Malmö – The first semi-final of the 2013 Eurovision Song Conest is over and we have our first 10 qualifyers! Click here to check who made it to the final and tell us what you thought of the contest! Some surprises, some shock results based on the official bookmakers or the press predictions are awaiting you!
As a reminder, these were the 16 entries participating tonight:
Austria: Natália Kelly – Shine
Estonia: Birgit – Et Uus Saaks Alguse
Slovenia: Hannah – Straight Into Love
Croatia: Klapa s mora – Mižerja
Denmark: Emmelie de Forest – Only Teardrops
Russia: Dina Garipova – What If
Ukraine: Zlata Ognevich – Gravity
The Netherlands: Anouk – Birds
Montenegro: Who See – Igranka
Lithuania: Andrius Pojavis – Something
Belarus: Alyona Lanskaya – Solayoh
Moldova: Aliona Moon – O Mie
Ireland: Ryan Dolan – Only Love Survives
Cyprus: Despina Olympiou – An Me Thimasai
Belgium: Roberto Bellarosa – Love Kills
Serbia: Moje 3 – Ljubav Je Svuda
And the 10 qualifyers tonight were:
- Moldova: Aliona Moon – O Mie
- Lithuania: Andrius Pojavis – Something
- Ireland: Ryan Dolan – Only Love Survives
- Estonia: Birgit – Et Uus Saaks Alguse
- Belarus: Alyona Lanskaya – Solayoh
- Denmark: Emmelie de Forest – Only Teardrops
- Russia: Dina Garipova – What If
- Belgium: Roberto Bellarosa – Love Kills
- Ukraine: Zlata Ognevich – Gravity
- The Netherlands: Anouk – Birds
For Moldova this is the 5th qualification in a row, they only missed qualification in 2008. However, it is their first qualification with a song without a single English word! Lithuania has now qualified three years in a row, each time almost as a surprise to many predictions. Ireland has qualified for the fourth year in a row, and the first time without Jedward since Niamh in 2010. Estonia also qualified for the third year in a row, having missed the final only once, in 2010, since the introduction of their Eesti Laul formula. And the second in a row and third overall of Eesti Laul songs performed in Estonian to do so. Belarus qualified for the first time since 2010, when they also finished last in the final. Denmark has not missed the final since 2007. Russia has always qualified to the final since the introduction to semi-finals. Belgium qualified for the second time ever from a semifinal, and it is the first time for French-speaking ORTBF to do so (coming close in 2011 missing the final for only 1 point!) Ukraine never missed the final since the introduction of the semi-final formula. Netherlands qualified for the second time ever from a semifinal, the last time being in 2004, the first year of semi-final!
At the press confernece, the 10 qualifyers will pick whether they will perform in the first half of the final or the second half, the final draw will be made, based on this, by SVT:
Estonia picked first half, Denmark picked second half, Russia picked first half, Ukraine picked second half, Netherlands picked first half, Belgium picked first half, Belarus picked first half, Moldova picked first half, Ireland picked second, Lithuania picked first half!
So what do you think of these 10 countries making it? Tell us if you got the prediction right and if you agree with the results.
Also it is time to comment on Petra’s hosting, the interval act, Lynda’s sketch, the overall design of the year, the camera shtos and directing. What do you think of the contest so far? And don’t forget to tune in for Thursday’s second semi-final!
The Eurovision Times 
The new voting system, guys, how come no one else is mentioning this? It’s helped a lot a song like Belgium because it’s just not hateful like Serbia, who probably was top 10 on televotes with such a heavy balkan (and austria) filled semi but got last with the jury…
I prefer the new system in front of the old. In the long run, I hope that the new one will make the end of silly gimmicks in the long run.
Yeah but Cyprus failed so it did not worked for all.
it cant save a song last in televote… it’s gonna save songs that do averagy over songs that do first and last… serbia did high in televote I presume but took a beating from juries whereas cyprus was most definitely last in televote, thus incapable of making it
it’s not that it worked or not, it’s just that it changes things…
That means like songs like Belarus and Belgium did better with the juries than we thought.
And, whatever points system is used there are still going to be surprises because at the end of the day, people are the ones doing the voting and everything is all subjective and based on opinions and human reactions.
Its not football where a goal is tangible scoring.
trust me, in football a lot of goals are not that tangible
LOL, of course there is controversy but at least at the end of the day you have some subjective scoring system.
Plus 90% or more of goals scored are legitimate.
How do you judge “overall impression of an act” for instance? What does that even mean?
oh it means nothing, that i agree
Then there are people also voting for a song they like without listening to the vocals, yet others vote for looks, yet others vote because they like the artist so it becomes more than just a song contest.
however, thank god the overall impression is flat out horrible from serbia though :p
LOL, yes those dresses were bad but I thought as a performance, this was their best yet.
But Cyprus is not certain last. It might not even got help from juries at all. What I am saying is that juries helped again some countries we did not thought they would support.
This definetely played a role because of the ranking after #10. In other years 11-16 didn’t matter because they were not counted so anything between 11-16 counted the same. This year 11-16 matters because every position counts for the final ranking.
But the fact jurie’s overall result will never be published makes it hard for us to predict anything. The countries that made it to the top10 did well at least in one of the two. I am really curious to see the split result of Belgium. It might have not been dead last televoting alone. But I expect huge support by juries. I can’t explain it otherwise.
Add me to the list of people that want to see full voting results.
Why hide them?
It takes ages to collect all these votes. Now, with the new system that every country ranks all other entries it is even more complicated….to many rankings! Too many rules it does not sound as song contest. It is like ranking gamble with diverse music background lol.
Such an interesting semi-final with some big surprises – and that’s another reason why I love ESC. I voted for Netherlands :D and Montenegro :-(
Montenegro and Cyprus are the ones that have been unfairly ousted IMO. “Igranka” lit up the stage, great camerawork and decent vocals from Nina. “No Montenegro” was trending on the UK Twitter after the show – it went down really well here! Gutted for them.
And Cyprus too. I thought Despina’s performance was captivating. I really believe Cyprus is the most underrated country in Eurovision sometimes.
Austria was bland, Croatia not as good as I had anticipated, Serbia was visually very poor, Slovenia ok but quickly forgotten.
Anouk’s performance was decent, but I feel she needs to connect with the camera a bit more.. look up a bit. However i’m delighted to see that The Netherlands will be back on the grand stage again. Congrats! :)
Overall, I was impressed with the show. Usually the first semi feels a bit empty, but the crowd were lively. The postcards and butterfly graphics were nice and I really like the stage! Can’t wait for Thursday! :D
Completely Agree. My favourites were Montenegro, Denmark, Austria(although the performance wasn’t as good as it could have been) and Netherlands (dubbed “Bird Woman” by my friend). I can see why Belgium qualified as it isn’t a bad song, my guess is that the qualifiers who only just made it were probably
8th Belarus (only got high due to Russia and Ukraine)
9th Belgium
10th Lithuania
After this semi though, I am very much supporting Netherlands and I would guess the UK televotes top 3 were Netherlands Montenegro and Ireland.
SVT must be proud of its DRAW, the way the non qualifyers were superbly well spread through the show (1st, 3rd, 4th, 9th, 14th and 16th)
Let’s all wait for PeR to qualify and pick the “second half” draw and close the show on saturday lol
I think Latvia is dead. If ingranka didn’t qualify and is a more modern take on rap, the stereotypical American rap song is in for a long night.
i am sure that Latvia will qualify. I’ve predicted it some weeks ago. And it would be well deserved, too, imho.
Besides Latvia, I want to see Malta in the finals, as well as San Marino, Macedonia, Azerbaijan, Israel, Armenia, Hungary and Finland.
we havent seen all the baltics in a final since… 2002 no?
Yes, and it was only the second time ever (2001 being the first).
However, I have to tell you that I don’t like any kind of “regional” statistics, I adore ESC statistics, but I am always focused at countries individually,
I never observe any kind of “regional” aspect, because these kind of grouping often doesn’t have any kind of cultural background, not even geographical, but merely political.
I am particularly sensitive to these things.
I’m quite sure Ireland will be last now…
I miss the envelopes!! The excitement of the revealing of the finalists totally disappeared. They also rushed it too much. :( hmmf
..and they didnt even play a clip of the song when the finalist was revealed.
Overall I thought last years show was better produced.
yeah and she said them before we saw the flags, i dont mind the host shouting the name of the country, it’s part of the gig, it’s for the arena, but we should see the flag for ourself first!
The former USSR countries all cleaned up as well. I believe they all went through.
Lets see what the rest 4 will do on Thursday. Two are safe. Armenia has a diaspora to depend on. Latvia as most of the years is in a different universe. But wait a moment Lithuania is too and it qualified 3times the last year!
I agree, Latvia is the most at risk for sure. If Estonia was able to get in, Armenia looks safe too.
Estonia is a more serious effort than Armenia…it got a less competitive SF. A 90s can work better in ESC than an unanimous rock-wannabe stuff.
True, I love estonia’s song way more than armenia’s myself.
Anyway I do not expect big bangs on Thursday. I think I can predict more. Tonight I had 8/10. And 7/10 from ”my personal top” – not that I enjoyed all ten. But as a fan I had to form a top10 somehow :p
LOL I only have a top 5, i am too lazy to go to 10.
LRT already published their entry’s performance from tonight on their youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhDo-LJ8VT8
OffTopic: I heard on Swedish Radio today that a journalist from Israel was called “jewish whore” by a taxi driver, which of course caused a heated discussion. I dare not to think about what will happen tomorrow during the demonstration. :(
That would be bad, I hate turning Eurovision into a political minefield. Moran is there to sing, she has nothing to do with policy.
For the record, I also abhor when they do it to Belarus too. Lanskaya is there to sing, representing a full member of the EBU. She has nothing to do with policy either.
Oh yeah. There are way too many people who wants to see politics in everything today. Of course, it should not be denied that some has tried to use Eurovision for political reasons, but we should better try to stay away from all that.
Its sad. How is cursing out a journalist form Israel going to change anything anyway?
How is asking Alyona about human rights going to change anything. Alyona is going to lead a coup because a journalist keeps asking about her country?
I am also wondering what, if any, impact Belgium being able to repeat the performance had on its jury score. Did they improve 5 places, no places, etc.
Did that redo take them through?
When did Belgium repeat its performance? Rehearsal?
Yes, the jury rehearsal. They got to redo it
Lets see whether juries helped him. Anyway tonight I have lost my personal 4th and 5th and I have in my personal 15th and 16th…Lithuania which came as surprise too was 11th.
I lost Cyprus #4, but Moldova #3 and Estonia #2 are alive.
France my #5, is already in.
My #1 will join them on Thursday lol.
Which is?
LOL, you really don’t know? who have I been going crazy over these last 2 months lol.
Ding dong! How can I dare to forget this even for a minute!
LOL, if you as a regular on this forum forgot, that means I have not done my job correctly lol,
Well I hope juries will do their job correctly on Thursday and mute Krista’s bell on Saturday…..:s
LOL, not a fan i see. Finland 2013 is not for everybody
Finally back home after we had a few drinks to celebrate Roberto’s success ! Still can’t believe it, this is actually going to be a final which will get coverage here. Not like 2010 when Tom was a favourite but it’s definately going to gather much more interest than usual.
Btw every person I watced the contest with tonight was impressed with Denmark and thought it stood out big time.
LOL If i were you I wouldn’t sleep well tonight knowing Belgium got a spot that was Cyprus’.
I will let Roberto know he should apologize to Despina lol ;)
I won’t sleep well tonight because I am too worried about my prediction for the 2nd semi after what we saw tonight lol !
What good would it be if everything went by the book.
When Lithuania was called, that is when I knew it was pretty much over for Cyprus because I didn’t even consider them competition. When Belgium was called late, before Ukraine was called, I knew 100% it was done.
During the results I walk everytime nervously around the room. When Lithuania was called I literally bumped on a couch !
I was more safe. Just let out a yell and fist pump when the moon and the Angel were called out.
The drama is over for me because I only have rooting interest on Thursday and that is 100% a finalist. No drama at all.
When Lithuania was called,i kinda became vilolent… :)
LOL, Luckily I am not violent.
lol!I threw a pillow i was holding on the floor.
so we almost lost you tonight.
Is it because you hate Lithuania or because it ruined Cyprus’ chances, or another reason?
It’s because i hate Andrius as a performer.Plus,he got the place of better songs/performers.The was Despina connected with the audience at home.That was a final deserving performance.But then,i may have underestimated the fact Lithuania had a middle of the road song and many friends in this semi namely Russia.Estonia,Ukraine,Belarus and Ireland and he leaves in Italy so he may have people voting for here from Italy.
*the way Despina
he lives in Italy.
voting for him
This is my regret as well. Cyprus being beaten to a spot by Belarus and Lithuania is a bitter pill to swallow.
If Croatia and Montenegro qualified instead of Belgium and Lithuania, and left Cyprus out, I would be ok with that.
Yeah,me too but now what’s done is done.I do hope we won’t have a wave of withdrawals,though.
I hope not. Cyprus may withdraw because of funding though. If it wasn’t for cyta Cyprus would have been out.
But I wish they all stay. Croatia, Montenegro, Cyprus all leave with their heads high.
Plus, I gained a new love and respect for Despina after tonight and i was at 100% already. I am proud to have supported her entry no matter what. She represents the BEST of the ESC, no matter the result.
i shouted a loud yeeeeessss and sent an “i told you so” mail
LOL, perspective!
One persons tragedy is another person’s triumph.
But Lithuania was a low percentage call. Nobody had Lithuania advancing, well, except you.
I hope you have nightmares as well knowing you cost sweet despina a spot in the final. I hope you dream that Adelen chained you up and sung Bombo for 2 hours straight.
lol! that’s sick!
LOL, maybe I will take it back tomorrow when I calm down a bit. Maybe.
i did clap and said “YEAH” loud, but not as huge as the time Durant scored a 3 pointer with only 1.7 second to go in a home game against the hateful dallas mavericks who were up by 2… that game won by OKC (it was last year, dallas were the champions at the time, and OKC would sweep dallas in the first round of playoffs that year)… i yelled so loud at 6 am Charlie got scared and panicked and threw all of his food on the floor (he’s got his lil plate all the way on my bar, so it splashed everywhere) insanely good time
first year watching six nations, if wales misses the last minute kick ireland gets the grand slam. they did! my yell was so loud people rushed to my room to find me jumping around lol
i did stand up and clap hard at each of rona’s 12 last year, and only clapped when she was in top 3
there are a couple that might get that from me thursday
*every person that watched
Finally got in. What a fun evening. Well I didn’t see Belgium coming to the party but he did an extremely good performance in the end and I enjoyed it well done Mr Bellarosa. Lithuania was also a surprise and am not sure it deserves its place but well done to them both. 8/10 not bad considering. With Serbia, I went for the bookies odds at over 80% to qualify and I should have followed my gut instinct, they were as dreadful as I thought they would be. Croatia wasn’t what I expected at all from the reports, rather lack lustre. Sad to see Austria out after a reasonable effort. Well done Ireland, a fab result and a competent performance in all, it worked. Absolutely loved Moldova, this has risen hugely in my estimation and will move up my rankings. Russia anmd Denamark were very good.So happy for Netherlands. Belarus shouldn’t be in the final but I just knew it would make it. Estonia was okay too. Still not mad on Ukraine, Zlata looked great though and sang well but the song is not doing it for me. Thoroughly enjoyed the evening overall with great company. I like the smaller stage too, it all looked very good. Petra was a great host, loved her humour. Dawn was a giggle too. Loved the production Roll on Thursday for semi final two.More predictions to follow hmmm. Will catch up properly tomorrow. :)
Ireland was through just by song choice but when saw the stadium rocking to the song, I knew it was going to qualify very easily. Ireland racked up the televotes.
Cheers, Alex
He did get the arena rocking. I was pretty sure that it would am hoping now it will capture people watching at home on Saturday. A top 10 place would be wonderful but am not sure. Depends on a few things. Am a happy Irish man this evening.
Cheers Martin.
Ireland finishing top 10 is not impossible now. It is an upbeat song that makes people have fun, and moves them to vote for it.
Even on today’s performance alone, Ireland deserved their spot. It was one of the 10 best performances today easily. Good luck in the final!
Thank you Alex.
You are welcome.
All semifinal performances can be found here http://www.youtube.com/user/EurovisionUK1?feature=watch
Thanks Dimtiris :)
Hi from Malmo!!!
Marko is writing!
It’s such a shame for Montenegro!!
All ex Soviet are in and non of ex Yugo! Ts,ts,ts!
Has just come back from Macedonian and Bulgarian party and it was GREAT!! Tomorrow at 19:30 hope to catch Cascada performing and take photo with Natalie, wish me luck!
On Saturday gonna fly Serbiana and German flag! Bye! :)
Hi Matko :)
Lovely to hear from you. Sounds like you’re having fun in Malmo. Enjoy your time there. Shall be looking out for the Serbian/German flags.
Welcome back Marko I’ve missed you on here :) I thought you would be disapointed after seeing none of the Yugoslavic countries make it , if anything Slovenia should at least have been there in the top 10.
Just for the records. I have noticed that Lithuania for a third year got an early envelope under the same recipe. A song coming out of nowhere doing a good performance but enough to qualify.
Just saw the show after a day in the dark (no Twitter, blogs, etc.) at school. First, SVT has done an absolutely amazing job. For all the messes behind the scenes, the show really cleaned up on camera.
I am mourning the loss of Montenegro, who were robbed by that hateful song from Belarus. I shouted “NO!” when Petra announced it. I had a similar reaction to Lithuania qualifying. Something tells me they’re now that country that can send anything and make it. I hope not. Anyway, Serbia and Montenegro were the two I missed, which gave me 8/10, a nice improvement on my abysmal 6/10 for Baku.
Just a moment, please, for Belgium. I’ve always liked this song, even in that ridiculous national final where he had the flu. And ever since then, he’s improved and worked so hard to give himself the best chance for his country. His performance tonight was the best he’s ever done. His charisma was great, as were his vocals and staging. And I am just SO HAPPY he made it. He deserves it so much more than the Belarussian cheater, but I’ll take it. :D
All in all, I can’t wait for Thursday and Saturday. Have a nice night, everyone. :)
Just having a few hours to think about everything, Austria deserved spot in the final too along with Cyprus and Montenegro.
I would swap them with Belgium, Lithuania, and either Belarus or the Netherlands. Anouk is great but she was lazy and half assed her performance last night, just went through the motions. She made the final on potential more than actually delivering. I definitely think Austria was better than Anouk.
Montenegro is just too modern for the jury, that prefers “safe” mainstream songs like Solayoh. And nobody captured the emotion like Cyprus did and still was unrewarded in the competition.
Lithuania made the final by doing nothing awful but also not doing anything spectacular either.
And I’m still trying to figure out how Belgium was one of the ten best performances today. I have a feeling that Jury do over was his salvation.
And Solayoh is all about the beat and the eye candy lead singer using every and all gimmicks available. Besides Ireland, who was a billion times better, there were no other good dance songs in the semi and it definitely helped. Belarus had qualification in mind and crafted an entry accordingly. Might not have broke any new ground but they did what they had to do to get through. They were clinical. This was always going to be there Saturday night. And this was always going to do damage to someone else’s entry. Being a dance song means that entries that out performed Belarus were still going to go home. That is the inherent advantage a song like this had over a ballad or mid tempo song.
I think Euphoria winning last year made a lot of people send non dance songs thinking that a dance song would not win 2 years in a row. I believe next year there will be a flood of dance songs because they are a shortcut to qualification. And more ballads that don’t need elaborate staging in order to save money.
Also if Cezar fails to qualify countries will also stop sending experimental entries like Montenegro did. No matter what you think of Romania, the entry for better or worse, is daring.
Countries are having financial troubles so they are going to start playing it safe in order to make Saturday night, or send simple low budget ballads. This way of thinking is not good because there will be no musical innovations attempted.
Plus I can’t help but wonder if Cyprus sent la la love a year too early. Last year it was overshadowed by loreen but this year it would only be competing with Ireland, Belarus, and Germany in that genre.
And speaking of Germany, I’m more convinced than ever they are top 5 this year. A televoter friendly song with a bonus of an experienced vocalist and performer supporting it.
I think they need to scrap National Jurry voting, as i’ve said before, to imrporve transparency there should be only one jury made up of notable eurovision stars from across europe, and we should be able to see these judges face to face as they award points.
These are the people I would like to see be part of the jurry.
Stefan Rabb
Loreen
Alexander Rybak
Zelijiko Joksomovic
and Lys Assia
I cannot believe that something like Austria and Natalia Kelly got booted out, and poop like the Estonian entry got through. This is the fundamental problem and why no real British artists will ever take part – it’s music reminiscent of thirty or forty years ago. Even the Danish song feels like something you would have listened to thirty years ago – probably as a movie theme. There is zero originality. And that is why there are no famous European singers or bands in the real world. Surely that’s the proof.
the reason why is that UK/USA/and Australia ignore european tallent! Thats why they arent as big. Lena, Lorren, Zelijko Joksomovic (Serbia Montenegro 2004 & Serbia 2012) and Alexander Rybak, are still very big across Europe! yet most tallented eurovision stars dont have any sucess in the UK becuase of Eurovisions negative stigma over here. Oh and Cascada is big!
Estonia was class and deserved to go through, you could make the same remark too towards our entries, they’re often dated on a consistent basis!
But I do admit loosing Austria and Cyprus at the expense of cringeworthy Lithaunia and lame Belgium for me is an absolute disgrace!
Just finished watching the first semi-final online (I didn’t get back home until a few hours ago…) and I must say I am hugely disappointed that Montenegro – the absolute stand-out performance of the night for me didn’t make it through :(.
My overall impression of the show was mixed – I thought the postcards were unique and nicely done (if perhaps a little ambiguous), I loved Lynda Woodruff’s sketch and liked Julia Zemiro’s cameo (mainly just because it was Julia Zemiro – the film itself I found rather predictable and woefully stereotypical). However, I didn’t like the appearance of the stage at all (such a messy and ugly design for a country renowned for its architectural elegance and restraint) and I thought the standing-up setting led to interferences with quite a few camera shots (flags etc.) which made some performances (the Netherlands particularly) look messy. Also I thought starting each performance with the “Euphoria” drone sound effect was a little tacky.
My personal rankings
1. Montenegro – X
2. Netherlands – O
3. Cyprus – X
4. Estonia – O
5. Denmark – O
6. Moldova – O
7. Lithuania – O
8. Croatia – X
9. Austria – X
10. Ukraine – O
—————–
11. Russia
12. Belgium
13. Ireland
14. Slovenia
15. Belarus
16. Serbia
My predicted qualifiers:
Croatia – X
Denmark – O
Russia – O
Ukraine – O
Montenegro – X
Belarus – O
Moldova – O
Ireland – O
Cyprus(!) – X
Belgium – O
Result: 7/10
Very surprising that none of the Balkan countries made it through to the final, even with the huge amount of televoting support available. If Macedonia qualify from semi-final 2 now, they could do very well indeed will all of their rivals for the Balkan vote out of the way…
I got 8 of 10 for predictions, the only countries I got wrong with predicing where Montenegro, and Serbia, but when I was watching the semi final, I did start to have my doubts about Montenegro qualifying, so I could get away with 9 out of 10.
I thought 2 of the 4 criterias for the jury was to focus on:,Vocal capacity and The composition and originality of the song. How could they vote Belarus to the final?
obviously not as it seems :/ wellBelarus qualifying isnt as bad as Belgium and Lithuania qualifying.
After having slept and gone through second thoughts on semi 1, I think that it is more than urgent, this year in particular, that EBU reveals the detailed voting of the juries. Otherwise there is a great deal of intransparency and lack of credibility, imho.
And, btw, I just took a look at this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:ESC_2013_Map.svg
Oh my! that red area concentrated in the Western Balkan region. Sorry, but it doesn’t look that “unintentional” to me. And keep in mind that I hate conspiracy theories.
Btw, statistically speaking, I think this is the first time since 2009 (TheToppers SF2), that a song performed last on a semi-final (any semi-final), doesn’t make it to the final (Serbia last night).
This year may mark the first time since Yugoslavia ever debuted that there’s no Balkan entries in the finla, the only country I see making the cut in SF2 is porbably Albania, would Bulgaria be considered Balkan if it qualifyed? I do think Slovenia did improve last night and I would have liked to see them pass.
Bulgaria is definately a Balkan country both geographically and also when it comes to their entry (music-wise) this year.
Abosultely disgusted two of the worst songs this year qualifyed, anyone that was voting last night for Lithuania and Belgium seriously you need to resit your English! In my opinion if a singer can’t sing properly in English the entry doesnt deserve to qualify, theres nothing worse hearing poor diction and painful English attempts, and SVT thanks for puting Lithuania next to Belarus, it was like having to watch a double bill of Belaurssian entries back to back, although suprisingly this year Belarus’s English was a big improvment from Lithuania, what a suprise. But Lithuania’s repulsive and nightmare entry should have never qualifyed, neither should have Belgium, both had shockingly poor English, bad songwritting, and poor vocals. Its good to see a western country make it but this now encourages Belgium to send rubbish next time, Belgiums entry last year was so much better to this year, yet Iris failed to make the cut.
Marko is going to be upset no Balkan countries qualifyed, and I do share his greif :( I would have replaced Belgium, Lithuania and Ireland with Austria, Cyprus and Slovenia. Serbia came accross very tacky with the costumes but i would have ranked them 11th. The fast Austria failed to make the cut with an exceptional vocal performance is an insult to that country, and just disgusting when shit like Lithuania qualifyed. Sorry but If you think Lithaunia was better than Austria and the beautiful Cyprus, you have NO music taste and poor English, if you think his English was fine.
at least the advantage of Belgium qualifying means that UK wont be 26th, I hope. I’m sure Montenegro finished last in this semi, I went off their entry too last night it was so trashy, I like dubstep but the visuals just ruined it.
My rankings from last night:
1st Moldova
2nd Netherlands
3rd Denmark
4th Ukraine
5th Austria
6th Estonia
7th Cyprus
8th Russia (this wasn’t good vocals at all, you could hear her gasping for breath all the time through her mike, it wasnt very pleasant, other singers in this semi final breath more subtely which is more proffesional)
9th Slovenia
10th Belarus (still debating, may have Ireland here)
11th Serbia
12th Ireland (still debating, may have Belarus here)
13th Croatia
14th Belgium
15th Montenegro
16th Lithuania (Where it belongs!)
We can blame the Lithuanian immigrants living in the UK and Ireland for qualifying, aswell as Belarus, Russia and Estonia for probably voting for their drivel.