Hello welcome to my series of quick takes designed to get you ready for Eurovision 2019. Just some quick thoughts / my take on each of the 41 songs this year. The countries are in alphabetical order so without further ado: Moldova.

Country: Moldova
Singer: Anna Odobescu
Song: Stay
Personal Score: 38 out of 41
My Prediction: NQ

This song drives me nuts because it’s pinging me so hard for some song I heard on the radio in the 90s. Maybe something by Celine Dion or someone in that area of vocals. It’s definitely trying to bring back 1990’s power ballads and Anna’s voice is really doing the heavy lifting. The problem for me is that this song just never gets off the ground. I’m always waiting for the big moment but then it’s the end of the song and I’m left fairly cold.

The 90’s worked for Moldova last year but I don’t know if this really taps into the parts of that decade that anyone wants to remember. This wants to be a Celine Dion “Power of Love” but without the stunning off-hand charisma, the staging production, or the driving melody “Stay” ends up as a tepid-watery version that feels more like when you’re trying to remember the lyrics to an old song than the actual song itself. This should have been in my wheelhouse and it might have been if the sound had been updated to something more contemporary but this soundscape is probably best left in the 90s.