So its the day after the semi final since the results of the 2nd semi final were announced, so here is mine and William’s thoughts on each country from last night. Starting with…
Latvia (DNQ)
Anthony: This was a really good opener to the show, it was a good injection of energy. Never really saw this as a qualifier.
William: A brilliant opener. Really energetic and a great way to warm up and begin the show.
San Marino (DNQ)
Anthony: I did actually quite like this performance, I think the choice of the slower part of the song killed it’s chances. We may not be seeing San Marino for a while.
William: Fan favourite, I also quite liked it. Sad it didn’t qualify, it deserved it quite a bit. San Marino needed to get into the final this year, they probably wont return to ESC for a while.
Macedonia (DNQ)
Anthony: This was a vocal car crash when Esma took to the stage, I felt sorry for Lozano, he could have made it to the final without Esma. I honestly hope he does come back in the future.
William: What a miserable duet. They don’t go together, and this is even more of a medley than San Marino was. Multiple different songs put together with horrible vocals combined. Lozano would make a brilliant singer in future Macedonian Eurovision entries though.
Azerbaijan (Q)
Anthony: A very impressive performance, Farid was visibly nervous to begin with but got control of himself quickly. The performance will be one of the most memorable this year.
William: The camera angles disappointed me. Come on Azerbaijan, you can do better and we know this. Overall, I really feel like they are ruining the brilliant stage concept. Another one for Moldova to properly recycle next year. Still love it though.
Finland (Q)
Anthony: This was a brilliant performance, it woke my living room up. This will do very well on Saturday in my opinion, I’m very happy we have an injection of fun in the final.
William: I am part of this cult, yes. Even though I liked Diandra and Mikael more at the time of the NF, she has grown on me a ton. Very infectious. Be honest, we didn’t need more ballads this year.
Malta (Q)
Anthony: He just never stops smiling, I love this song it’s just brilliant. I’m glad to see Malta in the final for the second year in a row. Good luck on Saturday.
William: Cute but so boring. I don’t like the song much or buy his stage personality. Yeah, yeah, yeah, he’s a doctor. And?
Bulgaria (DNQ)
Anthony: This did not work at all on the night, the backing singers looked bored and out of place. And Elitsa just looked plain scary, sorry Bulgaria I fear we wont see you again.
William: I guess this is the end of Bulgaria in ESC for now. The song was really nice and ethnic, such a sad end to the only other ethnopop entry this year. The genre is so bad this year that I even count Greece as ethnopop now. Something for me to fanboy over at least.
Iceland (Q)
Anthony: This was a brilliant staging, I was glad to see this on stage, it was powerful and charming. This will be a great to see on Saturday, 15 years since we last had Icelandic in the final.
William: Boring. Didn’t deserve to qualify over the only true power ballad this year. Rak Bishvilo is so much better than this.
Greece (Q)
Anthony: Another great burst of fun, it’s great to see Greece in the final. I want to see how the voting does for this.
William: I fell in love with this song during the show. Everything is perfect! So incredibly infectious!
Israel (DNQ)
Anthony: This was another good song from Israel, I was looking at this song as qualifying at one time. However it was between Iceland and Israel, and Iceland for me won out.
William: Sad that this fell out of the competition. My favourite song that didn’t qualify, in both semis. I thought everything was perfect, but once Iceland got through I knew it was over for her.
Armenia (Q)
Anthony: This won me during the performance, I had a feeling that the Armenian diaspora would get behind, this so maybe that;s how this got through. Personally I proffered Albania.
William: If only the Balkans didn’t fail this year, then maybe Albania would’ve gotten through. Albania was so much better than this.
Hungary (Q)
Anthony: Not happy with this one at all, it’s a slightly dull song. This is going to be one of those songs that will come in the last few places.
William: I hate it. Absolutely awful, everything about it. The staging is just awful, the song is just awful. Everything.
Norway (Q)
Anthony: This was another song that truly deserved to qualify, good staging and a strong vote. It’s a deserving qualifier and had a great combination of modern sounds and a great voice.
William: After Hungary, this was great. I think it became one of my favourites solely for that reason. Her vocals, the staging, the industrial and electronic feel is great. Wonderful combination of elements.
Albania (DNQ)
Anthony: The staging was great, the song was great but it just didn’t make it. I loved the pyros, I loved the feeling of this performance and really thought this was a qualifier. Poor Albania.
William: Song was great, staging was great. I think they went too pyro heavy, but it did breathe some really nice life into the show. I feel so Azerbaijani for hating Armenia, but I do. This is way better. I need clipboards with these guys on the back of them and rub it into Armenia’s face. A slideshow behind me would help as well.
Georgia (Q)
Anthony: This was just utter cheese, sorry but this song made me go “Oh really how more typical could this be”. This will annoy me by doing really well on Saturday, but it was always going to qualify.
William: One of my favourites going into everything. The vocals and the staging is fine. It lost its appeal somewhere though. Maybe because its just a Swedish puppet in Georgia. Explains their 25th place in the running order at least. Still very happy to see it qualify and get support though.
Switzerland (DNQ)
Anthony: This lost all the chance of qualifying when they lost the salvation army name. It was nice but it just never really worked, it didn’t do anything on stage whatsoever.
William: I absolutely hated this song. However during the 3 minutes that I was forced to listen to it, it grew on me and Hungary became my most hated of this semi. The song and staging is just too static to do much. I never quite bought the appeal of it, and still don’t. Not surprised it didn’t qualify.
Romania (Q)
Anthony: This did click with me last night and I just went, people are gonna vote for this. It’s going be a song that will stand out in the final and get votes for all the wrong reasons.
William: For some reason I sorta liked this song. I’ve been expecting it to qualify since the running order was released (with my mind only changing in the few hours before the semi to prefer Bulgaria). I’ve gotten used to it, and yeah, it’s a qualifier.
