Eurosunday: Your Guide to Paradise

This week five songs were revealed/chosen, and the results were kind of depressing. France, Hungary, Cyprus, and Malta all chose uninteresting ballads and Andorra’s song is a little more uptempo but still uninteresting. I’m hoping they will all grow on me within the next few months. However, I am pleased that Chiara is back, and although I’m not wild about the song I know I can expect a great performance of it.

None of the songs from the 3rd Norwegian semifinal are favorites of mine, although “Fairytale” is strangely appealing.

Sweden had its first semifinal, and it seems everyone is upset that Shirley Clamp didn’t qualify. It didn’t wow me at first listen, personally. I’m happy with the two songs that qualified for the final. “You’re My World” is upbeat and catchy, while I had low expectations for “Stay The Night” it exceeded them greatly, with catchy hooks the entire 3:00. (Funny side story: the first time I heard Alcazar was 2002 on a trip to London and I bought a CD that had “Sexual Guarantee” on it. At the time I thought it was incredibly stupid that they would say the band name in the song. After 7 years of pop corrupting me I’m disappointed when the band name isn’t said in the song).

Next week, Armenia, Iceland, Lithuania, Moldova, and Poland pick their songs. I would be thrilled if Moldova picked “Women’s winner”, but there are a few other songs I’d be happy with too. Norway, Spain, Sweden, and Slovakia also have live shows (Norway has a second chance round, and the others have semifinals).