Poland

The artist that was selected to represent Poland is named [|Lidia Kopania] and the title of the song that she will be performing in this years Eurovision is called, “I Don’t Want to Leave”. She has already created a [|music video] for the song which is song in English and you can barely tell she has an accent at all. She is a solo artist who is said to have a very strong four octave vocal range which she has represented in her last three albums. She is also the lead singer of the Polish band Kind of Blue. Those albums are, “Beating the Morning Rush”, “Intuicja”, and “Przed Switem”. These albums were all recorded within two years of each other starting back in 2004.
 * Artist Biography**

Her unique voice accompanied by her beauty go well together to capture the attention of her audience. Also, she sings many different songs, both in English and Polish with a range of styles from soft to bold and loud. This uniqueness to her style provides a very uplifting enthusiastic energy to her listeners, which is a similar trait among female solo artists. Again, she is very dynamic in her performances by the messages that come through her songs, most are about the world and speak of shattered dreams, and others.

Lidia's second solo album entitled "Przed Switem" was recorded in Hamburg. The album contains thirteen songs written by past band member Bernd Klimpel'a of Kind of Blue, Jens Lueck'a, Philip Sojki, Rob Hoffman'ai and Heather Holly. Rob and Heather are famous for working with and bolstering the success of the careers of popular musicians such as Janet Jackson, Phil Collins, Sheryl Crow, Michael Jackson, Hole, Quincy Jones and Christina Aguilera. Her first single off "Przed Switem" is "[|Tamta Lza] ".

** Poland did not become a member of the European Broadcasting Union until 1993. However the Eurovision Contest was broadcast on TVP, the Polish Broadcasting Network. This sparked a huge interest in the competition, and led to Poland's first competitor, Edyta Gorniak, in 1994. Her performance was one of the country's most successful finishes in the contest. Poland was lucky, because they were almost disqualified because Edyta sang part of her song in English during the rehearsals. The rest of Poland's entries have been less successful, but highly favored by fans. In 2003, Poland instituted a public selection. That year the public voted on Ich Troje. They finished in seventh place. The highest since 1994. Other artists that they have sent to the contest include Justyna Steczkowska (18th Place), Kasia Kowalska (15th Place), Anna Maria Jopek (11th Place), Sixteen (17th Place), Mietek Szczesniak (18th Place), PIASEK (20th Place), Blue Cafe (17th Place), Ivan & Delfin (11th Place in Semis), The Jet Set (14th Place in Semis), Isis Gee (24th Place).
 * Poland's Eurovision History

The Polish media is known for being dissatisfied with the voting procedure used during the Eurovision Song Contest. TVP have threatened to withdraw from Eurovision unless the voting changes. In 2008 Poland won the Eurovision Dance Contest and are scheduled to host the next year's contest, but their skepticism of the voting process for the Eurovision Song Contest this year may result in a withdrawal from that hosting the dance contest.


 * Poland's Selects "I Don't Wanna Leave" to be Performed by Lidia Kopania

The song selected to be performed by Lidia Kopania to represent Poland in this year's Eurovision Song Contest is "I Don't Wanna Leave". It is a pop ballad that was composed and written by Alexander Geringas, Bernd Klimpel, Rike Boomgaarden and Dee Adam. As stated in Kopania's biography above, she recently worked with writers and composers, Rob Hoffman and Heather Holly, both who were critical in the success of famous pop musicians such as Christina Aguilera. In this slow tempo and somewhat clichè love ballad there are certain instances that sound extremely similar to Aguilera's hit song "Beautiful". Love is the main theme in most songs around the world and must be unique and have great instrumentation or wordplay to truly catch one's attention.

The premise behind this ballad is that Lidia just doesn't wanna leave her man, but she must. Kopania must have been listening to Eugene's 99.1 because she has Cyndi Lauper's "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" mentality throughout this ballad. She is feeling held down by her man who she loves and will always love. She must leave though to "live [her] life the way it's meant to be". She is tired of "dreaming in the dark" and needs to have those dreams fulfilled. Kopania is "standing taller this time" and she is set in her ways, but is in a bind because as little Michael once sang, when it comes to love "you never can say goodbye" (However Michael, Tito and the other three did this underlying message a greater justice than Kopania and they had just learned their ABC's and 123's). For most, this song will not have enough lyrical substance because it leaves the listener with the feeling of "I could have done that" and that is something, as a professional entertainer, you generally want to steer clear of. What is impressive though, is the fact that Kopania's English accent is so flawless U.S. listeners may find it necessary to critique the song's lyrical creativity, or lack thereof, even though it is not in her native language.

Unfortunantly "I Don't Wanna Leave" may not go very far in this competition, simply because of its clichè lyrics and although she has a beautiful voice, Kopania blends in with so many other pop ballad singers. Poland must love Celine Dion because this is the second year in a row that they have entered an artist in Eurovision that sings almost identically to her style. Her voice is strong and consistant throughout the song and every note is sung on point, however, the melody itself seems to all mesh together on top of simple drum kicks and a piano/orchestral accompaniment which gives the song a little more flare and emotion. The voting is still a bit confusing, but if the judging is based strictly on the performance of the singer their is not much more to grasp other than her pretty four octave range she eventually displays throughout the last thirty seconds of the song. **


 * Narrative of Entry:**

The Polish song will be presented this time by a strong female singer Lidia Kopania. Her last record was written by people who're responsible for stars like Phil Collins, Michael Jackson and Christina Aguilera. Poland stuck to its formula and held a classic national final with ten acts performing one song each. The winner was chosen by mix of televoting and jury voting. Lidia Kopania won the televoting and finished second in the jury voting. She could win the national final as the jury favorite Renton was only seen fifth be the televoters. Lidia entered the Polish national final with the song I don't wanna leave, which was co-written by Bernd Klimpel. She won the selection and the single is the first recording by her to reach the Polish charts peaking at number 57 at the moment. More notably, the song also reached the top of the radio charts. The song was presented during the national finals in Latvia and Ukraine. Hecklerspray.com jokes that Lidia is just another Celine Dion sound-alike, and that she could get farther in life with her looks rather than her musical talent. “I Don’t Wanna Leave is so treacly and bland that you could listen to it 400 times and not remember how it goes.” Poland’s Lidia Kopania did make it to Eurovision’s second semi-final with a strong performance placing her in fifth going in, but unfortunately fell short of the Top 25 placed into the Final taking place on May 14, 2009. This also falls short of Poland’s last year finish of 23rd in the Final. The general consensus among bloggers was that Lidia was a “borderline” qualifier for the final before her performance in the second semi-final in which she was said to have “weak vocals.”