🇸🇲🔍 What went wrong: Part 1 – Megara

Now several months on from Eurovision 2024 we’ve all had a chance to mull over the results of the contest. The Eurovision 2024 final saw some very dramatic results, but 11 acts did not get a chance to see that. We thought we’d have a deep dive into these acts and give you our opinion on What Went Wrong. Today we’re going to discuss San Marino’s Megara.

The first in our series will see Angus, Jazzi, and Kittens with their thought on why San Marino’s Megara failed to make the final.

Who is Megara?

MEGARA are a four piece rock band from Madrid in Spain. The band consists of members Kenzy Loevett, Vitti Crocutta, Tio Rober Bueno, and Raphaela Tache. MEGARA first formed as a band in 2015. In the same year MEGARA went on to release their first ever EP, which was entitled “Muérase quien pueda”. The band then followed up their first EP with their first album in 2016 which was entitled “Siete”. In their career, MEGARA have performed at many festivals including the famous Download Festival in 2019.

Since their first album, MEGARA have gone on to release a further two albums. In 2022 they released the album “Truco o trato”. This third album contained the single “Arcadia”, which was when MEGARA’s journey with Eurovision began. In 2023, MEGARA took part in Spanish national final Benidorm Fest, the group made it all the way to the final, placing in fourth overall. Following this, MEGARA then started the journey towards representing San Marino at the Eurovision Song Contest in 2024.

MEGARA’s Eurovision 2024 song “11:11” was written by the members of the band.

What are the issues with the selection?

Angus – I love Una Voce Per San Marino despite all its flaws, and it is impressive that San Marino has found a way to always participate in Eurovision. But if there is one thing that UVPSM is not likely to do, it is picking a competitive song for ESC. The reasons for that are varied and not necessarily something that can (or perhaps even should, in my opinion), be solved by San Marino RTV. It’s just that the jury-only format, which here also includes countless of rounds and songs plus some other nonsense, will struggle to attract the kind of song that can do well, let alone also pick that song as the Sammarinese entry.

Jazzi – I like the amount of effort a country as small as San Marino puts into their national final, it really shows their commitment to Eurovision. I do think there should be some element of public voting in the national final, a jury only selection does not work when at the time of writing in the Eurovision semi-finals it is televoting only. I do think the three songs produced from Una Voce Per San Marino translated well on stage from the national final and personally found 11:11 really fun, however the genre may just not have been accessible enough for all Eurovision fans.

Kittens – I feel like UVPSM is trying too hard to be other countries. Yes there’s a great argument for picking and choosing the good bits of what other countries do, but it means that UPVSM doesn’t have its own identity, there’s nothing that defines it (apart from being lightly chaotic). I do find it baffling for the whole thing to be jury voting, especially with televote only Eurovision semi-finals, and the whole selection system feels like a mess (quality is all over the shop). I’d love to see them narrow it down more, and work more selectively on good quality music rather than the current situation.

Was the song and act good enough to be in Eurovision?

Angus – MEGARA are a band ready for primetime, something which they already showed in Benidorm 2023. As a band they have learned from that experience as well. That being said, “11:11” is much more of a song suited for a fan contest than actual Eurovision. It wasn’t quite catchy enough, the lyrics feel more like what you expect the band to release in between national final entries, and while I do enjoy the song a lot, it was always going to be an uphill battle, especially when representing our favourite microstate.

Jazzi – I feel 11:11 didn’t quite have a hook that was memorable enough for it to get through when representing a nation such as San Marino – who struggle most years to qualify. MEGARA are seasoned performers and we have seen that time and time again at national finals, pre-parties and at Eurovision itself. I feel this song was a lot weaker as a song than their previous Benidorm Fest attempt in 2023. The staging was great and creative, you can tell everything was put into this to try get it over the line.

Kittens – Absolutely yes. Megara delivered every time, the performance was great. I definitely preferred “Arcadia” but love “11:11” and it really grew on me. What the band have learned on their journey definitely comes through and you’ve got that experience behind you on stage. I thought the song was really accessible as well – well, they do like to party, but they do love rock – so hit several different genres.

Did the staging compliment the song and stand out?

Angus – The graphic design perfectly fit the band and the song. It was goth-inspired, in your face, and in my view further enhanced the performance of everyone on stage. It really fit the bill of “fucksia rock”, which they describe their sound as. The outfits did their job, although Kenzy’s “reveal” really wasn’t necessary. The choreo was solid and even had some standout moments. However, a lot of the fun and energy of the performance ended up getting drained from it by the camerawork. Of course, it is difficult to translate a good staging of this song to the screen, but some of the wider shots really hurt the overall momentum of the track.

Jazzi – I felt the staging really complemented the song and MEGARA as a band really well. It was full of pink, which is a clear image identity for the band. The staging was also fiery at points which again suited this heavy rock song. I do not think there was much wrong with the staging at all.

Kittens – I literally gasped when I first saw this staging, I was not expecting much at all so to get this was astounding! Probably some of the better staging we saw all year to be honest. I think they used the stage really well and didn’t feel swallowed up by the size of it – whoever did this staging, San Marino I am begging you to keep them!

Could this song have qualified if changes were made?

Angus – As I said, this song always faced an uphill battle. Besides representing San Marino, who I do think are fairly consistently underrated by viewers and juries, they also competed in a tough semi-final for this track, with multiple rock and rock-adjacent entries competing for votes. Tighter camerawork and a bit of luck here and there might have made San Marino a contender for that last qualifying spot, but I fear that there really was just too much going against “11:11” this year.

Jazzi – I don’t think there was really much more that could have been done to help this song qualify. The staging complimented the song, was engaging. As I have already said the song’s hook wasn’t as memorable as we have seen from MEGARA or San Marino in the past. The semi-final was so strong there were just limited routes into the final for this sadly, as much as I quite like it.

Kittens – This year was a really rough contest for the bangers, and I think partially this didn’t help their chances. I don’t normally advocate for less of non-English languages at Eurovision but I do think a little more English in the hook to grab people might have helped make it more distinctive and memorable to get those televotes. But I don’t think most of this was bad or even middle of the road really, just quite unlucky.

What are our outlooks for future contests?

Angus – San Marino is likely to keep the current format, and maybe it will finally see them come back to a Eurovision final at some point or another. I hope they do so sooner rather than later, because I do feel a lot of effort is being put into the staging and San Marino has missed out on many finals they richly deserved to be in. Despite that, I am not holding my breath, unless some really surprising names sign up for UVPSM next year.

Jazzi – I don’t think the outlook right now is too positive, two of the three years we have seen this national final, they have sent somewhat established artists with songs that are authentic to them and it still hasn’t been enough. I think the format in the national final definitely needs tweaking to include viewer input into the entry. I wouldn’t like to see the national final leave us however as it’s one of the fun weeks in the craziness of national final season and it does have its value.

Kittens – I really want to see a much more refined, neater national selection process. There’s so much extra fluff around this selection and it’s so hard to ignore that that energy would be better used on…almost anything else. Stop focusing on things you shouldn’t focus on, make the final and the heats a shorter process and concentrate on quality over quantity – but whatever you do, don’t fire the person who did the staging!

San Marino’s Eurovision Journey

As one of the smallest countries in Europe, San Marino made its debut in the competition in 2008 with Miodio and the song “Complice”. Since then they have participated in the competition 14 times, qualifying for the grand final in three. Their best result was in 2019, with Serhat and “Say Na Na Na”.

Spanish band Megara represented San Marino in 2024 with the song “11:11”. They failed to qualify from the second semifinal, placing fourteenth and receiving sixteen points from the televote.

What do think about our thoughts? Do you think San Marino could have qualified? Let us know in the comments or on social media! Be sure to follow ‘That Eurovision Site’ on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Threads and Bluesky as we prepare for Eurovision 2024!

Source: That Eurovision Site

Image Credit: Sarah Louise Bennett / EBU