A Real Battle In Iceland

Iceland this year are presenting what is generally seen as a strong selection this year and ahead of tonight's first semi-final I take a look that the songs in the competition.

Mangí Ásgeirsson – Ekki Líta Undan

A rather unusual song from Mangí given his song last year – it is more of a pop song with some rock overtones. It is a good piece of music in this national final and does hold the listeners attention for the song. Personally I was never as big a fan of Mangí as many fans are, so I am less convinced by the song but it is still a good entry. Grade: C+

Eyϸór Ingi Gunnlaugsson – Ég Á Lif

Though I am sometimes critical of the number of simple ballads in national finals this song really stands out from the crowd as there are so few similar songs in the Icelandic selection. I love the Celtic overtones in the song, particularly. However I think it lacks original song writing, which is a serious fault. Grade: B

Svavar Knútur Kristinsson & Hreindís Ylva Gardardóttir Holm – Lífio Snyst

This is a really happy song which bounces along and is a nice and pleasant song to listen to. However if this was in a national final with more songs than the Icelandic semi-finals I would be concerned for it as it is not the most memorable song, however it is still a great song to listen to and may surprise a few in the national final, should it get that far. Grade: B+

Birgitta Haukdal – Medal Andanna

Birgitta returns to the national final for the first time since representing the Icelandic nation in 2003 with the song “Open Your Heart”. However I would say that this song is very different to her song in 2003. It is very dramatic and relies on the percussion elements of the song to carry it forward. It could be a success, given Birgitta’s public profile in Iceland. Personally I am less convinced. This is far from the strongest song in this competition and is lacking in creativity. Grade: B

Edda Vidarsdóttir – Sá Sem Laetur Hjartad Ráda For

A slow and gentle song that is similar to many songs we have seen the Icelandic national final before. Personally I think this is the weakest song in this semi-final. It is too simple to be really considered a good song. Grade: C-

Yohanna – Du

After surprisingly returning once again to the national selection Yohanna has a completely different song to the one that brought Iceland to second place in Moscow. It is difficult to say how this pop song will go down in Iceland, though in my opinion, I think that this is far from the best song in this selection process, though it is the best in this semi. This surprises me a lot as I was convinced after 2011, Yohanna would not enter again unless she was certain about a song. Grade: A-

Finland Heat 2: Review

Finland hold their second heat tonight. Before this I take a look at the songs the Finnish public will hear tonight

Arion – Lost In The Woods

Similar to many Nordic rock songs that we have heard a few times already but I think I might get to like it over time i.e. if Finland selected it as their song. However in the short run it would not feature on my playlists so the songs grade is capped at a D. Grade: D

Lucy Was Driving – Dancing All Around The Universe

The beat of the song certainly does make the song a bit interesting. The song develops into a song that is actually quite good and I am liking the song overall. It feels just a little bit dated but I’m not complaining hugely. This needs a good live performance to lift it. Grade: B

Krista Siegfrids – Marry Me

This is probably the most eye-catching song by any standards. Krista delivers a great performance of the song and I am actually very impressed by this. It is much better than the studio version. [Ed - I wrote this review over two weeks ago and this has definitely been one of the songs I've listened to the most in the national finals. Grade: A

Atlético Kumpula – Paperilyhty

One of the more traditional songs in UMK this year I think it is nice to listen to (as opposed to all the rock we have to endure in Finnish national finals). It is a soft and gentle song, which I like while I am paying a lot of attention to it but I would be concerned that the song will fade into the background in the heats or national final. Grade: C+

Great Wide North – Flags

I think this is meant to be a hands up in the air rock ballad. However while the chorus does live up to the songs aspirations I think it fails to deliver as strongly in the verses. Grade: D

Elina Orkoneva – He’s Not My Man

A great retro song that has really great potential but still it is highly dependent on the performance. I like this though. Grade: B+

Who's In And Who's Out: UK and Ireland

Speculation is rife that either Kimberley Walsh or Girls Aloud will represent the UK this year at Eurovision. The fact that Fridrik Kempe wrote two of the songs on Kimberley's latest album is fueling these rumours. Personally I'm not convinced that sending Girls Aloud will solves the UK's run of poor performers. Girls Aloud may get a shock when they find out vocals must be live.

Personally I never cared that much who the UK entered to Eurovision as they rarely seem to do well and despite their protests never appear to try. However if Girls Aloud were to be the UK enterant I shall quote Bernard from Yes Minister - "Sun readers don't care who runs the country, as long as she's got big tits"

In Ireland, the rumour mills are in full swing (not that I have ever add fuel to the flames). Donna Taggart, a great traditional Irish singer was considered a possible candidate by both myself and my fellow Irish Eurovision bloggers Eurovision Ireland. [Hint Donna: Don't follow Eurovision blogs in January].

That's So Unexpected

At long last, I was wondering when I would hear from Belarus:

According to the Belorussian official Eurovision Alyona may change her song for Eurovision.

Anyone else even remotely shocked?

A Dull Semi-Final In Norway

Regardless of what I may have said before this Norway have lost a lot of credibility tonight.

Tonight Norway held their first semi-final. I think that I speak for the majority of fans in saying that fans were both very disappointed with the overall results and the general quality of songs in the competition. Though I could drag out this article I think that silence might be a more powerful statement.

The Results were:
1st Place - Gromth feat. Emil Solli-Tangen - Alone
2nd Place - Datarock - The Underground
3rd Place - Vidar Busk - Paid My Way

Is It Just Me Or Has Norway Slipped A Little?

This time last year and the year before that, and the year before that I would always look forward to the Norwegian selection process, MGP. In my mind it has always been a great selection process though it may not have the musical quality of Melodifestivalen or Dansk MGP, it still was Melodifestivalen come early. However I find myself rather disappointed with what has come through in the first semi-final for MGP.

It's not that any one song is particularly awful or indeed it is not that two or three songs are not great. It's just that overall I am left feeling very underwhelmed by this semi. I know that I should be more optimistic about this. This is only the first semi-final, we've only heard one third of the songs. Yet I just feel that everything so far about MGP this year has disappointed me. I know they are trying to change the show a little after the last three years, but still, I had higher hopes anyway the songs (along with some brief thoughts) on them are:

Vidar Busk - Paid My Way
This 1950/1960's music style has performed extremely well in the Nordic national final with bands such as The Lucky Bullets and Top Cats registering a substantial impact on their national finals. Though this style is popular I think that this song lacks something to genuinely lift the song and to make the average Norwegian pick up the phone. I would particularly note the chorus would appear to be weak. Having said all that I am rarely impressed by this style of music. Grade: D

Carina Dahl - Sleepwalking
In a complete change of style from the sexy but superficial song "Guns and Boys" in 2011 Sleepwalking is a much slower R+B style song. It has a very strange opening where we can hear music in the background and then it bursts into a tune. I'm very surprised by this - I didn't expect that sound effect to be used in a Eurovision Song. Overall this song has grown on me with multiple listens, and it is now one of my favourites in this semi-final. Grade: B

Tom Hugo - Det Er Du
A rather unusual song for a Nordic ballad in a national final. It is unusual to find a song that this relaxed and as acoustic as this song is. Overall it builds into a song that is very pleasant to listen to. However it does remind me a lot of a song that was knocked out in the first semi-final last year [Singing from the same position in fact]. Personally I like this. Grade: B

Gromth feat. Emil Solli-Tangen - Alone
Heavy rock meets what could be a relative of Didrik Solli-Tangen [Anyone know are Emil and Didrik actually related?]. This might be just one cross over too many. While I have always been an opera fan, particularly outside of Eurovision I have seen sorts of crossovers with artists such as Katherine Jenkins however really I don't think that this all works together perfectly. This is a song that will probably attempt to appeal to rock fans. I think Opera fans will not appreciate the rock elements of this song. Grade: C

Julie Bergin - Give A Little Something Back
This reminds me of Carina Dahl's song mixed with Tom Hugo, though sadly I don't think that this is as good as either of them. It lacks either an interesting song nor a good hook. Dull and boring. Grade: D+

Mimi Blix - Catch Me
I've always had a soft spot for Mimi. Her extremely sexy performances are wonderful and they generally make up for a discernible lack of genuine talent. Nevertheless I am looking forward to hearing this disco anthem being sung in the semi-final. I think that the song is not perfect as it has too many breaks and style changes and the verses are extremely dull and do not really build the tension in the sense that a normal disco song would. Grade: B-

Datarock - The Underground
It is difficult to put an exact style on this song. In some ways it reminds me of The Showbears and there are elements of current boyband songs and also there is a certain Stayin' Alive (The Bee Gees). This is a rather intriguing song. Very difficult to call this one. Grade: B+

Having reviewed these songs I probably do think that the songs this year are probably not as unimpressive as I first though, but still I think that it is missing some of the genuinely great songs of last year.

My Favourites: Datarock, Carina Dahl and Tom Hugo.

The Odds
Tom Hugo, Datarock, and Julie Bergin are the favourites with two bookmakers, and Tom Hugo, Datarock and Carina Dahl are the favourites with other bookmakers. Though personally I think that Datarock will win and Tom Hugo will do very well to qualify.

Semi-Final Draw, Finland First Semi-Final and A Theme

I was going to write up a post on today's semi-final draw but ESCInsight has pretty much said everything I was going to say. So I strongly recommend that as a piece. From an Irish prespective I'm prett happy the the draw and think that we have a reasonable hope of making it through to the final, though how we will get on in their remains to be seen.

Elsewhere in Finland Mikarl Saari and Diandra both made it to the final of UMK. I like Mikael's song but I am not a huge fan of Diandra's.

Finally the theme of Eurovision "We Are One" was revealed today. Personally I do like it and feel that this is probably something the contest should be attempting to promote at this point of European history.

Looking Forward To Tomorrow?

Tomorrow, Monday 14th January, sees national final seasons ramping up to new levels. [So exciting!!!]

Tomorrow Austria release their artists songs and if my sources are correct Iceland will also publish their songs. On Wednesday Norway will announce the artists in their first semi-final and will release their songs. Thursdays sees the first heat in Finland and Saturday sees the first semi-final in Norway. Plus there's bound to be all the usual SVT Thursday and during the busier parts of national finals seasons we can expect at least one surprise announcement per week.

Enjoy! and stick with myself here on The Best Eurovision Blog.