Junior Eurovision 2020 – Poland

This year the Aussievision Team have ranked the hosts and back to back winners Poland and have placed them in 7th place. The teams rankings are a mixed bag with half the team ranking Poland in their top 5 but three team members placing it in the bottom two which brought it down in the rankings.

The entry

Ala Tracz - ‘I’ll Be Standing’

Ala Tracz is 10 years old and lives in Stojeszyn Pierwszy, Poland. She started her singing journey after hearing her sister Ola singing at a music competition. When Ola finished her song, the entire audience went quiet and Ala said out loud: “Now it’s my turn! I want to sing.”

In January 2020, Ala participated in Season 3 of The Voice Kids Poland, along with her sister Ola, who was picked by the same coach. While Ola was eliminated in the battle rounds, Ala made it to the finals, finishing in the Final 9. Do we have a Polish Dannii and Kylie Minogue story on our hands?!

‘I’ll Be Standing’ is an uplifting and inspirational song about being strong and achieving your dreams. The music video was created by Pascal Pawliszewski, who also created the film clip for Viki Gabor’s winning Junior Eurovision 2019 entry ‘Superhero’. In the video, partially filmed at the dam in Solina, Ala plays a hopeful “karate kid” who is not afraid to fight for her own dreams. The song’s music is written by Poland’s 2018 representative Gromee, while the lyrics are written by his wife, Sara Chmiel-Gromala.

‘I’ll Be Standing’ currently has the most YouTube views of any of this year’s Junior Eurovision Song Contest entries, with the music video reaching over 800,000 views and the ‘Szansa Na Sukces’ performance achieving over 1.4 million views!

The Aussievision Team Rankings

Kyriakos - 2nd
Emma - 3rd
Liv - 3rd
Ally - 4th
Hugo - 4th
Fleur - 5th
Cooper - 6th
Dale - 8th
Ford - 8th
Laura - 8th
Mike - 11th
Ruby - 11th
Wade - 11th

The comments

This is yet another great entry from Poland! It screams quality and I will not be surprised if Poland takes out the Contest and get that hat trick. The song has a powerful message, and it is the chorus that elevates the song to another level. ~ Kyriakos

This is for me is the well-polished step up to Germany’s ‘Stronger With You’. It’s a similar vibe but has a more fleshed out melody, more opportunities for Ala to flex her vocals and has generally more impact. A touch dated but gets the job done for the host nation. ~ Liv

Great singer, but the song feels very paint-by-numbers both lyrically and musically. The instrumental at the end of each chorus is a particular sore point for me. It feels like a waste of 15 seconds, and it happens twice! ~ Wade

What a powerful ballad! Delivered with such emotion and a nice beat to support it. ~ Hugo

Originally, I was not a fan of this song, before it got a revamp. The original version of this song was not my favourite in the National Final and it didn’t feel as strong as the last two songs Poland have sent to the contest. After it got revamped, the song has grown on me and now I really like it. Do I think it will win? No, but I do think it’s definitely in contention. ~ Ally

Poland's coming back a third time strong. ‘I'll Be Standing’ keeps you hooked with the powerful instrumental and Ala Tracz's incredible voice. The only thing that the song has going against it is that it's following Poland's past two winning efforts that are much arguably much stronger. ~ Cooper

'I'll Be Standing' is uplifting and the Polish language sections of the song flow nicely. As a result, it is very easy to listen to. The structure and chord progressions of the song are a tad generic, but I don’t think this will stop its fans from voting for it. ~ Laura

This is a solid song but not as good as their previous two successful songs. I enjoy the rock tinged elements of this and it does set it apart. It just does not have that X factor to win the competition. It will do well though. ~ Fleur

Clearly nowhere close to the quality they have presented in the last 2 years. The whole thing feels a little middling unfortunately. Ala seems like a competent vocalist and I have no doubt the Poles will once again stage this well. ~ Mike

Firstly Poland know to start with English straight away to get your attention. Some fun little Eurobeats in this to stand out from the crowd, but ultimately it’s not quite as strong as their other entries. I enjoy it, but Poland aren’t winning three years in a row. ~ Dale

This is a good song, but I feel like I’m a little underwhelmed comparing it to their two previous winning entries. The song is good, but it could just be better. ~ Ford

Poland at Junior Eurovision

Poland has participated in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 6 times, with their seventh participation occurring this year. After coming last in the 2003 and 2004 contests, Poland withdrew from Junior Eurovision, but returned in 2016. Most recently, Poland has won the competition twice in a row - firstly, in 2018 with Roksana Węgiel’s song ‘Anyone I Want To Be’ and again in 2019 with Viki Gabor’s song ‘Superhero’. Can Poland complete the hat-trick in 2020?

‘The entry’ and ‘Poland at Junior Eurovision’ written by Laura