Artist: Laura Rizzotto
Song: Funny Girl
Country: Latvia
Rating: ★★★★★★☆☆☆☆
Ranking: 32nd
Betting Odds: 126/1
Laura Rizzotto won Supernova 2018 and was selected to represent Latvia as their Eurovision singer with the song ‘Funny Girl’.
The song is essentially about an unrequited love. Laura sees the man she is in love with kissing another woman, smelling of her perfume all the while decrying how she is seen just as the ‘funny girl’, not the beautiful woman of his dreams that he wants to spend the rest of his life with. The lyrics to the song plays on this motif very well with effective lines like:
‘Ain’t it funny, ain’t it funny
Oh, it all started as a joke
But now I’m falling, now I’m falling
The punch line is getting old’
The video for the song is also quite clever with Laura sitting in her house at the start of the song, but as the video progresses she gradually becomes the stock jester character from a pantomime, reflected in her make up and dress.
‘Funny Girl’ has its merits, but is not without failings either. Firstly, some of the lyrics can get quite repetitive and fatiguing mainly the ‘you’re looking at her, she’s looking at you’ lead in to the chorus which can be quite tedious. Secondly, the message of the song isn’t one of strength. The singer is in a tough place looking for the attention of the man she loves, but it comes off as whiny and uninspiring. I would love for the last verse to kick up a revelry in which she owns her status as a funny girl and comes to the realisation that she doesn’t need the man who can’t see her for who she is.
Laura will perform in semi final two sandwiched between a high octane rock song from Hungary and an up tempo dance pop song from Sweden. Her understated song may get lost amidst these two and she may struggle to get a place in the final.
For more information on the artist here is 10 Things About…Laura Rizzotto!
The full lyrics to the song are here and check out the video below!
Eurovision NI 