[JingleJones]

Yay Iceland !!

[Nicky91]

i voted for San Marino i got scared for a moment when Iceland was announced as a qualifier, but i screamed it out when San Marino were announced as a qualifier


very worthy finalist! such solid vocals by Andrea and Edwyn, and amazing dj-ing by Gabry love his lipsynching to the song



Belgium wuz robbed, Seppe nq-ing and shaky singers like Ukraine and Norway going through, WHY?

[Santa's NaughtiNess]

Originally Posted by Nicky91

i voted for San Marino i got scared for a moment when Iceland was announced as a qualifier, but i screamed it out when San Marino were announced as a qualifier


very worthy finalist! such solid vocals by Andrea and Edwyn, and amazing dj-ing by Gabry love his lipsynching to the song



Belgium wuz robbed, Seppe nq-ing and shaky singers like Ukraine and Norway going through, WHY?

I quite like San Marino. Catchy song.
Norway didn't deserve to get through. Should have been Belgium definitely.

[Nicky91]

Originally Posted by Benjamin

Yeah, true. I wonder what shocks we’ll get Thursday. Would happily see Austria knocked out.

well, operatic music isn't for everyone, so i wouldn't be surprised if Austria were to struggle in the semi


but based on their staging choice going for the black/white old hollywood vibes i can still see them going through


am curious if we also have one or two surprised tomorrow, i even don't wanna rule out Montenegro (considering Poland was in the death slot here and went through), and never underestimate Dimitrov




based on seeing all non-english songs qualify last night, i have more optimism for tomorrow night for the likes of Latvia, Lithuania, Greece, Serbia their chances, especially having a weak spot for Latvia and Serbia out of those 4


would love for Malta to shock nq somehow after causing the controversy with the ''Kant'' lyric

[Nicky91]

The Polish MOTHER also qualifying, also so deserving


those dance moves, those vocals, and sis was flying too, loved the dragon in the backdrop


hope she can do better than she did in 1995 (which was 18th place)

[Santa's NaughtiNess]

The second semifinal line up is insane. This is going to be a very strong final.

[Nicky91]

who we think came 10th last night


i wouldn't be surprised if it were Ukraine, just barely q'd on enough diaspora votes since their performance was so weak, either them or Norway i think



last place in SF1 most likely Croatia as it was too all over the place chaotic

[Nicky91]

tomorrow night another 15 countries

1. Australia
2. Montenegro
3. Ireland
4. Latvia
5. Armenia
6. Austria
(AQ) United Kingdom
7. Greece
8. Lithuania
9. Malta
10. Georgia
(AQ) France
11. Denmark
12. Czechia
13. Luxembourg
(AQ) Germany
15. Serbia
16. Finland

[Nicky91]

stay healthy Tynna hoping the german delegation keeps her safe with face masks not to get a flu from any of the production crew, with her fragile health


she needs to stay 100% healthy so she can slay the BALALALALA notes

[The Human Santapede]

Semi final 2 tonight

[Yuki Maru Hoshi]

Of course my VPN subscription juuuust expired so I'll never really fully learn what camp is... Benjamin told me there would be camp...

*

Originally Posted by Benjamin

I still can’t believe Belgium bombed so bad when they were so high in the odds to win.

Sounds like they waffled in the end

[Nicky91]

last years winner Nemo, were live alongside Conchita and Luca Hanni at Stefan Raab's Chefsache: Live Aus Basel show last night


also backstage material with Raab and German act Abor & Tynna They are really the cutest and most likeable from this years class

[The Human Santapede]

Originally Posted by Maru

Of course my VPN subscription juuuust expired so I'll never really fully learn what camp is... Benjamin told me there would be camp...

*


Sounds like they waffled in the end

I’d say if you can watch the final on Saturday, do. It’s glorious.

[Nicky91]

tonight first live performance of ''Baller''


am really hyped for it, staging seems a good one too, an improvement from the chefsache NF, Tynna with two dancers behind a curtain in the beginning of the performance, and Abor with a Cello with lights



tbh chefsache was a rollercoaster ride for me, the one moment i was teamfeuerschwanz but in the end i was also teamballer, but overall it was a strong selection, 1000% stronger than the usual unser lied NF's




i mean also check this Skyfall cover out what they did

Youtube video

[Yuki Maru Hoshi]

Originally Posted by Benjamin

I’d say if you can watch the final on Saturday, do. It’s glorious.

I'll see if I can get a free stream... I have my ways

[Ammi]

……Eurovision campness…




….its all about the outdoors and hot chocolate, @Maru ….

[Nicky91]

not gonna watch the results of tonight


don't care about ''that country'' obviously qualifying

[Nicky91]

considering you guys are voting in this semi tonight

1) Australia - Go-Jo - Milkshake Man

where Malta had to change its song lyrics over the curse word, Australia on the other hand its song is perfectly fine as long as you ignore the context and just don't think too much about, it has a laidback surfer feeling to it, and mentions of different milkshake flavours, since who in australia doesn't love milkshakes in the hot summers

2) Montenegro - Nina Zizic - Dobrodosli

Remember this top notch vocalist, she was the screaming lady next to the Who See astronauts for ''Igranka'' back in 2013, this time she is back solo, and with a completely different genre of music, a dramatic balkan ballad and in the native montenegrin language, she came 2nd in Montesong but due to Neonoen's withdrawal after they had won the festival, Nina was asked first if she wanted to compete at ESC and she said yes, afterwards the song had underwent a revamp, stronger bond theme vibes and a typical Darko Dimitrov signature all over it

3) Ireland - Emmy - Laika Party

last year we had norwegians for sweden, now we have this norwegian girl for ireland, and she brings Laika Party and that is not just word play, but it is a tribute to Laika, the first dog in space, like what if Laika never died is she still having parties in outer space? the guy with her on stage is her brother btw and also pay close attention at the backdrop behind Emmy, something will appear there and we reckon this performance will be quite a tearjerker

4) Latvia - Tautumeitas - Bur Man Laimi

Trip Hop (almost ukrainian production like instrumentals) combined with fairy-like characters, and first time they go with a song fully in latvian since 2004

this group recently won the best folk award in their nation

5) Armenia - PARG - Survivor

rhyming Survivor with Stay-Aliver, then you are a real songwriting genius, also worth mentioning btw that Parg by far has the most songwriters contributed to this entry, a total of 8 composers/producers

Parg has a lot of festival experience in his career so far, hyped by the nation's media's as one of their best performers

6) Austria - JJ - Wasted Love

JJ (his real name is Johannes Pietsch) is half austrian, half filipino, grew up in Dubai, and went to the most prestigious operatic music school in Vienna, is a professional opera singer, but he combines pop with opera (for short popera)

he took part in The Voice UK few years ago


and one of the co-writers, Teya Dora (who you might know from representing the nation in Liverpool alongside Salena for Who the Hell is Edgar?) is his best friend

(AQ) United Kingdom - Remember Monday - What The Hell Just Happened?

the first of our automatic qualifiers this evening, praised for their amazing harmonies, compared to acts like OG3NE, they bring us a typical britpop meets west end vibes entry, bit ABBA like, bit Bohemian Rhapsody inspired

similar to Austria's act, they too have competed on The Voice UK before

7) Greece - Klavdia - Asteromata

if you think you just travelled back in time and you think this is Nana Mouskouri, no, this is Klavdia, and those glasses are her signature look

the song means ''Starry Eyed'' in greek, and it is about the history of the pontic greeks, Klavdia herself has pontic greek roots, first fully greek ballad for them since 2018 ''Oneiro Mou''

8) Lithuania - Katarsis - Tavo Akys

the Lithuanian Nirvana, fans of alternative rock must love this one, and we love this nation being on such a strong streak of sending acts with their native language recently

the song means ''Your Eyes''

9) Malta - Miriana Conte - SERVING

the most controversial song of this year, first it was named ''Kant'' which is the maltese word for Singing, but this is against the EBU's rules since it sounds like a swear word to women, so they changed their song into ''SERVING'' and what is different than that word, well they replaced it with ''Aah''

also fans of Sound of Music must love the ''do-re-mi-fa-serving'' lyrics

10) Georgia - Mariam Shengelia - Freedom

this is Georgia bringing traditional georgian music, traditional georgian dancing and everything in the georgian language is very gorgeous, but the english lyrics feel too cliché, out of place

otherwise this is on par with the quality they usually give us at Junior Eurovision

(AQ) France - Louane - Maman

Maman is a song about Louane's mother who died of cancer back in 2014 when Louane was only 17 years old

this is a very typical french chanson, although compared to Voilá, Evidemment this is much more sophisticated in its lyrical content

11) Denmark - Sissal - Hallucination

2nd star from the Faroe Islands (after Reiley back in 2023) to perform on the eurovision stage

it is a very basic dance pop song, although thanks to Sissal her strong performing skills, a very effective one at that, it also reminds you a little of Loreen her music, especially Euphoria

Sissal is a mother of two daughters, and she sees herself as a mother figure for the other contestants

12) Czechia - ADONXS - Kiss Kiss Goodbye

this song is one which could've been in a soundtrack album of a Fifty Shades of Grey film

this song is about the complex emotions regarding love near the end of a relationship, highlighting love, pain and sweet memories


ADONXS (real name Adam Pavlocin) is from Slovakia, he is a singer, dancer and actor, he took part in the czech version of The Voice back in 2012, he participated in the slovak version of Strictly Come Dancing, Lets Dance

and he is a fan of RuPaul's Drag Race

13) Luxembourg - Laura Thorn - La Poupee Monte Le Son

it literally means ''the doll turns up the sound''

60 years after France Gall's win with Poupee de Cire, Poupee de Son, they decide to honour it with a modern sequel, Laura is from luxembourg as well, she is a singing teacher at a university, this song was composed by two frenchmen in Paris, who were waiting for the right singer, Laura sang a demo and they were so impressed they handed the rights to her

14) Israel - Yuval Raphael - New Day Will Rise

Yuval, a survivor of the October 7th Nova Festival massacre, this is her musical debut actually, she lived in Geneva for 3 years when she was 6 years old, with her aunt Ronit Raphael (self made millionaire thanks to the cosmetics empire L-Raphael)

the song New Day Will Rise is written by Keren Peles, experienced composer for the nation at eurovision, however final production was done by Yuval herself, and the participation and staging is entirely funded by her family instead of KAN

(AQ) Germany - Abor & Tynna - Baller

first song in german since 2007, the song means ''shoot'' as in shoot for the stars

in this eurovision journey they are mentored by Stefan Raab (who also gave the nation a win back in 2010 with Lena Meyer-Landrut with the song Satellite, as well as himself having competed in the early 00s with Wadde Hadde Dudde Da) he created the national selection Chefsache, this brother-sister duo actually submitted a song in english, but were told by Stefan to go with Baller instead

their father Csaba is a cellist in the Vienna Orchestra, famous for the new year concerts

15) Serbia - Princ - Mila

did we suddenly tune into a DC movie, nope, he only looks like Aquaman

this is Princ (real name Stefan Zdravkovic) the song means ''Dear'' in serbian

it is about a reflection of his current love life, one of the messages in the song is that true love sometimes means you need to accept you can't stay together forever

responsible for the song's revamped instrumentals is the eurovision veteran Zeljko Joksimovic (2nd with Lane Moje, 3rd with Nije Ljubav Stvar, as well as for composing Adio for Montenegro's Knez in 2015)

16) Finland - Erika Vikman - Ich Komme

she already tried to go to eurovision back in 2020, with Cicciolina, combining finnish and italian languages

now with this song which means ''i'm coming'' in german, she combines those german words with finnish language

it is composed by another big name act in the nation Chisu (real name Christel Martina Roosberg)

the song is about pleasure, extasy and trance and about breaking taboo's in the sex life, in today's political correct world

.

[Nicky91]

tonight we'll also celebrate some of the cancelled 2020 edition's entries

The Roop - On Fire (Lithuania 2020)
Destiny - All Of my Love (Malta 2020)
Gjon's Tears - Repondez-Moi (Switzerland 2020)
Efendi - Cleopatra (Azerbaijan 2020)

[Santa's NaughtiNess]

So excited for tonight!

[The Grinch]

Originally Posted by Vanessa

So excited for tonight!

Same! Can’t wait

[Santa's NaughtiNess]

The Israel song is going to sound amazing live.

[Nicky91]

Originally Posted by Vanessa

The Israel song is going to sound amazing live.

starving innocents to death, and meanwhile happily performing in a song contest

[Santa's NaughtiNess]

Originally Posted by Nicky91

starving innocents to death, and meanwhile happily performing in a song contest

Not her fault. And she's a survivor of the massacre.

[Holly Christmas]

Rooting strongly for Ireland tonight.