Rosé refreshed!

By
Rosé West
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Wifi back, refreshed with a beer-ette and nourished with a Swedish salad.. Rosé’s back folks, for a bit anyway, I am flagging to be honest.  Maybe this will be the Eurovision where I grow up, ahem!

Back to it then.

Netherlands

Ooh this has a wonderful draw after Ukraine and she looks great on the satellite stage, keep it simple girl as opposed to the nonsense that’s going on around you!!!!  And I don’t mean the birds rising up on the backdrop, I mean the likes of what preceded it and what follows it.  I really am still cold to this song but appreciate its simplicity and they’ve done a great job of staging it.  Still borderline for me…

Montenegro

Really? Really? Spacemen? Totally bonkers but I’m struggling to see how anyone will get beyond the spaceman and see it as the fresh and current song it is.  I’d heard very good things from the first rehearsals about this but to me it the joke didn’t work and I really think is will turn people off which is a shame.

Lithuania

Bless him, someone has told him ‘control the eyes, don’t move your arms so much’.  He tries, oh how he tries, for about a verse and a chorus but then his arms and eyebrows take over don’t they.  They’ve sexed him and the song up and certainly given it more oomph but I think it might be a lost cause.  Still I would…

Belarus

I’ve said it before and I’ll say again, this is a load of old tripe polished up in the guise of something glittery and it takes us back over a decade!  The only jury votes going for this are from their neighbours and the only televotes will be from drunk gay men at semi final parties.  This shouldn’t qualify but it will.  I am trying to see it for its qualities of fun and backing dancers but I really can’t.  Hope I’m not turning into an old grump.

Moldova
I didn’t really rate this when it was chosen, I found it all a little hard to engage with and the melody isn’t easy on my ears.  But here in Malmo it just oozes class and her vocal is soaring, a little bit like her on that rising thingamajig beneath here dress.  I guess it kind of lends something to the song and gives it something but I’m less than convinced it’s absolutely required.  She’d have been fine just singing it.  For a scaled back Eurovision, there certainly are a load of gimmicks. Qualifying I’d say now based on the power of the vocal.
Ireland
Now then we have something here Ireland!  Cute boy belts out a modern pop dance track with effective drumming from very fit drummers and a nice touch interacting with the backing singers during the chorus.  A lot of work has clearly gone into this and it shows, Ireland should be proud of this and should sail into the final and come top ten, possibly more.  He looks so earnestly into the camera during the first verse that I came over all peculiar!  I was worried that the whole Celtic imagery would be too much but I’ve just heard from the horse’s mouth that the backdrop has been toned down and to form the heart shape to tie everything in, good decision.  Go Ireland!