Macedonia, or FYR Macedonia or Former Yugslav Republic of Macedonia or FYROM (whichever you prefer - but to save any hassle I'm simply calling them 'Macedonia') don't have a great record at Eurovision and before the Semi-Final was introduced, they constantly faced relegation.  What's interesting is their 'success' at Eurovision since the new format has been introduced.  In 2004 and 2005 Macedonia entered mediocre songs, certainly nothing great nor spectacular - but on both occasions very narrowly made it through to the final, where they then finished outside the qualification zone and found themselves back in the Semi-Final.  2006 was no exception, with exactly the same thing happening, yet they did pull their best Eurovision position to date - 12th.

 

 

Yet again, Macedonia send another song that it’s easy to see qualify through to the Final, yet get lost amongst the usually much tougher competition in the Final.  The difference this year, is that even if they make it through in 10^th place, they’re presumably better than 18 other songs – so the songs coming through from the Semi this year will be much stronger than usual… hypothetically speaking anyway.  The song is a great eastern flavoured track, with a good tune and solid beat – it’s very easy to hum and tap along to.  Karolina should come across well onstage, but I can’t help thinking that the management of the Macedonian entry are making a big mistake by making her sing in her national tongue on stage, especially when such a strong English version of the song exists.  Despite this, the song still is a good one and should do well, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Macedonian entry not make it through, solely due to the language choice.

 

 

Macedonia, like every year are in with a good chance of qualification, but definately not a certain one.  Despite finding this song better than the other previous 3, there are several things holding this back, including the language barrier and the fact that Macedonia have only ever managed to scrape through - and with 28 countries in the Semi, the stakes are slightly higher than usual.  Nonetheless, I think the song's strong enough to make it though and with an extra neighbour in the form of either Serbia or Montenegro, they should be looking at at least an extra 8 points more than they would have been.  last year 8 points meant the difference between 13th and 10th place.  If they manage the Final I'd say they'll follow their trend of underperforming, and could finish closer to the bottom than to the top of the scoreboard.

 

 

I thought this was really underperformed in the Semi, and they've pulled a really poor draw in the Final, so I'd expect to see this get very lost indeed.

 

 

Macedonia is probably the single participant which frustrates me the most.  Usually, they send good songs, if not mediocre, but the performance however, always tells a different story, with the choreography usually being nothing special, the vocal usually being nothing special and in return, the whole entry doesn’t come across as being very special at all.  What frustrates me is that they always, without fail just manage to make the Final and then fall back into relegation zone having to participate in the Semi again.  What frustrates me further is that Macedonia wouldn’t do so well if it weren’t for their abundance of neighbours, who usually always give them high points just managing to push them through.  If Western Europe had have been the only people voting this year the scoreboard wouldn’t have been much different apart from the case of Macedonia, who would have finished a place or two from the bottom.  As far as this year’s entry is concerned, I liked the song but was disappointed with the performance.  As I mentioned above, everything was just OK, and I felt this lacked the sparkle it needed to make it through.  Nonetheless they pulled it off and my prediction of 9^th place was bang on and finishing 14^th is just slightly out so I’m considering that a right and wrong.