Hello everyone! Once again, this is London calling! The show on Tuesday was very predictable, but pretty enjoyable! I am also very happy to say that I managed to guess 9 out of the 10 qualifiers correctly – still not sure how Austria qualified while Iceland failed. I didn’t really enjoy Iceland that much, but it WAS much better than the rest.
Armenia was on FIRE, Azerbaijan did better than I expected with the vocals, what more can I say?
Since I’ll be making a power list for the finale on Friday, I’ve made the decision to skip the Big 5 + Sweden for today, as it’ll be a lot like repeating myself. If you’re curious about my thoughts on them, check back on Friday!
Now, it’s about time that we start talking more about semi final 2, which is to air tomorrow, at 8pm (London), 9pm (Sweden), 3pm (NY), 12pm (LA).
Mateja will be live blogging all the live shows, make sure to join us.
Eurovision Song Contest 2016 – Semi Final 1
Eurovision 2016 Song Contest – Semi Final 1 Power Rankings (VIDEO)
I feel like this semi final is filled with more mediocre songs, with a couple shining over the rest. The difficulty with choosing 10 here will be that there are so many potential borderline qualifiers that it’ll be hard to actually tell which ones will fall while others rise… like a phoenix. (pun very much intended).
Here are the rankings:
18- Georgia – Nika Kocharov & Young Georgian Lolitaz – Midnight Gold
I don’t get the song… I don’t get the performance… After last year’s successful entry, this is a great disappointment.
17- Poland – Michal Szpak – Color of Your Life
What is this? I would be grateful for an explanation. The betting odds suggest that this has a chance to qualify, but I don’t think so.
16- Switzerland – Rykka – The Last of Our Kind
I think she is really cute but this song is lacking any kind of a punch. It is just a very repetitive and gets really boring after the first minute.
15- Lithuania – Donny Montell – I’ve Been Waiting for This Night
Once again, another song with no character. I just get bored listening to this. I can’t even keep going on about this, as there’s nothing that I can say about the song, really. Just like Poland, betting odds seem to be giving this song a chance at the finale, but I ain’t.
14- Slovenia – ManuElla – Blue and Red
Her attempts at trying to copy Taylor Swift is incredibly obvious. The song sounds like a Taylor Swift outtake from one of her country eras, and she looks like her older sister. It lacks originality, as well as a memorable hook.
13- Denmark – Lighthouse X – Soliders of Love
A song which I can’t even remember, after listening to it about 15 minutes ago (seriously – listened to it so I can have an opinion while ranking – forgot everything about it by the time I decided to write my commentary. Denmark is another country that takes the competition seriously, yet, not this year.
12- Ireland – Nicky Byrne – Sunlight
His voice annoys the hell out of me – it sounds cute on record but he sounds like a dying cat when singing live. The song isn’t that bad at all, yet it is not that memorable in any shape or form, in terms of melody, arrangement and staging. Shame, because Ireland is the country with the most wins, and I fear that when Sweden catches up with them for the number of wins, they might actually withdraw.
11- Belarus – Ivan – Help You Fly
I love this. I know this sounds outrageous, and highly contradicts with its ranking, but hear me out. It’s a pretty bad song, but Ivan actually found a loophole in the Contest rules – he had been going on about bringing a wolf and being naked on stage. He accomplishes this through his performance. How? Loophole. He can’t sing that well, his song is meh, but it’s very entertaining.
10- Albania – Eneda Tarifa – Fairytale
This is one of the choices that I think I might regret, along with numbers 8 and 9. Girl can sing. She’s edgy, he’s fun, she looks edgy. When the song was announced to be sung in Albanian, it was dark, mysterious and beautiful. Albanian is a gorgeous language to sing in – yet Albanian representatives keep changing their songs from Albanian to English at the last moment. With the change to English came mediocre lyrics, as well as a disappointing arrangement. I just hope that her voice might pull her from the bottom. It’s very low with the betting odds, and I can see why, but I sort of refuse to accept it.
9- Israel – Hovi Star – Made of Stars
This guy is a very good singer, and has a very good ballad. There isn’t much I can say about it. It’s just a cute ballad.
8- Macedonia – Kaliopi – Dona
Her vocal abilities and her emotional delivery are beyond incredible. Her voice just fully satisfies my ears. The song itself isn’t bad, but her vocals, and her bravery for singing in her native language are enough for me to think that she can qualify. I at least hope so, unlike the betting odds.
7- Belgium – Laura Tesoro – What’s the Pressure
I had literally no opinions on this song until I saw her rehearsal footage. The performance is quirky, she’s sweet, it’s just very fun to watch! She can sing and dance, and the song is an earworm!
6- Norway – Angete – Icebreaker
The sudden change in the rhythm took me a while to get used to, but now that I have, I kind of enjoy it. It’s like 3 songs in one, and it’s likely to qualify.
5- Latvia – Justs – Heartbeat
Meh. I am not a big fan, the chorus annoys me, but the guy is cute and has a modern sound.
4- Serbia – Sanja Vucic ZAA – Goodbye (Shelter)
I’ve liked this song since the beginning. She has a very good voice, the song is emotional, and gives me hints of Molitva. I think it’s safe to say she’ll qualify.
3- Bulgaria – Poli Genova – If Love Was a Crime
I love this song, hate her outfit to bits. She can sing really well live, and the song is very catchy and modern, and the small bit of Bulgarian in there makes the song memorable! Go Poli!
2- Australia – Dami Im – Sound of Silence
To quote everyone’s favourite reality judge Randy Jackson (lol), Australia is in it to win it! Dami has an incredible voice, and she is bringing the roof of the stadium down. I am really enjoying her minimalistic but visually captivating approach at the competition, and it’s sure that she’ll do well. She easily has the best ballad in the competition this year.
1- Ukraine – Jamala – 1944
To round off the second semi final, Ukraine is topping the list hands down. Jamala rose to the top of the betting odds following her amazing rehearsals, and rightly so. The song is captivating, it tells an amazing story, and she does this through her voice and gestures so successfully that I get chills every time I see her perform. The song isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but if given a chance, it’s sure a song that anyone with a heart will love. It looks like this year’s finale will be a battle between Ukraine and Russia, which is very ironic considering the political situation there. I can’t wait to see Jamala take the stage.
