Herciana Matmuja has won Festivali i Këngës 52, the Albanian national selection for Eurovision 2014, with her song “Zemërimi i një nate.”
Herciana has a strong voice, but the song isn’t that memorable. I’m trying to hum it right now and I cannot remember it. It’s not a power ballad. It’s more of a lullaby on steroids. But given Albania’s history at the contest, the song will be completely re-worked by the time Eurovision rolls around. It’ll have a dance beat and Herciana will have undergone a major makeover (not that she needs it — she’s lovely).
The jurors tonight were hilarious. I’m fairly certain their average age was 92. Let’s have some images. They are obviously in touch with pop music.
I was really into the dead animal on this lady’s jacket.
Here’s Herciana collecting some flowers after her win. She was really emotional, y’all.
And just before her encore….
Another highlight of the evening was this lady’s eyebrows. LOL. She was a vampire with a voice, y’all.
Results
1. Zemërimi i një nate (One night’s anger) – Herciana Matmuja
http://youtu.be/Y2eZtRmfIKY
2. Me ty (With you) – Klodian Kacani
3. Grua (Wife) – Sajmir Braho
Did the right woman win in Albania? Who would you have selected for Eurovision 2014?
Willy Lee Adams contributed this report from London. Follow him on Twitter @willyleeadams. You can also keep up with the latest Eurovision news and gossip by following wiwibloggs.com on Twitter and Facebook.
Bad choice Albania. It is just so outdated and what irritates me the most is the fact that this song sounds like a Spanish entry in the 1990’s over an Albanian entry in 2014. In 2015, go back to sending the likes of Rona Nishliu please. 🙁
Just listened to Klodian’s performance. The song definitely has its moments, but Klodian’s vocals weren’t quite as good.
I still can’t wrap my head around the introduction to Herciana’s song. It seems totally unrelated to what follows. The instrumental bridge is dubious too. But I’m cautiously excited for Albania this year, since Herciana sings quite well.
Well, Albania had some good and some bad years at Eurovision. This one if the first that goes under the category of “what the fu*k were you thinking about”?
And I thought Albania in Eurovision 2013 was bad … 🙁
Ugh, I was on the Klodian band wagon too lol. Not too bad of a disappointment, though. I like it a bit. The tune will probably get a nice improvement. Those old jurors though lol.
I like the other finalist more.
@Dhani, I’m assuming his from the Southern United States, where “y’all” is commonly said. It’s just part of his everyday vocabulary, can’t help that. And to be honest no one really cares if you find it annoying 😀
hey y’all! especially dhani. how y’all doing? i don’t like the albania song. klodian was best! bye y’all (again, for dhani)
STOP WRITING “Y’ALL” IN EVERY SENTENCE YOU WRITE
Well this comes on it’ll be a toilet break
I did catch some of the Twitter comments complaining about 45 minutes’ worth of interval acts, complete with Emmelie de Forest lip-syncing TWO songs (there’s a rumor that she was sick). That was pretty funny.
I like this one! The singer has an interesting voice, the song reminds me of some nice video game ballads, and it’s nothing like Identitet (which had musical merit and was well-sung, but whose appeal relied far too heavily on instrumentals which couldn’t be played live). I didn’t watch any of the other entries, though.
As usual, they’ll rewrite this one before Eurovision. The meandering nature of the song needs to be focused a bit more if they want to make the final.
@Angus – Oh my god, she does look like Elitsa! Twins separated at birth?!
Herciana was my instant favorite, and a clear top of the pack vocally, so I was quite happy with the choice. However, if I like an act, they’re almost guaranteed to finish in the bottom half of the ESC final, so perhaps one of the bland young men singing bland ballads should have gone through instead.
Bad choice, all songs in FiK were very outdated. Why did they used senile jury voting? There are no phones in Albania?
Tick-Tock is like masterpiece compared to this ”20-30 years old song”. For sure: Bottom 3 in the semi.
I’ve missed Elitsa so much 😉
The best song won. It’s melodic and well-sung.
I feared ‘Me ty’ which I think is horrible. In the lower parts the singer was not able to hold a stable voice and the song was little chaotic.
My fav’s were: The winner, Ne Zemer, Mikja Ima & Nje Dite Shprese.
wrong choice albania, i am sorry to say this, but this will not be making the finals.
Boo! Klodian was much better! And better-looking. 🙂
It wasn’t terrible, but definitely wasn’t the strongest. I was hoping for either “Me ty” or “Mikja ime”, and I’m extremely surprised “Mikja ime” placed that low. I think Albania will qualify this year but will place around 15-20 in the final.