I have seen a couple of the artist announcements. I'm not familiar with Olly Alexander but I think I have seen his name somewhere before.

Ah, maybe that's where I've seen his name before. Still need to watch It's a Sin! 
I hadn't realized there were this many songs out already, I thought there had only been artist announcements. 

I just listened to Albania and Czech Republic. The Albanian singer's headpiece reminds me a bit of the Statue of Liberty. The song grew on me as it went along, though the national final performance has no subtitles so I'd have to look up what the lyrics mean. I like the feel of the Czech song, though I was surprised by the costumes of the national final performance after seeing the music video first. Not the look I was expecting, feels like a bit of a mismatch to me. I don't think the national final had the best audio quality either.

Last edited by Yitzock (January 7, 2024 4:01 pm)

I knew The Roop were competing in the Lithuanian selection competition again, but I don't think I realized Keiino were for Norway. I just listened to the song, and I agree it's not as good as previous submissions. It sounds a bit like something you'd hear while playing Dance Dance Revolution. Not necessarily a bad thing, but I don't think it stands out as much as some of their other songs. Gothminister's song is kind of catchy, even if it's not a style of music I usually listen to.

Last edited by Yitzock (January 10, 2024 4:46 pm)

Well, I watched the Luxembourg national final, and sadly my favourite "Drowning in the Rain" did not get through. The winner is good, though, and it's mostly in French. Luxembourg is taking it very seriously. High quality acts, and a big star studded show with lots of previous Eurovision winners appearing!  It

I also watched the Irish national final and my favourite, Bambie Thug, won! It's quite an interesting song and artist, and they are a really good singer and performer. I think the right choice for Ireland to send something different. I'll be surprised if they don't qualify this year.

I watched the Norwegian semi-final with Gothminister and they are through to the final, so quite exciting!
 

I have a friend from Latvia. I think she said the singer is an established artist over there and was expected to win. I've only listened once and it hasn't really grabbed me yet, although he's a good singer. I agree that it might not stand out much.

I have the same mixed feelings about Finland. I thought their entry last year was brilliant, but although that had humour it had a serious side too, and it was in Finnish. However, I have to say I watched the Finnish national selection live and this act really did stand out. I remember it was the same with Käärijä last year: I loved the song, but it was the staging that really struck me. You can't think of the song without thinking of his green bolero thing, and the human centipede dance move!  It's the same with Windows 95 Man: it was the one act where I really felt engaged with it, and was laughing out loud! And the tune is quite catchy.

I also watched the Norwegian final, with Gothminister who I was rooting for. However, again on the night, I thought the winner's performance was the most striking and memorable. And Gåte's Ulveham has really grown on me, to the extent that this might be another band I continue to follow after Eurovision.  I don't think I've heard anything quite like that in Eurovision before. It's really interesting. Apparently the words are from a 19th century telling of a much older folk tale. I really like the sound of the language (even though I don't understand) and the folk/metal influence. Definitely in my top five so far but maybe even my top one, this week at least (subject to change!).

Spain and Italy have chosen their entries too. Both of them are really good, fun entries! I listened to a few entries from both countries, but hadn't really chosen a favourite so quite happy with those choices.  I spotted a couple of returners from Italy :Diodato and Mahmood, and maybe somebody else! Lots of people coming back for another go. Oh, Konstrakta is trying for Serbia! And Let 3 for Croatia again too.

Ukraine have chosen as well, and it wasn't my favourite act of the night, but very good and different to anything else in the competition so far (also different to previous Ukraine entries, I think). It feels quite downbeat to me, compared to all the fun coming out of other countries but that might make it stand out.

It's the German national final tomorrow. I'm not invested in any of them, to be honest: there are three that I quite like listening to but nothing blowing me away like last year. And then Moldova on Saturday. Sadly Zdob și Zdub don't seem to be entering this time! And Denmark on Saturday too, I think. I haven't really checked their songs yet. I had the idea this year of listening to everything, but there are hundreds and hundreds of songs and I don't think I can do them justice, so just picking out a few national finals to follow and watch!
 

Wow, things move on quickly! All the acts are confirmed now. Konstrakta didn't make it through for Serbia. I've watched a few of the national finals, and hopefully will see some of the acts lives soon, rail strikes permitting!



The video with clips of all the songs is out. It feels a bit overwhelming now there's 37 but I've got them all ranked! I have a few favourites, I think I've already mentioned Norway which is often at the top of my list. Switzerland is really interesting this year. One song that always makes me smile is Spain, and it's fun seeing an older performer. Australia makes me smile too, so although those ones are lower in odds, I'm kind of rooting for them.  Spain's stage performance was great, and Australia tend to put on a good show!

The Croatian national final was great and Baby Lasagne won by a massive landslide, over 50% of the total votes! It was fun seeing Let 3 dancing and cheering him on, even though they were competing against him!  It's a really good song and performance and is another one that creeps into my number one.

I also like the UK entry. It's not blowing me away but it's nice to listen to. Netherlands isn't high on my list at the moment, but it's very popular, and has a moving story behind it. It might move up my list.

It's a shame that this year, the Eurovision final is on the same day as Doctor Who!
 

That's weird. They're opening the voting for the rest of the world before the show even starts? Or do they mean you can vote before everyone has finished performing? If it's the latter, that could potentially privilege who ever performs in the first half.

Yeah, I agree with you. I know a lot of people are already fans of a given act before the actual live performance, but there are always surprises that can affect who you think should win. I'd be curious to see if there's data available later about the proportion of votes that were early vs after all the performances are over. Because I'm sure there are others who would still vote after all the performances anyway.

Last edited by Yitzock (March 29, 2024 10:13 pm)

So just some comments on some that were maybe, stand out, better than expected, worse than expected, something happened, etc.
Ireland Bambie Thug Doomsday Blues
I'm mentioning this first as I think this was the standout for me. I already liked the song, but their performance was so good. Out of all of the artists this was the one I felt was connecting with the audience the most. They also had the best outfit, I think: a kind of Lovecraftian tentacle thing.
Norway Gate Ulveham
Another song that I love, and this was a great, exciting performance. However, the singer does not move about on the stage as much as Bambie does and I didn't feel she was looking in my direction. Not that that will matter at Eurovision. The rest of the band were also good, energetic performers.
Finland Windows 95 Man No Rules
I wondered how this would go down without the stage set, but it was great. Henri in particular seemed to be having the time of his life, and his singing seemed better than the national final performance.
Croatia Baby Lasagna Rim Tim Tagi Dim
An audience favourite and I think he is more used to performing it now, his voice was good.
San Marino Megara 11:11
This song was close to bottom for me, but has moved up quite a lot after this performance: very energetic, lots of movement around the stage, lots of fun!
France Slimane Mon Amour
I loved this performance! He sang some in English and I was a bit disappointed (I like the French) but it turns out he has been singing some in the language of the country he is visiting, so had been singing in Spanish the night before! At one point he stepped away from the mic and kept singing without it: what a powerful voice!
Georgia Nutsa Firefighter
She was really good and this went down very well, so I'm mentioning it but I still don't like the song that much.
Austria Kaleen We Will Rave
I liked this song, it's highish in the odds, but I wasn't so impressed with it live. Kaleen's bikini fastening broke during the performance so she had to sing and dance holding it in place which can't have been easy!
UK Olly Alexander Dizzy
This had grown on me and Olly was obviously the star of the night, having the last slot and being the home act as well as famous. There had been comments about whether he could sing well live. He sounded fine to me, but the performance wasn't what I expected. He didn't look like his heart was in it, and didn't really move much at all. I think there were some extenuating circumstances and he could be much better at Eurovision. But a bit of a disappointment on the night.
Poland Luna The Tower
I like this song, she can sing, looked great and posed very well, but I felt was a bit lost amongst a lot of very good, dramatic singers. Apparently she had a cold which may have been why.
Belgium Mustii Before the Party is Over
Very enthusiastic performance but it sounded to me as if his voice was off at times. The live lacked the sensuality of the video too, and I noticed how repetitive the song is.

Others were good, there was nobody here like the Netherlands or Poland last year where they really didn't perform well at all. Lithuania, Italy and Sweden were towards the end of the night and we were all flagging but they were good. Slovenia: fantastic singer, very beautiful. Latvia, sang really well, very serious, static on the stage, would be great if it was a bit better song. Estonia: good fun, went down well.




 

Last edited by Liberty (April 12, 2024 4:27 pm)