Israel was above and beyond everything. As if it's even possible to love "Time" even more. Retro village festival!

 

Actually, pleased with the results, although Israel and Finland SHOULD had been in the final!

Just watched the Semi final. First time I'm hearing most of these songs..

 

My ranking:

 

01 Greece

02 Romania

03 San Marino

04 Denmark

05 Belgium

06 Cyprus

07 Latvia

08 Austria

09 Ireland

10 Iceland

 

11 Hungary

12 Finland

13 Israel

14 Russia

15 Moldova

16 Switzerland

17 Albania

18 Montenegro

 

Moldova and Albania ? Urgh

Omg

Just watched Rona performance and im in tears...what a powerful performance and shame for most of you guys that don't get it.

Now im certain sure that she will finish top 10 as she will pick a lot of 4-6 votes...just watch.

Maybe for others it is important draw number but in Rona's case i doubt that's that important...people will remember her performance regardless if she sings 1st or last.

My Internet went, so here's my thoughts:

 

Not a great set of results, not happy about Finland, San Marino and Latvia missing out over bloody Moldova, Ireland and Hungary! :( Rest of the qualifiers were somewhat expected, bar Albania which I'm ecstatic about since I'd given up hope! My other faves (Denmark, Cyprus, Greece and Russia) got through as well, but then they were always going to.

With the exception of Albania and Moldova the right countries went through, ideally i would replace those 2 with Switzerland and Latvia.

Goodbye Albania, no way that's qualifying now.

Oh how silly you must be feeling now. :D

If anything, it was THAT drama, emotion and stage presence that made me think 'wow, not my sort of thing but Albania are FLYING into the final'.

Happy with the qualifiers, although I would replace Greece and Moldova with Latvia and Finland. Then everything would be perfect.

If anything, it was THAT drama, emotion and stage presence that made me think 'wow, not my sort of thing but Albania are FLYING into the final'.

 

Quite, like it or not it's a very memorable performance and I'm sure the juries loved it.

I really enjoyed Albania's performance.

 

Mind I wasn't crazy about the song when I first heard it, but it has grown on me since then.

Oh how silly you must be feeling now. :D

 

Yeah, ok, ok... IT WAS THE ONLY THING I GOT WRONG LAST NIGHT OK LEAVE ME ALONE! :cry:

 

I'm still quite baffled at how it got through. There was drama and it was noticeable but I'm still not seeing how people voted for it. But I suppose it must be some people's thing (especially the juries it seems). I do like the studio version, it's much better than her screeching on stage.

Albania really stood out for me, it was in my top 5 I think! I just loved her emotion at the end and the way she carries off those big notes! :wub:

 

Anyway, 9 out of my top 10 qualified!! :cheer: Only Moldova made it through instead of Belgium, but I still like Pasha's song so great results! :D

'Suus' is kind of song that doesn't sound special on record but the performance makes huge difference.

Who did everyone vote for?

 

I voted for Iceland, Latvia, Albania and Finland. So 2 out of 4 of my votes made it through. I initially wasn't intending to vote for Finland but the performance changed my mind.

After looking on YouTube and other blogs and forums it seems unanimous that it was a travesty that Finland didn't qualify. Swap Hungary for Finland and it would have been my predicted top 10.

So let us start the review.

 

First of all, the presenters are awful. Even though I could barely hear them talk because of dumb Russian spokespeople talking over them, it was still clear the three of them felt pretty uncomfortable and on the verge of panic (that pretty chick aside). I don't even mention the terrible French. The stage was a bit too small, especially compared to ESC 2009 and 2011. I also did not like how they kept showing random people from the crowd DURING the performance. Like, are you kidding me? Do that in breaks between performances!

 

· · · · · · · · · · ·

 

1 · Montenegro · All I was thinking was "seriously?!". What a way to start Eurovision 2012! Easily the worst performance of the night and nobody else had even performed yet at the time. I doubt it has accumulated more than 5 points in all honesty. Loved the part where he forgot the words though. There is justice. 0/10

 

2 · Iceland · A bit patchy at first but they sang it well in general. Jónsi did well but was obviously much weaker (vocally and judging by other things, like stage presence, confidence) than Greta, who was superb. Iceland really does have amazing females to send to Eurovision (Hera, Yohanna and now Greta). The performance was missing something, can't put a finger on what exactly though. 9.5/10

 

3 · Greece · One of Russian commentators said that she reminded him of Kalomira. Puh-lease. Kalomira was WAY better. Elefteria lacked this spark greek/cypriot representatives usually have (even Ivi did!). But the song obviously appealed to Europe, plus I quite liked the performance as well, so I'm not in a position to moan. 8/10

 

4 · Latvia · Oh dear. My first thought was literally "Oh dear, class of '78 reunion". The whole thing was ridiculous and not even in a good way. The song itself is pretentious and not even that good. Probably literally the first melody composer could think of with a lyricist writing cheesy clichéd lazy man's lyrics altered to fit Eurovision (à la Lithuania 2006 or Iceland 2007). The performance definitely did not add anything to the song at all as well, since it was basically just some 5 random girls walking around on stage waving Anmary and silently telling her how amazing she allegedly is. 2/10

 

5 · Albania · I didn't even have words to describe how incredible Rona was last night until today. Holy mother of Christ. Now that the initial effect wore off, I can say that she was stunning. Everything about her was too. The hair, the dress, the staging. I don't even mention flawless vocals, TONNES of emotion and unsurpassed professionalism. Got my only vote of the night as well. No way it wasn't qualifying now. The public reaction pretty much confirmed it. Even my mum, who was awake for the first 10 performances said she wanted to see this song win. So disappointed to see it get drawn third though. Oh well, at least she's on after Compact Disco and not Engelbert. 10/10

 

6 · Romania · It was a legit car crash. If the vocalist did slightly worse then I would've been very surprised to see it qualify actually. Something went wrong around the middle of the performance and it all quickly started to go downhill. Vocals were awful. She looked very scared, at least from where I was sitting. I also think it's bad that I can't remember what was happening during the performance. 5/10

 

7 · Switzerland · Here we have your usual rock/pop song altered to fit Eurovision. No surprise it couldn't appeal to Europe - the message was way too forced and, let's be frank, this type of song doesn't do too well at Eurovision, especially with zero hype behind it. Vocally I found the performance very good but it needed something more. 7/10

 

8 · Belgium · I was worried it could get Tom Dice'd into the Final for a second. But then after a minute of seeing Iris perform it wasn't even a remote possibility. She was way too awkward (and not in good Meyer-Landrut way), vocals were very shaky, she looked scary and frankly the song started to get incredibly boring after a couple of minutes. 5/10

 

9 · Finland · Even though vocally Pernilla wasn't the best, she was perfect in every other aspect. Stage presence, conveying emotion, confidence plus she did not even have a single moment of weakness in her performance. I loved how the light played with her dress when the camera showed the whole outfit with the train. The song was always not going to qualify because too many people just don't get it, or don't want to get it. It's a tradition now. Whenever I deem Finland to be one of my favourite songs pre-contest, it's doomed to stay in the Semifinal (see Kuunkuiskaajat). 10/10

 

10 · Israel · One of my favourites pre-contest too. Only I found the performance very weak. The whole thing was too messy and awkward (I'm talking about that couple that had "I'm so nervous/scared" almost literally written all over their faces). It seems Israel has got a rough patch now with two fails in a row. If it's not broken - don't fix it (meaning: continue sending solo males or females with ballads). 7/10

 

11 · San Marino · It was very good. At least vocally. Such a big guilty pleasure for me. Hey, Anmary, learn from Valentina, she knows how to do it! Loved that incredibly awkward old pilot who was a part of the entourage. 8/10

 

12 · Cyprus · I hoped Ivi would sound good live. Surprisingly, it didn't even bother me much because I could feel it doesn't bother Ivi herself. And it showed. She was confident, energetic, quirky - everything a representative from Greece usually has (except for Elefteria, as stated above). Loved the part where 4 (or 5? can't remember) girls took Ivi from the book prep. You could almost imagine her say "I don't need a ma-a-ahn!". The staging was poor though. From the rehearsals pics I saw I thought that they somehow did this thing with real books, using some kind of trick that can keep people from falling from it. And the books were actually glued together or something. What a disappointment. 9/10

 

13 · Denmark · As much as I moan that this song is average and not interesting enough, Soluna's performance always changes everything. She is an insanely good performer. Anyone who saw her sing would think that singing is actually a piece of cake because she does it so effortlessly and so easily. I'm a bit diappointed that they didn't change the horrible staging from Dansk Melodi Grand Prix though. At least they got rid of the big sofa and replaced it with a smaller one. 9/10

 

14 · Russia · Insane public reaction. Everyone was loving it, including me. The intro was a bit off but then they got into the main track so the flaws were already forgotten about. I don't think I've ever seen a Russian Eurovision representative create so much hype in here. The sprite commercial is played literally in every ad-break, Eurovision updates are in every newsblock you can think of, lots of 'Buranovskiye Babushki - the real story' documentaries get aired on every TV channel. I don't know what would even happen if Russia won. 9/10

 

15 · Hungary · The only qualification I did not expect. I'm still in shock. I guess the late draw played its small part here, because there is no way Compact Disco finished anywhere but 9th or most likely 10th. As for the performance, I can't get over those weird hand movements the vocalist did at the beginning. Looked weird, but I guess every performer has their own 'things'. Being drawn second in the Final is not a good fate. Looks like it's going to be another bottom 10 finish for Hungary. 8/10

 

16 · Austria · What would you do if your headwear fell from your head during the performance? Well, I certainly would not try to catch it. If it fell - it fell, if the hair slightly blocks your sight - do not fix it (the latter is probably my biggest pet peeve in existence). Small things like that do matter. As for the actual performance, I couldn't really tell what was happening. One moment they are in one end of the stage, at another moment they are already somewhere else. I remember the glow-in-the-dark effect which could've been done better though (see Danny with 'Amazing'). 6/10

 

17 · Moldova · Weird hand movements. Again. I don't get that part of the routine either. It just looks weird. But overall the performance was very good and I definitely see the appeal, even if I already got incredibly bored of the actual song. 8.5/10

 

18 · Ireland · Loved it. Just loved it. The twins weren't acting as crazy as last year, which was a nice strategical move - showing they matured. Even though back vocalists did all the heavy lifting, hearing Jedward sing wasn't such a bad experience. Loved the fountain in the background, couldn't take my eyes off it. Prayed for them to get into it 'Manboy'-style but them just jumping there at the end was very satisfying as well. 9/10

 

· · · · · · · · · · ·

 

01 Albania 10/10

02 Finland 10/10

03 Iceland 9.5/10

04 Denmark 9/10

05 Ireland 9/10

06 Cyprus 9/10

07 Russia 9/10

08 Moldova 8.5/10

09 San Marino 8/10

10 Greece 8/10

11 Hungary 8/10

12 Switzerland 7/10

13 Israel 7/10

14 Austria 6/10

15 Romania 5/10

16 Belgium 5/10

17 Latvia 2/10

18 Montenegro 0/10

 

· · · · · · · · · · ·

 

So I predicted 9/10 correctly in both pre-contest and post-performances/pre-results stages (tricky Hungary!). Also, you never announce that Moldova and Romania qualified next to each other. NEVER! As well as Cyprus and Greece. Ha. When there was only 3 spots left, it was painfully obvious to EVERYONE that Russia, Greece and Ireland will be the countries filling them. Not an exciting move at all. The whole golden envelope thing was not needed at all. It felt like Jedward were chosen as a wildcard or something.

 

Although organisators did a nice job with arena lights showing flags of performing countries (I didn't even notice it until Hungary went to perform haha), the postcards are boring.

 

I think that's all of my thoughts. For now :lol:

I fell asleep somewhere between Israel and San Marino last night. So picking up from where I left off from now :D

Can we discuss how horrendous the voice of the Swiss guy was? I mean he was competent but I couldn't bare his awful accent.

Can we discuss how horrendous the voice of the Swiss guy was? I mean he was competent but I couldn't bare his awful accent.

 

bitch please.