Features

Throwback Thursday: Fly through darkness to Slovakia

For this week’s Eurovision throwback, we’re going to revisit an entry from a country with a short history in the contest – let’s see what Slovakia has in store for us. Last week we checked whether our team loved Belarus, this time it’s more about flying and darkness; Let ‘tmou. 

Slovakia’s comeback entry; Let ‘tmou

Debuting in 1994, Slovakia has only sent 7 entries to the contest, and none of them have been particular successful. Overall, the Slovakian entries have only managed to accumulate a combined score of 144, with their most successful attempt being in 2011 with their penultimate entry “I’m Alive”. After three attempts in the 90s, Slovakia didn’t return to the contest until 2009.
Kamil Mikulčík and Nela Pocisková had the honor to represent their country in its Eurovision comeback. Out of 50 entries, their song “Let ‘tmou” was voted the winner in a national final. The song has received mixed reviews amongst Eurovision fans, and it’s not hard to see why. It’s a dramatic ballad that climaxes into Kamil and Nela trying to drown each other out to see who can sing the loudest, which will be right up some people’s alley and a horror to others.

Personally, I find the song to be quite charming, and it’s by far my favorite Slovakian entry. When countries send songs in their native language, they’ll always have a special place in my heart. It doesn’t hurt that I’m typically a sucker for ballad duets either!

What the others had to say:

Nick

Let Tmou is one of those hidden gems of the Eurovision Song Contest. It was, of course, chanceless from the moment it was selected, but I love it. Kamil has a wonderful voice and Nela delivers some exceptional talent. Together it works and the build in the song is excellent. An effort worth applauding, sadly overlooked by Europe.

Isaac

This one is slightly before I started watching, but I’ve gone back and listened to it a fair few times, as one from a rather underdog nation, one that is missed from the contest, as if they could provide things like this every year I’d be all for the fun of seeing people’s reactions to songs like this. It’s a strange song, to say the least. I’m normally all for this type of low-voiced man + high-voiced female duet but many parts feel mismatched and don’t come together like they should.
It’s not bad by any stretch, vocally, I enjoy both of the singers, but it has the feeling as though it’s on the cusp of being great and it needed a solid rewrite to be so. The structure’s all over the place. In 2009, it probably didn’t deserve to qualify for the final, but in many other years I would have been slightly disappointed at this missing out. One of Slovakia’s best, I guess there’s not much competition for that but I like what we have from them.

Jakob

Very elegant staging, but a bit of a vocal mess. Both of them can absolutely sing, but I don’t think they worked perfectly well as a pair, and their vocal runs turned into slightly ear-piercing vocal gymnastics at points. Did it deserve to be second-to-last? Probably not, but I definitely see why it didn’t come close to qualifying.

Sami

“Let tmou” is a beautiful song and has a nice melody, but at times it feels like the singers are trying to hard. Even though I love the language and it gives the song some charm, I think I would like it more if I understood the lyrics.
What do you think about “Let ‘tmou”? Would you like to see Slovakia return to the contest? Let us know in the comments and on social media @ESCXTRA!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Back to top button