Like previous years, ESC COVERS will again share a blog post from Morten Thomassen of OGAE NORWAY with his views on the positions reached by all 35 2026 entries. ESC Covers google translated it from Norwegian to English.
Our Maltese friends have waited the longest to win, as is well known, they participated for the first time all the way back in 1971, but are still beaten by Cyprus as the country that has participated the most times without winning and they have not been close to winning since 2005 and that is starting to feel like a while ago.
In such a small country as Malta, it is perhaps not surprising that some artists participate many times in their national final before finally winning, and this year it was the turn of artist Aidan with the song “Bella” and fortunately for him there was no controversy with that song, he has previously had trouble with other entries and was probably very happy when he finally made it through the needle with this song.
His song may not have been the most exciting, but then you make the smart move of doing something with the visual expression of the song and here you obviously didn’t skimp on anything, they might as well have built a small garden shed where our friend Aidan could perform his song while the whole thing spun around, or it was probably a platform he stood on that actually spun around then.
This song, which was very Italian in style and with an Italian title, was perhaps not the most exciting, but the charm and the good vocals were appealing, what was most disappointing for me was the way the clothing was too casual, this song deserved something more classic in terms of clothing and at the same time I miss a little more intensity in the performance, he just means it almost, a better artist would have delivered a lot better here.
Strangely enough, this guy got 12 points from 3 juries, but the public mostly gave him a thumbs down, only getting a measly 8 points, I think maybe the performance was a bit too dark overall.
I think many ESC fans could imagine an ESC week at this Mediterranean destination and I know they so fervently want it to happen and they get to continue having national finals and if they choose a song that can charm all of Europe (and Australia) next year then maybe it will happen.
Featured image – ESC Covers