Eurovision Semi Final 1 and 2 Review

Eurovision Semi Final 1 and 2 Review

Over Tuesday and Thursday, the first and second semi finals of the Eurovision song contest took place. 16 in the first semi final, and 17 in the second took to the stage to try and win a place in the final. Exempt from this were "The big 5" which were Italy, France, Spain, Germany, and the United Kingdom, as the pay the most money towards the contest, and therefore automatically qualify. As well as this, host country Austria, and 60th anniversary guest Austrailia were also qualified. 

My opinions will only be given on those I remember, so basically, if I don't give an opinion of a country, I found it boring..

The first performance of the night was Eduard of Moldovia, who sang something about love (boring). Whilst I found the song quite boring, I will say the staging was BRILLIANT, and was Moldova's answer to My Slowianie from Poland last year. This unfortunately did not qualify.

Loïc of Belguim's performance was quite frankly just weird. The flashing lights proved as a distraction to the awful dancing, however the song was NOT a ballad, but rather a song about being different. Qualifier

Trijntje of the Netherlands performance of "walk along" was again a bit strange, the first camera shot being of the eyes, covered with a mask(?). I do like the song itself, other than the chorus, and I believe it deserved to qualify.

Purtti Kurikan Nimipävät were Finland's attempt at doing a Lordi victory again. Although not so "in your face" their song was a salute to punk music, although failed to qualify. Despite this, the entry is special in two ways: All four of it's members have some sort of learning difficulty, helping to spread awareness. As well as this, it is also Eurovision's shortest entry ever, being only 1:40. 

Russia's Polina had one of Eurovision's most ironic songs, "A Million Voices" considering the amount of freedom and voice certain citizens of Russia have. Rainbow flags were also seen in the crowd in this entry, which I loved. Qualifier

Screw you Putin! 

Bojana's entry for Serbia was a bit of a cheat, in my opinion, considering it was written by the writer of "Rise Like A Phoenix".

I don't think this deserved to qualify, over some of the others, as I just think the presentation of it was a bit boring. The song itself was VERY boring, and there was just nothing interesting happening on stage that I can remember.

My favourite of the night came from Nina of Georgia. She was dressed amazingly, with REAL raven feathers, and the song itself was sung and preformed beautifully. Definitely a deserving qualifier.

How many birds died for that Nina!?

Now onto semi final two, which featured my two favourite entries of the year, Slovenia and Latvia.

The first performance was from Monika and Vaidas of Lithuania, singing about love. I don't even remember the song as I got so bored throughout it. The only thing that perked me up, were the two gay kisses from two male and female dancers that were behind them, proving Eurovision's still got it's touch. Very undeserving finalist in my opinion.

Måns of Sweden by far got the biggest audience reaction of the night, for his song "Heroes" again, some rainbow flags were seen after Måns, back in 2014, said "Gay sex is not natural". The song itself didn't really appeal to me, as I was very distracted by the cartoon, which looks like the very first cartoon ever, "Fantasmorgie" 

I can't be the only one seeing the resemblance!?

Poland's entry was Monika, a disabled women, who sang about, yep, you guessed it, love. I personally would have preferred to have some more butter churned on stage, however, I do think it's good how open Eurovision is to so many different people. From Dana in 1998, Conchita last year, Finland and Poland this year, Eurovision is becoming so much more accepting, and I love it!

Of course I have to talk about my two favourites, Latvia and Slovenia. Obviously Maraaya was flawless with "Here for you" providing a much needed break from the millions of ballads floating around this year. As well as this, the faces the singer (don't know her name) pulls when she sings are priceless. "Love Injected" is so, so different to the other entries this year, as it has a slower tempo, and high vocals. I don't what it is about it, but I absolutely love it!

So, that's my thoughts on the Semi Finals of Eurovision! 

I will be doing a blog about the grand final, on Sunday.

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