LexC

Portugal is pure camp!

Serbia going full ARTPOP

Loved Norway, definitely the right choice for the opener.

Okay so here goes ladies, final call from moi on the qualifiers Definite IN Sweden Finland Norway Israel Likely IN Moldova Czechia Croatia Borderline IN Portugal One of Netherlands OR Switzerland One of Malta OR Serbia Borderline OUT One of Switzerland OR Netherlands One of Serbia OR Malta Latvia Definite OUT Azerbaijan Ireland -x- Hedging it on the last two slots as I reckon there's probably room for one slow number to qualify from the second half and one of Malta and Serbia can make it through from the first part of the show but I don't think we'll have both. I'm ready to be VERY wrong but I think Malta has the most televote appeal of the remaining six songs when the other nine have qualified.

Glad that this has rightly been consigned to the dustbin - the results sequence is tense enough without adding more cruelty to the proceedings.

In fairness, it could just be a bad clip in the same way that Sweden's rehearsal clip feels like a weaker run through but I'm really struggling to see that getting the televotes it needs apart from the Greek diaspora (which frustratingly might already be enough).

Had an absolutely chaotic day today so my votes might be late but they will be in.

Greece sounds and looks dire - Victor seems completely out of his depth. Cyprus on the other hand - I think that's got a shot at being their best result post-Fuego!

Didn't think Croatia would have qualified in this crowd so that's a surprise!

aaand I think Poland are qualifying as well - gotta adjust them predictions girlies

Don't know if I'd commit to making this an actual bet or not but Serbia to not qualify and Czechia top 4 would be my best value bets I'd think about.

Sweden by all accounts has the same visual story as in Melfest just with lighter equipment which should be good for the final show. From early indications today, Israel seems to have really brought it with their stage show as well.

[sex joke that confirms I have voted]

Finalising my votes now and this Semi truly SLAPS in a way that 11 of these songs were on my MUST vote for list and a further 6 I thought were points worthy.

I choose to interpret the theme as "Yobnedor shitposting" which is equally iconic!

New Lexico present and reporting for duty.

Alas, I'll still be at home on the South Coast for Eurovision week (not that I could have got the time off from work anyway).

I think that whole 9th-13th in Semi 2 is the could go either way section. I don't think vocals alone is quite enough in a 100% televote semi and I'm confident there's at least 8 songs with stronger televote appeal. Estonia's probably fighting it out with Albania for that last slot and I think the latter has got a little bit more diasporic vote to push it over the line. For all that I put it in eighth place I'm pretty solid that it'll get through - only risk is if the Tuesday night crowd don't "get" the artistic element of the performance after 12 more songs.

Post-running orders, this is my current best guess at how I see the semis playing out Semi One 01 Sweden 02 Finland 03 Norway 04 Czechia 05 Croatia 06 Israel 07 Moldova 08 Serbia 09 Netherlands 10 Portugal 11 Latvia 12 Malta 13 Azerbaijan 14 Switzerland 15 Ireland Semi Two 01 Austria 02 Georgia 03 Australia 04 Armenia 05 Lithuania 06 Cyprus 07 Belgium 08 Slovenia 09 Denmark 10 Albania 11 Estonia 12 Greece 13 Poland 14 Iceland 15 Romania 16 San Marino

I think Lookylion looks good to take this one!

My only wish for my own entry is to not come last!

oh i voted btw

My votes are in.

Official running orders are dropping at 6PM GMT tomorrow! Get your final predictions/pitches in now folks.

Semi Final One Safe Sweden Finland Given I'm reasonably sure this will be the top 2 of the whole contest, I would be truly shocked if either of these two went out. Solid Czechia Norway Moldova Israel Serbia Pretty sure all of these are through but it's at least theoretically possible that there could be some turn of events that leads to one of these being the "shock" non qualifier. Of all of them I'd maybe put Serbia as the most likely surprise flop if people react to it the same way they reacted to Conan Osiris in 2019 Borderline IN Malta Croatia Portugal Borderline OUT Netherlands Latvia I see three out of these five going through and it came down to what I thought had the most appeal to televoters which led me to this conclusion. I ummed and errred over Portugal and Netherlands the most and what swung it for Ai Coracao was the fact that I know there'll be at least one guaranteed high point from the French televote whereas the Dutch start out with 0 televotes in the bank (welcome back to 100% televoting ladies!) Struggling Switzerland Azerbaijan Ireland Don't get me wrong, it's not impossible that these three go through but it'll be at the expense of at least one of the borderline countries and/or a heavy investment in SIM cards in low volume televote countries.