Although really, it was all about one song in particular for us!……….
NORWAY
The third heat of their pre-selection for Eurovision gave us our favourite song of the whole competition – ‘Haba Haba’ by Stella Mwangi. And for once, the Norwegians actually agreed with us and she finished top of the vote and goes straight to the final! ‘Haba Haba’ is a fantastic song with a brilliantly catchy pop chorus, and we found the performance so charming too. We would LOVE to see it at Eurovision. How could anyone not fall in love with this………
Amazing!
The other song qualifying directly to the final last night was ‘Dance Tonight’ by The BlackSheeps. And whilst we weren’t fond of the song during the week, it actually grew on us after seeing the girls perform it live last night. It definitely comes across better on stage than in stereo.
The two songs qualifying for the second chance round which takes place next Saturday night (in which eight songs will compete for the remaining two slots in the grand final) were ‘Nothing Remains’ by Susperia (good) and ‘Fire Below’ by The Lucky Bullets (awful beyond comprehension). We were actually quite surprised that Susperia didn’t go straight to the final – normally the token metal act is guaranteed to qualify every year. Plus, they got to perform the song twice since there was a technical glitch during the TV broadcast of their first performance.
Sadly missing out on progressing any further in the competition was our second fave of the night – ‘SOS’ by Girl Happy. You can watch the performance below, which admittedly was a tad lacklustre. It should have been bigger. And was it just us that were expecting something amazing involving LED’s and the lead singer’s shirt after seeing that circuit board lodged on the back of it?!
Although all of the nine songs thus far eliminated from the competition have a shot at a place in the second chance round. NRK will pick two of them this week, and we think that they’re basing it on voting percentages. We’re hoping for Marika and SOS. And wouldn’t be disappointed with Carina Dahl and Sichelle.
Once again, the interval act was a treat comprising two former MGP success stories. This time it was last year’s winner Didrik Solli-Tangen and the big hit of last year, Bjørn Johan-Muri. Together they performed Bjørn’s song ‘Yes Man’. To be honest, they looked a bit mis-matched on stage, but we guess that that’s part of the whole point perhaps? And on the close-up’s of Didrik holding the mic to his mouth, we got to see some pretty impressive bicep action going on!
ICELAND
To be perfectly honest, there’s not a lot we can comment on here, as we didn’t like any of the songs on offer. Three progressed to the final as opposed the usual two (???) and since it was the last heat, that means that we now know the seven songs that will be competing in next week’s grand final. And they are…..
Haraldur Reynisson – Ef ég Hefði Vængi (Haraldur Reynisson)
Erna Hrönn Ólafsdóttir – Ástin Mín Eina (Arnar Ástráðsson)
Yohanna – Nótt (María Björk Sverrisdóttir, Marcus Frenell, Beatrice – Magnús Þór Sigmundsson)
Matthías Matthíasson & Erla Björg Káradóttir – Eldgos (Matthías Stefánsson – Kristján Hreinsson)
Jógvan Hansen – Ég Lofa (music: Vigni Snæ Vigfússon, Jógvan Hansen; lyrics: Sigurður Örn Jónsson)
Sigurjón’s friends – Aftur Heim – (music: Sigurjón Brink; lyrics: Þórunn Erna Clausen)
Magni Ásgeirsson – Ég Trúi á Betra Líf (music: Hallgrímur Óskarsson; lyrics: Eiríkur Hauksson, Gerard James Borg)
We’re strongly supporting Yohanna’s ‘Nótt’, which we think is absolutely incredible and should hopefully win the competition. Although it faces some considerable competition from the song and the sentiment behind Song 6 – ‘Aftur Heim’ by Sigurjón’s friends. Their participation is in wake of the tragic circumstances of the song’s composer and original performer, Sigurjón Brink, passing away a few weeks back. And so it’s fair to assume that a great deal of votes will be coming that song’s way in next week’s final, for its situation alone, as well as those votes that will stem from an appreciation of the song too.
We also quite like Erna Hrönn Ólafsdóttir’s song too, and so we’ve linked to the performances of both her and Yohanna’s songs above, in case you haven’t already seen them.
FINLAND
Again, nothing this weekend filled us with anything resembling even the tiniest bit of excitement.
As with Iceland, it was Finland’s third and final heat over the weekend, so we now the full line up of the ten songs that will compete in next Friday’s grand final. The ten songs are made up of the three winning songs from each of the three heats, plus a jury wildcard that was chosen from the six eliminated songs from each heat.
Below is the list, and there is only one that we’re remotely interested in, which we’ve highlighted with a link to its performance. And yes, we’re as surprised as you are with our choice! But what an uninteresting selection of songs. BRING BACK JIMI CONSTANTINE!
Johanna Iivanainen: ‘Luojani Mun’
Marko Maunuksela: ‘Synkän Maan Tango’
Cardiant: ‘Rapture In Time’
Milana Misic: ‘Sydämeni Kaksi Maata’
Father McKenzie: ‘Good Enough’
Paradise Oskar: ‘Da Da Dam’
Eveliina Määttä: ‘Dancing in the Dark’
Sami Hintsanen: ‘Täältä Maailmaan’
Saara Aalto: ‘Blessed With Love’
Stala & So.: ‘Pamela’
