It's already a tradition of this blog that Peter Clancy comes up with a review of the season's offering and this year's no exception. Enjoy!
Well, we’re back to Eurovision time
again and to be honest this year’s crop of entries is quite
disappointing which is not so bad because it is likely to make the
voting very erratic and with votes going everywhere we could have an
unexpected winner... My prediction is that the initial voting will
have all kinds of changes in the leader board.
This year I am reviewing the songs in
order of my ranking – from the worst to the best in my opinion. the
Q is that they will qualify; nq is they will not qualify and F is
they're already in the final
Moldova (Wild Soul; Christina Scarlat):
Trying to be a better song than it is, though it has a nice build up
... still a boring song. (will not qualify (nq); rank-37)
Belarus Cheescake; Teo): Boring, an
excuse to enter a song - won't do well ! Too jazzy (nq; rank-36)
Albania (One Nights Anger; Hersi): A bit boring, copies the style of
many Eurovision songs, and will get points, but not enough. (nq;
rank-35)
Portugal (Quero Ser Tua; Suzy): Good
song, light & cheery, typical Eurovision and will get lots of
votes because of it, but it won't win... not sure of it getting to
the final (nq; rank-34
Iceland (No Prejudice; Pollaponk): Unlikely to do well, it won't have sufficiently broad appeal (nq;
rank-33)
Georgia (Three minutes to Earth; The Shin and Mariko): Too ethnic - unlikely to do well (nq; rank-32)
Montenegro (Moj Svijet; Sergej
Celkovic): Nice & simple, but not likely to make an impact. May
get to the final. (nq; rank-31)
San Marino (Maybe; Valentina Monetta): A
bit of a "pass the bucket" song - it won't get to the final
(nq; rank-30)
Slovenia (Round and Round; Tinkara
Kovac): Unlikely to be good enough to stand out though it's not a bad
song (nq; rank-29)
Switzerland (Hunter of Stars; Sebalter): Good Mumford and Sons style, appealing to many viewers, will get some
points, but not a winner. (nq; rank-28)
Poland (My Slowianie; Dinatan&
Cleo): Likely to get some points, but not to make the final (nq;
rank-27)
Greece (Rise up; Freaky Fortune): not
likely to appeal to enough to win, but it should make the final
(Qualify (q); rank-26)
Israel (Same Heart; Mei Finegold): Not
sure this style is going to have a broad appeal. (q; rank-25)
Lithuania(Attention; Vilja Mataciuanaite): A bit boring, a mix match
of different styles that don't go well together. (q; rank-24)
The Netherlands(Calm after the storm;
The Common Linnets): Good song, will be in "Firelights"
shadow and unlikely to do better. (q; rank-23)
Hungary (Running; Andras Kallay): A bit
repetitive and not likely to do well (q; rank-22)
Russia (Shine;
Tolmachevy Sisters): Not a great song, it will get lost in the crowd
of other songs and unlikely to get enough votes for the final. (q;
rank-21)
Estonia (Amazing; Tanja): Typical dance Eurovision song, it will get a lot of votes from the Eurovision fans,
and is great to dance to, but it's not a winner (q; rank-20)
Armenia (Not Alone; Aram MP3): Nice
song, love the opening, but I find it a bit repetitive. On the other
hand this is going to appeal to a lot of viewers so they may do well
(q; rank-19)
Ukraine (Tick Tock; Marya Yaremchuk): Unlikely to do well, the rhythm doesn't work, the song doesn't hang
well together or have the appeal it would need to get sufficient
votes. (q; rank-18) FYROM (To the sky; Tijana): Good song, very like Lady Gaga - will get lots of votes, could win - and would be a good
winner (q; rank-17)
Latvia (Cake to bake; Aarzemnieki):
Personally I love this song, it's simple, it's appealing, repeatable
and likely to get a whole family moving in the chairs. (q; rank-16)
Italy (La Mia Citta; Emma Marrone): Good
beat, good song, in the final, though not sure about it's chances to
win (F; rank-15)
Azerbaijan (Start a Fire; Dilara
Kazimova): I like the use of piano, and the fact that it focuses on the
song, but I'm not sure this will capture the imagination of the
viewers. (q; rank-14)
France (Moustache; Twin Twin): One word for
this: ripoff (of the Belgian artist Stromae) - but a good song (F;
rank-13)
Germany (Is it Right; Elaiza): Strong
song, not my personal favourite, but it will appeal to a lot of
people and it is memorable. (F; rank-12)
Belgium (Mother; Axel Hirsoux): A good
song, and one that will get capture the imagination of the grannies
and mammies out there, but I'm not sure it is a winner - corny is a
word that comes to mind - though it will do well! (q; rank-11)
Austria (Rise Like a Phoenix; Conchita
Wurst): Sounds like a perfect James Bond song, though I'm not sure
that Conchita would fit as the JB image !! A good song, and it will
do well, though I don't think it will win. (q; rank-10)
Malta (Coming Home; Firelight): Good
song, appealing and well structured, a good buildup and catchy (q;
rank-9)
Finland (Something Better; Softengine):
Also a worthy winner; though it won't appeal to the grannys, it will
appeal to ESC fans and younger people. (q; rank-8)
Spain (Dancing in the Rain; Ruth
Lorenzo): Nice simple song, with good range, and repeatable; this
will appeal to lots of people, would make a worthy winner (F; rank-7)
Ireland (Heartbeat; Can-Linn, Kasey
Smith): Good song, though a bit similar to the Swedish pop and
therefore likely to get votes (at least not come last in the final);
good beat; likely to do well (q; rank-6)
UK (Children of the Universe; Molly):
Good song though too many variances and the rock/pop doesn't seem to
work well. (F; rank-5)
Romania (Miracle; Paula Seling & Ovi): Good,
catchy and likely to get to the final though it's not winner (q;
rank-4)
Denmark (Cliché Love Song; Basim): Very
strong, personal one of my favourites, it would be a worthy winner
and I could see it get a lot of points. (F; rank-3)
Sweden (Undo; Sanna Nielsen): Likely to
do very well, if the voting goes well it could win though I think it
will most likely end up in the top 5 (q; rank-2)
Norway (Silent Storm; Carl Espen): Very
likely to be in the top 3 and a likely winner; simple, good, well
sung and appealing (q; rank-1)
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