Eurovision 2017: The second semi-final

 Hello!

 I hope you enjoyed my blog post about Eurovision 2017's first semi-final. Here are my thoughts on the second.

1) Serbia - This was one that stuck in my head. It isn't amazing, but it's catchy in its own way. It has some cheesy lyrics - "High off the ground, I'm not coming down" - but is otherwise tolerable.

2) Austria - This was one of my stand-out songs from this semi. It is remarkable how through the lovely staging they managed to transform a fun folksy song with a mountain-y video into an epic Eurovision ballad. It reminds me of Frans's "If I Were Sorry" from last year: laid-back and adaptable.

3) F.Y.R Macedonia - This was another average song that managed to stick itself in my head. The singer looks a bit like Celine Dion but her voice and style are more like Madonna. 

 A lot of techno-themed staging would get too much, but one song's worth is okay and makes for an interesting change.

4) Malta - This one actually does sound like Celine Dion! I feel like this could be a very standard ballad sung by another person, but this singer lifts it with her personality and with her obvious passion for being there and for the song.

5) Romania - I thought this was just okay at first, but I'm coming to really like it. It is a great hybrid of rap and yodelling, bringing the two together effortlessly. It is nice and cheerful and utterly Eurovision.

6) The Netherlands - This was the stand-out song for me. The harmonies were perfect; very Wilson-Phillips. The song is lovely. It is by far the Eurovision entry I've listened to most this year. I've been really impressed by The Netherlands' entries the last few years.

7) Hungary - This isn't one of my favourites, but isn't bad, and I was caught by surprise when he burst out rapping. I liked the simple but colourful presentation.

8) Denmark - I found the song very ordinary, but the performance quite enthusiastic and fun.

9) Ireland - His voice really surprised me. The song is quite nice and the staging is minimal but works. The balloon is unusual and it all seems to tie together neatly. However, it is missing some Eurovision pizazz.

10) San Marino - Valentina again! Is she really the only singer in San Marino? Jimmie is a good complement for her, though, and the song is pure Eurovision: upbeat and catchy, with a colourful background, disco theme and great outfits. This should have had a chance.

11) Croatia - This was even odder this time around than when I first heard it - I don't think I had realised one guy was singing everything. Switching between pop and opera literally every line is really remarkable. 

 The song is quite pleasant but think it could be better staged, and he could have benefitted from making it more about the song and less about him.

12) Norway - I really didn't think much of this at first. My mother likes it, however, and it has grown on me slightly. Normally Norway turn out decent if not great songs, and this was a disappointment in comparison.

13) Switzerland - This reminds me a lot of the UK's song this year. It's passable. Some of the lyrics are cheesy to say the least. The yellow and purple theme is quirky and different but might get annoying after a while. This is another song my mother likes.

14) Belarus - I really enjoyed this at first. I still like it, but I think I'm losing my love for it. It is well-performed and I love hearing an own-language song. I just don't feel the song itself is as good as other folk songs we've heard on Eurovision recently.

15) Bulgaria - This was another surprising voice - it sounds older than a seventeen-year-old's. The song is an ear-worm and could easily be in the UK charts sung by Bieber or Mendes, though this guy's voice is perhaps superior to both. 

 I could do without the strobing and weird jerky camera effects, but both song and performance are very good.

16) Lithuania - This is a funny one because I like the verses but the chorus feels rather run-of-the-mill Euro-ballad-y. The singer is very intense, but if you like her style then the song can be quite an interesting journey to take with her.

17) Estonia - Another male-female duet from Estonia, and this wasn't as good for me as 2015's "Goodbye to Yesterday". It really reminds me of another dance track. I can't think which. 

 While it didn't live up to Estonia's track record, the song was pretty decent and well-performed. The guy's intense staring to the music was a bit much, however.

18) Israel - This was an average upbeat Eurovision song - he performed it okay, but the song itself wasn't very memorable.

My top ten (just in performance order): Austria, F.Y.R. Macedonia, Malta, Romania, The Netherlands, Ireland, San Marino, Croatia, Bulgaria, Estonia.

My top five (starting with the best): The Netherlands, Austria, Bulgaria, San Marino, Romania.

 Look out for my views on the final, coming soon!

 Feel free to check out my posts from last year's contest, too:

 First semi-final
 Second semi-final
 Big Five and Sweden
 Final

 Thanks for reading!

 Liz x

Eurovision 2017: The first semi-final

 Hello!

 I was studying in Spain during Eurovision this year, which allowed for a different and novel viewing experience. As I was super-busy preparing for exams I didn't have time to blog on the contest at the time, though I did live-tweet it.

 Now, back home in the UK, I have the luxury of watching the semi-finals in a more relaxed way and making notes of my thoughts on each song. I hope you enjoy them!

1) Sweden - I was never a fan of this song, but it is growing on me. They are a smooth outfit and seem very into what they're doing. It is an achievement to stay on the treadmills; I didn't notice them at first.

2) Georgia - A very standard Eurovision ballad, but a solid performance.

3) Australia - In Spain they were saying Isaiah looked like Rafa Nadal. I can see that, but he really reminds me of someone else too, and I can't think who. 

 Musically, he is like Tom Odell. I like his voice and style and the song is okay, but the staging could be better and showcase him more effectively.

4) Albania - A shaky start; they could have got into the song faster rather than leaving the singer to manage alone. When it gets going it is pretty good. Staging-wise, I like the clocks, but the flashing lights are unnecessary.

5) Belgium - I'm rather sick of hearing this song. I would probably have liked it otherwise, but it has been overplayed in the Eurovision world, and I think I might have heard it on the radio in Spain, too. 

 The staging is fine. Blanche's performance is good; she is clearly nervous but gets through it.

6) Montenegro - This was one of the more memorable performances when I first watched. I had been wondering if the braid was real until Scott Mills (commentating) declared that it is detachable.

 The song is okay; the singer lifted it to much more than it would have been. The whole thing felt quite Robbie Williams: a very confident number.

7) Finland - People in Spain and online were very surprised when this failed to get to the final. I like it: the staging and performance are understated, in a good way. 

 Funnily enough, just as I was listening to the song and she was singing "Blackbird, don't sing", I read someone on Facebook complaining about birds being noisy in their garden. Birds should sing when they want to! It's a good song.

8) Azerbaijan - At first I found this to be odd and shouty. Behind all the strangeness, however, it is a decent song and it is remarkable how she is able to keep singing, and singing very well, while doing all the actions, writing and climbing the ladder.

 It was undoubtably one of the most iconic performances this year.

9) Portugal - I never disliked this song, but I felt it was overrated. It is beginning to grow on me, though, and I will always welcome new styles, own languages and stripped-back performances on Eurovision.

10) Greece - This was a song that struck me as a solid one the first time around. I like the water theme; it makes a change from endless fire- and lightning-themed stagings.

 The singer is confident and looks like she is enjoying herself; my mother thinks she looks like Cobie Smulders.

11) Poland - The parade of sitcom stars continues with Penny from Big Bang representing Poland. This is one of the better ballads, though not amazing. Her voice is good and she is putting in a good performance. I like the constellation-y background.

12) Moldova - Is it just me or do the two non-sax guys look like Marcus Butler? The song is catchy and something a bit different. The set-up reminds me a lot of Bosnia and Herzegovina's legendary entry from 2008 by Laka.

13) Iceland - The singer's style, hair and the opening of the song made me think this would be an energetic, dance-y number. It turned out to be one of the best ballads of this year. She really owns the stage and is not overpowered by the song like many other ballad-singers; instead she controls it well.

14) Czech Republic - This stood out for me on my first viewing, and I was sad that it didn't get through. Her voice is not what I had expected to come out of her, and it is lovely.

 She reminds me a lot of the Venezuelan singer Georgina, who I mentioned in my "Songs from Salamanca" article.

 Overall, this was refreshingly different, and I liked it a lot.

15) Cyprus - This is actually a very good song musically and the staging is inventive, though all the white light can be a bit hard on the eyes. 

 I just can't completely connect to it personally, and as I tweeted at the time, I can't see why being someone's gravity would be a good thing.

16) Armenia - This had some great arm-ology, as Craig Revel Horwood would say. Overall, it was okay; not a stand-out number for me.

17) Slovenia - This is a real grower and has an epic, musical-theatre feel while also maintaining the time-tested Euro-ballad structure and spirit. The staging was nice and simple and I like his sparkly suit! 

 He handles the high parts well - it was an all-round solid song and performance.

18) Latvia - This isn't my style of music but they were certainly enthusiastic. I can't really bear all the trippy wannabe-trance stuff in the background - it is somewhat headache-inducing. My mother thinks this singer looks like Katy Perry.

 My top ten (just in performance order): Australia, Belgium, Finland, Azerbaijan, Portugal, Greece, Iceland, Czech Republic, Cyprus, Slovenia.

 My top five (starting with the best): Czech Republic, Iceland, Portugal, Slovenia, Greece.

 Overall, it was a decent semi-final and I did have trouble picking out my top ten. Keep an eye out for my write-up of the second one. I'll also be doing a post on the songs from the Big Five and Ukraine, so watch this space!

 I also blogged Eurovision last year, so check out my posts from then as well:

 First semi-final
 Second semi-final
 Big Five and Sweden
 Final

 Thanks for reading,

 Liz x

Eurovision 2016 by my brother

 Hello!

 This is a guest post by my brother Noah Gibson with his views on this year's Eurovision Song Contest. He has two YouTube channels where he reviews music: GibboMaths and GibbyTheLegendG.

 I hope you enjoy his post!

***

Having watched both semi-finals and the final of Eurovision 2016 and having heard all the songs, I have given them all ratings out of 20. I have also rated Romania, which I have listened to on the internet. 

 I think that this year, lots of entries have had good looking performers and great costumes, backing singers and dancers. The lighting for many entries and the way their act performed the song was very good. Some entries had very modern electronic production and some artists had very strong voices. 

 However, the main bad thing about it this year was that there were far too many sad songs and songs with sad parts in them.

Here are my top 3. 

1. Estonia

 I like the piano in the first verse and the guitar in the bridges. The tune is very catchy and the lighting is very good. It is colourful and sophisticated. Jüri Pootsmann does a good magic trick in the middle of the performance. It is very effective when there is a slow part without many instruments before the final chorus.

2. Sweden

 The verses are sung in a way which is very different to most singing. It has got a good beat that carries the song. The lighting is simple but effective and Frans has got good performance skills.

3. Netherlands

 It is a very relaxing song and has a country edge to it, making it different to many other entries this year. There is a variety of good instruments. The clock projection on the floor is good and Douwe Bob has got quite a good image.

Here are my ratings for each country's song.

Albania – 12/20, Armenia – 11/20, Austria – 16/20, Australia – 8/20, Azerbaijan – 14/20

Belarus – 16/20, Belgium – 15/20, Bosnia And Herzegovina – 12/20, Bulgaria – 17/20

Croatia – 11/20, Cyprus – 14/20, Czech Republic – 17/20

Denmark – 12/20

Estonia – 19/20

Finland – 13/20, France – 16/20

Georgia – 17/20, Germany – 12/20, Greece – 10/20

Hungary – 15/20

Iceland – 12/20, Ireland – 14/20, Israel – 16/20, Italy – 13/20

Latvia – 18/20, Lithuania – 13/20

Macedonia – 9/20, Malta – 9/20, Moldova – 18/20, Montenegro – 15/20

Netherlands – 18/20, Norway – 17/20

Poland – 15/20

Romania – 12/20, Russia – 15/20

San Marino – 16/20, Serbia – 13/20, Slovenia – 12/20, Spain – 17/20, Sweden – 19/20, Switzerland – 13/20

Ukraine – 15/20, United Kingdom – 13/20

Here are some songs that I think sound like 2016 Eurovision songs.

Armenia: Lady Gaga – Born This Way

Austria: Marina And The Diamonds – Primadonna

Belarus: Abba – Gimme Gimme Gimme (A Man After Midnight)

Belgium: Robin Thicke – Give It 2 U

Bosnia And Herzegovina: The Corrs – Only When I Sleep

Bulgaria: The Vamps – I Found A Girl

Croatia: Jessie J – LaserLight

Cyprus: Cutting Crew - (I Just) Died In Your Arms

Czech Republic: Lady Gaga – Til It Happens To You

Finland: Birdy – Keeping Your Head Up

France: Lawson – Taking Over Me

Georgia: The Police – Roxanne

Germany: Little Boots – Headphones

Israel: Adele – Someone Like You

Latvia: Gnarls Barkley – Crazy

Moldova: The Saturdays – Not Giving Up

Netherlands: Slade – Merry Xmas Everybody

Norway: Kamaliya – I'm Alive

Spain: Avicii – Silhouettes

Sweden: David Bowie – Fill Your Heart

***

 I hope you enjoyed this guest post! Make sure you also check out my posts on the first and second semi finals! 

 The next post will be my own thoughts on the Eurovision 2016 Grand Final, so watch this space!

 Thanks for reading.

 Liz x

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