For the past four months we’ve been eagerly waiting for some (any!) information on the San Marinese Eurovision 2015 entry. Last November, San Marino’s broadcaster SMRTV announced that JESC-alumni Michele Perniola and Anita Simoncini will represent the microstate at the upcoming contest, but there’s been silence ever since.
Tonight, however, we got the first taste of the duo’s song. A short snippet of “Chain Of Lights” was broadcast during SMRTV’s evening news bulletin. Shortly after that the song was leaked through iTunes and quickly spread all over internet. The song starts off as a very modern pop song, but builds into a typical, early 2000’s Eurovision ballad.
Michele Perniola and Anita Simoncini “Chain Of Lights”
Last month John Kennedy O’Connor, an author known from his Eurovision books, teased fans by tweeting that the song would be similar to Israel’s entry from 1989. He might be right, but this is much better.
@thequalitydan In that case, don’t hold your breath. Have a listen to Israel 89 & you’ll get the picture.
— John Kennedy OConnor (@JohnKOConnor) February 28, 2015
What do y’all think? Will San Marino make it to the final for the second year in a row?
Wonderful! This is a very inspiring song and has a cool sound to it as well. I love the key changes and style changes. Ralph Siegel’s style blends with the styles of Michele and Anita very nicely. This is one of my favorite songs in ESC 2015 (and this is a very strong year IMO). San Marino’s done it again!? Comparing this to previous San Marino entries, it’s not really fair to compare against Crisalide since that is my favorite song I’ve heard in my life so far (23 years). I would say that Chain of Lights is objectively comparable… Read more »
It is time find some songwriter of today San Marino this is bad and old school
Wow, as if I moved back in time. Is it a proposition for Eurovision of 2002 or maybe Junior Song Contest? The melody is just too sweet. However, I think that this song may be for some fans a gulity pleasure.
This song is too serious for them! They should have been given something light-hearted and fun! This doesn’t showcase Michele’s voice well at all. I was so looking forward to his participation…now I’m afraid San Marino won’t qualify and I want them to do well so badly!
Against the grain but I really like this, of the duos their voices work best together. However, I don’t hold out much hope for qualification.
Ralf Siegel compose and this song for San Marino. He composed song for San Marino from 2012 to 2015 , 4 in row
Good god. All I wanted was a decent pop song in Italian without a whiff of Ralph Siegel. This is just WEIRD. Both of their JESC songs were better.
I so wanted San Marino to be suprisingly great this year, but what we have here is a great pairing with naff material.
Since when did Michele’s voice get so deep!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Anita’s voice annoy’s me so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She sounds like she is trying to speak in a posh british accent rather than singing!!!!!!! Otherwise ok song which if it qualifies 8Th place at the most
1 SPAIN
2 ESTONIA
3 NETHERLANDS
4 U.K.
5 GEORGIA
Lionel Richie – Hello anyone? LOL no I’m kidding. I miss Valentina so much T_T but I know Michele & Anita will do just fine.
My TOP 38
1.Norway
2.Italy
3.Slovenia
4.Spain
5.Sweden
6.Serbia
7.Estonia
8.Iceland
9.The Netherlands
10.United Kingdom
11.Romania
12.Belgium
13.Greece
14.Malta
15.Israel
16.Belarus
17.Georgia
18.Denmark
19.Switzerland
20.Poland
21.Moldova
22.Azerbaijan
23.France
24.Austria
25.Cyprus
26.Portugal
27.Lithuania
28.Germany
29.Czech Republic
30.San Marino
31.Albania
32.Hungary
33.Russia
34.F.Y.R Macedonia
35.Ireland
36.Latvia
37.Armenia
38.Finland
Where did this recording come from? Does anyone know? I still don’t believe that this is the final version.
Yes, absolutely miss Valetina already!
I can’t believe what I’ve heard on this page >_<
You really got to wonder if Sam Marino thought it had a chance with this song.
Sadly the worst of the four entries revealed today, and I thought these two were gonna be amazing. 🙁 Hopefully it grows on me.
This is not a great song. But they sing really good, and the voices match.
no, just no.
Mega-cheesy lyrics, backed by a casio keyboard. Too many changes of key and character as it goes along. I love seeing small countries do well but sorry San Marino, this is really mediocre.
Douze points! This is a one-song complete Eurovision Drinking Game! Three (or was it four?) key changes, “Big Love” sentiment, “serious” speaking bit, dodgy accents … it’s got the lot! And extra points because it’s NOT Valentina Bloody Monetta! Can’t wait to see how they stage it – I will get up and watch at 5am in Australia just so I can vote for them!!!!
WE WANT VALENTINA MONETTA!!!! WE WANT VALENTINA MONETTA!!!!!!!
Am i wrong or what? Because i like it, i know it will be hard to qualify, THE SONG NEEDS AND SPECTACULAR STAGING like they did with Valen last year
The second half sounds a little like Love Shine A Light…? I knew Valentina not returning this year would lead to a disaster.
I really wanted to warm up to the song, especially with the somewhat mysterious percussion and violin intro, but then it just goes horribly wrong with the sweeter than honey sentimentality, the key changes and… the Lionel Richie ‘Hello’ reference (“so let me start by saying I love you” = “believe that we can change reality”). I hate to say that Michele’s vocals are much more impressive than Anita’s and I’m not sure that pairing them was a good idea since Anna’s voice doesn’t complement his at all. Unfortunately, this is another entry which has no relevance to what a… Read more »
Well. Let’s hope this is not the final version. It sounds like sth that should belong in the kindergarten…
They need a miracle to qualify… They are very nice and I feel bad for them.
Anyway, San Marino is a SMALL country (30,000) so they can’t pay a Swedish song
I think the beginning of the song is pretty good, but it all goes downhill with the first chorus. There are like 5 key changes and the end is completely different than the beginning. Agree with other comments on this one.
Cheap & cheesy. Ballad something, straight from you “Love Songs Hour” on your favorite radio station. And those lyrics… Can ESC get any more cheesier these days?
Don’t like it! It’s not terrible but Vellentina was much better!! Anyway good luck San Marino( but I don’t think you’ll go through the semis…)
San Marino would have been better off sending Valentina again, this will probably finish last in its semi and deservedly so.
If we all light a candle we can build a chain of light…as true as that may be it’s not a very worthwhile sentiment…its like saying if we all took off one shoe we can build a chain of feet…and those feet could never stink as much as this nonse
P.S when they say chain of hearts it sounds like chain of farts…coincidentally also fresher than this chain of crap
God, I can’t even listen to it, it’s terrible. It sounds like a demo and somehow there’s something that feels false. It seems like an old-fashioned, cheap song from the early 2000. Seriously, I’m afraid this will end last… I was really hoping for a good song for San Marino, but I would have never thought it could have been that bad!
Its a cute entry, but very oldfashioned. I cant see them escaping the semi’s this year. I dont understand why they cant give us something fresh and modern, why San Marino?
This song has too much cheese even by 90’s standards. We all know it won’t qualify. Too bad for the singers, they seem really nice. Couldn’t San Marino find a decent song for them?!
GIVE US VALENTINA MONETTA BACK, WE PROMISE SAN MARINO WE WILL GIVE YOU A GOOD RESULT YOU HAVE ALWAYS DESERVED!!
Oh my god this is terrible. So outdated. Don’t like it at all.
Oh, I love this song. Thanks again San Marino!
This recording is so low-fidelity I really can’t judge this entry from it… moreover it sounds like a demo to be honest.
I’m sorry but this song my is just horrible! I really struggled to listen to the whole 3 minutes of the song it is just a mess! They both seem like lovely people, but this song has no chance of qualifying for the final.
No thanks, sorry.
I agree that the first half of the song is pretty ok, but the second one ruins the overall impression. I’m afraid San Marino will stay in the semi final.
Oh the San Marinese Nodi Tatishvili & Sophie Gelovani singing a mash up of “If we all give a little”(Switzerland 2006) and “Light a Candle”(Israel 2002) …. I am so excited …… NOT !!!!!!!
..and San Marino will stick with traction and won’t be qualifying this year.
Didn’t Israel send this song back in 2002?
That beat at the beginning screams ‘Hi, I’m a newcomer, download my song for free on Soundcloud, I did the music by myself with an empty shoebox and a keyboard’ SO loud.
Now seriously, did they checked how CHEAP does this sound? And mostly, did they think they will repeat the Grand Final achievement just as Valentina did? The answer to both questions seems too easy to me: NO.
bad…
It reminds me of an argentinian duet from the 80’s called “Pimpinela”, it’s not a really good thing because we’re in 2015, the song itself is not bad, just not appropiated for this year (or century)
hot mess
The 3rd minute ruins what could have been a very good song, I agree, but it’s not that bad.
Sounds like a reject of a Disney song.
Listened to the whole song. It has potential for entering the final, but just like others have noted here, the final minute goes kinda messy.
At least no Ralph Siegel, and it’s isn’t a high school musical type as I thought it could be.
But does the song not remind anyone of Israel’s Light a Candle??