Eurovision Song Contest, 2022

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coming up, it won't be too long until we know the Swedish entry, today is semi-finals day (which I don't recall them doing in the past?), with the final next weekend. There isn't any still in the race i'd consider exceptionally 'bad', Sweden is doing its usual pretty good tournament.

We've done it for many years actually, but it has been rebranded. We had the Andra Chansen (Second Chance) for many years, this is the same. Songs placed 3rd and 4th in their respective heats compete for the last few spots in the final. Mediocre round as usual, because these are already the competitors we've said no to!

That's a peculiar thing to rebrand. It's also a bit of an odd thing to do in general anyway "Here's the people you've said no to already! Still a no, changed your mind? Let's see!"

Australia's song is in, and its... a weird one. Sheldon Riley - Not The Same I don't see this doing very well on the night, given the other songs we've already had announced.
Denmark also revealed Reddi - The Show - in a way, it feels like two songs in one, the song changes so much between start and middle. Either way, I kinda like it! Denmark also tends to do quite well, so it might be a hit.

[Chrill]

Hmm, not sure I'm a fan of either Denmark or Australia this year, two countries I'm often fond of!

Really, I think my favourites so far are Italy (although Soldi was far stronger than Brividi) and Norway. It's silly, the banana anthem, but it's catchy too. Lithuania and Albania are fine too.

Also, I'm almost related to the Polish entry. My mother has a half sister (same father). That half sister, my half-aunt I suppose, is cousins with Krystian Ochman through her mother. So my half-aunt's cousin, right? That adds up.

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Well, it finally happened.
The United Kingdom has announced its song, Sam Ryder - Space Man, and you know what? It isn't bad, we might actually get into the top 15 this year...
Moldova have Zdob şi Zdub & Fraţii Advahov - Trenuleţul - It's a really fun folk music song in Romanian, and I really hope we see it in the finals, I can imagine them putting on a really good stage act for it.
Speaking of Romanian, Romania have announced WRS - Llámame - I find this one a bit odd, doesn't ring any bells for me
also of note, Belgium released Jerémie Makiese - Miss You - A decent song from Belgium for me, although Belgium quite often send what i'd call decent acts, but either doesn't qualify for the final, or in the final doesn't do as well as I'd have expected.

I think this is one of the strongest years for a while, with only Azerbaijan, Sweden, Portugal & Armenia left to announce, Portugal & Sweden generally give us pretty decent songs, so we have another banger to come out of those 4, i'd say!

[Chrill]

I'm probably spoilt by 2020 and 2021, two very strong years. To me, there are no really impressive entries in 2022. We could get a thrilling final, with a closely fought battle, but no songs I'll really keep in my playlist. Starting to think Sweden could do well if we send Cornelia Jakobs, since the opposition does not impress me.

[Chrill]

We did pick Cornelia. It got close, with Anders Bagge getting a lot of votes from the people but not as popular with the international jury. Thank you, juries, you saved Sweden this time. Somehow...



Lyrics way too good for a Eurovision song. Perfectly toned down visuals on stage. Yup, this is not bad. My previous prediction, 13th on the night, will have to be amended. This is top 10, maybe top 5. I'll call 7th for now.

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Lyrics way too good for a Eurovision song. Perfectly toned down visuals on stage. Yup, this is not bad.

It's certainly a great song, although I will keep my eyes out in the future to see what becomes of Anders Bagge, he grew on me quite a bit as the competition unfolded.
This year is quite strong, but it has potential, I'll agree it looks like a top 10 entry for sure. Thankfully its one of the stronger ones in Semi-Final 2, so i don't think getting out of that will be difficult.

[Chrill]

It's certainly a great song, although I will keep my eyes out in the future to see what becomes of Anders Bagge, he grew on me quite a bit as the competition unfolded.

Not sure anything will. He's been in the music industry for 30 years but never had the courage to be on stage. His confidence in the first heat, compared to the national finals, was astounding. He seemed so much more confident in the finals!

He has been a jury member of Swedish Idol since 2008, and maybe he will release an album or something but he's always seemed happier writing for others. I think he's written one or two songs for other artists, and he did the Azerbaijani song a couple years back. He'll probably keep that up!

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So, all the songs have been revealed now! So my first top 10 of the year, hard to really guess who is going to go through the semis this year, many great songs for me here.

So this is my top 10, I may see if I can figure out who is going through each semi later on.

1 - Germany: Malik Harris - Rockstars
2 - Norway: Subwoolfer - Give That Wolf A Banana
3 - North Macedonia: Andrea - Circles
4 - Moldova: Zdob şi Zdub & Frații Advahov - Trenulețul
5 - Latvia: Citi Zēni - Eat Your Salad
6 - Ireland: Brooke - That's Rich
7 - Austria: LUM!X - Halo
8 - Belgium: Jérémie Makiese - Miss You
9 - Croatia: Mia Dimšić - Guilty Pleasure
10 - Sweden: Cornelia Jakobs - Hold Me Closer

Narrowly missed out on the top 10, Finland's The Rasmus with Jezebel, Serbia's Konstrakta - In Corpore Sano, and the UK's Sam Ryder - Space Man.
Would love to know everyone else's thoughts on this years songs, now we know them all.

[Chrill]

I haven't got a top 10 yet, there are just too many rather weak songs this year.

Those I do sort of enjoy are Sweden, Lithuania, Poland, Italy, and I suppose Norway somewhat.

The Finnish entry is really weak, incredibly weak. I could see them not qualifying, the name alone is not worth enough. UK's entry, Space Man, isn't bad and could finish in the top half depending on the staging and performance on the night.

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there are just too many rather weak songs this year.

We're total opposites here. Eurovision did an official recap of all the songs, an excerpt of each song played next to each other. I can easily listen to the entire thing and not say "wow I hate this one" or "this is just awful". Don't get me wrong, some of them don't click with me, but its just as the genre isn't what i'd listen to, more than lack of quality for me.
There's a few disappointments, Icelands entry is a little underwhelming but they're following in the footsteps of Daði og Gagnamagnið, who I still think would have walked with the trophy in 2020 had the tournament not been cancelled, so i try to not judge them too harsh, as i think that is just "oh, they went somewhere different this time, frowny face", on the total opposite side is North Macedonia. I absolutely love their entry, I think it's possibly the strongest entry I've seen by them. I think they can easily beat their best of 7th this year. It's a country i usually dismiss immediately, but it came out of no where how much this song resonates with me.

I'm quite clearly just a lover of cheesy Europop it seems!

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Alright Adam, I think I have a top ten for you!

1. France: Alvan & Ahez - Fulenn
2. Sweden: Cornelia Jakobs - Hold me Closer
3. Albania: Ronela Hajati - Sekret
4. Czechia: We are Domi - Lights Off
5. Greece: Amanda Tenfjord - Die Together
6. Estonia: Stefan - Hope
7. Norway: Subwoolfer - Give That wolf a Banana
8. United Kingdom: Sam Ryder - Space Man
9. Ukraine: Kalush Orchestra - Stefania
10. Italy: Mahmood & BLANCO - Brividi

We really don't have a lot of entries in common this year, do we? And for myself personally, a distinct lack of Scandinavian entries. I really don't think Denmark will qualify, and Finland is difficult too. Iceland may also struggle. Norway and Sweden should find the finals easily.

France is this year's SHUM really, which is the one song I've really kept on repeat since last year. It's growing on me.
I also can't shake the feeling that Sweden has entered a song too good for Eurovision. It's just genuine. I rarely if ever rate Sweden this highly.

I'm also quite ok with Lithuania, Slovenia, and Spain, but the top 10 only holds ten.

[Chrill]

Updates. Dropping Czechia and Norway from my top 10. In comes Poland's River and Lithuania's LPS with Disko. Awesome stuff. Lithuania is criminally low in the polls.

I can't help but feel the winner is outside of the top 3, maybe even the top 5, in odds right now. Ukraine will get some sympathy televotes, but the juries will be vary of voting for a country clearly unable to host the next round. Italy is simply sending their weakest song since 2018 (Soldi, Fai Rumore, and Zitti e Buoni are all amazing), and Sweden is still suffering from our early 2010s success. Sweden often does well in jury votes, but could suffer a bit in televotes. I predict a top 5 for Sweden, but no victory.

It could go to the UK if the Gods of Eurovision have mercy, or Spain because SloMo is a party bop. I wouldn't put it past Poland or Greece to steal the win though.

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I don't really rate the Ukrainian entry this year, but you're definitely right the public at least will almost certainly give sympathy voting to some degree. If they do win, it'll be interesting to see how they handle that situation with regards to hosting.

I'm going to have to update my top 10 too, based upon the songs that have made it into regular play on my Spotify. So out goes Jérémie Makiese (Belgium), and in goes Serbia's Konstrakta - In Corpore Sano.

As for that top 15 by winning chance, a few questionable % chance of winnings i'd say. I'm fairly sure the UK won't get into the top 5, for example. Greece is a bop, but I'm not sure its top 10. On the other side though, I'd say Portugal & France, maybe Serbia are rated a little too low and will be top 10s.

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The Eurovision YouTube channel has recently been aflutter with news from the event, with today (well maybe yesterday?) being the last day of first rehearsals, although so far no videos specifically of those rehearsals are out, and with the event kicking off for Semi-Final 1 on Tuesday 10th May.

So here are my guestimations as to who will go through the first Semi Final! Let's hope I do better than 2021!

There's some big names here, not just in songs but also countries. There's so many great songs this year and so many of them have lyrics & themes so above Eurovision, so this will be tricky, but here are the ten I think have the most chance of going through;
Norway has to be the more obvious of this group to go through, and I think the other obvious one is Ukraine. Whether on song merit or the events of the current crisis affecting them.
There are very few songs in this group I actively dislike, but we have 8 slots left to try getting them all into;
In alphabetical order of country, I think Armenia, Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Denmark, Latvia, Moldova & Switzerland. Although I'm a little skeptical of Moldova & Switzerland, they could easily end up going to Portugal and Netherlands. However I'll stick with Moldova & Switzerland as my choices. Let's see how bad i do!

[Chrill]

My bets for Semi Final 1

Certain to go through:
1. Ukraine
2. Greece

Fairly sure to go through:
3. Norway

Could go through:
4. Albania
5. Netherlands
6. Armenia
7. Latvia
8. Lithuania
9. Portugal
10. Austria
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11. Switzerland
12. Moldova (it sucks in English and the staging is very meh, so I'm dropping them out)
13. Croatia

Difficult going through:
14. Iceland
15. Denmark
16. Slovenia (but I love it!)
17. Bulgaria


I really don't get Portugal or Switzerland. Two of this year's worst entries. But people seem to like them.

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My bets for Semi Final 2

Certain to go through:
1. Sweden
2. Poland

Fairly sure to go through:
3. Serbia
4. Australia
5. Finland
6. Estonia
7. Cyprus

Could go through:
8. San Marino (the opposite of Moldova. Have you seen the photos? He's riding a bull. This is a 3-minute softcore porn with a weak Måneskin entry, but it's enough for the top 10 I think)
9. Belgium
10. Czechia
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11. Malta
12. Azerbaijan

Difficult going through:
13. Romania
14. Ireland
15. North Macedonia
16. Montenegro
17. Georgia
18. Israel

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I might as well bet the entire final then? Eh, I'll save that for another day. But I'm starting to lean toward a repeat of Italy, despite my earlier comments. Despite the OVERWHELMING Ukraine support in the polls, I just don't know if it will happen.

[Chrill]

My bets for Semi Final 1

1. Ukraine
2. Greece
3. Norway
4. Albania
5. Netherlands
6. Armenia
7. Latvia
8. Lithuania
9. Portugal
10. Austria
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11. Switzerland
12. Moldova
13. Croatia
14. Iceland
15. Denmark
16. Slovenia
17. Bulgaria

I was honestly not expecting Switzerland, even though I put them 11th here. Really happy Iceland went through, but I could have done without Switzerland for sure.

Oh well, 7/10 is OK.

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Well, that showed me! I only got 5/10!

So many great acts didn't get through, I'm really surprised for Latvia's Eat Your Salad, perhaps it was a little too agenda pushing for voters? Another i am surprised didn't get through was Albania's "Sekret", another performer who had great energy and i thought appeal were Denmark's Reddi, who also didn't get through. I thought for sure Iceland were one's that wouldn't get through, but they did!
Moldova had some amazing energy for their performance, and I didn't know their performers, Zdob și Zdub, had participated before, twice in fact. For Moldova's debut in 2005, again in 2011, and now in 2022. All 3 times they qualified and appeared (or will appear) in the final.

Let's hope I can do better for SF2! Here's my thought of 10 for that, and this one is really difficult for me, for me SF2 is the round of death, there's so many amazing songs here that I love so much, and i think all have the potential to go into the top 10 of the finals if they get through.
San Marino,
Serbia,
Poland,
Romania,
Belgium,
Sweden,
Czechia / Czech Republic,
Australia,
North Macedonia,
Ireland

So many of the songs in this Semi Final are just so strong lyrically, they're so real feeling. North Macedonia, Sweden & Ireland for me at least, are songs made for the mainstream pop scene globally, rather than just the silly lets have fun evening that Eurovision presents.

[Chrill]

Like I said for SF2, I see very few countries on the edge of qualifying. San Marino, Malta, Azerbaijan, Belgium, and Czechia will fight for 2 spots. The other 8 I feel rather safe about.

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One thing I forgot to point out was the staging. How amazing was that? A constant water feature/fountain below the performers stage. That was so cool to see, whoever was in charge of staging there, really good job. I just hope it didn't make the performers, or audience, feel the need to go to the toilet too often!

So looking at the news this morning, apparently, Eurovision is fixed! By that i mean, people were upset their favourites didn't get through so wrote it was a fix and the media are like, oh hey that's cool, lets write about that! Don't get me wrong, a lot of songs i like didn't get through, doesn't mean its a fix though. We all know Ukraine, Sweden or Italy will likely win it this year, doesn't make it a fix though

In surprising news, the bookies have the UK currently the 2nd favourite to win, although i find this as unlikely as discovering an oil patch under my house. I don't think we'll get top 5, just because of 'the curse' of the UK, hah. Top 10, mayhaps!

[Chrill]

In surprising news, the bookies have the UK currently the 2nd favourite to win, although i find this as unlikely as discovering an oil patch under my house. I don't think we'll get top 5, just because of 'the curse' of the UK, hah. Top 10, mayhaps!

It might just be that the UK has a betting culture others do not, so more bets are placed for you due to more Brits betting. I think the UK can go top 5, possibly.

I still think the Ukrainian entry isn't a worthy winner. It's a weaker song than last year in the chorus, and then the verses are just not my thing. It'd qualify any year, but top 10 would be difficult.

The more I hear, I feel Sweden and Poland are my favourites. France is the one I listen to the most, but it does not translate that well to the Eurovision stage.