Semifinal One: The Aftermath

Hooray for the ten finalists!

Well, I just shocked myself.  I took a look at the list of songs I selected to make it through to the final, and I got nine out of ten correct.

Here are the ten finalists:

• Armenia
• Belgium
• Greece
• Estonia
• Serbia
• Hungary
• Russia
• Albania
• Romania
• Georgia

The only one I missed was Albania.  I had the Netherlands in instead.

But for those of you who aren't interested in watching the whole thing, here's some of the highlights of the contest.

The Biggest Surprise:

Elhaida Dani   "I'm Alive"   Albania

I'm happy that Albania has made it into the final.  But Dani got really lucky because her final performance was off key and rather stilted.

My guess is that she had a superb performance last night and she scored well with the juries.  It's the only explanation for the qualification.

The Biggest Disappointment:

Trijntje Oosterhuis   "Walk Along"   the Netherlands 

I'm certain that Oosterhuis and the Dutch team wanted to make the final, and the vocals were superb.  But everything else chosen was chosen to make people not vote for it.  The clothes, the camera shots, and the lighting all were weird for no good reason.

Had she performed the song as she had on The Voice Holland this would have been in the final.

The Song I Would Have Voted For:

Boggie   "Wars For Nothing"   Hungary

I enjoy watching the semifinals without knowing much about the final performances.  That means a song that I didn't necessarily rate will get my vote.   Like last year's San Marinese entry, I didn't rate Hungary's song highly.  But when seeing this live, this was the song I would have voted for.  A simple song performed perfectly will get my vote.

The Can't-Miss Song

Eduard Romanyuta   "I Want Your Love"   Moldova

It's a rare song that makes you feel like you could get a STD by watching it.   Good job Mr. Romanyuta.  You made me feel like taking a course of antibiotics.   And now you need to watch it too.

Eurovision 2015: Moldova

Epic Sax Guy rides again?

I always look forward to the Moldovan national final.  More than any country in Europe, Moldova brings a great mix of fun, quirk and raw talent to their Eurovision songs.   Moldovan entries are rarely safe and that makes watching the national final an entertaining watch.

O Melodie Pentru Europa's final took place on February 28th and the finals delivered some wacky entertainment.  Out of the sixteen songs in the final there were a lot of fun and interesting songs that would have gone over well in Vienna.

DoReDoS   "Maricica"

Mihaela Andrei   "About Love"

Sunstroke Project featuring Michael Ra   "Day After Day"

This is what I want to see from Moldova--songs that is fun, quirky, and something that will get my friends talking.   Any of them would have been a fun and worthy choice to send to Vienna.

Strangely, none of them did particularly well.  Instead Moldovans chose the lamest and most derivative song in the contest:

Eduard Romanyuta   "I Want Your Love"

Romanyuta has been trying to go to Eurovision for years, attempting to represent his native country of Ukraine three times.   However crossing the border to Moldova gave him the win and I don't understand why.  The song is drippy and outdated while the staging is horrible.  

I don't understand how this won, but I do know that it's not getting out of the semifinal.

This is the second year where Moldova hasn't chosen a good song to go to Eurovision.  I hope the Moldovan national broadcaster goes back to the drawing board.   I need more Eurovision songs like this:

Pasha Parfeny   "Lăutar"   Moldova   2012