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 Albania’s Besa.
In our fourth part Shiloh, Daniel, and Kittens discuss Besa from Albania.
Who is Besa?
Besa Kokëdhima, the full name of singer Besa, is a 37 year old singer from Qepero, Albania. Despite being from Qepero, Besa now resides in Fier. At the age of 15, Besa moved to the United Kingdom, in order to receive musical tuition. This proved successful, as in 2003, at the age of 18, Besa released her first ever single “Më Beso”, it later went on to win awards in Albania. Following on from her first single, Besa went on to release her self titled debut album, three years later in 2006.
Since 2006, Besa has gone on to compete in several Eurovision based competitions. The first of these came in 2009, when Besa took part in the Romanian selection “Selectia Naționăla”, with the song “Nothing’s Gonna Change”. Besa reached the semi-finals of this national final. Later, in 2010, Besa took part in Festivali I Këngës for the first time. Besa competed with the song “E bukura dhe bisha”. The song reached the Final of 2010’s competition. Throughout her discography, Besa has released four albums, the most recent being “Ti je festa ime”. However, since 2014 Besa has released many singles, the most recent before Eurovision being “Plastic Heart”, which she released earlier this year.
Her Eurovision song for 2024, “TiTAN”, was written by Besa herself, alongside Fabrice, Alias Lj, Grandjean, Kledi Bahti and Gia Koka.
What are the issues with the selection?
Shiloh – The revamps. While not officially part of the selection per se, they do happen almost every year without fail, and it feels like part of the Albanian selection process: select a good-to-mediocre song, wait for the mediocre-to-bad English revamp. All I want is for Albania to stop doing this, especially because they so often defang the songs of their distinctive rock vibes.
Daniel – Festivali i Këngës in its own right is a thoroughly decent song festival. As a Eurovision selection it sometimes just feels a bit messy, especially since they introduced the separate televote winner for the Eurovision ticket.
Kittens – FiK is just great as a song festival, despite it generally being not being my taste personally. It’s definitely okay to just have it as a song festival and not necessarily your choice for Eurovision. That’s perfectly fine. But, I do think that the Eurovision choice needs to not be an afterthought. If you are going for Eurovision, select FOR Eurovision, not just your televote’s favourite song. I’d love to see them choose differently, maybe get an international jury in alongside the televote, if they’re going to take it seriously as a choice for Eurovision.
Was the song and act good enough to be in Eurovision?
Shiloh – Uh, no. Not in a million years. I don’t think I need to explain this one.
Daniel – I was taught if I don’t have anything nice to say, to not say anything at all.
Kittens – I do think there was nothing really wrong with the act, clearly Besa can perform well. However the song was…I really really don’t think the revamp helped at all. It felt so messy stylistically and it just did not need to be (at least fully) in English. I understand wanting to revamp it, but that beat that kicks in at the end needed to be either in earlier or not at all (earlier would be my preference). It felt like a mishmash of styles competing with each other but with nothing getting full impact.
Did the staging compliment the song and stand out?
Shiloh – It wasn’t… bad? But considering what we’ve seen Albania do for staging before–not to mention how strong a year for staging this was–it wasn’t memorable either.
Daniel – The staging was thoroughly okay, certainly wasn’t anything to write home about.
Kittens – I can barely remember the staging. I do remember actively hating the blue dress with a passion though. I’m aware it’s just performed on stage in FiK, so not really any staging, but I really don’t think the whole presentation was thought through well, and lacked anything that made any impact, which the song really needed. The annoying thing is that it definitely had the opportunity to do it as the song ramped up and it just lost all that energy.
Could this song have qualified if changes were made?
Shiloh – There would have been a chance if no changes had been made, i.e., no revamp. How big a chance that would have been, I don’t know, probably not very big, but it would have been significantly better odds that way. Revamp aside, though, I know this may be a minority opinion but Besa didn’t have much personality as a performer either. I got very little emotion from her.
Daniel – I think there was a slim chance if it wasn’t revamped into English, but even then you’d be hoping for a miracle.
Kittens – I feel like the problem is that changes were made! Anyway I still feel like the problem is in the selection process not necessarily the song/artist – select for Eurovision. Without that basis you’re not gonna get too far, and no revamp or changes can change that.
What are our outlooks for future contests
Shiloh – Do I even need to say it? The revamps. Look, if you’re going to revamp your song, maybe take the time to write good English lyrics, and don’t remove the one thing that makes your country’s selections consistently musically distinct from the rest!
Daniel – Please, I am begging, stop translating your songs into English. It nearly always makes them worse. (Arilena Ara you are amazing this isn’t about you)
Kittens – I’m going to say it again – take a long hard look at the way you select. It’s definitely okay to send something that represents your country but you still need to be a favourite of the Eurovision voting public in the end – what do you need to do to satisfy them? What can you showcase? You have talent in droves, it’s not the language that is the problem, but something needs to shift to get you that appeal.
Albania’s Eurovision Journey
In 2004, Albania made their debut into the Eurovision Song Contest with Anjeza Shahini with “Image of You”, which placed 7th in the final. Since their debut, Albania has participated 20 times, and made the final 10 times. They achieved their best result in 2012, where Rona Nishliu placed 5th with “Suus”.
Besa represented Albania in 2024 with the song “Titan”. “Titan” performed in the second semi-final, where it ultimately placed fifteenth out of sixteen, receiving 14 points from the televote.
What do think about our thoughts? Do you think Albania 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
Tim J