Best Semi-Final Non Qualifiers– Over the last two weeks, hundreds of our readers have voted for their Top 5 Best Eurovision entries that did not make it to the final. Each voter had ten points to distribute: 5 to his favorite, 4 to the second place etc. Out of these points we calculated the ultimate Top 15 of your favorite Semi-Final non qualifiers! You can see the other places and our other rankings here! Your place 3 goes to Slovenia.
The youngest performer of the 2012 edition was sent by Slovenia: Eva Boto was a complete newcomer after she had won the Slovenian casting selection “Misija Evrovizija”. Her song “Verjamem” (“I Believe”) was written by Vladimir Graić, the composer of the 2007 winning entry „Molitva“ and accordingly had a lot in common with Marija Serifovic’s song: A dramatic Balkan ballad which Eva and her backings performed with lots of drama. In a semi with tough competition from other Balkan countries, Slovenia failed to reach the final and ended in second to last place.
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SURPRISE !!! :p
I really liked Slovenia 2012 ( 9/12 and my #4 this year ) so of course I believe it belonged into the Final instead of Malta , but I didn’t vote for it on this list simply because I knew it would get plethora of support anyway ( mostly because of it being recent ).
It is really exciting now !!! Which one out of : Slovakia 10 , Netherlands 12 and Sweden 10 will be left outside?
My money on Slovakia 2010 !
My money’s on Sweden ’10!
Yay, my country Slovenia! Very surprised to see “Verjamem” make it to the top 3!
To see Eva Boto miss out this year was painful enough, to find out that she ended up second last on the semi-final makes it even more painful.
Wow!!! Great surprise !!! This was in my top 10 this year. Really good job, Slovenia ! So talented singer xD This song deswerved to be in the final much more than Albania, Malta, Norway and others that reached the final. Greetings from Spain !!
“Molitva Light”: pleasant but conventional. I think it deserved a higher position than it got, but there were simply better songs in that semi-final so the elimination was fair.
So what if it was “Molitva light”? It was a well composed and well sung credible entry which definitely desrved to be higher than errrr Georgia or Ukraine ?!!! imo.
Besides there was a “Senhora do mar light” as well ( Vida minha ) and nobody seems to care or mention anything about it! Why critisize only Slovenia for sending a copycat?
I agree that it was well sung and that it deserved a higher place than Ukraine and Georgia (but who didn’t?). But as a composition, I can’t agree with you. In my ears, this was just an uninspired try to make a new “Molitva” but with no new ideas. The melody was weak, non-appealing and didn’t gave me any goosebumps (unlike “Molitva”). And that is what I meant with “Molitva Light”; a song in the same genre but much weaker. I’m not against “copycats”, as in re-using old formulas, in general. I consider. for example, “Forogj világ” to be a copycat of “Wild dances”, but I like it much more than the “original”.
I think that you cannot compare “Molitva/Verjamem” and “Senhora/Vida minha” because “Verjamem” copies “Motitva” right down to detail (those dramatic ooh – ooh – ooooohs of the backings) whereas “Senhora” and “Vida minha” only share the fado influence in general. There are no similarities in the melody and only very few in harmonies and orchestration. Moreover, where is the rumba in “Senhora”?
And don’t get me wrong. I do not think that “Vida minha” is a masterpiece either but irrespective of quality, it was a much more independent and original approach songwise within the framework of ESC.
Finally, it is only natural that “Verjamem” gets more attention than “Vida minha” because the Slovenian song was a fan favourite whereas hardly anyone ever mentioned the Portuguese song. Consequently Eva’s song gets more and more detialed reactions from both those who love it and those who do not see / hear its appeal.
Hi Togravus
I agree, The Portuguese was largely ignored in the beginning but it did gather a bit more support from fans on the sites once performed at the contest. I still love it and wished it had made the final and I actually prefer it to Senhora! I did like Verjamen too though and do not think it deserved to come second last in its semi final, that was a bit of a travesty in my eyes.
One of my all time favourites. I adore this song!
2012 effect loll! I do not disagree though. Slovenia 2012 was 15th in my list. Well I guess No1 is Sweden 2011 and No2 the Netherlands 2012!
Sweden 2011 qualified….
I liked the song at first but when the rehearslas began it went down on my list.Eva didn’t deliver like she did during the EMA final.Maybe,she was not experienced enough for this song.And yes.I also think it’s the 2012 effect.
Indeed, Dimitri.
The song’s okish but of course it suffers a lot from the comparisong to “Molitva”. Vocally she was neat though shaky, but it came out as a decent entry as far as musicality is concerned. The visual outcome was a disaster: imo the Barbara Dex Award 2012 with the pompous ridiculous dresses, an absolute lack of charisma that is almost insulting to the camera and an over the top performance that even forgets to be dramatic. All in all, it did not belong to the finale. I understand that having a good singer and not a bad song means that 17th is too harsh but 3rd best here is unfair and I bet that if we did that contest in 5 years, this song would drop down (Slovenia 2005 is a much better underrated entry imo)!
Congratulations to the gold medal in handball.
thank you! we all got very crazy in France for it!
It absolutely does not deserve to be on this list. As Eulenspiegel has mentioned, the song is “Molitva”-light, but more than that. The song feels like an incomplete composition, like it just cuts off when there should be a minute left in the song. The performance was tacky and tried too hard to show off her innocence with the white on white on white. Yes, Eva is a good singer, but the song was nothing, in the end. My 31st this year with a 4/12.
Slovenia 12 as n. 3?! The song is good, but Eva performed it in a very damaging manner. The dress and the main backing singer did not help either. There where much better choices in 2012 such as Bulgaria, for instance. Belgium 11 could be here too.
2012 effect ¿? She has an incredible voice …
Eva is a talented young lady but I agree with what Eulenspiegel, Morgan, Patrick and Shevek have written. The whole package came across as rather tacky and lukewarm imo. 6/12 and 26th place on my list.
The problem with this was that the stage production wasn’t up to a dramatic standard an was a bit tacky. Great voice but needed more sophistication an drama
Certainly deserves to be on the list. The performance might have not been the best, but the song was great (better than Molitva in my opinion), and as it has already been said, Eva does have some talent.
Europe didn’t like this entry, this would’ve ranked last if Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia-Hercegovina and Macedonia hadn’t been there. The only (other) country that awarded her some point was Germany (4 points).
I personally like the whole perforance but I knew she would stuggle to qualify. I had ranked her as 11th in her semifinal, I reckon that 17th it’s a bit underrated.
Btw 2- Netherlands 2012 1-Sweden 2010. I’m surprised (and sad) that Slovakia 2010 won’t be in this top
TBF She sang it flat as hell and so did the backing singers!
This baby must have been very tired ! Hi Efi !
Hi Donnie!
the baby was fine, full of energy, but then Eva started singing….
(bad me! bad!)
It’s a nice song, I thought it could make it and I was shocked it ended up so low. However, these women in white ruined the whole song imo.
I liked it very much, shame that it was so under the shade of its predecessor.
One of my favourite songs in ESC 2012, shame it didnt make the final, easily better than the dross from Lithuania (think cruise ship cabaret) Turkey (awful whiny voice) or Ireland (demented 12 year olds)
I thought this was a great song. Not as good as Slovenia’s 2011 entry, but that was a winner for me. A lot of rubbish finished ahead of it. I wonder if it would have bet Englebert. Most would have, but then The BBC did compete in any semi did they????
I would not of mind it qualifying but its third(!) last place or something around that was to expect. Did not get why so many saw it in with good chances.
I am glad this amazing entry is featured on this list. Truly one of the very underrated entries this year and I am glad to see both the entries I considered they deserved qualification featured (the other being Switzerland). The song itself has the elegance ‘Molitva” lacked thus winning this comparison by a mile. Eva is an extraordinary singer that gave a flawless performance the night of the semifinal and the staging might have not been the best but definately added to the atmosphere. A truly underrated entry and probably the best Slovenian entry ever with 2011 and 1995 not far behind. Slovenia always suffers in terms of results but I was pretty certain that this masterpiece would be recognised. Oh well..I do hope they continue trying as hard as the last 2 years.