He won Eurovision CZ last week and will represent the Czech Republic at Eurovision 2020 in Rotterdam.
But before Benny Cristo gets there, he has announced a detour to Kenya.
That’s because he’ll revamp his entry “Kemama” ahead of the contest.
Cristo announced the news to his 785k followers on Instagram:
Benny revealed the decision was taken with his producer Osama Verse-Atile.
The duo will fly out to Kenya to “take the song to the next level”.
In the post Cristo takes time to thanks his fans for “all the love and incredible support.”
He goes on to praise them for their “kind words, sharings and reposts”.
Despite positive reaction from fans, Cristo did also use the post to draw attention to negative online commentary he’s received, saying:
“This trip will be just as important for the song as it will be for the message behind it. Will be talking about this later, all I can say now is that racism is far from over even when you try to represent the country you were born in.”
The post has racked up 27k likes since it was published, which is over 3,000 more than his post reacting to victory in Eurovision CZ.
Benny Cristo to revamp “Kemama” in Kenya
Once the song has been revamped, Benny will represent the Czech Republic in the Second Semi-Final.
Cristo won the national final off the back of strong showings in both the jury voting and televote. “Kemama” picked up the maximum 12 points from the televote and 10 points from the juries.
The Czech Republic has historically had a poor track record at the contest, including two last places in the semi-finals.
Since 2016 it has seen an improvement in its fortunes, with three grand final appearances, including a Top 10 result in 2018 for Mikolas Josef.
Are you excited to hear the “Kemama” revamp? Let us know in the comments below!
He should sing another song, this one will not qualify Czech Republic into the final, no matter how much it will revamp it!
I wish him luck. He looks interesting and I cannot wait to see him in Rotterdam.
Am I the only one who thinks this will qualify?
Too early to tell who’ll qualify or not, but I think he has a solid chance. It’s the kind of song that grows with a live performance and the Czech delegation is showing a lot of improvement regarding staging.
I doubt this won’t qualify…
I think it has a good shot at qualifying because it is a contemporary and radio-friendly song and the Czech Republic is a country that always does staging well and has never had a staging disaster.
It still depends on the staging and his performance live but I noticed that people were criticizing Czech entries in the last two years and they did quite well. First many people criticized Mikolas Josef and his song for being too generic but his performance and his voice live was really good. Same with Lake Malawi – maybe they were not very succesfull with the televoitng but they got many points from the juries and had a respectable position at the end. I have a feeling that it may be the case here, too – many people complain how awful… Read more »
I’m part of the minority here that likes the song (though I think more people will warm up to it with time, every winner of a strong selection faces some backlash), but I agree it needs a revamp. Not because of how it was produced, but because of the part that starts with “See, I don’t care if you’re not like me”. I believe it dangerously hurts the flow of the track. The song already doesn’t have a climax (which in my books it’s not that big of a deal), so it needs a stronger bridge leading to the final… Read more »
I’m all for having an African rhtyhm there, but the way it is right now I feel the energy of the song dropping and I think in Eurovision it’s a problem. But hey, maybe they can add something on the background, building up a little more. Heavier percussion, for example.
Indeed, no revamp needed for this song!! I’m afraid they might ruin it to get this “climax” everybody’s talking about…
I believe he’ll do just enough to improve it. But yeah, no need for a climax, just to keep things interesting and open up (sic) to other kinds of audience.
It is good as it is now, no need to change it
Sounds very good!
I feel that there are some black people in Eastern Europe before Benny Cristo won so i think the hate will have settled down in May. Its not the end of the world like some have said haha. Its just weird to me mad at Benny for his colour.
Nothing wrong with artists. Its just not my kind of song.
Ukraine 2012: Am I a joke to you?
He needs to bring the vocal upfront so that people can understand the message in the lyrics much better which currently is masked by the Afrobeat mix. The song is about him being bullied as a kid growing up in Czechia whereas everyone is looking at it a just a dance song. So something in between the video and his acoustic version he did for Czech TV,
Ok, it seems that I am one of the few people who actually like this song. To be honest it is probably my favourite one now. I agree that it needs a climax and maybe more dynamic chorus but otherwise it’s really okay. Let’s hope the revamp will be good.
That’s good news. This songs needs a climax, it’s too flat right now
I don’t care about Kenya… I’m just glad for the revamp.
Kemama has great potential, I’m excited to listen to the final version
Didn’t think it needed one, but if it’s for the better… sure do it 🙂
Revamp? He better change the entire song….
Actually, as it is, the song still has a good chance to do really well with great staging
Sure…
Lol agree, they literally let the worst song to win