LexC

Who will qualify from the semi final of death in Semi One? Who will scrape through in Semi Two because ten songs have got to qualify? Where will the UK finish in the final? Will Sweden get their seventh victory and Loreen her second crown? BuzzJack, start predicting NOW!

And the way I'd run Semi 2: 01 Belgium 02 Romania 03 Greece 04 Denmark 05 Estonia 06 Iceland 07 Cyprus 08 Armenia 09 San Marino 10 Albania 11 Poland 12 Slovenia 13 Austria 14 Lithuania 15 Australia 16 Georgia This felt a lot harder but essentially I thought Belgium made the most sense as the opener and Georgia made the most sense as a closer and I tried to have as much variation as possible throughout.

Really not sure what I think about this one but it definitely sounds BIG!

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Since we've got everything in for Semi One, I'd programme them something like this 01 Norway 02 Croatia 03 Ireland 04 Portugal 05 Latvia 06 Serbia 07 Malta 08 Azerbaijan 09 Moldova 10 Netherlands 11 Sweden 12 Switzerland 13 Israel 14 Czechia 15 Finland This, in contrast to usual, felt relatively straightforward to put together. Norway felt like the best choice to open with and, like last year, the "novelty act" makes sense going on second as that won't have any problem standing out no matter where it is. Beyond that I tried to go for the variation between high and lows in energy and tempo. Sweden might have seemed like the obvious closer but I reckoned that there'll need to be some kind of ad break before or after it to properly set up whatever version of the staging will be in Liverpool.

So as the last few songs get released this week and we get our full picture of the field, discussion naturally turns to the running order the songs will be performed in. Given that this year we're back to a 100% televote semi-final, the running order could have an even bigger impact than usual! In terms of the semis first half/second half splits: Semi One First Half Croatia: Let 3 - Mama ŠČ! Ireland: Wild Youth - We Are One Latvia: Sudden Lights - Aijā Malta: The Busker - Dance (Our Own Party) Norway: Alessandra - Queen of Kings Portugal: Mimicat - Ai coração Serbia: Luke Black - Samo mi se spava Second Half Azerbaijan: TuralTurunX - Tell Me More Czech Republic: Vesna - My Sister's Crown Finland: Käärijä - Cha Cha Cha Israel: Noa Kirel - Unicorn Moldova: Pasha Parfeni -Soarele și luna Netherlands: Mia Nicolai & Dion Cooper - Burning Daylight Sweden: Loreen - Tattoo Switzerland: Remo Forrer - Watergun Semi Two First Half Armenia: Brunette - Future Lover Belgium: Gustaph - Because of You Cyprus: Andrew Lambrou - Break A Broken Heart Denmark: Reiley - Breaking My Heart Estonia: Alika - Bridges Greece: Victor Vernicos - What They Say Romania: Theodor Andrei - D.G.T (Off and On) Iceland: Dilja - Power Second Half Albania: Albina & Familja Kelmendi - Duje Australia: Voyager - Promise Austria: Teya & Salena - Who The Hell is Edgar? Georgia: IRU - Echo Lithuania: Monika Linkytė - Stay Poland: Blanka - Solo San Marino: Piqued Jacks - Like an Animal Slovenia: Joker Out - Carpe Diem So get your producer heads on and tell us, how would you programme the running order for these semis?

A belated welcome to the team uhsting - deserved reward after listening to Una Voce Per San Marino in its entirety!

FLUSH! Time to go back to the melfest reject bin if this is what Azeri entries are going to sound like for the forseeable!

Going on last is a high risk place, especially if you don't stand out from the rest of the pack *cough*childrenoftheuniverse*cough* but potentially high reward if they nail the staging. With a memorable concept then the potential is definitely there for this to do better than I'd first given it credit for on the televote at least.

I was going to say I don't remember any song in recent memory getting as high as that the week of release!

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Definitely the frontrunner for Liverpool, barring a surprise gem coming from the caucuses.

MOTHER!

Kiana totally feels like a future mello winner with the right song in a few years time.

Here for Melfest 2023 to end on a high! (of unbearable tension)

New Lexico is back babes with a queer joy anthem!

Not that they're really its target audience at all but my parents, who I've sometimes used as a focus group for your 50+ "normy" demographic, absolutely hated this.

Song's dropped r4wbdKmM3bQ

In the same half of the semi as Kaarija, Pasha Parfeni, Noa Kirel and (we assume) Loreen I don't fancy this one's chances. If your after something melancholic I think the dutch song satisfies that need better.

Having lived through Electro Velvet, Michael Rice and James Newman, I'd be loathe to put Mae Muller in that category of the "UK norm". I also think the fandom has completely failed to manage expectations and thinks that coming second once means we're now going to be top 5 every year which is completely unrealistic. Part of me buys that the goal of this winning is more as a launchpad/accelerator for Mae Muller's career with a big domestic/possibly continental hit than necessarily to do the double which would have been near enough impossible. All that said...this IS exactly the sort of thing that accidentally comes last since juries can't see much to reward in it and televoters have other, better options.

Love it!

Final ranking before the full set of 37 01 Finland 02 Czechia 03 Norway 04 France 05 Spain 06 Malta 07 Belgium 08 Australia 09 Slovenia 10 Moldova 11 Netherlands 12 Estonia 13 Iceland 14 Cyprus 15 Germany 16 Serbia 17 Poland 18 Denmark 19 Italy 20 Ukraine 21 Albania 22 Ireland 23 Croatia 24 Lithuania 25 Latvia 26 Romania 27 San Marino

So the running order for next week's final: 1. Where You Are (Sávežan) – Jon Henrik Fjällgren, Arc North feat. Adam Woods 2. Rhythm Of My Show – Tone Sekelius 3. One Day – Mariette 4. Air – Marcus & Martinus 5. On My Way – Panetoz 6. Never Give Up – Maria Sur 7. Six Feet Under – Smash Into Pieces 8. Where Did You Go – Kiana 9. Släpp alla sorger – Nordman 10. Tattoo – Loreen 11. Mer av dig – THEOZ 12. Royals – Paul Rey

J6hcdkOgb8Y Serbia leaning into their weird phase I see!

Pasha Parfeni wins! Best choice Moldova could have made.