Skopje calling! In February, FYR Macedonia revealed Eye Cue as their act for Eurovision 2018. Now, they’ve debuted their entry for Eurovision 2018, “Lost and Found”.
Eye Cue — “Lost and Found”
The Balkan nation have brought something very unique to the table. “Lost and Found” snakes through a number of genres, most notably reggae and EDM.
Sometimes reggae music can become repetitive – it’s so mellow and flowing, that it seems to loop. But the electronic elements, changing production and digital flourishes keep this dynamic and interesting throughout.
The band, who usually work within the pop-rock genre, consists of Bojan Trajkovski and Marija Ivanovska. They have been performing together as Eye Cue since 2008, so have 10 years worth of experience to really bring the song and live performances alive.
An in tone with the changing nature of the song, Marija goes through numerous scenes in the music video, before changing outfits. That pink outfit is definitely gonna be hard to lose in the crowd!
It really seems that the Macedonian delegation have stepped up their game in recent years, bringing a totally different vibe to their acts than they have previously tried before.
In 2017, Macedonia were represented by Jana Burceska with the 80s tinged “Dance Alone”, which was a huge favourite with the fans. Unfortunately the song did not translate quite as well in the arena in Kyiv, and Jana came 15th in her semi-final.
Jana still stole the show anyway with arguably one of the cutest postcards Eurovision has ever seen, announcing her pregnancy by showing her scan. She then was proposed to by her then-boyfriend Alexander – and she of course said yes!
Now with “Lost and Found” being out in the open, what do you think of the song? How does it compare with the other acts in this year’s competition? And most importantly, can a reggae banger bring a long-deserved qualification to Macedonia, having not qualified since 2012? Let us know in the comments!
when is this going to be in itunes and spotify? I need it in my ipod ASAP!
That chorus gives me life
B0i, it’s my new favourite
Great job
I know Macedonia probably won’t win, but I still hope they get out of the first semifinal (which will be hard, but hey, Cyprus qualified in 2015, why wouldn’t they do it this year ?)
It sounds like an ordinary song, and not an Eurovision song. But this is so good because everybody tries to do Eurovision songs, with the same formula. So, an “ordinary” song may be what Eurovision needs now. I loved.
Macedonia SNAPPED in late 2016 and since Love Will Lead Our Way they’ve only been sending top-notch stuff to (J)ESC omggggggg
No..just doesn’t stand out at all and will get lost.
I hope hope hope hope hope it will do the job, like it deserves. It’ll be an uphill climb in semifinal 1 but we’ve seen shocks before.
Please, everyone outside of the obligatory neighbour sphere, consider this song!
What a nice surprise this is.
Will not set the scoreboard on fire, but i do like it a lot…
Norway sends icebreaker and doesn’t qualify.
Other countries : okay 2 songs mashed up into one is not a good idea
Macedonia: okay 2 songs mashed up into one is not a good idea…. We need to mash up 4 songs into one
Absolutely fantastic!
A big bang boom of freshness that esc needed…
But considering how Macedonia has been so underrated, I am a little worried about what’s going to happen…
Jana Bur?eska was such a phenomena last year and ended like that.
I love, love, LOVE it. It feels like a winner, honestly. It grabs your attention and manages to maintain that attention, unlike some others. Great vocals as well, song lyrics aren’t too bad. If she’s good live and the staging is great; winner material for sure!
I Love this entry!! The song takes me thru 5 diiff music genres in one song and its still going somewhere, Wilst she is SLLLAAAAYYINg and its all just amazing!! yeah, very Well Done FYR Macedonia, CYA back in the Finals !! xx
I like it. I hated “Icebreaker” because of the harsh transitions between the different parts. This is much better in my opinion because the transitions feel smooth and less abrupt. I really love that guitar groove from Bojan. I do wish we could swap 3 countries from SF1 with SF2 to balance them out. SF1 is going to be painful to watch but I applaud the countries for bringing us great quality! That said, I think Eye Cue has an opportunity to qualify. There are Albania, Bulgaria, and Croatia in this SF. And if they nail the staging and vocals,… Read more »
Musically, this song sounds very fresh to me. I hope they can come close to the studio version live. If they do, I believe they can easily get to the final. Ilike the way FYR Macedonia have been reinventing themselves in recent years! Good job!
This song is just not finished. It’s a lot of ideas just thrown together with some decent production. Far too many genres in a bowl. Personally, I would just fix those reggae-style verses and come up with something that goes with the country-EDM influences elsewhere in the bridges and chorus.
It’s FOUND, definitely found! Thank you Macedonia! Very unique style combination and a very seductive one at that. 🙂
It is such a breath of fresh air, truly uplifting! I really hope Macedonia finds their way back into the final with this. It’s needed to keep up their interest in Eurovision, I think.
Please employ people who can actually write in correct English.
The headline should be “REINS” …as in the straps you control horses with, Not “REIGNS” … a verb as in what monarchs such as the queen do… to take over the reins means (originally) for someone else to control the horses of a carriage….
Shoddy use of language people…raise your standards!!!
I actually really like this. I like the arrangement but I dont think it’s as effortless as it could be it doesn’t have much synergy and sounds like a bit of a mish mash. Marija’s voice is absolutely amazing and her diction is so clear. It sounds like her first language is actually English. Great choice Macedonia, you are bringing something different and interesting in Eurovision this year.
Well done on a very clever “mash-up”, and a great video. I won’t go on about the music theory at this stage, but sufficed to say I’m very excited by this one.
Also thanks to Eye Cue for making me smile today. It has been a long day and I really needed to cheer up. 🙂
It seems more smooth than Norway’s “Icebreaker” from 2016 at least.
Same here! Top 10 for me. Macedonia deserves to qualify with this! Plus, her English is so much better than … too many to list…
The big ”Soviet” trio, for instance…
Yawn. Boring and plastic. A slick production without any charisma results to nothing, sorry FYROM.
You’re Greek that’s why you’re say that
Boring??? You can say a lot of things about that… but boring is difficult to understand…
Well, after a few listens, I found myself really enjoying this one. If the live performance is on par with the recorded version, I hope FYROM qualifies, though it’s gonna be tough.
Dance alone had a very nice interesting studio version but they messed up on staging. They always mess up the staging (2005 has remained one of the worst stagings of songs ever) and they will mess up again this year… NQ
Can’t be worse than 2000 🙂
I absolutely love this, it’s so good and addictive!
Man semi1 will be tough, there will def be at least 2-3 lost gems!
Very interesting entry, it should qualify considering the lack of quality this year
2 songs in one… could they maybe have saved the broadcaster some dough by entering half the song this year, and half 2019?? that said I kinda like it … a lot !!!
Damn….I REALLY wanted to like this song more, I really did.
But I don’t know how I feel about it, it felt really messy and like there was just too much going on.
It feels like I’m switching back and forth between two different songs and that’s probably not a good thing…
this is now in my top 5
semi final 1 will be tough…..
i think Finland will miss out on final
I love Macedonia at the Eurovision usually, and was quite hopeful for Eye Cue after enjoying some of their other songs like Mojot kral. Whilst it’s not the worst of the bunch, I find it quite dizzying to listen to because it feels like 3 demo tracks spliced into one.
I love this! Can we please have a semi-final redraw!!! There is 14 songs that I’m saying are sure qualifiers sadly this might get robbed due to Macedonia’s track record.
Her voice reminds of Shakira in parts. I really do like it. This Semi-final is getting interesting, a variety of songs to all tastes. I am predicting a few shocks this year though.The quality of songs this year especially in this semi final is very strong.
Looking forward to hear what Bulgaria and Georgia has to bring this year.
Marija has an amazing voice and the verses are quite good, but it all falls apart around the chorus as it seems there is too much going on. With great staging, I wouldn’t rule it out but as for now, I would not have it qualifying. There are at least 10 better songs than this.
Strange entry, a mish-mash of lots of different genres. It’s not bad but I don’t think it’s going to have enough impact on the night.
As with Ireland and Switzerland, FYR Macedonia would stand a fairly decent chance of getting back to the final if this was in Semi 2. But Semi 1 is such a bloodbath this year that those songs simply won’t stand out enough. =(
This is the biggest music mash since San Marino 2013. They’re doing what they have to, be unique and present something not done before. Will they qualify? I hope so. I got a soft spot for FYROM
If you have a soft spot for Macedonia, I wouldn’t call it FYROM.
Nooo Ari. Please don’t go there. No no no
FOR GOD’S SAKE DON’T SCREW THIS ON THE STAGE!!!!
Did I hear reggae? Is that genre ever been represented in esc, I don’t remember? Anyway, good addition, nice song, good luck! <3
I like the reggae parts. But then.. not so good. A messy song. I’m not sure if it will qualify.
A nice modern Spotify track. The best Macedonia has been. And yet I predict it will fail to leave an impact due to lack of good staging. Like Jana last year. But deserves to go through
OBSESSED! I might have listened to this song at least 10 times in the last hour and it gets better every time. It’s suprising, sexy, contemporary and she is so stylish. that chorus is everything. 100 times better than overrated chicken song
I’m in the middle here. I like the start, seems to be going for an up-tempo sound and then it gets more reggae. Then it comes back to slow tempo. That confused me I have to say. However, I really like the chorus and it has a current sound. This is a big improvement for FYROM. Good for them!
P.S.: The 1st semi is getting tougher. (and we haven’t heard Bulgaria yet)
Honestly…for me this is the best song yet! I just hope live it works, Macedonia was my favorite last year too but staging really let it down!
Right now it seems to be a contest without any clear winner so if she performs well this could have as good a shot as any…. although I’ve a funny feeling we are going to Paris next year!
When did Macedonia become an Adriatic nation? Are you trying to start another Balkan war? 🙂
Maybe if any of its rivers empty in the Adriatic it might qualify by extension lol…
3 songs in 1 BUT I LIKE IT, SHE IS HYPNOTIC and he is so grey. good an frach entry MACEDONIA
this is amazing tbh, so catchy and modern, it may not qualify sadly bc it’s in sf1
I forgot Belarus (SF1) – which I don’t care for but is a favourite for a lot of others.
wiwibloggs Jury – you need to give us your judgement which will qualify in SF1. Please.
SF1 is just too much for me… There are more than a few songs that could qualify if there place would not be in overcrowded SF1: Bulgaria, Belgium, Czeck Republic, Israel, Cyprus, Greek, Finland, Estonia, Switzerland, Austria, Croatia… now Macedonia… (no chosen order)
And what will happen to one of my favourites Albania…
It is a beautiful mess – because you have the whole diversity already in SF1 – this is tooo much. And there will be “tears”, because a few will not qualify that would have good chances in SF2 🙁
Yeah, and it’s really unfair. I can hardly pick 4-5 songs that I think deserve to qualify in Semi 2, but I like almost all songs from Semi 1. What a pity!
OMG this is so good!
It’s a good song, but all those parts in different music styles don’t blend together as well as they should – maybe it’ll flow better live. I didn’t really catch on any memorable hook that would make this song stand out for me – though this could be fixed by some great staging.
Good pop track for spotify but I’m afraid it will be like last year with no live impact.
A mess, i’m sorry Macedonia
At first, this change of styles is a little confusing, but then you start to like it. Unexpectedly right into my top 10.
Congratulations Macedonia for not having your song leaked.
I like it regardless of mixing different style in one song, at least it has a good flow. Good luck, I hope you’ll qualify and snatch the spot from any generic songs that are in Semi 1 because you deserve it.