Latvia is also adding to the quota of seriously good looking young male soloists who’ll be performing in Sweden. 21 year old Justs will have a few heartbeats racing and, given a late run in the Grand Final, Latvia could again be troubling the top of the scoreboard. Keep your eyes on Latvia Australia even if it’s just for Justs.
Szpak is a serious contender for 'Best Hair of Eurovision 2016' and his soft-rock ballad is an earnest effort that actually is, to its determent, a bit too black and white.
Poland have produced some much talked about entries over the past couple of years (milkmaids anyone?) but this paint-by-numbers effort may bring an end to their recent success. The Poles should have stuck with Margaret.
Rykka channels a bit of bombshell with her glam look and sports a set of eyebrows that will give some of the lads a run for their money in the “best brow” stakes. Current, dramatic and accessible “The Last of Our Kind” may surprise some of the more fancied contenders in this Semi Final. Dami: don’t take your eyes off the eyebrows.
“Made of Stars” is a contemporary ballad both beautiful and haunting; a piano-heavy alternative to last year’s hedonistic “Golden Boy” which will light up the Stockholm’s Globen Arena with mobile phone torches. Hovi Star has a significant profile in Israel and this contest will do well to raise his profile and showcase his stunning voice to a wider international audience.
A worthy Grand Finalist should he find his way out of the stars and one which could give our Ms Im a serious run for her money.
And if rumours are to be believed then this young man may just be performing his number in the buff.
IVAN better strategically place those tresses to get through the European censors; a mane that beats outPoland’s Michal Szpak for best hair in Semi Final 2 but only by a follicle.
Serbia’s Sanja Vučić ZAA oozes stage presence and her confident delivery of “Goodbye (Shelter)” should see her safely through to the Grand Final but only by a stylish feather.
The downfall of the song is that it’s a bit “heard it all before” so Sanja will need to sing her heart out on stage to guarantee that glittery ticket to the final.
This Eurovision powerhouse has been scratching its head of late and, in an effort to rectify some of their recent poor showings, the Irish are hoping a change up in selection tactic will assist them in getting a hand on the glittery prize.
Byrne’s uplifting pop song “Sunlight” is a step in the right direction but he’s facing a year in where the contest is littered with contemporary male soloists and it may not be the winning goal they’re desperately searching for.
Byrne’s profile and popularity should see Ireland back in the Grand Final but he may not trouble the scoreboard too much on the big night.
“Dona” is a big rock chick anthem and, again, unlike a lot of entries that are contesting for this year’s top prize. Many would suggest that Kaliopi was coaxed back to the contest by fans urging her to return to the Eurovision stage but she is on record as saying that it was the song “Dona” that convinced her to re-contest.
Expect this to go big on the night and she may just out-rock Romania’s Ovidiu. Dami better beware the return of the Macedonian Diva.
In 2012 the Balkan Diva Kaliopi took FYR Macedonia to the Grand Final for the first time in many years. 2012 was a leap year. In 2016 Kaliopi will attempt to take her home nation to the Grand Final again after many years in the Semi Final wilderness. And it’s a leap year too!
“Dona” is a big rock chick anthem and, again, unlike a lot of entries that are contesting for this year’s top prize. Many would suggest that Kaliopi was coaxed back to the contest by fans urging her to return to the Eurovision stage but she is on record as saying that it was the song “Dona” that convinced her to re-contest.
Expect this to go big on the night and she may just out-rock Romania’s Ovidiu. Dami better beware the return of the Macedonian Diva.
Montell promised his home nation that he’d return to the contest and he convincingly won, what is arguably, the longest and most complicated of all the national selections.
“I’ve Been Waiting For This Night” has a chorus aching to be the theme for a sporty car commercial and is a slightly slicker version of Ireland’s “Sunlight”. So it's a shame to see them both drawn in this second Semi Final as they may inadvertently cancel each other out when it comes to the crucial televote.
Montell has a knack for great mid-tempo pop and he’ll probably advance Lithuania to another appearance in the Grand Final. Skémés Donny!
Dami Im is a superb choice to take on that formidable task with her Fairytale backstory that Europe will adore; teaching herself English from pop songs of the Spice Girls et al.
Im’s remarkable voice, her promise to be Fashion Forward on stage and the surprisingly good mid-tempo power ballad from the incredible writing team of DNA already has Europe asking “so, what happens if Australia wins?”.
It’s not out of the question that Dami can win this heat and take some significant momentum into the Grand Final where she’ll be facing a big showdown with powerhouses Russia and Sweden.
Distinct from any other song in this Semi Final “Blue and Red” is an accessible piece of pop which should appeal across the generations. ManuElla’s bringing several wind machines and daring a risky costume reveal ensuring that the Eurovision drinking game will be kept active during her 3 minutes on stage.
Recent viewers may also be familiar with her as the enthusiastic host of last year’s Junior version of the contest staged in the Bulgarian capital Sofia which featured Aussie Bella Paige among the competitors.
And Bulgaria has a serious chance to break their near decade drought of Grand Final appearances with one of the strongest songs in Semi Final 2.
There’s no surprise that there’s a lot of buzz around this Balkan gem as it was the last of the 43 songs to be unveiled. It would be criminal if this entry was left incarcerated in the Semis.
The Danish national public loves their middle-of-the-road pop (see last year’s Anti Social Media as case in point) and Lighthouse X’s nice, yet ultimately bland, offering tickled the Danes fancy and they beat out our Anja.
Like a modern-day version of The Herreys (winners of Eurovision for Sweden in 1984) it’s hard not to like them but ultimately Anja would have been a much better selection. It would not be surprising if Denmark miss the final for the second year on the trot.
Eurovision entries are not permitted to be political, see Georgia’s 2009 effort “We Don’t Wanna Put In” famously disqualified due to its obvious referencing of the Russian leader. This makes “1944” a controversial inclusion in the contest.
The song is an ode to Jamala’s great grand-parents and a semi-autobiographical account of the deportation of Crimean Tatar population to Central Asia in 1944. Unsurprisingly it has drawn the cry of “boycott” from certain quarters.
“1944” had huge resonance throughout the Ukraine when presented at the Ukrainian National selection and is a fitting song that flirts with controversy and befitting of the Ukraine’s return to the contest.
The bewitching youngster is a bit of a celebrity in her native Norway and can boast that she’s the youngest ever winner of the Norwegian version of Dancing with the Stars (another good vehicle for Dami - take note!).
Agnete’s shipping-themed effort is a strange collision of two musical styles, where both the verse and the chorus sound like they belong to different songs, but like many mash-ups the end result works and is surprisingly catchy.
Norway ranks among the most formidable of the Scandinavian nations proving to be recent powerhouses in the contest and Agnete will easily break her way in to the final and could be sailing to another Top 10 finish.
What we have with Georgia's Nika Kocharov and Young Georgian Lolitaz is an edgy alternative entry that will polarise the audience.
It has the potential to soar on stage but it also has the potential to sink pretty quickly. The odds are not in its favour either as Georgia is languishing in the bottom 5 of the betting ranks. Unlikely to progress beyond the Semi.
“Fairytale” was recently translated into English from Albanian and with this change it has lost little sprinkle of its magic. There's always time to flip it back Eneda! And she'd better deliver on the beautiful Albanian musical motifs.
Tarifa’s profile across the Balkans may assist in her gathering enough points to get out of this Semi-Final but that too may prove to be a Fairytale.
It comes as no surprise that Tesoro played Annie on stage but the 19 year old brings as much white-girl funk as she possibly can to this annoyingly upbeat entry. Her vocals are reminiscent of Sweden’s Robin in tone but the moves and beat are far more Bruno Mars - think Uptown Funk. The surprise packet of Semi 2.
