Albania 2023: Besa Kokedhima with ‘Zemren N'dore’

Thank FiK it's over and Albania have sent Besa Kokedima to Malmo:

Well it's Christmas Eve and instead of presents to unwrap, it looks like I’ve been left this to unpack. If you couldn't tell from that intro, Albania have caught me in somewhat of a bad mood and to be honest, I can't really be bothered reviewing with much professionalism and just want to get this out of the way. That said, I still feel I have gone to more effort here than they have.

To be fair ‘Zemren N'dore’ and Besa are not so bad in their own right, I have just been worn down through attrition over the years. This is the same Albanian entry we see nearly every edition: Woman wearing 10lbs of make-up belts out a dreary semi-ethnic song. For variation we have some sort of rap breakdown and a tin tit top (from a different evening's performance).

Those decisions do make me question this with some tonal similarities to their 2021 miss-fire in the notoriously dangerous ‘aggressive female’ genre. That example aside, Albania are usually reliable at staging, but again they have had too much practice.

Albania have a loyal diaspora and it's another year where they will receive those points and nothing more, whether that is enough to qualify will depend on the strength of the semi and which countries are voting. With those guaranteed points they are ahead of 100% of the early qualification competition of Czechia so far so that's a mark in their favour.

Even with a song alteration or revamp I’m not expecting much of a change in their chances or my sentiments overall, but will update if so.

Personal Rating: 1/10

Competitve Rating: 2/10

Early Prediction: 9th-13th in its semi, 19th-23rd if in the final.