‘Malta deserved to be in the final’ says Losco producer

Ira Losco’s manager and producer Howard Keith Debono said that, while the ‘vocals required more attention’, Malta deserved to at least qualify for the Eurovision fails for its staging

Lack of relatability to a wider audience might be one of the reasons Malta fails to qualify for the Eurovision final despite the national effort on the side of the contestant, musician and Ira Losco’s manager Howard Keith Debono has said on Facebook.

He said that staging, a powerful voice, a great song, and a current production are “only 50%” of what is required for a Eurovision song to qualify.

In a long, insightful Facebook post, Debono explained that in order to be successful, a performance requires “an added value, whatever that is”.

Added value, according to Debono, could be the artist’s star quality, the music industry interests, international media and “fan buzz”, stage presence, stand-out factor, unique selling proposition, or confidence.

He said what contributes to qualifying and poor ranking varies, but that one thing he prioritises is “relatable quality.”

“One can be shy, cool, quirky, or have a powerful stage presence which is felt instantly,” he said, but added that the entry must be relatable and identifiable – and must be marketed in a way which is relatable to the target audience – that is, voters in other countries – and not to Malta.

“Breaking an artist with music in any market requires a strategy, and nothing falls from the sky. Music is a profession but unlike other professions, it doesn’t require a licence to practice it,” Debono wrote, adding that this attributed to the “deluded bubble filled with assumptions” and a “whole lot of noise to filter through”.

Debono was involved in the ESC in 2005, 2013, and 2016. In 2005, he recorded and mixed the song Angel and was involved in Chiara’s management. He wrote that in 2013, he was asked to “rope in Sony UK and a music marketing team to improve Malta’s chances targeting specific countries and music charts” for Gianluca’s Tomorrow.  In 2016, he was heavily involved since he had already managed Ira Losco for many years.

“In my opinion, there were four years following the worldwide success of Euphoria (2012) where the Eurovision started to align to music industry standards,” he said, explaining that the years prior to 2012, as well as last year and this year, the majority of countries offered “mediocre standards” and yet Malta did not qualify or ranked poorly.

Debono had good things to say about the staging of Christabelle’s number, but felt that vocals “required more attention”.

But he said Malta deserved to at least qualify for the staging, even if it would have “placed 20th” in the finals – he said at least ten performances by other countries were off and even “unbearable” at times.

The essential point of the problem could be down to Debono’s concluding lines, however: “Music is not meant to be in competition with one another,” he said.

“I always encourage ‘live and let live’ but I also encourage knowing the subject and facts before shooting from the hip.”

Producer, composer, and managing director of Wicked and Loud, Elton Zarb, told this newspaper that the winning song is always the one which voters relate to the most.

Zarb, who composed the only two Maltese songs which were successful in the Junior Eurovision with Gaia and Destiny, said that the two contests are not comparable. However, he does believe that Malta stands a chance of winning the Eurovision, though there is much work to be done until this happens, he said.

There are various factors which determine a winning song, Zarb said, referencing the song which won last year’s contest. “The musical style of the song stood out, and it had a story behind it. People related to this story and the overall theme of the song.”