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BLOGILKAR GUEST REVIEW: PETER CLANCY

It's already a tradition of this blog that Peter Clancy comes up with a review of the season's offering and this year's no exception. Enjoy!

Well, we’re back to Eurovision time again and to be honest this year’s crop of entries is quite disappointing which is not so bad because it is likely to make the voting very erratic and with votes going everywhere we could have an unexpected winner...  My prediction is that the initial voting will have all kinds of changes in the leader board.
This year I am reviewing the songs in order of my ranking – from the worst to the best in my opinion. the Q is that they will qualify; nq is they will not qualify and F is they're already in the final 

Moldova (Wild Soul; Christina Scarlat): Trying to be a better song than it is, though it has a nice build up ... still a boring song. (will not qualify (nq); rank-37)
Belarus Cheescake; Teo): Boring, an excuse to enter a song - won't do well ! Too jazzy (nq; rank-36)  
Albania (One Nights Anger; Hersi): A bit boring, copies the style of many Eurovision songs, and will get points, but not enough. (nq; rank-35)
Portugal (Quero Ser Tua; Suzy): Good song, light & cheery, typical Eurovision and will get lots of votes because of it, but it won't win... not sure of it getting to the final (nq; rank-34
Iceland (No Prejudice; Pollaponk): Unlikely to do well, it won't have sufficiently broad appeal (nq; rank-33)
Georgia (Three minutes to Earth; The Shin and Mariko): Too ethnic - unlikely to do well (nq; rank-32)
Montenegro (Moj Svijet; Sergej Celkovic): Nice & simple, but not likely to make an impact. May get to the final. (nq; rank-31)
San Marino (Maybe; Valentina Monetta): A bit of a "pass the bucket" song - it won't get to the final (nq; rank-30)
Slovenia (Round and Round; Tinkara Kovac): Unlikely to be good enough to stand out though it's not a bad song (nq; rank-29)
Switzerland (Hunter of Stars; Sebalter): Good Mumford and Sons style, appealing to many viewers, will get some points, but not a winner. (nq; rank-28)
Poland (My Slowianie; Dinatan& Cleo): Likely to get some points, but not to make the final (nq; rank-27)
Greece (Rise up; Freaky Fortune): not likely to appeal to enough to win, but it should make the final (Qualify (q); rank-26)
Israel (Same Heart; Mei Finegold): Not sure this style is going to have a broad appeal. (q; rank-25) Lithuania(Attention; Vilja Mataciuanaite): A bit boring, a mix match of different styles that don't go well together. (q; rank-24)
The Netherlands(Calm after the storm; The Common Linnets): Good song, will be in "Firelights" shadow and unlikely to do better. (q; rank-23)
Hungary (Running; Andras Kallay): A bit repetitive and not likely to do well (q; rank-22) 
Russia (Shine; Tolmachevy Sisters): Not a great song, it will get lost in the crowd of other songs and unlikely to get enough votes for the final. (q; rank-21)
Estonia (Amazing; Tanja): Typical dance Eurovision song, it will get a lot of votes from the Eurovision fans, and is great to dance to, but it's not a winner (q; rank-20)
Armenia (Not Alone; Aram MP3): Nice song, love the opening, but I find it a bit repetitive. On the other hand this is going to appeal to a lot of viewers so they may do well (q; rank-19)
Ukraine (Tick Tock; Marya Yaremchuk): Unlikely to do well, the rhythm doesn't work, the song doesn't hang well together or have the appeal it would need to get sufficient votes. (q; rank-18) FYROM (To the sky; Tijana): Good song, very like Lady Gaga - will get lots of votes, could win - and would be a good winner (q; rank-17)
Latvia (Cake to bake; Aarzemnieki): Personally I love this song, it's simple, it's appealing, repeatable and likely to get a whole family moving in the chairs. (q; rank-16)
Italy (La Mia Citta; Emma Marrone): Good beat, good song, in the final, though not sure about it's chances to win (F; rank-15)
Azerbaijan (Start a Fire; Dilara Kazimova): I like the use of piano, and the fact that it focuses on the song, but I'm not sure this will capture the imagination of the viewers. (q; rank-14) 
France (Moustache; Twin Twin): One word for this: ripoff (of the Belgian artist Stromae) - but a good song (F; rank-13)
Germany (Is it Right; Elaiza): Strong song, not my personal favourite, but it will appeal to a lot of people and it is memorable. (F; rank-12)
Belgium (Mother; Axel Hirsoux): A good song, and one that will get capture the imagination of the grannies and mammies out there, but I'm not sure it is a winner - corny is a word that comes to mind - though it will do well! (q; rank-11)
Austria (Rise Like a Phoenix; Conchita Wurst): Sounds like a perfect James Bond song, though I'm not sure that Conchita would fit as the JB image !! A good song, and it will do well, though I don't think it will win. (q; rank-10)
Malta (Coming Home; Firelight): Good song, appealing and well structured, a good buildup and catchy (q; rank-9)
Finland (Something Better; Softengine): Also a worthy winner; though it won't appeal to the grannys, it will appeal to ESC fans and younger people. (q; rank-8)
Spain (Dancing in the Rain; Ruth Lorenzo): Nice simple song, with good range, and repeatable; this will appeal to lots of people, would make a worthy winner (F; rank-7)
Ireland (Heartbeat; Can-Linn, Kasey Smith): Good song, though a bit similar to the Swedish pop and therefore likely to get votes (at least not come last in the final); good beat; likely to do well (q; rank-6)
UK (Children of the Universe; Molly): Good song though too many variances and the rock/pop doesn't seem to work well. (F; rank-5)
Romania (Miracle; Paula Seling & Ovi): Good, catchy and likely to get to the final though it's not winner (q; rank-4)
Denmark (Cliché Love Song; Basim): Very strong, personal one of my favourites, it would be a worthy winner and I could see it get a lot of points. (F; rank-3)
Sweden (Undo; Sanna Nielsen): Likely to do very well, if the voting goes well it could win though I think it will most likely end up in the top 5 (q; rank-2)
Norway (Silent Storm; Carl Espen): Very likely to be in the top 3 and a likely winner; simple, good, well sung and appealing (q; rank-1)

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