Critic Jonni: Hovig

Gravity - Hovig |

Definitely one of the better concept music videos of Eurovision 2017; Hovig brings a great visual that easily relates to the song he is singing. He represented Cyprus at the Eurovision Song Contest 2017, and easily impressed with his song, music video, and performance; but, on the night of the Grand Final, he seemed to have been overshadowed due to the running order, especially comparing the points from the Semi-Final to that of the Grand Final. He placed 21st overall with 68 points, 32 came from the televote, and 36 from the jury vote. The stage performance integrated some of the dance moves featured in this music video, continuing with the theme. Watch Hovig perform his Eurovision 2017 song "Gravity" whilst a woman mirrors his movements and helps create this forceful gravitational music video.

Hovig, full name Hovig Demirjian, is mostly known for competing in the second series of The X Factor Greece in 2009, where he came seventh overall. This helped him launch his musical career, which saw him release a number of singles. He also took part in the Cyprus national selection for Eurovision 2010, titled Epilogi tis Kipriakis Simmetohis, with the song "Goodbye", where he came third. Zip forward a handful of years and he tries to represent Cyprus again, this time for the Eurovision Song Contest 2015, in the national selection show called Eurovision Song Project, with "Stone In A River", where he came fourth. For this year, he was chosen through internal selection. The song was written by Thomas G:son.

The music video really brings out the title of the song, relating to it literally. It's a great visual representation of Gravity itself whilst also crossing into the meaning of the song.

There's both a performance piece and a narrative-performance piece. Hovig stuns us, adding passion and power in his performance visual, which he totally brought to the staging of his song.

As for the choreography dance visual, I felt it was quite restricting and wasn't too complex, but even then they don't nail it exactly right. It seems quite messy if you look at it properly. On the other hand, it adds to the distortion more, it's technically great and amazing to watch.

Overall, the music video is well-thought-out, it works, and it looks great. It engages with the audience and it's fully relatable to the song. There are a few problems with it, as I have discussed, but this is still one of my favourites from this year.