As regular readers will know, my favourite type of Eurovision song is a haunting Nordic ballad – preferably with violins. Unfortunately, the Scandinavians have let me down badly on that front this year: Finland’s sending ear-bursting punk, Denmark are undermining their cool image with some happy-go-lucky Ben Lee impersonators and Iceland is sending an up-tempo reimagining of Denmark’s victorious pixie from 2013. Admittedly, Norway is sending a dark, dramatic ballad – but one look at the insanely creepy video for A Monster Like Me was enough to turn me right off.
So I’ve turned to the unlikely replacement option of Azerbaijan.
Now, obviously Azerbaijan is pretty much the opposite of anywhere Nordic, but Hour of the Wolf could easily have been sung by a soulful Scandinavian. It’s a big ballad with a soaring chorus, and it’s just haunting enough to linger in your memory. Sure, it’s no Scandi-noir drama theme tune, but it’s not too bad.
The question is whether or not it will do any good with the voters. There used to be a time when anything Azeri was guaranteed a top 5 finish, however last year they dropped right off the radar, finishing 22nd. Now, I’m not saying that since they were accused of trying to buy votes in the 2013 contest, their success has waned, but…well, you decide.
