genre.
Points: 5/10

Anselm – The Alternative Guy
Sorry, but there’s absolutely nothing I like about this. Everything from the lyrics to the arrangement screams cliché and cheesy to me. The performers try to sing in an operatic way but they rather end up sounding like generic pop vocals gone high-pitched. I really hope something as pseudo-meaningful and pretentious as this won’t make it far in the contest. In bocca al lupo per il prossimo anno, Italia!
Points: 1/10

Katja – The Schlager Queen
Another big one alert! There was a bit of a fan war going on between the supporters of Il Volo and the supporters of Nek during Sanremo this year. And yeah, what to say about this one? It’s very bombastic, borderline parody (I think it keeps the stereotype of how “typical Italian music” sounds like) and I think the fact it’s in Italian will trick people into thinking it’s genuine and very emotional. When I don’t really think it is. It will do well, in may even win, but a 2016 edition with an invasion of such bombastic operatic ballads? No, grazie. #justice4Nek
Points: 7/10

Overall: 41 Points

This isn’t everyone’s cup of tea it seems and Anselm brings down the score significantly. As Daniel pointed out, it’s not a genre and a bit more polarizing than the average pop song. Let’s have a look at the updated ranking:

Do you think that the panel got this right?!? Share your thoughts below and join the convo on our Forum. See yah soon!