Small recap of my evening (in bold my qualified after all the passages):
Albania: Vulgar at will, Ronela bawled more than she sang. Seeing her qualify would just give me the pleasure of a good laugh with the friends who come to watch the final at home on Saturday! But did not deserve the qualification!
Latvia: Fresh, colorful, but terrible to me. I was bored the whole time. The best moment of the performance was the Laurence Boccolini joke and the reference to Roselyne Bachelot ^^
Lithuania: Beautiful dress, beautiful controlled voice but a bit boring. The composition is nice but flat. I find that not much is happening even though Monika looks nice.
Switzerland: Already physically, Marius bothers me. It's nasty but it is not highlighted at all, neither by his clothes, nor by his jewelry, nor by his colors (hair and face). Beautiful voice but I was bored a max. I couldn't stand his gestures and arm movements. For me it was a certainty that he failed, I am shocked that he passed.
Slovenia: Nice composition, but the same, it's still boring. At least they are musicians but the singer clearly lacks voice and clearly needs to cheer up a bit, he is sorely lacking in charisma. It's a shame because there was almost no interaction between the band members.
Ukraine: The flautist has progressed vocally but still a few sluggishness on holding the notes during the chorus. Despite everything, it is the first real proposal of the evening. I like the song but level staging they could have hit harder. Finally, not my favorites of the evening but fully deserve their qualification.
Bulgaria: Nice guitar solo, but that's it.
Netherlands: One of my favorite songs from this year in the studio. The staging may lack a little something, but I really liked its authenticity and I didn't expect so many emotions at the end of the performance. It was palpable and terribly touching.
Moldova: It's not the composition of the century but it was mega festive. I find that they have well overcome the repetitive side of the song through the revamp and the breaks in the staging. It's super happy, it makes you want to dance with a good pint of beer in your hand!
Portugal: The big slap of the evening. The closer the final approached, the more I hooked with the song. Very convinced and carried away by the interpretation. Finally an authentic song, which comes out of the guts and off the beaten track. A nice parenthesis and I found that it was great that it happened after Moldova because the return to calm was very pleasant.
Croatia: I called it "sweet-boring". It was in place, but agreed. I prefer the ending when she sings in Croatian. The kind of contribution that leaves you totally indifferent and suddenly ends up at the end of the ranking. Not surprised at the elimination.
Denmark: I really liked the beginning in piano-voice, then as soon as the group took shape, it fell back, became horrifying and offered nothing very new or very artistic. I have a hard time with groups whose members don't interact. Their energy was too sluggish (Cruella the drummer was annoying with her "over-smile"). One of the services that I liked the least with Switzerland. Going to the end was a real torture.
Austria: One of my favorite studio songs. The live version got it right. It was very unpleasant vocally, my ears were grinding. Staging too enclosing. The song really lost intensity when lowering the key. I still wanted the qualification for my love of the studio version. Not surprised at the elimination though.
Iceland: My favorites yesterday (a bit ahead of Portugal). I discovered the song late (really listened to this weekend). I really like folk music, the perfect harmony between the voices (even if a bit fuzzy at the end). Directed in sobriety but effective and giving pride of place to the song. The girls seem nice and you can feel that they are real musicians and that they do it for the love of music more than the search for some celebrity to feed their egocentrisms.
Greece: Really, I have a hard time understanding the hype around this song. This is the "first in class" song of this year. No real flavor. The staging is not phew (contrary to what I expected). The composition of the song does not affect me absolutely. It's the kind of very generic song that would make me turn off the radio or change stations so much I find that there is no soul. Afterwards, deserves qualification with regard to the competition but really at the limit. There was really something too much, artistic but too much and in excess and which lacked simplicity and authenticity.
Norway: We needed them in the final because they set fires. It's effective and it makes you want to learn choreography. It's not the song of the century either. I am very disturbed by the shots with the lyrics which add nothing and cut off the performance a bit. However, they risk hurting televoting because it remains a memorable and festive performance.
Armenia: The song is good, even if already heard a good hundred times (many songs in the same hyper radiophonic style in the years 2015-17). Beautiful voice. But the staging is really awful. Why lock yourself in? I need to see that she is on stage, she would be in the studio it would be the same. Too cheesy and JESC with the hearts and the messages on the wall below the post-its. Too "nian-nian" but like Greece, it passes in terms of competition.
To tell the truth, semi-final with a really not terrible level. I absolutely only wanted 6 songs in the final: Ukraine, Netherlands, Portugal, Iceland, Moldova and Sweden.
The production could certainly have been better. I don't really listen to the talk about the performances, so I don't really have an opinion on the presenters who actually seemed physically unbearable...
Postcards blah.
But all my love for Laurence (French speaker)who does a great job at the comments
