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All the Eurovision songs are out. Let's talk about them!
You can hear all the songs (and see translated lyrics) over at Eurovision World.
Let's hear your favourites, predictions, hopes and dreams, and whatever else you have to say about this year's songs.
Lots of good ones this year, in my opinion. And lots of variety. Hard to pick a favourite.
I'm of course biased, but I like the song from my own country (Norway). Maybe not very unique or exciting, but it could do well, depending on how many rock songs are left after the semis.
UK has one of my favourites this year, which could also do well, if he can pull off the live performance. I wonder if he'll bring his home-made synthesizer to the stage, even if he probably won't be allowed to use it.
Moldova is, as usual, lots of fun! Really hoping they qualify for the grand final.
Austria is this year's most underrated song. If it qualifies for the grand final, I need to memorise those dance moves and get my dance license in order. He needs to practice performing it some more though.
Finland is the bookmaker favourite to win this year. I have my doubts, but I really like the song. Probably a good thing we didn't send Rybak this year, because his fiddling would look pathetic next to Lampenius.
We need to talk about Israel. They nearly won the two last years, by rigging the vote, and just got a slap on the wrist and a warning for it. Several countries are boycotting the contest this year because Israel hasn't been thrown out, both over the vote rigging and that needlessly brutal war in Gaza. This song is likely to win the televote, so unless the juries more or less agree on a single song they think deserves to win, there's a real risk that this may get a completely undeserved win.
I just realised Austria is the host, so they auto-qualify for the grand final. There's a real risk of them getting the dreaded 0 points! He really needs to practice, and they should maybe liven up the stage show a bit.
Yeah, the Israel thing is the main reason why I stopped following Eurovision. The genocide should have been enough reason to ban them from the competition (and I'm looking at you too, Russia). But even without that, the blatant rule breaking and cheating should have also disqualified them. Having them also censor the artists on the program from criticizing them is just plain insulting.
If they let a genocidal warmongering country who cheats at everything in, why not just let in the US? /s
The real question I think, is why Russia is banned, Ukraine has been allowed to have overtly political songs, performances, and videos (recall that they had a video that was clips of idealized Ukrainian soldiers in war zones), audience support for Ukrainian political choices has not been censored, and performers have not been punished for criticizing Russia. These choices seem completely hypocritical.
I'm not saying that Russia should be allowed, but rather that the completely different treatment of Russia and Israel has been quite dismaying. Either allow both, taking the stance that being apolitical is more important than opposing genocide, or ban both.
(Yes, Russia nominally can't participate now because they are no longer active EBU members, but they suspended their EBU memberships after being banned from Eurovision.)
From the Nordic selection this year I'm going with Denmark. It's their first entry I've ever liked, and despite the Swedish one almost winning me over at the last minute with their (classic) late reveal, I'm sticking and not twisting.