On Monday we ushered in the beginning of National Final Season 2024! Welcoming us to this new Eurovision era is Czechia. Who will succeed Vesna as the Czech Eurovision act for the contest in Malmö? Let’s find out.
This is the sixth edition of ESCZ — a selection show which has delivered a consistent run of decent results for Czechia. This includes a Top 10 finish for Vesna last year with their feminist anthem “My Sister’s Crown“.
We saw seven acts competing for the honour of representing Czechia. This year the quality is said to be at a new level, with popular artists Aiko and Lenny vying for the spot. Fan reaction was incredibly positive to the line-up, and we’ve now heard all of the songs. From female self-empowerment rock to atmospheric upbeat pop, variety was really on show.
Wiwibloggers Lucy Percy and Tom Hendryk watched the show live and typed out their real-time comments below.
Now that you’ve seen all the acts we want to know: Who should sing for Czechia at Eurovision 2024? Vote in our poll and let us know. You can vote for as many acts as you’d like — but you can only vote one time, so make it count. Tick the box next to every artist you want to support.
ESCZ 2024 Grand Final: Live Discussion
You can watch ESCZ live on Eurovision’s official YouTube channel from 20:15 CET (19:15 GMT)
LP: Good evening Europe! We are live and ready to see what Czechia can do. We start off with Lake Malawi giving us a rendition of their 2019 entry “Friend of a Friend”. A cute little nod to their performance with Albert shouting “Ladies and gentlemen, we are Lake Malawi IN the Czech Republic!”. This is Czechia’s first national final with a live audience of course.
Time to be introduced to the acts from this year, intorudced and interviewed by Eurovision jury vote winner Cesar Simpson no less! Let’s do this!
Aiko – Pedestal
Aiko is up first. She is now based in Brighton, UK but grew up in Czechia. ‘Pedestal’ is a power-punch of a rock song about self-love and doing better by yourself.
LP: Aiko is in a body suit, and has clear and true-to-studio vocals. She has choreogrpahy which adds to the performance greatly! She is shouting a few lyrics in the chorus as opposed to singing but it kinda works?
Actually no, she started screaming a lot of it at the end. She’ll need to manage the energy differently if she goes.
TH: Eurovision 2024 national finals are underway!
AIKO has the honour of kicking the night off and in a sexy body suit no less with a rock anthem “Pedestal”. Very breathy and I couldn’t really understand half of the words that were coming out of her mouth. Loving that she threw the kitchen sink at the performance! However, excessive screaming and writhing around….sorry not for me.
Elly – The Angel’s Share
Elly tells Cesar her song is about healing, and recovering from a trauma.
LP: This was lovely, and performed really well. She is in a long white dress, and much like the hook in her song is is very “beauuuutiful” indeed. Clean vocals, and a catchy tune depsite being slower than teh previous song. Not sure it’s amssively my cup of tea, despite everything I find it a bit bland in it’s current state.
TH: Ethereal with a punchy chorus! Don’t mind this one bit. With a bigger production this could really pop in Malmo. Not a huge fan of greased up gents doing some unnecessary choreography at the back. Lose the boys and add something a little classier. Overall, lovely stuff and winning for me so far!
Gianna Lei – Starlet
In her interview, we found out that Gianna studied msuic in London. She says her biggest weakness is overthinking, because she knows each artist is different. ‘Starlet’ is a song to pep her up and remind herself she can achieve what she wants to.
LP: The best production on a song so far in the show. A great drum beat paired with a light poppy tune over the chorus. Gianna also looks the part with large white puffy sleeves over a black crop top, and the most amazing fluorescent yellow boots. This is ridiculously fun, but the vocals are maybe not perfect. Still, it is a solid entry and has every chance of doing well.
TH: Cute, fun pop and I really like that she has some style! Unfortunately it’s a really forgettable track. Unlike Elly’s performance, this song needed some backing vocals or some dancers to fill the stage more to give the performance more punch. She looked very alone on that very small stage.
Lenny – Good Enough
Lenny is a multi award winner, with her song ‘Hello’ being huge in Czechia. Cesar commends her for wanting to go to Eurovision as a well-established artist. Lenny wants to do the show for the experience. She says ‘Good Enough’ is a personal song, where she discusses imposter syndrome and self-sabotage.
LP: ‘Good Enough starts slow, and indeed is a ballad. Lenny performs from a piano in a simple black outfit. The track suddenly kicks up to another level taking the sound from acoustic to electric, with plenty of drama to boot. It’s really great – and with Lenny being an established act, she’ll be able to take the pressure in Sweden if she were chosen.
TH: Clearly a quality, seasoned performer. No nerves, just sheer class, Lenny looked like this was the interval act she was that comfortable. I would have preferred an even bigger ending but I can easily see this qualifying. I feel that if this does qualify and it has an excellent chance, it might get lost in their semi-final.
MYDY – Red Flag Parade
MYDY have toured all over Europe, and are passionate about the quality of the visuals and song as a passioponate. They describe themselves as electro-dance-rock!
LP: I think I speak for all of us when I say thank god. This was wonderful, so upbeat, so fun, and finally perfect vocals throughout the song. The 5-piece band are all in matching costumes themed around a marching band. This is SO high energy, and the chorus is absolute chaos. Kind of a disaster bop and I fully mean that as a compliment.
TH: Loving that this genre of music is on this lineup! Love the beat and “Red Flag Parade” pops out from the songs that performed so far. Some for brilliant reasons and some unfortunately, not always for the right reasons. It’s a hot mess. Everything just felt a bit loud and dated. I think that would go down well in the Euroclub. Let’s face it, if Euro fans have the sole say it will qualify but I doubt the Czech fans will get on board and send it to Sweden.
Tom Sean – Dopamine Overdose
Tom wants to make a party on the stage and give everyone a dopamine rush. He wants to create the vibe of 5am in a techno club, to make the crowd dance.
LP: This is really exciting, and I imagine in a larger-scale national final like Melfest this would work absolutely beautfully. This isn’t shade to the scale of ESCZ, it just isn’t quite working in this scenario. We have to bear in mind Eurovision is MASSIVE however so rememebr that when voting!
Why do I kind of love the lyrics “sweat on your body, sweet like teriyaki”? Despite the genuine fun of this song, I’m not sure where the techno vibes he’s talking about are. It’s far from perfect but it would be a darn good entry for Czechia in a more polished atmosphere.
TH: The 90s are back! Sweet like teriyaki are lyrics I didn’t think I was going to hear today! Fair play to this guy, as he has worked on his stage show. It was full and energetic. The dancers worked, the backing singers aided the performance without overloading the leading vocal. He made the most of the stage! Again, this will be a hit at the Euro club, it’s memorable BUT yet again, it’s dated! It literally sounded like something from Eurovision in the 90’s. People will like it though!
Tomas Robin – Out Of My Mind
LP: This was one of the more promising performances of the evening. You can tell he had tech issues throughout the whole performance, it is sad to see because he is going to be a GREAT performer when he has better production behind him. I honestly think he deserves to win this though, he did so well depsite everything. Out Of My Mind was extremely catchy, I loved it. I think he has my vote!
TH: Brilliant way to finish the show!
Electric, a great husky vocal, retro and yet modern. Tomas has certainly turned my head who I think could qualify from this lineup! I can see this at Eurovision and it feels like it has potential to be uplifted with a few extra Korona! He’s a likeable guy too! This could be the public and the jury’s second favourite song and that might be enough?
Will you be tuning in to ESCZ 2023? Who do you want to see representing the Czech Republic in Liverpool? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
I was a MYDY stan for a week…100% sure they would win when suddenly I heard a voice in my head at 3am after waking up an hour before I have to get up for work:
“I can’t get no sleep,
so high on Dopamine
I can’t get no sleep
OD on Dopamine”
Then that epic dance break plays.
Everyone knows it can be only Mydy.
I agree with you
There won`t be any suspense…..
I’ve been listening to the studio tracks, now that we have the full set. I still think it’s a strong set of songs. Even Gianna’s track has a great vibe, even if she’s not necessarily competitive. So I guess my main question is… why did they hold this on the 4th of December? I liked the idea of Czechia going first in theory, but this was badly rushed. It was like hearing the songs for the first time at an ESC pre-party. And visually, nobody seemed prepared except the glam rock band who seemed to understand what they were doing.… Read more »
I’ve decided that I am voting for Aiko after all– still the best track, still the highest ceiling.
Aiko – this song is my #1. I think it’s the best overall song of the group. It’s catchy, makes you want to move, and has a great message. I agree that her live was messy, but with practice that can be fixed and there’s plenty of time between now and May to work on it Elly – beautiful voice and a decent song. The performance doesn’t really stand out, but I could see that improving if they did something more interesting with the staging Gianna Lei – felt bad for her. Studio version is an okay track, but she… Read more »
Another amazing line-up. I really like what Czechia brings to its NF each year.
The only one not fitting is Gianna Lei’s “Starlet”, both the song and her live performance need some rework.
I’m divided between Aiko, Tomas Robin and Tom Sean. MYDY aren’t bad either but the song sounds too much like Maneskin’s “I wanna be your slave”, also the live performance is a bit messy.
The studio version is such better quality then on stage. The only one live who grab my attention was MYDY.
Otherwise Elly was my favorite
So I had a listen based on studio version and live version however I will be honest live studio version this year has let the music artists down because I think the Czech 2023 live final was slickly done in the studio where this one in a club was definitely not as polished and it did look like there was sound technical for the music artists. Anyway I think this would be order in terms of ranking for the Czech Republic at Eurovision 2024 with a lot based on studio version and a little bit based on the live footage.… Read more »
When will the results be announced?
Next Tuesday I think.
The recap was awful. Czechia, what are you doing?
The best was without any doubt Elly.
What about writing who you think is the best instead of just downvoting? 🙂
Red Flag Parade sounds like Maneskin’s ‘I wanna be a slave’
Every song sounds like another song. It’s Music Theory at its finest.
Tom Sean’s song is growing me HUGELY. Might be one of my favourite songs of the NF season by the time we get to Eurovision! It’s so catchy and the ‘sweet like teriyaki’ like gets me every time! The dance break is also super fun. If Tom had performed a bit better live he’d have completely sold the song because it’s the best one studio-wise. Wouldn’t mind if this song went to Eurovision!
Elly’s song for me. And by quite some distance
For me Tom Sean – Dopamine Overdose has the most ESC potential.
Mydy was good live but I can see it being overhyped and then people will be ranking it low by the time March rolls around. Same with Elly
I have the same two favs. Mydy’ song sounds like that Maneskin song.
Elly ‘s song is the only one I really like. I hope she will win the ticket to Sweden.
Aiko’s song started to really grow on me. It’s really my type of song and I even think it’s best of the bunch song wise, but boy I wish the performance would have been better. If she had not moved as much as she did and worn something more elegant/punkish without being too revealing I could see her being a strong competitor. Shame she isn’t getting that attention now.. 🙁
She made some choices that just didn’t work. The outfit, the running, the way the yelp at the end of the song turned into a bloodcurdling scream. It’s a real shame.
This selection gave me Eurosong 2023 vibes, and Aiko is the Cherine.
Personally for me I prefer Aiko’s Eurovision style feisty energy compared to Elly’s odd yet controlled overhyped demeanour.
That´s a clear decision: MYDY !
A really weak preselection from Prague, almost on the same low level just like Denmark or Germany usually do.
Denmark’s wasn’t bad the last few years and the German one was good last year, just the audio audio was not good again.
I like it too, it sounds like ‘I wanna be a Slave’ by Maneskin.
Aiko has the best song… wonder if she could do great at ESC if her performance gets better
Some songs here could crack the jury vote much better. However, based on song potential alone my top five is:
5) Aiko
4) Elly
3) Lenny
2) Tom Sean
1) MYDY
I don’t get the Red Flag Parade hype.
It’s colourful, fun and different, which is what Eurovision is about. It’s crazy, it’s party.
I get that it’s colorful and different. But, the lyrics is terrible and they bleep out swear words. I mean, don’t use swear words if you are too scared for potential consequences.
What exactly is wrong with the lyrics? Don’t you think you need that to stand out on the Eurovision stage? I mean, we’ve had some odd songs lyrically in the last few years! And Tom Sean has a banger of a song with the lyrics ‘sweet like teriyaki’! I think the bleeping is to tease the audience with shock factor and could easily be changed.
And well-performed, the singer has a great presence on stage ! I like this “marching style”
I wouldn’t say different as it sounds like’ I wanna be a slave’ by Maneskin
Tom Sean with his ethnic bop pls
Ethnic?
it is clear that I’m gonna have to make two different ranking lists for the check selection, one based on the song through the studio cuts, and the other based on the live performances.
Hello, where is the link to vote please ?
You vote through the official Eurovision app.
more corruption then
The way we went from a very unpredictable national final before the live performances to now, when we know MYDY will win lol
Someone should mashup that song with Maneskin’s ‘I wanna be a Slave’
I would be really curious to know which acts were the initial 5 and which 2 were added to the line up almost at the last moment.
Okay, so i just watched the youtube version after coming from live show and i can very much say the TV sound engineers would make Loreen sound like Madonna’s interval act today :/ (Elly, Lenny, Mydy sounded totally different, even in comparison to the snippets taken on my phone). Quick thoughts: Aiko – buried herself with her choreography + basically inaudible in some parts, most disappointing for me Elly – live vocals were astonishing, just needs a better staging concept Gianna – lack of experience in big stages got to her, the performance was a hot mess Lenny – second… Read more »
I’m glad to hear that Tomas Robin sounded good live. In the tv he sounded like he was chocking. His song was my favourite in the studio version, but live was disappointing. I’m still considering who to vote for.
Some of these songs I would listen to in my own time, but that doesn’t make for a great Eurovision entry. Mydy clearly has the best staging and earworm potential. Tomas Robin reminded my of Justs “Heartbeat” from 2016, which was one of my faves so I would not be mad if he wins.
I like Mydy, only problem is that it sounds too much like “I wanna be a Slave” by Maneskin
Totally agree with JUSTS vibes and OLLIE from Estonia but less rock. Think it would qualify as it got a good package overall but probably not too high ranking in the final at the Eurovision.
My immediate reaction is that some vocals need more work and it’s hard to compare these performances in this format against what we are used to see from very high-end national finals like Melfest, MGP and SanRemo. I often think some of these songs and others from small national finals if they were given the Nordic National Festival treatment (money), would come through as having Q-vibes. Vesna last year was elevated by their music video and not from their national final performance.
Is mydy not just a copy of i wanna be ur slave by Maneskin??? they sound identical
I was trying to think of what the melody sounded like. “I wanna be your slave”. Not identical, but I can hear it.
You probably might not know this, but there’s a song called take a hint from a show called Victorious that has a similar melody to red flag parade. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZsfIw7ZkEyc
Its nothing like i wanna be your slave?
If multiple people come to the same conclusion without even speaking to each other first then there has to be something in it.
They might have just read one comment saying that and started replicating it like a snowball effect. Of course, they are entitled to their opinions, but I don’t really hear that big of a similarity either. It’s just that genres share similar characteristics, so different songs belonging to the same genre are bound to have things in common.
Nah, man. Its the same notes and melody and such. the only difference is the lyrics.
Multiple people? Edward has said it once, & the rest of the time Måneskin was mentioned it was you, spamming. Lol I think you’ve got a bee in your bonnet about it, Mark. Chill! 🙂
I’ve heard two other people say it after the comment. And not on here.
we don’t care about Mydy lmao
Tom Sean is the real deal, i mean he’s the only logical choice if you wanna slay in Malmo
looks = check
dance banger = check
ethnic vibes = check
He just needs to polish his voice and give the song a bit of a revamp.
plenty of time until the ESC so that all can be done in time even before the pre-parties
What ethnic vibes lmao
I’ve been saying that
So far not overwhelmed by the choices. But Czechia know how to do Eurovision i’m sure the winner is gonna do great
yasss, czech language shining perfectly here in all entries!
the songs and performances are very esc-2011-ish
Jestem-ish
With all the respect MYDY is the only one with a *slight* chance to qualify
Not necessarily. We don’t know how good or bad the Malmö 2024 class will be and with a lot of work, either of the two Toms could do okay on the big stage. We always think NQ when we get a NF with low quality music but we forget there’ll likely be more low quality music along the way and the opportunity for countries to polish the entry they’re stuck with.
I like MYDY best. I kinda liked Elly’s song but it’s weird. The note on the word ‘beautiful’ really annoys me lol. The chorus of Pedestal is also kinda bad to me. I like Lenny’s voice a lot. Dopamine Overdose is catchy on Spotify but wasn’t too great live.
MYDY it is!
Aiko, Tom Sean and Ella have the best songs overall but mydy had the best performance.
But overall I want aikido to win cuz her song is fresh, something new and a risk and its honestly a banger, yeah the performance was terrible but the same thing was with vesta and they got top 10 in the end.
Deffo voting for aiko
I’m still weighing voting for Aiko. The studio version is my favorite of this selection by far.
I don’t understand… Who is the winner? Is it going to be revealed later?
voting is open on the ESC app. Winner to be revealed later once the vote closes
Winner is announced next week on the 12th.
Tom Sean all the way
Mydy, Tomas Robin, and Elly were the standouts. I think Mydy is ready for Malmö but that’s not to say with some tweaking that Tomas or Elly aren’t.
I was a bit disappointed in Lenny. The voice is spectacular but the song left me dry. As of right now any of them could go through but based on todays show alone I’d give it to Mydy
As of now, I have no real preference as to who should win.
What a fail!!! Bad songs and not a single entry in Czech!! It’s a no from me.
NEXT!
english is also their official language
No, it is not. We use czech language only.
Hm, I’m not sure I like this strategy of playing to us, the fans. I think it would be better long-term if they concentrated on the home audience. Build interest in Czechia and the rest will follow.
MYDY is my pick– glammy, catchy, and silly. Screams “Eurovision” without making me groan at all. Aiko was my second favorite; needs polish but I’m not really looking for that in a punk song. Elly is good, Lenny is a good performer but I’m not sold on the song (yet).
Was the host this bad last year?
Yes, he was, but it was literally just in a small conference room in some hotel last time. No more than a PowerPoint presentation, so it kinda fit.
I’m deciding if I should vote for MYDY or Tomas Robin. MYDY were clearly having fun on stage, bringing energy and catchy song. While the best vocal performance goes to Lenny, her song wasn’t as memorable for me as Red Flag Parade. It is a risky song to send, some people may find the “censored” chorus annoying and it would need a staging that wouldn’t dissolve into a chaotic mess. On the other hand Tomas Robin’s song was my favorite in studio version and his live vocals were a bit underwhelming. But it could be nerves, bad sound or something… Read more »
I don’t know what to think… MYDY, Elly and Thomas songs were the best but out of these 7 IMO. Now MYDY sound is interesting, catchy but a bit dated at the same time I don’t know why I feel that. Elly song is a nice mix with these beats and this mystical sound, a bit of Tattoo vibes with this one but again something didn’t really click for me, nothing that wows me. Thomas, good singer, the song makes me think of Julius song for Lithuania in 2016 I don’t know why too. It’s a good and catchy song,… Read more »
Idk who is this Julius lol and how this name came to my mind so my bad I was talking about Justs who sang for Latvia in 2016 and not Lithuania.
Elly – The Angel’s Share and Tomas Robin – Out Of My Mind were the best songs for me
Agreed.
It seems like a lot of people didn’t like this one. I don’t agree, but I feel like the main problem was we didn’t a studio version beforehand. We are LITERALLY judging these entries based on the live versions, which include fairly bad audio. That’s understandable though, because they’re in a tiny studio/ballroom it seems. The second problem was trying to remember some of these songs. What I found was that the ‘better’ and more-experienced artists like Lenny who were given very mediocre songs that didn’t show off their skills enough. I DID like that performance, but it’s clear a… Read more »
Honestly, it’s a smart play to not release the songs prior. Think how most Eurovision watchers are realistically going to interact with the show – their first listening will be on the night. Picking something which people will remember can only be a good thing (!)
MYDY!!!!
Aiko and Elly had the best studio tracks, but MYDY were clearly the best on the night.
Overall, I rate this as a letdown for Czech standards. MYDY, Elly and Lenny are more or less ready for Malmö, while Tom Seans song has the biggest hit potential. Aiko and Gianna Lei gave dreadful performances.
I guess MYDY will ultimately get the ticket. But this year, Czechia isn’t guaranteed the spot in the Grand Final.
My ranking of ESCZ 2024:
1. Lenny
2. Mydy
3. Tom Sean
4. Tomas Robin
5. Elly
6. Aiko
7. Gianna Lei
Lenny? Are you high? That boring song that says “good enough” 1000 times with the girl who can’t sing?
The song might not be the best yeah.. but overall performance was the most enjoyable. I wish they gave us music videos again instead of live performances but based on them it’s Lenny for me.
She would have to qualify on a pure televote though (if the rules from last year still apply – they do right!?). If so, then that would never happen.
You could tell from the quality of sound from Lake Malawi and Domi that it wasn’t optimal to judge the performances. It’s not as clear as last year. I like the voice and experience of Lenny but not the song that much. I like the staging and concept of MYDY and they are very comfortable on stage because of their experience. But the lyrics of Red Flag Parade aren’t great. Probably my favorite is Tomas Robin. Good song, great raspy voice and good presence on stage.
MYDY looked the most comfortable on stage indeed, and the song is fun. And I also liked Tomas Robin. I just hope that if he goes on to win, he revamps his song, cause it needs to be a little more upbeat and have more bass, I feel. Increase the tempo too.
I couldn’t understand a word he sang, or should I say, shouted!