Tbilisi calling! Georgia’s Circus Mircus have released the audio for their Eurovision 2022 song “Lock Me In”.
The music video for the entry was also supposed to premiere at the same time, but the plan was changed due to the ongoing invasion of Ukraine. Therefore, viewers will hear the song over a black background. Circus Mircus state:
“Due to the war in Ukraine, we feel that it is not the right time to release our happy and colourful music video. As per ESC guidelines, the submission deadline is near, so we decided to release only audio, while using the black background instead of the official music video footage, to express our share of solidarity towards our Ukrainian sisters and brothers.”
“We hope to post our music video in the near future, when these terrible events are over and our societies start getting back to normal.“
Circus Mircus — “Lock Me In” (Georgia Eurovision 2022)
Circus Mircus say they are a movement that brings together dozens of professionals from different fields to create an unprecedented audio-visual experience. The cornerstone of their philosophy lies in the complete neglect of musical frameworks. The group note:
“Every singer or band has musical frames – a specific genre to which they are devoted. But we released, on some days we may be in mood for rock, French pop, or even music for a weather forecast. The visual side is as important to us, as the audio one. And most importantly, they are equally diverse.”
Circus Mircus’s stage performance at Eurovision 2022 will be directed by Emilia Sandquist. She is an international creative who has created successful performances in the past for Swedish artists at Melodifestivalen. She is also a member of the Jean Baptiste Group.
Georgia at Eurovision
Georgia has enjoyed mixed fortunes at Eurovision in recent years. The 2010’s started well, with Sopho Nizharadze and Eldrine each placing ninth in 2010 and 2011.
In the years since, however, Georgia has switched between non-qualifications and grand final placings on the right-hand side of the scoreboard. One exception was 2015, where the fierce Nina Sublatti placed 11th with her oximated electro-pop anthem “Warrior”.
More recently, Georgia has not qualified for the grand final over the past four years. Tamara Gachechiladze narrowly missed out on qualifying from an 11th-place semi-final finish, while 2018 act Ethno-Jazz Band Iriao finished last in their semi-final. Georgian Idol 2018 and 2019 winners Oto Nemsadze and Tornike Kipiani also didn’t qualify from their semi-finals.
What do you think of Circus Mircus’s “Lock Me In”? How will Georgia do at Eurovision 2022? Share all your thoughts in the comments below.
Lock me up lock me in (COVID) the lockdowns! and mentions space.the same as the UK!
I have got to say that I cannot stop playing the Georgian entry. It is so weird yet so different. Something unusual always does well at Eurovision. Take Maneskin for example. They won. It took a while for everyone to understand what they were doing, but they won. I can only think of one group in the past which would do a similar sort of thing to Circus Mircus, and that is Kevin Godley and Lol Creme who were originally from 10cc. Listen to some of their backlog and make the comparison.
Considerably higher quality than most ESC entries imo.
Top 5 for me, this is AMAZING and I cross fingers it would at least qualify so even more people could appreciate it (especially since I can’t vote for them myself in that semi-final so please guys if you like it vote for it!)
20 seconds was enough for me. No
I like it, different and catchy and fun. Nice
I’m not sure it will qualify, but I have to confess I like it so much !!!
It’s nice, but they need a bit of luck to qualify.
I really love it! I don’t know how well it will do at ESC, it probably won’t even qualify. But on the other hand- we said that for Nika & Lolitas too, and they managed to qualify. I wish them good luck. This is in my Top 5 at the moment.
Finally a song that’s not just another ballad about love or a breakup. Kinda hated it on the first few listens, but now I can’t get it out of my head
Finally some “indie” quality! It reminds me a lot of MGMT!
I shouldn’t like it….but I actually kind of do :/
I think I was expecting something a bit more thrashy but ended up being actually surprised by it.
I can see this being adored by the televote.
So why exactly shouldn’t you like it? 😀
Because in the build up to the song reveal, from the past couple of months etc I expected Circus Mircus to deliver some kind of horrible joke entry, but I was surprised when they sent something actually catchy and well produced.
I was just surprised is all haha
Wow, this sounds like a Devo song. I don’t know if we have ever heard this style in ESC before but I’m always here for something new. That being said, I find the song to just be okay, but Georgia always comes alive on stage.
It’s not my usual musical taste, but I really enjoy this song. The music is fun, the lyrics are interesting, and it’s very unique. I think it will qualify for sure.. I also believe in a year with many middle of the road songs, this has a chance of beating Georgia’s beat result ever. Well done Young Georgian Lolitaz, errrr, I mean Circus Mircus.. 7.5 out of 10 for me.
A very fun catchy indie rock. Doubt it will do particularly well since it’s kinda nerdy, but it’s good chilling music.
I am trying to hate it like everyone else on here- but I think I love it!
I like it!! Lots of staging potential!
Terrible, annoying noise to my ears 🙁
I just love it, just as I love the fact that Georgia keeps on doing whatever they want. The song is quirky and bold, fun and interesting. Whether you like it or not, it’s a great addition to the 2022 roster on the basis of its originality and genre-bending features.
Now Georgia should send an entry in Georgian some day, it’s the only thing I think they’re still missing so far jajaja
They actually sent entries in Georgian in 2018 (“For You”) and 2019 (“Keep on Going”).
And “For you” was a criminally underrated master piece.
You can love or hate the song but you can’t deny it is a risky and bold choice! Georgia was not doing great this past years cause they were always giving something safe and not surprising at all but this is something that will stand out and make the difference! I hope they will do well cause they deserve to qualified just for giving something out of the box and dairing (and also qualitive we have to be honest)
This is so much fun! Georgia is such a good and needed addition to Eurovision! I love how they always take a risk, try something new and dont try to use the “Eurovision-Formula”. You can hate it, you can love it but you cant deny that “Lock me in” is unique and entertaining.
Ok, idk what to say about this. Nevertheless, it’s an outstanding and exciting entry on its own right!
I’ve listened to this 3 times and I still have no idea if I like it or not. It’s unsettling in a non-impactful way… Wouldn’t pick up my phone to vote for this, so I think this will come down to juries.
Loving this!
Almost as bad as bulgaria
No, much more bad
Almost as bad as Estonia
This is great. It’s completely different from the competition, it’s a pretty good piece of music, and it’s catchy. And most importantly: it’s totally non-Eurovision. What more could you ask for? This will do better than the polls suggest.
You say non-eurovision like a bad things. Music is music and there is not a type of music in eurovision. And for my taste I think I have listened to this sound once in eurovision, it’s nothing new. But I like the song for Georgia.
By non-Eurovision I mean: it doesn’t seem like it’s written specifically for Eurovision. Usually those songs sound very formulaic.
I think this is the opposite of catchy… I listened to it multiple times, and at the time of writing this I’ve already completely forgotten about it.
Excellent psychedelic rock track! I love how they manage to build it for three minutes when it seems it should be longer than that. I’m already seeing this as a stand out from all the pop sounding songs, hoping for for them to get the attention from jury and the public they deserve. Straight to my top 3
I do t always share the taste with the results and they usually send nice rock music, even if I don’t normally listen to rock. This song didn’t give me much.
I think it’s a wonderful statement to give that wolf a banana like that. It’s really nice
It’s refreshing how Georgia just keep doing their thing. They’re like that friend that from time to time will introduce you to their new musical obsession and it could be virtually anything. One of these days, I hope it’ll pay off big time. This stands out not just in terms of sound, but also of attitude. The pre-chorus can be borderline annoying, but the chorus is quite catchy. Having in mind they put a high importance on the visuals, I’m optimistic this can become a fun sensorial experience. I need more time with this, but I kinda like it.
P.S. The pre-chorus is labelled as “Verse 1” in the lyrics posting on genius.com. I too thought it was a pre-chorus bridge, but apparently not.
Since the structure of the song is quite unique, it can be anything, right? It’s like the intro is extended enough to become verses and then the verses feel more like a pre-chorus, later coming back as a bridge. They promised the complete neglect of musical frameworks, after all!
I really like this. But I don’t think I like it as a Eurovision song with a good live performance. What do you even do with this? I can jam to it studying. I don’t know if I want to see it and vote for it on stage?
I love Georgia’s Eurovision entries, because they are always challenging my brain, ahaha. I don’t understand the meaning of the lyrics yet, and I probably never will, but the music is a lot of fun. There is a mix of influences here. (Ignore my next paragraph if you’re not interested in music analysis.) Interestingly, the lyrics seem to have been released with their section labels in the following order: “Intro,” “Verse 1,” “Chorus,” “Verse 2, “Chorus.” I find this interesting, because the Intro changes up halfway through, and “Verse 1” sounds more like an extended Bridge to me. Also, the… Read more »
It’s not as alternative as I thought it was going to be, but it sounds pleasant and not bad. It does keep you on your toes because it changes directions a lot, but it does stand out. I wonder if the visuals will be interesting and wacky to elevate the song, but we’ll see. Could this bring Georgia back to the final for the first time since 2016? That remains to be seen, but I can only wish them good luck. It’s the first Georgian song I like for the first time in years.
For now, I don’t know yet. I need to listen it again…But it’s surely different.
I feel like this song was made with staging in mind so I have no doubt they’ll put on a SHOW for us in Turin.
It’s interesting, quite childish yet it keeps your interest. It also has a very brit-punk vibe to it. I can’t be mad about this, it’s a great addition to Eurovision this year.
I really liked it. Indie and cool as expected. The hook is catchy and very enjoyable.
They way Georgia sounds more British than what BBC usually does for UK.
Haha; yeah, I hear that too. 😀
Both “Lock Me In” and “Midnight Gold” have this British rock flair (2022’s is obviously more to the indie side) I keep waiting for BBC to dare to send to Eurovision someday.
yes this does. It’s Mika meets MGMT! and Hot Chip! digital dance rock and the bits about lock me up lock me down lock me in lock me out lock me sidewaaaays! the pandemic! and mentioning space like UK entry does!
it’s funny both about space (distancing) and lockdowns
Eurovision 2022 Axis of Chaos:
-Lock Me in
-Eat Your Salad
-In Corpore Sano
-Give that Wolf a Banana
-Iceland’s potential winner ‘Turn this around’
it’s about lockdown/distancing (space(man) people being apart
Georgia’s just doing its own thing. I applaud their sense of self expression
Georgia 8/12
I want to point out that we all say Georgia is NQ every year but then they really stage the heck out of their songs to the point where we all are like…maybe they can do it! So I will wait to see if Georgia can pull it off.
I like the original side but for me… Its not good sorry Georgia …. NQ for me.
I find this very hard to judge without any visual. It doesn’t sound like a song I want to listen to a lot, but maybe can enjoy with a good staging.
Terrible, as expected.
They’ll be one of Georgia’s best results. Who knows if they’ll win? Nobody thought Maneskin would win until the very week the 2021 Contest took place. Many things can happen.
Why I always read it as Miley Cirus
“When the terrible events are over”. Will we get to see them in Torino?
WTF is this???
It’s a song called “Lock Me In” by Circus Mircus. No need to thank me.
And its the worst entry so far!
To each their own, I guess. You’re free to have an opinion of your own.
I expected the worst given the quality of the entries of this year, and I was completely shocked in a positive way. This somehow reminds me of The Kooks or Arcade Fire, indie rock is a style you hardly see in ESC and that’s why I like this and can stand out in May with a quirky staging that matches this quirky song.
The virgin Intelligent Music Project. The Chad Circus Mircus.
For now, I root for Georgia and Netherlands.
And some people keep saying Bulgaria is the worst this year when more than half of this year songs are just far worst. And this one adding another level to this year mediocrity of more than half of the songs.
Georgian entries are never easy to pin-point on the first listening, and this is no exception. I respect their decision not to release their video, but I feel like the bonkers visuals would help in experiencing this in the full. So I hope they decide to release it nonetheless at some point. In any case, I agree with their reasoning, this poster also condemns the dictator’s war, and loves Ukrainian people!
As for the song, as I said, it’s difficult to immediately pin-point it, but… I think that I like it!
It’s a bit repetitive, isn’t it?