Tonight, we have lift off for ESC2024!
I know I was gushing about the stage when I relaunched the blog recently. It will certainly give us a fabulous spectacle tonight…
(copyright: EBU/Peppe Andersson)
Here are the songs in the first semi-final…
01 Cyprus Liar – Silia Kapsis
This is a good start! Good pop vibes, with a catchy hook. It should get through to the final. It does make me chuckle that it starts with what sounds like the audio flare of the aliens approaching in War of the Worlds (2005).
02 Serbia RAMONDA – TEYA DORA
You would think that coming off the back of Cyprus’s pop banger, this song would ruin the party before it’s got started, but no. An early ethereal moment with Billy Eilish vibes makes for a pleasing listen. I hope the Billy base and others send it through to the final…
03 Lithuania Luktelk – Silvester Belt
This reminds me of O Zone’s Dragonstea Din Tei…
Both great pop songs. I hope it gets to the final. Silvester that is! 😀
04 Ireland Doomsday Blue – Bambie Thug
Now then, one of my Eurovision besties, the lovely Brian Singleton, is visiting from Dublin to enjoy Eurovision week with me. He is very giddy about the fact that Ireland are going to qualify for the grand final for the first time in ages. And I agree. Ok, I am so not a goth (stop giggling), but kudos for giving those who are a bit of what they want. Taxi to the final, surely…
(realising I’m sending everything so far to the final!)
Now then, before we get to song five, this year all of the automatic qualifiers (the ‘Big 6’) will take to the stage to do a full performance of their song during the semi-finals. Finally! I’ve been suggesting this for years. No longer consigned to a montage, they get the full exposure to connect with the telly viewers. First up is our very own Olly Alexander…
BIG 6: United Kingdom Dizzy – Olly Alexander
I found this all a bit beige when it was first released. The obvious leaning into the melody and rhythm of I Will Survive and It’s A Sin put me off. Lazy? Yes, a little, but then how many songs this week have done similar – a lot! So, I’m a little less grumpy now, and actually, there is an ear worm in there.
Left hand side of the leader board this year? Hopefully! Last year Mae Muller went to Eurovision as a pop star in the making. This year, Olly goes there as a legit pop star who is there being himself, doing his thing, being authentic, and connecting with kids who will see themselves in him. Brava!
Ok, back to the songs competing tonight…
05 Ukraine Teresa & Maria – alyona alyona & Jerry Heil
We’re back with the ethnopop vibes that have done very well for Ukraine over recent years. A nice melody on the chorus with the rap vibes. Will go through to the final, fo sho!
06 Poland The Tower – LUNA
A bit of a bop, familiar pop vibes. I like it. It’s a great set-up for the current favourite…
07 Croatia Rim Tim Tagi Dim – Baby Lasagna
You can’t unsee this, but it’s a great pop song – don’t let this put you off…
As you know, I will see the performance on stage for the first time tonight. Let’s see how my ear is guided by my eye! Listening to it, it’s hook filled and (ahem) familiar. Deffo shades of Käärijä from last year. But it feels less aggressive and more melodic, which makes it a brilliant entry. And boy, I’d be * delighted * if Croatia won…
08 Iceland Scared of Heights – Hera Björk
Now then, Hera is a Eurovision * legend *. In 2010 she first represented Iceland with the * iconic * Je Ne Sais Quoi. At the end of a very mediocre semi-final, Hera landed with this piece of schlager pop perfection, and it lifted the roof off the arena – I was there! (you can see peeps jumping up in joy at the end)…
What I wouldn’t give to be on b-vox with her, swaying in choreographic harmony. Loved that!
Bless her, Hera ain’t gonna eclipse her former entry. Although last year Belgium’s Gustaph had similar retro vibes with his song Because Of You, and that landed in the top ten. If only for Hera…
Oh, and by the way…
BIG 6 Germany Always On The Run – SAAK
Feels like a few songs in one, with familiar ‘na na hey’ chanting. Also, there’s a whiff of Survivor’s Eye of the Tiger in there. Probably my least favourite song from the ‘big six’ this year…
09 Slovenia Veronika – Raiven
The first of the more earnestly anthemic ethnopop vibes of this semi-final. By looks of this there will be moody and emotive staging…
10 Finland No Rules! – Windows95man
Yep, Finland are tipping over into novelty song and performance territory this year. Mind you, people were saying similar about Cha Cha Cha last year. Will it be a joke lost on viewers? Probably – although kids might like it. Having said that, an old dude singing in his pants isn’t exactly going to earn many points! I love how the Microsoft logo has been blurred – clearly they have objected to their logo being used. And with this song, who wouldn’t! 😀
11 Moldova In The Middle – Natalia Barbu
Natalia competed in ESC2007, and she’s back again. She’s giving us futher adventures in moody ethnopop vibes, and is it just me – a rather alarming take on Robert Palmer’s Addicted To Love music video. All a bit creepy! Get ready for the gag I do every year… will people be bowled over by Moldova this year? 😀 Hmm…
BIG 6: Sweden Unforgettable – Marcus & Martinus
I was in the Friends arena in Stockholm to see this performance back in March. Well, when I say see it we actuallty didn’t see very much of the boys as our seats were side on to the stage, and M&M spent a lot of time in their box! It was the runaway winner of Melodifestivalen. I like it, it’s a bop, but they have sent this song before and done it better. Not even in the top ten with the bookies (yet), which is strange for Sweden…
12 Azerbaijan Özünlə Apar – FAHREE feat. Ilkin Dovlatov
EP vibes again, with a bit of two step and Madonna’s Frozen strings in the mix. For that reason alone, I quite like it. And a great pair of vocalists. I’d like it to get through to the final…
13 Australia One Milkali (One Blood) – Electric Fields
So, this music video really doesn’t add anything to the song, so I am interested to see how it is interpreted on stage tonight. A bit of a pedestrian song even with the retro vibes, and certainly not Australia’s best entry, I’d say…
14 Portugal Grito – iolanda
Portugal very much staying in their lane – and fair play to them. The choreo is a bit distracting, and the dancers remind me of that episode of RuPaul’s Drag where Valentina wanted to lip-sync with a mask on…
😀
15 Luxembourg Fighter – TALI
Luxembourg are back, back, back for the first time since 1993. Good to have them back, with a song that reminds me a bit of Ain’t It Funny by Jennifer Lopez. I like the language mix and the melody on the chorus. A nice way to wrap the first semi-final.
So, out of these songs Croatia is clearly going to win this semi-final, and I am intrigued to see who joins them in the grand final on Saturday.
During the voting window the interval acts tonight are returning singers Eleni Foureira, Eric Saade and Chanel. You may remember that Eleni brought the Fuego in 2018, Eric was Popular in 2011 and Chanel was in SloMo in 2022. They all have bragging rights that they should have won, but for me Eric Saade’s Popular is a brilliant pop song. If he had done a stronger live vocal it would have won. And now that the backing vocals are on the backing track, he deffo would! I was in the arena, the year of the throbbing tonsil…
We might have heard our winner in this semi-final, but there are a few other potential winners to come later in the week…
Ha det fantastiskt ikväll!
(have a brilliant time tonight) 😀
xx