Switzerland - Luca Hänni - She got me ***
All the bros go Yo yo yo, All the girls go Yo yo yo
Everyone go Yo yo yo, She got us dirty dancin'
Luca Hänni (24) has been on Eurovision radar already years and here he is, as one of the main favorites. No wonder, She got me checks all the boxes of what is a succesful Eurovision entry on paper. The result is this year's male Eleni: a lot is happening in the video, and certainly on stage in Tel Aviv but not so much in music. My mind drifts away half song and I lose interest.... Long three minutes. Winner? Hardly.
Belarus - ZENA - Like it **
Yes, you gonna like it, Yes, you gonna like it
Let me in your heart
Alexandrovna Kupriyanovich or simply ZENA is this year's youngest, 16, but has already a lot of experince. As a kid star she has participated in various major contests like New Wave Junior and Slavinski Bazaar, and tried to get to Junior Eurovision twice as well but instead ended up co-hosting the show in Minsk last year. She' s allaround media personality and her song fits her persona and career; she looks like a perfect pop star and the song is exactly what you would expect to hear. Harmless and forgettable, but catchy and engaging when it's playing and when you hear it for the first time. People may Like it. It shouldn't make the final but who knows? I wouldn't be surprised.
Australia - Kate Miller Heidke - Zero gravity ***
Hey you (hey you, hey you, hey you) It’s me again
Hey you (hey you, hey you, hey you) Stone in my shoe
Kate (37) is actress, singer-songwriter and classically trained singer who loves alternative pop. And that's what she's mixing up in this Zero gravity. This one's a stone in many shoes really. Some say this comes too soon after Estonia's opera pop last year but this is very different from that I think. I love the Kate Bush vibes in the verses and the rest calls for opera arias mixed up with electronic sounds. It's all so weird it's already pretty good. How this one will succeed will be one of the most interesting things to follow come voting. Or will the journey end up in semi final already?
It’s bigger than us, It’s bigger than you and me
It’s bigger than us, It’s bigger than everything we see
Michael (21) got here through X Factor 2014 (eliminated in bootcamp) and All together now 2018 that he won. The song is co-written by Swedish entrant John Lundvik who dropped it by advice of Christer Björkman it being "too weak", or so they say. Not the best starting point is it? This gets an extra kitch point for the finger snapping and the classic wave to the left and wave to the right choreography by the choir. He gives the song all he's got but I'm afraid Sweden will sweep off the votes and beat this one by some 20 positions.....
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