Super Semi Songs (And Army of Lovers Rules the World)

Oddly for this time of year, there were two national finals early in the week and only semifinals on the weekend.

Back on Monday, Greece had their national final. One of the participants was "Angel" by Alex Leon feat. Giorgina. It's an interesting mix of ethnic ballad plus dance...even dubstep?


Ireland also had a national final, and didn't pick "Fire" by Zoe Alexis Bohorquez. Like the winning song, it's a contemporary dance song.


Estonia had their second semifinal, from which "Missing Light" by Flank failed to qualify. It's a strong synth-pop song.


Hungary had two semifinals in a row this weekend. My favorite non-qualifier from their first semifinal was "Valami más" by Lilla Polyák, which is the kind of dance song that keeps popping up all over this season and I still don't tire of.


My favorite non-qualifier from their second semifinal was "Tegnap még más voltál" by United. It has some similar notes in the chorus (okay, three notes) to Swedish qualifier "Bed on Fire", but the songs are like day and night.


It isn't Eurovision season without an ethnic dance song with "hop hop" in the lyrics, and Romania brought it with "Sukar Transylvania" by The Zuralia Orchestra.


Romania, like Hungary, had two semifinals in a row this weekend. From the other semifinal, my favorite song was "I Believe in Love" by Diana Hetea. It's the kind of sweet pop ballad I love in this setting. It's my favorite of all the non-qualifiers in any show this week.


Sweden had their fourth semifinal of Melodifestivalen. Honestly, I don't really like "Rockin' the Ride" by Army of Lovers. It's very repetitive and nothing much interesting happens, except the spoken part. However, the performance is brilliant and life-changing. I have no idea how this got on primetime TV. Besides this, the best part of the night was the Alcazar reunion. SVT is already bending the Eurovision rules, can't they bend some more and just send "Stay the Night" this year?


Next week: finals in Armenia, Bulgaria, Estonia, Hungary, Serbia, and Spain! Three semifinals in a row in Israel, plus a second chance round! And speaking of second chance rounds, Sweden has theirs, too!