ESC 2017 REVIEW - SAN MARINO (05): VALENTINA MONETTA & JIMMIE WILSON

ESC 2017 REVIEW - SAN MARINO (05): VALENTINA MONETTA & JIMMIE WILSON - SPIRIT OF THE NIGHT

Pictured is the national flower of San Marino, cyclamen

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San Marino once again used the internal selection and after a long process the final decision was made just a couple of weeks before the headline with a phone call to the one and only Valentina Monetta. She will be joined on stage with American born, Germany based Jimmie Wilson for this black & white disco duet penned by Ralph Siegel with Jutta Staudenmayer and Steven Barnacle. This is La Monetta's 4th Euroviison, Ralph Siegel's 24th. Maybe next year they make Valentina's 5th making her the ONLY Eurovision artist with five participations, and Siegel's 25th?

Valentina Monetta (42) seems to be the oldest artist this year (!!!) but she seems to be having the most fun of it. After Copenhagen she's been doing her own thing, singing jazz and r'n'b in clubs and living in London for some time. Jimmie who comes from the original Motown city Detroit, has studied in Hollywood, played in a musical produced by Michael Jackson before moving to Germany to star as Barak Obama in another musical. He has released a few singles and his debut album will be released shortly.

After three participations this time Valentina seems to be letting it all out and just having fun after the stressful Crisalide affair as one of the hottests fan favorites, and then the miracle of Maybe. Spirits of the night are dancing it away while Valentina lets it all out and musical star Jimmie is trying to keep up with her. And together they really work the stage and make the song come alive. Some say it's old fashioned and typical Ralph Siegel song aka dated and bad. I don't agree. It's vintage disco and their voices blend together, and even better when live and it is this song's natural habit (unlike some others like Belgium and Azerbaijan to start with...) as they both are experienced and great vocalists as we have seen in various promo events from Tel Aviv to Amsterdam and Madrid. Their live performance makes you even forget its slight repetitiveness that maybe can get to you when listening only the studio version. Valentina sings better than ever and has the sparkle in the eye like never before and their smiles can melt butter. This is fun and catchy and deserves to qualify. I might be slightly biased (cough cough) but 9/10 and a jump of 10 places in the last minute just for the fun of it. Go Vale!

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