Cesár Sampson reviews his favourite Czech Republic national final 2020 songs… as broadcaster gives more hints

He’s the singer-songwriter who gave Austria a third-place finish at Eurovision 2018. Now the Czech Republic has turned to Cesár Sampson to give his expert opinion on the songs competing in the upcoming 2020 Czech national selection.

Cesár Sampson’s top three Czech national final songs

The “Nobody But You” hitmaker was invited to listen to the seven songs that will compete in the Czech Republic’s upcoming online national selection for Eurovision 2020. Cesár listened to the songs without knowing anything about the artists. He shared a video where he talks about his top three picks from the selection.

Cesár describes his third favourite song as being “like contemporary Czech Eurovision pop. It fits in well with the previous years’ contestants.” So we can assume it’s along the same lines as Mikolas Josef and Lake Malawi.

The Eurovision hitmaker was quick to warm to his second favourite song. “Eurovision is always crowded with a certain type of song — that this isn’t.” He praises the song for having a fresh, quirky style and reckons it will be easy to stage well.

But it’s Cesár’s top pick that really gets him excited. He comments, “Radio is radio, video is video, but we’re going to Eurovision so might as well tell a story, go for impact, go for feeling.”

Cesár also gives some expert analysis, saying, “If there’s no song with a special feeling, then the most commercial song wins. But if there is a song with a lot of feeling, a lot of personality, a lot of intimacy, then that will win out against a commercial radio song.” This could be a reference to Salvador Sobral’s sweet, sentimental “Amar pelos dois” winning Eurovision 2017 over Kristian Kostov’s contemporary pop track “Beautiful Mess” — and possibly a hint at the style of a song in the Czech national final.

Meanwhile, broadcaster Czech Television has been dropping more clues about the identity of the seven competing acts and their songs.

Clue five: Superpowers

The acts were asked which superpower they would like to have.

Of the 11 people who answered, three wished that they could fly, and another specifically wanted to fly over the entire universe to see what it looks like.

Another person wanted to be able to freeze time around them, one wanted to move things with their mind, while one other act wanted to be able to calm people from a distance, make them more chill.

One person was inspired by the UK sci-fi TV series Misfits — but said they definitely didn’t want the show’s dilemma of not being able to touch another person without killing them.

Two people seemed to be happy with their regular human powers as they didn’t answer, while another possibly shared a little too much information by saying they wanted to ‘last longer than three seconds’! *cough*

Clue six: Favourite musicians

The acts were also asked who their favourite contemporary musicians were. The seven acts picked these stars:

• Billie Eilish (American alternative pop)
• Vlasta Rédl, První Hoře, Lenka Dusilová (Czech folk artist, alternative rock band, alternative rock artist)
• Anderson .Paak (American funk/soul)
• “Rather, I pull songs. I can’t say the artist…”
• Ed Sheeran, Kodaline, Imagine Dragons, OneRepublic (male singer-songwriter, pop-rock bands)
• “Psychedelia and a mix of things… there’s so much to say…”
• Rosalía (Spanish urban flamenco pop)

Do these genres offer clues as to the type of music we’ll be hearing in the Czech national final?

Clue seven: Origami personality

The visual theme for this year’s national selection is origami shapes. Each act was asked to select an origami shape which will be featured in the song’s music video.

But do the style of the paper creations give clues as to the identities of the competing acts? Four of the acts picked animals: a pig, a rabbit, a lion and the iconic origami crane. One act selected a mythical dragon, another went for a water lily flower, while another picked an eight-pointed star design.

The guessing will soon be over. Broadcaster CT will reveal the seven competing acts in less than one month, on 20 January 2020.

What do you think the clues are suggesting? Has Cesár heard a winner? Who is the Billie Eilish fan? And who picked the lion? Tell us your thoughts below!

Read more Czech Republic Eurovision news here