Hold Me...Holding Out For A Hero?

This week in Eurovision rankings: a lot of references to other songs! So much for judging songs on their own.


25.United Kingdom
Bonnie Tyler - "Believe In Me"
Reaction: It's a better effort than last year, and better than plenty of songs this year, but it's still a middle of the road country ballad by a past-prime singer. In Eurovision, it's hard to think about the song separate from an artist's past catalogue if it just doesn't meet that standard. For example, I can't judge "What If We" on its own; I have to compare it, infavorably, to "Angel." And so I can't judge "Believe In Me" without thinking of Tyler's work with Jim Steinman. Actually, I can't listen to it without wanting to listen to said work. Judging it only against the standards of this set of 39 songs, it just ends up a little lower than the middle.
Best Part: the bridge that comes the closest to the feeling of said best work
Rating: 3/5

24. Italy
Marco Mengoni - "L'essenziale"
Reaction: This pop ballad by a strong singer is almost as dual-sided as the other Italian-language song this year. Its verses are slow and weak, but the chorus is stronger. It's not too exciting, this is one of those songs that sounds really beautiful while you're sleepy. That might not be enough to elevate it beyond the other livelier songs this year.
Best Part: instrumental bridge and last chorus
Rating: 3/5

23. Georgia
Noda Tatishvili & Sophie Gelovani - "Waterfall"
Reaction: There's no way to talk about this without referencing the songwiter's other similar songs, since this song was clearly picked for its winning writing team. It's very "Quedate Conmigo" meets "In A Moment Like This", with Georgia's "Shine" mixed in, and some of the feeling of "Running Scared". So yes, by that logic and with good staging it has top ten written all over it. But look at my previous years' rankings: I never really connected with those songs and this one earns the same reaction. It's a little too saccharine and plodding to match the win of running scared. Its high point is the fun cheesiness of the chorus.
Best Part: First two lines of the chorus
Rating: 3/5

22. Azerbaijan
Farid Mammadov - "Hold Me"
Reaction: Azerbaijan has had a short but extremely successful run in Eurovision. All their entries have been high quality and achieved high placings.Like their past few entries, this is a crowd-pleasing pop ballad. This song also draws comparison to "Mr. Nobody," which might share a few notes in the chorus with this one but is still a much better song. It's also drawn connections to Dima Bilan's "Believe," which might as well just be because of similarities in the singers' fashion styles and that they're both ballads from win-hungry ex-Soviet countries. Maybe the 2008 song we need to look towards is "Day After Day." That first effort and this song were good efforts to get a good place, and don't have that "this might win" something special that demand entry into their top 5 placing streak from 2009-2012.
Best Part: Last chorus
Rating: 3/5

21. FYR Macedonia
Esma & Lozano - "Pred Da Se Razdeni"
Reaction: This is a mix of ethnic folk and pop. I really like Lozano's part, which has all the makings for a big Balkan pop ballad. Esma's part is some great ethnic folk. On their own, these two parts are great, but the mix makes both parts feel out of place. I can't judge this song without returning to "Imperija", the song that the duo was originally supposed to have performed. It probably would have been in my top 5.
Best Part: Lozano's chorus
Rating: 3/5