Do you like white outfits? Do you love male-female duets? Do you crave male-female duets where they’re both dressed in white? Then semi-final two has been made for you!<\/p>\n
After some upsets on Tuesday – Finland being the biggest expected qualifier knocked out – tonight it’s the second set of songs vying for places in Saturday’s final. And they are these.<\/p>\n
Serbia<\/strong> Austria<\/strong> Macedonia<\/strong> Malta<\/strong> Romania<\/strong> Netherlands<\/strong> Hungary<\/strong> Denmark<\/strong> Ireland<\/strong> San Marino<\/strong> Croatia<\/strong> Norway<\/strong> Switzerland<\/strong> Belarus<\/strong> Bulgaria<\/strong> Lithuania<\/strong> Estonia<\/strong> Israel<\/strong> Picking ten to put through the final was hard because I’m not sure I would<\/em> put ten through. However, I’ll go for: Do you like white outfits? Do you love male-female duets? Do you crave male-female duets where they’re both dressed in white? Then semi-final two has been made for you! After some upsets on Tuesday – Finland being the biggest expected qualifier knocked out – tonight it’s the second set of songs vying for places in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,11],"tags":[459,949],"class_list":["post-37226","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music","category-tv","tag-eurovision","tag-eurovision-song-contest"],"yoast_head":"\n
\nIf the opening part of this song seems strangely familiar, I reckon it’s because it’s the Sugababes’ About You Now<\/em>. Unfortunately, it’s not as good as that. There’s a white dress, a shirtless dancer doing a cool\/weird backwards routine and a good button at the very end of the number, but it’s not enough.<\/p>\n
\nNathan Trent sports the second white outfit of the night. And too-short trousers with no socks. Seriously, people, this has to stop. Nathan is a charismatic performer which will help (as long as he doesn’t disappear completely into dry ice) but the song is bland up until the finale, which is pretty overblown. <\/p>\n
\nCan we stop with the performers’ own faces on the video wall please? There were a couple of act in this year’s Melodifestivalen that did this and it’s weird if not downright egotistical. The song itself is fine but nothing special and destined for mid-table obscurity.<\/p>\n
\nA white dress? Great idea! This is an elegant Eurovision ballad with the best singing of the show so far but, like so many Eurovision ballads before it, the song doesn’t really go anywhere – including, potentially, the final.<\/p>\n
\nYodelling and rapping, together at last in the night’s first duet. I don’t even know if this is a pastiche but it’s a hot mess. Naff choreography, nonsense lyrics and a video background drawn by a three-year-old child make it memorable even if Alex doesn’t fall off his glittery canon (not a euphemism). It’s pretty dreadful, so in many ways the entry the UK audience has been waiting for.<\/p>\n
\nHello to the best harmonies in the competition. The staging and backing track are minimalist, focusing rightly on the three performers, who lift what could be quite a mediocre track. A final place surely awaits.<\/p>\n
\nMissing the traditional eastern Europe folk song vibe? Fear not – Hungary deliver, although sadly not playing the kvinnab\u00f6ske. There’s rapping too, and then the song kind of just stops at the end. Points added for good pyro. Points deducted for the top knot.<\/p>\n
\nThis starts off middling and gets much stronger as it goes through, with some big notes adding interest. Look out for the golden shower at the end.<\/p>\n
\nYes, there’s a hot air balloon. No, I don’t know why. Dressed in white, of course, Brendan Murray does a perfectly good job and looks and sounds about 15 so I’m not going to be mean about his song. And therefore have nothing else to say.<\/p>\n
\nOn her third appearance at Eurovision, I joked that San Marino is so small that Valentina Monetta is the only singer they have. Well, she’s back again. As if to disprove my point, she’s found a friend to duet with. As if to prove my point, he’s American. I actually really dislike the harmonies they’ve chosen but the song’s fun (if you can stomach hearing the phrase “spirit of the night” 300 times in three minutes) and sounds like it has not one, not two, but three<\/em> key changes!<\/p>\n
\nGet your face off the big screen! Jeez. So… Jacques is talented. He can sing high pitched pop. He can sing bassy opera. Alternating between them both? Urgh. This would be great in cabaret; at Eurovision it feels like a gimmick, and I say that as someone who liked Cezar and Malena Ernman. The song could stand on its own without the operatic parts.<\/p>\n
\nFor those counting, it’s another white shirt. At first glance I wasn’t expecting to like this but it’s a really good package: lyric-packed verses, fun (and controversial!) vocal samples, an unusual middle eight and a strong chorus.<\/p>\n
\nIt’s an OK ballad with an OK chorus. There’s not much else to say other than the singer’s dress is twice as tall as she is.<\/p>\n
\nIt’s a duet. They’re dressed in white. Tick off your bingo squares and down your drinks. They seem to be having a lovely time, so that’s something.<\/p>\n
\nThis is OK when it eventually gets going. Maybe it could be a One Direction b-side? Are they still a thing?<\/p>\n
\nI like the brassy backing track. The melody, if there is one in there somewhere, not so much. This is another one that starts going off towards the end, once you’ve already written it off. Still, brass.<\/p>\n
\nOur final duet and our final singer in white (although Israel has some dancers in white still to come). It’s a long show and at this point I’m struggling to tell what they’re going for here. Is it a love song? Is it a song about regret? Is it advertising package holidays to Verona? For all that, the singers work well together and the overall effect is surprisingly endearing.<\/p>\n
\nIt’s another face on the big screen although at least this time it explodes. Imri Ziv closes the semi-final with an uptempo banger. Bookies might be offering odds on some of the high notes but their quality matters less in this number than in the big ballads.<\/p>\n
\nMalta
\nRomania (because I don’t want to deprive UK viewers of it)
\nNetherlands
\nHungary
\nDenmark
\nSan Marino (for the key changes)
\nNorway
\nSwitzerland
\nEstonia
\nIsrael<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"