The Europop

My favourite category, the out and out pop songs. There's some gems among the duds!

Ireland/Eire – "Lipstick" – Jedward

 They have landed. It’s Jedward. The song itself is not so bad, but anyone who saw the X-Factor knows what to expect when it comes to the live performance. You either love them (Ireland apparently) or hate them. It’s undeniably catchy “dum de dum da dadum”– I guess it depends how annoying they’ll come across on stage in Germany. This might be difficult given John's recent injury...

Croatia/Hrvatska – "Celebrate" - Daria

Daria remains somewhat dead in the eyes throughout the video, and the whole affair feels rather lacklustre, and definitely not worthy of “celebration”. This song does, however, contains the amazing rhyme of “moment” and “comet”.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/eurovision/songs/2011/croatia.shtml

Romania/România – "Change" – Hotel FM

This really wants to be a feel-good anthem but does end up feeling a bit like something from children’s TV, a bit in the S Club 7 vein. You probably will end up clapping along to it and it’s very likeable, but you know a song has got lost when it repeats the chorus a hundred times before the end.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/eurovision/songs/2011/romania.shtml

Spain/España – "Que me quiten lo bailao" - Lucia Perez

Wow. This is proper Spanish. In that it’s really cheap sounding (and the video looking) but frustratingly catchy. The title translates as “Nobody can take the good times away from me”, and she hammers that point home so much I think she’s probably in denial. Never mind, now you’ve heard it, you’ll be humming it over and over again. I can’t wait for the English language version “I’m over the moon”.

Poland/Polska – "Jestem" – Magdalena Tul

Magdalena sings “I am” and it’s a catchy (probably more so if you understand Polish) pop song that fills 3 minutes is a pleasant way, but is a bit like a Rachel Stevens album track and not spectacular.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/eurovision/songs/2011/poland.shtml

Norway – Haba Haba – Stella Mwangi

Haba haba is really likeable and danceable. Stella’s ‘fro is a delight, and I love her accent as she says “When as a little girl my gran’ma told me...”. Not quite sure how Norway ends up sending a calypso to Eurovision, but it’s a nice change and I look forward to playing this in the summer months!

Armenia/Հայաստան – "Boom Boom" – Emmy

This starts off quite feel good and you think it’s gonna be okay, even with that title, but then the chorus hits with its awful production, awful lyrics and the moment is lost. It never has a chance to pick up again before another “chaka chaka, laka laka” hits. Shame as she appears to be a good singer.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/eurovision/songs/2011/armenia.shtml

Russia/Россия – "Get You" – Alexej Vorobjov

“I’m running, I’m coming for you” says the slick-haired Alexej, which would probably send a fair few women running themselves. The back-beat is really irritating, but the song itself is pretty catchy and I can see my living room having a few people shout along with it during the Final, especially during the “whoa-oh” bits.

Eurovision 2010 Semi-Final 2: part two

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

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.

Holiday in a Nutshell

- Lying on a pebbly beach and not having to deal with sand
- Greeting my brother at Dubrovnik bus station
- Looking out over Kotor Bay at sunset
- Drinking beer for €1.50
- Climbing up mountains
- Getting on buses when I'm not 100% certain that it goes where I want
- Bartering in Serbian
- Admiring tapestries of Tito
- Getting met at bus stations by hot Bosnians
- Drinking beer for 3KM (=€1.50 =£1)
- Eating čevapćići for every meal
- Watching TV at night on a balcony, talking about history
- Hanging out with cool people I've just met
- Getting the email addresses of cool people I've just met so I can then go visit them in Finland/Canada/Ireland
- Hysteria on night trains
- Going back to a cool hostel
- Eating a massive salad for 30kuna (£3)
- Drinking beer for 18kuna (£2)
- Doing a Welsh accent and making the whole dorm think I am crazy
- Arriving in Slovenia
- Seeing Tina at Vila Veselova (www.v-v.si)
- Wow-ing at the Škocjan Caves
- Swimming in Lake Bled
- Eating Burritos with cool New Yorkers we randomly bumped into in two different places
- Drinking coffee in a cafe at 11am
- Hanging out with my little brother and having those chats that make you feel really good.
- Strategically writing postcards so that no-one realises that I keep using the same phrases