The Eurovision Song Contest Semi Final 1 Should’ve Been Held Last Night

And I’m just sad. Instead of the live show, the official Eurovision channel broadcasted a celebration show, where they played the music videos of the songs that should’ve competed last night + 3 of the direct qualifiers.

It was time well spent, it was nice watching an “official” Eurovision show and tweet about it at the same time as the other Eurofans. But if anything, it just made me wish for the live shows even more. And thinking about who could’ve qualified and who not… And realizing that this is the closest to a Eurovision Contest that we are going to get in 2020… It’s all mixed feelings right now.

So as a way to deal with my feelings I’m gonna give my brief thoughts on the songs from last night, in their supposed running order.

Sweden – The Mamas – Move

All of my feelings from Melodifestivalen 2020 aside, I really do like this song. I remember how strongly I jammed to it before the Melfest final. I listened to it a lot less since then, but hearing it again was enjoyable. And in a way sad too cause again, it reminded me of Melfest and that time when things were still normal and we were expecting a Eurovision and my biggest reason for sadness was Dotter not representing Sweden…

Belarus – VAL – Da Vidna

Really enjoyable song, quite unique in a way. They are singing about dawn and I can definitely feel it, it literally does make me feel as if its that time of the day. I would’ve been happy if this qualified but people love to say the second spot in the running order is deadly so maybe that wasn’t likely to happen…

Australia – Montaigne – Don’t Break Me

I can’t say this is a bad song, but the national final performance still doesn’t work for me. Her look is offputing and the concept of the performance is annoying to me. Also it didn’t really keep my focus last night so maybe the song itself grew off me.

North Macedonia – Vasil – YOU

Last night was only the second time I heard this song so maybe this is not surprising, but right now I still can’t recall how it goes. All I know is that the song involves dancing. But I remember my opinion on it – it’s ok and that’s all to it. I felt bored of it halfway through and that’s never a good sign.

Slovenia – Ana Soklič – Voda

It’s trying to be powerful and I appreciate the respectable effort. But it’s another song I find it hard to keep my attention on through its entirety.

Lithuania – The Roop – On Fire

Feels weird thinking Lithuania was considered one of the favorites to win. I never really thought it could happen. Not that this means I dislike this, it’s very good. But time has done its part, I could say it kind of aged for me.

Ireland – Lesley Roy – Story Of My Life

Basically people are underrating Ireland every year and it makes me sad. This is a great song, it lifts my mood. You could say its a 2009 throwback but why would that be a bad thing? They make it work so well! I would’ve loved seeing this qualify.

Russia – Little Big – Uno

Believe it or not, this is another entry I only heard for the second time last night. It’s kind of hard to form a concrete opinion on this. I guess I like it but its not something I’m going crazy for. I saw someone say Russia would come third again and that makes a lot of sense.

Belgium – Hooverphonic – Release Me

I liked this more at the time when it was first released. Now I often find myself thinking it gets flat and repetitive. Could also be another case of “aging badly” similarly to Lithuania. Still, I can’t say I dislike it.

Malta – Destiny – All Of My Love

Basically the Croatian national broadcaster rejected this song for our national final and since then that’s my main association with this song – the fact that we just straight up rejected it. But otherwise, I like this, it fits Destiny really well and I’m sure it would’ve given Malta a good result.

Croatia – Damir Kedžo – Divlji Vjetre

And how fitting that Croatia is next… At the time of our selection, I strongly rooted for someone else to represent us, but with time I grew to like Divlji Vjetre a lot more. Also Damir seems to genuinely love Eurovision and for an artist as popular in this country as he is, that is great to see. Would like to see him represent us next year.

Azerbaijan – Efendi – Cleopatra

My opinion on this is a bit similar to Russia. I only heard this for the second time last night and I guess I don’t dislike it, but I can’t say I’m crazy for it either. I have no doubt it would’ve qualified tho.

Cyprus – Sandro – Running

This isn’t the best and most original song I ever heard by any means, but it’s pleasant enough to listen. Not sure if it would stand out enough to qualify.

Norway – Urlikke – Attention

Norway is a fine song, but not one I would put among my absolute favorites. I could see this as a borderline qualifier.

Israel – Eden Alene – Feker Libi

Israel worked really well for me last night. It’s a mix of different ideas that fit relatively well together. Love the singer’s energy and the colors used on stage.

Romania – Roxen – Alcohol You

I still think this is a really strong entry. I’m just unsure if those modifications by the end of the song were needed. But I believe this would’ve been a deserved top 10 for Romania.

Ukraine – Go_A – Solovey

I would’ve liked this much more if it wasn’t for the way they are singing. That’s all really.

Italy – Diodato – Fai Rumore

I rarely ever listen to Fai Rumore and the reason is simple – it makes me so sad every single time. And I don’t want to make myself sad on purpose, so I kinda just avoid it. It had this effect already after Sanremo, but now with the situation Italy and the world is in, that effect only got stronger, because the lyrics strangely fit the situation. Who knows where it would place if somehow Eurovision was held. It could had been a contender for the win, but then again, I pretty much always think/hope of that for Italy, so who knows.

Germany – Ben Dolic – Violent Thing

Great song, I was so impressed with Germany at the time when this was released. It’s not really the type of song you hear at Eurovision often so I’m really curious to see how it would’ve been staged, but sadly I’ll probably never really know that. Hopefully Ben Dolic gets another chance next year.

The Netherlands – Jeangu Macrooy – Grow

The best songs have really been saved for last. Grow is basically my favorite entry of the year. I can hardly think of a song (at least in Eurovision) with such a progression and buildup to a sound so satisfying. Listening to this is truly a journey, and every time it reaches that climax, I’m up for more of it. The lyrics are brilliant too, and I can especially feel them at that final part. This song calms me down, and makes me feel better about the challenges I have. I’m sad I’ll never get to see how they planned to stage this, but I’m looking forward to what Jeangu will bring next year.