Dima Bilan. Certain qualifier, possibly winner of the whole thing. It's so boring, though.

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Oh my goodness. I love this song. Imagine a Romanian version of a sub-Russell Watson who is subsequently joined on stage by an over-emoting Celine Dion wannabe (just with less botox). The whole performance is just over-the-top campness and all the better for it. The news is that this is going down a storm in the hall. Maybe I should book my ( Read more... )

This song is one of the hot favourites, and I can certainly see why. If 'Qele Qele' wins Eurovision won't be setting any musical trends, but the reason this song is so dangeous is that it is mainstream enough to appeal to people all across the continent of Europe. The diaspora will lap it up, and it will get a sizeable vote from countries like ( Read more... )

The news from Belgrade is that this song is going down a storm in the Belgrade Arena during the dress rehearsals. It's a very unusual song, and while the presence of a chicken on stage might tempt me to put it into the novelty category, it really is quite a good song. I'm not certain at all that it will qualify for the final, but it could also do ( Read more... )

What a load of turkey s***

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This song has already been previewed further down, but the news from the rehearsals in Belgrade is that Isis Gee is in fine voice and 'For Life' is now one of the favourites to qualify.

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Azerbaijan, along with San Marino, is making its first attempt at Eurovision glory this year. 'Day after Day' is, beneath all the ridiculous shouting, a very good song. It has overtones, at least to my ears, of something The Kilers might have released. Awful English diction, hysterical shouting and abominable stage costumes make me hope, however ( Read more... )

For the second time in their Eurovision history Belgium has decided to enter a song in an imaginary language. The last attempt - in 2003 - nearly won the whole thing. 'O Julissi' is a very strange ditty indeed. It sounds like something out of 'The Sound of Music': in fact, you almost expect Julie Andrews to coming bouncing out of the wings and ( Read more... )

Miodio have been given the honour of respresenting one of the world's smallest nations in their first foray into Eurovision territory. 'Complice' is a serious song and wouldn't be out of place in the contemporary charts. It's not exactly bouncy, but I really quite like it and I think it will do better than a lot of Eurofans think.

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Well, this is different. Moldova's first effort in the contest a couple of years ago contained a grandmother who spent most of the song's three minutes blithely watching the action from a rocking chair before coming forward to enthusiastically bang a drum. This year's entry, however, couldn't me more different from the high energy of the song ( Read more... )