ESC 2012: ESTONIA Vs. UNITED KINGDOM

Two May born men, two classy ballads. United Kingdom is the most successful Eurovision nation overall with 5 wins and 15 runner ups, but it's been already 14 years since they got one of those. Estonia has a string of great success in 1999-2002 but has been less fortunate since, with the exception of 2009. Now these two countries go to Baku with pretty much the same recipe. While Estonia's Ott (25 in May) is still a quite a newcomer with a couple of years adult fame to his credit, United Kingdom's Engelbert (76 in May) has over 45 years of career and worldwide success behind him. This is 5-4 for Estonia.

United Kingdom - Engelbert Humperdinck - Love will set you free ****1/2

Is this the right card to turn the UK's Eurovision bad record in recent years? If you can overcome Engelbert's age - as it is clear many Eurovision fans are age racist but then, the hardcore fans have no power in the final result whatsoever, even if some seem to think they do - and the elder generations watching will know him and maybe cast a vote. The song is a tender ballad, beautifully arranged. Simple and pure. Engelbert has the experience to shine on stage and seems to genuinely like the song and sings it with emotion. You can't rule out the sixth UK victory in Baku 2012, that's for sure!

Estonia - Ott Lepland - Kuula *****

Estonia goes for quality after last year's trash and what a quality! Ott is a fine singer, easy on the eye and the song is hauntingly beautiful. They did well singing in Estonian in 2009 so that shouldn't be a handicap. Me being a Finn understand bits and pieces here and there but somehow I'd love to understand more, and therefor an English version could have been a wise move as in that case Estonia would have a winner in their hands but maybe Ott's emotional and powerful performance will come across the screen anyways. The best power ballad of the year and definitely deserves a place in the final! Once in the final, depending the draw this can go very far. If Ott nails it on stage and gets the Europe listening. Or so I hope.

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Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

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