Ryan.

I think if she wanted to swap to English at Eurovision then she’d have to have done that tonight so that’s another language represented in Lisbon!

BQL screwed over just enough by the juries so that their televote won isn’t quite enough... for the second year in a row. Feel so sorry for them. Nine times out of nine now that a Slovenian televote winner has been overruled by a jury winner when they’ve used a combined system. Not quite as bitter this year as Lea is much better than Omar and Promise wasn’t as good as Heart of Gold, but I can’t see BQL ever coming back now while this system is in place.

Angry man turns out to be Tayanna’s PR and he told Verka to go **** himself amongst other things

Tayanna proved him wrong but singing part of the track again and an angry man shouting at Verka followed Flashbacks to Linda Martin!

Verka just accused Tayanna of miming with the use of lots of Ukrainian expletives oop

It’s difficult to stage songs so heavy on instrumental breakdowns but if they can do it I’d love to see Gromee win - and I could also see it top 5 in Lisbon. Marta will have the crazed Szpak fans behind her as he was her coach on The Voice. I love Gromee, Marta and Isabell - I really hope one of them wins!

Guarantee Cyprus will be top 10 in the odds following the premiere of this, I have a gut feeling this could be Cyprus’ best result since Lisa (2004)?

Czech Republic officially joint favourites to win at Ladbrokes and Coral, proof that any country can be a favourite with the right song! Let’s see if it translates into a result...

Even before the draw many people suggested Nuska was RTVSLO’s pet of choice this year, so the pimp slot only confirms that for me.

Last episode was Lauren’s exit right? If so this is dreadful continuity

Apparently we should fear Mger Armenia's capability to get a very high televote through legal means or not (he's related someway to someone very high up in Armenia), especially when the scoring system is Melfest-style and a high televote would counteract a low jury score.

A bit harsh for Tamar but the live performance was nothing special. Apparently Gohar said the international jury votes (Sweden, Latvia, Malta, Cyprus and another 3 or so countries) and the televote were completely different.

I've had a feeling all season that a mid to uptempo female commercial pop song will win this year, Jessica, Saara or Eleni seem the most likely to give us that (and Asmik if she can win in Armenia).

Apparently Gohar seemed to have a fake applause button as such sounds appeared after certain acts *.*

Easily the best song (Poison), her vocals were iffy but judging from this recap iffy vocals were fairly commonplace. I think she'll sail through to the final, but I can't see her beating Sevak or Asmik who both sounded very strong in their rehearsal videos.

I hear Gohar is presenting :o

I think if Standing Still could go top 10, then this is a better song in a similar style so wouldn't rule that out for Michael! None of the others strike me as getting on the left hand side of the leaderboard.

Michael is officially the best, if he's good live then should do very well not just on Thursday but in Lisbon should he get there. I hope he does!

Listening through them now, Michael is rightly getting the escforum.net fan hype - could be Eurovision top 10 at minimum. :heart: Ivy was decent but nothing special.

The more these entries and national finals unfold the more I think Cyprus could be right in contention with an ethno-pop banger! :o

I don't think Tamar has a chance, definitely a hype that has been inflated by fans. Her rehearsal snippet doesn't match up to Asmik's or Sevak's who I think this is between. I imagine the televote will go with Sevak, but the international juries could favour Asmik.

The winner's reprise was perfectly competent vocally, I haven't seen his original performance yet but I had a feeling all the Eurofans TRASHING it were just creating a drama over nothing. I think it was the best choice, should see Belarus in the final for a second year in a row (just)!

ABSOLUTELY SCREAMING AT THAT RESULTS REVEAL AFTER AN HOUR WAIT

Televote numbers much lower than in recent years so I think that televote is fairly representative, but yes the jury can easily make their winner win considering they are getting a good 30 minutes to decide their votes *after* the televote reveal :heehee: They could push Shuma to the win if they want another Belarusian language entry.

That shall do! Much better than I imagined we’d get from Greece once they announced these endless Greek rules.