A while back, I wrote an article acknowledging that Alyona Lanskaya has more lives and more ambition than a Siamese cat. It would seem that her discarded material also has many lives. “Rhythm Of Love” won the Bellarussian pre-selection back in 2012, and was meant to be the entry for the contest this year in Malmö. However, as with everything Lanskaya touches, it ended up being complicated.
Earlier this year, “Rhythm Of Love” was ditched in favour of “Solayoh” just before the cut-off date. When quizzed about the change, Lanskaya made it clear that she preferred to focus her energies on “Solayoh”. Fortunately, “Solayoh” qualified for the final, thus redeeming Lanskaya from the fate of being a semi-finial wonder. She was her country’s first qualifier in three years and won the respect of those who’d dismissed her earlier. Sadly, she lost Dmitry Baranov—her producer, collaborator and friend—to a cardiac arrest early this month.
Given that tragedy, it’s uncertain whether the planned video shoot for “Rhythm of Love” will still go ahead. Should it do, it would be a good move. Cleverly, she’s dropped the wailing ballads she used to belt in favour of something more Eurobeat. Just like “Solayoh”, the production elements of this song is totally Euroclub. Unfortunately, her vocals are somewhat of a letdown. Also, most of the lyrics are mis-pronounced. It’s one of those summer songs that hasn’t yet transcended into an anthem. However, that’s not such a bad thing. Many Eurovision fans like growth in an artist. Everytime we’ve seen Alyona, she has progressed, and experiencing her blossom is a beautiful thing. Also, the lack of perfection this time round gives her another opportunity to remaster this track in a few years’ time.
Rating: 2/5
Deban Aderemi contributed this report from London. Follow him on Twitter @debanaderemi. Then follow the Team Wiwi on Twitter @wiwibloggs and by liking our Facebook page.
Photo: Alyona Lanskaya
I actually prefer this to Solayoh, even if parts of the backing track remind me of the one used in Dustin’s 08 performance!
I think the performance would have been fantastic for Rhythm of Love but as a song, Solayoh is so much better. I love Alyona 🙂
Such a bad production Solayoh is much better song and also production. also song original. This bad.