I reckon top five is a very realistic probability, but I don't see it attracting enough public support to win.

 

My mind still can't see past Euphoria landsliding it though...

I really don't know this year. I don't see Sweden landsliding it though at all myself... Gonna have to do some serious pondering over all the songs once the CD has been released...

^ I'm the same, now I've been able to see Euphoria more objectively (I still adore it, but I'm justabout over the total stanning period), I'm not entirely sure it will do it. I'm thinking it could be any one of Sweden, Italy, Spain, Denmark, Serbia, Greece or Russia, but then any of these could easily really underperform as well! Such an open year I think, which is good as it seemed to be a total landslide for Sweden not long ago!

^ I'm the same, now I've been able to see Euphoria more objectively (I still adore it, but I'm justabout over the total stanning period), I'm not entirely sure it will do it. I'm thinking it could be any one of Sweden, Italy, Spain, Denmark, Serbia, Greece or Russia, but then any of these could easily really underperform as well! Such an open year I think, which is good as it seemed to be a total landslide for Sweden not long ago!

 

THIS. Euphoria is amazing, but I really can't say how juries and older voters will make of it. That said I really don't see Greece as a contender. Cyprus at a push but they're both quite weak terms of sounding-like-a-winner. I think Romania could be in the mix though.

One thing people should keep in mind is first impressions. A lot of Europe will be hearing these songs for the first time on the night, so if you thought Euphoria was life changingly overwhelmingly brilliant, then there's a chance Europe will too. If any of the songs didn't hit you straight away then there's a huge chance Europe won't react to those either.

 

I've got to admit that the first time I heard all three of Fairytale, Satellite and Running Scared, they had that "There's the winner" vibe to them. At the time though, I dismissed them in favour of my personal favourites. The only thing that put me off predicting a Running Scared victory last year actually was the vocal ability of Ell & Nicki. Turns out vocals don't matter anymore :lol:

 

This year, Sweden stood out to me the most in that sense with Iceland, Romania, Slovenia and Cyprus also having a similar effect but less so than Euphoria.

How many of the last few winners have honestly turned in an impressive vocal on the night? Marija Serifovic? Lena and Lordi were good for their genre but not in any other way, Dima and Ell & Nikki were average to poor, even Alexander Rybak was far from perfect vocally but he had such an energy and presence and the song was so strong that it mattered very little. I do think that bad vocals come into play with average songs though, and that's why the bottom five is usually reserved for these sorts of songs. I Do, Cry Baby and They Can't Stop The Spring weren't so AWFUL musically that they deserved last, but the vocals were so voila.

 

But it's a song contest after all and most people can still hear a great song underneath a slightly shaky vocal and will support it anyway.

 

No other song is giving me a 'there's the winner' vibe this year apart from Euphoria personally. Half of that will be down to my looning but I genuinely don't see what could attract enough support from both the juries AND the public to finish in front of Loreen.

True, but I did think Running Scared was one of those songs that would only win provided the vocals were on par, as it didn't have a similar level of quirkiness or energy as Satellite and Fairytale had. That said, I'm not that surprised it won because when I first heard it, it definitely came across as having that winning sound.

 

Like you, Euphoria is the only entry this year that's given me the "That's the winner" vibe. As I listed above, a few more countries had that "Could challange for the victory" sound, but none of them are quite up there with Euphoria.

I don't know why it's taken me so long to realise this but the instrumental/backing track to this literally IS the same as that of Leona Lewis' cover of Run.