Eurosunday: Three Songs Left

It’s almost the end of national final season. The general fan consensus seems to be that this year’s group of songs are disappointing at best and completely terrible at worst, and each week brought another collective groan of disapproval. However, I don’t think this year is completely terrible. Maybe the past few years have just been particularly good. There aren’t as many instant favorites as the past three years, but quite a few songs are growing on me.

Israel chose “There must be another way”. I really like the verses, but not the refrain (which thankfully is very short).

Azerbaijan presented “Always”, which is a great ethnic dance song similar to Turkey’s.

Russia chose “Mamo”. I’m disappointed because it isn’t as good as their three previous entries, and sounds more like their songs from 2004 and 2005.

Estonia chose “Rändajad“, which is a little close to “Love Symphony”.

Serbia’s choice, “Cipela” starts off completely unappealing, but the chorus is somehow catchy.

Ukraine’s song, “Be My Valentine” seems like a mess, but both “Show Me Your Love” and “Dancing Lasha Tumbai” started off messy and were rerecorded and ended up better, so I hope they’ll release a new better version.

Slovakia picked “Let’ tmou”, a wonderfully performed ballad. The song itself isn’t too memorable on first listen but the presentation is memorable enough.

Sweden’s Andra Chansen was the high point of this week’s selections. My four favorite songs are in the final (“Stay the Night”, “Hope and Glory”, “Alla”, and “Moving On”). I'm really pleased with the quality of songs this year. I’ll write more on the final throughout this week.

Only three songs remain unchosen or unrevealed. Next week Sweden will choose from the 11 songs in their final and Belgium will present their internally selected song. I’m not sure when the Czech Republic picks their song, but it should be before I start my full 43-song-ranking.