Way back in December 2019, Arilena Ara won Albania’s Festivali i Këngës 58 with the song “Shaj”. Earlier this week, the singer revealed the revamped version of the track that she will be taking to Eurovision 2020, “Fall From The Sky”.
Albania has a history of revamping their Eurovision songs after Festivali i Këngës takes place. But, we want to know if you think this is a good revamp year, or a bad revamp year for the Balkan nation.
You can listen to both versions of the song below and identify what the major changes are between “Shaj” and “Fall From The Sky”. Then vote in our poll. Be aware that you can only vote once, so make sure you’re certain of you’re decision before submitting your vote.
What are the differences between “Shaj” and “Fall From The Sky”?
While the original was in Arilena’s native Albanian, the revamp sees the star switch to the English language.
The first verses are more high-pitched now. While in “Shaj” Arilena began almost whispering, in “Fall From The Sky” she enters the song in a manner more consistent with what follows.
The violin has been the biggest loser in the revamp: the one at the beginning has been transformed into a piano and the song has lost the epic string interlude before the final chorus.
In exchange, there’s a little section in which Arilena sings: “You think I’m better without a way to speak my mind, you think I don’t wanna shout and that I’m terrified, screaming inside with nowhere to hide”, right before belting out the sentence “You won’t let me fly”.
After that comes a key change that leads into a powerful final chorus which becomes a wall of sound as Arilena nails one note after the other.
Arilena Ara – “Shaj”
Arilena Ara – “Fall From The Sky”
Poll: Do you prefer Arilena Ara’s revamped “Fall From The Sky” or original song “Shaj”?
[crowdsignal poll=10519106]What do you think? Are you #TeamShaj or #TeamFallFromTheSky? Sound off in the comments below!
Not a fan of either version, but you should really open your mind and accept other musical styles, instead of only Western Pop Ballads in English.
Arilena is fantastic.
If Albanians are not happy with the revamp they should complain, not anyone else. Just stop it.
Shaj is better as a song, though Fall From The Sky suits Arilena better than the first one. By the way, Shaj was originally made so that she could sing it in English, but she should have an Albanian version to be able to sing in Festivali i Kenges
She has a lot of fans. However, this song is UNDEFENDABLE. It’s boring, uninspiring and she in WAY over her head to think this is good.
So, what is she supposed to do then?
Arilena won. She will sing Fall from the sky. She will represent ALBANIA. End of discussion. LOL
Me Tana studio was great, live was not great. Move on lol It has been a couple months now.
Just to annoy some of you, I could write an unnecessarily detailed musical analysis. 😛
Instead, I will just say “good luck” to Arilena and the Albanian team with whichever version of the song they go with.
Fall from the sky’s production but the Albanian lyrics = 10/10
Why on earth did they get rid of the strings?? They made the song! The English lyrics are fine, not cringy like other years but I wonder why Albanians seem to think songs in English are just automatically better? Specially since they did so well the past two years sticking with Albanian.
They are both snooze, but I prefer Shaj.
Me Tana fans are annoying, get over it! She didn’t win, it’s done. About the song, I prefer Shaj, but Fall it’s not bad at all. The revamp it’s good. It’s almost as if Arilena is singing to Me Tana fans, if you ask me. Let her fly and stop blaming her, for Rona Nishliu’s sake! She’s good and extremely talented. It won’t get lost between other ballads because Arilena is one of the best vocalists of semi two. Juries will love her and a lot of people will enjoy the plus that her voice gives to the song. I… Read more »
I guess it doesn’t matter now.
Me tana.
Oh God get over it!!!
No Europe wants arilena
Ridiculous lol
Arilena was the winner.
She doesn’t deserve to qualify with either of these versions, both are simply bad. The song is really weak, a bland ballad among other ballads that will cancel each other…
I´m screaming inside – no, thanks…..
You mean “Hvala, ne?” 😉
(“Faleminderit, jo” doesn’t fit the rhythm… ^^)
What does “hvala ne” means? Is that Slovenia’s entry of 2018? Whichever the case, that is completely irrelevant and doesn’t make any sense in Albanian nor in this context, whatsoever!
An absolute unecessary english Version from Albania, just like always…. Now sounds too similar to the polish scream song there are still hardly any difference. I don´t like Arilenas voice in it and the lyrics are grammaticly ridicolous.
This should be forbidden !
I think the main reason revamps should be forbidden is because they make national selections pointless… this is not the song that the Albanian public and jury voted for. The most ridiculous cases were in 2016, when Israel completely overhauled “Made of Stars”, and Malta just swapped out their entire song. With internal selections, sure, the public has no say anyway, so the producers might as well go nuts with their entry – or even improve it based on fan feedback. But I do think there should be a conditional rule stating “if you use a national final to determine… Read more »
Omg stop you people make a huge scandal about Albania sending English songs but if your going to do that then get mad at other countries for doing the same thing. Why is Sweden in English Why is Greece in English Cyprus, Armenia, Moldova, Romania, Norway, Azerbaijan, France, etc WHY ARENT ALL THOSE COUNTRIES SONGS IN THEIR NATIVE LANGUAGE. Why is it such a big deal when Albania literally does the same thing everyone else does, if your going to harrase Albania every year about the language they sing in, do it to every other country too
I don’t mind English lyrics too much (though I would’ve preferred the Albanian version) but it just sounds empty without the violin part, like something is missing. The original version was my top-5.
The original had this warm and soulful (Balkan?) quality to it which is lacking now. I much prefer that “oh ooh ooh ooh” interlude to the new “spoken” bridge but now that motif is entirely gone 🙁
Comapring the audio in albaniana and in english it is more beautiful in English! We have an amazing live performance in albanian and we have to wait for a better performance in English for sure. This gonna be epic in May. Till then people can complain as muchh as the can ahahhahahaha
No, it will fail – Albania in English doesn´t fit.
Well it won’t happen now so us haters won XD
i like “me tana” by elvana gjata the best. PERIOD
I didn’t connect with the Albanian version in December, it felt somehow aggressive and unmemorable. And now I am singing “fall from the skyyyyyyy” everyday 😀 I also hope that she will perform in a white outfit and not in black. I like the new concept more 🙂
To be honest, white actually makes it more generic to me… that choice of outfit didn’t work particularly well for either Lindita Halimi nor Tijana Bogi?evi? in 2017… :/ Sure, that tight leather outfit Arilena was wearing at FiK looked a bit like what a domina would wear, but at least that’s something memorable that gets people talking… ^^
Lol, neither, I hate this song so much :/
I like the new version but I prefer the Albanian version more
English lyrics doesn’t sound natural at all and musically it conveys zero emotions now. Feels almost plastic. I won’t be surprised if she ends up sharing Lindita’s faith.
English ruined it. Like if your song is originally in another language, keep it that way. Making it English only damages the song.
None.
Albanian version !
My big issue is the language, they should’ve kept the song in Albanian.
New version sounds so generic and soulless.
yeah so, fall from the sky can make Arilena more internationally famous than Shaj what was just for a minor show like esc
A minor show like esc ?
Don’t care. She’s lucky in semi 2.
Arilena die beste
just ME TANA, this is boring
Just another screaming song, both of them are boring ??
They screwed up they’re chances this year THE MOST.
I don’t think so… Semi 2 is wide open.
It doesn’t matter anymore.
Shaj works better with the orchestra but i think FFTS is better for eurovision
Always local languages! English sounds impersonal
And the English is under my opinion worse. I confess I’m not a big fan of this entry anyway
Why they have to translate the songs? Be proud of your own language! Juries should encourage songs with own languages. (*cicciolina*)
I don’t like this song anyway
Shaj had more personality. And Albanian is beautiful. So that.
English sounds better. So Fall From the Sky.
Of course, I pick ‘Fall from the Sky’. I instantly connected with this great revamp, whereas ‘Shaj’ left me rather cold. Arilena’s powerful vocals really come through in English, so much so that I believe every word she’s singing. I’m happy that I’ll be able to vote for her in the semi final, as well as in the final. The only thing that the revamp lacks are the violins of the original, but her vocals are so powerful on their own that I can deal with it. Arilena, don’t read the internet. The real world will come through for you.
Shaj off course. First of all the depth of the sound of albanian language. Its more impactfull when you don’t understand every single word but get the feeling from the expressions. Second the string session. It matches perfectly with Arilena’s incredible vocals. Third Shaj overall has more identity and authedicity to me.
The artist should choose what she likes best. That’s why. Also, this song is nothing like Albania 2019, whose whole identity was rooted in the Albanian language.
First I was not that unhappy about her winning the Festival.
But now I notice that even the Albanian Version really does not stand out enough.
The English version is without soul.
Me Tana 🙁
Shaj was unique in Albanian and that piano part
But overall, I do like Fall From The Sky
Now im very happy that Arilena won Festivali i Kënges (and of course my other non-favourites in the other national finals) .. Eurovision will be canceled for sure because of the Coronavirus .. i can tolerate it.
it actually won’t be cancelled.. they will probably postpone it for later or it will just happen without a crowd.
Well guess again Phantom632
Fall from the Shaj.
100% shaj..
Unfortunately now its just a random ballad without any special identity.
Arilena is a great vocalist, but I am not sure if this will help their chances.
She basically shot herself in the foot with that revamp. The original version at least had some ethnic touch to it and now it’s just a standard ESC ballad with cliché lyrics.
The original was better. It could at least reach top 15 with an impactful staging
Epic fail! Why oh why did they strip away all the soul and spirit of this diamond only to force banal trite English lyrics upon us. What a shame. One of the greatest crimes of ESC20!
Oh Albania, why won’t you learn?
Shaj was better, the English lyrics are somewhat clumsy and awkward, and at some points don’t even go with the melody. Another question: when do we get the Armenian revamp? That song can only get better.
Armenia’s revamp is tomorrow
shaj of course. the revamp sounds like a random outdated eurovision ballad, the original at least was a charming song.