This is a tough competition especially this year. First semifinal will kill many good performances and the second one the rest. And unfortunately not all will agree with me anyway on the songs I like. So here are some I love and keep loving but which I believe there’s a high risk of them not going through to the Final.
AZERBAIJAN - AISEL - x my heart (1st semifinal)
DENMARK - RASMUSSEN - Higher ground (2nd semifinal)
F.Y.R. MACEDONIA - EYE CUE - Lost and found (1st semifinal)
IRELAND -RYAN O’SHAUGHNESSY - Together (1st semifinal)
LITHUANIA - IEVA ZASIMAUSKAITÉ - When we’re old (1st semifinal)
POLAND -GROMEE -feat. LUKAS MEIJER - Light me up (2nd semifinal)
ROMANIA - THE HUMANS - Goodbye (2nd semifinal)
SLOVENIA - LEA SIRK - Hvala ne (2nd semifinal)
Not every song hits you on a first listen. Multiple songs this year didn’t give the best first impressions but along with these spring months my opinion of them is changing and probably keeps on changing as the rehearsals start.
ALBANIA - Eugent Bushpepa - Mall
AUSTRIA - César Sampson - Nobody but you
ARMENIA - Sevak Khangyan - Qami
BULGARIA - EQUINOX - Bones
ESTONIA - Elina Nechayeva - La forza
F.Y.R. MACEDONIA - Eye Cue - Lost and found
GREECE - Yianna Terzi - Oniro mou
ITALY - Ermal Meta e Fabrizio Moro - Non mi avete fatto niente
THE NETHERLANDS - Waylon - Outaw in ‘em
SWITZERLAND - ZIBBZ - Stones
UKRAINE - Melovin - Under the ladder
This year we can feel Salvado’s affect since we have over double amount of original languages compared to last year. Some have released English versions such as France, Greece but still kept their Eurovision performance in an original language. The songs offer more authentic sounds, they all bring so much diversity, color to this year’s competition! People have really digged up their past and cultural heritage. Hope this will continue next year also!
ALBANIA - EUGENT BUSHPEPA - MALL (1st Semifinal)
ARMENIA - SEVAK KHANAGYAN - QAMI (1st semifinal)
ESTONIA - ELINA NECHAYEVA - LA FORZA (1st semifinal)
FRANCE - MADAMEMONSIEUR - MERCY
GEORGIA - ETHNO / JAZZ BAND IRIAO - FOR YOU (2nd semifinal)
GREECE - YIANNA TERZI - ONIRO MOU (1st semifinal)
HUNGARY - AWS - VISLÁT NYÁR (2nd semifinal)
ITALY - ERMAL META E FABRIZIO MORO - NON MI AVETE FATTO NIENTE
MONTENEGRO - VANJA RADOVANOVIC - INJE (2nd semifinal)
PORTUGAL - CLÁUDIA PASCOAL - O JARDIM
SERBIA - SANJA LLIC & BALKANIKA - NOVA DECA (2nd semifinal)
SLOVENIA - LEA SIRK - HVALA, NE (2nd semifinal)
This year, besides the up-beat tracks and ballads we’ve got group of mid-tempo entries which all happen to have a bit dark, soul, jazz sounds in them. I love them all but I know some will go down in the semifinals. Especially when they’re almost all in the 1st semifinal...Which one is your favourite?
They appear in the alphabetical order:
AUSTRIA - CESÁR SAMPSON - NOBODY BUT YOU (1st semifinal)
I’ve warmed up to this slowly but gotta admit that there’s something in this. Nice beat, stands out with gospel/soul sound, he sings well - quite like his voice! I see this qualifying if only the live show goes well.
BELGIUM - SENNEK - A MATTER OF TIME (1st semifinal)
I’m one of the rare ones who don’t get this nor the hype around Belgium’s entry this year. I see that Sennek is talented, she has a vision, this is arty instead of “fast food” music. This is lyrically heavy but it’s balanced with the light melody. It’s interesting, sophisticated but I’m still waiting for my wow moment with this. I see this qualifying.
BULGARIA - EQUINOX - BONES (1st semifinal)
I kind of ignored Bulgaria this year due to the similarity other entries. But been watching some reaction and fan favorite videos and I quite like it as well! This has a very nice sound with multiple layers including the different vocals that makes it to stand out. It’s heavy, haunting and dark. I’m really looking forward to see this live. I believe strongly that this will qualify.
CROATIA - FRANKA - CRAZY (1st semi)
Croatia took a hit recently it was revealed that Crazy existed before sung by another artist. Franka enlightened that the two songs had same producers and that “Crazy” is the original one. Not sure where allegations stand at the moment though. This is jazzy - I like its beat. I like this a lot but I’m afraid this will fall being too generetic unless they really nail it with the live show. Which they might be able to do because the music video is stunning! However Croatia will perform just before Austria which I found better - I’m worried.
LATVIA - LAURA RIZZOTTO - FUNNY GIRL (2nd semifinal)
I fell in love with this for the first time I heard it. I know it’s not a winning song or even qualifying one but I’m liking it. It’s sexy, playful - there’s this 007 sound in it. But I think as much as I love it I don’t see it standing out enough to qualify. Only being in the second semifinal might save Latvia since Thursday live show is missing almost all mid-tempo tracks.