Armenia was one of the first countries who selected their performing artist very early on. On 11/30/2018, a young artist, Srbuhi Sargsyan known as Srbuk was announced to be the Armenian hopeful for the Eurovision Song Contest 2019. Her song “Walking out “was released on 3/10/2019 as the 40th country to present its song to the Eurovision audience.
Artist:
Srbuk is a graduate of Conservatory in Yerevan and quite accomplished at playing the traditional string instrument called qanun.
Armenians first met with Srbuk in 2010 when she finished the Armenian X Factor as runner up. She subsequently placed 4th in The Voice of Ukraine in 2016.This achievement sadly will not help Srbuk as Ukraine is out of the competition this year.
In any case,2019 is the year when she meets with the international audience.
Song:
Armenian television AMPTV opened a song submission period for composers to send their entries. “Walking out” composed by Lost Capital and Tokionine was selected as the Armenian song for the Eurovision Song Contest 2019.Garik Papoyan, who previously co-wrote Armenia’s 2014 entry for Aram MP3 is the lyricist. Considering the huge success of 2014 entry, this is a great track record for “Walking Out”.
Song is quite intense even starting out with an intense question of “Who are you?”. The sound is contemporary and reflects a mixture of strong chaotic emotions when combined with lyrics.
This song is not something I would expect from Armenia. Armenia has always been quite good at mixing local traditional notes with contemporary tunes. This clearly lacks the local traditional flavor which I enjoyed in the past and still enjoy. I would have loved to see Srbuk‘s qanun skills showcased with a different entry. One thing I can say for sure is she has an outstanding powerful voice and will definitely impress the crowds when she is on Eurovision stage. Good luck Armenia!