My draw

So, SVT seem to be taking their time in releasing the semi-final line ups, possibly due to a) the number of last-minute selections and b) changes to entries AFTER the closing date. However I spent literally 5 minutes doing my own personal line up. This ISN’T what I think will happen but more what I’d do if I were in charge. I have tried to create a bit of tension, keep some flow and keep viewers entertained from start to finish.

I have tried to make each entry as individual as possible i.e. tried not to have similar acts following each other OR try to have 2 similar singing or song styles following on. As you will see this has not always been possible. I also wanted the viewer to feel intrigued about what was coming next. It was also important to me that the viewers felt optimistic about the next song if they were not enjoying the present one so they had a reason to watch on.

Here are the two semis, split into their two halves. The only thing that I don’t know that might make a difference is where the producers intend to have a break (or breaks) in the running orders. Songs after the breaks may be at a disadvantage plus it would be an opportunity to place two similar songs next to each other in the running order without being to easily comparable.


SF1
1st half   FIN  NED  GRE  SAN  CRO  MOL  ARM  RUS  HUN
2nd half   MNT  AUT  AZE  EST  MAL  CZE  CYP  ICE  BOS

SF2
1st half   BLR   MAC   LIT   SWI   IRE   POL   AUS   ISR   LAT   SER
2nd half   NOR   DEN   ALB   BEL   GEO   SLO   UKR   ROM   BUL

2016 recap 012

And now, the end is near...

It's felt like a long old slog but finally we have all 43 songs at our laps and all we need to do now is wait and work out who's going to win...

In the podcast I gloss over the fact that all of the song reviews are done and that in this in between time, artists are getting ready for Stockholm. We, on the other hand, have other things in store as you will hear... Please keep in touch with us and I hope you enjoy what we have in store for you throughout April.

Music cones from Yugoslavia and Portugal.

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BULGARIA

The Bulgarian entry was revealed on the 21st March via a video clip on eurovision.tv. Last Month, BNT revealed that they had internally selected former Eurovision entrant Poli Genova to represent Bulgaria  but that the song would be revealed much later. It has since been announced that she will be singing the song “If love was a crime”

This is modern pop song with a slightly ethnic twist. The verses have a good steady rhythm and is quite radio friendly. The first part of the chorus, which contains the name of the song, is a little weak. The tune doesn’t seem to fit the mood of the song and seems a bit too happy and chirpy. The second part of the chorus, which is partially in Bulgarian, is very catchy and repetitive. Poli also sports a very unusual and eye catching one-sided hairstyle which might be a good look for Eurovision.

Poli is already a well known face and name to the Eurovision community. Her musical career began when she was very young and was a member of the group Bon-bon for many years. On her 4th attempt she won the right to represent Bulgaria at Eurovision 2011 but came 12th in her semi final. Since then she has released an album, become a jury member on X-Factor Bulgaria and at the end of last year hosted the Junior Eurovision song contest.

The video has a simple story line and has some interesting views and ideas. The black and white feel works really well. She also looks really interesting and is memorable to the eye. Vocally we know she has a good voice however I would like to hear that she can get her English spot in, especially in the faster parts of the chorus. She will need backing singers as she will need extra oomph in the chorus as well as the overlapping parts at the end. There is something that is missing. On first listen it didn’t gel together for me but felt better on subsequent listens. One would hope that Poli will qualify and she has a good chance of doing so. Her song is possibly one of the few ‘normal’ songs in the second half and I feel that viewers may well relate to this much better in the semi than in the final. I predict an easy route into the final with a finishing place of low teens.

ARTIST – Poli Genova

SONG – If Love Was A Crime

MUSIC – Borislav Milanov, S. Arman, J. Persson

LYRICS – Borislav Milanov, S. Arman, J. Persson, Poli Genova

MALTA [upd]

Back in January, Ira Losco was selected to represent Malta with the song “Chameleon”. Afterwards it was announced that the song choice would be looked at, possibly changed. It was revealed during the delegations meeting that the song had been changed. On March 17th the official video for the song was released. Ira will now be singing the song “Walk on water”

This is modern pop song with a dancy backing track. There is a very long introduction which leads into a slowed down version of the verse and suddenly sparks into life when the bridge kicks in. In essence, the song is very simple in terms of lyrics and song structure. All in all this is a very bad copy of Emilie Sande’s “Heaven”.This is better than Chameleon but only marginally but this also gives me some new reservations. The structure of the song is better and has a better hook. The lyrics are a bit simple and the chorus doesn’t make sense.

Ira Losco was runner up in Eurovision 2002 which kicked off her career in Malta. This fact alone as already made the Maltese participation an early fan favourite. After a 5 year hiatus, she came back to the music scene in 2013 with a new album and featured as a guest during the interval in the Maltese Eurovision selection process. Although not a stranger to ESC, the contest has changed a lot since then and one would hope that somebody of her experience would not be too fazed.

Visually the video is stunning and shows Gozo off in a fantastic fashion. The male dancer is a great addition as it gives the song a much needed quirkiness. Her dresses come of as quite drag queen-ish and I don’t think she looks flattering in any of them. There are few clues as too anything that might be mirrored in the staging. My major concern is that I don’t think she will be able to replicate this level of singing live. She is going to have to have some very good backing singers to help sell the gospel part which possibly means there will be no dancers. Unfortunately this song needs both - this song is going to look good and sound bad or look bad and sound good. This is a great radio tune but is going to flop live. It shouldn’t qualify but probably will, and if it does get to the final it will come in around the high teens.

ARTIST – Ira Losco
SONG – Walk on water
MUSIC – Lisa Desmond, Tim Larsson, Tobias Lundgren, Molly Pettersson-Hammar, Ira Losco
LYRICS – Lisa Desmond, Tim Larsson, Tobias Lundgren, Molly Pettersson-Hammar, Ira Losco

ITALY

The Italian entry was confirmed on March 14th during the official Head of Delegation Meeting in Stockholm. Back in February it was announced that the winning “Big Entry” performer at San Remo would have first refusal of representing the state at Eurovision. The eventual winners of the contest, Stadio, turned down the offer but runner up Francesca Michielin accepted the challenge. There was then a long wait before news came as to whether her San Remo entry, or another song, would go with her. At Eurovision she will be singing a dual language version of her San Remo song called “No degrees of separation”.

Although the All Italian version has been around for months, the version to be performed at Eurovision has not been released yet so I am having to do the review based on the original version. This is a slowish ballad with very little deviation from beginning to end. The verses do not have much of a tune and any tune it does have is not that easy on the ear. The chorus is very similar but there is a definite rhythm and tune to it. The backing track is very minimal and ahs very little rise and fall or oomph. The song also peters out somewhat, which leaves me feeling a little on the confused side.

Francesca was part of the Italian x-factor cast in 2011. Mentored by Simona Ventura, she performed songs by Adele, The Doors, Stevie Wonder and AC/CD proving her versatility. She ended up wining the series signing a record deal with Sony. Her first song debuted at number one on the Italian Singles Chart and later certified double platinum. She has since released numerous tracks, 2 albums, 2 EPs as well as appearing on two top-ten singles by Italian rapper Fedez,  Her song "Amazing” appeared on the Italian version of the soundtrack of The Amazing Spider-Man 2. In 2016 she started her first concert tour and she then appeared in the 2016 Sanremo festival.

The video has some interesting themes and camera angles but I would think they are not ones that would work as live although the passing around of objects might be a good video wall idea. It's also a shame that she looks so emotionless and miserable throughout the whole thing. The full Italian version of the song is 3.40 ish and so they have to eliminate a good chunk of the song. They have also revealed that the last chorus of the song will be in English. I don’t think either f these facts can change my current opinion. I know that this is highly regarded by a lot of people but I find this very boring and uninspiring. I fail to think of who exactly this is appealing to. I find it too 'up itself' for the general public to get emotionally involved and I think the jury may find this too safe or unexciting to bother giving it votes. This is a definite bottom 5 for me and I will be scheduling in a toilet break/tea break/baby feed around this time.

ARTIST – Francesca Michielin
SONG – No degrees of separation
MUSIC – Fabio Gargiulo, Federica Abbate, Francesca Michielin
LYRICS – Cheope, Francesca Michielin, Norma Jean Martine

AZERBAIJAN

The Azerbaijan entry was announced in March 10th. The artist and the song were selected internally based on a ballot by ITV, music and television industry experts and Eurovision fans. The internally selected singer is Samra and she will be singing “Miracle”.

This is a radio friendly pop song with a ballad inspired verse and anthemic chorus. The verses of the song are quite slow and low whilst the chorus is more upbeat The chorus is full of ear worms and you soon start to get the feeling that you have heard this somewhere before. The song flips well between verse and chorus which keeps the flow going until the end.  The repetition of the chorus near the end is a bit too much and it starts to get a little too repetitive after a while. The ending is very anti climactic and feels quite detached for the end. It would have been better to repeat the first line and end on a high or slow down before the end by omitting a chorus at the end.

Samra Rahimli is from Baku, but spent parts of her childhood in Azerbaijan and Russia,  In 2012 she took the stage for the first time at the national selection for the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest. She was the youngest contestant in the competition and eventually came 3rd in her heat. In 2015, she reached the quarterfinals in The Voice of Turkey then joined the cast of The Voice Azerbaijan last autumn, eventually finishing 4th.

The video clip shows some interesting ideas, some of which could be brought to the stage. First of all there is the great use of lighting to emphasise the background changes between verse and chorus. There is also the fact that this is a one-take shot from start to end - something not new to Eurovision. Visually, something with these themes could look very professional. Audio wise I notice that the chorus is VERY backing singer heavy, suggesting that she needs a fair bit of help to see it through. I also wonder if she will be able to start the song off sharp enough and with enough confidence to drive it home. I don’t think it’s a bad song but there is nothing particularly special about it. I also feel that some people will find it too earworm-y and too repetitive. This song leaves me wondering who would vote for it. I would suggest this will do OK in the semi – around 7th – but do marginally better in the final – around the 10th place mark. If it didn’t qualify it would not surprise me, if it won it would not surprise me.

  

ARTIST – Samra

SONG – Miracle

MUSIC – Amir Aly Jakob “Jakke” Erixson Henrik Wikström

LYRICS – Amir Aly Jakob “Jakke” Erixson Henrik Wikström

SERBIA

The Serbian song was unveiled on 12^th March during a special show “Pesma Srbije za Evropu” hosted by Slobodan Šarenac, Vlada Jelić , Dejan Pantelić and Milan Popović. A few days earlier RTS revealed who their internally singer and song would be. Going to Stockholm is Sanja Vučić  - who will be using the stage name ZAA - singing the song “Goodbye”.

This is an odd little ditty and doesn’t sound very Serbian at all. It is a stylistic ballad with jazzy, 1960’s touches, almost Adele like in places. She is also styled a little like Amy Winehouse which suits the song – but not her. It’s a lovely touch to have her in front of an orchestra, this is a Eurovision song that needs the oomph that a orchtra gives rather than something synthesised. The whole song has a great structure and really suits the last minute key change. This is one of the few songs where both parts of the song work really well as do the instrumental parts.

Sanja Vučić has been singing since she was little, she attended a music school and studied in the opera department. She also sang in various ensembles, ranging from ethno music, a jazz orchestra and church choir. She then joined the band ZAA in 2012. The band is noted for its crossover appeal doing ska, dub, rock, jazz and punk. She performed on their "What About" album released in 2014.

Although this was presented on s special show this was a mimed video performance and it is quite obvious that many different takes were used to craft it. First of all she needs to sack the person who dressed her and the person who did her make up as she looks truly awful and over done. She looks more like a slightly drunk fortune teller. Her hair looks like she's just got out of bed,  the lipstick colour makes her look like a blow up doll and the dress makes her look a lot bigger than she actually is. She is obviously not backwards in coming forwards when if comes to performance style and you can tell she has a lot of attitude and passion for what she does. My concern is that it will be more attitude than singing. If she can sing this live AND tone down the visuals ever so slightly this could get a lot of votes. The juries will love this and I think the style of music will appeal to casual watchers. I would hope this will qualify from semi 2 with little fuss and I think this should be a top 10 finisher.

ARTIST – ZAA

SONG – Goodbye

MUSIC – Ivana Peters

LYRICS – Ivana Peters

LITHUANIA

The Lithuanian Final was held on March 12th at the LRT TV Studios in Vilnius, hosted by Andrius Rožickas & Geruta Griniute. Before the final there were 9 shows which brought all of the selected songs and singers down to a final of 6 acts singing a different song each. The winner, chosen by 50-50 split of televoting and jury was Donny Montell singing “I’ve been waiting for this night”.

This is a mid-tempo number that walks the line between ballad and pop song. He starts the song underneath a projected rain cloud. I’m not quite sure what this is supposed to represent but it looks awful. He also has some smoke jets during the chorus. Near the end he does a somersault over a prop of some kind – again I don’t know why. Donny is dressed very casually, a bit too casually. His performance style is a bit over the top and looks more like a raucous rap show than slow ballad. The whole thing takes too long to get going. The verses are not terribly memorable and the chorus has no proper structure to it. Overall this feels like a lot of mismatched things thrown together.

Donny Montell won his first singing competition when he was just 6! His first taste of Eurovision came in 2008 when he entered the Lithuanian national final with two songs – one a solo number, one a duet. The latter did not get to the final but his solo attempt got to second place. His entry in 2009 was disqualified and his two songs in 2010 placed 10th and 5th. In 2012 his entry “Love is blind” won the national final and got a respectable 14th place in the final. He also has over 10 singles to his names and released 2 albums.

Overall this feels like a lot of mismatched things thrown together – it is totally confused. He looks like he is trying to be 18 when he is actually 28. He would do much better if he just stood there with a mic stand and sang the song. As he wrote the song and there is (currently) only him on stage I don’t see anything about this changing. There are so many distracting you, you start to forget there is a song involved. The song itself is a little boring and is every piss poor boy band song from the 1990s and 2000s rolled into one. There is nothing new to hear or see here. When it comes to qualifying, it is in a very friendly semi with lots of neighbours and plenty of chances for some diaspora votes. I suspect this will qualify, although it is very much a car crash of a show.

ARTIST – Donny Montell
SONG – I’ve been waiting for this night
MUSIC – Christian Schneider, Sara Biglert, Aidan O'Connor
LYRICS – Christian Schneider, Sara Biglert, Aidan O'Connor

SWEDEN

The Swedish Final was held on March 12th at the Friends Arena in Solna, hosted by Gina Dirawi & William Spetz. Before the final there were four semi-finals and a second chance round, all chosen though public voting. The winner during the final was chosen by televoting (50%) and a panel 11 international juries (50%). The winning act was Frans singing “If I were sorry”

This is mid-tempo low key song with a very conversational tone about it. The backdrop behind him is back and the gold parts behind in change into different shapes and words. The camera work is a bit jumpy at first but this mirrors the mumbly, tip of  the tongue tone of the song You can hear his English accent – although to my ears it feels like he has over-Lena-ed it and sounds more Mockney Dick Van Dyke than a true British accent. There is not much to the backing track and has a folksy jumpy feel. The lyrics are a bit nondescript and I would say that many of the rhymes are not good and he tries to hard to make the non-rhymes rhyme, e.g. sorry and glory. It sounds more like a poem being rapped out. As a piece of music it reminds me of the style of Just Jack.

Frans Jeppsson-Wall is part Nigerian, part English, part Swedish but lived in Sweden until he was 8. He then moved to London , along with his twin sister. and younger brother . Frans’ best known song is "Who's da Man" about Swedish footballer Zlatan Ibrahimović. It stayed at the top of the official Swedish Singles Chart for 13 weeks. After 8 years away, Frans returned to the music scene with his participation in the Swedish national final. He is the second youngest Melodifestivalen winner ever behind Carola in 1983.

France will needs some backing singers although these will probably end up being out of sight. Frans is a good-looking young man and all the ladies will adore him (as will some of the young men). It is quite a modern song and will probably work well on contemporary and easy-listening radio stations. It doesn’t have much of a tune and doesn’t have any major ups and down or lifts to rise to a big finish.  Part of me wishes that the last chorus has a bigger beat or double-time it just to gather up the pace a bit, otherwise it leaves you a little bit deflated. There is no ‘song’ and he can’t really sing very well. One wonders if the Swedes really want to win again because this has 'not winning' written through it like a stick of rock. The app voting available in Sweden mean that this not only appealed to the younger demographic but made it easier for the to vote for it to - something not transferable to Eurovision itself. I personally would have this bottom 5 but will probably end up around the 10-15 mark.

ARTIST – Frans

SONG – If I were sorry

MUSIC – Oscar Fogelström, Michael Saxell, Fredrik Andersson, Frans Jeppsson-Wall

LYRICS –  Oscar Fogelström, Michael Saxell, Fredrik Andersson, Frans Jeppsson-Wall

CZECH REPUBLIC

The Czech entry was unveiled in March 10^th via a press release. This was followed the next day by a full press conference and release of the official music video. The internally selected singer is Gabriela Gunčíková and she will be singing “I stand”

This is a more classical ballad with a repetitive and simplistic chorus. The verses of the song have a very strong melody and the lyrics, although a little over the top, are not your usual Eurovision fayre. The chorus is a little weak to be honest with 3 of the four lines just being the words “I stand” and have exactly the same tune each time. One might say that the positive about this is that it is easy to remember.

Gabriela is most known for her involvement in a TV competition “Česko Slovenská Superstar” where she came second. Since then she went to America to study at the Ken Tamplin Vocal Academy song and then became a member of the US Trans-Siberian Orchestra, whose genre is a mix of rock and orchestra, with whom she played in two major tours around 120 concerts. She also has 2 studio solo albums to her name.

The video clip had some very interesting theme, many of which could be used on the Eurovision stage. The cinematography of the first and ending shots are breathtaking and leave you intrigued. I also like the geometric projections and overlays – slightly Stromae-eque. However the stop-go animation (although obviously painstaking to make) didn’t really fit the flow or mood of the song. I cannot comment too much on the odds of the being able to sing this live due to it being a video presentation.

Being one of the simpler and more classical style ballads this could have an outside chance of being the first Czech qualifier ever.  This sticks out compared to all the other songs in the second half of semi one which are either up-tempo or stylised ballads. This would be a great ending to the semi, but will probably be placed somewhere in the middle of its half. Czech Republic does not have many ‘friends’ in Eurovision terms but there are  a few Central countries in its semi so might get a few neighbourly votes. If this qualifies, this will be as good as a win.

ARTIST – Gabriela Gunčíková

SONG – I stand

MUSIC – Christian Schneider, Sara Biglert, Aidan O'Connor

LYRICS – Christian Schneider, Sara Biglert, Aidan O'Connor