Rest of World, have you voted ahead of the show? (For me, I’ve submitted 20 votes on one card for Finland, and 10 for Denmark and 10 for Ireland on a second card.)
Europe, are you ready??
I tried voting last year from the states and it was going to cost me quite a bit, so I skipped it.
It costs a bit to vote from any country, and the Rest of World is pegged at 0.99 Euros per vote.
I didn’t even consider voting early… this could get expensive.
I don’t think Finland will need more votes to get to the final.
** My predictions for eliminations: **
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Armenia (PARG - SURVIVOR) It’s not a great song and I don’t think he sings very charismatically.
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Georgia (Mariam Shengelia - Freedom) Of the ballads, this is the most generic.
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Serbia (Princ - Mila) I think voters are over the sadboy ballads.
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Czechia (ADONXS - Kiss Kiss Goodbye) As pop-girly songs go, this is better than Norway (Kyle Alessandro - Lighter) but I don’t think voters will send it through.
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Israel (Yuval Raphael - New Day Will Rise) I think she will suffer from the general feeling towards Israel and her song’s October 7th subject. Love all the Palestine flags and shirts.
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Lithuania (Katarsis - Tavo Akys) An interesting song, but I think (HOPE) that Latvia (Tautumeitas - Bur Man Laimi) gets the spooky vote.
On the fence I’d put:
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Ireland (EMMY - Laika Party) I personally can’t stand her baby voice, but the dead dog factor can’t be denied either.
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Denmark (Sissal - Hallucination) I think it’s pretty good, but it’s a very standard Eurovision song.
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Luxembourg (Laura Thorn - La Poupee Monte Le Son) Her staging and choreo and costumes were not great at the national final. People who don’t know the song is a sequel to France Gall’s iconic winning Poupée de cire, poupée de son from 1965 might not appreciate it.
The safest of safe:
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Finland (Erika Vikman - ICH KOMME) she’s been Eurovision ready for years and she absolutely gets the assignment. I have her or Sweden (KAJ - Bara Bada Bastu) in a tossup for winning the whole thing. Sweden is my personal preference but I could see a path for Finland.
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Malta (Miriana Conte - SERVING) She benefits from the (intentional…?) controversy with the original version of the song. She’s a really fun performer and a good singer.
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Austria (JJ- Wasted Love) Obviously. He was the early favorite to win, and I could still see him carrying the Jury votes on his astounding vocals. I just wish he’d bring Conchita Wurst up to sing with him. Their duet was excellent.
WOW, I’m shook. They took Israel, Lithuania, and frickin’ Armenia (!) over Montenegro, Ireland, and Australia!?
My predictions were pretty far off this time.
I’m so happy that Latvia and Greece made it through.
3 out of 6 and Ireland as on the fence. That’s quite good.
There were too many ballads/power ballads in this semi-final. They ‘stole’ votes from each other.
I’m also not a fan of Ireland’s baby voice. Combined with the visuals it seems they took inspiration from Nightcore.
But I don’t understand why Australia is out. It is one of the performances that stood out from the rest. Catchy tune, good singer. He could have kept his shirt on - but I still took it more as a parody. He would have taken votes from Tommy Cash and Sweden in the final.
It felt like Australia’s stage was a bit empty. It was the blender and changing costumes.
Love the song. LOVE the music video. That performance didn’t do much for me, sadly.
I agree. It’s not my favorite song, but he’s super charismatic. Let down by the staging.
If you say so; it doesn’t feel successful. Having made predictions made the show more fun to watch!
Agreed on ballads.
The goofy x singing chart this year really only has the three entries.
Tommy Cash is goofiest but worst sung.
Australia is middle on both.
KAJ is least goofy and best sung.
I’ve not liked Parg’s song or performance … until now. Something about it just clicked last night. I didn’t vote for it, but I … I liked it.
It was better live than what I’ve seen before, I agree.
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I thought second semi higher quality than the first. Finland was great fun, and I like the UK and French entry, gonna be fun on Saturday!
My personal top 4 are
- 'Straya
- Armenia
- Austria
- Finland
after that, lots of middle class, yet lots of quality there. The weakest acts imo:
- Montenegro
- Ireland
- Greece
- Georgia
Overall, a very strong semi final!
So SO happy for Sissal!
And wow, what a glow-up for the Laura’s performance!
Lastly, Parg came out of left field for me, and I rather liked it.
I don’t understand the appeal of Katarsis’ performance, but I accept that it’s there. I know quite a few people who are ride-or-die for them, so good on them.
