Martina Barta czech republic

Czech broadcaster Ceska Televize has been teasing us about their entry for a while.

But on Tuesday afternoon the secret came to an end as jazz singer Martina Barta finally revealed her dreamy song “My Turn”.

As fans have been quick to point out on social media, it is another ballad. However, ballads don’t come in black and white, but instead in shades of grey and this definitely has its own hue and sense of light.

The song flows smoothly and tenderly — it’s not screamy, nor does it rely on sheer vocal power to makes an impact. The song opens up slowly and sweetly, but draws strength from Martina’s soulful jazz delivery.

Thematically “My Turn” discusses the intimacy found within a relationship — and how together a couple can make it through the pain and strain of the every day. As the song progresses, Marta suggests it’s her turn to carry the weight of her partner’s burdens. Devotion wins the day, y’all.

As she says: “Baby it’s you/ every time I close my eyes/ it’s always been you/ and heaven knows I’ll always be waiting by your side.”

Taken on their own, those lyrics might read as schmaltz, but the classic instrumentation and Martina’s sincere delivery give this an authenticity that elevates it beyond cheese.

Judging from the rather fleshy thumbnail of the video, Martina will deliver an edgy music video and performance. As you can see, she’s supported by a series of people in their underwear and her breasts are clearly defined by her silky blouse.

WHO IS MARTINA BARTA?

That is the question on everybody’s lips. Martina is not particularly well-known even in the Czech Republic. In fact, hardly anyone knows her — at the time she was announced as the Czech act in February she only had a handful of likes on her Facebook page and less than 50 YouTube subscribers.

Of course, that is not a sign of her talent. But this song most definitely is.

Based in Berlin, the jazz singer also plays the French horn.

Jazz is quite a popular genre in the Czech Republic and if you walk around the streets of Prague you can find plenty of jazz clubs.

Martina is currently participating in Sinatrology — a swing gala night — alongside Dasha, the singer who was in discussions with Ceska Televize last year.

CZECH REPUBLIC AT EUROVISION

Since their Eurovision debut in 2007, the Czech Republic has only competed five times — and not always with the best results.

After Gipsy.cz scored nil points in their semi-final in 2009, Czechia took a four-year break from the competition. They returned in 2015 in much stronger form.

In Vienna, Marta Jandova & Vaclav Noid Barta’s entry “Hope Never Dies” still didn’t qualify for the final, but it managed 13th place and was a fan favourite. Then in Stockholm, Gabriela Guncikova made history when she became the very first Czech act to reach the final with her power ballad “I Stand”.

What do you think of “My Turn”? Will it bring the Czech Republic back to the final? Can it stand out among the other ballads? Let us know in the comments below!

FOLLOW ALL OF OUR CZECH REPUBLIC EUROVISION NEWS

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Ste
Ste
7 years ago

Stunning entry. Brings a comforting sense of nostalgia. Hope she can make it through

Alex
Alex
7 years ago

Good song. Why so much pitch correction though? It seriously detracts from the quality of the recording. Same for Australia’s entry but not as blatant.

Briekimchi
Briekimchi
7 years ago

@Tom – The UK’s entry is boring and not sang particularly well.
I would listen to “My Turn” happily. She delivers the song and it has some buildup. Do not really know how they go about staging this in an interesting way.

cheesecake
cheesecake
7 years ago

I really really like this song, but I’m not sure if it can qualify. There are SO MANY ballads in semi final 1, some of them will just have to stay there…
By the way, this reminds me of “Million Reasons” by Lady Gaga.

Justin K.
Justin K.
7 years ago

It’s hard cause we can say the same thing about Gabriela last year—I think she’s probably a better rock vocalist judging by her Idol videos, but she did wonders with ‘I Stand’!

I think this entry is jazz-y, but not quite all the way ‘jazz’. It must be a compromise from Italy 2011 or so: something accessible to both juries and televoters. I think Marta has a chance to jazz up her vocals when she performs it live; the Czech Republic has been really good with sending good live vocalists since their return in 2015…

Ay Jo
Ay Jo
7 years ago

Czech Republic did to Marta what Azerbaijan had done to Dihaj by distracting her from own unique path. And, here we have nothing special then.

Cambell Grace
Cambell Grace
7 years ago

OFF TOPIC: BELGIUM’S ENTRY HAS BEEN REVEALED: BLANCHE WILL SING “CITY LIGHTS”.
https://play.spotify.com/album/5vDLBYwQkaDp5PmI7TCN7m

Polegend Godgarina
7 years ago

If they wanted to send a balad so badly, they could’ve picked the first random girl in the street. Stripping an artist from her personality is never right, and we get to hear nothing of Martina’s signature jazz style here.

bulgariastan
bulgariastan
7 years ago

A snippet of Blanche’s entry just appeared online. It’s called “City Lights”. It sounds very promising. It showcases her dark voice beautifully and has a Lorde-type feel. It’s the first 47 seconds of the song. I really hope it’s real and not a fake.

Justin K.
Justin K.
7 years ago

It’s hard to say what this’ll do in SF1, but I personally like it. SF1 is shaping up to be a good semi for musicality with Portugal and now this. I don’t know if it’ll be an outlier of enough ballad to scrape through (which I hope), but assuming what the Czech Republic has been sending since their comeback, I can only assume she can (and will) sing the heck out of it in Kyiv. Granted it doesn’t have notes like their last two entries, but it’s all about feeling—no one was sure about Jamala’s until the rehearsals! I don’t… Read more »

Harut
Harut
7 years ago

Armenia has selected the song for Arcvik and I guess it’s calling ”Road” and of course ballad

River
River
7 years ago

I think it’s beautiful. It’s much more thoughtful and pretty with jazz. Remember Eurovision has an older audience too. That same audience that didn’t give two damns about Iceland 2016 and everyone here were all enamoured with that entry.

I think this will qualify. Jazz always sounds better live than studio. The staging will be nice and the music video looks very memorable. I have good hopes for this 🙂

Lisa
Lisa
7 years ago

Beautiful!! Easily in my top 10, hope it qualifies

(J)ESC Fanatic
(J)ESC Fanatic
7 years ago

I don’t think Czech Republic will qualify this year. 🙁

Slaytina
Slaytina
7 years ago

Nice song and nice singer but that’s all. Good luck to Czech Republic because they will need it to make it to the finale.

olvresc
olvresc
7 years ago

Looking forward to see this staying in the semis. I was hoping for something good 🙁

SpirK
SpirK
7 years ago

Nice quiet song. Really like her voice and the jazz vibes. Not a fan of the lyrics and her English pronunciation bothers me on the ears. Not loving it, but it left me a kind of warm feeling.

Michell
Michell
7 years ago

I think that after non-qualifing this year, we will not be in Eurovision next year again just because of our “great” jury who is selecting our songs. And if Gabriela last year was 9th in semi, we’ll be 11th or 12th. I’m so disappointed of my country. And even I like the song, but as I see, the song is between 20th in tops, so…

Ff
Ff
7 years ago

Won’t qualify. At least I feel emotional after listening to Australia’s song a few times. This doesn’t take me anywhere.

Tom
Tom
7 years ago

And people thought the UK’s entry was boring? This is a serious snoozefest, definitely a non-qualifier. Hate to be so negative but seriously, what a let down after Czechia’s great song last year!

Sylvia Night
Sylvia Night
7 years ago

Zzzzzzzzzz

Lukewarm
Lukewarm
7 years ago

One of the better ballads. Doesn’t say much though.

ninasublatti
ninasublatti
7 years ago

love everything about this!!! the best ballad this year

YoungsterJoey
YoungsterJoey
7 years ago

This won’t qualify. She has a great voice though.

Colin
Colin
7 years ago

Interesting observation – Czech Republic and Cyprus took the take on the same subject using completely different musical styles. 🙂

Rich
Rich
7 years ago

I love her voice, a perfectly sung ballad, one of the better produced ones we have heard this year. In my personal opinion if she nails this live it should qualify with out a doubt.

Adam
Adam
7 years ago

I actually like this, I think it’s one of the better ballads. Did people actually expect something uptempo and pop when Czechia announced a jazz singer? Calm down everyone, a blind person could’ve seen this coming a mile away. I mean, I understand why people think this song is boring and whatever, but c’mon… she’s a jazz singer, you shouldn’t have expected more.

That being said it won’t qualify, I don’t think it’ll be a hit with the televoters and I can only see it becoming a 7e – 8e place with the juries.

Richard
Richard
7 years ago

Well I like it. There’s not much of a jazz flavour, which is surely a good thing, and I like the sentiment. It held my attention, unlike Australia’s effort.

Denis
Denis
7 years ago

Standard, standard, standard. A typical middle of the road song. To safe to get anywhere high but will collect votes here and there.?

MTD
MTD
7 years ago

And again…why would I watch ESC in Kyiv when there’s nothing to remember, even if it is a ballad? LOL

Just plain dull songs (ballads, even Portugal makes you fall asleep BIG time), followed by cheesy pop tunes (like the likes of Greece). And couple of copycats (*cough*Cyprus*cough).

There’s no quality as of now (07.03).

Leo M
Leo M
7 years ago

It’s a nice, sweet song but I just can’t see Czech Republic qualifying It’s not memorable enough and with all the ballads in the first semi, it will jus blend in with the rest of the boring ballads They only songs that stand out in the first semi for me so far are Cyprus, Latvia and Moldova

Colin
Colin
7 years ago

You know what… I like it! It brings something new to the contest, Jazz music! The lyrics are very nice too. She only needs to work on her accent. I really don’t understand why the song couldn’t be written in Czech. But aside from that, a really nice addition.

Mar
Mar
7 years ago

It’s a nice little song, but possibly one of the flattest we’ve had so far. It doesn’t make me want to listen to it again. Gabriela’s record will remain unbothered this year.

Racal
Racal
7 years ago

It’s a pretty song, she’s a good singer… But I don’t see this qualifying, it’s not engaging enough (unless she gives a stunning performance).

TasM
TasM
7 years ago

Well ,Czech Republic certainly knows how to celebrate diversity, sending ballads for 3 years in a row. This year, even though Martina has interesting vocals, i just can’t see the song in the final. Given the fact that Gabriela Guncikova struggled to qualify last year with a much better song, and the powerhouses that occupy semi 1 and qualify almost every year, an 11th to 13th place in the semi final would be a success. Interesting take on the classic eurovision ballad though!

chromium
chromium
7 years ago

It reminds me of both Lady Gaga’s You & I and Austria’s 2015 entry, similar instrumentation. But there’s something… missing? (like UK’s entry) The drums only come in at the last 30 seconds, then it’s suddenly over. Great singer, a nice, different kind of ballad, so I’m only hoping this gets good staging.

Werka
Werka
7 years ago

Meehh. What happened !! I’m so annoyed.. really Greece who had been favourite, has chosen good but not good as I expected.. Australia… boring and He performs in first half so probably much people will forget about this song… Czechia .. NO. Sorry but I don’t remember this type song which passed.. but good luck.

ImpressiveInstants
ImpressiveInstants
7 years ago

If Gabriela Guncikova got 0 televoting points, this is gonna get a negative score.

AngieP
AngieP
7 years ago

It may be another ballad, but “there’s no black and white” as the article suggests.
This is a kind of ballad we don’t have this year. I really like this. It has a jazzy flavour. This is good!
Best of luck to Czech Rep.!

Bis
Bis
7 years ago

Yet another good voice wasted on a boring song

Jacob
Jacob
7 years ago

So boring! After last year’s efforts this is such a step back.

Austrian Ari
Austrian Ari
7 years ago

I do not care for jazz at all, so I really am in no position to judge its quality.
However, I strongly hope that the Czech Republic will stay in the competition as I think there’s a late of potential in their country. Therefore, I was glad that Gabriela brought them to the final for the first time, as an incentive to keep trying. The song itself was so awful and uninspired and didn’t do her justice in any way. Not feeling this year’s song either, but stay with us, Czech Republic. 🙂

Esgalnor
Esgalnor
7 years ago

At first, I didn’t like the song at all. But more and more I listen to it, more andm ore it grows in me. That background is really interesting, her voice is really unique and strong. That gradation at the end is good, and it really outstands among the rest of the ballads. Guess it will depend on staging.
Please, make finals, Martina!
@kvira: But… we’ll be happy for the final anyways. 😀

AzeriBoy96
AzeriBoy96
7 years ago

Well, she will definetily struggle to qualify from the semi which has Sweden, Australia, Portugal, Greece, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Moldova, Poland etc.

Senegal
Senegal
7 years ago

No.. just no. That means another one will finish below Moldova and Sunstroke have ENORMOUS chances to qualify

kvira
kvira
7 years ago

This reminds me of Czech’s entry from 2016. Vocally strong (even compared to most of the other entries), but this kind of music is unappealing for Eurovision viewers (Yeah, you who always screamed hatred when it’s a ballad). I’m afraid that Martina will have the same fate as Gabriela, although both of them deserved more.

Cambell Grace
Cambell Grace
7 years ago

It’s a different type of ballad that we haven’t got in this year’s Eurovision, so I feel like it will actually stand out. Especially if they can nail the staging, which for the past two years they’ve been pretty good at. Good luck Martina.

NickC
NickC
7 years ago

This is such a fresh breath of air! Just like Portugal, it will stand out. They are going straight to the final.

Jodenstone
Jodenstone
7 years ago

Not really what I was hoping for… it’s rather well sung but completely forgettable and will disappear amongst the other entries this year…

Paul D.
Paul D.
7 years ago

I’m sorry but this screams non qualifier… she has a good voice tho