#johnlundvik

Sweden 2019

'Too Late For Love', performed by Jon Lundvik Composed by John Lundvik, Anderz Wrethov, and Andreas "Stone" Johansson. Lyrics by John Lundvik, Anderz Wrethov, and Andreas "Stone" Johansson.

We're here to review the songs, so I'm going to put aside the callous nature of the final split-screen voting; although I'm not going to forget it… I want my Eurovision to be a celebration, not a cruel circus).

'Too Late For Love' is a highly polished piece of R&B, taking fifth place in the Tel Aviv Contest, but I think it left a lot of potential points on the table because someone was overthinking the staging. Simply put, this is far too dark, and strips away many of the indications that this is a live performance.

The handful of audience shots are always in darkness, meaning the audience cheers feel piped in. The idea of using negative space to represent something missing is a powerful piece of cinematography if it's not blatantly obvious. It's blatantly obvious. Without those connections this looks like someone decided to play a music video instead of watching an arena performance. 

Which is a shame, because Lundvik is fabulous on camera. He knows how to connect with the audience at home, and he provided the perfect gif moment at the end of the live performance with a cheeky wink down the lens.

I come back to that word clinical. The look feels far too polished, the song feels like a tick box exercise of moments, and once the jury note is delivered  the last minute or is packed full of vocal exercises hiding as technique. I'd prefer a bit less spectacle, and I think that would have improved the whole package.