I think it’s a given this year that Ukraine will win as people will be voting to show their support. Because everyone knows it’s a political popularity concert not a song contest. I’m not a fan of Ukraine’s song this year, I much preferred their entry last year from Go_A. There are many songs I don’t like this year, there are a lot of slow break up songs. With Covid and war going on I don’t want to listen to dreary sad songs, I’m wanting uplifting and bouncy songs I can trampoline to. Here are my scores for all 40 songs, in alphabetical country order.
Albania. Ronela Hajati – ‘Sekret’. Couldn’t take my eyes off her thighs, in a good way, in the video of her live performance. The song is forgettable for me though. The backing dancers are good, they have a matrix/game of thrones vibe. 3/10
Armenia. Rosa Linn – ‘Snap’. Catchy little tune. She has a lovely voice, this song grew on me with the more listens I had. 7/10
Australia. Sheldon Riley – ‘Not the Same’. I found the beaded curtain distracting over his face, it reminded me of Prince in his Symbol era. Finger jewellery was great. Raincoat dress was different. A great voice but the song was dreary. 2/10
Austria. LUM!X ft Pia Maria – ‘Halo’. Bouncy and dancy. This was a grower for me. Fabulous to trampoline to. 8/10
Azerbaijan. Nadir Rustamli – ‘Fade to Black’. Dreary song about a love break up. 2/10.
Belgium. Jeremie Makiese – ‘Miss You’. He has a fabulous voice that makes my spine pulsate and this song is another grower for me. 7/10
Bulgaria. Intelligent Music Project – ‘Intention’. Hooray a rock band. Soft rock. Not as great as I wanted it to be though, a little bit forgettable. Great guitar solo. 6/10
Croatia. Mia Dimsic – ‘Guilty Pleasure’. Nice voice but not a guilty pleasure for me. Distracted by the dancer with excellent core strength. 4/10
Cyprus. Andromache – ‘Ela’. Unremarkable. 2/10.
Czech Republic. We Are Domi – ‘Lights Off’. Catchy Song and dancy. Distracted by the guitarist playing his guitar with a cello bow and the keyboard player in dungarees looking like he’s just off from a fishing trip. Good trampolining song. 8/10.
Denmark. Reddi – ‘The Show’. Denmark’s Bonnie Tyler taking the lead I think. Good band but the song is not for me. 6/10
Estonia. Stefan – ‘Hope’. Wagon’s roll! This song makes me want to ride a horse in the wild west, and I’m allergic to them. I ‘hope’ this makes it to the final. Good for trampolining to, managed to trot and canter to it. 8/10
Finland. The Rasmus – ‘Jezebel’. Disappointed with the song, it might be a grower with a few more listens. 6/10
France. Alvan and Ahez – ‘Fulenn’. Not what I was expecting from France. Middle eastern hypno-trance? Not my cup of tea. 3/10.
Georgia. Circus Mircus – ‘Lock Me In’. Funky guitars, fun, and groovy. No video available so I haven’t seen them performing so it will be interesting to see them on stage. This morphed from ‘what the..’ to ‘ooh cool’ with a few listens. 8/10.
Germany. Malik Harris – ‘Rockstars’. Not a tune for me, quite wishy-washy and unforgettable. Bring back Jendrik from last year. 2/10
Greece. Amanda Giorgiardi Tenfjord – ‘Die Together’. What a depressing sentiment. ‘If we die together now we will always have each other’. No thanks, I’ll pass. 1/10
Iceland. Systur –‘Med Haekkandi Sol’ – Icelandic cowgirls. Gentle and melodic but not memorable for me. Too slow for trampolining. 3/10
Ireland. Brooke – ‘That’s Rich’. That’s poor actually. Not one of Irelands best entries in my opinion. Dancy but not great. I originally gave this a 3/10 but it upgraded the mark due to good trampolining ability. 4/10
Israel. Michael Ben David – ‘I.M’. He has a great voice, a great look, and I can’t wait to see the staging for this. Song is growing on me. It gives me vibes of The Roop. 7/10.
Italy. Mahmood and Blanco – ‘Brividi’. Dreary love song. 2/10
Latvia. Citi Zeni – ‘Eat your salad’. Wow! Very tongue-in-cheek, fun, and crazy. With lines like ‘bend over and jiggle that peach’, ‘forget the hotdogs my sausage is bigger’, and ‘if you want you man’s tongue longer than a gecko’s’ I can see this being a marmite song. I’m on the loving it side. I can’t take my eyes off the sexy saxophone players white trousers. I didn’t realise I liked men in tight white trousers. Apparently I do. Funky. 9/10
Lithuania. Monika Liu – ‘Sentimentai’. I thought this was the French entry on first hearing his. I’m hypnotised by her sparkly dress. I like it but not greatly. 5/10
Malta. Emma Muscat – ‘I Am What I Am’. I like the sentiment but not the song so much. Nice but doesn’t stick in my head. 5/10
Moldova. Zdob si Zdub and Fratii Advahov – ‘Trenuletul’. Mental. I love Moldavian entries. Hats off to them performing a song about a train journey. It’s a jolly number. They’ve obviously never been on Arriva Trains Wales. Great fun to trampoline to. 7/10
Montenegro. Vladana – ‘Breathe’. I was tempted to stop. Too dreary for me. 2/10
Netherlands. S10 – ‘De Diept’. Another song about a break up. Not for me. Too glum. 2/10
North Macedonia. Andrea – ‘Circles’. The circles under my eyes got darker listening to this. Dreary. 2/10
Norway. Subwoolfer – ‘Give that wolf a banana’. Amazing. My winner. They are dressed as yellow wolves singing about bananas, what could be better?! (Tigers singing about pineapples.) I find myself shouting ‘someone give that wolf a banana’ at inappropriate times. And yes, I have tried to do the dance but I haven’t mastered it yet. It’s even more tricky on a trampoline, there’s been a few near miss incidents in my bedroom. Trampoline wise. 10/10
Poland. Ochman – ‘River’. Depressing. A song about dying and suicide. No I don’t want to take myself off to the river to die, but if I listened to this on repeat I might change my mind. 1/10
Portugal. Maro – ‘Saudade’. Jeez, another break up song. Yawn. 1/10.
Romania. WRS – ‘llamame’. Up tempo, not too bad. I was disappointed I was pronouncing the title wrong and it wasn’t llama me. No one came out dressed up as a llama. 5/10
San Marino. Achille Lauro – ‘Stripper’. After lusting after Damiano last year I seem to be spotting a trend of lusting after young thin Italian men who wear make-up, have tattoos and wear black nail polish. That aside, I love this song 10/10. And that’s for the song not Achille, honest.
Serbia. Konstrakta – ‘In Corpore Sano’. Jeez. Lockdown was obviously hard on some people. She starts off singing about Megan Markle’s hair, then proceeds to lecture about health, while washing her hands constantly on stage. May be triggering for those with O.C.D. It made me want to go wash my hands. Or the dishes to avoid listening anymore. 1/10
Slovenia. Lps – ‘Disko’. A young band who look about twelve years old. They’re probably not. I’m just old. Inoffensive disco number (although I will spell it ‘disko’ from now on) I felt transported back to the seventies and that I should be sailing on The Love Boat. 6/10
Spain. Chanel – ‘SloMo’. Very twerky. I couldn’t take my eyes of her booty and thighs. Upbeat song. Not bad for trampolining to. 6/10.
Sweden. Cornelia Jakobs – ‘Hold me closer’. Another break up song. Sigh. 2/10
Switzerland. Marius Bear – ‘Boys Do Cry’. So do fifty-year-old women listening to this, and not in a good way. Snoozeville. 3/10
Ukraine. Kalush Orchestra – ‘Stefania’. Folk rap. Not my cup of tea. But as said previously I think it will win. 2/10.
United Kingdom. Sam Ryder – ‘Space Man’. I thought it was Matthew Wolfenden from Emmerdale at first. He has a good voice and the song grew on me. Awed by his vocal range. I try to hit those high notes while singing along. There are three dogs in my back garden who answered my call. Someone snap him up for a shampoo advert too, he’s worth it. We will of course come last. 7/10.
Naomi Rettig 