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!
Stunning entry. Brings a comforting sense of nostalgia. Hope she can make it through
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.
@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.
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.
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…
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.
OFF TOPIC: BELGIUM’S ENTRY HAS BEEN REVEALED: BLANCHE WILL SING “CITY LIGHTS”.
https://play.spotify.com/album/5vDLBYwQkaDp5PmI7TCN7m
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.
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.
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 »
Armenia has selected the song for Arcvik and I guess it’s calling ”Road” and of course ballad
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 🙂
Beautiful!! Easily in my top 10, hope it qualifies
I don’t think Czech Republic will qualify this year. 🙁
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.
Looking forward to see this staying in the semis. I was hoping for something good 🙁
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.
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…
Won’t qualify. At least I feel emotional after listening to Australia’s song a few times. This doesn’t take me anywhere.
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!
Zzzzzzzzzz
One of the better ballads. Doesn’t say much though.
love everything about this!!! the best ballad this year
This won’t qualify. She has a great voice though.
Interesting observation – Czech Republic and Cyprus took the take on the same subject using completely different musical styles. 🙂
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.
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.
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.
Standard, standard, standard. A typical middle of the road song. To safe to get anywhere high but will collect votes here and there.?
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).
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
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.
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.
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).
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!
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.
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.
If Gabriela Guncikova got 0 televoting points, this is gonna get a negative score.
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.!
Yet another good voice wasted on a boring song
So boring! After last year’s efforts this is such a step back.
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. 🙂
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. 😀
Well, she will definetily struggle to qualify from the semi which has Sweden, Australia, Portugal, Greece, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Moldova, Poland etc.
No.. just no. That means another one will finish below Moldova and Sunstroke have ENORMOUS chances to qualify
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.
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.
This is such a fresh breath of air! Just like Portugal, it will stand out. They are going straight to the final.
Not really what I was hoping for… it’s rather well sung but completely forgettable and will disappear amongst the other entries this year…
I’m sorry but this screams non qualifier… she has a good voice tho