Top 4 Performances from ESCZ 2023 (Czechia)

Описание: As decided by one American guy with amazing taste. Part of a Eurovision-related series in which I will share my top four of every national selection final from countries sending songs to the Eurovision Song Contest in 2023. Full playlist here:    • Eurovision National Selections 2023 | Top ...  

For what it's worth, this is meant to be an assessment of the total package: composition, performance, artistic merit, and anything else that might be relevant to how compelling the entry was. Obviously, my musical preferences will come into play.

ESCZ serves as Czechia's selection program for Eurovision; the final event took place 7 February 2023. My top 3 were as follows:

"My Sister's Crown" - Vesna
"Ghosting" - Pam Rabbit
"Introvert Party Club" - Rodan

In that order. There were only five entries this year, and only three of them were viable for Eurovision. This was perhaps the easiest contest for me to rank, because the pecking order seems extremely clear. "My Sister's Crown" is essentially made for ESC and as a result, was the decisive winner in the actual vote. It's an extremely dense package sonically and textually, and Vesna are in my top 10 right now (April 2023) contingent on staging.

With that said, "ghosting" by Pam Rabbit is a track and performance that I have revisited a lot--probably too much! I was getting a hint of Lena 2011 vibes off of her performance at the time, and I thought it could have potentially been something that would appeal to the wider Eurovision audience. She's a great performer, serving massive attitude, and is one of the few artists that I've actually started following on Spotify this year.

Despite placement, I'd say that Czechia has done really well with their winners the past couple of years. "Lights Off" was a favorite of mine in 2022, and as a studio track, I'll hold that up as one of the best of the year any day.