Albania 2023: Albina and Familja Kelmendi with ‘Duje’

If there's one thing to look forward to around Christmas surely it is Festival I Kenges, but if there is a second thing to look forward to it is undoubtedly the accompanying escbetting song review of the Albanian Eurovision entry. Here is Albina and Familja Kelmendi with 'Duje':

I'm tempted to just drag up the old insanity quote about doing the same thing and expecting different results and be done with this review as 'Duje' is a pretty stereotypical Albanian entry on many levels; entries which have largely failed to escape the bottom 5 or even semi finals.

The gimmick of backing singers being family members is something that could work and separate this from the pack of previous attempts but I don't get any sense on how they're incorporated into this. Albina gives her best efforts to sell some emotion but as a non-Albanian speaker I don't think this transcends well rather than being just a regular overwrought performance with awkward backing vocalists. FiK is a very separate environment and if this arrived in Liverpool as is I would worry massively for its chances.

The ambition and hopes for Albania will focus on making it to the Saturday night making this the first opportunity to look at the removal of the juries from the semi finals. The positive is this is not something they would have appreciated whilst Albania have a relatively steady diaspora vote. Eyes will be on the semi final allocation draw to see where the likes of Switzerland and Greece among others fall in this regard but the worst damage has already been done perhaps in North Macedonia and Montenegro's withdrawal. I'm focusing on these regional/diaspora topics quite a bit as I don't really see who this appeals to outside of those blocs even if the performance is improved upon.

Without the semi final allocation draw, any other song baring the pre qualified Ukraine and uncertainty over the final product, this early prediction shouldn't be taken too seriously but for the interest of consistency of the format I'd be leaning NQ.

Personal Rating: 3/10. Competitve Rating: 2/10. Early Prediction: Semi Final 9th-14th, 18th-22nd if in the final.