No, Eugent Bushpepa isn’t an exotic seasoning found at a hipster cafe; he’s the man holding the hopes of Albania at Eurovision 2018.
Eugent is a rock singer, no stranger to singing competitions and will perform the Albanian language single ‘Mall’ (nothing to do with shopping centres) in the first of the semi finals.
The Albanians have only been part of the competition since 2004 and their best result in that time has been a fifth place finish in 2012.
In the past two years, however, they’ve failed to make it past the semi final phase.
‘Mall’ (which means ‘Yearning’ in English) is a pretty soaring number, allowing Eugent to fully show off his vocal chops. But for our money, there’s just nothing particularly special about it; it’s a middle of the run soft rock number. So we’re giving it cinq points.