More Scandinavia and Slovakia

This week in Eurovision brought another crop of semifinals and quarterfinals.

Slovakia had their first two quarterfinals. None of the qualifiers from the first semifinal are very interesting. The second one was much better. “Emotions”, “Paradise versus Babylon”, and “Blue Sun” are decent and have promise.

Finland had their third semifinal. I was pleasantly surprised that “Sydän ymmärtää” got the wildcard, but I like all three other songs that qualified to the final.

Iceland also had their third semifinal. This semifinal brought my favorite song of the Icelandic selection, which (no surprise here) is “Je ne sais quoi.” It’s very “This Is My Life Part 2.” I was very happy that it qualified. I’m less fond of the other song that qualified.

In Norway’s third and last semifinal, “Don’t Want to Lose You Again” predictably qualified. I like it somewhat, but not as much as other songs from previous semifinals. I do like the songs that qualified for the second chance round, “Tokyo Night” and “I’ll Take You High.”

Next week we get the first national final in a month, from Finland. My favorite is “Anastacia” so I hope it wins. In addition, Norway has a second chance round and Slovakia has two more quarterfinals.