Fall from the Sky (song)

In 2019, Arilena was announced as one of the twenty contestants selected to compete in the 58th edition of Festivali i Këngës, a competition for determining Albania's participant for the Eurovision Song Contest 2020. As part of the competition's rules, the lyrics of the participating entries had to be in the Albanian language. Arilena participated with the song "Shaj" written by Albanian singer and songwriter Lindon Berisha, and composed by Macedonian producers Darko Dimitrov and Lazar Cvetkovski.[1] After winning Festivali i Këngës, Arilena revealed that "Shaj" initially came to her in the English language, and she had envisioned the possibility of remastering the song for her participation in the Eurovision Song Contest.[2] However, in February 2020, following several months spent in Los Angeles, she eventually confirmed the aforementioned.[3][4] "Fall from the Sky" was then revealed as the title of the song after three weeks on 8 March 2020 through a social media post.[5]

Lasting three minutes and eight seconds, "Fall from the Sky" was written by Michael Blue, Robert Stevenson and Sam Schummer, and composed by Darko Dimitrov and Lazar Cvetkovski.[6] Musically, the song is a pop ballad with an instrumentation consisting of traditional violin and piano sounds.[7][8] Lyrically, it expresses Arilena's hopeless desire to overcome deep and perplexing emotions that she could not forget.[9]

Following its release and victory at Festivali i Këngës, "Shaj" received favourable response from music critics. Eurovision.de writer, Irving Wolther, referred to the song as a "melancholic power ballad".[1] Mark Savage from BBC opined that "she belts out the high notes with all the subtlety of a klaxon in an elevator shaft" and went on into praising the composition and Arilena's vocal delivery.[10] Following the premiere of the remastered version, entitled "Fall from the Sky", Wiwibloggs writer Luis Fuster elaborated, saying that "the song does keep the essence of 'Shaj'; in fact, it feels more like a good revamp year for Albania".[8] Another editor gave the song three stars out of five, writing "the song is an elegant Bond theme packed with dramatic theatrics" while simultaneously praising the song's instrumentation.[11]

"Fall from the Sky" was independently released on digital platforms and streaming services as a single on 9 March 2020. On the following day, an accompanying lyric video for the song was officially premiered to the YouTube channel of the Eurovision Song Contest.[12][13] The official music video was ultimately released to YouTube on the aforementioned channel on 11 May 2020.[14] The dramatic-characterised video depicts Arilena all alone against a white backdrop with slightly blue lights in three different settings, most notably signing next to a piano, a white-coloured tree, and a white human-size bird cage.[15][16] For promotional and supporting purposes, Arilena was scheduled to embark on a small tour with performances in Amsterdam, London and Madrid.[17][18][19] However, the tour was canceled alongside the cancellation of the contest, due to the pandemic of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).[20][21] Footage of the singer performing the song for the first time was broadcast during her Sounds of Silence concert at the Mother Teresa Square in Tirana on 2 May as well as during the European Broadcasting Union's (EBU) Eurovision Home Concerts series on 8 May 2020.[22][23]

Credits adapted from Tidal.[38]

• Arilena Ara – producing, songwriting, vocals
• Darko Dimitrov – composing, producing
• Lazar Cvetkovski – composing, producing
• Michael Blue – producing, songwriting
• Robert Stevenson – producing, songwriting
• Sam Schummer – producing, songwriting

• Digital download[39][40]

1. "Shaj" – 2:57
2. "Fall from the Sky" – 3:08
3. "Fall from the Sky" (Karaoke Version) – 3:08