UK Entry: Bonnie Tyler - Believe In Me

May 20, 2013 Critic Jonni 0 Comments

Bonnie Tyler, international songstress from Wales, full of power, and full of life. She's bubbly, she can hold her own in a power ballad, and has just released her new album 'Rocks and Honey'. Her real name is Gaynor Hopkins. She is well known for her number one UK single "Total Eclipse Of The Heart", and the song that was on the Footloose Soundtrack "Holding Out For A Hero", which missed out on the top spot and settled at number two. Bonnie Tyler has been touring over the last couple of years, and has been performing this song. However on the night, I don't think she performed it that well, I feel that she's performed it better in the past, and her gravelly powerful voice was missing in her performance (video can be found at the bottom).

"Believe In Me" was written by Desmond Child, Lauren Christy and Christopher Braide. The song is a ballad, but doesn't key into Bonnie Tyler's powerful side. The song doesn't help all that much, and doesn't give her a chance to power it out. It's a nice simple song, and we did pretty well considering, I was expecting the worst.

At the Eurovision Song Contest 2013, the UK got a total of 23 points, placing us 19th out of 26, up six places from last year. We got 4 points from Spain, 5 points from Malta, 3 points from Romania, 1 point from Sweden, 7 points from Ireland, 1 point from Slovenia and 2 points from Switzerland.

The music video looks low budget, although I doubt that was true with how professional Bonnie Tyler is. It's a simple video with very little going on. This is usually a focusing technique so that Bonnie Tyler is central to the video. And she is that.

The problem with her being the main feature of the video is that she fails to entice us. She doesn't do a lot, and she's either sitting down or leaning against the wall, or just normally standing. The song is about believing in her, that she's there for that guy, the one who she truly loves. She sings about not lying to him, that she'll always stand beside him. But where is this guy in this video?

The beach scene shows her independence, and her strong powerful side. She may just be standing on the beach to most people, but to me, I can feel energy vibes coming from her, something she lacked in the performance last Saturday. This is the Bonnie I would like to see live.

Overall a song that doesn't give the range Bonnie Tyler is capable of. And a music video that follows suit. Missing things that could possibly engage the audience. The beach scene should have been extended, that is the most alluring bit of the video. Bonnie Tyler gets the same rating as I gave Engelbert Humperdinck last year for "Love Will Set You Free".