The second of three trips to the Caucasus, this time it’s the turn of Armenia. They’ve got a very consistent record at the contest, almost always making the grand final, and finishing in the top half of the scoreboard more often than not. Can the impressively bearded Sevak keep up their strong record?

One of the things I’ve liked about Armenian entries over the years is that they bring a real sense of where they are from – sometimes full blown ethnopop, sometimes with more subtle hints. This year, Armenia will be singing in Armenian – I always think it’s good when countries bring their own language to the contest. Furthermore, this is the first Armenian entry to be sung solely in Armenian.

It’s a pity then, that this is one of the more generic/bland Armenian entries – for me it’s a fairly standard Eurovision male ballad that just happens to be sung in Armenian. There aren’t any of those Armenian ethnic sounds or tones that make their entries stand out. Sevak is definitely an impressive vocal performer I will say though, so there’s no concerns there.

Will it qualify? I think it’s a 50/50 one – it’s drawn in the much tougher semi-final (semi-final 1) but Greece and Bulgaria are also in that semi and will provide some televotes points for sure. They don’t have traditional points givers France, Russia or Georgia though in that semi, and of course, having Azerbaijan in the same semi means no points from that corner. Were it to get to the final, it could do OK – Sevak is Russian-Armenian, so will pick up Russian votes for sure, and he’s also won the X Factor in Ukraine previously, so he is well known outside Armenia.

Official music video:

Live performance at Armenian national final (Depi Evratesil):

Armenia at the Eurovision Song Contest:

First entered: 2006

Appearances (excluding this year): 11

Best result: 4th in 2008 and 2014

Last year’s result: 18th