Albania has chosen in their traditional pre-Christmas selection.
Once upon a time I was there myself, five years ago in fact, and as a Eurovision junkie to witness the orchestra and an Albanian cultural institution up close and personal will always be one of my highlights.
Anyway, the song they chose is ‘Karma’ by Anxhela Peristeri. Remarkably for an Albanian entry it is just three minutes in length - so we already have a format and structure for the song for May.
Sadly, that formula is one that we’ve heard numerous times before, and I don’t see any way that this song adds to that and makes it unique and special. ‘Karma’ is the kind of song that people think is Eurovision, but then in a 40+ song field ends up being run of the mill rather than what people want to vote for.
There would need to be a lift in production and some gaming of the vocal melody to include some jury-pleasing notes to try and squeeze qualification out of this one. I do expect better songs to appear and this will need something special to transform in order to stand out from the crowd. There’s another factor too that Hurricane have now been confirmed to be entering for neighbouring Serbia. One assumes they will have more punch, more production and more voting support, which may put Albania back just the few points they need to get qualification.
Currently the best odds available on the Betfair exchange are at 60’s. If you fancy this song to be in the mix then I’d wait, as its price is likely to drift into three figures by the time some other countries have selected. I would be staying clear on all markets for the time being however.
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