Poland 2023: Blanka with ‘Solo’

The Polish national final (no way I'm typing all that) this past Sunday ended with Blanka taking the victory:

Poland certainly can't be accused of sending the same thing twice in a row with the comfortable on stage but unable to hold a note Blanka bringing her summer Spotify oriented sound succeeding the excellent vocalist but short on charisma Ochman and his angsty ballad.

To coin a phrase one might hear on the ground in Liverpool, Blanka is “a proper fit bird” and that is the most obvious selling point here. I suppose it makes sense that when googling her ‘Polish Model’ is what comes up. Vocally, and in terms of national final staging, what we have here is poor. ‘Solo’ is catchy through it's repetitiveness but doesn't overstay it's welcome sensibly coming in with 20 seconds to spare. It's hardly cutting edge songwriting, but does the job I suppose of providing a song you might add to a summer vibes playlist. Backing vocals are l'essenziale here and should be TVP's main priority, coupled with professionalising the whole thing in general

My predictions that a bit of summery fluff from Cyprus last year could go down well fell flat on it's face eventually but I do think it's important to try and place songs on the context of May and the start of summer across much of Europe if not the banks of the Mersey.

I don't expect much issue in qualifying given the draw, lack of quality in the semi, Poland's strong diaspora (this being something they can come out in force for) and absence of juries. I'm also conscience I haven't really picked anything there for a top 3/5 let alone winner in the semi so this early prediction may seem a little inflated on the surface. I don't expect much overall in the final when the juries get their say and quality makes a big jump unless we get a seriously improved performance.

Personal Rating: 6/10

Competitve Rating: 5/10

Early Prediction: Semi Two 3rd-6th, 14th-18th in the final