It’s time for the second wildcard round of the season (and, hopefully, the last wildcard round of the season). Originally, there were going to be 11 candidates in this round, but one of them (Teslenko) withdrew in favour of San Marino. So now we’re left with just 10. Let’s see if there’s any quality here.
We start off with a fairly generic American-sounding rock song. Songs like this are a dime a dozen, and I really don’t see myself coming back to it. The second verse in Ukrainian shows that this could’ve been a lot more interesting if it was entirely in Ukrainian instead of being predominantly in English. At least the lyrics are coherent and flow well (whoops, spoilers). I don’t see myself coming back to this after
Ah, here’s a classic example of a good verses/bad chorus song. I was wondering when we were going to get one this season. The verses establish the theme of the song really well, which is him having run away from the war in Syria to Ukraine and facing another war now. That’s a really great topic, and I’m happy that a song like this is participating. There’s also a nice twinkling piano and a music box, which fits this song really well. But then the chorus hits, and I completely lose interest. First of all, he really starts to struggle with pronouncing English, and, secondly, it’s just a little too simple. But there definitely are good ideas in here.
I can’t believe there are two good verses/bad chorus songs in a row. The verses have a nice guitar that gave me some expectations, but the chorus ended up being a very boring drum’n’bass thing that entirely failed to deliver. Mostly, it’s the kind of song you’d hear on the Ukrainian radio. There’s also a metaphor that makes me want to disappear from this world in which he compares his memory full of memories of someone to a full flash drive. I don’t know why, but it makes me cringe so hard.
To continue the trend of disappointment, here’s this song. Now, I actually like her voice, though it definitely won’t be to everyone’s taste, but it’s completely wasted on this song and, especially, the borderline incomprehensible lyrics it offers. I’m fairly forgiving when it comes to weird lyrics, but this is a total word salad with zero coherence to it. Still, this is my fourth listen (I’m taking this a little more seriously because I’m actually voting in this) and I’ve grown to kinda enjoy it for what it is. Still, I wish this was a coherent song in Ukrainian, and I hope she comes back in 2026 with something better.
At exactly two minutes long, this would be one of the shortest entries at Eurovision if it hypothetically won Vidbir. This is also our yearly disaster bop that I enjoy despite all logic telling me not to. It starts off with a horse noise sample and doesn’t get any less funny for the next two minutes. That said, the bilingual pun title is actually really nice - I always appreciate a good bilingual joke (explanation: the word коханий - kokhanyy - means “beloved”, so she combined the Ukrainian word with an English word that has the same meaning). With a little more polish, this could be pretty good - and that’s me saying this about a girlbop, so you know I’m actually impressed.
This is basically the only song here I’d actually consider listening to on a regular basis. It’s quite minimalistic (though that violin is great), relying purely on the strength of its lyrics about having pride in yourself and staying strong. And yes, this is a fairly common theme in Eurovision songs, but you’ll have to trust me that the lyrics use a lot of great metaphors. To sum it up, humanity is compared to a wild herd of animals in a steppe and losing freedom as the animals being tamed. And I like her voice as well. I think it has a Maro-like quality to it, and by this I mean that it’s breathy, but in a good way. This is going on my playlist for sure.
I think she has a good voice, but the song is a very standard and predictable Eurovision ballad by the numbers. We’ve seen dozens of songs like this in the competition and hundreds in different national finals. So while it isn’t bad, it also isn’t particularly great.
And now we get the token ethno song. I think it provides some variety for the wildcard round, but it sounds weaker than their entry in 2024. It’s just a but too messy and chaotic, lacking some overall structure. I don’t really see myself returning to this, but I wouldn’t mind seeing this in the final either - but it would need another pass to clean it up, and we don’t do revamps these days.
While the song is fairly generic on the surface, she performs it with a lot of conviction, which really elevates it. This is all because she wrote and composed it herself. And I like her voice as well, she could slay with some stronger material. Basically, add her to the list of people I’d like to see later.
Of all the songs with good verses and a weak chorus, this one has the biggest disbalance. The verses really intrigue you and draw you in, promising something great in the chorus and then the chorus just consists of two words repeated over and over. I’m disappointed as I was expecting much more from her after her 2023 attempt. She’s currently running away in the voting, and I just can’t explain why except for name recognition and being the last song in the round.
As this is the wildcard round for songs the NF juries thought to be 10th-19th best, I’m not really worried. Also, this round is still stronger than the wildcard round last year. While few songs inspired me to listen to them again, none of them were really bad either. None of these will go to Eurovision though, I can say this much.
Even before this round started, I said that I was the most excited for Slukhai Sashu, and, as it turns out, I was right to say this. It’s almost like I know what I’m talking about.