22/03/12 SAN MARINO

It is a good job I didn’t do a review first time around – I just knew in my water that the first song just wasn’t going to cut the mustard!

On the 16th March  Valentina Monetta revealed the song she would be sending to Baku “Facebook uh oh oh” composed by Timothy Touchstone, Jose Juan Santana and Eurovision stalwart Ralph Siegel. However, the next day the song had been disqualified. The Reference Group of the Eurovision Song Contest evaluated the San Marino entry and concluded that the entry was in breach of rule 1.2.2.g of the contest.

"The lyrics and/or performance of the songs shall not bring the Shows, the ESC as such or the EBU into disrepute. No lyrics, speeches, gestures of a political or similar nature shall be permitted during the ESC. No swearing or other unacceptable language shall be allowed in the lyrics or in the performances of the songs. No commercial messages of any kind shall be allowed. A breach of this rule may result in disqualification." 1.2.2.g of the Rules of the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest.

You can see and hear the song for yourself...

 

The country was giving an extension to their change the lyrics of the song OR to find a completely new song.

On the 22^nd of March San Marino TV revealed Valentina’s new entry. The song is now renamed “The social network song” and has very slightly changed lyrics from the original version.

The song is either downright awful or genius.

It has a very infections chorus and has some very predictable rhymes but this makes is strangely memorable. Some will see this as being quite cynical others will see it as being topical and relevant. The video is also very clever (as well as cheap) and does it’s job quite well. On a performance point of view this gives us little idea about if Valentina can perofm this live OR what it will look like on the stage.

All I can say about thus is that San Marino may well be the smallest country in Eurovision but bloody hell do they know how to create a publicity stunt. There is no was in hell that this was an accident. On first hearing I actually even wrote on esctoday.com  that they would have to change the lyrics. This said, I actually really like this song and I think with a light hearted performance it will go down in Eurovision history- although it already has !!!

SONG - The social network song

ARTIST - Valentina Monetta

COMPOSERS - Timothy Touchstone, Jose Juan Santana, Ralph Siegel

LANGUAGE - English

19/03/12 UNITED KINGDOM

A few weeks ago the BBC announced that they had internally selected Englebert Humperdink to represent the UK in Baku. On March 19^th his song was released via the BBC Eurovision website and he will be singing the song “Love will set you free”

The song is quite a typical Englebert song -  a romantic, slow, waltzing ballad with a big finish. It starts of very quiet and haunting. The voice and guitar work at the start really sets the atmosphere of the song. After 2 verses and choruses the song really starts to ratchet up and springs into a fifth gear when he goes for the key change at 2:20 and the big note at the end really makes the song very memorable. The song is very well constructed and will do well in the contest. It does finish a bit short though and he could string the final note out or make the backing for that part even bigger to get it to the full 3 minutes.

Englebert is very experienced and I think most people are confident that he will be able pull of a good performance on in a vocal way. Obviously the video does not show off or showcase this but I think he will do a good job. Cannot wait to see a live performance though! It really does have an old fashioned chanson feel to it and I almost feel like the song could have sounded even better in French. I terms of visual performance I think they could go two ways. They could have him on his own with a very central focussed individual performer or have musicians/dancers involved n the periphery. Either way I think Englbert will not be doing a costume change or bursting into a dance routine!

This is a very good, classy choice and I feel that it should do well – especially with the juries as well as the schlager community. This is a very tasteful choice and I think many countries in Europe will be seeing this as a very serious contender.

SONG – Love will set you free

ARTIST – Englebert Humperdink

COMPOSERS - Martin Terefe, Sacha Skarbek

LANGUAGE – English

17/03/12 BELGIUM

This year is was the Flemish part of Belgium to choose the country's Eurovision entry. The Belgian Final was held on March 17th at Het Omroepcentrum in Brussels, hosted by Peter Van de Veire. Iris sang two songs in a special 5 minute show and the winner was chosen wholly by televoting. The winning song with 53% of the vote was “Would you?”

The song is a contemporary ballad with some interesting chord and flows.  The song fluctuates between being a slow piano based slow ballad or being slightly more bassier and guitar led. She does sometimes emphasis these parts and little bit too much which make the song a little schizophrenic at times. The ending however is quite good and engages the listener and I could imagine this being a good ending visually too. The song has a good story to it, which Iris sells quite well. It does sound a bit like a female “me and my guitar”

Iris has a reasonably good voice and the song does show off the strength of her voice as well as show her squeaky parts of her upper range - some people will like this, others will find it terribly annoying. Her physical performance is a little amateur and it times it feel like she has no awareness of her body. She needs to really choreograph what she is doing down to the tee. I feel she would do well with having some back up around her whether it be extra singers or dancers

I am pleased with this song and with time to perfect those extra performnce skills needed, she could pull this off. Should qualify.

SONG – Would you?

ARTIST – Iris

COMPOSERS - Jean Bosco Safari, Walter Mannaerts, Nina Sampermans

LANGUAGE – English

17/03/12 AZERBAIJAN

The Azeri Final was held at the Heydar Aliyev Palace in Baku back on February 12th, hosted by Leyla Aliyeva, Husniya Maharramova & Kamran Quliyev. Before the final there numerous heats and semi finals. During the final each of the finalists sang 3 songs & the eventual winner was chosen by an "expert" jury.  The singer selected was Sabina Babayeva. Then on the 17 March her entry was released via the internet. She will sing the song “When the music dies”

The song is a romantic ballad that grows steadily and shows off Sabina’s vocal range. During the song more ethic elements can be heard in the backing track. She does a lot of vocal gymnastics during the song and it does get a little bit shouty at times. Her voice is good although the faster bit do feel a bit garbled.

The song is written partly by the same team who wrote last year’s Azeri winning entry but this is nowhere near as memorable. It is not exactly the more interactive of songs and you can’t really join in or remember most if it after it has finished. As for the finish, it ends extremely abruptly and I can imagine an awkward silence at the end.

As there s no live version yet it is hard to judge how this will go on the night. Of course, as winners,  they directly qualify for the final and probably would need it. A very classy song but there is no kick, no hook, no pull. Will do well but certainly no winner.

           

SONG – When the music dies

ARTIST – Sabina Babayeva.

COMPOSERS - Anders Bagge, Stefan Örn, Johan Kronlund, Sandra Bjurman

LANGUAGE – English

15/03/12 - BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA

Earlier this year Maya Sar was announced as the representative of the Balkan nation. During a special show on BHTV she presented her entry “Korake ti znam.” (I know your moves)

The performance is filmed in black and white which gives the song and old fashioned feel as well suiting the very classy exterior of the song. Maya is sat at the piano backed by a small band. She performs the song very simply and sings it very well. Unfortunately, the song is an extremely flat and boring ballad which does nothing until about 2:20 in when it finally moves up a gear. By this time I would guess most of the audience will have taken this as a cue to boil the kettle or go to the toilet.

There is very little movement or performance which is disappointing. Plus the song is in Bosnian and I think the majority of the people watching will fail to understand the feelings in the song or  understand what it stands for. In addition the song finishes very abruptly which no crescendo or climax and I feel that there could almost be an awkward silence and the song ends.

I don’t think this is a good entry for Bosnia-Herzegovina and they are usually a shoo in for a  place in the finals no matter what they put forward, however this year they may struggle.

SONG – Korake ti znam (I know your moves)

ARTIST – Maja Sarihodžić

COMPOSERS - Maja Sarihodžić

LANGUAGE – Bosnian

15/03/12 – MONTENEGRO

Earlier this year Rambo Amadeus was reavleed to be in Balkan country’s internal choice for Baku. In a special show broadcasted on 15th March, RTCG presented his song Euro-Neuro. The show was hosted by Sabrija Vulic.

The song is a very disjointed piece of work. The background music is in a very strange time frame that is almost impossible to count or take stock off. In addition Rambo’s voice is so accented, so thick at times you cannot even work out what he is saying. I say saying as the song is more of a spoken rap than a song. The only redeeming feature is the repetition of the name of the song in the chorus as it does stick in your head. From what I have read and heard of him, this is very typical of his style and music.

The video however is very witty and really does suit the song and its atmosphere. I am not quite sure how or if this can be replicated on stage. The performance will have to be just as madcap and strange to really stick in the viewers without getting too freaked out. Obviously as the song was released just in a video much will have to be made as to how (or if) this can be conveyed live.

Although Rambo Amadeus is well known in the Balkans, unfortunately his semi final is fairly scarce of countries who will know of him and vote for him. Non qualifier unless everybody else just doesn’t turn up…

SONG – Euro-Neuro

ARTIST – Ramo Amadeus

COMPOSERS - Rambo Amadeus, Magnifico

LANGUAGE – English

13/03/ ITALY – UPDATE

After announcing that Nina Zilli would sing her San Remo song it was the announced that her song had been changed to “L'amore è femmina” (Love is female)

The song is in Italian but it though that the lyrics balance between English and Italian may change before May. The song is an up-tempo jazzy number, something skin to what Amy Winehouse or Paloma Faith could come out with. It definitely has a bit more swagger and attitude to her previous song. It’s not exactly singalong-able but had a definite rhythm and oomph about it which will stick in people’s minds.

The only down side to this critique is that I have no live performance to go on, but as she proved at San Remo is most definitely can song. The song obviously does not have to qualify for the final and I think that its style will really stick out on the night. It will do well with the juries and will appeal to the slightly older viewer who likes this more jazzy, sophisticated sound.

SONG – L'amore è femmina (Love is female)

ARTIST – Nina Zilli

COMPOSERS – Kristoffer Sjokvist, Charlie Mason, Frida Molander, Nina Zilli, Christian Rabb

LANGUAGE – Italian

11/03/12 GREECE

The Greek Final was held on March 12th at the River West Mall in Athens, hosted by Maria Kozakou & Giorgos Frantzeskakis. The winner, chosen by televoting (50%) and an "expert" jury (50 %)was former x-factor Greece contestant Eleftheria Eleftheriou with “Aphrodisiac”

The song is a modern up-tempo number which Greek influences, in a similar style to Kalomera a few years ago but this is nowhere near punchy enough. The song is quite formulaic and does get quite boring after a while. The chorus, it has to be said, is very poor as most of it is made up of a string of ‘oh-oh-oh’s and then has maniac rhyme with aphrodisiac (saying that there is not much choice!)

Eleftheria is flanked by 4 dancers whom she interacts with a lot and even walks on their backs in heels – OUCH !!!! The performance is a bit on the showy side and her walking abilities are really quite over dramatic and OTT. I think she may have to tone it down a bit for Baku. I say this as the performers mimed in the Greek final and was more of a ‘show’ than a song selection contest. In addition the stage was in the middle of a shopping centre (?) and waswas not very big at all and so the performance in terms of its size and movement has scope to improve.

Although the song does not deserve much praise it will almost certainly get enough votes to qualify – with ease – even if she sings flat from start too finish. Obviously if she can sing live and in tune she will increase her chances much more.

SONG – Aphrodisiac

ARTIST – Eleftheria Eleftheriou

COMPOSERS – Dimitri Stassos, Mikaela Stenström, Dajana Lööf

LANGUAGE – English

11/03/12 MOLDOVA

The Moldovan Final was held on March 11th at the TRM TV Studios in Chisinau. Previous to the final there was an online semi-final –where one song joined the already picked finals. The winner was chosen by televoting (50%) and an "expert" jury (50%) and this was announced to be Pasha Parfeny with “Lautar” meaning fiddler or musician.

The song is quite cabaret in its feel which a slight jokiness to it. It almost reminds me of something out of a silent movie, especially with the plinky-plonky piano. All in all the song is  not that bad in its construction although the words to not always seem to make sense – especially when he goes “this trumpet makes you my girl”

The one thing I can say about this is that is does have a very memorable performance. Firstly, Pasha is wearing the most appalling suit ever seen and is flanked by some even more strangely dressed dancer/singers. They do some quite complex choreography  including lots of kind of silent comedy-esque pointing and posing and injects some humour into the show. This suits the style of the music

In a strange kind of way I like the song and feel that although it is a jokey kind of entry it is played out well. That said, I don’t think this will go down well with either the general public or the juries and will more than likely stay in the semi final. On the plus side it will forever be used in “isn’t Eurovision hilarious” clip montages forever and ever.

SONG – Lăutar (musician)

ARTIST – Pasha Parfeny

COMPOSERS – Pavel Parfeny, Alex Brașoveanu

LANGUAGE – English (but Romanian title)

10/03/12 PORTUGAL

The Portuguese Final was held on March 10th at the RTP TV Studios in Lisbon, hosted by Pedro Granger & Sílvia Alberto. The winner, chosen by 20 regional juries and televoting was “Vida Mihna” sung by Filipa Soaza.

The entry is unfortunately typical Portuguese ballad/fado fare, much like any ballad they have sent to Eurovision for the past 40 years. Co-composed by Andrej Babic, the write of many ex-Yugoslavian entries as well as “Senhora do mar” and this sounds exactly like that. The chorus does save it somewhat but the whole thing takes a little bit too long to get going. The tune is very dark but the performance is too generic and needs some working on. The song has a very slow Tango-esque feel and in fact I feel the song might benefit for something dramatic like that on the stage.

Filipa, who is a lovely red dress, is flanked by 5 backing singers all in black. As the song progresses the role of the backing singers becomes secondary and by the end I got the feeling that having 5 was unnecessary - especially as they don’t really do that much singing and nobody moves about at all. A lot of work will have to go into the performance of this as what they have right now is not really good enough.

Of course, this is no winner and if I had my way, if would stay firmly in the back of the semi-final.

Here is her reprise of the song at the end of the programme...

SONG – Vida Minha (My Life)

ARTIST – Filipa Sousa

COMPOSERS – Andrej Babić, Carlos Coelho

LANGUAGE – Portuguese

10/03/12 ROMANIA

The Romanian Final was held on March 10th at the TVR TV Studios in Bucharest, hosted by Gianina Corondan, Iulia Pârlea, Constantin Trofin,Valentin Paraschiv, Bogdan Iacob & David Zory. The winner, chosen by a 50-50 split of televoting and jury was the band Mandinga with their song “Zaleilah”

The band works really well together and the whole show is very much a cohesive unit. The lead singer has a very powerful voice and sings very well. Her Spanish is very good too ! The lead singer comes on in very high heels and almost immediately does a costume change, which was a little on the unnecessary side.

The song is quite an interesting one. It has a lot of international elements to it  - the drumming, the accordion, the bagpipes the use of Spanish – and in a strange way it really works. It’s not exactly sing-alongable at first hearing but does make you tap along and get involved. OK they have a nonsense chorus and almost as nonsensical dance routine to go along with it but to be honest it just sounds nice. It sounds like they want to be there and enjoy what they do.

I don’t think this is a bad entry from the Romanians and should qualify.

SONG – Zaleilah

ARTIST – Mandinga

COMPOSERS – Secada Dihigo Omar, Ionescu Elena, Costi Ioniţă

LANGUAGE – Spanish/English

10/03/12 SERBIA

Earlier in the year it was announced that former entrant and host of Eurovision, Željko Joksimović, would be representing Serbia with an internal selection an on the 10^th February they unveiled the song. However, it was presented twice, once in Serbian and once in English. It is thought a final decision on the language presented for Eurovision will be made soon.

There was much anticipation for this entry because of his pedigree as a performer and writer for the contest. Not surprising then that I feel disappointed by the entry. Like many of his songs there is a long intro. This one doesn’t seem to give off enough atmosphere to set up for the singing. The song dawdles along but only starts winding up the power until about 2 minutes in - which is about a minute too late. The tune is not memorable although it has a very Željko chord sequence in the middle.

The performance was a little strange. Željko was backed by an orchestra which seemed to help. He had a man on piano, another man with a long flute and 3 ladies on backing vocals. I feel being dressed in quite plain modern clothes did not fit with the song and this will need addressing. He looked a bit odd on stage, especially when moving about. I feel that a lot needs to be done about the production of the song and its staging.

As for language, I feel that the English version is interesting but it loses a certain something that the Serbian version has. I don’t know what but it just sounds less powerful in English.

This will get obvious from the Balkan countries and will qualify, but this is no winner

Below are both perfomances in Serbian and English

SONG – Nije Ljubav Stvar (Love isn’t a thing)/ Synonym

ARTIST – Željko Joksimović

COMPOSERS – Željko Joksimović, Marina Tucaković, Miloš Roganović

LANGUAGE – English or Serbian

10/03/12 SWEDEN

The Swedish Final was held on March 10th at the Globe Theatre in Stockholm, hosted by Sarah Dawn Finer, Helena Bergström & Gina Dirawi. Before the final there were 5 preliminary rounds. After a voting via 11 international juries and a national televote the winner was announced as “Euphoria” by Loreen

The song is very much a typical Swedish production and in many ways does reflect the recent musical offerings of contemporary Swedish artists and producers. The song is very memorable as it does create an atmosphere in its music and lyrics. The chorus is really big and have an almost passable earworm to it on the “u-u-u-u-up” parts.

Loreen is a very engaging performer. She has a good voice and I have no doubt she will be able to sing this live in Baku, although many have commented that they don’t know what she is saying, which I personally think is a little unfair. I also really enjoy the ‘dancing’ she does. It’s very tai-chi like and reflects the lyrics in part. She is alone on stage for almost all of the song except for the end where she is joined by a male dancer. She dressed quite modestly but I quite like this. I think that this shows that you don’t been bright lights, costume changes and a full blown dance routine to be big at Eurovision.

This is by far the best and most polished song/performance piece we have seen this year and should go top 5 with ease.

SONG – Euphoria

ARTIST – Loreen

COMPOSERS – Peter Boström, Thomas G:son

LANGUAGE – English

07/03/12 RUSSIA

The Russian Final was held on March 7th at the Akademicheskiy Concert Hall in Moscow, hosted by Olga Shelest & Vladimir Zelenskiy. The winner, after a 50-50 combination of televoting and jury vote, was Buranovskiye Babushki with “Party for Everybody”

“The grannies” are not exactly the most energetic of performers – ‘old school’ doesn’t even describe it at they’ve probably been alive so long they remember a time there was no such thing as school.

Enough of the bitching and onto the facts. The group itself is its own gimmick, its own advertisement its own publicity machine and no matter what the ladies do they will get the press. People will find the group intriguing and will get a lot of ‘sympathy votes’ although I’m not quite sure why they should get any sympathy.

The song is basically structured around the chorus which is in English. The rest of the song is their regional tongue of Udmurt. The fact that they stand there going “boom boom boom boom” quite hilarious. Because of the sound of the song it will get a lot of Eastern European votes as well as that of Scandinavia. They will also get votes from the mad quarter too.

The song and performance are incredibly indulgent almost to the point of a saccharine overdose. Yes they are rather cute and old and cuddly and make you go “awwwww”. Yes they are dressed in a very old fashioned ethnic way (nothing like it has been seen since Mattis Hætta in 1980) and are singing a song you wouldn’t expect. But behind the rose tinted façade I’m not quite sure what is left of any substance. It is quite a catchy song however I find myself laughing at it more that wanting to join in.

Only the ‘granny’ on the left seems to conscious of what she is doing and one of them seems totally bemused at to what she is doing. I am also concerned to see what looks like a smouldering piece of Chernobyl rotating and smoking away behind them. It is almost a shame there are 6 of them as a couple of Cossack dancers either side would have polished the look off to a tee.

So, will it qualify? Yes.    Will it do well ? Yes.    Will it win? Probably.    Do I like it? NO

This year’s Eric Saade.

SONG – Party for everybody

ARTIST – Buranovskiye Babushki

COMPOSERS – Vikton Drobych, Olga Tuktaryova

LANGUAGE – Udmurt & English

07/03/12 SLOVAKIA

On 7^th March, Slovakia TV announced that their entry for Eurovision this year would be “Don’t close your eyes” sung by Max Jason Mai. It has been known since Slovakia confirmed its participation in December that their song and entry would be decided internally.

On the plus side this song is very different to anything else that has been put forward this year. It is a song that does catch your ear and the chorus is not too bad. The song is very much hard rock and I expect a performance to match it. The song has lots of rhythm changes and goes from quick to slow very quickly. This on the positive side keeps you on your toes but on the negative side means it is very difficult to get in your head or sing along to.

Of course as this news was released generally, there was no live performance to go on. From what has been written about him, he is an energetic performer so it will be interesting to see what kind of show he comes to Baku with. Also, the song is very OTT and although he seems to reach everything on the recorded version one wonders if he can work the magic live.

Hard rock generally does not do well at Eurovision, although I guess acts such as Lordi and Wig Wam may disagree, that said it is not a genre that is often sent. I don’t think the song will qualify but I don’t think it is a bad song. The style is too narrow and will not appeal to the general ordinary viewers or voter, nay the juries. Will get Eastern Europe and Scandinavian votes though.

SONG – Don’t close your eyes

ARTIST – Max Jason Mai

COMPOSER – Max Jason Mai

LANGUAGE – English

03/03/12 LITHUANIA

The Lithuanian Final was held on March 3rd, hosted by Liepa Rimkeviciene & Darius Uzkuraitis. Before the final there were 4 semi-finals where the long list of 36 was reduced to a final of 14. The winner was chosen in two rounds of voting. In the first round the top 3 was chosen by televoting (50%) & an "expert" jury (50%), whilst in the second round the winner was chosen by an "expert" jury.  After an epic show that seemed to last hours the winner was announced as Donny Montell with the song “Love is Blind”

One would say that this is a song of 2 halves. During the first half of the song, Donny is wearing a black blindfold, mirroring the title of the song whilst singing quite a slow melodic melody with a very minimal soulful backing track. During this time he is still emoting using his hands and does move a little. He then starts the chorus which then builds in the backing track with a more noticeable beat. Halfway through he then removes the blindfold, does a one handed somersault and then starts disco dancing and interacting with the audience.

Donny is alone on stage and the song (as it is) does not require backing singers. I feel that Donny is able to command the stage by himself and I actually feel that more bodies on the stage would detract from the fact that Donny is a very strong singer and performer. The song is OK. I would say that the first half is much stronger then the second visually and melodically. There is also a strange part about two minutes in when her repeats the ‘love is blind’ part like a stuck record which sounds very odd and could go wrong very easily.

I would say that this is quite an interesting choice by the Lithuanians. As I have already stated Donny is a strong performer and singer. Not the strongest of songs, not even the more Eurovision of songs, but it is pleasant enough. Maybe a bit too pleasant…

A video of his winning performance can be found on LRT's youtube site below.

http://www.youtube.com/user/LRTinklas?feature=watch

SONG – Love is blind

ARTIST – Donny Montell (Donatas Montvydas)

COMPOSERS –

LANGUAGE – English

03/03/12 SPAIN

The Spanish Final was held on March 3rd at Prado del Rey Studios in Madrid, hosted by Anne Irgatiburu. Pastora Soler sang 3 songs and the winner was chosen by a 50-50 mix of televoting and "expert" jury. Pastora chose 2 songs herself whilst the other 2 songs were voted for on the internet to be here third choice for the final. Unusually the teletoving started way before the televised final - on February 22nd - and finished during the show.

The winning song with both jury and televote was “Quédate conmigo” meaning Stay with me. Quédate conmigo is a very atmospheric and emotional ballad is Spanish, co written by one of the most prolific Eurovision writers of late, Thomas G:son. Because of its international writing team, I would not say it is typically Spanish and could probably work in any language, although this is very unlikely to change for Baku. The song is not exactly singable but the repetition of the same words and same melody in the chorus makes it really stick in your mind.

Pastora is a fantastic singer and performer. She looks really into the song and had a very good emotional performance. Although she was alone on stage (backing singers will be need to be added though) she really did own the stage and looked very professional. The song really showed off her vocal range and strength especially during the high and long notes in the chorus.

Obviously being part of the Big 5 means that the song automatically qualifies for the final. This song will do really well, especially with the juries, as well as those countries who appreciate the more dramatic ballads. I have no worries about Pastor being able to pull this off in Back. Another possible contender…

SONG – Quédate conmigo (Stay with me)

ARTIST – Pastora Soler

COMPOSERS – Thomas G:son, Tony Sánchez-Ohlsson, Erik Bernholm

LANGUAGE – Spanish

03/03/12 ESTONIA

The Estonian Final was held on March 3rd at the Nokia Concert Hall in Tallinn. Before the final there were 2 semi-finals where the list of 20 was whittled down to a final of 10. Lenna and Ott Lepland made it to the superfinal where Ott Lepland was announced as the winner of Eesti Laul.

During the semi final Ott was seated at a piano whilst in the final he sang the whole song stood in the middle of the stage. He is backed by a female singer who is stuck right at the back of the stage where you cannot see her, which I don’t like. Ott does not do very much and stays very much on the spot. It may well benefit the flow of the song if he starts n the piano and then does the rest of the song stood up as this will create some movement and help build the song.

The song is a slow quiet ballad that does gain some strength through the choruses. That said it just feels a little flat and samey and is not very memorable. I don’t even think having some dancers would help the song. This said Ott does put emotion into the song and sings it well. Now of course many will be wondering if the song will be left in the original Estonian or translated into English. Unfortunately I don’t think changing the language will save this at all.

Estonia picked a really, really good top 3 for Eesti Laul butended up choosing the wrong song for Baku. Lenna or Tenfold Rabbit (who came 3^rd) would have been much more original choices and would have made a mark on the contest, even if they were a little too different for Eurovision. Unless major staging, styling or even language changes are made this is a definite DNQ.

SONG – Kuula (Listen)

ARTIST – Ott Lepland

COMPOSERS – Ott Lepland and Aapo Ilves

LANGUAGE – Estonian

01/03/12 ISRAEL

Prior to the unveiling of the song, the band Izabo was internally selected by Israeli Television to represent them at Eurovision. Strangely, the song was premiered via the internet and not via a special TV show.

The song fluctuates between English verses and A chorus in Hebrewplus the singer’s English is not too bad, although the lyrics are a little bit weak. The song’s feel is very modern yet has a 60’s feel to the melody especially in the chorus. However it is far too busy. The synthesizer parts are too complicated and the tune is very complicated.  In addition it also finishes too abruptly for my liking.

The next day they played the song at the Zappa club which was also placed onto the internet. The band looks a little odd, with the greatest amount of respect they look a little older than what their style of music suggests. They will also (hopefully) look a bit different stylistically in Baku. They don’t sing too bad really and do deliver the song well. However I am worried that the song won’t be enough of a show as it really could do with more of a visual element to it.

The song for me is too odd and really not what I would consider to be a Eurovision song. Maybe it will grow on me in time, however the average Eurovision viewer who will only hear this once may well forget this too easily.

Below is the formal released version as well as the live version,

SONG - Time

ARTIST – Izabo

COMPOSERS – Ran Shem-Tov, Shiri Hadar

LANGUAGE – Hebrew and English

29/02/12 BULGARIA

The Bulgarian Final was held on February 29th at the National Palace of Culture in Sofia, hosted by Milenita Nikolova, Drago Draganov & Alexander Sano. Before the final there was a semi-final where the list of 22 was whittled down to 12.  The winner was chosen by  SMS voting (50%) and "expert" jury (50%). However when the results came in there was a tie for first place between Sofi Marinova and New 5, therefore the SMS voting took precedence so Sofi took the ticket to Baku.

The song is an uptempo dance song. It starts off with a small ear worm or Sofi kind of yodelling which is repeated a few times during the song. The song is pretty formulaic and you can see where it is going quite easily. Most of the song is in Bulgarian so having a predictable melody isn’t such a bad thing. The chorus contains several different languages and it does come across as a little bit garbled. Also the chorus is sand at a very high pitch, almost to the point that every time she sings it you really fear that she isn’t going to hit those notes !

In both the semi and final, Sofi is on stage alone. She is able to command the stage quite well but I feel that the power of the song would benefit from some kind of extra presence on the stage. I also feel that giving her less to do will enable her to focus on her vocals, which as I have already stated need to be bang on during the chorus.

I would say that this kind of song will go down well with the Eastern European crowd with the language at that Romanian-style production values. I think this one will qualify and may do well with voters at home. I do feel that the song might benefit from a change of language at some point in the song.

Below are her performances from the final and semi-final

SONG - Love Unlimited

ARTIST – Sofi Marinova

COMPOSERS – Doni Vasileva,Yasen Kozev, Krum Georgiev

LANGUAGE – Bulgarian (plus a few words in various languages)