Moldova - Matthew Passmore

On Saturday March 3, broadcaster TRM in Moldova held the “O Melodie Pentru Europa” in Moldova to choose their Eurovision contestant for 2019.  10 songs vied for the place to represent Moldova in Tel Aviv.    Originally, TRM received 28 songs for potential Moldavian Eurovision entries which were distilled down to 10 performers for the final instead of 2 semi-finals as originally scheduled.   Each of the performers in the final and a summary of their performance are given below:

Aurel Chirtoacă performing “La Cinema”

Aurel was the first participant and performed a modern blues inspired song.  Although a perfectly nice song, it was very melancholy and didn’t stand out amongst the other later contestants.   Aurel sang dressed in a fedora hat and beige checkered jacket.

Vera Țurcanu performing “Cold”

Vera’s pop song felt different starting slow and picking up tempo at the chorus.   There was initially some issues with the audio and so Vera was allowed a second chance to perform her song “Cold” after the last performance of the night.  Vera wore a white dress and performed 4 male dancers lifting her up on a platform towards the middle of the song before the white dress change to red.

Marcela Scripcaru performing “Meteor”

Marcela’s performed a pop ballad.   It felt something Sia would write or sing.  The song built up to the chorus.  Although not a super power ballad, it was definitely likeable and catchy.    Marcela was dressed in a black dress with the stage changing color from white to a warm red with Marcela’s hair matching the background color.  The background singers were equally dressed in black.  Once the song hits the chorus, the background darkens to blue but progresses back to red.

Siaj performing “Olimp”

The fourth song in the Moldavian final was Olimp by Siaj.  Olimp was another pop song although this time with Romanian lyrics.  It had a semi rock edge with some guitar backing.  Overall, the performance did not seem to have the depth of some of the other performers.  Siaj wore a metallic-look long overcoat and high red boots, matching the red pants worn by the two guitarists. 3 background singers provided some more depth to the performance.   

Maxim Zavidia performing “I Will Not Surrender”

Maxim brought a more contemporary rock/pop song to the competition.  The song built to a strong bridge towards the end of the song highlighting his vocals.   Definitely one of the standout performances in the final.  The background displayed a giant clock that spins backwards at a very fast pace.   Maxim is initially joined on stage by 2 dancers, performing a routine with sticks.  Later in the song, additional male and female singers join him.

Diana Brescan performing “Lies”

Diane performed a simple ballad.  Although a perfectly acceptable and pleasant song, it didn’t have the power punch that we have learnt to expect from a lot of Eurovision ballads.  Diana wore a white pants suit with a bench used for staging although she ends up rolling on the floor to the end of the performance.   

Tinna Gi performing “Virus”

Tinna Gi starts off the performance with 4 dancers dressed in blue Arabian costumes.  Tinna is attached to one of the dancers with a ribbon when she tries to walk away from them.  As the performance continues, all dancers seem more stuck to her.   The song is pop with an interesting instrumental rip through the chorus creating some additional texture.

Lemonique performing “Gravity”

Lemonique’s song Gravity would appeal to the modern pop Electro Dance Music (EDM) fans.  It sounds like something Calvin Harris or David Guetta would produce.  Lemonique wore a short white tutu dress and was joined on stage by a cymbal player wearing a welding helmet decorated with bunny ears, a guitarists dressed in black leather and two female backing dancers.

Anna Odobescu performing “Stay”

Anna performed a more typical Eurovision pop ballad belting out this song dressed looking like goddess in a metallic top, and a white long flowing dress.  Listening to the performers, this was definitely one of the standout performers for the night.

Che-MD feat. Elizaveta Ivasiuk performing “Sub Pământ”

The last song of the evening is another semi rock ballad.  The song was staged using a drum player, both acoustic and bass guitar and a violinist.  The song never quite reaches the level or more heavy metal songs and almost has a folky sound especially during each verse. 

 Points were awarded from seven jury members in the typical Eurovision-style 1-8, 10 and 12 points for each of the contestants.   Combined with the televotes, a single combined vote was produced for each performer. 

In the end per the jury and televote, Anna Odobescu won the O Melodie Pentru Europa singing “Stay” and will represent Moldova in Tel Aviv this year for Eurovision 2019.Anna received a total of 22 points (12 from the jury and 10 from televotes) making her the clear winner ahead of the second place getter Maxim Zavidia on 17 points.Maxim was the audience favorite (receiving 12 points from the televoting) but did not get the support from the jury voters.

Norway (final) - Cindy Zhang

On March 2, the Norwegian entry for Eurovision 2019 was selected through the 57th edition of the Norwegian national final,  Melodi Grand Prix, which took place at Oslo Spektrum. Hosting the show were Kåre Magnus Bergh, a familiar face since the 2015 edition, and actress Heidi Ruud Ellingsen.

The show opens to Alexander Rybak on stage, who energized the audience with a mash-up performance of last year’s entry “That’s How You Write a Song” and his 2009 winning entry “Fairytale.”

The Songs:

Chris Medina - We Try

First up was Chicago-born Chris Medina, a former American Idol star who has since relocated to Oslo. We Try is a convincing pop song, though his vocals could have been better. The staging starts with a striking image of Medina at the piano, which reflected the sea of lights from the audience, but the accompanying dancer, who was positioned far from the main stage, felt out of place and made the performance feel disjointed.

D’Sound - Mr. Unicorn

Jonny Sjo and Kim Ofstad, who have been together as a group for 25 years, was joined by Mirjam Omdal to present us with Mr. Unicorn. Again, the vocals failed to impress, but the masterful staging certainly did. The three members, all in white, performed in metal cubes that visually interacted with images on the LED backdrop to make for a futuristic, sci-fi-esque spectacle.

Mørland - En Livredd Mann (A Terrified Man)

Kjetil Mørland of 2015’s “A Monster Like Me” returned this year with his self-composed “En Livredd Mann,” whose all-Norwegian lyrics was already a massive plus in my (albeit biased) books. The staging took inspirations from the music video and used it to great effects to complement the dark tones of the song, and Mørland’s effortless vocals were simply a treat to listen to.

Anna-Lisa Kumoji - Holla (Live video link not found)

The fourth entry brings a complete change of tone with its down and dirty hip-hop number, complete with a bold, energetic performance which was in-your-face in all the best ways possible. Kumoji certainly filled the stage with her powerful voice, and not to mention the eye-catching pink furry coat and the sleek black leather get-up underneath. I was at time baffled by the camerawork during this performance though, which seemed to have been making a valiant effort at losing her among the crowds at times.

Erland Bratland - Sing For You

Erland Bratland was another returnee from the 2015 edition of MGP. There wasn’t really any staging to speak of on this one, just the singer at the mic against a suitably atmospheric LED backdrop. Oh, and cello accompaniment that came in halfway. Bratland’s vocal performance, arguably the best of the night, was the only thing that needed to carry the song though.

Ingrid Berg Mehus - Feel

If Eurovision and MGP returnees weren’t enough, this year we also saw the participation of the girl Rybak’s winning entry was allegedly inspired by. And sure enough, there was violin-ing aplenty in this number. In all seriousness though, In all seriousness though, “Feel” was soft and elegant, but not without an underlying feeling of strength. The vocals were good too, even if the diction could have done with a bit more work.

Hank von Hell - Fake It

Who doesn’t love an entry that pulls off dramatically over-the-top with conviction? Also, props for trying to bring more rock entries to Eurovision. The song did get a bit repetitive after a while, but for the most part I was just enjoying the much welcomed change of pace.

Carina Dahl - Hold Me Down

In Carina Dahl we had yet another MGP veteran, whose song was frankly overshadowed by the overwhelming onslaught of  orange  (the color, not the fruit, thankfully) in her staging, imho. I also couldn’t help but to applaud the backing singer(s), who seemed to have done a lot of the heavy lifting in terms of the vocalsAdrian Jørgensen - The Bubble

A backing vocalist for JOWST and Aleksander Wallman in 2017, Jørgensen returns to take center stage this time around with a song co-written by Wallman and Mørland. Both the song and the staging seemed to have taken its cues from Michael Schulte’s successful entry from last year, but lacked the raw emotional sincerity that gave “You Let Me Walk Alone” soul (even though it did succeed in being a catchy pop number with an intimate performance). The addition of the female singer and the tambourine percussions did take the song to the next level though.

KEiiNO - Spirit in the Sky

Saving the best for last, we have the fan favorite “Spirit in the Sky.” The two main singers, Alexandra Rotan and Tom Hugo, both competed in MGP last year, and they were joined by Sami rapper Fred Bujlo. Despite this being my favorite across all of the national finals this season, I actually found myself a bit underwhelmed by the live performance tonight. The staging started off intimate and atmospheric with the trio in close formation and two dancers close behind them, but as the drummers moved in the stage got a bit busy. You can also literally hear their nerves creeping into their vocal performances and derailing them at times too.

After all the entries performed, Bratland performed his song again due to some technical issues during the initial performance, and then we were on to the voting. The first stage of voting consisted of a split 50/50 jury and televote system: in the jury voting, 580 points were distributed by ten international juries (Italy, Georgia, Spain, Denmark, Portugal, Switzerland, Macedonia, Ireland, Hungary, and Israel), who ranked each entry and awarded 12, 10, and 8-1 points; in the televoting, a same total of 580 points were given based on the percentage of televotes each entry received (e.g. the entry receiving 10% of televotes would get 58 points, and so on). The douze points given by each international juries were presented first, which concluded with “Mr. Unicorn” receiving four, “The Bubble” three, and “Holla,” “En Livredd Mann,” and “Spirit in the Sky” one each. The detailed breakdown of the jury points were not released during the live show (or yet at the time of writing).

After an interval act where host Heidi Ruud Ellingsen performed a medley of Eurovision songs, the four entries going on to the Gold Final were revealed to be: “The Bubble,” “Holla,” “Spirit in the Sky,” and “Mr. Unicorn.”

In the Gold Final,  KEiiNO  and  Adrian Jørgensen  both won the 100% televotes face-off and performed their songs again for the final Gold Duel. Jørgensen performed first and pulled off a good repeated performance, but as KEiiNO came on stage it was becoming clear that they would take home the win for the night, if the chanting crowd in the arena was any indication. They also seemed a lot more confident in their performance this time around, as their vocals were a lot more on point this time and the energy of the performance seemed to be on another level compared to the first showing.

The audience was treated to  a performance of last year’s winning song “Toy” by Netta  as the final voting was underway. Then, sure enough, the fan favorite  KEiiNO  with “Spirit in the Sky” was announced the Norwegian entrant for Tel Aviv in May.

Slovenia - Damian & Jorge

Damian and Jorge were both assigned Slovenia but it was only a single show in the end so we will have two perspectives on the same show.

Jorge

The great final of the Slovenian EMA took place on Saturday, February 16, from the studies of the RTVSLO in Ljubljana. Slovenia will compete from the first Eurovision 2019 semifinal to be held on May 14 in Tel Aviv. Ajda Smrekar presented the final of the traditional Evrovizijska Melodija where 10 songs aspired to win the long-awaited ticket to Israel. A jury composed of Darja Švajger, Lea Sirk and Vladimir Graić (composer of Molitva) were in charge of scoring and choosing the 2 songs that would go to the Superfinal where only the public would vote to choose the winner... Superfinal that has already caused quite a few surprises in Slovenia before, leaving artists and songs that seemed sure winners on the way. 

I must admit that this year the selection of songs and the way they were presented to the public was quite rare. With the snipetts published three weeks ago, everything was confusing: we knew Raiven was in the final, taking into account her previous results she stood out as a great candidate to win, adored by eurofans. But KAOS was heard ... something weird. It promised something but we still didn´t know if it was going to be the great song we expected. Ula Ložar was there with "Fridays", a song composed by Maraaya and the fans remembered her from Junior Eurovision. There was also Kim, with a great voice and another song composed by Maraaya. A couple of rock / metal bands, a guy who danced and sang, a couple of country-style songs ... and nothing more.

Apparently.

The show was truly very well produced. The great lighting and stage that the EMA brings us every year added in this edition very good sound, dancers and very interesting graphics.

The first of the night was Kim Begovič with The Rythm back to You. Blonde and exuberant in black, with a great voice, the song promised more and ended up becoming repetitive.

EMA 2019: KIM - RHYTHM BACK TO YOU

Next up was Renata Mohorič with Three Bridges. The song was quite good (certainly not for Eurovision) but if it had been well sung it would have stood out a bit more ... it was not the case. She was almost the whole song out of tune.
EMA 2019: RENATA MOHORIČ - THREE BRIDGES

With "Ne poveš" (Do not tell), René invited us to dance. In glitter, with two dancers and a lot of energy, it brought us a somewhat bland song. He stayed halfway.
EMA 2019: RENÉ - NE POVEŠ
Fed Horses with Ti ne poznaš konjev (Something like "You do not know horses") brought to the EMA the first great song of the night. Song of country style, intimate and beautifully sung by Urša Mihevc. It's not surprising that they were in third place that night.

EMA 2019: FED HORSES - TI NE POZNAŠ KONJEV

With "Fridays" comes Ula Ložar, from the hand of Maraaya. Fun song, well sung and not so well danced. Ideal for the Eurojunior more than for the Eurovision. A good proposal very well qualified by the jury.

EMA 2019: ULA LOŽAR – FRIDAYS

The following are Lumberjack with Lepote Dna. Boys rocking, a good song but nothing to emphasize. I´m not a fan of these kind of songs.

EMA 2019: LUMBERJACK – LEPOTE DNA

It is now the turn of the vocal/instrumental duo Okustični, composed by Mate Brodar and Karin Zemljič, who have already tried out the great Eurovision stage, as vocalists: Mate ( Sestre ) and Karin (Maraaya and Lea Sirk). Metulji Plešejo (Butterflies are dancing) is melancholy, romantic, slow, ideal to listen in the car. Nice song.

EMA 2019: OKUSTIČNI - METULJI PLEŠEJO

INMATE is a metal rock band with many years of career. Their vast experience is noticed on stage. The song does not bring any novelty within the genre. Turkey, Cyprus, Georgia already presented songs in this genre with very similar songs. This style is not mine at all.

EMA 2019: INMATE – ATMA

With the snipetts presented by the RTVSLO the next song,"Sebi"(To yourself), was almost unnoticed. An ethereal song, to which only a few pay attention. Sung and composed by a duo of young singers / musicians / composers from Maribor, Zala Kralj (19) & Gašper Šantl (22). Only with the presentation of the versions of just over a minute, the public could appreciate the jewel that was hiding here.

Ko so tvoje misli polne

Lahko poslušaš

kako mi bije srce

Ko težko je tvoje brem

K meni se lahko zateče

(When your mind is full you can listen to my heart beating .When your burden is heavy you can take refuge in me) 

This is how  Sebi begings

Zala only has eyes for  Gašper, she sings to him, whispering "The stars are not always visible.Stay true to yourself. Don´t tell me to forgive you" . Fragile? May be. Or not. He takes her hand and does not stop looking at her.  She says "Look at me ... that everything has a meaning". Her voice is crystalline and natural, the atmosphere they create is unreal.  She throws her only look at cameras in the second end.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4Ci3nrBdno
The last one to sing was the one that a priori seemed the great favorite of the night: Raiven. With "Črno bel" she was second in EMA 2016 and with "Zažarim" she was third in 2017. Both are amazing songs.  After presenting the 2018 edition it seemed that this was her year. She promised "Kaos" and fulfilled. Literally the song was chaos. Visually very interesting, beautiful with her green hair and big eyes, accompanied by sexy dancers ... Lights, dancing and chaos. She repeated again and again "kaos kaos kaos" and her dance steps imitated Madonna's Vogue. The song started very promising and then it became a big mess. Too modern maybe? Avant garde? A pity because the effort was a lot and the great work she did was noticed.

EMA 2019: RAIVEN – KAOS

After the 10 performances, the jury evaluated the performances and went to the superfinal Zala Kralj & Gašper Šantl and Raiven. In places 3/4 were Ula and Fed Horses, fifth was Okustični, sixth Lumberjack, in seventh place was INMATE, eighth was Kim and closed the list with Renata and René. In the end Zala & Gašper came out on top with a total of 72,89% of televotes and will be flying the slovenian flag in Tel Aviv.
When they announced to the winner the faces of surprise of all could not be disguised. We even heard Lea Sirk uttering the F** word while hugging Raiven (Fak no, pa ne morem faking verjet/Well, I can not f** believe it ). Of course if you look for Eurodramas Slovenia is THE place..
EMA 2019 / Lea Sirk prizna Raiven / fak no, pa ne morem faking verjet / Zala Kralj in Gašper Šantl

And the Eurodrama is served. For some "Sebi" is "too slow", Zala is "an iceberg", Gašper "only balances during the 3 minutes"... For me is a beautiful song, with the most wonderful and moving lyrics that I heard at the festival. I do not know what will happen in May, it will depend on the presentation they make. But "Sebi" deserves the spot and fortunately it will be in Eurovision. And surely we will see Raiven, a great singer, at an upcoming festival.

See you in Tel Aviv !!!

(PS: I leave you the link of S teboi, another Zala & Gašper  song that I find very interesting. At one point it says in the lyrics "S papirnato barko plujem s teboj, tudi če potopiva se, jaz sem s teboj" / " I'm floating in a paper boat with you, even if I'm sinking, I'm with you. "

I'm still crying like a baby)

Zala Kralj & Gašper Šantl - S teboi

Damian

Fak no, pa ne morem faking verje! (Well, I can not f** believe it!) - These words of enormous surprise were those that Lea Sirk, the winner of EMA 2018, said in Raiven's ear, comforting her for a new second place. Zala Kralj & Gašper Šantl, two very young musicians from Maribor had just won the Evrovizijska Melodija (EMA) 2019 in Slovenia with the song "Sebi" (To yourself). A new year. A new EMA. An old Eurodrama.

EMA 2019 / Lea Sirk prizna Raiven / fak no, pa ne morem faking verjet / Zala Kralj in Gašper Šantl

When I found out that I had to do the review of the Slovenian EMA for the OGAE ROW, I was especially happy. I have always had a special taste for the music of the countries of the former Yugoslavia and the rest of the countries of Eastern Europe, a taste that surely comes from my family roots. And taste shared by my husband who also had the luck to do the review of the same Slovenian final.

I was already prepared to listen to beautiful Balkan ballads or divas singing dramatic songs. I expected dancing, wind, Sašas, Mancas ... But it was Slovenia, the most western of the former Yugoslav republics, and I knew that I was going to find some rock and modern sounds.  And of course, there was little of the first and much of the second.

The final of EMA 2019 disappointed me because of the quality of the songs presented. The truth is that none of them managed to captivate me.

From the beginning, Kim with Rythm back to you has already started my discomfort. The song was repetitive, well sung but not perfectly interpreted. The song promised but it stayed halfway. 

When I saw the title of the second song "Three bridges" instantaneously I thought about the Tromostovje in Ljubljana and crossed my fingers. Sadly Renata Mohorič sang it completely out of tune. I must say that the song is ok. But it is another no.

The next song brought René and Ne poveš (Don't tell) on stage. He attempt to transmit energy and good vibes with a song too soft. Not again.

Fed Horses and Ti ne poznaš konjev were the following. Country music, very well sung, a beautiful singer (although poorly dressed). I must say that this fourth song of the night I liked a lot. Is it for Eurovision? No, certainly not.

When I started listening to Fridays by Ula Lužar I immediately felt Flamingosi´s vibes. I immediately became curious. The song is ok, she sings well (and dances badly), the lyrics of the song were a mess. Ideal for Eurojunior but until here was the one that counted on my votes.

Lumberjack brought rock to the EMA stage. Lepote Dna is a standard rock song, without much to emphasize, It's ok but in a festival like Eurovision it would go unnoticed. Of course, all fans would think to see the singer "Waw, is Michal Szpak´s twin!"

With Okustični something strange happened to me. I liked the song ... but I got a little distracted. Immediately I saw myself driving a car to Velika Planina listening and singing Metulji Plešejo. I realized that it is an ideal song to have on my favorites list but not to take to Tel Aviv.

INMATE (And then Raiven) I found them to be the most professional musicians tonight. Atma is not in any way the kind of music I would listen to. Of course the song is good, I would have loved to listen to it in Slovenian. But it is another not for me.

Zala Kralj & Gašper Šantl with "Sebi" were the following. Of course I had no idea who they were. But my husband next to me began to rub elbows and to tell me "Put your eyes on this! They are amazing! Pay attention!"

Let's see...

The song is interesting. She whispers, her voice is wonderful and it's as cold as an iceberg. Big sad eyes, she sings the song to her boy. But they did not manage to convey emotion to me at all. I stayed halfway ...

The last one to sing was Raiven. She promised "Kaos" and fulfilled. The song is really chaotic. She repeated KAOS again and again as she danced Madonna's Vogue. A pity because it could have been a work of art ... but no. Avant garde? Too modern? Or simply chaos? I must admit that the song was very well produced. And of course her dancers were very sexy.

So far the songs. From here on the drama. In the Slovenian selection two songs are chosen that go to a Superfinal in which the televot decides the winner. This year's jury composed of Darja Švajger, Lea Sirk and Vladimir Graić (composer of Molitva) were  who decided the two songs that would happen to that Superfinal, They chose Sebi (Zala Kralj & Gašper Šantl) and Khaos (Raiven), great surprise in the first, not so in the second. But of course we still had to wait for the public's decision. And the public voted overwhelmingly that the song that will represent Slovenia in Eurovision will be SEBI.

What will happen in May with Slovenia? The bet is very risky, considering that in Eurovision there is only one opportunity to captivate the public. I see very difficult that Zala & Gasper manage to transmit enough to achieve the votes of the public (it is likely that they do well with the jury)

PD: After listening to the winning song again and paying attention to the lyrics, it improved a bit. The lyrics of the song are wonderful. At one point it says "Eternity and this planet are not friends.And I´m like a snowflake waiting for spring to come. The stars are not always visible,stay true to yourself. Don´t tell me to forgive you"

See you in may in Tel Aviv!!

Portugal (semi 2) - Luis Braga

Semi final 2 also took place in Lisbon at RTP’s studio with another 8 songs competing for 4 places in the final.

Jorge Gabriel e José Carlos Malato were the hosts. Voting was, once again, 50% jury, 50% public.

The line up was:

1. "O Lugar" - Lara Laquiz

This was a surprise. Lara goes a bit for the “high dress” idea (very popular in the recent past) and gives a strong performance. Lara and the two dancers are dressed in black and we listen to a very easy going pop, which easily one can remember later on.

2. "Lava" - Dan Riverman

This is a nice strong ballad, with very deep lyrics, and there is nothing we can say that went wrong. It brings a bit of the style many Portuguese entries to the Eurovision got us used too.

3. "Mar Doce" - Mariana Bragada

Mariana tries her best in this wanna-be catchy pop-ballad, but it is not enough. It is, after all, very repetitive and annoying.

4. "O Jantar" - João Couto

This dinner (“Jantar”) is like many of the Portuguese pop songs that were written back in the 90s, and even in the 2000s. It is nice to listen, but nothing special. In terms of the lyrics, it is a very empty song.

5. "Mundo A Mudar" – Madrepaz

Madrepaz brought us indie-pop that can even resemble some traditional Portuguese sounds, with a very different staging. All four members of the group and the two back singers were very synchronized and had a very competent performance. This would be great in Tel Aviv. It is pleasant, makes you sing a long and smile.

6. "Pugna" – Surma

Surma is known for being a great composer/singer and having a very unique style. That was she brought to us in this semi final. “Pugna” is a different song, was sung and performed well and, at the end, stands out as one of the contenders to win Festival da Canção.

7. "Debaixo Do Luar" - Mila Dores

Mila is sitting at the piano and start her performance of what could be a Gabriela Schaaf song from the late 70s. Nothing wrong with that. It is a very strong performance of a nice ballad. No need of extra staging when a nice voice gets together with a good song.

8. "Igual A Ti" – NBC

Probably the biggest favourite of this semi final, NBC brings “Igual a Ti”, which is performed very well. Not sure if this would be a good choice for Tel Aviv but after his performance we knew it would be one of the qualifiers.

After all was sung, time to review “Desfolhada”, “Verão” and “Sobe sobe, balão sobe”.

And then it went on and on and on… until we got the final results!

Qualified for the Final:

"Igual a Ti" 22 points (10 J + 12 T)

"Pugna" 18 points (12 J + 6 T)

"Mundo a Mudar" 16 points (6 J + 10 T)

"Mar Doce" 15 points (8 J + 7 T)

Portugal (semi 1 ) - Luis Braga

Once again, RTP held the first semi-final in Lisbon at their studio and we had 8 songs competing for 4 places in the final. Sónia Araújo and Tânia Ribas de Oliveira were the hosts. Voting was, once again, 50% jury, 50% public.

The line up was:

1. "Inércia" - Ana Cláudia

Ana gives a strong performance to a song that, only with the studio version, didn’t promise too much. I must say this song was a grower and at the end made us think it could qualify.

2. "É o que é" - João Campos

Song number 2 screams D.A.M.A. all over and it is a very pleasant one! My favourite in a year the overall quality is not huge. João with the three back singers and the two guitar players brought us a very quiet and nice moment. When the song is great, there’s no need of anything else on stage.

3. "O Meu Sonho" - Soraia Tavares

This was for sure different. Not everyone’s cup of tea, but Lura wrote a nice song to which Soraia gave her good performance. Two male dancers added a bit of staging. Was it enough?

4. "A Dois" – Calema

The “biggest opponent” to song #5, according to the general opinion, was a well performed song by Calema. Amazing pop ballad with a strong performance that justified it being one of the favourites.

5. "Telemóveis" - Conan Osíris

Since all the songs were made public, this was the one that became the big favourite to win the whole thing but also the one to generate more polemic. The performance was not as expected (have the studio version as a reference) and in a way there are some stage elements and acts (the spoons, the male dancer…) that don’t do anything for the song. Lyric wise, it is a very cleaver composition.

6. "Mais Brilhante Que Mil Sóis" - Ela Limão

A very weak performance that was what Ela gave us with a song that goes nowhere. Coming after two of the big favourites of FC 2019, didn’t help at all.

7. "Hoje" - Filipe Keil

This first semi-final was, in the opinion of many, the strongest one, but “Hoje” didn’t do much for it. Just a ballad, with a nice beat and that is all. The performance was competent but nothing to call home about.

8. "Perfeito" – Matay

`Perfeito” which means perfect, was all that: an amazing performance by Matay with the piano background adding a classic touch. No doubt Matay was the best voice of the night and that helped to elevate a song that, only with the studio versions, was not wowing a lot of people.

After all was sung, we had a nice homage Maria Guinot (ESC 1984 “Silêncio e Tanta Gente”) and then Cais do Sodré Funk performed “Oração” and “O Vento Mudou” together with the original ESC participants.

And then it went on and on and on… until we got the final results!

Qualified for the Final:

"Perfeito" 22 points (12 J + 10 T)

"Telemóveis" 19 points (7 J + 12 T)

"A Dois" 18 point s(10 J + 8 T)

"Inércia” 13 points (8 J + 5T) *

* “É o Que É” also finished with 13 points but Ana got the ticket for getting more votes from the jury.

Lithuania (final) - Michele Acott

This will be Lithuania’s 20th appearance at the Eurovision Song Contest, and despite having the longest lasting National finals, they have yet to impress at a Eurovision final.

Time after time Lithuania have failed to send anything that leaves a lasting impression with either juries or fans. Some of the songs receive diaspora votes regularly from the United Kingdom and Ireland, but generally Europe has not been impressed with their entries.

Lithuania have finished in the Top 10 only twice, ‘We Are The Winners’ by LT United in 2006 and ‘’ve Been Waiting For This Night’ by Donny Montell in 2016.

Ieva Zasimauskaité finished 12th last year with ‘When We’re Old’ which was the countries third best placing.

Forty-eight acts competed in the national selection show Eurovizijos atranka 2019 and after four heats and two semi-finals, eight acts were left to battle it out. And after seven weeks of intense competition, scandals and withdrawals Lithuania has chosen Jurijus as their Eurovision 2019 representative with “Run with the Lions”.

It won’t be his first time at the Eurovision, because in 2013 Jurijus served as a backing vocalist for the Lithuanian singer Andrius Pojavis. Later, in 2015, he joined Vaidu Baumila and Monika Linkyte on stage for their performance.

Originally Monika Marija, former winner of The Voice of Lithuania, was meant to take part in the grand final singing two songs (because she won two heats with two different songs). At the last minute she withdraw one of the songs because she feared singing two might hurt her chances of winning.  It was to no avail because she placed second.

In the final we also witnessed the comeback of two former Eurovision artists: Erica Jennings (who was the lead singer of the group Skamp in 2001) and Jurgis DID (who was the lead singer of InCulto in 2011). They sang the song ‘Sing!’ in the final of 2019, and finished in fourth place.

Full results of Eurovizijos Atranka 2019:

01. Jurijus – Run with the lions – 24 points

02. Monika Marija – Light On – 20 points

03. Antikvariniai Kašpirovskio Dantys – Mažulė – 16 points

04. Jurgis DID & Erica Jennings – Sing! – 14 points

05. Alen Chicco – Your Cure – 12 points

06. Henry & Tommy Modric – Neverpart – 10 points

07. Jurgis Bruzga – CTRL ALT DELETE – 8 points

08. Justina Budaitė-Junà - "Strength of a Woman"– 6 points

Hungary (final) - Wayne Ralph

Well it’s time to bring it home for A Dal 2019. It’s “final time” with the winner going on to represent Hungary at the Eurovision Song Contest in Tel Aviv.  

Scoring and selection is a little different to the heats and semis where after the 8 artists perform, our friendly jurors each award their top 4 performers scores of 4, 6, 8 or 10 with the top four scorers proceeding to a “Super Final”.  The “Super Final” is where the public come in to choose the overall winner.

And it wouldn’t be A Dal without a little controversy, and as Ronny alluded to last week, Petruska was abruptly helped out of the contest due to some plagiarism concerns.  So in came Gergő Oláh as replacement in the Top 8.

So, the first round was:

The Middletonz - "Roses"

Gergő Oláh - "Hozzád bújnék”

Bogi Nagy - "Holnap"

Fatal Error - “Kulcs"

Joci Pápai - Az én apám

Gergő Szekér - "Madár, repülj!”

Acoustic Planet - "Nyári zápor”

Bence Vavra - "Szótlanság"

Between Chris, Ronny and myself we’ve commented on these songs a few times now so just a general reaction after the first round:

Nice start to the show by Freddie and Dallos with a little reprise of Freddie’s 2016 Eurovision entry “Pioneer”, Middletonz added some dancing rose bushes, Gergő was a welcome addition to be honest, still love Bogi, Fatal Error fired up their keyboards (literally), Joci’s shoes are still missing, Gergő was a little flat, the lead for Acoustic Planet got a new outfit but lost some of her voice and poor Bence is still getting doors slammed in his face   

And through to the Super Final after the jury votes were:

• Joci Pápai (26 points)

• Acoustic Planet (22 points)

• Bence Vavra (20 points)

• Bogi Nagy (16 points)

And the others scored: Gergő Szekér (12 points); The Middletonz (8 points); Fatal Error (8 points) and Gergő Oláh (0 points)

Tough results for The Middletonz and Gergő Oláh there.  While Bence Vavra and Acoustic Planet were lucky in my opinion.  And some of these jurors must forget that we know how they scored in the heats and semis.  Anyhoo, that’s A Dal for you.

Then after a lovely acoustic start, AWS blasted our eardrums one more time with Viszlát nyár, their Eurovision entry from last year.

Finally, Freddie and Dallos ended the suspense and announced that Joci Pápai had won the public vote (surprise!)

Az én apám is definitely no Origo but Joci sung it well, sold us a story and now earns the opportunity to try an improve on his 8th place from 2017 in Tel Aviv.  We’ll have to wait and see if his shoes turn up too.  

Thanks again to Chris and Ronny, we made it, Team Hungary out!

Latvia (final) - Luc, Felipe, Marcos & Zac

Good evening, Europe! It’s the final of Latvia’s Supernova contest, and your Saturday night starts right here. Joining us as always are the Power Panel of judges that either love Latvia, love Eurovision, or love to hate on bad vocals. Let’s get started!

Markus Rivas - You make me so crazy

Luc: How could the vocal actually get WORSE? There is nothing to like about this absolute trash. Nil points.

Felipe: Markus is doomed to not qualify if he makes it to Tel Aviv.

Marcos: An improvement from the semis, but needs a major revamp. If this is Latvia’s best hope, get ready for a 3rd straight non-qualifier.

Zac: This would be a nightmare if it were in ESC. Please make it stop.

Edgars Kreilis - Cherry Absinthe

Luc: Catchy, gorgeous pop. Started flat in the second verse but brought it home well. Huit points.

Felipe: I can see this being as big a hit as Loic (Belgium 2015).

Marcos: The closest to being an ESC-ready performance. The vocals were good and the staging was fine.

Zac: This is the most-played song on my National Selections playlist, and I need it to go through!

Aivo Oskis - Somebody’s Got My Lover

Luc: Zzz… the backing vocalists (who carry the song) and their outfits are more exciting than this tune. Quatre points.

Felipe: I don’t like it, the lyrics are bland and the beat is dated.

Marcos: WFT were those backing vocalists wearing? This wasn’t horrible, but please don’t send it to Eurovision.

Zac: You told me I’d hear this song in my nightmares in a decade… pass.

Double Faced Eels - Fire

Luc: I actually like this song, but the performance was lacklustre. Six points.

Felipe: I don’t mind them, but they’re doomed to be a forgettable NQ.

Marcos: This was the best of a bad bunch from their semi, but it’s just ok.

Zac: Agree with Felipe, I’ve heard this type of band a million times in other ESCs and forgotten them all.

Dzili Violets - Tautas dziesma

Luc: This has it all: languages, drama, piano, a gimp, chalk, and a kilt! Neuf points!

Felipe: Not my taste, but wouldn’t be surprised if they won. It would do horribly at Eurovision.

Marcos: Pure trash. Horrible song, weird staging, and weird staged make-out session at the end??

Zac: I almost want this to win because of the ridiculousness of it all.

Laime Pilniga - Awe

Luc: More like LAME! Whining and shouting is NOT singing. Deux points.

Felipe: The main vocalist should always have charisma, and this guy is far from that. This doesn’t do it for me.

Marcos: I liked this during the semis, but something was missing this time. I don’t know if ESC voters would like it.

Zac: I could like this, but I need the vocalist to be stronger. His voice is getting lost.

Samanta Tina - Cutting the Wire

Luc: I adore this performance. Vocal, ‘tude, and sass carry this. Sept points.

Felipe: It’s not bad, but she’s pushing the attitude too much and needs to focus on enunciation. It would need reworking.

Marcos: Super fun, but repetitive. This would need a revamp before it goes to Tel Aviv.

Zac: I like the attitude, but I kept forgetting it was in English. She’s got to work on her diction.

Carousel - That Night

Luc: The folk circus vibe feels more authentic this time. Sept points.

Felipe: I love how chill this is. It might not qualify if it makes it, but I’ll cherish it.

Marcos: Cute and cheesy, I don’t know why I like it but it’s worth a shot.

Zac: The cinematic camera work lends this interest, but the studio version bores me with no visuals.

And in the end, it was Carousel that took home the win That Night, to the delight of some and the confusion of others. That’s it for Team Latvia, we’ll see you in Semi Final 2 of the Eurovision Song Contest 2019!

Germany - Kate Krause

Before writing about the actual "Unser Lied für Israel" aka ULFI, let's squickly summarise the selection process leading to the 7 acts of the show.

the German broadcaster have reviewed about 1000 acts and shortlisted roughly 200 of those. These artists were then presented to a jury of of 100 "Eurovision Enthusiasts" who narrowed the list down to 50 artists. The remaining 50 were reduced to 20 by an "international expert jury" to attend a songwriter "bootcamp" wher only six artists emerged. During this prozess 25 songs were created. All these songs (+ two songs/artists that were bought by the NDR for the show) were rated by the jury and ultimately it was the artists decision what songs would be presented on ULFI in consultation with the NDR.

The competing songs were only released on the evening before the show. It was disappointing to see that no German-singing acts survived to the final. The short time leading up the final opinions on the songs already circled the internet, however the result of ULFI was quite a surprise. But let's start at the beginning.
The opening act on the night was a rendition of "you let me walk the road alone" by Michael Schulte with host Barbara Schöneberger. All in all a good start into the evening.

15min into the show the first act performed.

Gregor Hägele.

Being the first on stage is always a difficult starting point and maybe it was nervousness that lead to the off key tones. The beutiful ballad had potential but just couldn't really connect with the audience and as a result the audience in the studio was rather holding back with their applause. It is not surprising that this came in bottom two.

Aly Ryan.

2nd act Aly Ryan introduced herself with a very emotional story about how her deceased big borther influenced her life and how her song was about the unconditional love. Points off for her saying that ESC is about being different though... ESC is about bringing people toghether dispite our differences... but let's move on to the performance. The moment the song started the beat got people excited. The perfomance combined an Eleni -aphrodites look with some Ingrosso- Dance Lights and what would a good ESC show be without a treadmill these days? Or being barefoot? So all in all a very good and strong ESC performance with a lot of boxes ticked. It is easy to see how this can be an ESC-Fan favourite. yet, at the end of the song it just did not connect well enough and it felt being let down from the expectation created when the song started, which might be why the expert jury scored ths rather low.

Makeda.

This to me was kind of Michael 2.0. With an emotional song, that talks about trying to focus on the great memories rather then the hurt of being left alone. A powerful voice and a lot of hair. It was a great song with a solid performance and fire rain only Sobral would diss about. So the similarities to last year is the only reason I can think of, that this did not score higher in the televote - they did not want to send the same thing again?

BB Thomas.

Okay, I am no expert, but to me it sounded like she started too high and kind of did not recover. From the introduction video you can tell Makeda is an outstanding vocalist and the theme of the song was very powerful. However the execution was rather flat. The staging was confusing, though I personally loved the jumping demons... (and it was not even really used in the transmission...) it just did not come together as good as it looked on paper.

Lilly Among Clouds.

Going into the show this was my favouriite because I like this florence and the machines/ Lana del Rey vibe. I really enjoy the stilistic use f the cracking voice and the high notes, but can see how in her performance this was a bit too much (Peter Urban mentioned she was sick for the week). The staging was rather weird (incl. her dancing) with a conchita style backdrop. That combo probably stopped her from scoring higher.

Linus Bruhn.

This is a great radio song with a good message. It is so much a radio song, that people in the creative department did not even do a spell check on the backdrop (much like myself with this). And this is probably why this song only ended in the middle field of the results.

Sisters.

The unexpected winner of ULFI. the song was a late entry, composed by the same person responsible for the UK entry. Going in this was not my favorite. Also this "girlpower" theme annoys me. They say it is about acceptance between women and the women need to stop putting one another down. To me it should not matter if you are a woman or a man or whatever, respect should be a general thing and not just for women. But apart from that I can understand how this got so high stores. The staging was really nice with the rotating square and their vocals harmonised really well.

The "intervall act".

While it was really nice to have Michael performing his new song, for the audience the biggest highlight was Lena. One again she showed her performance skills as well as her charm/charissma on stage.... can we not send her again?

Following Lena were two German singing acts (i mentioned my disappointment at the beginning). And Revolverheld is the kind of act I would love to send as an act for ESC. Following that was German Rock Legend (not my cup of tea) Udo Lindenberg with two songs.

the voting.

The voting itself was rather unspectacular. except for the surprise of Sisters being so good. Highlight for every wiwibloggs follower was definetly William given the Eurovision Panel paints in German. And once again what would an ESC be without the one and only Jon Ola Sand? (I wonder if he needs a PA and how you can get this job ;) )

Overall, the show war quite allright. The hosts were better than last year, but still please give us some new faces with less cringy jokes. the song quality and staging was great, but non of the songs were clear stand out songs to hold up agains any country releasing a decent song in the competition.

That being said, I wish Sisters all the best for the shows.

Lithuania (semi 4) - Guillaume Malingri de Bagnolo

The national selection show "Eurovizijos dainų konkurso nacionalinė atranka" consists in four quarter-finals where roughly half the acts are eliminated each week and two semi-finals each provide four contestants selected for the final, with a jury/televote voting system. The fourth quarter-final was aired on 2nd February.

On the day of the fourth quarter-final, the official Twitter account of Lithuania’s national selection announced that the 7th contestant in Heat 4, Gabrielė Rybko, would automatically get 0 points from the televote “as her father offered people discounts and kids’ toys in order to get votes”. The Twitter account specified that the performer had broken rule 28 of Eurovizijos Nacionalinė Atranka. The management had thus come to the conclusion that the performance would be shown but that voting for her would be banned. Major drama.

At the end of every performance the camera would show the audience sitting and clapping politely. All in all a very civilised affair. In bold are the performances that went through to either semi-final.

Valerija Iljinaitė "Scars Are Beautiful”: a dark start to the show. Valerija kicks off with a whispered speech in Globish which refers to scarification. She pays tribute to the philosophy of Camus (“life is a battlefield”) while a blonde emo contortionist struts in the background.

Indrė Juodeikienė "Bad Option”: fun fast-food pop with a young skinny female solo artist and a pasty male dancer with high cheekbones and a strong jawline baring his hairless chest.

Alen Chicco "Your Cure": queer and dark. A bald androgynous male singer with striking make-up and boots emerges out of the darkness as a female dancer trying to be butch counteracts and mirrors the singer’s presence. Tones of black and red dominate the screen. Probably a song about the pains of life without love when one does not feel true to oneself.

Queens of Roses "Runaway”: Spice Girls meet Chris de Burgh. Five ladies in red defiantly repeating the title-word.

Živilė Gedvilaitė "Learn from Your Love: reminiscences of Denmark 2017 and Spain 2015. Not too bad, actually.

Elizabeth Olshey "Never Enough (Of Your Love)": throwback to the 90’s. Cheap, efficient, fun. Love it.

Gabrielė Rybko "Lay It Down”: poor thing. Decent effort, though.

Saulės Kliošas "Laiko mašina”: cool outfit, forgettable song.

Soliaris & Foreign Souls "Song of My Life": oh dear. No.

Monika Marija "Light On": an elegant power ballad with an upbeat tempo urging us to “leave the light on” in these dark times. White dress, silver earrings and screens behind the solo artist which are moved by the backing singers. Her left earphone popped out but she remained professional. Not the same Monika Marija as the one who sang in Heat 3.

Henry & Tommy Modric "Neverpart": a smooth jazz optimistic claim that we will “neverpart” (that’s not a word) by two guileless men trying to match business suits with bowties, a red rose and a white rose.

Iceland (semi 2) - Tony Peter

The 2nd Semifinal of Söngvakeppnin 2019 was held on Saturday 16 February with five songs competing for the remaining 2 spots in the Final.  Icelanders choose the two songs by a combination of public and jury voting and there is also a wildcard allowed for the broadcaster, RÚV, to bring a fifth song into the Final if they so wish.

Jeijó, keyrum alla leið – Elli Grill, Skaði og Glymur

 Blah, blah, blah, blah indeed.  The bubbles coming out of the flamingo’s butts were the most interesting part of this weird number.  An interesting combination of individuals but the end product turned out to be a “rappy” mess.

 Þú bætir mig (Make Me Whole) – Ívar Daníels

Ívar looks like a big friendly Icelander.  He’s giving us an upbeat country/pop song in a stand and deliver type approach.  It’s nothing revolutionary that’s for sure but competently done.

Helgi (Sunday Boy) – Heiðrún Anna

Heiðrún brought along 3 boys to act as a band for her live performance, not sure which days of the week they were from.  A song straight from the 60’s in the UK. She delivers what she has to work with, well. 

Betri án þín (Fighting for Love) – Tara Mobee

Tara gives off that aloof look like she’s not that keen on being there, maybe because she’s not a dancer or mover.  She’s rocking a bronze jumpsuit but her voice isn’t as powerful as the song deserves.  The crowd love it, probably because it’s the most modern and upbeat song of the night.  It’s a fun song, just requiring a bit more fight.

Hvað ef ég get ekki elskað? (What if I Can’t Have Love?) – Friðrik Ómar

Looking spectacular in his “Eurovision white”, Friðrik adds a bit of excitement to the live version which is much better than he managed in the studio.  The song gives off that Christian soul vibe and would go down quite well at the local Hillsong.  Staging is simple but effective with some good use of darkness and lights.

And through to the Final by popular vote were: 

• Betri án þín (Fighting for Love) – Tara Mobee

• Hvað ef ég get ekki elskað? (What if I Can’t Have Love?) – Friðrik Ómar

And the wildcard was given to: 

• Ég á mig sjálf (Mama Said) - Kristina Skoubo Bærendsen (from Semi 1)

The five song Final, featuring Eleni Foureira, will be held on Saturday 2 March where the artists will have the option to perform their songs in Icelandic or in English (but it must be the version that goes on to Tel Aviv).

Sweden (semi 3) - Alex White

Round three of Melodifestivalen AKA Melfest took place on February 16, 2019 in Leksand, Sweden. While the television audience tends to dwindle with the third semifinal, interesting results tend to come to fruition as the more dedicated and traditional Melfest fans tune in.

Per usual, seven songs took part in this Melfest heat with two advancing direct to the Melfest final while two songs survived to sing in the second chance round AKA Andra Chansen. Here’s the breakdown of how Semifinal 3 went:

1.     The Lovers of Valdaro – “Somebody Wants”: The LGBTQ advocates came into Melfest at a disadvantage. They were a lesser known name with a progressive image in a semifinal that trends more conservative. However, these guys performed with all the gusto of a headliner act with staging that would rival the best at Eurovision. Sadly though, they couldn’t overcome all of the adversity in their way. ELIMINATED

2.     Dolly Style – “Habibi”: Holly, Molly and Polly returned to Melfest with perhaps their best kid-friendly song yet since their more satirical incarnations. Despite the song’s catchiness, the bubblegum nature of the song and creepy CGI graphics in the background couldn’t carry them through to the next rounds. ELIMINATED

3.     Martin Stenmarck – “Lat Skiten Brinna”: The Melfest and Eurovision veteran showed off his tried and true chops in fine form. While not a standout performance, the song still had enough of a hook to convince enough viewers to keep him alive. ADVANCED VIA ANDRA CHANSEN

4.     Lina Hedlund – “Victorious”: The goddess of Alcazar fame returned to Melfest with a Cascada-esque club banger that got better and better. Lina’s stage presence and experience shined as she delivered a strong enough performance to capture the hearts of most Europop fans in Sweden. This could be a shock contender for the win in Stockholm if the Eurofans get behind her. ADVANCED DIRECT TO FINAL

5.     Omar Rundberg – “Om om och om igen”: The former FO&O member tried his hand at the Melfest game this year and delivered with an ambitious entry. However, the complicated stage show along with the limited demographic range of his fan base ultimately led to his demise this season. ELIMINATED

6.     Rebecka Karlsson – “Who I Am”: This young starlet who achieved reality TV fame at a young age showed how a strong voice is all that matters. Despite her song sounding straight off of a X Factor winners’ single, Rebecka’s vocals lit her a path to safety in Andra Chansen. ADVANCED VIA ANDRA CHANSEN

7.     Jon Henrik Fjallgren – “Norrsken”: A Melfet legend for all the best reasons, Jon Henrik returned with an infectious folk pop song that will sure to stick in the heads of many Swedes for weeks to come. Also, it doesn’t hurt he basically talks to a reindeer towards the end of the song which makes for a memorable moment however you want to look at it. Jon Henrik is a strong contender for the win and could very well represent Sweden in Tel Aviv.

The fourth and final semifinal will take on February 23rd in Lidkoping, Sweden with Andra Chansen to follow the week after in Nykoping. The final will take place in Friends Arena in Stockholm on March 9th.

Romania (final) - Matt MacDonald

What had appeared to be a battle between Laura Bretan's "Dear Father" and Bella Santiago's "Army of Love" ended up not materializing amidst controversial circumstances. The end result was that Ester Peony's "On a Sunday" pulled past both of them at the finish line and will represent Romania at Eurovision 2019. 

A significant change in how Romania decided its artist and song this year as opposed to how it was done in 2018 was how much influence the televoters had. A year ago, they controlled 100 percent of the result. Conversely, this time around, televoters only made up a seventh of the total point total (14 percent) as the other six voting entities were taken up by individual members of the international jury. 

After we had learned how all of the jury members scored, "On a Sunday" already had a near-insurmountable advantage, leading "Army of Love" by 12 points. Once it was revealed that "On a Sunday" had finished eighth place with the televoters, good for three more points, she had mathematically clinched the win. 

"Dear Father" ended up winning the televote, presumably by a considerable margin as she had led the early televoting results, 476-158, over then-second place "Army of Love," as shown in a graphic on the screen. However, "Dear Father" was unable to climb any higher than second overall with "Army of Love" finishing just behind, in third. "On a Sunday" got 65 points, "Dear Father" accumulated 60 while "Army of Love" had 58.

Laura Bretan had drawn some controversy for supporting a vote in late 2018 that declared that marriage can only be between a man and a woman, and it is believed that those views hurt her jury scores. For example, Wiwibloggs' William Lee Adams just gave it six points while Deban Aderemi awarded it four, the two lowest scores that she received. Two other judges awarded her seven tallies while a pair gave her the full 12.  

Meanwhile, Bella Santiago received 10 points from every single juror except for one. Shockingly, Emmelie de Forest gave "Army of Love" zero. If she had instead awarded it eight points or more, it would have finished ahead of "On a Sunday" and be heading to Eurovision instead.

Regardless of the process that led us to this point, Ester Peony is representing Romania. Personally, I did really like "On a Sunday." It was easily my biggest grower from studio version to live. However, at the same time, I'm torn as the process seemed unfair for both "Dear Father" and "Army of Love."

So, what we can expect from Romania at Eurovision is a pleasant yet passionate delivery of a beautiful song. Not knowing the full Eurovision lineup yet, I know that this is just an educated guess, but I think that "On a Sunday" may or may not qualify for the Eurovision final. I believe that it will need to be improved some, vocally and staging-wise, in order to get through. Not a lot, but some.

Croatia - Kyle Woods

After what seemed like an eternal dormancy, the world again turned its eyes to beautiful Opatija, Croatia on February 16, 2019 to view the well-loved Croatian national selection competition “Dora.”

This year saw 16 hopefuls take the stage.  The following are my thoughts on each:

§  Bojan Jambrošić & Danijela Pintarić – “Vrijeme Predaje”  – For those who do not regularly listen to Croatian music, this is a fairly typical example.  The title means “time of submission.”  The performance felt uninspired and boring, and Bojan and Danijela had really no chemistry – they could have been in two separate recording booths and it would have had the same effect.  Definitely not a winner, so good job Croatia on not submitting to this one.

§  Jelena Bosančić – “Tell Me” – While “Vrijeme predaje” was uninspired, “Tell Me” was comically bad.  Jelena took to the stage in a hideous black dress with a team of backup singers in coats and tails (with very red socks) who essentially snapped their fingers and did jazz hands.  The highlight was when one held a newspaper and Jelena stroked it for a moment.  I was about a minute into the song before I realized it was in English.  

§  Kim Verson – “Nisam to što žele” –  They seem to be getting worst.  Kim seems to have been directed to scream into the microphone and breathe heavily.  While that certainly allows her to be heard, this does not an amazing performance make.  The song is quite repetitive, and the title (“I am not what they want”) is unfortunately prophetic.

§  Jure Brkljača – “Ne postojim kad nisi tu” – Finally we get something decent.  Jure looks a bit nervous on stage, clutching his microphone stand and closing his eyes – he almost looks like he is praying.  However, his voice is good and he comes off sincere.  The song feels like it would feel at home with any number of Dalmatian ballads.  Although Jure sings about how he “does not exist when you’re not here,” the song is a decent, if unoriginal, entry.

§  Beta Sudar – “Don’t Give Up” – Beta has vibes of XXL’s “100% te Ljubam” from 2000 (Macedonia).  Her accent is kind of comical (she says “You got a life you gotta leave” for example) and her dress kind of looks like it was made from a plastic trash bag.  While the song is kind of trashy, it’s at least upbeat and fun.

§  Lea Mijatović – “Tebi Pripadam”  – This is a decent song and is enjoyable to me as a Croatian speaker – there is lot of good internal rhyme and interesting use of Croatian sounds.  However, it probably wouldn’t resonate with a Eurovision audience.  The title means “I belong to you” – I actually enjoy this song, and Lea looks gorgeous.  However, the backup singers are a bit too loud, and the on-stage performance is fairly dull to watch.

§  Gelato Sisters – “Back to the Swing” – this one is the guilty pleasure of this year’s Dora.  This seems like Croatia’s answer to the Andrews Sisters.  You also get to watch a couple sitting at a table on stage get up and spontaneously start to dance.  Although I don’t think it’s an amazing song, it’s at least memorable and the performance is coherent.   As a bonus, the red-headed “sister” is a dead ringer for Jinkx Monsoon. 

§  Luka Nižetić – “Brutalero” – I don’t really know what to say about this one.  The first minute or so is just a bunch of LED screens with eyes and mouths.  Eventually Luka comes out wearing his lemoncello fantasy and proceeds to lie down on an LED screen while images of pineapples and soup cans flash by.  It’s certainly entertaining, but the song itself is pure trash.    Also, I am not sure what’s going on in his groin region – is his fly down?  I didn’t dare to zoom in for fear of what I might find.

§  Ećlis Lovri – “All I Really Want” – this one would be my pick for the year.  Ećlis kind of feels like she might have been a hippie back in the day.  She comes on stage armed with her guitar and wearing way too much red.  I am not quite sure why a bunch of random words appear behind her, but I do feel like she sold her song!  Her voice is unique – it’s both shrill and charming at the same time – she called back memories of Eva Maria Marold’s Schwartze Königin, and I loved it.

§  Domenica – “Indigo” – This is unfortunately quite catchy, and the ladies look like they’re having fun.  It feels more like something you would see at the Moonlight Lounge rather than the Eurovision stage, though, and the lyrics are not exactly inspiring. At least it’s enjoyable.   

§  Roko Blažević – “The Dream”  – Roko is not a bad performer, but the song kind of feels like he is channeling his inner Dima Bilan.  I can’t say I love this one – the lyrics are quite sappy.  I guess we all dream of love, though!  I wish he had just stuck with Croatian all the way through.  Ultimately it feels like a fairly typical Eurovision non-winner, but who doesn’t love a leather jacketed angel, right?  There is a great moment about halfway through the song (right before he switches to Croatian) where makes eyes with the camera and kind of tips his head up – this had me laughing to no end. 

§  Ema Gagro – “Redemption” – It looks like Ema is going for the Celine Dion 1988 look – seriously, look at that hairdo!  Her dress would win the award for ugliest outfit had Lidija Bačić not shown up 3 minutes later.  The song itself isn’t bad, and she isn’t a bad singer either, but the performance comes off more comical than sincere. 

§  Lidija Bačić  – “Tek je počelo” – the title means “It’s just begun” and the whistling at the start is ironically the best part.  The song itself is fun but trashy, so good job Croatia on passing this one up.  So now let’s talk about these outfits!  Lidja is wearing full-body pantyhose over her black undies, and her backup dancers are wearing shredded plastic masks and “dresses” that look like they were made from blinds.  She would be in the running for Barbara Dex if she had been selected. 

§  Lorena Bućan – “Tower of Babylon” – I think this was supposed to be “Tower of Babel” but sure, why not Babylon?!  Lorena is channeling her inner Ruslana here.  She looks good, and the song is fun.  However, I was halfway through the chorus before I realized it was in English, so there’s some irony in that title!  Even though I don’t love the song, it would have fit well into the fun of Eurovision!

§  Bernarda Bruno – “I Believe in True Love” – I am not familiar with Bernarda, but I am going to give her the benefit of the doubt and assume she is wearing the dark glasses because of being vision impaired.  She has an amazing Voice (with a capital V) and she looks fantastic on stage.  I find the song to be uninspired, but I sure love to listen to her sing it.  Certainly the best singer of this year’s Dora.

§  Manntra – “In the Shadows” – Another…memorable song.  This feels like it would have been more appropriate from Finland or Hungary than from Croatia.  There were definitely some sound problems here – the background music is a bit too loud to allow the lead singer to be heard at some points.  I am not really into this kind of music anyway, but this one didn’t even feel like it was done very well.

When the dust settled, it looks like Croatia was unable to resist Roko Blažević’s angelic presentation, and “The Dream” was selected to represent Croatia this year.  Not my pick, but the pickings were sadly kind of slim.     

On the whole, this year’s Dora was kind of disappointing personally – Croatia has some amazing musicians, but none of them really showed up this time.  However, I am glad Dora is back in any case.  Croatia has had a good showing in recent years, so hopefully Dora’s return will help them someday pick a winner.

Estonia (Final) - Edward Okulicz

Eesti Laul remains one of the more fun stops on the Eurovision
pre-selection calendar. There's a little more variety than some other
countries' shows and it is professionally but still with a low-sheen
vibe to it. The multi-part voting with juries and phone votes and
super-finals with just phone-votes is a better version of what Sweden
does, in my opinion. The field is nice and big (12 songs in the final)
but the small population of Estonia means you will see some familiar
faces even if you're only a casual fan. Last year's contest seemed like
a complete non-contest once you'd heard "La Forza" (even if you didn't
like it, and I didn't) so this year's had a bit more uncertainty about
it for me as well.

I didn't have time to listen to the semi-finals, but fortunately, I had
time to read Alan and Cindy's wonderful summaries of the two semi-finals.

1. SISSI - "Strong"

I'd actually heard this song previously as it came up on YouTube (its
algorithm knows what I like) and I hadn't realised Sissi was a woman
because her low voice and the GENERIC EDM POP SOUND meant I just hadn't
processed her identity as a singer at all, instead her voice just
sounded like "faceless dance hook singer". On stage, quite apart from
her appearance, it's much easier to hear what she sounds like and her
voice has some personality, though her attempts to liven it up with some
ad-libs falls a bit flat. She was right to try because the song is
pretty uninteresting. Some white-clad gymnasts appear to dance around a
bit, which is the sort of thing you can get away with if you're Moldova,
but not otherwise. A draw of 1 is exactly where songs like this go to
die, but it's inoffensive.

2. Lumevärv ft. Inga - "Milline päev"

The only song of the final sung in Estonian, a language I really love.
Lest you not know who the singer is, her name is on the band at the top
of her pants which have fabric where you wouldn't expect and no fabric
where you might expect. Unfortunately this is another fairly uninspiring
bit of glow-stick waving lite-doof-doof. My foot tapped a bit but I
didn't take many memories away from it.

3. Victor Crone - "Storm"

This entry comes with plenty of pedigree, being co-written with Stig
Rästa. Crone himself also competed in Melodifestivalen in 2015, not
quite making it through Andra Chansen. It shares more than just a title
with SuRie from the UK's entry last year -- it has a few similar builds
and very basic iterations of the storm metaphor. It has a cool bit where
a blonde girl appears as if out of nowhere. Crone doesn't have the best
live vocals to my ears, but he is telegenic and the whole thing has a
very slick combination of effects and camera angles so it looked great.

4. Kerli Kivilaan - "Cold Love"

Kerli is a very likeable and good singer, and "Cold Love" has lyrics
that on paper suggest a compelling song. But this one feels like it goes
on forever with no variation. Also, while a song like this doesn't need
to spit venom, it probably needs a little bit more oomph.

5. xtra basic & Emily J - "Hold me Close"

My comment in the intro about Eesti Laul generally looking quite
professional doesn't quite apply to this one, which looks cheap on
stage. Emily J got her start putting up pop covers on YouTube, but on
screen and live seems to have little stage presence, and the two dancers
are distracting at worst and add nothing at best. Follows the standard
EDM template of a chorus and an instrumental hook, but it comes across
as thrown-together quickly and unprofessional. Falls into the Eurovision
uncanny valley as not sounding modern enough for 2019 but not being a
good-enough throwback to be retro.

6. Kadiah - "Believe"

Pixie-twee girl runs through as many meaningful ballad cliches in 3
minutes as permitted under EU law. However, there are cellos, and cellos
are always good. I can't get over the idea that this has been cobbled
together from a bunch of right-hand-column finishers over the last 15
years more than anything.

7. Synne Valtri - "I'll Do It My Way"

With a title like that, it could only have been one of two things -- a
show/swing tune, or a lighters-aloft schlager statement of self and
intent. Surprise, it's the latter! Synne rocked on the spot, waving her
arms and making hand gestures, and giving some good eye to the camera.
About the corniest thing you can imagine, really dated and one of the
things that I wish people didn't think of when Eurovision comes to their
minds.

8. Stefan - "Without You"

A guy in white playing a piano. We've seen this staging before, haven't
we? We've also seen Stefan before, as half of a duo called Vajé in last
year's Laul. Stefan sings well, and the package is attractive, so not
for nothing was this a big favourite with fans and favoured to do well.
But I find myself getting really bored with the "without you I feeeeeeel
like I'm drowning" hook, which is not so much leant on, it's the only
thing holding this song up and it's run into the ground.

9. The Swingers, Tanja & Birgit - "High Heels in the Neighbourhood"

You like returners? Here's two! Tanja and Birgit have both represented
Estonia. And there's a prominent saxophonist, which again, you can only
get away with if you are Moldova. It's Eesti Laul, not Eesti "lol".
Performed with a good amount of animated stick, but while Eurovision is
in some ways a musical revue, this is late-night variety house jazz band
musical revue if anything. And those outfits! Yikes.

10. Uku Suviste - "Pretty Little Liar"

Now here's a pop ballad whose singer really goes for it with drama and
fire and fashionable hair and pyrotechnics. Certainly the song that most
embodies what people think about when they think of Eurovision. I
thought it was interesting how you've got Uku, who loves the camera, but
the choreography and direction doesn't move to him for quite some time,
focusing on the floor-bound writhing interpretative dancer. It's not
really obvious to me what story she's interpreting, or wouldn't be
without the BIG TEXT.

11. Inger - "Coming Home"

Inger Fridolin is a fairly young singer who looks like an extremely
young singer. She's cute and has perhaps the final's best
singer-songwriter chops, as she has plenty of fond and sweet original
songs of her own on YouTube. I'm pretty awful with accents, but to my
ears, she almost sounds Irish at some points with her vowels. True to
form, "Coming Home" is a gentle, sweet little song, but not a
particularly memorable one. She strums with intent, but I admit those
vowels distract me, how "eyes" becomes "oyes" and how the long-O of
"home" sounds like "hooreerrooorme". The shy persona of her videos is
nowhere in sight - she's very confident and likeable and if she keeps
entering, I reckon she might have an Eesti Laul winner in her in the
next few years.

12. Sandra Nurmsalu - "Soovide puu"

And the night closed with yet another familiar face, with Sandra being a
member of Urban Symphony, one of Estonia's best-performing Eurovision
entrants with "Rändajad". That song would give you a ballpark of what to
expext here, although without the dramatic, Eastern-influenced strings
or slow pace. An even better predictor would be "puu", which is Estonian
for "tree" - it's ethereal but also evokes forests and trees in a
slightly mystical way. It's very pretty but the forgettable, static
staging didn't do much for its chances to persuade people to vote for
it. I liked it though.

The voting happens. The jury goes big for Stefan, whereas the televote
is dominated by Victor Crone. Uku Suviste does fairly well on both to
also make the top 3. Inger loses out on the top 3 due to a poor
performance from the juries (she is probably a bit of an acquired taste)
and the high-jury songs from Sissi and Lumevärv (which didn't strike me
as jury-bait) scored about a fifth and a sixth in televotes. But Victor
Crone ended up with about as many votes as 2nd and 3rd together, and
Stefan (in fourth on votes) had more than twice as many as fifth to
twelfth.

With the final say going to a super-final televote, Victor Crone wins
convincingly with 46% of the vote.

I think the Estonians have again voted smartly for a credible song that
could do well, but this one needs a bit more polish than "La Forza" -
but Crone has a few months to get his voice into top shape. I think Uku
Suviste may have been a slightly smarter choice because of the big DRAMA
in his song, and it not sharing its title with a flop UK entry, but I'd
think they should qualify again in 2019.

Hungary (semi 2) - Ronny Addamo

On Saturday night we found our final four artists to round out the eight grand finalists going through to the A Dal grand final next Saturday. Who will we see flying the Hungarian flag at Eurovision this year, well, actually, I have no idea, but here are my impressions on how the night went down.

Gergö Szekér- Madár, Repülj!

Young Gergö has bought himself a new outfit! Lovely! It’s nice n all but I just feel like I’m watching a white washed version of Joci Pápai. This performance also features Boggie’s tree from 2015! Bless. Judges seemed to love him though with a combined score of 43. Qualified to final

Nomad- A Remény hidjai

This dude still looks like he should be drinking at the corner pub, not singing here. I am too after watching this…. Judges reaction is, thankfully, in agreeance. Score 36 Failed to qualify

Mocsok 1 kölykök- Egyszer

This time around these guys are more relaxed and it shows in the performance. Despite some dodgy camera work, this was kinda good. Score 39 Failed to qualify

Bogi Nagy- Holnap

A sincere and innocent performance from this young lass is a welcome change of pace from all the testosterone that fills these Hungarian national finals. This could be one to watch next week, as a point of difference if nothing else, but I like it. Score 42 qualified to final

Gergö Oláh- Hozzád büjnék

Gergö’s performance started as patchy and loose threaded as his top, but he pulled it all together for quite an impressive and powerful finish. Gergö’s jury score was 41, and would have been the fourth qualifier but the voting public picked another song. Failed to qualify

Timi Antal Ftg. Gergö Demko- Kedves Világ!

Timi and our third Gergö of the evening are a fun bunch to watch. Very enthusiastic performance but the vocals leave it feeling a little empty. I loved this in the heat, but now, in stronger company, it falls flat. Score 38 Failed to qualify 

Fatal Error- Kulcs

I still don’t get it? Despite a steady flow of 8’s from the judges, these old rockers seem more interested in flicking their hair than doing anything constructive, like, you know, writing a tune? This was the voting public pick to the grand final! What is it with these Hungarians and their love for heavy, hair rock? Score 40- qualified to final (public)

Ruby Harlem- Forró

This song would really work if they found a decent vocalist. It’s cringey bad. There was improvement, but seriously, no idea how it got this far. Score 38 Failed to qualify

Joci Pápai- Az Én Apám

Joci’s return is in all Hungarian, rather than Romani, and this fella sure knows how to sell his product. This came through as heartfelt and professional, something a lot of the acts in A Dal this year have really failed at.  Score 45 Qualified to final  

So we will see Gergö Szekér, Bogi Nagy, Fatal Error and Joci Pápai join the first four finalists, Accoustic Planet, Petruska, Bence Vavra and The Middletonz. Will we see the next Eurovision winner in this lot? I personally think not, but, stranger things have happened.

NEWSALERT!

It is rumoured that one of the finalist songs in A Dal could be facing disqualification due to a case of plagiarism. The powers that be have not named the song at this point as they look into the claim. We will keep you updated if any other news is revealed.

Italy (Final) - Ilya Marin

On Saturday, , February 9th, we saw the culmination of a week long celebration of Italian music, as the 69th edition of the Festival di Sanremo came to a close.

As a kid growing up in Italy, I started watching Sanremo way before discovering the wonders of Eurovision (at the time, most Italian had never even heard of Eurovision). While nowadays I am a fan of both shows, the two productions could not be more different from one another. For starters, the pace of Sanremo is much slower than that of Eurovision. The hosts are never rushed, and the songs are not limited to three minutes in time. You can imagine that, with 24 competition acts, Saturday’s show lasted a solid four hours, ending at 1am – way past my bedtime!

Sanremo is less about the glitzy acts and more about the music, as evidenced by the presence of a classical orchestra to accompany each act. However, much thought is put into making the show entertaining as a whole – by way of guest artists, costume changes, comedy skits, parodies, and of course, the hosts and their personalities. On this final night, Virginia Raffaele, one of the three hosts, performed a hilarious (and spot-on) medley of songs imitating famous Italian singers Malika Ayane, Giusy Ferreri, Patty Pravo, Fiorella Mannoia, and Ornella Vanoni. 

The evening’s special guest was Elisa, who sang “Anche Fragile” from her latest album and performed a touching duet with Claudio Baglioni. Every year the show’s hosts and guest artists have the honor of making a grand entrance onto the stage by walking down an infamous set of stairs, a staple element in the Sanremo stage design. In this edition the stairwell was much less prominent and only appeared as needed, which I found disappointing.

There was quite an eclectic mix of genres in competition – from ballads and up-tempo pop to rock and hip-hop. It was also a combination of Italian music legends that have been around for decades, like Patty Pravo, and relatively new discoveries like Einar. All female contestants were given a bouquet of flowers after their performance, which I thought was a very sweet gesture.

Loredana Bertè, a well-known artist in Italy, came back to Sanremo for the 8th time, with “Cosa ti aspetti da me.” She delivered a powerful performance with her signature raspy voice, sporting a striking look with her electric blue hair. While she came in fourth place, many felt she was the true star of the show, and her performance was met by a standing ovation. During the announcement of the votes, as Loredana’s ranking was revealed, the audience went berserk, starting to whistle in protest and chanting Loredana’s name. Such strong reaction from the audience has never happened before.

The surprise winner of the festival was Mahmood, who triumphed with a rhythmic “Soldi”. The song talks about Mahmood's relationship with his father, who left his family when he was a child. This victory came as a surprise to many, who expected the fan favorite Ultimo to take the trophy. While Ultimo came first in the popular vote, Mahmood won both the expert jury and the press jury votes. I've got a feeling that Mahmood’s song will be a hit among the Eurovision crowd.

Traditionally, the Sunday after the final, all contestants appear on the popular DomenicaIN variety show. This year, however, Loredana Bertè, Ultimo, among others, were noticeably absent, apparently unhappy with the results. In the week following the contest, a controversy ensued around the televote / jury vote split. The Italian public seems to be divided between wanting to revert to a 100% televote (like in the old days) or keeping the current voting system as is. So what’s going to happen in the future? We’ll just have to wait until the 70th edition to find out.

Lithuania (semi 2) - Kent Acott

Former Eurovision backing vocalist Jurijus Veklenko has emerged as one of the top contenders to represent Lithuania at this year’s song contest with his winning performance in the second semi0final of Eurovizijos Atranka.

With much of the focus on Monkia Marija – who has qualified two songs for next weekend’s Eurovizijos Atranka final – Jurijus’ performance of his song Run With the Lions was strong and captivating.

Jurijus has been to Eurovision twice before, providing vocal backing to the Lithuanian entries.

But it was in 2015 in Vienna, when he met Australian entrant Guy Sebastian, that he was able to get his career on track.

In a magazine interview, Jurijus said he had met Sebastian – his favourite Australian singer – in a corridor at the performance venue. They started talking and Sebastian shared one of his basic rules for songwriting: “Write songs until they are good.”

Jurijus said Sebastian’s words were “the greatest motivation” and he started writing his own songs, based on his own life experiences.

Jurijus did not write Run With Lions, described as an ethereal-pop song, but that has not precluded him from taking ownership of the song with his unique vocal talents.

Dressed in black, with little staging fanfare, it was an assured and joyful performance.

Second (after finishing equal second with the jury and third with the public) was the zany Mazule, by Antikvariniai Kašpirovskio Dantys. It’s not a great song but its cheerful presentation and catchy music has ensured its popularity. In many respects, it is reminiscent of last year’s Eurovision entry from Moldova, My Lucky Day bu DoReDoS.

Third in the second semi-final was Criminal, the second song of Monika Marija. Despite asking the public to not vote for it, the song was awarded equal second by the jury and fourth by the public. Most people do not believe Criminal is as good as her other entry, Sine On, which won through to the final in the first semi-final.

The fourth and last spot in the final went to a duet made up of former Eurovision entrants. Jurgis Didžiulis (LIthuania’s 2010 representative) and Erica Jennings (a member of the band SKAMP that represented Lithuania in 2001) and combined for the catchy song Sing.

It is a fun and playful song that is almost impossible to resist. That being said, it is hard to see it winning next week’s final.

Lithuania (semi 1) - Nicolás G. Mancini-Suárez

After 4 heat rounds, we had on Saturday Feb 9, 2019 the Semi Final 1 of the Eurovizijos dainų konkurso nacionalinė atranka 2019, the first of two semi-finals to select the Lithuanian entry for this year’s contest in Tel Aviv. Gabriele Martirosianaite and Giedrius Masalskis hosted the show, aired from the studies of the LRT in Vilnius. We saw half of the qualified entries from those 4 heat rounds and the finalist were chosen by the public and an expert jury panel, each having a 50% say.

The qualifiers for the final were:

·       Henry & Tommy Modric – “Neverpart”

·       Justina Budaitė-Junà – “Strength of a woman”

·       Monika Marija – “Light on”

·       Jurgis Brūzga – “Ctrl Alt Delete”

After winning previous week’s heat, Monika Marija competed in the first semi-final with “Light On” alongside 11 other acts. And once again, Monika made it with another clean sweep and won the first semi-final. Most of the audience got surprised when two of the people’s favorites, “Riddle” by Emilija Gogolytė and “River of Hope” by Lukas Bartaška, did not make it to the Final while Jurgis Bruzga and Junà obtained the tickets to the Final thanks to the Jury vote.

Running order:

1. Emilija Gogolytė - "Riddle" [https://youtu.be/ZCn-a9I3Yv8]

2. Henry & Tommy Modric - "Neverpart" [https://youtu.be/69BbUQ1QaxM]

3. Saulės Kliošas - "Laiko mašina" [https://youtu.be/zOmmbtjLrHk]

4. Edgaras Lubys - "To the Sky" [https://youtu.be/zOmmbtjLrHk]

5. Glossarium - "Anyone" [https://youtu.be/95TtCDeXA9M]

6. Migloko- "Rožės" [https://youtu.be/yFxN8ke3pGs]

7. Twosome - "1000" [https://youtu.be/5jYfNp_qQ1E]

8. Lukas Bartaška - "River of Hope" [https://youtu.be/5DiOzgwenqA]

9. Justina Budaitė-Junà - "Strength of a Woman" [https://youtu.be/ln3vZW4sF3w]

10. Monika Marija - "Light On" [https://youtu.be/dYSG3IXubeE]

11. Jurgis Brūzga - "Ctrl Alt Delete" [https://youtu.be/ibwqVYOQTfk]

12. Cheri - "Again" [https://youtu.be/JWkQlFa04c8

Moldova (semi final) - Michelle Stigwood

O Melodie Pentru Europa 2019 is held annually to select Moldova's Eurovision entrant. It is organised by the Moldovan national broadcaster TRM and the first stage with Live Auditions was held in TRM Studios on 2 February. The 26 entrants performed in front of a 5 person jury who each awarded 0-12 points for the individual performances. 

Entrants were scored in 4 categories: melody, originality, vocals, and song interpretation. This qualifying event was supposed to select entrants for a National Broadcast Semi Final scheduled for 2 March, but due to the entrants being described by the judges as " lacking in inspiration" and "underwhelming", the semi final was cancelled and instead the judges settled on 10 entrants going straight through for a broadcast final on 3 March.  

Upfront, let me say, that I do agree with some of the criticism by the judges. It was an assorted bunch of amateur and professional entrants and although most of the recorded versions of the songs sounded passable, the live auditions highlighted some very poor vocals and lacklustre performance skills. It did not help, of course, that staging and costumes were not required for this judging. Below are the highlights of these auditions and the finalists. 

In an absolute shock, the two favourites "Emergency" by Ala Zasmenco and "Ca Adriano Celentano" performed by Lume, both failed to progress and as such exited the competition unceremoniously. I'm not so sure that this was the best decision because at least these songs were well supported and " Ca Adriano Celentano" had at least some infectious Moldovan personality. 

There were some music by numbers entries that failed to progress, these included Sasha Letty with "Bananas", easy listening Coral Reef with "Self Destruction", and Pelageya Stefoglo ( serial contestant controversially disqualified in 2018) with her sexy "Mi Amor". 

There was one good decision tho, and that was that Sacha Bognibov's pop punk offering "Love me like my daughter" did not progress. While the vocals and music were polished, the subject matter and lyrics were questionable to say the least, and disturbing at worst. 

Anyway, what have we now been left with for the Moldovan national final? 
5 generic pop songs, 2 electronic pop songs, and 3 rock bands, the only one with a spark of eccentricity might be Limonique( at a pinch) with their soft electro offering "Gravity". 

New to the scene were Siaj singing "Olimp". Described as a young indie rock band comprising 4 women, I was looking forward to hearing them however the vocals were disappointing. Tina Gi experimented with a Moldovan angsty song "Virus". She also looked and sounded out of her league. 

Pop Power ballads were aplenty with XFactor entrant Marcela Scripcanu singing "Meteor", Anna Odobescou performing "Stay", and Maxim Zavida plodding through " I will not Surrender". 

Rock band Che MD returned again this year with 2 entries and a new front woman Elizaveta Ivasiuk to liven the show up a bit, but only "Sub Pamant" went thru unscathed. 

Strangely, I felt the best vocals of the night belonged to Aurel Chirtoaca, who crooned through the least interesting song "La Cinema" and Diana Brescan who performed "Lies" an emotional pop ballad that could do much better with some coaching. 

But we do have a competent serial performer in Vera Tircanu with her pop song "Cold". She almost won in 2018 with a dark brooding song "Black Heart" so I know she can do so much more with her song. She needs to inject the song with the edgy tight feel she is capable of and she may just win this year. 

We now await the final on 3 March to see who will represent Moldova in Tel Aviv this year. Good luck to all the finalists.