Albania has decided: Rona Nishliu to Baku!
After a marathon 20-song final and jury vote, we have a winner! Representing Albania in 2012 (and hoping for a return to the Finals) will be Rona Nishliu with “Suus”. After a jury-led vote, Rona took a commanding lead, grabbing five sets of maximum scores from the seven-member jury. She also took the jury’s award for “best interpretation”. Here is her dramatic performance from the semifinal:
A bit of trivia: Rona Nishliu will be the first Kosovan to perform at Eurovision. This also marks the fifth year in a row that Albania has been represented by a solo female singer (the last male to do so, Frederic Ndoci, scored no points in tonight’s final). “Suus”, the fiftieth winner of the Festivali i Këngës, will likely undergo some measure of rearrangement before springtime, either musically or linguistically (one of the benefits of picking one’s song so early in the National Final process).
As for my personal opinion? Rona has one heck of a voice, and it’s not easy to keep control of that instrument. This isn’t a song for the Euroclub, and I guarantee that many fans will turn up their noses at “Suus”. When I hear it, however, I’m reminded of the fact that Lithuania shocked the heck out of most people by qualifying to 2011’s Finals, and Alyosha’s “Sweet People” made the Top Ten for Ukraine. It’s also so early in the National Final season, that it’s hard to gauge what’s coming up around the bend.
What do you think of Rona Nishliu and “Suus”? Let me know in the comments!
Posted on December 29, '11, in 2012, Albania. Bookmark the permalink. 8 Comments.
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I have got my first 12/12 song for ESC 2012. Considering that there are years where I do not have a single 12/12 song, I already love ESC 2012.
oh my god why is it so boring….i mean i guess she can sing but i am already asleep 40 seconds in.
Boring, horrible and terrible.. Great Voice.. But the song is boring. and her voice (screaming parts) is too much…
I find these comments amusing. lol When I see this lady performing, I somehow see Aurela number 2. The two singers are very similar in that their voices explode throughout the song and whilst I actually like it, I sadly predict a similar fate to Rona that was bestowed upon Aurela.
I definitely see some similarities between Rona and Aurela…a lot of power behind both of those voices/performances. Again, who knows what this song will sound like with nearly a minute and a half chopped out of it…
I think this is miles better than Lithuania 2011. And Albania 2011. At first I had the typical fan response… “it’s paaaaainfully slow, and there’s not much of a tune…”
And then I listened to it again. Yep, there’s going to be a shorter version of it, but its such an emotional piece of music, I think I’m really gonna like this one. The ‘screaming’ is actually something I think sounds pretty good on this one; but unfortunately, I think you’re all right that its not going to get much support à la Aurela Gace. And that;s a shame.
It takes too much time for taking off as it is now. But we all know the song will be revamped and shortened to 3 minutes long.
As it is now, I don’t really know if I like the song. Probably not, I guess.
The 3 minutes version could make me change my mind as it happened so many times for the Albanian eurovision songs, when a dreadfull duck has changed in to a Eurovision-like Cinderella !
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