Making it in the top 5 amongst the Aussievision team in our Junior Eurovision 2020 rankings is Kazakhstan!
Get details of the song plus our individual rankings and comments below.
The entry
Karakat Bashanova - ‘Forever’
Hailing from the village of Ryskulov in the south of Kazakhstan comes the 2020 Junior Eurovision Song Contest representative Karakat Bashanova, for Kazakhstan. Karakat’s entry, ‘Forever’, will be hoping to replicate Kazakhstan previous top 10 success. Sharing the same composer, Khamit Shangaliyev, with Kazakhstan’s 2019 entry ‘Armanyńnan qalma’, which placed second overall, ‘Forever’ stands in good stead, with the Kazakh National Final inviting eight composers to create the competing entries.
Having experienced a slew of singing contest success within Kazakhstan, 12-year old Karakat was selected to compete in the Kazakh national selection, advancing from the semi-final in 12th place, to finish first in the twelve person final with first place in the jury vote and third place in the televote.
Karakat has sung since the age of five and has attended a musical boarding school for piano and violin, priming her for the 2020 Junior Eurovision Song Contest, where her entry will pay tribute to her father.
The Aussievision Team Rankings
Wade - 1st
Ford - 2nd
Laura - 2nd
Ruby - 3rd
Liv - 5th
Dale - 6th
Kyriakos - 6th
Ally - 7th
Cooper - 7th
Emma - 7th
Fleur - 7tha
Mike - 10th
Hugo - 12th
The comments
The sincerity of this performance is astonishing. It is a heartbreaking and emotional tribute the likes of which this competition has not yet seen. If Karakat nails the live performance, she will be hard to beat. ~ Wade
The visuals in the music video are stunning and I hope that based on this, we can expect to see some phenomenal staging from Kazakhstan! The song provides plenty of opportunities for this in the instrumental breaks and it is a genuine and beautiful ballad which showcases Kazakhstan’s culture wonderfully. The song is not as immediately catchy as some of the other songs and there don’t appear to be as many ‘big vocal moments’ as some other songs. ~ Laura
Yet again, Kazakhstan has brought quality. From the instrumental, lyrics and vocal talent from Karakat, Forever is a solid entry all round. Another year another incredible example as to why Kazakhstan should be invited to the main contest. ~ Cooper
The chorus is so beautiful, and the music video that accompanies the song is just so hauntingly stunning that I simply cannot forget it. ~ Ford
This is a big song with a big voice. That is what makes this song memorable but I do not know if that combination makes it a winning combination for the junior combination in this case. I am looking forward to seeing Kazakstan at Eurovision itself. They are certainly a country with an abundance of talent. ~ Fleur
A powerful vocal, nice blend of soft and loud, but the song doesn’t really go anywhere for me. ~ Hugo
Wow, wow, wow. At first, I thought ‘Oh ok, this could potentially be something powerful.’ Then the music video came out, and the song just elevated for me and had an emotional connection with me on a whole other level. I hope they can replicate the emotion from the music video on stage. ~ Ally
Beautiful production which shows off Karakat’s amazing vocals. Not a fan of the chorus but do like the choral background after the second chorus. There’s a lot of instrumentals here compared to lyrics and this one might be a bit too heavy for the kids. ~ Emma
Kazakhstan have thrown the proverbial kitchen sink that their last 2 entries and this feels a little more restrained. Ultimately this is another big ballad with Disney-esque production, something that is starting to feel like Brand Kazakhstan. I can imagine Karakat producing some eye-catching vocals for this and it giving the Eurasian nation another strong result. ~ Mike
Kazakhstan will ALWAYS put forward a well produced song with a hella expensive video and that’s exactly what we have here. It’s not as ‘Disney’ as last year’s song which I think ultimately cost it televotes. Does it have the sparkle of last year? Probably not – but it’s still incredibly well done – it is probably in competition with Russia and Belarus for the big Eastern female Junior ballad. ~ Dale
Beautiful sentiment with Karakat’s voice the star of the show – it is *almost* there, it would have benefitted from a stronger musical accompaniment to elevate it to the next level. Props to Kazakhstan staying dedicated to their Junior Eurovision campaign. ~ Liv
Kazakhstan at Junior Eurovision
Kazakhstan have been specially invited to compete at Junior Eurovision as they are only an associate member of the EBU and don't automatically qualify to compete. Kazakhstan have competed at Junior Eurovision twice before. In 2018 and 2019, with Daneliya Tuleshova and Yerzhan Maxim respectively. Both their entries have finished in the top 10. Yerzhan Maxim finished in second place last year with a powerful performance of ‘Armanyńnan qalma’.
‘The entry’ and ‘Kazakhstan at Junior Eurovision’ written by Ruby
Aussievision Team's Junior Eurovision 2020 rankings
5th place - Kazakhstan - Karakat Bashanova - ‘Forever’
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