Eurovision 2015: after Vienna (I) - semifinal I

Today we celebrate 1 week after the grand final and the victory of Sweden. Like always, many controversies haunted the show, making people to strongly discuss on the media about many aspects, but especially the results.

But before the Grand Final, let's analyze the first semi-final.
There were some surprises about the qualifiers. Russia won the semifinal, with an extraordinary performance, receiving points from all the countries. Besides Russia, Estonia was another expected finalist due to all the favouritism after the song was revealed.. Belgium also, with the originality of the song and the amazing voice quality of Löic was another qualifier everyone was expected. After two years acheiving good places in the grand final, the solid career and the good voice of Trijntje weren't enough to put The Netherlands in the final one more time. But the bets were predicting that.
So for the expected finalists, there were also Georgia, with a ver charismatic performance in a vey unique style, Albania with lots of favouritism, and Romania and Greece, more because of the country and less than because of the song's quality. However, both countries were able to give good performances in the semifinal, especially Greece, that transformed something very basic in something astonishing.Also Belarus, after two qualifications in a row, and due to the favouritism of the song, were also a predictable qualified. All the controverse and the neighbors and the singers that made the group Genealogy from Armenia, made it also a qualified. The singers' voices were far behind of what it was expected, made some people disappointed, especially the juries that placed the song in 12th place. If Moldova and Macedonia had low chances before the show, they were even lower when they acted, because their performances were too weak for many people. With one place remaining in the predictions, the oppinions were divided between Denmark that, even not being loved by the public could be saved by the juries, Finland that could receive many votes by the public that could overcome the lack of votes from the juries, and Hungary that could receive some votes from the public and the juries. At the end the qualified was Hungary, the only one placed in the TOP10 by the juries, since Denmark was placed in 11th in the juries and Finland in 16th and last, making impossible the finnish qualification even with the 10th place in the public.
The lack of emotions in the belarussian performance damaged the  chances for a qualification.
Finally there was another country that the people didn't put in the quaifiers but, after the performance and the qualifications was put in the TOP10 of possible winners in the bettings: Serbia. The song didn't have anything original or with good quality. But, the strong performance of Bojana together with a good presence on stage of all the elements, made them a strong qualifier.

Eurovision 2015: get ready for the Final!

Tonight we will now who will succeed to Conchita as the winner of the biggest musical contest in the world.
After two semifinals with some controversies, we can say a lot about the final.

Song's alignment

Unlike some previous years, this year the raffle was only to know in which part of the final the song will perform.
Last year Austria broke the coincidence of the winning song being from the 2nd half of the final. Tonigth we could have the same situation with Sweden performing in 10th place. However the attentions go to the 25th place for Russia and the last place to Iatly, with some people arguing that it was a shamless way to favour Russia and Italy. However, in some cases performing last didn't help the entry: it worked in the opposite way. Last year the United Kingdom was one of the favourites and finished in the 17th, with many people arguing that performing last was prejudicial for Molly.

Favourites

Italy and Sweden remain in the group of the possible winners. Sweden is now the favourite and Russia increased its favouritism since Polina's performance on the semifinal. The same happened with Serbia and latvia that, after the semi-finals are now on the TOP 10 in the bets. Spain and especially Slovenia are now out of the Top10. But like befora we can have a surprise. There is no stand out song that remains an unquestionable possible winner.
A especial mention to our guest, Australia, that is among the 10 favourites!

Less Favoutrites

Even after the qualification, there are some songs that the people predict that will end in the bottom 5: and some of them many people think that didn't deserve to be in the final. I'm talking especially about Poland, Hungary, Lithuania and Armenia. Even not receiving bad reacts Montenegro is also between the less favourites.

Controversies

It seems that we will not have the same problem with Russia as we had last year. The Polina's declarations first supporting Conchita's victory and later supporting all the forms of love surely made a better impression in the media and in the public oppinion.
The controversies around Armenia and Poland remains, and around Armenia will be more difficult since tonight Armenia and Azerbaijan will be and act in the same show.
After Krista in 2013 and especially after a victory of a drag queen last year, the two same-sex kisses in the lithuanian entry will not have a huge impact.

As usually, Eurovision can't please to everyone! But let's hope the best performance to win!!!

Eurovision 2015: second semi final is coming

Tonight we will have the second semifinal of ESC 2015, and we will know the last 10 finalists fro saturday's final. We still have many favourites in this semifinal, making it more stronger than the other one, for many people.´

Contorversies

If there are more favourites in this semifinal, it's not because if the controversies. Only the polish song is being talked by other reasons besides the song. Monika is so far the only singer to be on stage on a wheelchair in the History of this competition. Many poeple is arguing that people will vote for Poland not for the song but only because of her physical condition.

Voting

There are also some political voting in this semi-final. We have three scandinavian countries - Iceland, Sweden and Norway, two baltic neighbors - Latvia and Lithuania, and Israel that usually gives points to Azerbaijan.
We have two countries that were never benefited by the political voting - Poland (last year was a n exception), Switzerland and especially Czech Republic (that was two times last in the semifinal and second to last the other time).

(Possible) qualifiers

As I said before, there are many favourites in this semifinal. Sweden, Norway and Azerbaijan are the biggest favourites! Despite the recent unfair places, Israel and Slovenia are among the favourites. Even being very difficult, Slovenia can win this semifinal. Many think that, fearing a permanent withdraw from the Eurovision, many people will vote for Czech Republic. We need to admit that its their best entry.
As for Iceland, even being far away from originality, the type of melody and the neighbors will help Iceland to qualify.
Even being one of the weakest songs, Cyprus is among the possible qualifiers for many people.
Poland for the controverse and the quality of Monika's song, Malta and Latvia have also some chances to advance to the big final on saturday. Ireland and Montenegro have also some chances, even with the absence of neighbors for Montenegro: people believe that the juries will help these songs.
San Marino, Switzerland and Portugal are the least possible qualifiers according to many people's oppinion. Not having any block voting in their side, even with good performances, only the juries could help this three entries.

Will we have some surprises like in the last semi final, or will it be all according to the predicitions? Or will we be speechless about the qualifications and non-qualifications?

Eurovision 2015: first semi-final is coming

After all the rehearsals, after the press conferences and after the oppening cerimony, here we are: in the day of the first semi-final!

Controversies

This semifinal is full of controversial performances. First, from Finland the punk band with people with  developmental disabilities. The song is considered awful by almost everyone, and it cames in the bottom 5 of people's preferences very frequently. However, let's not be naive. People don't vote only based on the best song or performance: many times do exactly the opposite. And if the finnish people selected this song as their entry, probably it was because the finnish people believed that there are other aspects besides the quality of the performance. I'm not seeing the juries loving this entry, but on the public's side, a mass adhesion could put this band with the shortest song of all time in Eurovision, in the final.

Second... Armenia. The entry that already changed its name due to allegations of political connection with the armenian genocide in 1915, made by Azerbajan and Turkey. Even arguing that the theme of the song is to not deny your armenian root, the images used in the background with the region of Nagorno-Karabakh and all the caracthers in the videoclip using clothes from the time of the genocide, doesn't leave space for doubts.

And Russia of course. For the same reasons like last year, it's expected to receive a lot of booing anytime Russia will be in the center of the attentions.

This year, the ukranian withdraw will probably make the tensions stronger and the people to remember it easier. Also, after the victory of a drag queen last year, it will stand out all the problems Russia have with the LGBT people.

Voting

In this semifinal we will have many political blocks. Romania and Moldova, Russia, Belarus and Armenia are the main blocks in this semifinal. Also Belgium and The Nteherlands will change votes between them, giving also many points to Armenia and Greece due to the immigrants. Greece have Hungary too, that usually gives them many points. On its side, Hungary usually receives points from Finland and Romania.

From the balkan block, we have in this semifinal Serbia and Macedonia.

So, will many songs receive more points than their performances deserve?

(Possible) qualifiers

The rehearsals made some changes in the predictions. If reinforced some as favourites, put others out of the possible qualifiers and grew the chances of some of the less popular.

Russia, Belgium, Albania and Estonia remains as the favourites, after their good rehearsals, and in the case of Russia thanks to the political voting too. The Netherlands has its chances very hard now, but a qualification could be possible thanks to Trijntje Oosterhuis voice. However, it's far away from the success of 2013 and 2014. Serbia gained lots of favouritism and could be a surprise tonight. Finland, Denmark and Hungary remains in the bottom of the favourites, but many believe in the qualification of Finland thanks to the controversy. The good vocal capacity of Boggie, make some believe that Hungary can qualify, supported by the juries. As for the rest, the oppinions are more divided. Georgia, Belarus and Greece still have great chances, but many are surprised by the performances of Romania, putting it in the qualifiers, unlike its neighbor Moldova, which the chances were never too high. Finally, about Armenia, its between the 9th and the 12th place in many bettings.
We cannot forget that many people will watch the songs for the first time tonight, and of course the juries has an important role, which cannot be so well predicted by the beookmakers.

Eurovision 2015: Vienna is coming (IX)

Italy - Il Volo con "Grande Amore"

Here we have: one of the biggets favourites of this year contest. Since it returned, Italy has been every year among the favourites and in a good ranking in the bet platforms. However this year the favouritism is even bigger, making Italy win the OGAE's votes. What is the italian recipe for so much euphoria? The answer is very simple! Like before, the representative was selected from the contestants of the Sanremo Music Festival 2015. The selected group was "Il Volo", the winner of the 'Big Artists' category, with the song "Grande Amore". Many factors make this song very popular among the eurofans. First of course the group itself: 3 young guys that would attract many votes among the youngers and the gay people. Second the song: even being a ballad, it sands out from the others by the emotions and the message. Third the boys' voices that are very different from the rest of the entries. And finally the videoclip that brings images very popular in the people's immagination, that makes this song impossible to forget. There's nothing new or original in this song. But the composers had the ability to use all the 'cliches' in a very smart way that will atract the people's votes. If they will manage to put all the emotions on stage, even not deserving, a victory will be very possible.

San Marino - Anita Simoncini & Michele Perniola with "Chain of Lights"

The first thing to stand out about the San Marino's song is that the singer is not Valentina Monetta!!! As usually SMtv San Marino, the public broadcaster, made a internal selection. Even being the first time this duet will be on the Eurovision Song Contest, their names are not completely strange for some people: Anita Simoncini participated in the Junior ESC 2014 as part of the group 'The Peppermints' and Michele Perniola the previous year, both representing San Marino. They are the youngers contestants this year (Anita only turned 16 on 14th of April). So, even being a ballad we could immagine something very strong....but unfortunately it's not what happen. The first second make us believe in the good potential the song could have but after that, all the expectations go away. The youngs' voices are averagely good, but the melodie is very outdated and the impression is very poor. Their voices could be much better explored, especially for the fact that they are young, and a big part of the voters have the same age.
The qualification for the final last year was a big achieve for this small country. However, with this song and being in the hardest semifinal, the qualification will be almost impossible.

Eurovision 2015: Vienna is coming (VIII)

Armenia - Genealogy with "Face the Shadow"

Now let's talk about one of the most controversial entries of this year. It's impossible to not relate this choice from Armenia to the 100 years of the armenian genocide. The selection was made inetrnally by the national broadcaster  Public Television of Armenia (AMPTV). It was cretaed a group purposely for the contest called 'Genealogy'. The idea was to celebrate the armenian presence in the world, invinting armenian singers living in different places of the world: a singer from each continent -  Europe, Asia, Africa, America and Australia and, to complete this idea, a armenian singer living in Armenia ( the singer Inga Arshakyan that already represented Armenia in the Eurovision in 2009).
The controverse started right in the beginning when the armenian delegation was forced to change de name of the song: originally the name was "Don't Deny" but after Azerbaijan had accused this song for having a strong political connotation and for being a message for Turkey and Azerbaijan for not recognize the armenian genocide, the song's name was changed to "Face the shadow".
As for the song, the lyrics is very interesting and the video is amazing. Apart from the political connotation, the idea of joining armenians all over  the world is a good idea. The voices in the videoclip work well together. However, this is the kind of song very difficult to make a good performane on stage, especially in this kind of events like Eurovision. And of course many people only will listen and watch this song for the first time in teh semifinal I and so, will not understand all the idea behind this entry.
Even the simple fact that all the caracthers are dress like the people were dressed in 1915 is another proof of the message behind this song.
Armenia will qualify for the final, also because of the help from Russia, Belgium, Georgia and The Netherlands (countries that usally give many points to Armenia), and let's hope will finish at least in TOP 15.

France - Lisa Angell with "N'oubliez pas"

France hasn't being very lucky in the recent years: actually these have being among the years with the worst results in the french past on this year. For the firs time, they finished in last place laste year.
This year France changes totally the style and follows the trend: ballads. This ballad is a typical french ballad and Lisa has a decent vocal capacity that can perform it well. However, in a year full of ballads, it will be very difficut for the french entry to stand out. However, a result similar to Patrica Kaas in 2009 is very possible. The lyrics and the message are strong and Lisa don't need to make much effort to bring out all the emotions this song needs. France will be already in the Final. It will be very possible for France to not finish in the bottom 5, thanks to the juries. In a year with less quantity of ballads, the prediction could be better.

Eurovision 2015: Vienna is coming (VII)

Australia - Guy Sebastian with "Tonight Again"

The best way to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Eurovision Song Contest was to invite one of its big fans: Australia!
The european influence in the australian culture is very strong, and Eurovision couldn't be out of it!!!
For the last 30 years Eurovision is a very popular show in Australia, being even more popular in the recent years. From the transmition of the shows to their own voting (which of course wasn't valid for the contest), the public audience in Australia has been growing. But it seems that this year the euphoria will be even bigger!
On 10th of February the European Broadcaster announced that Australia would be authorized to participate in the contest and in March SBS, the australian public broadcaster, announced that Guy Sebastian will be the australian representative, with the song "Tonight Again".
Despite not being very famous in Europe, Guy Sebastian has already a solid career in Australia, and we can expect from him a good performance on stage.
As for the music, I can firstly say: Thank God it's not a ballad.
In a year full of ballads, Australia brings a very dynamic and energetic song, with a good vibration. It's a kind of song where it's very easy to make a good performance os stage: the rhythm itself helps a lot!
Even being just a special participation, if Australia wins this year, it will participate again in 2016, but the host city will be in Europe. Being a country so far away and a big new in the contest, it's vey hard to predict how it will finish in the voting system, especially due to the political voting that still persists.
Let's hope that the juries will help Australia to finish at least in the TOP 10, even though a TOP 5 will be well deserved.


Belgium - Loïc Nottet with "Rhythm Inside"

This year Belgium joined the group of countries that will impress by the originality. It's not the style associated to this contest not even associated to Belgium. After being unsuccessful last year, this western country had bet on a young and very talented voice, which fame is growing in the country.
Yes, as many people are saying, 'Rhythm Inside' could be a song from Lorde - the similarities are really many -, but the singer can bring some originality to his performance, from the live performances we have seen so far.
If it was a country with more influential voting power, this song will be easily in TOP5 in the Final, no matter how the performance would be. However, coming from Belgium and, even with a simple performance as much as the voice of Loïc can show its all potential, the juries may help Belgium to return on stage on saturday's night. It was an excellent  internal selection by Belgian broadcaster Radio Télévision Belge Francophone. At least Belgium will have voting in the same semifinal, The Netherlands, France and Spain.

Eurovision 2015: Vienna is coming (VI)

Azerbaijan - Elnur Hüseynov with "Hour Of The Wolf"

Last year, the azeri entry entered for this country's History in the contest not for the best reasons. For the first time, Azerbaijan didn't finish in the TOP10: they actually finished in the bottom 5, something that made the azeri government to protest, arguing that it was impossible to finish so low, when Azerbaijan came 8th in the juries votes. It seems that azeri government forgot that in 2009 they finished 3rd because of the televoting (2nd in televoting and 8th in the juries) and they even win in 2011 because of the televoting (since the juries gave the 1st place to Italy). Despite the interisting lyrics and the good voice of Dilara, the performance, the melody and the rythm were not good enough to appeal to the public.
However, after that disaster it seems that Azerbaijan have learnt the lesson. The Azerbaijani broadcaster 'İctimai Television' made an internal selection bringing back Elnur from the 2008 contest, but with a completely diiferent style of song.
With the help of swedish composers and songwritters, Azerbaijan brings this year a very powerful ballad, something that could be part of a musical show, with a very strong message. Well made and well produced, it's difficult to find something bad about the song. The only thing really playing against Elnur is the fact that we are in one of the years with most ballads. However this ballad easily stands out from the others.

Of course a great ballads brings the effort of making a great performance of stage at the same level. Despite laste year, we are used to great performances on stage from this country. The absence of Turkey and Ukraine too, will for one hand nake Azerbaijan loose top points, but on the other side will make the ukranian and turkish emigrants to vote in Azerbaijan, So, another victory is very possible.



Poland - Monika Kuszyńska with "In the name of Love"

Last year Poland gave us a very controversial but extremly funny song. This year, the controverse remains but the subject is other. For the first time in Eurovision's History, a person in a wheelchair will perform on stage. Monika Kuszyńska, a 35 years old singer, who suffered a car accident in 2006 that makes her paralyzed from the waist down. However, she didn't give up from a musical career.
Of course after being known that Monika would be the polish artist, many people started to say that a qualification would be possible more bocause of her physical condition than to her voice or song. However, I think that, one way or another, Poland deserves to be in the Grand Final. Since the traditions shows that Poland has not being very successful to achieve the final since 2000, maybe Poland is jus using all the tools it can to qualify.
As for the music, it's a interesting ballad, the lyrics cannot be very original but the message is powerful. Monika herself is a great example we can learn from this edition. If the Monika's voice will be fine, at least the juries will support her. Poland will be very lucky because will have voting on its semifinal many of the countries that give more point to this country: Germany, United Kingdom, Lithuania and Ireland. Unfortunately Poland will perform in the second semifinal, where the most part of favourites are.

Eurovision 2015 - Vienna is coming (V)

From the east I'm going now to the West

United Kingdom - Electro Velvet with ""Still in Love with You"

From the first disappoint about the song, many people started later to argue that it was expected that UK would send a song like this, as a reaction for the unfair results the country has having, especially last year.

One thing is sure: almost no one was expecting a song like this from the UK. BBC made an internal selection (as usally) and gives us this year a duo, Electro Velvet (made up of Alex Larke and Bianca Nicholas) with some previous musical experience.

It's a completley entry joke, funny and a little crazy! It brings again an old style, mixed with some modern aspects.

However, if at the beginning the song received many dislikes, the true is that after some weeks, many more people started to appreciate the song. Indeed, the song is very different in style from the majority of the songs in the contest and will remain in people's memory at the time to vote.

The United Kingdom this year can be a pleasant surprise in the Grand Final.

Being a member of the BIG 5, the UK will be immediately in the Final. However, taking into account the recent past of this country, it will be almost impossible to finsih in the TOP15. Depending on the live performance, this song at least has quality to not finish in the bottom 5.

Spain - Edurne with "Amanecer"

In the recent years Spain is reversing the way of poor results it was having especially since the introduction of semifinals.

In 2012 with Pastora Soler Spain finished on the TOP 10 and, after a very bad result in 2013 (second to last), last year with Ruth Lorenzo brought again to Spain the 10th place. So, it seems that the recipe for success for Spain is to send a great ballad sung by a lady with a powerful ballad. This year Spain bet on the same type of performance. The national broadcaster TVE selected internally the singer and the song. Edurne has a solid musical career and it's obvious that she has a good vocal capacity. As for the song, it's in line with the recent successful spanish entries: it's a ballad full of emotion and with a rich message.

Even in a year full of ballads, the Spanish one can easily stand out from the others. So, being already at the Fnal, at least the TOP 10 is guaranteed again for Spain. The rest will depend on Edurne's performance, since the song is very hard to manage.

Eurovision 2015 - Vienna is coming (IV)

Russia - Polina Gagarina with "A Million Voices"

Let's now talk about one of the countries the people speak more about in Eurovision, and not for the best reasons. Last year Russia was the first country to bring a winner from the Junior Eurovision Contest to participate in the Eurovision: The Tolmachevy Sisters.
Even with their good voices and good voice performance on stage, the 6th was too high for these contestants, because of the song that was a little outdated. However, the most remarkable on the rusian participation was the booing, especially during the voting. The anti-gay laws and gowing homophobic environment together with the invasion of the ukrainian territory were the reasons for that.
And the victory of a drag queen was even more symbolic last year.
This year Russia brings again an young voice (not so young as the twins!): the 28 years old Polina Gagarina with a powerful ballad called "A Million Voices". For me this is in line with their 2013's proposal: a song that appeals to peace and harmony. Of course many voices started immediatly arguing, saying that is a sign of hypocrisy from a country that is reducing the freedom, especially against the LGBT community, Also this year, even before the begining of the contest, some people in Russia protested against the Polina's words, when she supported the Conchita's victory.
Performing in semifinal 1 and being Russia, it would always be very easy to advance to the grand final. This year, they not only will qualify but they also deserve it. Let's hope that Polina will be able to put on stage all the emotions essential for this powerful ballad.
The booing will be inevitable: especially because Eurovision is one of the biggest LGBT events in the world.


Israel -  Nadav Guedj with "Golden Boy"

Let's talk about a country with one of the most particular and curious paths in the Eurovision Song Contest. Israel was the first country from the euro-Asia region to take part in the Eurovision Song Contest (since 1973) bringing many times over the years, songs with a singular and unique style. The victory of Dana International in 1998 is still one of the most famous victories not only, but also for being the first and only (so far) transexual to win the contest.
Unfortunately in the last years Israel hadn't been lucky, failing the qualification since 2011 (the year when Dana's returned). 2013 and especially 2014 were years in which the voting was very unfair with Israel. Some people have been putting Israel in  the countries that may withdarw from the contest due to the unfair results. However, not only Israel resists, but also they made a big style change from last year. This year's song is fresh, funny and with traditional and ethnic elements, that make it even more attractive. In a year full of ballads, many of them a little boring, Israel made a great decision by sending a song very different from the others in style. It has a curious strange beginning, but the people can easily understand the message. This song will easily remain on people's mind when the time to vote will arrive. Nadav Geudj was selected through the reality singing competition HaKokhav HaBa and the song was selected internally.
It's a good proposal and it seems that Nadav will perform it well. The only problem will be the capacity to conciliate a ritmic song with a good vocal. Israel will be in the called most difficult semifinal. and among the countries that in the past gave more points to Israel, only The Netherlands and Portugal will vote in the same semifinal.