Colm

31 - Austria 2023 Teya & Salena - Who The Hell Is Edgar? Austria, How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. Recently Austria has not only been giving us quality, it has been giving songs that sound like no other Eurovision entries. Including 2025, they've sent 4 crackers in a row. Even after having being burnt by sending a DNQ bop in 2022, they had the perspective to send this in the knowledge that it could be sung by the singers involved and would advance to the final. It's full of addictive hooks but Selena's Gaga-esque vocals are the highlight for me. I could complain about how it didn't do better but that's old news. Best bit: 2:08 joyful and celebratory vocals.

32 - Italy 2021 Måneskin - Zitti E Buoni This was a grower with me. 2021 was a strong year so this finished only around 7th or 8th for me back then. A few things remain impressive - for a start, it oozes pure rock and roll essence. Secondly Damiano's double timed vocals in the second verse accelerate the excitement, and the middle eight melody which has such strident confidence Best Bit: 2:05 - that middle eight.

Suun

Thanks for the feedback, gd. Any comments from anyone else?

Welcome to the inaugural imperial final to select our entry to the 173rd edition of the globally successful BuzzJack Song Contest - Spolidifestivalen. We've gone with internal selection since our first entry to the contest back in February 2023, the 152nd edition, with mostly favourable results but we thought we would see if an imperial final would change our fortunes. After a 20 song long list we have decided on 3 finalists. Please meet them. First we have Elsiane, a Canadian electronic music duo formed in 2000 by singer-songwriter Elsieanne Caplette and drummer Stephane Sotto. The band's sound blends elements of trip-hop, electronic, and progressive rock, creating an atmospheric and cinematic experience. Elsieanne distinctive, ethereal vocals—often compared to Björk or Elizabeth Fraser of Cocteau Twins—are a defining feature of their music. Their track The Motive showcases these elements, a poignant and wistful song about self discovery. Secondly, we have Lene Marlin, a Norwegian singer who had some success in the early 00s all over Europe. Despite her early success, she took a more low-key approach to her career, releasing albums at a slower pace while maintaining a dedicated fan base. Over the years, she has continued to write and release music, exploring themes of love, loss, and self-reflection, often with a melancholic yet soothing quality. Her second album Another Day contained Fight Against the Hours, a haunting and sorrowful song about relationship doubts. A song to accompany a long dark night of the soul. Lastly, we have Jewel. Jewel is an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and poet from Alaska, known for her folk-influenced pop sound and deeply introspective lyrics. She competes here in Spolidifestivalen with with a piano-led song Foolish Games about power imbalances and insecurities in a relationships.

Bambie's director is doing the staging so if it manages to get a late position in the running order then i could do ok with the televote - maybe 150 points.

The bottom 5 is where the Spodic Empire belongs.

Yes - please finish this!

In a year so lacking in quality, this is golden.

Will do, KR. I think it's missing a few updates.

Which song to you hate the most?

Absolutely essential guide to one of my favorite genres. I lived through this period of music. The summer of 1999 was the peak of clubbing for me. The excitement of knowing that the dj was going to play a dozen or more of these tunes is one of the most precious things. Amazing job, Dan.

It's Serbia so I like it

33 - Russia 20219 Sergey Lazerev - Scream In 2019, I had not seen Sergey's 2016 performance, so I didn't have any expectations of his return to the contest. I much prefer the live version because, unlike nowadays, you know that someone was able to hit those notes. He was flat in places but not enough to take away from the whole thing. Best Bit: 1.06 - perfect vocal tone.

34 - Belgium 2024 Mustii - Before the Party’s Over This, along with Austria 2024, have been the biggest disappointments when it came to the live performance in a long, long time. Going into rehearsal week this was my winner. I had an argument on youtube last year with a guy who claimed that Mustii should have qualified because the live version was more real and heartfelt and that I had no right to expect Mustii to sound like the studio recording. Eurofans be crazy. A note to broadcasters - make sure your singer can sing before you send them. Best Bit: 1.53 the cloudbusting staccato strings.

Great 1 Malta Very good 2 Greece Good 3 Poland 4 Finland 5 Lithuania Decent but in other years would be average 6 Belgium 7 Albania 8 Luxembourg These make me feel so little that I can't be bothered to rank them Armenia Azerbaijan Australia Estonia Iceland Ireland Latvia Montenegro Norway Slovenia Spain Ukraine

35 - Norway 2020 Ulrikke - Attention The opening bars of this always bring me back to those early months of the pandemic. This was the first year that I followed Eurovision from the national selection stage. The confusion about whether we'd have a contest or not was an odd feeling along with hearing all these things. Having all the time in the world to wallow in Eurovisions national selections and in Eurovisions passed. The anguish of the chorus just hits me. Best Bit: 2.38 the climax after her perfect intervals.

36 - Slovenia 2019 vGtPNQ6g6Ng Zala Kralj & Gašper Šantl - Sebi My winner in 2019. I dont think any of my winners have maintained their position as my favourite song from each year. I'm sure there's millions of people who get nothing out of this but it was just so enchanting and intimate. I know they didn't do themselves any favours with some of the comments they made but I can forgive them for that when they were so mesmerising. Best bit: 0:08 I love the warmth of the intro

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Listen through tonight please

It's just awful.

37 - Austria 2024 Kqda15G4T-4 Kaleen - We Will Rave This spent most of the season as my winner last year and it's still a blast. Ultimately, it was a disaster live. Her vocals weren't there, very low in the mix and her much hyped dancing was certainly nothing special. One of the biggest disappointments in recent years. Best bit: 2.48 the dramatic return of the chorus with the sound of huge doors being slammed somewhere. :D

38 - Netherlands 2022 v2m-MGSys0k S10 - De Diepte My winner in 2022. Not a year that has stood out with many classics. A lot of my top 10 from that year has completely fallen off my radar. This, however, still makes magic happen in my brain. There was no shortage of sad girl ballads that year but De Diepte was the most poignant. Her voice and the Dutch language saw to that. Best bit: 2.13 gorgeous vocal

39 - Croatia 2024 xTBrVNZtnys Baby Lasagna - Rim Tim Tagi Dim My first thought when I heard this was - this is so 2001. Rammstein, Linkin Park and Bubba Sparks were all big in 2001 and this combined some of their elements. Incidentally, it's interesting that Rammstein have become a prominent influence in Eurovision - Käärijä and Baby Lasagna have cited them having informed their music and now we have Erika Vikman's song with obvious references to them too. This was a lot more instant than Cha, Cha, Cha for me. Not that there should be any comparison despite many Eurovision related parallels between the two. Watching the music video is such an enriching experience. Those hilarious people over in Wikipedia have it listed as part of the Pop punk and Techno genres. Best bit: 1.15 when he jumps to a higher register

40 - Spain 2015 9-g92hNNbPQ Edurne - Amanecer 15 points? What? Majestic. Best bit: 2.07 the orchestral bridge.