Bells and Bagpipes

Now we're getting into the pretty good stuff, with under a month left until the contest!

20. Romania
Mandinga - "Zaleilah"
Reaction: Typical Romanian dance with wannabe Spanish. Surely more indicative of the Romanian music that hits it big internationally than their previous few entries. Though it does drag on a little bit, it's nice and summery.
Best Part: The bagpipes
Rating: 3/5

19. Greece
Eleftheria Eleftheriou - "Aphrodisiac"
Reaction: A very typical Greek ethno-pop dance song. Like "Yiassou Maria", there's nothing particularly memorable and special about it (although voters disagreed with me there). It almost feels a little bland with no feeling behind it. Still, it fulfills its purpose of being fun and danceable.
Best Part: Last chorus
Rating: 3/5

18. France
Anggun - "Echo (You and I)"
Reaction: This is a very dynamic pop song. With so many changes it feels like a few songs in one. It has an interesting whistling gimmick, although it's not as good as Popular's.
Best Part: Intro
Rating: 3/5

17. Croatia
Nina Badric - "Nebo"
Reaction: This is more of a pop ballad than the other ballads from Balkan countries this year. Slow and powerful, in a kind of dated but nice way, and full of emotion. It gains energy and some guitars at the end.
Best Part: Bells during the chorus
Rating: 3/5

16. Belarus
Litesound - "We are the heroes"
Reaction: This song was a lot better in its original more rock form. Now it became unnecessarily poppy, in the way "Hasta la vista" did. Still, it has a great melody and catchy chorus.
Best Part: Chorus
Rating: 3/5