First of all, great job Sweden! The stage is beautiful, I love it and I forgive you for the 2013 one (which I found really basic and cheap). In addition to that, everything went smoothly (apart from the glitches with the qualified countries at the end during the recap), I enjoyed this first semi very much!
The presenters: I didn't hear much of what they said because our commentators were too busy talking and making silly jokes. BUT I've found Petra less cold than in 2013, she seemed more relaxed, maybe because she's not alone to host this time. Mans however, is Eric Saade 2.0: the mandatory pretty face that's quite stiff and transparent eventually.
So, we got to hear Heroes in a remix version, not bad at all actually. I like that they replaced last year's puppet by a real child
I still don't dig the song (it's no Euphoria), but that was a decent opening.
As for the interval act "The grey people", well... I had a preconception about it because it dealt with refugees, but it was actually well done and not moralizing, as I feared it would be. So again, I think they did a good job tackling that subject matter without insisting on the "let's love each other" commonplace.
Now, the songs
overall I've found the lineup decent at first listen, not amazing but decent. Here's a short description of my first impressions (of course, my opinion will change as I get familiar with the songs).
Nice verses and bad chorus, there was energy, but it really went nowhere to me. Pretty anonymous. Ok staging.
OMG, worst Greek entry since This Is Our Night in 2009 :? Repetitive chorus, rap verses that are... out there. Ok staging.
First song I liked, vocals were shaky but it was a pretty song, she had very little chance to make it indeed, but I've found it way catchier than the other Swedish entries tonight.
Great voice and again a refined entry from Hungary. This should do really well in the final tbh, it's quite catchy and has a wide appeal while sounding a little different. Good job!
All I can say is "bow down b*tches, Croatia's in da place". Instant favourite for me! I LOVE IT! Everything's perfect.
The Netherlands sending country music again. I didn't disliked it, but I can't say I liked it either, it's meh. The chorus annoys me though.
Sorry, I put these three entries together for now, because I felt like I've heard the same song thrice...
I'm confused about Armenia, I need to listen to it again. Azerbaijan seemed catchier but a little bland I fear, and Malta wasn't that good to me, the chorus is too Melfest-y boring for my taste, but I'll give it another chance.
Serhat's way of speaking distracted me, I wasn't bothered by it, but I felt like I could have totally supported the song had someone sung it for real
Nice effort though, it could have qualified imo.
Here we are! The controversial act lots of people fear
The staging is ON POINT, Heroes's staging is amateurish in comparison. Musically, it sounds very Russian pop to me: dramatic and kind of dated. The problem I have with it is that it tries hard to sound powerful while it's not, which is awkward. Still, it's better than Amir, sorry not sorry.
I was waiting for this one, and I don't know whether I'm disappointed or not. I expected something a little bit more passionate (I inevitably compared it with last year's entry that I loved), but I guess it could grow on me, the chorus gives me Undo vibes. Nice one.
Good job from Cyprus, I like this rockish schlager, the performance was on point. Energetic and not boring, go guys!
Wow, I didn't think I would like it that much. That's an earworm, literally, and it sounds different, which is good. Bonus points for singing in French! However, I think this one could be a fader for me, as it's quite repetitive overall, but only time will tell.
I saw Stig Rästa wrote that song, and I expected something catchier and more melodious. Disappointing song from Estonia imo, and the performance wasn't convincing. I'll listen to it again to see if I change my mind, but I haven't been charmed by it.
Where is the noise people talked about? That was a great song! Difficult to apprehend at first listen, but that was definitely interesting composition-wise. Great performance as well.
A fan fave that I'm confused about. Staging was on point, even though it wasn't impressive anymore at that moment of the show. And the song... Like Armenia, I'm confused, I couldn't tell whether I liked it or not even if my life depended on it
I'll need to listen to it again.
Big let down from Bosnia
That was an ersatz of their past (great) entries to me. The cello was nice, vocally only the girl convinced me, and the rap part ruined everything... Even the melody was meh, sorry guys but you can do better than this.
So, I didn't have lots of instant favourites, and I feared the results would be super bad, but they ended up being satisfactory overall, as all my biggest faves got through:
Yay to Hungary and Croatia, the best songs of that semi hands-down. I feared Croatia would fail, thankfully not!
expected
I'm so happy for them! Deserved qualification!
Nice surprise
As I said, I'm confused about those ones, I don't mind them qualifying, I'll need more listens to have an opinion about them.
Meh
Biggest yaaaaas! So happy that they succeeded with French lyrics, which was a disadvantage for them.
So I got 7 of the songs I wanted through (especially
), but I'm also delighted about the failures we all witnessed tonight:
That was an ok song, but I won't cry about it tbh.
Yaaaas! Greece and Bosnia failed! I'm happy they failed with these weak songs, it would have been saddening to see them steal a spot in the final.
Had very few chances to make it, and I don't complain.
To conclude, the shocking surprises for me were Czech Republic's and Austria's qualification, but also Greece's and Bosnia's failures, which seemed unlikely considering their ESC history.
I guess the epic fail of the night is Iceland, even though some people felt it wouldn't do that well, they were expected to qualify.
I can't wait for the semi 2 on Saturday
