Albania 2022: Ronela Hajati with ‘Sekret’

Festival I Kenges is over giving us our 3rd entry for 2022 before New year…

To be honest, FiK is not something I pay much attention to for a lot of reasons and like quite a few I assume had only had exposure to this entry and ‘Theje’ so it's not a huge surprise to see both in the top 2. I’d expect this to play well regionally as well as further east. Western esc audiences are also increasingly leaning towards distinctive offerings rather than b tier English language songs which coupled with Albanian diasporas could lead to a strong public vote. The fact this was able to win through against a very solid Alban Ramosaj with a more typical FiK entry is also a point in its favour.

Let's deal with the challenges here. There's a lot going on in this song and it's debatable how much it works slapped together. The differences in pacing add a bit more interest to this elevating it beyond a ‘typical ethnic banger’ but ‘Sekret’ still feels a little repetitive despite it's tonal shifts.

It's welcome news here that this needs to be cut down and i’d advise them to be surgical with the 3 minute edit- change around the intro, cut it in half in and make up the rest of the time where possible later. For once with Albania, the revamp brings more potential than worries.

Beyond the song, it's a tall order for them to stage this effectively with a huge production required. Were this coming from Armenia or Azerbaijan there might be fewer concerns but Albania don't have much of a record staging (or even sending) up tempo entries. If they still have Sacha Jean-Baptiste's number in their phone book from last year they could do worse than give her a call with this right up her alley. Vivid lighting, quick, tight camerawork, good use of pyro- all are needed here and blending that with the need for dancers and possibly on stage backing vocals is a big job. Jean-Baptiste or not it's inevitable this will continue to have that ‘fierce, slay queen’ aesthetic which may not play as well outside of the fan bubble.

So yeah with those two points alone there's a hell of a lot we're left waiting on with this one making it hard to predict. I could see this in the top 10 depending on how the season pans out and *if* Albania got everything right from here but that's a big if, after all not all potential is fulfilled.

Unless juries really tank this out in the semi, Albania's base vote and ‘Sekret's presumed distinctiveness among the yet to be released entries should ensure a healthy finish.

Personal Rating: 8/10

Competitive Rating: 6/10

Early Prediction: Semi 7th-11th, Final 11th- 15th