Only yesterday the Czech Republic announced that Gabriela Guncikova will sing “I Stand” at Eurovision 2016. And we didn’t even have to wait twelve hours to hear the song, which has just been revealed in all its glory.
It’s a beautiful ballad full of emotion and empowerment. The track suits Gabriela’s voice wonderfully, and she brings some variation which elevates it even more. The music video sees Gabriela fight some unknown “wall monsters” that try to take her down. But she resists. She stands! After the battle she returns to a floral calm.
Born in 1993, Gabriela rose to fame on SuperStar, the Czech and Slovak version of Idol, where she placed second and made a name for herself in both countries thanks to her powerful rock voice and incredible charm. Following her journey, she released two successful albums, Dvojí tvár in 2011 and Celkem jiná in 2013
In 2014, she travelled to the US and began taking courses in the famous Ken Tamplin Vocal Academy where she says she learned how to control her voice better and give it more power. She also recorded YouTube covers of famous rock songs, which racked up thousands of views. Later she joined the Trans-Siberian Orchestra in a tour all over the United States.
What do y’all think of the song? Can it finally bring the Czech Republic to the final? Let us know in the comments below!
I love the song and hope it will make it to the Finals. Honestly I hope that at least the jury will understand that this is at least Top 10 material. Some people here however blame the voting system too early. Just have a look at last year’s voting. The national juries sometimes deviated extremely from the televoting. So at least the national juries can’t be blamed for being not indpendant. Azerbaijan which is here seen as an easy qualifyer only reached the 10th place in the Semi finals last year, even though they had a strong song. Western European… Read more »
For me, this song is beautifully delivered but the message is a bit lost in the lyrics. I feel she would be able to convey the meaning of the song better if it were written in the writers native language. I wish everyone didn’t feel such a pressure to sing in English.
In my top 10 for sure. Good job CR. This had better be in the final!
clear voice, nice girl. top 5 material for me. and extra +1 because it’s Czech Republic – good to hear such classy song from them
About the song, I don’t see anything much special, but it’s good. Nothing we have not seen.
About the singer, Gabriela is great. She has one of the best voices of this year. I really like her voice.
Good choice, Czech Rep.
I hoped for WT style song, but this one is good enough, I hope she will blow us away in the semi…
And there are 4 videos uploaded in the last 24 hrs, 3 of them are about the melfest, kinda odd I have to say…
Will there be some reaction video soon? I do not wanna judge as I am Czech and my opinion would be biassed. I really believe that live version will be outstanding as she is flawless singer with unique rock voice. Therefore she really can stand out of crowd during 1st SF even if it is very strong one.
@Laburnum. Now that I would like to see!
I love Czech Republic’s song this year anyhow, so I’m not eligible. 😀
Well, if San Marino with Valentina Monetta made it to the final back in 2014 performing a bland song (in the killer semi-final) I have high hopes that Gabriela can do it too. This is a way better, Czech Republic to the final!?
@Graph I agree, overall quality is quite important too. Last year was really great. Only my 40’th and 39’th place were songs I considered bad and even songs placed 30’th or so are something I can listen once in awhile. REALLY good year. This year started weaker, but several songs can be growers. So far, I have 14 songs that I would place in My Top as favorites (those which I want to have in my playlist, so to say). Alphabetically: Austria Croatia Czech Republic Estonia France Georgia Germany Hungary Iceland Italy Netherlands Norway Romania Ukraine Out of those, half… Read more »
Good to see Czech finally bright their A-Game
@Colin Yeah that’s an interesting pattern. I think the strength of the overall competition is another key factor. 2013 SF2 was an incredibly strong line-up, and 2014 was very weak in comparison IMO. I am almost certain that in 2014, Crisalide would have qualified and done well in the final. 2015 was a very strong year, and unfortunately many of the best songs got put in SF2 (including Czech Republic) which is probably why it didn’t qualify. After a VERY weak start, 2016 has gotten a lot better. Right now, I think the overall quality is better than 2014 but… Read more »
Idk why but this reminds me of a typical modern Chinese ballad. I kinda like it
LOVE IT, this is top 10 material, best ballad so far. If Polina managed 2nd place last year with a cheesy, bland song, then Gabriela at least deserves to qualify and make top 15. It seriously upsets me how packed Semifinal 1 is. No matter who qualifies, at least one good song is bound to be left behind. Compare that with Semifinal 2, where I have trouble picking 10 worthy qualifiers, and you have a problem. I know it’s not gonna happen, but if the host broadcaster and the producers of the show have the right to determine the running… Read more »
Czech Republic has a great song, beautiful singer and wonderful lyrics. I think it SHOULD qualify. However, I thought so of their last song, and we saw what happened. However, I have a hunch of a so-called ‘Crisalide Effect’, as I like to call it. In 2013, OGEA’s 2’nd favorite song and overall hyped fan-favorite was Valentina Monetta’s ‘Crisalide’, which weirdly failed to reach finals. It was by a longshot best song that didn’t pass and people were smitten by that fact. Next year, Monetta passed with another good song, Maybe, even if it was not *as* hyped as Crisalide.… Read more »
@mlamla
Yeah, female year… Except: Estonia, Latvia, Netherlands, Montenegro, UK, France, Romania, Georgia, Cyprus, Belarus, San Marino, Denmark, Ireland, Israel, Poland, Russia, Hungary and partially Greece. Also, Swedish and Lithuanian forth-runners are male.
This sounds bit silly now, right?
@ Hector Bosnia is a mess and impossible to qualify I believe. And speaking of 2013 do you remmeber the first semi that year? 4 former yugoslav countries and neither of them passed. So I think that 1 out of 3 (Croatia) is about right this year. As for Austria, it stands out and I think the televote will be strong. With the new system the juries can’t kill it even if they want to. I think Austria will be similar to Israel last year which a lot of people dismissed before the contest as a eurofan fad, only to… Read more »
Great song, sounds like a song Nikki Kavanagh would win Eurosong in Ireland with
Good chance for Czech R to qualify
@dutchie Yes! Latvia is in 2nd semi, I missed that! And… well, I would say ‘Lighthouse’ is a certain qualifier, if that song and singer came from a “loved” country (Sweden, Norway, Russia, Ukraine, etc), but as long as it’s Croatia I’m not so sure about it, nothing I would like more (she is my 5th). The juries will go for her for sure, but will the televote? On the hand, both Cyprus and Hungary have songs which will appeal the televote, but also the jury. And talking about Estonia… yes, I like the song but not that much (he’s… Read more »
The first ever Czech entry ever I give my full attention to … a song worth listening to. I just wish the vocal arrangements on the chorus were a bit bolder and diverse. She not only sounds too repetitive and not very emotionally connected singing them and I can see she has the range to go up and down with her voice and give this ballad some depth. Still better than most entries this year.
I really like this. Unfortunately I fear that this won’t be quite enough to get CR through to the final finally. I sure hope so though.
this song is amazing great job czech republic 🙂
This could bring Czech Republic it’s first ever top 10. Really strong song and voice. Good choice!
Welcome to the finale for the first time, Czechs!
This song is beautiful and very easy to listen to. It sounds like it will be amazing on the Eurovision stage, as it lends itself to big staging and Gabriela is a great singer, so I feel that we will be seeing the Czech Republic in the final for the first time.
It’s clearly divisive, as some people love it, others hate it, others just think she’s hot. I actually quite like it, and with good staging I reckon it could qualify. It’ll be tough though, and if she doesn’t qualify I hope the Czech Republic still come back next year.
YES CZECH REPUBLIC!!! 😀
Then I read all the ‘bland’ comments. If I could, you would all get a b*tch slap.
@Bhrister,
Bosnia underrated, pretty good song
She has good vocals but the song is pretty bland. Nothing special, so middle of the pack it goes.
1 Australia
2 Germany
T3 Norway
T3 Hungary
5 Belgium
6 Russia
T7 Ireland
T7 Italy
9 The Netherlands
10 Iceland
11 Estonia
12 Moldova
13 Belarus
14 France
15 Croatia
16 Cyprus
17 Armenia
T18 Great Britain
T18 Switzerland
—–> 20 Czech Republic
21 Finland
22 Poland
23 Romania
24 Denmark
25 Greece
26 Spain
27 Georgia
28 F.Y.R. Macedonia
29 Ukraine
30 Austria
31 Latvia
32 Slovenia
33 Montenegro
34 Bosnia & Herzogovina
35 San Marino
@Hector
Ira’s song i think it’s called WOW
look at her Facebook, she has got #WOW as her main picture
sounds great as a song title 🙂
My prediction for draw for II semifinal
1.Belarus
2.Serbia
3.Israel
4.F.Y.R. Macedonia
5.Lithuania
6.Switzerland
7.Latvia
8.Ireland
9.Poland
10.Australia
11.Romania
12.Bulgaria
13.Ukraine
14.Albania
15.Belgium
16.Slovenia
17.Denmark
18.Georgia
19.Norway
@ PP There was nothing surprising about Greece in 2011 and 2013 – they were both very strong entries very professionally done (apart from the rap part in 2011) which is why they scored so high with the televote. The only people who were surprised were those that think Eurovision is for a certain kind of teeny bopper pop music only. In fact the audience likes songs that sound different and have a certain “couleur locale”. The problem with Greece this year is not the music style they chose but the fact that they are amateurs with no experience whatsoever.… Read more »
My prediction for draw for I semifinal
1.Russia
2.San Marino
3.Greece
4.Croatia
5.Hungary
6.Armenia
7.Moldova
8.Finland
9.The Netherlands
10.Austria
11.Bosnia Herzegovina
12.Czech Republic
13.Estonia
14.Azerbaijan
15.Montenegro
16.Malta
17.Cyprus
18.Iceland
It’s hard to judge a song when there’s just a music video and not a live performance. Many singers sound great live in their native language, great in the English music video, but dreadful live in English (Albania last year). There’s no knowing whether it will qualify until we see a live version.
Paul D I don t thiks so that happen that Czech Republic sing last by SVT and EBU reference group full of members from nordic western countries. My prediciton for fist semifinal draw to sing 1.Russia (becuse SVT and EBU don t like Russia, and this is only fast song from first half of semi , and SVT love to open and close uptempo song) 2.San Marino ( SVT don t like them, remember to Valentina sing second Crisalide) 3.Greece or Croatia sing on position 3rd. My predciton that Moldova wili be sing 3rd but compositor is from Sweden like… Read more »
@ Hector
I would mostly agree with your analysis but I would add Bosnia to the certain non-qualifiers and Austria, Croatia and Iceland to the certain qualifiers. So that leaves 1 open spot for either the Czech rep., Finland, Holland or Malta.
Next woman, it’s not good, it will be female fight this year. But her song is nice, I really like the melancholy of last two Czech entries, they must love it. Nothing special, but it will qualify for sure. She has perfect voice!
Héctor
I think that Greece wili be suprise like in 2011, 2013 with this song.
For me no chance for final from first semifinal are San Marino (100 %) , Montenegro and maybe Austria.
Aze came 10th in semi last year with a much better song…
@hector
Latvia is in the 2nd semi. Estonia isn’t a certain qualifier though, that’s just your personal taste. Cyprus and Hungary also remain to be seen, but are probably more likely to draw televotes (the jury could slaughter both of them though).
It’s really a cr.pshoot, basically. I personally would rate Croatia higher than most of your ‘certain’ qualifiers, for instance.
It’s a decent ballad, should probably give them their 1st final, but at the same time really disappointing if you compare it to the song (Cerny andel) shown in the preview article on here… Something in the same vein as that one would have probably been my winner for the year…
Nope, sorry this is another exaggeration, its just created to try and convince audience while it’s nothing special so cheap and and simple but don’t we get enaugh every year 😀
I love her song!
I forgot Latvia! Sowe have 7 qualifiers for sure, two relatively unknown (Iceland, Croatia) and 1 unpredictable spot.
It’s a very good song, but I’m afraid Semi 1 is too strong for countries without voting neigthbours. We have already qualified 6 countries: Armenia, Azerbayan (much probably), Cyprus, Estonia, Hungary and Russia. But we also have 4 countries which won’t go through: Greece, Moldova, Montenegro and San Marino. This situation leaves 4 spots for 8 countries. Of them Iceland and Croatia are likely to qualify amongst the other. So 2 places remains for 6 countries (Austria, B&H, Finland, Czech Republic, The Netherlands, . These two are highly unpredictable, because many variables come into play: live performance, staging, neightbour countries,… Read more »
boring, dull ballad
but i think she looks pretty stunning though
for looks, 10/10
for song 4/10
A big diva ballad that doesn’t break new ground but classy and very competently done. I don’t see why Australia’s extremely similar effort will finish higher than this. The first semi looks like a bloodbath… My top-34 so far. The CR enters at 13, I have upgraded Armenia and Russia re-enters the top-10. #1 Ukraine #2 Austria #3 Hungary #4 France #5 Estonia #6 Croatia #7 Switzerland #8 Latvia #9 Russia #10 Iceland #11 Slovenia #12 Spain >>>#13 Czech Rep. #14 Australia #15 Cyprus #16 Armenia #17 Norway #18 Finland #19 Greece #20 Denmark #21 Holland #22 Germany #23 Poland… Read more »
It’s good, It gets stronger towards the end but there is nothing original about it. Semi Final 1 has some really strong songs that I am not sure this will stand out. It could scrape through but right now I don’t think it will qualify
MGR oh please stop with that. They dislike it because they have no clue of it. The bitter people on tabloid portals asume it’s still the same as in 2007 package filled with novelty, bloc voting and Conchita every year. But these people hate everything, not just ESC. The hate became stronger especially when Czech Television internally chose Gypsy.cz which you know has romani, which was the most hated minority before migration crysis. When you put that with the fact that we never qualified how can public opinion be not negative. All my friends I asked, almost nobody knew what… Read more »
Really hope this will give Czech Republic their first qualification!! As long as people vote for it they should be good. They may have tough competition but like I said, if people got to this it’ll get through!! I’m sure the juries will love the song too!
I love Gabriela! My only problem; I’m bit waiting for a really high note, a scream or something at the end.. but nothing happend there..