Semi-Final 1

The rehearsals for the semi-finals have kicked off and with this, the speculations around which countries will proceed to the big final. We find the prediction game rather mind wrenching, and with the 50/50 jury and televote system it makes it even harder to guess the lucky 10 in each semi-final.

That's why we will settle for choosing our personal favorites which according to our opinion, in a perfect world without war, global warming and Dutch schlagers, would snatch a ticket to the final. Amazingly we agree on most entries. We suppose we have brainwashed each other and have pretty much morphed into one person by now. Ok, nuff said, here’s our pick for Semi-Final 1!

• Albania 
• Belgium
• Estonia
• Finland
• Greece
• Latvia
• Moldova
• Poland
• Serbia
• Slovakia

And yeah, we know, it probably won't be these ten. Besides, we are in agony since we’re actually starting to like Russia. And who can resist Belarus’ butterflies? And omg Iceland, we love you and we so wish we could like Hera Björk’s eurotrash. But we don’t.

Which are your favorites from semi-final 1?

Can`t see the forest for the trees?

Congratulations Slovakia, this year you have nailed it! We had almost given up on the Slovaks, cause the four times they have managed to participate since 1994, they have given us nothing but rubbish. But with a dash of ethnic beats and a hint of traditional folk song elements, mixed with a couple of hotties on stage doing a rather peculiar dance routine, they’re suddenly on top of their game!

So, where do you go in Slovakia to see the most beautiful trees? Horehronie apparently. We have no idea what Kristina is singing about, but that’s the beauty of it, she sings in her own native language and we like it! The song does however lack a build up towards the end, it sort of just goes on and on while we wait for the non existing grand finale. Kristina looks good in her foresty outfit, but her singing is at best mediocre, she sounds very nervous. We have also grown a bit tired of the rope sequence, it has been done before, more than a couple of times. It looks cool when it’s done well, but it should be possible to come up with something new and refreshing.

For the time being we have a hard time seeing anything else but the trees in this entry. We think they really want us to see the whole forest, they’re just not quite there yet. But we have a strong feeling that Kristina and her crew will work hard to improve this number’s weaknesses. That’s why we predict that we will see Slovakia, complete with their full blown and fabulous forest, in the final for the first time in ages.