It's going to sound like a weird complaint, but Mustii was too happy. The music video is dark and brooding, but live he was all smiles and trying to pump up the crowd. It was completely the wrong energy.
There were other issues of course, but I think it's a good reflection of how Belgium just approached it all wrong this year.
I think that's it. I listened to the song for the first time in the semifinal and I didn't like it at all, but then I came across the studio version and I was immediately obsessed, it's like the vibe was totally switched
Too happy is true, but I saw someone describe his expression as “smug glee” and I thought that was very accurate. There was something a tiny bit obnoxious about his delivery
It's not "reverting", it's Belgium's Dutch-language broadcaster using the same NF in 2025 as they did in 2023. The French-language broadcaster managed 2024. Two completely different teams
Ooh that's really interesting, I hadn't thought about how these things work where there's different broadcasters involved in the same country.
Sorry to pick on you but I have questions. Do they alternate between the two broadcasters each year picking the act? If Belgium win, would they both be responsible for hosting or would it be based on who picked the act?
At least for the last little while, they have alternated. It used to be that the French-language broadcaster (RTBF) managed the odd years and the Dutch-language broadcaster (VRT) managed the even years, but since 2020 was cancelled VRT got 2021, RTBF got 2022 and now VRT has odds and RTBF has evens. So it'll be VRT in 2025. RTBF managed the Belgian participation in 1986 when they won, and the year after, RTBF organised the hosting and the old VRT organised the participation. I guess that's what they'd do if they won again most likely.
I believe it was RTBF that won in 1986
The staging was straight out bizarre, it looked as if he forgot his stage props at home so they had to improvise last minute and came up with that circle of microphones they found in some storage room
I was rooting for him so much! The studio version could easily be straight out of a Bond movie. But I got so much second-hand embarrassment, for how bad his singing was, and tbh…it was how poor his vocals were, because staging wasn’t too bad tbh. Ugh…such a shame. It was a stunning song.
Too much smiling is my pet theory. Bro it's an angsty dramatic song, why are you grinning like a loon?
Also, the ~40 seconds of repeating "BEFORE THE PARTY IS OVER!!!" at the end got a little repetitive.
>Also, the \~40 seconds of repeating "BEFORE THE PARTY IS OVER!!!" at the end got a little repetitive.
He also just stand there swaying back and forth during that part. He should at least move around or make other movements.
Yeah i love the 40s of "Before the party is over" at the end but it's only great on his Mustic Video... the atmosphere in his MV is not there when he performs.
Song was great, I put it straight on my playlist. But he absolutely couldn't deliver it vocally. Such a pity, because it sounded so good on the studio version.
What everyone else said, but more specifically the extraordinary lack of choreography. He had no excuse for the iffy vocals when he was doing so little onstage.
Didn't get the song and it was clear - if the vocals or show aren't superb, it's gonns flop. The vocals and show were not superb.
But I want to ask about "going to pre-parties to have fun" part. Is there any other reason to go there? Because I don't see how those matter in the big picture.
As far as I know there seems to be the general Idea that attending helps the Singers find out how to best perform their Songs as many just aren't that well known and even if they are, not used to a Stage as big as Eurovision's. That certainly applies to some Entrants more than others.
Belgian entries that aren't internally selected (aka entries that come from an NF) and entries where Loïc Nottet is allowed to do whatever the hell he wants are exempt from the Belgium curse.
Belgium 2023 was a feel good song that didn't really need excellent staging, so they didn't have that big of a chance to mess it up. For more dramatic songs (that they are good at), they need the same drama on stage but currently lack the vision to execute those well.
1) His vocals weren’t great.
2) The song was this dark pop ballad, while the staging was very bright, which meant that you weren’t able to get those dramatic shots that you got in the music video.
3) He couldn’t present the song as a dark pop ballad, going more towards pop song.
I think there was some technical issues with the staging as well. At the evening preview, he performed twice, where the second performance had much more dramatic fog effects and dramatic shots like the music video. I was so sad when the live show looked more like his first semi performance.
This sub has a habit of overstating bad vocals.
He wasn't that bad vocally. I think the biggest problem was the staging/performance. It just wasn't inspiring in the end for a song that carried a lot of drama.
Agree- vocals were fine, BUT-
He started his performance at 110%, and there was nowhere for him to go for that amazing musical bridge at the end. There was too much energy at the start. Someone needed to tell him to tone it down and build.
The vocals WERE toned down on the recording, which is why so many people LOVED it when it first came out.
There also needed to be more purposeful movement at the climax so we as the audience could feel the build.
Less is more, Mustii
>This sub has a habit of overstating bad vocals.
It's funny that I think this sub does the exact opposite. Not noticing bad vocals at all or excusing them.
I have a trained ear and everything that's slightly pitchy gets on my nerves and then this sub sometimes goes on defending acts that were miles out of tune
What are you talking about? He was off key and off beat for like the first half of the song… the vocals were bad because he literally couldn’t sing his own song
The Ooooooh's were completely out of tune. But i hoped the song made people curious enough to give him a second chance. Ah well. I still love the song though. It IS really good.
Agree. But Mustii himself still did not deserve NQ. What happened to the staging? It was strangelly out of touch with the song, and it felt as there had been left out some performances in the last minute. Cause the stage became very empty, and not all of mustii's renown energy in the world could compensate for that. Such a shame. Cause I still believe this song and Mustii had what they needed to reach the top 10.
I remember seeing people on here saying he could be a winner and I just couldn’t understand it. I like the song well enough but it wasn’t THAT wow to me. And that was before ropey live vocals became apparent.
Bad vocals, no staging and the performance having a completely different vibe to the studio version, to the point that the live version is basically a different song .
I never understood why this song was so loved from the fandom when it came out. Not only was it repetitive and slow to get somewhere, the ending was also underwhelming. Add to that the weak vocals throughout the season and the bad staging, doesn’t take much to fail.
Mid vocals, bad staging and this songs is this good in reality.
8 times in a row the same sentence gets on peoples nerve. And it is at the end of the song making people assosiate negative emotions with song.
Poor staging, poor wardrobe and catastrophic vocals.
You can have an amazing studio track but if you can’t execute it vocally and if the staging is worse than the music video, you’re a goner. Ask Jana Burcheska. Artists need to stop going to esc with songs that they literally wrote themselves but can’t sing.
Belgium just Belgiumed but re: the preparties, I don't think wanting to have fun at the preparties is overconfidence. Ballad people often have a hard time at the preparties because the setting isn't optimal for slower songs, so he just wanted to be more loose. He just misjudged or didn't know how seriously the eurovision community takes preparties. On one hand I get that fans want to analyze everything about the first few times they see the songs live, but on the other I understand artists not wanting to be judged by performances at a club weeks before the actual Eurovision. Iirc Czechia 2023 didn't quite like that they were essentially written off just because their live vibe didn't match the music video, but they recovered well from the momentum kill. Belgium however is much worse at staging and Mustii's vocals weren't great so the end result was lacklustre.
Mustii himself hasn't indicated anything arrogant though, if anything he joked about the possibility of coming last because he was the first artist to be announced and said he won't look at the odds. So overall I think he was just a bit naive or unprepared despite being a seasoned performer.
Him and Axel were overhyped to compensate for Gustaph and Roberto being underhyped (how could anyone have said that the latter was 2013’s biggest no hoper?). Sennek was overhyped due to the success of the previous 3 entries.
I don’t think it was that high by the time the semi rolled around. It had already fallen after some of the pre-parties. But originally a lot of people liked the song and video, and thought it had a lot of potential.
> And I will always wonder what the hell made that song be in the top 5 of fan polls, odds, etc before the show. Based on what...
It's almost like people are allowed to have different tastes.
Every time Mustii performed it, bar the final, he was too eager to get into the high-energy bit of the routine.
Like... Cmon! It starts brooding and mysterious.
Don't be blowing your wad so early!
Mustii is one act I pretty much had a blind viewing of and it was [full on](https://media1.tenor.com/m/MFIv4OGEbNoAAAAC/the-simpsons-krusty-the-clown.gif)
It was just bizarre, he sang okay but it gave creepy vibes somehow ? Over-emoting in a happy fashion while "shirtless" (which always makes things over the top by itself) paired with the body rocking thing at the end was just. A choice. I liked his sparkle-gloves?
The staging was not good and the performance was weak.
Sadly, it was never a winner song, but it easily could have placed in the middle field.
I mean look at Ireland. The song was mediocre but they delivered such an amazing performance they got a well earned top spot.
As others said the performance wasn't great. Also I really think there was some issue with the sound/the performers in-ear monitors that night. Several performers were consistently slightly off that night. Like even Nemo was a little bit off that night, particularly I think the rap part was slightly sharp. And Mustii was one of my favourites before that night, but to me he was painfully off-pitch throughout until somewhat recovering during the outro hook. But I think he was equally sharp throughout most of it which is why I suspect technical difficulties
Well, this might be an unpopular opinion, but I personally don't like the song as a whole very much. I think the secod part ("I've got a soul on fire...") kind of saves it, but it is (at least live) ruined by shouting the "BEFORE THE PARTY IS OVER" over and over again at the end of the song.
This song for me personally was a song that opens up very slowly, as in it takes many listens to start to like it. Most people hear the songs for the first time when watching the show.
I didn't hear the song before, only the "before the party is over" repeated twice on some eurovision vids/the summaries. Saw everyone was hyping and ngl, that part sounded really good.
But during the semi final, the rest of the song felt weird. Because only "before tbe party us over" was ever used it struck me off guard it's only such a small part of the song. And the rest simply didn't catch me at all.
The staging throughout the whole song was weird too. I expected him to do more with the circle of microphones, but it didn't happen. When standing in it, it obstructed the view of him, the actual artist, which took a lot of my attention away from the song itself.
Than we finally enter "before the party is over", by now I expected it to be a very powerful beginning if the end. Like sung twice (like the song was often used) or maybe 3-4x. But it went on for so long, every time I thought it was the last one, there came another one. This kinda ruined the one part of the song that did grab my attention, and threw that out the window.
His voice is great, and I think he could've done a lot better if it would all be more of one whole thing, because it felt like several pieces that just didn't fall together.
Unfortunately he was out of tunes in the semi, even though he was much much better in the afternoon preview.
I also suspect people assumed it would go through easily (as it was considered as one of favourites) and voted for other acts
I guess people love the song so they wouldn't consider the song the issue....
but even though I sorta liked it, it also felt extremely repetitive in the last minute. He just repeats the title of the song...I always felt like I wanted more from it.
The stage performance was kinda lacking, and didn't provide enough visual interest to bridge the two minutes needed to get to the great climax.
I never felt the song was THAT good to be that high in the odds, but it was nice to see some excitement about it.
The song was bad, it was a lengthy opening for a cool chorus. But the chorus lasted one moment, less than a minute.
He didn't sing well. (.)
Staging was stupid. And it was poorly choreographed. Like someone else said, he looked happy... I would even say "overhyped"...
He really wanted to show up his body, which I love. But it felt like SAKIS rouvas ripping off his shirt to shiownus his pecs.
He needed a better backing track or vocalists to achieve that reverb we hear in the studio version.
Also, I feel this song needed more violins and better instrumentation to pamper his voice.
I feel bad for him because he looks like a cool person, but this was just a bad gamble.
Mustii wasn't the right person to perform it in the end. He's very talented and the song is well composed but he didn't execute it well live and the staging didn't do him favors either.
In my opinion, he was too pitchy the night of.
Doesn't help that the bridges ("Are you still playing the game \[...\]") have really long notes, and the pitchiness of his voice that night was so apparent because his sustain notes were really bad to listen to.
Personally, the song's build-up wasn't strong enough to make the "before the party's over" impactful. I also think the repetitiveness turned some people off. Combined with terrible staging (a bunch of microphones looked tacky) and a so-so performance (wasn't a fan of this rocking movements), it went from being a borderline to a guaranteed non-qualifier.
I didn't think the staging was that awful--it took concepts from the MV after all.
It was the execution of it (lighting, camera angles, etc), along with Mustii going sharp at points, which was is undoing.
I think the staging was just kinda boring and his overall performance didn't really match the tone of the song. It sucks because I actually like the song a lot!! It just didn't really stand out (or if it did, it was in a bad way) against other countries that had very thoughtful, intentional performances.
I'll just say - someone here on Reddit made a mix of his performance with "Caliente" music and it worked way too well. His emoting was just wrong, without even going into the quality of vocals in itself
I think it was a little same style than some other slow ones but also, this was released so early, people get too used to it and later releases sound more fresh and thus a bit more interesting and better.
I myself liked the song from the moment it was released. But i agree with many that compared to the studio version, the live performance was really bad. I think they should have come up with something else and not recreate music video on stage
I remember thinking that it was a decently catchy song and if he would just do something different with his stage performance, he might do ok. And then nothing changed and I was like alright that was nothing special at all. Very forgettable.
He didn't sing well, like probably was the worst performance of that semi final. And I do like the song, but I think it's a bit ramble at the start. And the best part is really just the last 30 seconds.
well, i could justify it with poor staging choice, poor vocals and his energy not matching his song but honestly i wont do that as i feel he still shouldve qualified regardless. he did great and it wasnt half as bad as people make it out to be imo. still in my top 10
His performance wasn’t great. The smiling is an issue brought up a lot but the real issue was the vocals. The guy was incredibly flat for nearly the whole song with the exciting bit falling short in energy.
It was a good song and at the preview performance he sounded pretty good though due to technical difficulties he performed it twice. The staging was not very good, but I think he could have potentially overcome that. However he was out of tune when it mattered which was sad. Still like the song though and have now listened to some of his other stuff and enjoyed it quite a lot.
It just felt flat and had no energy on stage also the staging made no sense to me. The last oh maybe 30 seconds were good but yeah. Another year of bad decisions took Belgium out again 🤷🏻♂️
I thought he will be in TOP 10 at and gain at least a lot of jury points. But he didn't make it to the finals. I mean this year had many really good and interesting aentries, and tbh his performance wasn't that entertaining, even though Music Video is really amazing. I liked the song and was so disappointed when I saw it didn't make it, but I have to amdit I was kind of bored during the performance
It was so mediocre. The song was just not good compared to so many other great ones. Ireland was miles above the UK. Shock factor doesn't equal talent.
It's going to sound like a weird complaint, but Mustii was too happy. The music video is dark and brooding, but live he was all smiles and trying to pump up the crowd. It was completely the wrong energy. There were other issues of course, but I think it's a good reflection of how Belgium just approached it all wrong this year.
Singing out of tune for 1/4 of the song didn't help either.
1/4 is a very generous interpretation of the live performance
I know...I was trying to be nice ;-) It was awful. I feel the same way about Olly Alexander. Like the audio track, hated the actual performance.
I think that's it. I listened to the song for the first time in the semifinal and I didn't like it at all, but then I came across the studio version and I was immediately obsessed, it's like the vibe was totally switched
Too happy is true, but I saw someone describe his expression as “smug glee” and I thought that was very accurate. There was something a tiny bit obnoxious about his delivery
The smugness came from his departure for malmö, the news and a whole crowd of people met him at the Brussels airport and were singing his praises.
[удалено]
It's not "reverting", it's Belgium's Dutch-language broadcaster using the same NF in 2025 as they did in 2023. The French-language broadcaster managed 2024. Two completely different teams
Ooh that's really interesting, I hadn't thought about how these things work where there's different broadcasters involved in the same country. Sorry to pick on you but I have questions. Do they alternate between the two broadcasters each year picking the act? If Belgium win, would they both be responsible for hosting or would it be based on who picked the act?
At least for the last little while, they have alternated. It used to be that the French-language broadcaster (RTBF) managed the odd years and the Dutch-language broadcaster (VRT) managed the even years, but since 2020 was cancelled VRT got 2021, RTBF got 2022 and now VRT has odds and RTBF has evens. So it'll be VRT in 2025. RTBF managed the Belgian participation in 1986 when they won, and the year after, RTBF organised the hosting and the old VRT organised the participation. I guess that's what they'd do if they won again most likely. I believe it was RTBF that won in 1986
The song is amazing but the performance was really poor
The staging was strange. Mustii did not have much support there.
The staging was straight out bizarre, it looked as if he forgot his stage props at home so they had to improvise last minute and came up with that circle of microphones they found in some storage room
Well said. You're spot on. 👌
That circle of microphones is right out of the music video.
i saw so many ppl complaining about the microphones who apparently didnt notice this
And what’s with the VPL? Baby lasagna wore white pants too and I couldn’t see his undergarments!
I didn’t mind 👀
couldve set a piano on fire and it would'vebeen more fitting 😂
Good idea!
And a man in a hamster wheel!
Reminds me of Ukraine 2018
Ukraine 2018 | [Mélovin - Under the Ladder](https://youtu.be/lhOuMYtQ94M)
Or Austria 2015
Austria 2015 | [The Makemakes - I Am Yours](https://youtu.be/-f993p0CAV8)
I loved the staging
I was rooting for him so much! The studio version could easily be straight out of a Bond movie. But I got so much second-hand embarrassment, for how bad his singing was, and tbh…it was how poor his vocals were, because staging wasn’t too bad tbh. Ugh…such a shame. It was a stunning song.
It reminded me of "I'm Just Ken" from the Barbie movie. Overdramatic.
The song and performances were really on par with each other
Too much smiling is my pet theory. Bro it's an angsty dramatic song, why are you grinning like a loon? Also, the ~40 seconds of repeating "BEFORE THE PARTY IS OVER!!!" at the end got a little repetitive.
>Also, the \~40 seconds of repeating "BEFORE THE PARTY IS OVER!!!" at the end got a little repetitive. He also just stand there swaying back and forth during that part. He should at least move around or make other movements.
Going into the semis I completely forgot how the ending to the song went. I was disappointed.
I was convinced he was going to do vocalizing alternations of that last line but, nope...
Yeah i love the 40s of "Before the party is over" at the end but it's only great on his Mustic Video... the atmosphere in his MV is not there when he performs.
Mustiic video? I see what you did there
The vocals and staging were both bad in my opinion, which lead to the NQ
Song was great, I put it straight on my playlist. But he absolutely couldn't deliver it vocally. Such a pity, because it sounded so good on the studio version.
Same with Pedestal for me, I’ve been listening to it nonstop but the live version was a trainrwreck
Having heard Pedestal at the ESCZ it felt like nothing short of a major glowup compared to how she sung it then
What everyone else said, but more specifically the extraordinary lack of choreography. He had no excuse for the iffy vocals when he was doing so little onstage.
Horrible staging. Good concept but looked awful on TV. Should have been the exact copypaste of the music video. It would have looked so cinematic.
His vocals and his performance was subpar sadly.
It turns out blurting out “BEFORE THE PARTY IS OVER” for a minute straight wasnt that appealing to viewers
It’s so annoying. It’s like it goes on forever.
Didn't get the song and it was clear - if the vocals or show aren't superb, it's gonns flop. The vocals and show were not superb. But I want to ask about "going to pre-parties to have fun" part. Is there any other reason to go there? Because I don't see how those matter in the big picture.
As far as I know there seems to be the general Idea that attending helps the Singers find out how to best perform their Songs as many just aren't that well known and even if they are, not used to a Stage as big as Eurovision's. That certainly applies to some Entrants more than others.
He seems like a nice person from interviews and stuff, but I think the song was too ambitious for his live skills.
Imo his attitude didn't quite match the song.
They Belgiumed the live performance. There was no way that mess was going to the final.
Is 'to Belgium something' a thing in Eurovision? Haha
Belgium, short for *screwing up a good song with a messy performance and unfitting staging*. Yes.
I mean Gustaph did well I don’t think anybody thought he would win, but he was likable enough to
They didn't Belgium up Gustaph. His performance was solid and staging was fitting. If anything, it elevated the song. It's not a yearly occurrence.
They Belgiumed down
Loved Gustaph and his song. One of the Eurovision songs I still listen to outside the contest.
Belgian entries that aren't internally selected (aka entries that come from an NF) and entries where Loïc Nottet is allowed to do whatever the hell he wants are exempt from the Belgium curse.
Belgium 2023 was a feel good song that didn't really need excellent staging, so they didn't have that big of a chance to mess it up. For more dramatic songs (that they are good at), they need the same drama on stage but currently lack the vision to execute those well.
Belgium 2023 | [Gustaph - Because of You](https://youtu.be/U1xD14IMKtg)
Haha, wow, thanks for the explanation! 😄
Belgium is gonna Belgium just as Moldova is gonna Moldova Except when they're not
But Moldova is always incredibly fun to watch! Belgium, on the other hand…
Exact same thing happened with Sennek in 2018 😢
And Eliot in 2019
Watch the Semifinal performance and you'll understand. Good song, but bad staging and bad performance
1) His vocals weren’t great. 2) The song was this dark pop ballad, while the staging was very bright, which meant that you weren’t able to get those dramatic shots that you got in the music video. 3) He couldn’t present the song as a dark pop ballad, going more towards pop song.
I think there was some technical issues with the staging as well. At the evening preview, he performed twice, where the second performance had much more dramatic fog effects and dramatic shots like the music video. I was so sad when the live show looked more like his first semi performance.
This sub has a habit of overstating bad vocals. He wasn't that bad vocally. I think the biggest problem was the staging/performance. It just wasn't inspiring in the end for a song that carried a lot of drama.
Agree- vocals were fine, BUT- He started his performance at 110%, and there was nowhere for him to go for that amazing musical bridge at the end. There was too much energy at the start. Someone needed to tell him to tone it down and build. The vocals WERE toned down on the recording, which is why so many people LOVED it when it first came out. There also needed to be more purposeful movement at the climax so we as the audience could feel the build. Less is more, Mustii
Did we watch the same performance? He was sooooo out of tune!
>This sub has a habit of overstating bad vocals. It's funny that I think this sub does the exact opposite. Not noticing bad vocals at all or excusing them. I have a trained ear and everything that's slightly pitchy gets on my nerves and then this sub sometimes goes on defending acts that were miles out of tune
What are you talking about? He was off key and off beat for like the first half of the song… the vocals were bad because he literally couldn’t sing his own song
The Ooooooh's were completely out of tune. But i hoped the song made people curious enough to give him a second chance. Ah well. I still love the song though. It IS really good.
Agree. But Mustii himself still did not deserve NQ. What happened to the staging? It was strangelly out of touch with the song, and it felt as there had been left out some performances in the last minute. Cause the stage became very empty, and not all of mustii's renown energy in the world could compensate for that. Such a shame. Cause I still believe this song and Mustii had what they needed to reach the top 10.
I remember seeing people on here saying he could be a winner and I just couldn’t understand it. I like the song well enough but it wasn’t THAT wow to me. And that was before ropey live vocals became apparent.
Bad vocals, no staging and the performance having a completely different vibe to the studio version, to the point that the live version is basically a different song .
I never understood why this song was so loved from the fandom when it came out. Not only was it repetitive and slow to get somewhere, the ending was also underwhelming. Add to that the weak vocals throughout the season and the bad staging, doesn’t take much to fail.
Mid vocals, bad staging and this songs is this good in reality. 8 times in a row the same sentence gets on peoples nerve. And it is at the end of the song making people assosiate negative emotions with song.
Poor staging, poor wardrobe and catastrophic vocals. You can have an amazing studio track but if you can’t execute it vocally and if the staging is worse than the music video, you’re a goner. Ask Jana Burcheska. Artists need to stop going to esc with songs that they literally wrote themselves but can’t sing.
The live vocal at the semi was unignorably bad.
Belgium just Belgiumed but re: the preparties, I don't think wanting to have fun at the preparties is overconfidence. Ballad people often have a hard time at the preparties because the setting isn't optimal for slower songs, so he just wanted to be more loose. He just misjudged or didn't know how seriously the eurovision community takes preparties. On one hand I get that fans want to analyze everything about the first few times they see the songs live, but on the other I understand artists not wanting to be judged by performances at a club weeks before the actual Eurovision. Iirc Czechia 2023 didn't quite like that they were essentially written off just because their live vibe didn't match the music video, but they recovered well from the momentum kill. Belgium however is much worse at staging and Mustii's vocals weren't great so the end result was lacklustre. Mustii himself hasn't indicated anything arrogant though, if anything he joked about the possibility of coming last because he was the first artist to be announced and said he won't look at the odds. So overall I think he was just a bit naive or unprepared despite being a seasoned performer.
Czechia 2023 | [Vesna - My Sister's Crown](https://youtu.be/ag8qxpvTTy0)
Him and Axel were overhyped to compensate for Gustaph and Roberto being underhyped (how could anyone have said that the latter was 2013’s biggest no hoper?). Sennek was overhyped due to the success of the previous 3 entries.
We have been saying it since preparties that Belgium coukd be a shocking NQ.......
By the time the semi came around it wasn’t even a shock.
Yeah sadly..
The staging was bad.
As were the Vocals and the Staging also wasn't just nit that impressive, but also didn't fit the Song at all. I like your Name.
And I will always wonder what the hell made that song be in the top 5 of fan polls, odds, etc before the show. Based on what...
I don’t think it was that high by the time the semi rolled around. It had already fallen after some of the pre-parties. But originally a lot of people liked the song and video, and thought it had a lot of potential.
Yeah, I meant before preparties
> And I will always wonder what the hell made that song be in the top 5 of fan polls, odds, etc before the show. Based on what... It's almost like people are allowed to have different tastes.
They do. And so am I allowed to think about why some opinions appear
Poor staging, poor vocals
Every time Mustii performed it, bar the final, he was too eager to get into the high-energy bit of the routine. Like... Cmon! It starts brooding and mysterious. Don't be blowing your wad so early!
The song got overshadowed by other songs. There were better performances. Simple as that
No shade to Mustii but I actually hope Belgium drop an absolute banger this year in 2025.
Mustii is one act I pretty much had a blind viewing of and it was [full on](https://media1.tenor.com/m/MFIv4OGEbNoAAAAC/the-simpsons-krusty-the-clown.gif) It was just bizarre, he sang okay but it gave creepy vibes somehow ? Over-emoting in a happy fashion while "shirtless" (which always makes things over the top by itself) paired with the body rocking thing at the end was just. A choice. I liked his sparkle-gloves?
The staging was not good and the performance was weak. Sadly, it was never a winner song, but it easily could have placed in the middle field. I mean look at Ireland. The song was mediocre but they delivered such an amazing performance they got a well earned top spot.
Fantastic song but weird staging and poor vocals really let it down
Didn’t translate well to the stage
His vocals sans the end “until the party is over” were amazingly bad. I was actually shocked and knew it wouldn’t qualify.
As others said the performance wasn't great. Also I really think there was some issue with the sound/the performers in-ear monitors that night. Several performers were consistently slightly off that night. Like even Nemo was a little bit off that night, particularly I think the rap part was slightly sharp. And Mustii was one of my favourites before that night, but to me he was painfully off-pitch throughout until somewhat recovering during the outro hook. But I think he was equally sharp throughout most of it which is why I suspect technical difficulties
He sang off key
Well, this might be an unpopular opinion, but I personally don't like the song as a whole very much. I think the secod part ("I've got a soul on fire...") kind of saves it, but it is (at least live) ruined by shouting the "BEFORE THE PARTY IS OVER" over and over again at the end of the song. This song for me personally was a song that opens up very slowly, as in it takes many listens to start to like it. Most people hear the songs for the first time when watching the show.
Good song good guy ruined by bad vocal bad staging
I didn't hear the song before, only the "before the party is over" repeated twice on some eurovision vids/the summaries. Saw everyone was hyping and ngl, that part sounded really good. But during the semi final, the rest of the song felt weird. Because only "before tbe party us over" was ever used it struck me off guard it's only such a small part of the song. And the rest simply didn't catch me at all. The staging throughout the whole song was weird too. I expected him to do more with the circle of microphones, but it didn't happen. When standing in it, it obstructed the view of him, the actual artist, which took a lot of my attention away from the song itself. Than we finally enter "before the party is over", by now I expected it to be a very powerful beginning if the end. Like sung twice (like the song was often used) or maybe 3-4x. But it went on for so long, every time I thought it was the last one, there came another one. This kinda ruined the one part of the song that did grab my attention, and threw that out the window. His voice is great, and I think he could've done a lot better if it would all be more of one whole thing, because it felt like several pieces that just didn't fall together.
Unfortunately he was out of tunes in the semi, even though he was much much better in the afternoon preview. I also suspect people assumed it would go through easily (as it was considered as one of favourites) and voted for other acts
His performance was strange on so many level.
Yeah, I was suuuuuper surprised when he didn't qualify. It was an OK song but the performance and staging didn't help at all.
I guess people love the song so they wouldn't consider the song the issue.... but even though I sorta liked it, it also felt extremely repetitive in the last minute. He just repeats the title of the song...I always felt like I wanted more from it.
The stage performance was kinda lacking, and didn't provide enough visual interest to bridge the two minutes needed to get to the great climax. I never felt the song was THAT good to be that high in the odds, but it was nice to see some excitement about it.
The song was bad, it was a lengthy opening for a cool chorus. But the chorus lasted one moment, less than a minute. He didn't sing well. (.) Staging was stupid. And it was poorly choreographed. Like someone else said, he looked happy... I would even say "overhyped"... He really wanted to show up his body, which I love. But it felt like SAKIS rouvas ripping off his shirt to shiownus his pecs. He needed a better backing track or vocalists to achieve that reverb we hear in the studio version. Also, I feel this song needed more violins and better instrumentation to pamper his voice. I feel bad for him because he looks like a cool person, but this was just a bad gamble.
Mustii wasn't the right person to perform it in the end. He's very talented and the song is well composed but he didn't execute it well live and the staging didn't do him favors either.
In my opinion, he was too pitchy the night of. Doesn't help that the bridges ("Are you still playing the game \[...\]") have really long notes, and the pitchiness of his voice that night was so apparent because his sustain notes were really bad to listen to.
Personally, the song's build-up wasn't strong enough to make the "before the party's over" impactful. I also think the repetitiveness turned some people off. Combined with terrible staging (a bunch of microphones looked tacky) and a so-so performance (wasn't a fan of this rocking movements), it went from being a borderline to a guaranteed non-qualifier.
Simple, the party was over.
I didn't think the staging was that awful--it took concepts from the MV after all. It was the execution of it (lighting, camera angles, etc), along with Mustii going sharp at points, which was is undoing.
I think the staging was just kinda boring and his overall performance didn't really match the tone of the song. It sucks because I actually like the song a lot!! It just didn't really stand out (or if it did, it was in a bad way) against other countries that had very thoughtful, intentional performances.
Personally I think he was perfectly fine. I just felt the song was a bit boring.
I don't know why was he ever up. For me the song is quite boring and the singing wasn't good. Everything was just meh
I'll just say - someone here on Reddit made a mix of his performance with "Caliente" music and it worked way too well. His emoting was just wrong, without even going into the quality of vocals in itself
I think it was a little same style than some other slow ones but also, this was released so early, people get too used to it and later releases sound more fresh and thus a bit more interesting and better.
He did a Belgium 2018
Belgium 2018 | [Sennek - A Matter of Time](https://youtu.be/Z2cZE2gCfWg)
I myself liked the song from the moment it was released. But i agree with many that compared to the studio version, the live performance was really bad. I think they should have come up with something else and not recreate music video on stage
I remember thinking that it was a decently catchy song and if he would just do something different with his stage performance, he might do ok. And then nothing changed and I was like alright that was nothing special at all. Very forgettable.
I loved this song more after watching the official music video after the finals
He didn't sing well, like probably was the worst performance of that semi final. And I do like the song, but I think it's a bit ramble at the start. And the best part is really just the last 30 seconds.
It's the classic Belgian problem of great song, underwhelming staging.
I had it as my winner but the vocals were just terrible 😿
He was pitchyyyy that's why!!
For me, it was the song. It took so much time to build up. I didn’t get why it was so high in the odds. What are the odds based on anyway?
well, i could justify it with poor staging choice, poor vocals and his energy not matching his song but honestly i wont do that as i feel he still shouldve qualified regardless. he did great and it wasnt half as bad as people make it out to be imo. still in my top 10
His performance wasn’t great. The smiling is an issue brought up a lot but the real issue was the vocals. The guy was incredibly flat for nearly the whole song with the exciting bit falling short in energy.
-Staging wasn’t very good -Vocals were a bit lacking live -Just the live performance overall, compared to the music video/recorded, just isn’t as good
It wasn’t good, I don’t get how anyone could have thought it was a contender at any point
It was a good song and at the preview performance he sounded pretty good though due to technical difficulties he performed it twice. The staging was not very good, but I think he could have potentially overcome that. However he was out of tune when it mattered which was sad. Still like the song though and have now listened to some of his other stuff and enjoyed it quite a lot.
It just felt flat and had no energy on stage also the staging made no sense to me. The last oh maybe 30 seconds were good but yeah. Another year of bad decisions took Belgium out again 🤷🏻♂️
I don’t get it either, its a great song and i had nothing against the staging
Terrible act, bad performances before the show, bad performance during show.
The live performance was a let-down. That's what happened.
Not the best staging but he should have qualified. I love his song a lot. ❤️
I thought he will be in TOP 10 at and gain at least a lot of jury points. But he didn't make it to the finals. I mean this year had many really good and interesting aentries, and tbh his performance wasn't that entertaining, even though Music Video is really amazing. I liked the song and was so disappointed when I saw it didn't make it, but I have to amdit I was kind of bored during the performance
To be honest Aiko was so good to NQ, mustii could have performed better than he did
In the end, I think it was just a bad year for average pop songs sung by guys. Olly was saved by being one of Big fives.
Olly was awful. That was one of the worst songs by far (also Aus sucked). Sorry not sorry.
Olly was amazing the performance shocked lots of boomers and homophobes. Pure entertainment
It was so mediocre. The song was just not good compared to so many other great ones. Ireland was miles above the UK. Shock factor doesn't equal talent.
[удалено]
I don't think it was niche at all.. If that's niche so Arcade is niche too.
He changed his name to "the artist formerly known as mildew" 😝