8 Ukraine
"Sweet People" - Alyosha
You do wonder about the quality control measures in place when you watch this OFFICIALLY RELEASED promo for the Ukraine. The first 30 seconds nip in and out of tune and the camera focus is mental. I can't even remember if I like this or not. I know it doesn't make any sense.
9 Netherlands
"Ik ben verliefd (Sha-la-lie)" - Sieneke (I'm in love)
A slightly mental circus opening distracts from what is a sort of catchy song but this is unlikely to turn the tides against the Netherlands bad luck/choices over the past few years.
10 Romania
"Playing with Fire" - Paula Seling & Ovi
I really like the hook in this song, but there's bits that are awful and I'm not sure how I feel at the end. The video's the same: the dual piano is pretty cool, but the whole video game aspect is just desperately lacking in focus. And as usual with these Eastern European duos, they pair up a hot girl singer with some lardy bloke. "A" for effort but not for the finished product.
11 Slovenia
"Narodnozabavni rock" - Ansambel Žlindari & Kalamari (Native Folk Rock)
The damned accordions are back and they're still not welcome. This is just an embarrassment from my adopted home country. A simple "No" suffices here. Oh dear.
12 Ireland
"It's for you" - Niamh Kavanagh
This is actually quite pleasant and reminiscint of the type of entries that Ireland used to win with back in the 90s. Trouble is, that was 20 years ago. Nevertheless the start is right out an X-Factor winner's song, which might be a good thing. And we haven't even got to the tin whistle, making a welcome return.
13 Bulgaria
"Angel si ti" - Miro (You're an angel)
This is one of my favourites, assuming he sings well which you can never judge from the video. Love the "oh-woh-woh bits", and actually the Bulgarian I don't understand but he makes me want to... there goes another Eurovision crush.
14 Cyprus
"Life Looks Better in Spring" - Jon Lillygreen and the Islanders
It may well be true but I'm not feeling this song. Boring. Boring. Yawn.
15 Croatia
"Lako je sve" - Feminem (Everything is easy)
Feminem represented Bosnia-Herzegovina a few years back with a decididly camp number so I was surprised to see this. Pleasantly surprised, I'm a sucker for Balkan angst and moody black and white videos.
16 Georgia
"Shine" - Sopho Nizharadze
A quite nice ballad really from a quite nice singer. And I like the cleaning element of the chorus "Wipe the dust off your love". You'd never get a native English person coming up with genius lyrics like that. I'm not even sure if I'm still being sarcastic.
17 Turkey
"We Could Be The Same"- maNga
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These fellas are described as "the Turkish MUSE", which is not a bad comparison. However, whilst the chorus of this song is quite good and catchy; the verses are dull fillers, unlike Muse. The video is pretty cool though.
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So there we are, that's all the semi-final songs in round 2. The only five we haven't looked at are France, Germany, Spain, Norway & the UK, as they all automatically qualify for the Final. I'll get round to them though, don't worry.
So who should go through from the second semi final?
My favourites here are the ever-catchy Azerbaijan ("Drip drop drip drop"), which is tipped to win with odds of 2-1 or less. Bulgaria is a close second. Lithuania, Croatia, Georgia, Armenia and Denmark also probably deserve to go through. And as much as it pains me, Slovenia, is the least deserving country.
Thursday, 20 May 2010
Monday, 3 May 2010
Semi-Final Two: Part One
So after the first 17 songs that were more miss than hit in the first semi-final, we hopefully move onto a better set in Semi Final Two (broadcast 2000 CET 27/05/2010 onBBC3)
1 Lithuania
"East European Funk" - InCulto
This is a cool and sometimes corny ska-influenced number to start the show, and it's a crowd pleaser... well at least the crowds of people in Lithuanian supermarkets judging from the video. There's a few references to us "all being in the EU" etc which nicely topicalise what is actually a pretty good 3 minutes.
2 Armenia
"Apricot Stone" - Eve Rivas
I've listened to this a few times now and whilst I kind of like it, I still don't really understand what it's about... apricot stones from the motherland? But she sings it like it means everything, so perhaps something got lost in the translation. Then again, she does bang on about the winds affecting the harvest and her "cherished fruit" - is the apricot an Armenian equivalent of cherry I wonder...?
3 Israel
"Milim" - Harel Skaat ("Words")
I think I make this comment every year, but Hebrew is not a beautiful sounding language. Although Harel is sufficiently distracting to look at that perhaps it doesn't matter.
4 Denmark
"A moment like this" - Chanée and N'evergreen
This brilliantly-named duo are like the elder siblings of Same Difference, with more hairspray and guitars. There's nothing else sounding like this in the Contest this year, and it's pretty catchy, so who knows? But the song never gets away with the fact it is perfect for an X Factor winner. It's good, but it's not right.
5 Switzerland
"Il Pleut de L'Or" Michael von der Heide ("It's raining gold")
It's hard to not play the cheap shot and comment on the irony that a man with such prominent ears didn't listen to his own song. Oops. Seriously though, this is all a bit embarrassing, like watching your gay dad do karaoke - you have to watch but feel uncomfortable throughout.
6 Sweden
"This is my life" - Anna Bergendahl
You can usually rely on Sweden to provide a catchy pop tune with some kind of dance routine, so you spend the 3 minutes of this track waiting for sequinned dancers, or a back beat to emerge on this, but it never happens. Once you've got over that, it's an okay guitar ballad, akin to Delta Goodrem I suppose, but not really stand out. I guess I'm just used to better things from Sweden. Disappointing.
7 Azerbaijan
"Drip Drop" - Safura
And so onto the favourite. And it's easy to see why. Forget the snide "it's not even in Europe", we're going to Baku next year if Safura pulls this off. It's a great, contemporary bittersweet ballad, with minimal translation issues and relatively gimmick-free. Altogether now... "Drip drop drip drop, wa-oh wa-oh...". Lovely.
1 Lithuania
"East European Funk" - InCulto
This is a cool and sometimes corny ska-influenced number to start the show, and it's a crowd pleaser... well at least the crowds of people in Lithuanian supermarkets judging from the video. There's a few references to us "all being in the EU" etc which nicely topicalise what is actually a pretty good 3 minutes.
2 Armenia
"Apricot Stone" - Eve Rivas
I've listened to this a few times now and whilst I kind of like it, I still don't really understand what it's about... apricot stones from the motherland? But she sings it like it means everything, so perhaps something got lost in the translation. Then again, she does bang on about the winds affecting the harvest and her "cherished fruit" - is the apricot an Armenian equivalent of cherry I wonder...?
3 Israel
"Milim" - Harel Skaat ("Words")
I think I make this comment every year, but Hebrew is not a beautiful sounding language. Although Harel is sufficiently distracting to look at that perhaps it doesn't matter.
4 Denmark
"A moment like this" - Chanée and N'evergreen
This brilliantly-named duo are like the elder siblings of Same Difference, with more hairspray and guitars. There's nothing else sounding like this in the Contest this year, and it's pretty catchy, so who knows? But the song never gets away with the fact it is perfect for an X Factor winner. It's good, but it's not right.
5 Switzerland
"Il Pleut de L'Or" Michael von der Heide ("It's raining gold")
It's hard to not play the cheap shot and comment on the irony that a man with such prominent ears didn't listen to his own song. Oops. Seriously though, this is all a bit embarrassing, like watching your gay dad do karaoke - you have to watch but feel uncomfortable throughout.
6 Sweden
"This is my life" - Anna Bergendahl
You can usually rely on Sweden to provide a catchy pop tune with some kind of dance routine, so you spend the 3 minutes of this track waiting for sequinned dancers, or a back beat to emerge on this, but it never happens. Once you've got over that, it's an okay guitar ballad, akin to Delta Goodrem I suppose, but not really stand out. I guess I'm just used to better things from Sweden. Disappointing.
7 Azerbaijan
"Drip Drop" - Safura
And so onto the favourite. And it's easy to see why. Forget the snide "it's not even in Europe", we're going to Baku next year if Safura pulls this off. It's a great, contemporary bittersweet ballad, with minimal translation issues and relatively gimmick-free. Altogether now... "Drip drop drip drop, wa-oh wa-oh...". Lovely.
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