Eurovision 2016: The Big 5 and Sweden

 Hello!

 Having reviewed all the music from the two semi-finals, I'm going to turn my attention to the songs of the six countries that had a fast-track pass to the final. They are the Big 5 - the UK, France, Spain, Germany and Italy - and the host nation, Sweden.

 I found this year's Big 5 showing to be very poor, with only Germany really impressing me musically, though even they were let down staging-wise. Sweden, on the other hand... Wow.

 Let's go through act by act. As always, I'll give a rating out of twenty; this is for the song first and foremost, with my comments supplying my views re vocals, performance and staging.

 UK - I must admit, this is by far the best thing we've sent for years, and the smartest: it has Eurovision written all over it. 

 However, it still isn't amazing and Joe and Jake's performance could have been better, more dynamic. I do like how Graham Norton made an appearance in one of the background photos! 14/20

 France - My mother, brother and cat liked this but I found it slightly dull.

 It's also very similar to "Moustache", France's 2014 entry, and in turn to Stromae's "Papaoutai" (to which parts of Moustache are almost identical). 

 Amir did perform with a good energy and a winning smile but the song is forgettable though, of course, it had its life prolonged after the contest by the big meme made out of Elodie Gossuin, who presented France's votes, attempting to sing it. 

 I think she was sweet and did her job pretty well, and many spokespeople reference their country's song. Anyway, "J'ai cherché" is okay but nothing special. 10/20

 Spain - This song appears to be massive in Spain and, while it's upbeat and easy to dance to, I don't think it's that great. I'd pretty much forgotten what it sounded like until I re-watched it. 

 What did stick in my mind was Barei's performance - she is full of life and fun and clearly didn't take the contest too seriously; she just wanted to enjoy it, and her joy was infectious. I loved her hair, too! The part where she fake-falls would have terrified me if it weren't for Graham Norton warning us!

11/20

 Germany - This is definitely the best Big 5 song - it reminds me of "Ghost" by Halsey in theme and tone. 

 Unfortunately, it was let down by the staging - the Twilight-esque backdrop looked tacky, when, done well, it could have been really effective. 

 While the singer, Jamie-Lee, has a right to dress to suit her personality, I felt it was way over-the-top and it made it hard to take her seriously. It was a shame, as the song was really very good. 16/20

 Italy - I couldn't remember any of this before re-watching! The song's okay, but not really Eurovision and the staging was odd in the extreme, though at least that was memorable: all the random things on sticks. 

 The cartoon-y after-effects - the ripples, stars etc that appeared to be drawn across the screen - were actually quite pretty. Normally any heavy effects of that kind in Eurovision annoy me as I think we should just see what's on stage, but these ones added a bit of umph to a dull performance. 8/20

 Now, from the rather ridiculous to the sublime, and to the song I voted for myself.

 Sweden - The first time I heard this properly was the final and I was struck by how Nate Ruess it was, in both style and vocals! I liked the understated performance and staging and found it hard to believe Frans was only seventeen, he had such presence and power.

 I voted for Sweden, but it was only later that I went from liking the song to loving it. A lot of people have compared it to "Catch and Release" by Matt Simons. 

 There is a resemblance, but not too much of one. I like both songs but prefer Frans and "If I Were Sorry". 18/20

 So, that was the Big 5 and Sweden. Watch this space for my post about the final - and expect plenty of gushing about the wonders of Petra and Måns!

 Thanks for reading!

 Liz x

Eurovision 2016: The sensational second semi-final

 Hello!

 Now I've given you my thoughts on the first semi-final, I'll share with you my views on the second one, which I feel was definitely the stronger of the two.

 To begin with, the hosts Måns and Petra's "That's Eurovision" performance was brilliant! When they first began I thought, "Oh no, they're going all Broadway to please the Americans even more" (with them having already announced that Justin Timberlake would perform during the final). 

 However, they weren't afraid to mock themselves and the contest and it ended up being really funny and enjoyable. Petra, as I've said before, can pull off pretty much anything.

 Now to the competing songs. I'll be using the same scoring system I did for the first semi, ie, each country will receive a mark out of 20 for the song, as well as comments regarding staging, voice and performance. Let's go!

 1) Latvia - I found the song dull but he had good stage presence. It kind of sounded like a slowed-down version of last year's Aussie entry, "Tonight Again". 10/20

 2) Poland - The lighting was nice. I don't have that much else to say about it! It was okay. I don't really get why it's a favourite. 10/20

 3) Switzerland - This was quite nice and reminded me of "Running Scared", which won for Azerbaijan a few years ago. 11/20

 4) Israel - I was pleasantly surprised by this; the singer came across as a character in interviews I'd seen but the performance was understated and quite calm. I liked the simplistic staging, along with his sparkly shirt and gloves! 12/20

 5) Belarus - Ah, the infamous wolf performance! I found there was way too much going on, making it hard to really appreciate the song. 12/20

 6) Serbia - This song had a good message, against domestic violence, but musically it was very average. 8/20

 7) Ireland - The song was okay; rather clichéd even for Eurovision. Nicky Byrne looked awkward, like he wasn't really comfortable performing it. 11/20

 8) FYR Macedonia - This was one of my favourites. The singer has a great voice - and she also seemed very tall! - and the performance was solid. The song sounded like a lot of others strung together but she pulled it off. The drummer was intense! 17/20

 9) Lithuania - Ah, the return of Donny Montell - this time without a blindfold. 

 This year's song from him - "I've been waiting for this night" - was one of the ones I felt had most potential - it's very One Direction and quite catchy - but I think this performance let it down. 16/20

 10) Australia - This is undoubtedly one of the best songs and vocalists but again, I felt something was missing from this performance. I liked the staging - minimalist but effective. 18/20

 11) Slovenia - This was very Taylor Swift; it veered between country and Europop rather oddly but kind of worked, aided by a confident, impassioned performance. 15/20

 12) Bulgaria - The grammar! "If love was a crime..." At least Frans for Sweden got the subjunctive right with "If I were sorry." This was rather boring and run-of-the-mill Eurovision but she certainly performed it with gusto. 12/20

 13) Denmark - The 15-to-1 style podia were interesting. Otherwise this was pretty clichéd; they seemed to be trying a bit too hard to be A-ha or Herreys. 10/20

 14) Ukraine - As I've said before, I'm not getting into the politics of songs. On a musical level, I found this rather slow and repetitive; however her voice is incredible and her performance was assured. 10/20

 15) Norway - Dry ice alert! People seem generally far less obsessed with dry ice these days than they were for a while a few years ago. This performance, however, had all the dry ice anyone could ever desire. The lyrics of the song are appalling - "I'll be your ice-breaker when you're stuck in frozen water"? 8/20

 16) Georgia - This had a lot of weird trippy stuff going on with the graphics and was generally quite dull. 10/20

 17) Albania - An odd but nice dress couldn't salvage a boring song. 9/20

 18) Belgium - This was like a cross between Fleur East and Kylie, transported into the 70s. The song was very enjoyable (though it sounds like so many we've heard before) and her performance was impressive, especially all the dancing. 14/20

 As mentioned earlier, I found this the better semi-final, with a good range of musical styles and some solid songs and performances. Watch this space for my blog posts about the Big 5 and Sweden, and about the grand final.

 Thanks for reading!

 Liz x