Back in December, Albina Kelmendi and her family won the public televoting at Festivali i Këngës 61, giving them the right to represent Albania at Eurovision Song Contest 2023 in Liverpool. Now the team have shared the revamped version and music video of their emotional song “Duje”, which strengthens the emotions, passion and the power of their entry.
The revamp might be slight, but it gives “Duje” a new orchestration. The core of the song remains the same from what fans saw at FiK.
Albina & Familja Kelmendi – “Duje”
The videoclip of the song shows Albina finding an empty house, with pictures left around. As the song itself is a call for family to unite, Albina does the same in the video. She calls every family member and reunites with them in the house that was left abandoned before.
Albina Kelmendi, her family, and the producers of the song worked on the revamp of the song in Istanbul, Türkiye, where all of instruments were played and recorded live. The music video was also recorded at the same time.
According to songwriter Eriona Rushiti, the new revamp “gave the song stronger energy”.
For the Albanian team, the attention now turns to their performance in Liverpool. It was confirmed before that Sacha Jean – Baptiste will be working with Albina Kelmendi and her family for their Eurovision staging. Sacha Jean-Baptiste’s team are currently in the capital of Kosovo, Pristina, where they are rehearsing to make sure they’re ready for the big stage of Eurovision.
Sacha Jean Baptiste has a great track record with Albania. In 2021 she worked with Anxhela Peristeri on “Karma”, giving the song a powerful visualization that took it to the final in Rotterdam.
What do you think about the new revamp and music video of “Duje”? Do you think it is going to qualify for the grand final at Eurovision 2023?
Everyone seems to have a different interpretation of the video, but I saw it as a once close family unit falling apart until it was too late. As someone who had a big family and a nice, cosy family house and now everyone has died except me and my older brother, I found the video to be incredibly powerful and emotional.
And the revamp is quality.
Like Ireland, you can revamp this all you want, it can’t be saved. Truly hope we won’t hear this boring song twice.
I cannot believe Albania didn’t send “Evita”.
They could have thought gh if they didn’t hold a separate vote in Festival i Kenges.
*though
no final for this one sorry …. im in love with elsa lila evita song
I applaud Albania for always staying true to their culture, I love the new ethnic sounds and the drama. The revamp really elevated the song. It may get repetitive for some but I personally enjoy Albania’s entries year after year.
She has a great voice, but I really can´t see this qualify. It´s waaay to sad and depressing to listen to.
DEFINITLY CRINGE.
Video reminds me of a dramatic Turkish series I’m watching without any dubbing !
I usually unironically like Albania’s entries but this is not able to go where it promises to go and ends up sounding like something that would be sung to awkward tourists in a restaurant. The part in the video where the parents are on each side of her is so cringe I could have died.
The instrumental is better! The only thing I have to say though is that she needs to be louder than the music. The music seems a little loud at least in this studio version, when I think her voice here needs to be forefront (which i’m hoping it’ll be live, let’s see).
Ukraine’s also had a revamp yesterday, which i think genuinely improved their song. Or at the very least, enough so that it jumped a few spots in my ranking. It’s..maybe still right half of the scoreboard, but it may not be bottom five anymore.
Albania 8/12
What a waste of money to hire SJB for this song & videoclip that looks very similar to what you would listen and watch in Albania in the 90s.
Honestly, it’s brilliant, the revamped entry now sounds complete. The new instrumentation is rich and trully sounds ethnic. I’ve already spoken about how trully beautiful the message was. This is one of the best entries Albania has ever sent in Eurovision and now belongs in my top 8.
I really love this song, hope the overrated SJB won’t ruin it with her usual staging concept: something dark with a light in the center, at some point, on the song’s climax. Big deal… Waste of money
I think the SJB treatment is going to be wasted here. I have a hard time connecting to the over the top drama. Elvira would have been a wonderful display and result for Albania.
I Love “Duje”, As an eurovision fan and been watchin it for 20 years i really miss how eurovision was back there with lots of ethnic balcan songs like “Hadise” and “Elena Paparisu” you get the point. ” Duje” is the only ethnic song this year and we should appriciate that, we need this on the final, we need to have diversity of songs in the final because right now to me every song seems the same.
The song still isnt my cup of tea but one thing I wanted to ask, when Albina and her family won FiK, people said her family wouldnt be on the esc stage, whilst that might still be the case, in any mention of Albania’s act for esc by the official eurovision accounts and on their YouTube channel, the song still has the family in it (not that I think they shouldn’t be) but I do think it’s strange promoting one thing and then, itd end up another (being a solo performance).
Albina and her family did not win FiK.
I meant won the rights to go to Esc in FiK, it was a slip of the tongue.
Anyway, still interested to know the situation, will they or wont they be on stage with her?
I greatly prefer Albania’s revamps if they slightly modify and enrich the instrumentation. What we saw with revamps like those of Sekret, Fairytale and One Night’s Anger is that they do the exact opposite. I have a feeling we may just see Albania in the final
The Revamp brings so much emotions, and the ethnic sound and the Instrumentals Give everyone. With Sacha Jean Baptiste for staging, they are Heading to the final
The song is much better now; good job on the revamp Albania. It feels way more powerful and I love how Albanian it sounds. Now I hope that the staging will be improved this much as well.
Definitely an improvement. It just need some eye catching staging and it would do relatively well – the one in December was kinda mess, but there’s enough time to work on that. So far I can see it qualifying, but then placing in 15-22th place in the final.
I mean, Elsa Lila was RIGHT there.
I got tears in my eyes watching the videoclip: family is everything in our culture. Thanks Albina for spreading this message! As for the song, it is good. With a good staging this has potential to qualify.
It’s a pleasant ballad but feels like I have heard it before, nothing original. I have doubts about this qualifying especially with no juries to help them
A couple of observations:
1) Albina’s opening notes sound SO out of sync with the instrumentation, is it just me? It’s really off putting
2) There is little bass, which makes the song sound really tinny. Which is weird since there are electric guitars, which usually bring that
Albania is my favourite Eurovision country but this just doesn’t cut it unfortunately. I’ve been trying to like it for months and it just hasn’t worked. Probably their worst entry in recent memory.
I just loved what I heard! If the third violin was little out of tune, or if they need one cello or perhaps an extra flute, I DO NOT CARE! Thank GOD We do NOT have “Jury” Votes. This revamp is amazing!
As for point 1) disharmony/dissonance is a widely-used technique in mugham
We must be listening to different songs. I find this to be one of their best entries in the last decade. When it won in December I thought it was a solid start to the season. But just over 3 months later, the standard has gone down, and it has remained the same. It’s solidly in the middle of my top 10.
The new orchestration is richer, even if I never found the musical aspect to be the biggest issue here. The anti-divorce theme is sensitive, and I’m not sure if I’m the fan of the way it’s been told here. However, with this theme in mind, I did like the video. It goes full-on telenovela mode, but what was it supposed to do? Pull silver bags on their heads and stay in a white room for three minutes? Albina did it effectively for the message to come across.
Interesting, I see this song’s theme as being “pro-family” rather than “anti-divorce.” So even through a divorce in a family, there can still be love. I agree that Albina communicates the drama effectively, and could even be an actress as a full-time career. As for the Ireland approach – I’m still scratching my head over that.
I see it as pressuring couples to stay together for the sake of the children. A horrible idea, and not a good piece of advice at all. It would only do more harm. Words can cut deep, so diminishing their power is also something that does not sit well with me. All in all, I intensely dislike this song. It’s not anything but an ad for the conservative family unit.
Thanks Jonas. That’s really interesting, especially considering that I don’t see that from “Duje” at all. It would appear that there are wildly different interpretations to be had on this one.
I suppose that comes down to whatever we project upon it ourselves.
The song is certainly also ”pro-family”. Depending on the circumstances couples find themselves in, this could be a really positive message about opening the communication before it’s too late, or a negative one about staying together no matter how bad things get from your spouse’s side. If we’d give them the benefit of a doubt, and stick with the first one, this could resonate with a lot of families, especially traditional ones. It could even be heartwarming, despite also being borderline overdramatic.
This revamp is definitely an improvement and the backing rhythm addition certainly improves the song and the video also explains what is going on which will help ahead of the contest. This could just edge thru to the final now
I like the orchestral instruments in this song, and also the message should be important when the family reunited.
My personal favourite in FiK 61 was Elsa Lila “Evita”
Might be an unpopular opinion but I honestly believe that if Elsa went to Eurovision she would be in conversations as a potential winner right now. Evita was the complete package
True, in my opinion, when I first heard the whole song, I was not very impressed, but after second listen it got stuck in my head, such a beautiful and moving song.
I’m demanding Turkish diaspora to vote for us #AL this year, even 1% of those votes could help lol.
Jokes aside, i think Duje revamp is quite good and we are lucky to be in the second semi final
Sounds like straight from Turkish soap operas. ?
This song has definitely grown on me. The message is powerful.
This is good! Extremely good! Now I can understand the lyrics just by watching the video! This might be difficult to to perform on Stage.
The revamp is AMAZING!
I am sorry if you still downvote my post! I just loved this revamp and the video. Of course this is not for teenagers who love “Tiktok”
I like the instrumental. I just don’t like the melody of the song much.
They should have kept the orchestral version.
I’m so sorry because this sounded interesting in the beginning but now with the video the whole concept looks even cheesier and cheaper than before. I really want to like this.
reminds me of those entries in 2013 albania, croatia, bulgaria, not accessible to the everyday rest of europe so I guess it’s a ‘we’re representing our country and not trying to win’ song
Nothing wrong with that. Some of the best songs in the history of the contest haven’t tried to be competitive. Georgia have been great at that. I started getting really serious about the contest when I saw entries that were very ethnic and I’d never heard before, and couldn’t hear anywhere else. Water was the big eye-opener for me, even though it became competitive without trying.
Remember Albania have hired SJB for staging, so they are going for it.
I am IN LOVE with this song. The revamp gave me chills. This song is right up my alley and the music video is beautiful too. I’m really hoping for an Albania qualification, this song might just be my new winner
The new instrumental I think removed the dated sound and gave it a more fresh Balkan vibe which I really like.
I like the revamp! Albania please make it audio too for Spotify it waited so long, and everyone has it allready
This is a gem, and all the people who don’t like it, go buy yourself some taste.
How much does it cost? Because it seems I will have to buy a lot of it to like this song.
More seriously, the opening of the song is nice, the instrumental is interesting but the whole package seems meh to me. And I hope they will change their staging for Liverpool because it was really weird to see them just in line at the FiK… and I won’t talk about the lack of charisma of Familja Kelmendi.
They were asked to stand still in FiK, because… it’s FiK. I’m sure the staging in Liverpool will be much better since Sacha Jean-Baptiste is doing the work now.
‘Lack of charisma’?
Yes, lack of charisma. Most of them looked very uncomfortable on stage.
Get over yourself mate.
Yep, it should have been Elsa Lila.
With generic ethic bop #10000
She literally could have scored 200+ jury points in the final.
if it got there that is
Lol you genuinely think just because the semis are televote Evita wouldn’t have done well? Plz.