Never Made It To the Final

This weekend was the first real Super Saturday of the season, with two Eurovision entries chose and a few more preliminary competitions.

Finland held the final of their UMK. In third place was “God/Drug” by MIAU. This dark electro song isn't very Eurovisiony and probably wouldn't have worked on that stage, but it would be great in a club.

 

Switzerland had a six-song final. One of the competitors was 3 For All with “Together Forever,” which was a little to inspired by last year's contest (“We Are One”).

Hungary had another ten-song heat, from which six songs qualified. “Born To Fly” is a cute retro song by Szécsi Böbe and Szécsi Saci, who I assume are sisters. It's tempting to read their surname as “sexy” but I know it's not pronounced that way.

Iceland had their first five-song semifinal, from which two songs qualified. The only good song was a non-qualifier, “Amor” by Ásdís María Viðarsdóttir. Ásdís is channeling Florence + the Machine a little bit here. It's the kind of cool weirdness that the world expects from (non-Eurovision) Icelandic music.

Latvia held two semifinals this weekend – each with six songs qualifying out of twelve performed.

One non-qualifier from the first show was “Bučas” by Crazy Dolls. It's a weird little ukelele song (one of those words is redundant). And the mascot-costumed dancer is surprisingly still on trend.

A non-qualifier from the second show is “Pressure” by Sabine Berezina, a nice pop ballad with polished vocals and production, which is surprisingly uncommon in that country's entries in the past few years.

Sweden's first Melodifestivalen heat showcased 8 songs, as usual. Alvaro Estrella's “Bedroom” is what the Belarussian “Cheesecake” should have been. It's a little bit Bruno Mars, and pretty dirty for this family show.

Next weekend is a busy one in international broadcast competitions, as the finals (Malta), semifinals (Hungary, Iceland, Sweden), and casting shows (Belgium and Lithuania) have to compete for ratings with the Winter Olympics!