Armenia will select an artist and a song for Eurovision via the national selection “Depi Evratesil 2020“. 12 artists will compete for the opportunity to represent the country in Eurovision 2020.
The final selection will be held on Saturday the 15th of February 2020.
The results will be determined by 50% jury voting and 50% public voting. The jury will include 9 members.
The running order of the national selection has been revealed:
01 – Agop – Butterflies
02 – Karina EVN – Why?
03 – Hayk Music – What It Is To Be In Love
04 – ERNA Tamazyan – Life Faces
05 – EVA Rida – No Love
06 – Athena Manoukian – Chains On You
07 – Gabriel Jeeg – It’s Your Turn
08 – Sergey and Nickolay Arutyunov – Ha, Take a Step
09 – Miriam Baghdassarian – Run Away
10 – Vladimir Arzumanyan – What’s Going On Mama
11 – Arthur Aleq – Heaven
12 – TOKIONINE – Save Me
In this post, I will review the competing songs.
#1. Agop – Butterflies
It’s a mid-tempo pop song with electronic production. The song is radio-friendly and his catchiness arrives namely from the chorus. The chorus has a repeat of the phrase “I see butterflies in your eyes”. The verses sound like a happy ballad. The chorus includes an electric guitar playing and more interesting elements of production. Toward the end, the melody is being changed alongside the singing style until an additional occurrence of the chorus. It’s a nice and catchy song but I am not sure how it will be suitable for Eurovision.
#2.Karina EVN – Why?
It’s a Dance-Pop song with Rap Hip-Hop influences. The singer is starting to sing with a pretty low husky voice. The verses are being performed fastly than the chorus. The second verse belongs to the genre of Rap Hip-Hop until the drop which opens the chorus festively. The chorus is stronger and catchier than the verses. As the song lasts, the beat is getting more significant.
#3.Music Hayk – What It Is To Be In Love
It’s a piano ballad. The verses are slower than the chorus and are being performed in a soft and high voice with soul influences. The melody has a uniform structure along with the song. It’s a very personal, small, sincere and emotional song. However, the song hasn’t any peaks or unpredictable changes. I don’t see this act helping Armenia qualifying. for the Eurovision final.
#4. ERNA Tamazyan – Life Faces
It’s a dated Jazz Blues song. The singer is using her voice as the main musical instrument for empowering the song. Towards the chorus, the song becomes cheerful with a theatrical atmosphere. ERNA has some backing vocalists that support her. I had difficulties understanding some of her English pronunciation. In my opinion,, The song is pretty repetitive and flat.
#5.EVA Rida – No Love
It’s a mid-tempo rock-pop song. The song is opened with a beautiful instrumental section that being played by the guitar. Eva was blessed with a wonderful voice that characterized by scratches and hoarseness. The verses build up to an interesting point. However, the chorus isn’t powerful enough. At the second occurrence of the chorus, the potential is being fulfilled but not in the best optional way. “No Love” isn’t a bad song, it just needs a revamp and a little bit of melody changing.
#6. Athena Manoukian – Chains On You
It’s an ethnic Pop Hip Hop song. The instrumental introduction is already promising.
Her singing in the first verse is rapping. Afterward, she continues to Hip-Hop singing. The impressive part of the song is surprisingly the bridge where Athena shows her vocal abilities by singing Soul and Pop. The ethnic motive lives along with the song and completes it. The song will require proper staging including dancers. The song has a cyclic structure but it makes sense. It could be one of Armenia‘s wishful acts for qualifying again.
#7.Gabriel Jeeg – It’s Your Turn
It’s a blues song. The song has theatrical foundations with a little bit “sassy” production.
In 1:10, the song changes surprisingly to a happier version of itself. Gabriel knows how to fit himself to the different moods of the song. Sometimes, it actually has Latin elements. The song is original and well produced. However, it sounds extremely old-fashioned. I would be surprised to find it in the Croatian national selection (“Dora”) somewhere at the beginning of the 2000s.
#8.Sergey and Nickolay Arutyunov – Ha, Take a Step
It starts with a lullaby melody along husky and rockist singing. The song is powerful and in some way contains an inner contradiction. However, I see it as an advantage. The situation makes the listeners curious. In the third part of the song, the other brother is joining the singing. One of them can reach high notes while the other has a low and rough song. The ending is again calming as a music box. The song may be hard to be liked, but once you understand it you will listen again and again.
#9.Miriam Baghdassarian – Run Away
It’s a mid-tempo soul-rock power ballad. The song starts as a calming ballad. In the bridge, the song becomes powerful gradually. The bridge is captivating. Miriam’s voice is very impressive. She easily transfers from the rough voice of rock to the high notes of the soul. The melody isn’t complicated which emphasizes the beauty of the production and her vocal abilities. In my opinion, with the right staging, it could be the dark horse of the night.
#10. Vladimir Arzumanyan – What’s Going On Mama
This is a mid-tempo pop song. The verses are being performed in almost talking. The chorus is stronger and it’s where Vladimir shows his vocal abilities. The chorus is more rememberable than other parts of the song. The next occurrences of the verses are better. The issue is that I truly believe in a first impression. The song fails in the first impression test, especially in the flat and generic first verse.
#11.Arthur Aleq – Heaven
It’s a dance-pop song. Unfortunately, The first verse is pretty forgettable. The chorus is catchier and yet generic. The last half-minute of the song has an interesting direction which we should have received much earlier. Arthur has a good voice but I don’t see him stand out between the others in the line-up.
#12. TOKIONINE – Save Me
It’s an electro-dance song. The melody, in the beginning, is already a good sign for the future. The singer shows the versatile abilities of transformations between genres. The production was built wisely according to the structure of the song. The song has great potential in being a huge radio hit. We are in 2020 and this is where the song belongs. It sounds like a club version of “The Weekend”. The song can compere in Eurovision and still remains relevant.
My Ranking
#1. Athena Manoukian – Chains On You
#2. Miriam Baghdassarian – Run Away
#3. TOKIONINE – Save Me
#4. Sergey and Nickolay Arutyunov – Ha, Take a Step
#5. Agop – Butterflies
#6. Hayk Music – What It Is To Be In Love
#7. EVA Rida – No Love
#8. Karina EVN – Why?
#9. Vladimir Arzumanyan – What’s Going On Mama
#10. ERNA Tamazyan – Life Faces
#11. Gabriel Jeeg – It’s Your Turn
#12. Arthur Aleq – Heaven
My Prediction
I see only potential winners while choosing the others will make Armenia staying in the semi-final for an additional year. The 3 potential winners are:
Athena Manoukian – Chains On You
Miriam Baghdassarian – Run Away
TOKIONINE – Save Me
