Eurovision Song Contest 2014

gavmcg92

Completely agree and I think a solid performance on the scoreboard is not only overdue for the UK but it's also needed to try and rekindle that passion to submit a great song and get involved from the uk delegation and public. I'd actually be quite proud if they won, as weird as that sounds. We've been bottom of the board buddies for a while now and it would be nice to get the competition on our doorstep. Maybe even on our island (doubt Belfast would be a consideration though London would be calling in all favours!)

As for the other favourites. I felt that Armenia were very poor vocally at the start. Along with the fact that he's the only vocalist on stage, he's incredibly isolated. But of course you wouldn't believe that with all the hyping up Armenia is doing. You'd swear this guy was a god if you read any of the comments.

Sweden was very strong, as was expected. I don't think it's going to be a run away victory like other years, but I do think she's going to win it. The song has such a universal appeal that songs like Hungary's just doesnt have. Even if it doesn't get 12s all round, it's going to appear on every countries points list. I'd be happy for Sweden if they won. It's always nice to see the show in the west for another year.

EDIT: I forgot to add, my favourite part from the Iceland song is

"cause every-buh buh buh buh buh buh
body looks the same on the inside
And it puh puh puh puh puh puh puh puh
pays:
to wear a smile"

Love this song!

gavmcg92

Just catching up with the rehearsals for semi final 2 so far. Have to admit, really liking the staging for the Maltese entry. It's really simple but effective. Love the photos that come up in the tiles behind them. Great use of the features of the new stage.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1bXNizF0p4

My favourite from today is Isreal.

Our second rehearsal is here:

Kasey interacts quite well with the camera and the switch to the green waves backdrop at the end is great. The vocals are ok. The dancers are awful though and the whole feel of it just isn't quite right for me. I'm a bit more confident about qualifying, but don't see us doing well in the final.

Strazdas

Flying Fox wrote: »

My favourite from today is Isreal.

Our second rehearsal is here:

Kasey interacts quite well with the camera and the switch to the green waves backdrop at the end is great. The vocals are ok. The dancers are awful though and the whole feel of it just isn't quite right for me. I'm a bit more confident about qualifying, but don't see us doing well in the final.

Kasey needs to smile a lot more but I get the distinct impression she's holding back and nowhere near at 100% yet in performance.

aramush

Thought we'd qualify with ease but now definitely not sure. The staging of it ruins what it is a good song.

gavmcg92

I actually don't mind the dancers too much now that I've seen the full act. Other than a few silly moves here and there, they're not too distracting. Her vocals are a bit worrying though. She seems to be short of breath at some points and the beginning was a little bit poor. Still want to hold on for the official video from the eurovision page first.

Another angle

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vctBesXJZGg

Another great review from ESCxtra ... ugh

Vocally this may have been Kasey's worst run. She was out of tune pretty much throughout the song. The whole act still seems pretty disconnected and doesn't come across as one single piece as much as a lot of different things going on on stage. It really may be time for RTE to start rethinking their selection process.

aramush

Fairly good review of the Irish rehearsal on the Eurovisionary website.

gavmcg92

Official Video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6rbZTGrWaI

Not too bad really. Has come a long a lot since the first rehearsal. She is definitely getting a lot more comfortable on the stage. Vocals still need a bit of work but I'm happy.

Yeah its an improvement, but I think the things that are fundamentally wrong with it can't (or won't) be changed at this late stage. ESCxtra are right about there being no cohesion on stage but just a whole lot of different things going on at once. I also agree that RTE need to change the selection process but unfortunately I don't think they can be arsed. They don't deem Eurovision worthy of effort!

gavmcg92

aramush wrote: »

Fairly good review of the Irish rehearsal on the Eurovisionary website.

I'm pretty sure the guy from eurovisionary works for eurovisionIreland and by extension reports for RTE. So maybe take his words with a pinch of salt.

Strazdas

The bloggers in the arena are really down on Kasey and calling her a non qualifier but I can't help thinking a lot of them are getting carried away. Feedback on Youtube for her performance today is very good with far more likes than dislikes. You can almost see what is happening with people in the arena : they're convincing themselves she is already out of the equation and greatly overestimating the appeal and potential popularity of others (Belarus, Switzerland etc).

gavmcg92

They look like they're having a blast

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SwZ3J4K8jw

yerwanthere123

Really weird how open the competition is this year, I'm actually struggling to see any of them as the winner next week!

Strazdas

yerwanthere123 wrote: »

Really weird how open the competition is this year, I'm actually struggling to see any of them as the winner next week!

Yes, it's a very strange year. It reminds me a lot of 2011.

Been watching the second rehearsals for semi two tonight. As I did with the first semi, here are my probably-quite-dull opinions that nobody asked for! :pac:

* Malta's selfie background is simple yet effective. Vocally they've improved quite a bit; it doesn't sound quite as messy towards the end as it did before. The song is still a bit too twee for my taste but I dislike it less now than I did previously.
* I love deep female voices, and Israel's Mei Finegold has one of the best voices in the competition. Her performance is a little flat though imo and it's all down to the staging. This is an angry song, her and her dancers should do a bit more than prance about pretending they're Beyoncé. She shouldn't have any trouble qualifying though.
* Norway' Carl Epsen sounds wonderful and delivers one of the finest rehearsals thus far. In the hands of a lesser singer, Silent Storm could have been a drippy snoozefest but Epsen's delivery makes it an authentic, affecting ballad - everything that Sweden's "Undo" isn't. For the second year in a row Norway have a great entry that fully deserves a top 5 finish.
* Georgia need to lose the guy with the parachute - he looks ridiculous. The male vocals are a bit dodgy but Mariko looks and sounds pretty good. I still want this to qualify but I reckon it's just gonna fly over most people's heads.
* Poland is every bit as slick and as wonderfully trashy as you'd expect. This will surely be a crowd pleaser.
* I had been fairly indifferent to Austria's entry up to now but having seen Conchita Wurst's rehearsal I'm beginning to get the appeal. She delivers a flawless vocal, the background with the phoenix is simple but effective and, beyond Conchita's beard, there is no need for gimmicks (other than the beloved wind machine! :pac: ) This classy, polished performance fully deserves to get to the final.
* Lithuania's performance looks very amateur in comparison to its Austrian predecessor. Everything about this performance fails to gel, from the ridiculous choreography to the shouty vocals to the horrendous wardrobe choices; why the hell is she wearing a catsuit/tutu thing that makes her look like an alien mushroom? And why does her dancer look like he just stumbled out of a gay BDSM club? It's a pity because the song really isn't half bad; a better vocalist and a slightly tweaked arrangement could have made this work. As it stands, however, I don't fancy their chances.
* Finland's stadium rock entry feels disappointingly flat until it gets to the "OH OH OH OH" chant, where it picks up steam a little. The lead singer needs to put a lot more passion and energy into his performance though, he looked like someone who was just going through the motions so he could go back to bed as soon as possible.
* First thing to say about Ireland - Kasey looks gorgeous. I think she sings pretty well for the most part; her higher range is good, it's when she's in her lower range that she sometimes struggles a little. Maybe she should belt it out a bit more to compensate? I'm not a big fan of the kilts but it's not the worst choreography I've ever seen either. I still think we should qualify pretty comfortably. We might not get a fantastic position Saturday night but I don't think anyone realistically expects us to be top 5 or anything. Go n-éirí an t-ádh leo!
* Belarus is a surprisingly gimmick free performance, just Teo and a few male backing vocalists shimmying half heartedly on stage. No dancing cheesecakes in sight. He sings pretty well in fairness but I think he's made a mistake by combining a song that's just a tad too silly with a staging that's not silly enough. WHY SO SERIOUS?
* Macedonia have either decided not to reveal their hand until Thursday night or they've just stopped giving a fúck. This was the most half-hearted rehearsal so far. Tijana sings with no conviction and their choreography basically consists of a guy in a white tracksuit flailing about the place like he's off his head on MDMA or something. Just like Lithuania, this had the potential to be much better. I'm now very unsure of its chances of qualifying.
* Switzerland's rehearsal isn't very different from the live performance in the Swiss selection. Sebaltar has improved his vocals a bit though, and toned down the "crazy eyes" he does when he's whistling a little. He's far from the best singer in the contest but he has charisma and charm in bucketloads (and he's kinda hot! ) If Macedonia don't get their act together, Switzerland might steal their place in the final.
* It's tough to pull off a dance song on Eurovision when you're limited to how many dancers you can have but fair play to Greece, they really make this one work. The trampoline is definitely my favourite stage gimmick of the year - you can tell the guy with the keyboard is raging that he doesn't get a go. Another crowd pleaser that should sweep up a lot of televotes.
* Slovenia is......nice. But that's about it. She sings fine and the flute sounds pretty. There's nothing wrong with it as such. But there's nothing very memorable or exciting about it either. Can't imagine too many people rushing for their phone to vote for this.
* Romania's Paula and Ovi are every bit as solid and professional as you'd expect. There's not much going on onstage but it somehow still works. They're a very likeable duo and I still wonder if this could be a surprise winner on Saturday night? It should definitely challenge the top five anyway, unless it flops like Cascada did last year.

Overall, I think Semi One has weaker songs while Semi Two has weaker performances. What I'm really waiting for though is the UK's rehearsal; if Molly nails her performance (and I see no reason why she shouldn't) we might just see a shortening of odds for a British victory.

TGJD

C'mon Poland! I couldn;t resist putting money on them at 100 to one. bound to be the most entertaining performance.

UK rehearsal seems to have gone very well, I really think this is the winner. Armenia and Sweden's odds are rightfully drifting.

Greece was the big winner yesterday, and Switzerland seems to be winning people over, hopefully enough to qualify. Norway looking good too.

Romania looks a bit desperate to me, they'll qualify but I expect them to flop in the final.

gavmcg92

TGJD wrote: »

C'mon Poland! I couldn;t resist putting money on them at 100 to one. bound to be the most entertaining performance.

Free money for the bookies :P

Flying Fox wrote: »

UK rehearsal seems to have gone very well, I really think this is the winner. Armenia and Sweden's odds are rightfully drifting.

Greece was the big winner yesterday, and Switzerland seems to be winning people over, hopefully enough to qualify. Norway looking good too.

Romania looks a bit desperate to me, they'll qualify but I expect them to flop in the final.

You've got to remember that the likes of us and people who are placing bets are the kinds of people who hear these songs over and over again. The audience only need to hear a song once to decide if they want to vote for it or not. I'll be honest, I'm fairly sure Sweden has it wrapped up at this stage. I would be surprised if they don't win it.

BBC definitely have the right idea with the staging. Really nicely done.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7EryaOFh3E

ItsChecoTime

Just my 2c.

Personal favourite this year is Italy for the second in a year in a row, don't know what it is about the language but I seem to like it!

Also like Norway, Armenia and the UK - they have a real chance this year. There always seems to be a performance on the night that makes me notice a song which in the lead up I'd missed.

Most overrated imo are Denmark, Romania and Sweden, something too cheesy about the former two and Sweden's lyrics 'undo my sad' just don't seem right, anyone get a Miley Cyrus Wrecking Ball similarity with the start of the song?

Re Ireland, if Kasey can deliver a good performance it will hopefully get through but it could easily be forgotten with Greece following it iirc.

Also seems to be a lot of tribute acts this year! Denmark - Bruno Mars, Belarus - Robin Thicke, Macedonia - Pink, and Malta - Mumford and Sons

gavmcg92

ItsChecoTime wrote: »

Sweden's lyrics 'undo my sad' just don't seem right, anyone get a Miley Cyrus Wrecking Ball similarity with the start of the song?

Up until fairly recently I thought the lyrics were "Undo my set" which seems to work a lot better than "undo my sad". You know, tear down her stage etc etc...

Also fairly certain that they used the same piano synth loop that Miley Cyrus and her crew used in Wrecking Ball. You can hear it at 1:23 or so on the Swedish entry's track.

Sweden just leaves me cold, I don't get the fuss about it at all. They are always overrated with the bookies and with the fan polls. Really can't see this winning but then again I didn't see Azerbaijan winning in 2011 so what do I know!

I wouldn't rule out Norway finishing above Sweden and maybe even winning. Hungary is amazing (my favourite by a mile) and I expect them to do well, but given the subject matter a win is probably not likely. Greece are definitely in with a shot, they could top the televote.

It's so open this year, the starting positions in the final will be very very important.

aramush

On reflection, having had a look through the Irish rehearsal (official vid) a few times I don't see what the problem is? She sounds fine, it looks fine and I'm sure it will be a lot better come the jury rehearsal. We should qualify fairly comfortably if there is continuous improvement! Coming before Belarus does us a favour imo... that song and performance is just a bit meh. I'd have been more worried if we performed before Finland/Romania.

TGJD

gavmcg92 wrote: »

Free money for the bookies :P

We will see who is laughing when Poland win and I'm rich.

gavmcg92

TGJD wrote: »

We will see who is laughing when Poland win and I'm rich.

If Poland win I think I'll take a break from eurovision next year.

gavmcg92

Red Carpet Event

http://www.eurovision.tv/page/webtv?program=105153

Mr.Nice Guy

gavmcg92 wrote: »

You've got to remember that the likes of us and people who are placing bets are the kinds of people who hear these songs over and over again. The audience only need to hear a song once to decide if they want to vote for it or not. I'll be honest, I'm fairly sure Sweden has it wrapped up at this stage. I would be surprised if they don't win it.

This is why I'm sticking with Sweden as my prediction to win. I would say the song doesn't hold up well after several listens. But after the first few listens it comes across as well polished and the singer is very good. I think it will clinch it.

I think the field is very open this year though. Performances will be crucial.

fussyonion

I don't think our song is that bad but why the hell aren't Can-Linn listening to the public-it's all over the Internet what people think of the backing dancers..they're not representing this country in a positive light at all.
They're corny and make us look terribly twee.

I think Sweden's song is catchy and I could see it winning.
Really hate Norway's wrist-slashing tune.

carraig2

Kilts per se not too bad but they are too full.
Very distracting.

gavmcg92

I'm reading mixed reports from the press there about the dancers. Some are saying they're distracting, while others are saying that without them the performance would be too stagnant.

gavmcg92

gavmcg92 wrote: »

I'm reading mixed reports from the press there about the dancers. Some are saying they're distracting, while others are saying that without them the performance would be too stagnant.

I think dancers are needed, just not Irish dancers on speed!

I would have preferred if we hadn't gone down the Celtic route in the staging and just had Kasey in something like a black catsuit with contemporary dancers. The green backdrop would work for the whole performance. She's young and it's an energetic song, we should stage it in a way that reflects that and not just throw 'Oirish' gimmicks at it. People can already hear the Celtic influence in the song, they don't need it shoved down their throats.

gavmcg92

Flying Fox wrote: »

I think dancers are needed, just not Irish dancers on speed!

I would have preferred if we hadn't gone down the Celtic route in the staging and just had Kasey in something like a black catsuit with contemporary dancers. The green backdrop would work for the whole performance. She's young and it's an energetic song, we should stage it in a way that reflects that and not just throw 'Oirish' gimmicks at it. People can already hear the Celtic influence in the song, they don't need it shoved down their throats.

I agree to a certain extent. I think the Irish influences can be beneficial to us as it allows us to stand out amongst the crowd. I think the Irish dancers are fine except for a few funny moves they throw here and there. It feels far less gimmicky than the topless dancers last year. They're not wearing bright sparkley clothes or they're not topless... again :rolleyes: They're dressed in all black.

We wont be able to tell until we see what it looks like on camera. It can look messy when you see the whole stage, like we have for the rehearsals, but remember, the viewer only sees what the cameras pointing at. Some of the journalists mentioned that we have some great looping camera runs around kasey that will look amazing when the arena is full.

I agree with how she's dressed. I would have preferred if they copied their second performance on the late late a little more and put her in a gold version of that blue dress. But I guess that doesn't fit the narrative of the performance which is a Light and Dark warrior fighting, with Kasey being the golden goddess in between them.

The backdrop at the end is amazing! Would love to know who the "graphic designers from back home" are. Those waves hurtling towards the stage look great. Hope there are some big wide shots to get it all in. Not a huge fan of the "castle" backdrop though. Especially with the red neon trimmings.

Toto Wolfcastle

I don't think that other countries see the Irish dancing thing as twee. I think they appreciate that it's our culture a hell of a lot more than some Irish people do. Other countries don't seem to get embarrassed when they embrace their own culture like some Irish people do. It just could have been done a bit better in this case.

Her dress is pretty restrictive. If it was shorter she could move a bit more but a long dress means that there's always the danger of tripping over it.

Elmo

Bobblehead Panda wrote: »

I don't think that other countries see the Irish dancing thing as twee. I think they appreciate that it's our culture a hell of a lot more than some Irish people do. Other countries don't seem to get embarrassed when they embrace their own culture like some Irish people do. It just could have been done a bit better in this case.

Her dress is pretty restrictive. If it was shorter she could move a bit more but a long dress means that there's always the danger of tripping over it.

I agree, are the dancers even Irish Dancers? they look like the're leaping about the place like you do when your a bit drunk on paddy's day and you think you can river dance. Not that you should ever consider doing the whole of river dance including the intro.... You'd need to be very drunk to do that .... :cool:

I've nothing against Irish dancing but in this case it really doesn't compliment the song.

We don't need to show off the fact that we're Irish all the time, it doesn't work in Eurovision. What does work is sending a modern song that could have come from anywhere (Satellite, Euphoria, even Running Scared).

Anyway, we'll soon find out what Europe thinks of our entry. Hopefully we get some good camera work and it comes across well on TV, like gavmcg92 said.

gavmcg92

Bobblehead Panda wrote: »

Her dress is pretty restrictive. If it was shorter she could move a bit more but a long dress means that there's always the danger of tripping over it.

They've already had to cut the dress shorter. Her heels hooked it in the first rehearsal.

BuilderPlumber

Only days away from it now! The funny thing about the Eurovision over the last few years is I tend to remember the losers for Ireland more than the winners. Admittedly, there were more of them! Here are my 10 ten Irish Eurovision memories:

1. Has to be 2008 ... Dustin the canvas bag, er, turkey! If Dustin stood for president, he'd win and all! Clearly, when he was selected, he was going to get the vote and he did. And bwawked and swawked his way through Irlande Douze Point. It got 0 point!
2. 2007 and Dervish singing the John Waters classic They Can't Stop the Spring! Came near last and all in the competition.
3. 2011 and Jedward: yes, the Jedwardian era was in full swing and this was one of the rare times Ireland did relatively well in the competition. Lipstick was lively and catchy and it worked.
4. 2012 and Jedward ... again!! Waterline did not seem to take on the save level of success as Lipstick. May 2012's result was considered disappointing and Jedward then seemed to disappear. However, it still was one of Ireland's few respectable placings in the competition in recent times.
5. 2004 and Chris Doran. I remember all the hype over the You're a Star competition and how this was a sure way to win. A Westlife composed song If My World Stopped Turning performed in the style of Johnny Logan did not win over audiences. I still remember this song and that Eurovision vividly for some reason. Ukraine won and was again undergoing political turmoil at the time.
6. 2006 and Brian Kennedy. 2006 was overall my favourite Eurovision for some reason. The songs seemed to be all quite good and of course there was Lordi. Every Song is a Cry for Love was a strong, catchy performance and was one of the few glimpses of success Ireland had during these times.
7. 2001 and Gary O'Shaughnessy. The beginning of the really bad results for Ireland! I remember being left in shock at how poorly Without Your Love did.
8. 2002 and no entry!! Yes, Ireland did so badly the year before it could not enter according to then rules!
9. 2013 and Ryan Dolan. Only Love Survives. Get rid of Jedward and go back to the unknown representing us seemed to be the strategy. Much like his similarly named predecessor Chris Dorna, Ryan Dolan's ballad Only Love Survives did not attract votes and finished last.
10. 2003 and Mickey Joe Harte. A relief he did better than Gary in 2001. But many expected better than No. 11 which was considered poor then. 2001 was written off as a one-off exception but how wrong this was when Chris, Donna and Joe, Ryan Dolan and others continued the trend. But We Got the World by MJ Harte was Ireland's last decent showing for 3 years and only 1 of 4 decent showings for Ireland since 2001.

So, these are my top 10 from the 2001 to 2013 period. Each Eurovision of recent years for the most part seemed to be watching each country give out votes and not giving any to Ireland. Hoping country after country would give us votes but concluding we were going to be last, second last or third last again was how it always panned out in most of them.

Mr.Nice Guy

I think Irish dancing is popular but as the Finnish guy said in that podcast I linked to a few pages back, it comes across too desperate; as if we're saying to Europe, 'please love us!'

Anyway semi-final one is on later today. It will be interesting to see if Armenia and Sweden can justify the pre-final hype. I'm keen to see how Azerbaijan holds up too. I liked the video but I've not been too keen on her live performances.

Austria!

Does anyone have an idea which way the juries are going to vote? I can look at polls for the televoting, but don't know about the juries.

Sweden seem to be running away in the polls, despite being second favourite with the bookies.

I'm only interested in gambling, but I did have a listen to everything.
Ukraine seem to have no serious voting in polls, but are highly ranked by bookies. This is due to the song changing after the votes were made? It was one that stood out immediately for me on first listen. Azjerbijan also is a nice song, but I doubt it's a song that would win the eurovision. Think Israel gets better every time too, but who's gonna hear it more than twice?

Have been trying to make myself blog more recently and decided Eurovision was as good a subject as any to waffle on about. Link in my sig if anyone's interested.

gavmcg92

Interesting bit of drama from the jury rehearsals for the first semi final. For the Swedish performance, the light cone around Sanna at one point covered her face. Leading to the Swedish delegation submitting a petition for their jury performance to be scrapped and instead they wanted to be judged on their live performance. Within the last hour that request has been declined.

Bit much isn't it? They're going to get out of the semi no bother.

Austria!

gavmcg92 wrote: »

Interesting bit of drama from the jury rehearsals for the first semi final. For the Swedish performance, the light cone around Sanna at one point covered her face. Leading to the Swedish delegation submitting a petition for their jury performance to be scrapped and instead they wanted to be judged on their live performance. Within the last hour that request has been declined.

Bit much isn't it? They're going to get out of the semi no bother.

Do they jury vote for the semis and the final separately? I know the semi is judged on the rehersal, what is the final judged on if so?

yerwanthere123

The UK has been drawn in the second half of the final. Interesting!

Coconut Joe

Austria! wrote: »

Do they jury vote for the semis and the final separately? I know the semi is judged on the rehersal, what is the final judged on if so?

Each show as three performances (so 9 in total), the public vote on the televised shows, there's a family show the afternoon of the televised shows and a jury show the previous night to the televised one. So at this point the jury has already voted on semi final 1.

yerwanthere123

yerwanthere123 wrote: »

The UK has been drawn in the second half of the final. Interesting!

Excellent news! Really hope the UK win it now. Hopefully Sweden will be given a rubbish draw in reaction to their complaint about the lighting! :pac:

yerwanthere123

All of the automatic qualifiers bar Germany were given second half draws. Seems a bit unfair really.

I'm finding this year so hard to call. I think the winner won't be unanimous between televoters and juries. I think Sweden will win the jury vote, with possibly the UK being second. I think Armenia may win the televote, but Sweden will be high up there too. After seeing the fantastic staging, Ukraine will also be top 5.

No idea how Norway will actually do. It's amazing how much it has fallen from grace though. It looked like a certain winner until we saw it live, it's now 7th with some bookmakers!

gavmcg92

Did the automatic qualifiers draw second half or were they all just given it? If they drew then I think that's fair enough.

Have a feeling that the UK is going to come 5th in the final.

Top 5 for me will probably Sweden, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Hungary and the UK.

gavmcg92

Qualifiers from tonight
1. Sweden
2. Armenia
3. Azerbaijan
4. Hungary
5. Russia
6. Ukraine
7. Estonia
8. Moldova
9. Belgium
10. Netherlands

If we went on my tastes, Russia wouldn't be in there.

cactuspaw

Semi-final 1 here we go!!!
have only had a listen to a few songs and nothing has jumped out. Love Malta but it won't win,they never score well. Don't get how Sweden is a favorite, it's not at all like what's won in the last few years.

yerwanthere123

My prediction to qualify for tonight:

Armenia
Azerbaijan
Sweden
Russia
Estonia
Hungary
Ukraine
Moldova
Belgium
The Netherlands

Which is the exact same list I posted on here about 6 or 7 weeks ago. I'll be delighted if I get all ten, which has never happened before. The only place I might slip up is The Netherlands. I think it could be close between them and Montengero, although Montenegro are pretty friendless in this semi, and the Dutch song is better anyway and has been very well received in the rehearsals.

yerwanthere123

cactuspaw wrote: »

Semi-final 1 here we go!!!
have only had a listen to a few songs and nothing has jumped out. Love Malta but it won't win,they never score well. Don't get how Sweden is a favorite, it's not at all like what's won in the last few years.

Well they didn't do too badly last year now did they, 8th in the final!