Hallucination (Denmark 2025)

Whew! We've got to #10, meaning we've finished the first quarter of the 37 acts in this year's ESC!

It's a significant milestone in a long journey, for sure! One that I hope isn't just a... Hallucination!

(Source)

Here's Sissal from Denmark!

Lyrics: 62%
Composition: 62.5%
Vocals: 84%
Staging: 70%
Vibes: 65%
Overall: 68.7%

Verdict: If you look at the lyrics from a certain angle, it's about some poor person being so in love that they let their partner gaslight them to hell and back until they can't tell fact from fiction. xD

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LYRICS - Total: 16.5/25 (62%)
Subject Matter: 5/10
Effective Use of Language: 3.5/5
Clarity: 4/5
Flow: 3/5

Well, it's another love song. Honestly, subject-matter wise it all feels pretty standard - love can make things feel new and open - it can broaden your horizons, let you have new experiences, bring you into a world where everything feels like a fantasy and you're being swept along with things not under your control. It's... not groundbreaking.

Unless you tell me Sissal was comparing being in love to taking drugs and hallucinating as a result. That'd be fresh, at least.

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COMPOSITION - Total: 12.5/20 (62.5%)
Melody/Bass: 3/5
Instrumentation: 3/5
Development: 3.5/5
Coherence: 3/5

I don't know, it kinda feels like it's giving chill Cascada.

Then again, maybe it's just the general 2000s EDM vibe. I especially like how the synth (I think?) has that slightly blurred feel, where the notes kind of blend into the surrounding sounds, rather than sounding sharp or focused. It's very appropriate.

I also like how Sissal didn't do a direct copy+paste of verse to chorus, in terms of the length of the various sections. The second verse is a lot shorter than the first, the second chorus is a lot longer (usually it's one or the other, but not both), and together with the bridge and postchorus, it really stops the song from sounding too long or too repetitive.

That said, the instrumentation feels pretty static and inoffensive, and as before, nothing here attempts to be groundbreaking. Nothing here really inspires me.

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VOCALS - Total: 21/25 (84%)
Vocals: 17/20
Immersion: 4/5

Great vocals. Definitely felt like she was feeling what she was singing. Not quite top tier (18's, 19's and 20's are only reserved for those who draw me in by the sheer power and soul of their voice - where just hearing a few words of what they sing drags me into a whole new world) - but great.

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STAGING - Total: 17.5/25 (70%)
The Show: 7.5/10
The Story: 7/10
Outfits: 3/5

With a... well, comparatively generic, bland song like this, the staging had to be good if Denmark didn't want to achieve another SAAAAAAAAAND NQ. And this time round, things actually did turn out a lot better. I think they delivered.

There were a number of things I enjoyed with this staging. The distortion effects were used quite well, the switch from monochrome to coloured was expected but I liked it anyway, the blurry screen effects symbolizing the hallucination make their point without being obnoxious, the hanging drapes with the shadows behind was a nice touch and let Sissal's team play with shadows, the long cape at the end, the dancers doing Michael Jackson things... there's a lot to like here. Camerawork was quite good, too - even when she was just standing there, it felt reasonably dynamic. 

I just wish the palette wasn't that blue. I'm also not so sure about that leotard with the knee-highs. Everyone and everything else is fully clad, then all of the sudden there's two patches of brown exposed thigh against a backdrop of blue, which I felt contrasted a little too strongly. The way the light reflected off them, my mind immediately got stuck on "oh they those look like fake legs to me". Which is a stupid, nonsensical thought, but yeah.

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VIBES - 65%
Not bad.