The Highs And Lows Of National Final Season 2012 Part 3

With another national final season over us and me being away from blogging and technology for a few nights, we turn our attention back to remember the highs and lows of the national final season that was. While it is almost over it will leave us with some great memories. Part 2 continues our series. #

As I should be back tomorrow so we will be back to normal but just to point out that tomorrow we should finally hear the UK entry and any others we have not heard yet. But in the meantime our series continues.

The Best Song Of The National Final season
I was one of the few fans who felt that this was song of national final season 2012 but here it is (feat. the amazing Sara Li):

Jedward's Fans
Forget Jedward they were soooo yesterday's post - they have fans lots of them - and they are about as nutty as them. Follow a few on Twitter and find out.

Greece Holding Their National Final in a Shopping Mall
I know things in Greece are bad but seriously I didn't think that a shopping center would be the best option to film a national final but anyhow that's their choice. We only need to panic about them if they win Eurovision and they propose a variety of farms with barns on which to hold their national final.

Sarah Dawn Finer - Comedian? 
I don't think anyone expected something so excellent in terms of humour from the Swedes but by God did they do so. This was such a great sketch that we had to share it once again.

Our Eurovision Friends
Without going for a big cheesy ending we just would like to say that the greatest trill of all was having so many people to talk to on Twitter or otherwise for national final season. Thank you all so much.

Did we miss something? Yes, we did, but we didn't see every national final. If you think that their was something that we missed do get in touch via the Contact Us! section and if we think that it is worthwhile we will put it up in a Part 4. (Obviously giving you full credit with a link).

The Highs And Lows Of National Final Season 2012 Part 2

With another national final season over us and me being away from blogging and technology for a few nights, we turn our attention back to remember the highs and lows of the national final season that was. While it is almost over it will leave us with some great memories. Part 2 continues our series.

Ireland holding a national final
That was a joke wasn't it. Since around October people were pretty sure that Ireland would be sending Jedward to the contest. It actually was slightly surprising to hear that there still would be a Late Late Show special. Anyhow to no ones surprise they won.

And the award for longest interval act goes to....Moldova.
After an huge national final of 22 (roughly, I can't remember) you'd think that they'd wrap it up quickly and get it over with. Oh no, instead Moldova went on the rampage with a 40 minute interval act. I'm not going to put a video of here. It seems pointless. Go and learn how to make an origami swan instead it would seem more useful.

Trackshittaz vs. Conchita Wurst
What a showdown that was in Austria between two guys (with a great song) shouting at people to shake their bottoms and well, Conchita. It really was the most unorthodox showdown of the year and Trackshittaz won by 51% which is really really close.


Loreen's Melodifestivalen Final Performance
Anyone who likes Loreen will understand just how good this amazing performance was. For me it was Melodifestivalen moment of the year.

Cringe performance in Romania.
We wouldn't have spotted this only for Eurovision Apolcalypse. (One of the best Eurovision blogs around). Anyhow I just loved Bianca Purcarea's studio version. However the vocals in her live performance could have been drowned out my rubbing nails on a chalkboard.

 We'll continue the series shortly.

Melodifestivalen Is Over. What Are We Waiting On?

Normally the end of Melodifestivalen usually occurs the Saturday before the HOD [Heads of Delegation] meeting. This year they decided to play with us fans a little and have it a week later. This means that there are a couple of songs missing still. So to round up what we're waiting on:

1. Montenegro - Song Presentation - Thursday 15th March 8:00pm CET.
2. Bosnia&Herzegovina -  Song Presentation - Thursday 15th March 8:00pm CET.
3. San Marino - There is a variety of rumours coming from San Marino about who will represent them. The latest one is that local singer Valentina Monetta and will be written by Raleph Sigel. [We're not saying that it is correct.] We suspect we will get a confirmation either today or tomorrow. 
4. Belgium - We patiently await the final national final of the year in Belgium. I'm not going to be watching it as it is St. Patrick's Day and I will be with my family but hopefully they will pick something good.
5. UK - The UK has caused many a fan to rip out a parts of their hair. But Engelbert Humperdinck's song will be revealed on the 19th March - the day of the deadline. That's cutting it fine.

Melodifestivalen 2012: Analysis and Reactions

Last night Melodifestivalen was on. Despite the fairly vast amount of criticism of the final this year, very few people actually put their money where their mouth was and watch Romania. 

So what happened? Well, all songs were performed and voted on. Loreen won with her great song Euphoria. So let's take a look at how Sweden voted and what the pattern might tell us about Melodifestivalen.

Songs and Success

While the winner of Melodifestivalen was pretty much certain and Danny came in second as expected. However the next few placings were surprising. David and Ulrik tied for third place. They were a bit ahead of where they were expected to be. The big surprise in my view was the poor showing by Molly Sanden and Lisa Miskovsky. 

How does Sweden vote?

Sweden use the same method to calculate the winner as Denmark. Juries around Europe award points to their favourite songs using a standard set of points (1,2,4,6,8,10,12). This means that one jury will award 1+2+4+6+8+10+12= 43 points. Eleven Juries award 11 x 43 = 473 points. The Public then award their own set of points 473 points. This is broken down based on the percentage of televotes it receives. So a song that gets 10% of the televotes gets 10% x 473 = 47.3 points. This then rounded to the nearest whole number.

This method was used last year but last year the juries did not have a clear winner. (Sanna, Eric and Danny were within five points of one another.) However as Eric was the winner of the televoting by a good margin (8.8%) he received 42 points more than Danny. 

Voting Patterns 

An interesting pattern emerged in the televoting. The table shows how much of the televote the top two songs took. The table beside them shows the top two in last years scoring. The top two this year took an unprecedented amount of the votes.

As a result of the 55% taken by Loreen and Danny there was a lot less votes than last year to share out among the others. This lead to the jury having much more say in the outcome of the 3rd-10th place rankings. For example Molly Sandén came second last on the televote but yet had a good margin in the jury vote. Despite a 5th place from the juries she came 5th overall. 

How did the juries vote in percentage terms? Well we converted the jury vote i.e. expressed it as a percentage of 473 points. Comparing it with the public percentages with jury percentages also helps to understand how voting worked. N.B. - Series 1 is jury votes, series 2 is public votes. (I'm not an amzing Excel wizard, sorry).

The other notable thing is that Loreen won the contest with a record number of votes in absolute terms. She pulled in a massive 670,551 votes which according to this SVT article is a record. The article is well worth a read.

Reactions

Eurovision fans are broadly happy with Swedens result and there is widespread recognition of Loreen as an exceptional artist even if she was not everyone's favourite. A number of older fans think that this is a bad choice for Sweden comparing Loreen with Kati Wolf last year who did well on fan polls but came 22nd in the final. I think people who argue that may be slightly out of touch with Eurovision Music - but that's just an opinion. However: Let the record show I believed on the 11th March 2012 I believed that Loreen was the most likely to win the Eurovision Song Contest 2012

In Sweden the fact that Loreen won seems to be rather popular but there is a couple of juicy stories from Melodifestivalen for those of us who like to take a peak at the Daily Mail.

Bjorn Ranelid has stated that only one Swedish writer wished him good luck in Melodifestivalen. Bjorn states that he now knows who his friends are and that Swedish writers have show their true colours (That's pretty cold - Ed.)

Danny has decided to be a sore loser and ran from the "green room/space" before Loreen could do a reprise. He also didn't take part in the after parties. He just went home to his girlfriends house. Today he said that Sweden had made a bad decision to send a schlager entry with Loreen. (And sorry Danny could you clarify What was your song then?) Anyway a couple of artists in Sweden have come out to say that they feel sorry for him and that they understand how much he wanted it. We just think that the better song won. Hard Lucj Danny. Well Done Loreen.

And Finally....

Of all the surprising things to come Melodifestivalen the amazing Sarah Dawn Finer Lynda Woodruff went down a storm with fans (while also poking the Brits, which we welcome.) Huge well done to Sarah for her hilarious piece. 

All Round Delight In Euroland After Super Saturday

So Eurovision fans breath a sigh of relief as Loreen won Melodifestivalen with 268 points winning five international juries and topping the public televote with 32.7% - a historical record. We will have a full Analysis of the Melodifestivalen final and semi-final voting patterns later tonight or else tomorrow.

Next came the presentation of the Serbian song by Zelijo Joksimovic. It's a lot like his 2004 entry but I really don't think that it is nearly as good. For me this could be the Harel Saart or Amurary Vassi of 2012. Anyhow the song is called Nile Ljuvbav Stvar (I could only find the English version - sorry).

Romania came next with a song that sounds like a cross between Lily Allen and Shakira. While the song may be annoying after two months, I am loving the Leather Catsuit. Mandinga is the singer and her song (sung mostly in Spanish) is called Zaleilah.

In Portugal after the usual remarkably long voting have decided to send Filipa Sousa to Eurovision. Fairly unamazing song at the moment.

Abridged Melodifestivalen Reviews

We now have the 10 songs which are going to fight it out for Eurovision. This year Sweden offers us a most diverse range of music. Earlier today I put up a Podcast with Melodifestivalen Reviews and for those who missed it missed our popular Rough Guide to Melodifestivalen

David Lindgren – This is a good song, kind of like In The Club but better. David is a good charismatic singer, but song is not strong enough to win. Might take a couple of votes from International Jury’s but I think he needs Danny to put on a poor performance. 6/10

Thorsten Flinck - Emotional but simple. Very like Caroline Af Ugglas’s song in 2009. However it is not as magical, and feels somewhat disjointed. I am unsure how this will do on night; could be forgotten given the other songs. 5/10.

Dead By April - An excellent rock song until it changes and sounds like my dog having a fit. Though it will attract rock fans it is not causing enough excitement. Little chance of winning but could pick up a few. 3/10.

Lisa Miskovsky – This is a great relaxing song after DBA but very much like Anna in 2010. It is very layered; cannot always make out Lisa in it. I would prefer something more stripped back. For me this is the Dark Horse of contest. It is doing well on Swedish polling too. 8/10.

Top Cats - One of the poorer songs in MF this year. Is that the lead singer from The Lucky Bullets? I don’t think this has a chance of winning. 2/10

Loreen – has a great song with simple staging and it is vocally amazing. The verses are a little messy and she still needs more camera contact. The studio version not near as good as live version and should be changed. It is the favourite by a good distance across all bookies. It’s probably going to win. 9/10

Ulrik Munther - Put through by teen girls from semi-final but they seem to have deserted him. It is a good quality song with a harmonica. It is vocally good however it is really generating enough excitement for the final, considering group behind him. Unlike to do very well. But could steal a couple of votes from Danny. 4/10.

Bjorn Ranelid ft. Sara Li – I just love this. Bjorn looks like my Dad only Dad 10 years younger has less hair and tan. It is a really great song which really works together. Maybe not everyone’s favourite though. I actually suspect that this could have won semi 3. It won’t do well with International Juries. But a high score in televote is conceivable. 10/10

Molly Sandén – This song is very heartfelt, emotional and this comes across on screen. However it is missing something but being a clear cut song I think it could win with the international juries but not televoters. 8/10

Danny Saucedo – Danny has a good song but semi vocals were very poor. The song is overly driven by staging and is heavily reliant on vocal’s in backing track. Danny won’t have it in ESC. Definitely one to beat but if vocally same as last time he might pick up very few votes from Internaitional Juries. He can count on a good televote score though. 4/10

Let us see what Saturday night will bring but my scores are:

• 12 - Bjorn Ranelid ft. Sara Li
• 10 - Loreen
• 8 - Lisa Miskovsky
• 6 - Molly Sandén
• 4 - David Lindgren
• 2 - Thorsten Flinck
• 1 - Danny Saucedo

Above all I hope you enjoy tonight's show and are either pleased or not to disappointed by the result. 

Melodifestivalen show kicks off at 8:00 CET/7:00GMT. 

Surprise! It's A Podcast (Melodifestivalen Final)

Today we are delighted to present our first podcast. This is a bit of an experiment for us and we'd love your feedback. We feel that podcasting is becoming a greater part of Eurovision fandom but also it is important to understand that we cannot write the huge pieces for things like Melodifestivalen that fully communicate my thoughts. If you have not been following Melodifestivalen up until now read our Rough Guide to Melodifestivalen 2012.



It was a delight to do this but four points I would like to make before you send feedback.

1. It ran three minutes longer than I wanted.
2. I pause a lot - I am trying to work on that.
3. I would love to add jingles or something so as it is not just voice. 
4. Before anyone from Ireland asks even though I am from Dublin I speak with a Tipperary accent. This is because most of my family is from Tipperary. Please don't stare in surprise like most Dublin people do.

I will put up an abridged script of the Podcast a later stage today. 

Please leave your comments at the bottom of this post. 

A Rough Guide To Melodifestivalen Final

So, as any reader should have noticed by now Melodifestivalen, The Final takes place in Globen this week. So what is in store. Well after four semi-finals and Andra Chansen we have ten songs to go before eleven international juries and the Swedish televoting public.

The Contestants

1. David Lindgren - Shout It Out 
2. Thorsten Flinck Och Revolutionsorkestern - Jag Reser Mig Igen 
3. Dead By April - Mystery
4. Lisa Miskovsky - Why Start A Fire
5. Top Cats - Baby Doll
6. Loreen - Euphoria
7. Ulrik Munther - Soldiers
8. Bjorn Ranelid ft. Sara Li - Mirakel
9. Molly Sandén - Why Am I Crying
10. Danny Saucedo - Amazing

The Scene

In spite of what some fans have said this is shaping up to be a better Melodifestivalen final than the last two years. Nevertheless if your a Eurovision, Melodifestivalen or just someone with nothing to do between 8pm and 10pm CET you should be watching the Melodifestivalen Final. It is always exciting, particularly with the advent of the international juries (I don't have a clue who sits on them or how their picked and would love to know do get in touch if you know).

The Deciders

The winner is decided on by international juries in: Belgium, Bosnia & Herzegovia, UK, Estonia, France Cyprus, Ireland, Malta, Norway, Germany and Ukraine. They award 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 and 12 points to their favourite songs. according to Christer Bjorkman, Melodifestivalen producer, the international juries understand how seriously Swedes take Melodifestivalen. 

In terms of trivia France, Ireland and Norway have had juries in the voting for the last two years. Of these Ireland is the most accurate having given the eventual winner 10 points on both occasions. Norway averages 4 and France 6. Of the countries this year UK and Malta were the only ones to award 12 points to Popular last year.

473 points are then distributed to the 10 songs as a percentage proportionate to their percentage in the public televote. The winner is the song with the most points. Since 1999 televoting has been used continuously in Melodifestivalen. With the exception of 2005 and 2008, the winner of the televote has won the overall competition.

The Odds and the Polls

Every year a countless number of polls and odds come out. Eurovision fan poll results are broadly consistent with the results of Melodifestivalen (With the noteable exception of 2010). The leader of the polls (both Eurovision fan polls and internal Swedish polls) would suggest Loreen will win. Most people suggest that this is a straight two way fight between Loreen and Danny but Melodifestivalen is never that clear cut. I think that Molly Sandén or Thorsten Flinck could emerge as a dark horse. Bookies are largely in line with this view point.

So we will have more on Melodifestivalen this week, but in the mean time we have a little surprise for you which we will unveil during the week. We don't know if you will like it but hopefully you will.

P.S. Vote on our poll for Melodifestivalen on the top left of the blog.

News Wrap-Up: Saturday 3rd March

Firstly Spain, Estonia and Lithuania have selected their songs for this years Eurovision. Spain have selected Quédate Conmigo which is a very good song. I am a tiny, tiny bit uneasy about it I think there is a small bit of depth missing from the performance but we will have to wait until May to see whether it works on the Eurovision Stage.

Estonia selected Ott Lepland to represent them in Baku. His song for Baku "Kuula" is very deep and is fairly strong.  I do still maintain this was a poor choice and there was better in the competition. I really hope they keep it in Estonian. 

Lithuania have decided to send Donny Montel with his song Love is Blind to Baku. This was the favourite, though certainly not mine. Anyway we'll talk about these things later.

Anyhow in other news:

• In Melodifestivalen to most fans disappointment - including my own, Top Cats got through to the final with Thorsten Flinck. 
• Keeping with Melodifestivalen 2012 early odds and polls would suggest that Loreen should win. We will have full coverage of Melodifestivalen this week and will have a big post tomorrow night.
• A snippet of the Azeri song has appeared online. You can listen to it here, though from the snippet it does not exactly fill me with confidence of an amazing Azeri song at Eurovision. 
• Sean Banan did an excellent parody of Danny Saucedo's Melodifestivalen song which you can watch here.

I'll have a piece up on Melodifestivalen Final sometime tonight.

Andra Chansen: Football For Eurofans

Those of you who are not huge fans of Melodifestivalen will be glad to know that in eight days or so this wave of excitement will end. However also, very sadly as Melodifestivalen comes to an end so does the National Final season and with that comes a strange silence over the world of Eurovision fandom.

But enough pessimism on with Andra Chansen. If you have never been through Andra Chansen before Scandipop have an explaination of it here.

The first duel is between Dynasty and Top Cats. Dynasty have a fairly average sounding rock song helped by a lack of rock in Melodifestivalen this year. Top Cats have something that sounds like The Playtones last year but it is not anything monumental. My guess is that Dynasty should win this duel. However rock is often screened out of Andra Chansen.

The second duel is probably the most high profile for Eurovision/Melodifestivalen fans. Timoteij with their rather good song and Andreas Johnsson. Those who remember his MF 2006/2007 entries will see some parallels between Lovelight and those. However I think his song is just a little below those greats. I would love to say that Timoteij will get through but this is just to close to call.

The third duel contains Lotta Engberg and Christer Sjogren up against Thorsten Flinck once again this could go their way. I reckon that Lotta and Christer will do it their chessy but sweet song could appeal to a more wider vote. Nevertheless there is a certain "Caroline Af Ugglas" feel to this song. That has proven in the past as being a vote getter.

Finally duel four will consist of Sean Banan and Youngblood. Here you have a rather poorish song and another rather poorish song. However Youngblood probably will get through from here as there is little to take the young teen girl vote.

I'm not going to go into depth about the second round but it certainly looks like we will have an exciting and heartbreaking contest.

Another Eurovision Entry And Some Semi Final Results

Finland have decided to send Pernilla Karlsson to Eurovision. It is what we would call a "Brave" entry. It lacks something and then something else and then.... Anyway the song is called Nar Jag Blunder. The dancer would suggest that there is something for that you have to be distracted from something.....

Sweden surprised us all by deciding to stop Charlotte Perrelli in her tracks. She is now out of Melodifestivalen. Danny and Lisa went directly to Globen which was surprising for Lisa to get through. However Danny was not anyway surprising. His performance was vocally unsound and would be very difficult to do at ESC. However it is Danny and judging by the audience reaction he will be the one to beat on Saturday 10th.

Estonia and Lithuania also held semi-finals and I have not studied them in enough so do please read about on escXtra

The Winner Normally Comes From Semi-Final 4....really?

So I'm just a little pushed for time this evening on account of the Irish National Final tomorrow [currently working on a personal post about that will be up later].

This year the big ticket match up was putting Charlotte Perrelli and Danny into the same semi-final but anyhow there's eight songs to be reviewed:

Charlotte Perrelli - This was way behind what I had expected from Charlotte. If this was not Charlotte I would say I really like the song but it won't qualify. What is that screen in the middle of the clip for.? The Swedes can be very strange when they vote and are very fickle. So I think we will be meeting Charlotte next week in Ardra Chansen. Grade: B+

OPA - Boring Greek song, not really fit for the Melodifestivalen stage, should come in last place. Grade: D-

Dynazty - Standard rock song on a pop beat. Nothing special in comparision to Death By April. I think this will either go to the final or Andra Chansen [it certainly won't be left behind]. Grade: B

Lotta & Christer - Two big ticket singers in the chessyest song I have heard in a long time. Picture a lump of really hard chesse and then multiply it a million times and you have the song. I still like it though. Grade: C+

Hanna Lindblad - Like her last MF entry this is a little too unorginal and popy to qualify. I still think that it is a reasonable entry but probably will not qualify. Grade: C

Axel Algmark - A strange kind of old style mixes with new style entry but the resulting product is not very impressive. Grade: D-

Lisa Miskovaky - A very good song but one which is unlikely to qualify. It is too dead sounding and lacking anything for the listener to catch onto. Grade: C+

Danny - Suffice to say Danny was the big ticket name for Melodifestivalen this year. His song is far from amazing. I think it is an improvement from In The Club but that might not nessicarly be a good thing. The stage performance clearly has a huge budget but I really hate these over gimmicky performances at Melodifestivalen when other artists don't seem to get such a budget. Grade: B-

So in spite of all of the hype around this semi-final, having heard the 32 songs, Melodifestivalen looks set to boil down to a three way fight between Loreen, Danny and Molly Sandén. I'm also going to toss David Lindgren into the mix as a dark horse.

Pay Attention The News Is On

If your wonder where the title comes from it is from Bill Bailey's Guide To The Orchestra, If you have a few minutes to spare do watch it.

Moving to other matters to do with the contest; of course in the usual bullet point from.

• Israel's song has somehow appeared on YouTube and even the band seem a little surprised as to how this was leaked. They say that they are working on a final arrangement. You can listen to it here.
• Turkey will present their song tomorrow, we're not really sure what to expect from it but, sure, we shall see tomorrow.
• Apparently Charlotte Perrielli's song was release in part online. Sadly we didn't get to hear it and if you should have a way please email us - we'ed be ever so grateful. I am unhappy with SVT's poor handling of the leak. They should release all the songs at this point.
• Maya Saar has revealed to escXtra Bosnia and Herzegovina will present their song on March 15th.
• Nearly forgot to put in the delightful piece of inaccuracies on an LA times website have a look here. But seriously "European Idol" where do these gobdaws get their information from. 
• Finally, Feminnem have finally come to an end after many years of great music. However I will always remember their great song in 2005.

Sweden Finally Gets It Right: Semi-Final Reaction

Because of the rather huge number of shows tonight my reactions are divided into two pieces one for the semi-finals [this one] and one for the ones selecting their ESC song [later].

Sweden: This evenings semi-final in Leksand finally brought me some happiness with the result. Over the last two weeks I had become concerned about the general way the final of  Melodifestivalen was shaping up. This week looked set to be another disappointing one until BANG out came Molly Sandén, looking very sexy and with a vocal performance to match. Her vocals were far more emotional and on key then the earlier clips and rehearsals would suggest. I was also extremely impressed to see them send Bjorn Ranelid and Sara Li to the final. It is an excellent song even if 99% of Eurovision fans dislike it. They also smartly sent Youngblood and Andreas Johnsson to Andra Chansen. Andra Chansen is shaping up to be a very tough contest.

Estonia: It would seem that Estonia have sent August Hunt, Loss Paranoias, Ott Lepland, Liis Lemsalu, POP Maniacs to the final. This does not appear to have gone down well with Eurovision fans, but because I did not watch the show I have no opinion but given my reviews I actually think this was a broadly good result.


Lithuania: Something happened in Lithuania you can read about it here: http://escxtra.com/2012/02/impressions-from-the-3rd-semifinal/

So that was the semi-finals.

Tonight: It's Another Super Saturday

Today sees a huge marathon of shows across Europe. 4 Acts will be selected today/tonight we know one of those already that is Ukraine who had their final at the ungodly hour of 11:30 CET - here in Ireland that's 10:30 and I wanted a lie on more than I wanted to watch Ukraine. So I didn't see it but I have seen the winner. [full post later].

Otherwise two songs will be presented tonight - that's Italy [who I am very much looking forward to hearing] and Croatia. Croatia will have a special show at 20:00 CET which lasts one hour so we such hear the song around 21:00 CET. Italy will present their song as well tonight and I suspect that it could be very late tonight [after 23:00 CET] before we hear the song I am not sure what I will be watching tonight so I recommend watching the usual channels for information about Italy.

Latvia also will select their entry tonight in a dual final format. The first will be at 18:00 CET [about one hour from now] and the second super final will be at 20:00 CET. I will throw up the review shortly.

Sweden holds the third semi-final of Me.lodifestivalen tonight at 20:00 CET. You can read our reviews of it here.

Lithuania holds a semi-final too at 20:00 CET. Estonia holds one which starts at 20:30 CET. You can read our reviews of the Estonian semi-final here.

This may all be bit  confusing so I recommend the page that escXtra have developed.

A Slightly Poorer Semi-Final

Sweden presented their songs as is now a regular Thursday job. So here come the somewhat later than usual.

Youngblood- Generic boyband. What is more interesting is the beat of the song, which strangely is the exact same as Eric Saade's Manboy - I've checked. The song does not have quite as strong a melody but still I'd say this should go directly to the final because it is well positioned in front of some rather dull songs and there is very little in this semi to soak up the teen girl [except Molly Sandén]. Also having people often go for the beat over anything else so that figures. I was not the biggest fan of Manboy and the same is here. Grade: C+

Maria BenHajji - I like a tryer and this is a very sweet but unremarkable song. This will most likely stay at the early stage of the competition. Might struggle to be in 7th place. Grade: C-

Carolina Wallin Pérez - Very strange song, not helped by Carolina. Like the last one I cannot see how this could go anywhere in the semi-final. Grade: E-

Mattias Andrésson - A song that is best described as "fine". There is nothing extremely worng with the song but it could do with a lift. Grade: D+

Love Generation - Finally, something good. This is a tiny bit more rockish then I had expected, however the is a few problems with how the chorus works. It reminds me a lot of a pink song. But face it is Love Generation - that alone makes them great.  Personally love this but reckon this could struggle to make Andra Chansen tomorrow night. Grade: B+

Andreas Johnsson - Yeah, here we go again. For someone who said that he was finished with Melodifestivalen in 2010 he sure is back fast. This is more like what I would expect from Andreas Johnsson. It is largely more close to his 2006/7 entries but I still think that this just is not as good as they were. I think it sounds like Andra Chansen. Grade: B-

Molly Sandén - Molly Sandén: Sweden's answer to Miley Cyrus. Without a doubt Molly's popularity should carry her through to the final but this song is a little behind my expectations for this song. It is not as good as her 2009 entry Sa Vill Stjorna. The problem with the Sandén sisters is it all a bit soft and cuddly. I'd personally try something a little more rockish with this song but we have what we have let's see where this goes. Grade: B

Bjorn Ranelid & Sara Lis - There goes a time anytime you review things where you have to just put your credibility on the line and see what happens so here we go: I think this song is excellent. Yes, I have listened to it at least 40 times today but I still think that there is something very strnage about it that I just love. Everything about it works. As they say in the North: it's the way you tell'm. I don't fully understand why I love this all I know is I do. Grade: A

So as you can see I would love to see Bjorn and Sara go through to the final with Love Generation but I suspect it will be Molly and Youngblood. I would like to see Molly and Andreas in AC but suspect it will be Bjorn/ Sara with Andreas. I will post a Latvian final review if I find the time.

Here We Go Again: The Odds Check

The good people over at Nicerodds have been good enough to try to tap into the Eurovision fan market by putting together the odds from many Irish, UK and Nordic bookmakers. Many of the countries that have not even detailed about their national final yet are given odds but we are not going to consider most of them yet as it just reflects a countries historic strength at Eurovision.

• Going first to Austria where unsurprisingly Conchita Wurst the favorite to win, with (surprisingly) 3 punkt 5 and Trackshittaz lagging behind. I wouldn't be  surprised if there was a surprise winner in Austria but Conchita and Trackshittaz would be good in Baku.
• Moving North to Germany where we see Roman Lob is the Hot favourite to win, given that he seems to be winning the qualifiers so far this is not surprising. It will most likely be him in Baku, and I do actually need to see him as I have not seen him performing yet.
• Moving further north again to Sweden where Youngblood and Molly Sandén are favourites to progress from semi-final 3 but after yesterday it is clear we need to see the songs first. In terms of the winner of Melodifestivalen 2012 
• So what about ESC? Sweden somewhat surprisingly are riding upfront possibly reflecting the strength of Melodifestivalen 2012. Serbia follows probably because of Zelio Zehomsomethingorother. We will have to hear his song first though. Otherwise the usual suspects are there, Azerbaijan, Armenia etc. Interestingly Ireland is quite high - 14/1 (reflecting Jedward being in our national final). Of the songs picked Norway is 14/1 to win with Denmark behind on 18/1 however one bookie is only offering 7/1 on Denmark making them the clear favorites at this early stage. Cyprus is 25/1. France, despite being well up on fan lists (not mine) is 50/1. The longest odds of a currently picked song is Malta on 130/1.

A Look Ahead To Tonight

All times mentioned in this article are CET for GMT subtract one.

There is a huge amount on this evening with 3 song selections and 2 semi-finals there is little reason to be bored. 

• Norway kicks of in about an hour at 19:55 for their final pausing at 21:10 and restarting for the super final at 21:40. We are expecting a result from Norway around 22:45. We are hoping for a Reidun Saether/Plumbo victory.
• Sweden gets going at 20:00 with their semi-final until 21:30. I think I speak for many fans by saying vote for Timoteij Sweden.
• Iceland have a two hour show from 21:30-23:30 they will be the last country tonight to give us a song and we sincerely hope that it is by Greta & Jonsi.
• Hungary kick off at 20:15 with a result expected around 22:00.
• If your watching Lithuania their show is from 20:00-22:30.

So we have a long night in store. Time to get the dinner eaten and popcorn on and enjoy every minute of the  biggest Scandinavian weekend of the year. 

Vote For Timoteij!!!!

I was almost going to take an evening off blogging when I realised that the songs from Melodifestivalen still had to be reviewed. So before we head off to look at the live stream from Gothenburg here come the reviews:

Ulrik Munther - This is a direct appeal to the Justin Beber fans of Sweden. His sing is of the high quality that we have come to expect from Sweden. Why he has a mouth organ I will never figure out but I think this is pitched very well at the voters and should go directly to the final in Stockholm. At a personal level I think it is a good listen but think there is better in this semi-final. Grade: B

Top Cats - When I first started watching this clip of the song I could have sworn I was after watching The King by The Playtones. However unlike the Playtones this is not nearly as strong the song may be good for the genre but it lacks a sense of connectedness that we expect from songs. Very average entry which will struggle in Melodifestivalen. Grade: D-

Sonja Aldén - This is might be a case where we actually need to hear the whole version of the song. I'd be surprised if this clip was taken late in the song as the song has not built up at all. Every year some big name comes crashing out of Melodifestivalen and this could be that entry this year. I think it feels very cold and stagnet this is due to the lack of warmth and passion in the ballad but perhaps I could understand it more if I spoke Swedish. Grade: C-

Andreas Lundsteadts - After Alcazar split last year I felt that it was obvious that one of them would turn up at Melodifestivalen. This song is a little to sutble to be Alcazar and indeed it could cancal out with some of Mimi-Oh's vote. This might be a little over dramatically performed. It is quite radio friendly but I think this may not be good anywhere. It is a good song in certain respects. Grade: C

Timoteij - This was the song that I have been waiting for for quite some time. Of course this is the fan favorite in this semi-final however I think that it does offer everything that Timoteij are good at. However unlike their Norwegian neighbours the Swedes do not seem to embrace the ethnic pop to the extend others did. However if this doesn't go directly to the final it will be a surprise. If I could critise them I would say that their choltes don't exactly match up/ contrast from the song well. But this really is nit picking. Whether or not they win Melodifestivalen remains to be seen, but let us enjoy a great song. Grade: A+

David Lindgren - An over techno song which doesn't offer very much but it could come across well on TV. I don't whether this is way off of the mark or just a maybe. I'm not the biggest fan as you can tell. Grade: D+

Mimi Oh - A direct competitor to Andreas however I think that this works a lot better. Overall this subtle pop does not do very well in competitions however I think that this is well performed and colourful enough that it should hold up and possibly gain a place in Andra Chansen. P.S. I wrote up these reviews quickly and was listening to Mimi's song again and really it is very good. Not good enough to go to the final but I really like this one. Grade: A-

Thomas Di Leva - A Patient has escaped from the mental home in Sweden. Maybe seen singing crap pop songs that may have been seen in Eurovision during the 70's. Grade: D

I think I speak for many blogs around Europe in hoping that TIMOTEIJ <3! go through to the final, and while I like Mimi Oh I reckon it will be Ulrik Munther. The songs that get through to Andra Chansen are a bit harder to work out I think Mimi Oh and David.

Doing Anything Tomorrow?

Well if your not then you may want to take a look at what is on tomorrow. Tomorrow from 1pm the Melodifestivalen songs will be appearing online. We are very much looking forward to seeing Timoteij.

Also more importantly for us Irish tomorrow we will hear all the songs in the National Final on The Mooney Show. You can listen to the show here on the RTÉ website. Click "Play now" in the What's on now tab. It will be broadcast at 3pm GMT/ 4pm CET. We aim to have some coverage of the show on Twitter. Follow us @besteuroblog. We look forward to seeing all the artists song but especially Jedward.

And if you're still not sick of Eurovision at this stage there is another show on in Germany. It is their quarter final of their Unser Star Fur Baku show so Raab may be very excitable.