On Saturday the Eurovision Pre-Party in Riga gave a handful of Eurovision 2018 acts the chance to shine. And wiwibloggers Chris and Padraig waded into all that sparkle with their microphones in hand.
Unless you’ve been hiding under a sassy camel, you know that Mikolas Josef is one of the hot favourites among the bookies this year. His song “Lie to Me” is also widely regarded as the Czech Republic’s all-time best entry since their debut in 2007. So no pressure….
Mikolas has been composing music since he was 14 years old, and “Lie to Me” is his baby. Even before the national finals in the Czech Republic, the buzz was all about Mikolas. Did he feel the pressure ahead of the contest and was he afraid of the other contestants’ reaction towards him?
“Yes, of course. But it was all on a friendly basis. I just thought to myself: ‘Hey, if I don’t win, then I don’t win. I’m still an artist!”
The original lyrics to “Lie to Me” were slightly dirty and Mikolas was forced to adapt them to comply with the EBU’s rules. Did he worry the song would lose its core message?
“No, not at all,” he says. “Obviously at Eurovision there are some words you can’t say. And the changes I made were not drastic enough to change the song to the extent that it would be a different song.”
The lyrics are still filled with cryptic words and phrases, and when asked about the meaning behind certain parts of it, Mikolas burst into laughter and had trouble explaining it so it would make it past the censors on our family-oriented YouTube channel.
Mikolas is not signed with any particular record label. He is an independent artist, he writes his own stuff, he produces it and sometimes directs the videos. And yet his music is far from having a “beginners” vibe to it.
“It can be super difficult sometimes,” he says. “I often find myself in the position of having to save my money, and that is why I do so much of the stuff myself, like producing and directing.”
He hints that his fortune may be on the verge of changing, but he won’t reveal which, if any labels, he’s in talks with. “Maybe someone is coming along to help me with all this stuff so I can work faster and hopefully better,” he says with a smile.
The staging for “Lie to Me” has changed with every performance, but he seems to have a clear vision for Lisbon.
“Let’s just say that we think that the video works very well, and that we want to use some ideas from that.”
What did you think about Mikolas’ performance in Riga? Is Mikolas a potential winner? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section down below.
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See our cursing camel, flirty camel and shady camel designs, along with our cartoon rendering for the Czech Republic.
Y’all on drugs- yes this song is ‘gasp’ modern sounding and on trend for a pop song- but melody and rhyme structure it’s nothing like ‘Talk Dirty’. You want to talk copy songs? Try Germany and San Marino (‘7 Years’ by Lukas Graham and former Eurovision winner ‘Heroes’ minus rap solo respectively) sry not sry.
If this was a song from France, Sweden, Belgium, Norway, etc everyone here would love it
This is not true! Most ppl love Czech song, so you can’t base your opinion only on 10 comments here. Personally I don’t like Sweden, Norway, Russia, Australia or any other ‘favorite’ , so it has nothing to do with the country ( for me).
I agree with you. I don’t like this song at all ( read my comment below), but this is what I’ve seen from other ppl’s reactions. It’s always very highly rated in personal rankings and also #3 with the bookies. For me it’s way overrated, but it is what it is.
I’m very sorry that he will probably steal the place of a much more deserving song in the final! Except for being catchy there isn’t much going on here. Terrible lyrics and below average singing ( People say his live vocals ate great, but remember that the only musical part is the chorus and that one is really easy to sing).
are*
just because it’s something easy to sing, it doesn’t make you a bad vocalist. 🙂
Weak, dirty music and cheap rap. Stay in the semifinal which is better.
In Kirkorov’s concert Ieva, Mikolas and DoReDoS.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=75&v=UHPcm0VFhB8
I really want Prague 2019. I would be awesome. He deserves to win.
he is very charming fella but his song is pretty much annoying….though i think he will be finale anyway, but there are so many much better songs this year than Mikolas’s, sorry.
Finally, someone said it
No I don’t think so. Ia the only good song this year.
No
Agree