Luxembourg 2024: Tali with ‘Fighter’

For the first time in 31 years, we have an entry from Luxembourg to discuss after Tali won in LSC to bag the ticket to Malmo:

Everything is fine here and in terms of maximising qualification chances this was the safest option for Luxembourg. The main topic of conversation is the fact we haven’t seen Luxembourg in a long time and that caries most of the weight here- there’s really not too much to comment on if you strip away the country tag. I can’t pick much fault with Tali and the song is catchy enough but the wheel is hardly being re-invented here. It might seem that you can never win with me given the bashing I gave Ireland for trying something different but the same standards apply to both- different and good is what works best at the modern contest, or failing that- just be exceptional, a level this does not reach. Still, there’s enough of an audience for standard pop entries as proven almost every year - Luxembourg just have to watch out not too many more take this route with Cyprus’ Liar already on very similar ground when that officially arrives.

Even more than the song, the staging we got at the national final was pretty much the default, pre-loaded option for a song like this - very serviceable but lacking in anything particularly unique or interesting. I’d expect at least 3 upcoming melodifestivalen entries to look like carbon copies of this. Luxembourg appear to have deep enough pockets for this operation so I’d hope they play around and bring something a little more varied, give SVT a bit of a challenge as right now this could be staged in their sleep.

That said I think there’s room for Luxembourg to overachieve somewhat and points should come from a wide range of sources- neighbouring Western Europe and Israel should be quite generous and a ‘welcome back’ boost is possible overall too. ‘Fighter’ as a song with it’s late 2000s esc pop feel also appeals to the East and South of Europe. We’re 5 semi-finalists in and so far this is the most secure for me before we get the draw. I’d imagine somewhere in midtable for Luxembourg in the final with both the juries and televote which will do them just fine on return. I won’t 100% write off a top 10 until we see how the field forms.

Worth mentioning that this is a very likely opener (or closer) somewhere in the draw for the return narrative, song style and fact it won’t be threatening the win.

Personal Rating: 6/10

Competetive Rating: 6/10

Early Prediction: Semi Final 6th-10th, 12th-16th in the final.