Eurovision 2021 Semi-Final 1: How They Stack Up

Let's take a look at ten of the first semi-finalists for the 2021 Eurovision Song Contest and some personal thoughts on what might and might not qualify for the Grand Final on May 22.

1. Lithuania: The Roop - Discoteque

Like many of the artists this year, The Roop return and this, their 2021 effort, was one of the early favourites but has recently faded in the face of more supposedly-popular entries.

The whole concept showcases the quirkiness that the modern day Contest demands: crazy choreography and staging, bright costumes and a song that worms its way into your head whether you want it to or not!

Consequently, I can see this qualifying for the final with ease. Once there, it's the type of presentation and song that is likely to stick in the memory of the casual viewer. It should do well and a Top 10 place is not out of the question.

2. Slovenia: Ana Soklič - Amen

Ana is back in the competition too and has, unfortunately, been hidden away in position two by the producers - the notoriously difficult Eurovision starting place. 

Ana is no slouch in the vocal department though and sings Amen - a big, ballsy ballad - with great aplomb. The backing track emits some distinct gospel vibes throughout and Ana takes us and the song to church! 

However, although she is probably the one of the most accomplished vocalists in the competition, she is going to need some divine intervention to help her through to the final. This semi-final looks tough and I feel Ana will be one of its casualties.

3. Russia: Manizha - Russian Woman

Manizha replaces Little Big as Russia's Eurovision representative with an empowering anthem aggrandizing the development of the Russian Woman.

Even after hearing the song several times, it's still not one which has climbed my personal ranking very far. At first, I didn't care for it at all but once it reaches its 'Fiddler on the Roof' style refrain, it becomes a little more tolerable. 

Whether Europe will tolerate it enough to push it through to the final is debatable. Personally, I wouldn't miss it at all but Russia is one of those countries which somehow gets through to the final come what may. A borderline finalist.

4. Sweden: Tusse - Voices

Another production line entry from Sweden as young Congolese/Swedish singer Tusse confidently brings Voices to the Eurovision stage.

He is a product of the Idol factory, winning the country's version back in 2019 and has since successfully woven his way through the Melodifestivalen minefield.

Now, there's a lot to be said for Sweden's Eurovision selection process as the country's recent successes can attest. However, now and again, the technique can throw up something so formulaic it could have been written by a robot. Voices has that quality about it.

No surprises here from Sweden (even the obligatory key change), but with their track record, I've no doubt it will qualify and feature in the overall Top 10.

5. Australia: Montaigne - Technicolour

See the main page review here.

6.  North Macedonia: Vasil - Here I Stand

Vasil is another survivor from the 2020 contest and this time around he is singing Here I Stand, a song which he has also written for the event.

Now, there's no denying that Vasil can sing. He is a classically trained baritone which is more than evident from this somewhat overblown ballad. To be honest, you would more likely hear this on a Disney movie soundtrack or as part of a West End musical rather than on the Eurovision stage.

There is nothing wrong with it, per say. It's just likely to be forgotten among more striking up-tempo entries in what has become a tough semi-final. A non qualifier, I feel.  

7. Ireland: Lesley Roy - Maps

Ireland offers up Maps this year as its entry and the returning Lesley Roy should be heading in the direction to the final if her live vocals hold up.

It's a perky bop of a song which should get you strutting your stuff around the kitchen, even if you don't know what the heck Lesley is going on about.

Her diction isn't so great - or it might just be my aging ears - so it's tough to make out where her maps are taking her.

A berth in the final should be her final destination, but this is one of those entries that could just as easily be left at the starting gate.

8. Cyprus: Elena Tsagrinou - El diablo

Cyprus has decided to go with a bop-by-numbers composition called El diablo sung by Greek singer, Elena Tsagrinou - so expect 12 points from Greece!

The track ran into trouble early on when the Church of Cyprus and many members of the Cypriot public objected to the lyrics concerning love of "el diablo". Nothing came of it, but what's more surprising is that Lady Gaga hasn't had something to say about the song, as you would be forgiven for thinking that - in part - you're listening to Bad Romance.

Nevertheless, it's well executed and has become one of the favourites to raise the Eurovision trophy. A definite qualifier and a Top 5 pick.

9. Norway: TIX - Fallen Angel

TIX's win at this year's Melodi Grandi Prix upset all the KEiiNO fans but, hey, Fallen Angel (Ut av mørket) is the better song.

Written by the phenomenally successful TIX, the track is somewhat autobiographical, as it deals with his depression caused by childhood bullying over his affliction from Tourette Syndrome.

That said, the song is an impressive composition in its own right; a soaring ballad with a memorable chorus and impactful presentation. It's the sort of package that Eurovision is all about, helped by the relatable back story which is very much an in focus topic.

The staging is a little overblown for my liking but I hope this entry does very well. A qualifier that deserves a Top 10 ranking at the least. 

10. Croatia: Albina - Tick-Tock

Having won Dora 2021, the Croatian preselection process, Albina's Tick-Tock faces off against its "banger" competitors in this semi-final.

In that quest, it could do really well as Croatia is presenting one of its strongest entries in years, courtesy of the attractive Albina. This anthemic dance track contains a very catchy chorus and feels like a radio hit, which I mean as a compliment. 

Croatia has not done well for several years, but if Tick-Tock progresses to the final – undoubtedly! – it could be on track to its strongest placing in more than a decade. Yeah, qualifier.

Lack of time has prevented any further reviews this year, but currently the bookies favour two of the Big Five countries to raise the winner's trophy: Italy or France. Could it be either of them or will we be heading to Valetta in Malta for the 2022 contest. All will be revealed on May 22!

Eurovision 1980: And The UK's 12 Points Go to...Ireland!

Johnny Logan celebrates his 1980 Eurovision win

Single: Johnny Logan - What's Anther Year?

Having won the Contest in 1979, it was expected that Israel would host Eurovision in 1980. However, the cost of hosting two consecutive major productions proved prohibitive for the Israelis who eventually passed the baton to the Dutch; the Spanish and the British reportedly having already refused to do the honours.

So, the Contest returned to the Nederlands Congresgebouw (now the World Forum) in The Hague - the venue for the 1976 competition. Sadly, Israel did not participate due to April 19 being the country's Day of Remembrance.

It was here that Ireland registered its second win (following Dana's victory in The Netherlands in 1970) with Johnny Logan singing What's Another Year? The song scored remarkably consistently, eventually securing seven sets of top marks - including 12 points from The United Kingdom.

In fact, this wasn't the first time that Logan had attempted to represent Ireland. He had tried in 1979 with the song Angie, but could only manage third place at the Irish National Final. Actually, he wasn't even the first choice to sing What's Another Year? That honour had fallen to Irish showband singer Glen Curtin who had declined to do it. Nevertheless, having won his national vote, Logan travelled to The Hague and drew to perform seventeenth (out of 19) on the night.

Once the voting began, his entry had secured its first set of 12 points from the Greeks - the third nation to announce its scores. However, at this point, it looked as if the host nation may run away with the victory. When Luxembourg, the fourth nation to reveal its points, gave their top marks to the Netherlands, Maggie MacNeal's Amsterdam had now received three sets of top marks.

Johnny Logan in 1980

Still, it wasn't to last. MacNeal's popularity waned while Logan began to secure points from all dozen or so of the remaining nations to vote beginning with Denmark (12 points) and ending with Belgium (12 points). In fact, the UK's top marks for Ireland came off the back of two previous maximum scores for Logan - those from Norway and Germany.

At this point in the proceedings, only Germany appeared to be scoring consistently enough to possibly catch him. However, not even Katja Ebstein's Theater could narrow the gap sufficiently, leaving Logan to secure 143 points for the win - a clear fifteen points ahead of Germany.

As a close neighbour of Ireland, it was probably unsurprising that What's Another Year? would benefit from a high UK score. What was possibly more surprising was its commercial success in the UK, given that the British Number 1 spot had become an infrequent home for Eurovision winners.

Proving that assumption incorrect, Logan spent two weeks at the top of the UK charts as well as enjoying great chart success with the song across Western Europe.

The UK's Top 3 in 1980

• Ireland: What's Another Year? - Johnny Logan (12 pts)
• Germany: Theater - Katja Ebstein (10 pts)
• Luxembourg: Papa Pingouin - Sophie and Magaly (8 pts)

Images by Hans van Dijk / Anefo [CC0], via Wikimedia Commons

Together / Ryan O’Shaughnessy / Ireland | Review

Ryan O'Shaughnessy

Back in early March, ex-Britain's Got Talent competitor Ryan O'Shaughnessy finally released his Eurovision entry, a guitar-led song called Together.

Self-penned as part of a team of  writers called The Nucleus, it is a somewhat sugary ballad which on first listening comes across as rather ordinary and uninteresting.

In musical terms, it is undoubtedly a song which conforms to the ‘conventional Irish ballad’ benchmark that we have come to expect from Ireland over recent years. Unfortunately, while it wanders along in a pleasant manner, it lacks any genuine 'wow factor' and demonstrates little evidence of real progression.

Shaughnessy’s vocals have a gentle quality that remind me of a watered down version of Ed Sheerhan - sadly, too much folk but not enough commercial appeal. A pity, as he’s obviously gifted but, as a Eurovision entry, this really isn’t going to raise Ireland's qualification prospects.

Ireland 

Artist: Ryan O'Shaughnessy

Song: Together 

Semi-Final 1 | Second Half

Eurovision 1977: And The UK's 12 Points Go to...Ireland!

Ireland's Swarbriggs Plus Two

"And our twelve points go to..."

Three years after hosting it in Brighton, the Eurovision Song Contest returned to the UK in 1977 following the Brotherhood of Man's victory the previous year with Save Your Kisses For Me.

As established in 1975, the scoring system followed the the now familiar format with each country awarding twelve points to its favourite song, followed by ten points and eight points etc.

Although the United Kingdom received the most twelve points in 1977, it was France which scored most consistently with the juries and secured its fifth win with Marie Myriam's L'oiseau et l'enfant (136 points).

But which song benefited from the UK's twelve points? 

In fact, every jury voted for France - but the UK only afforded the French song six points on the night. It was the entry which eventually finished third which would secure the top marks from the British jury: Ireland's It's Nice to Be in Love Again by The Swarbriggs + 2. Actually, the United Kingdom was not alone in its approval of the Irish entry as Norway, Sweden and Israel agreed with the British assessment.

It wasn't the first time that Eurovision juries had judged a Swarbriggs song. Back in 1975, the brothers had brought their composition That's What Friends Are For to the competition, but it proved less popular than this 1977 effort by placing ninth in a field of 19 (and is now forever associated with Father Ted's My Lovely Horse).

By adding the "Plus 2" to their line-up - singers Alma Carroll and Nicola Kerr - it gave Ireland's presentation a familiar Brotherhood of Man vibe, no doubt hoping that this would inspire a second victory for the country. In many ways, this familiarity achieved its objective.

The song, with its relatively up-tempo beat and the singers' choreographed dance moves, impressed virtually all the juries enough to award Ireland at least some points - except Finland which scored the track a big fat zero.

Nevertheless, It's Nice to Be in Love Again finished in a strong third place with 119 points, only two behind the UK's Rock Bottom.

Of course, The Swarbrigg brothers were very familiar to the Irish public having been prominent entertainers since the mid-1960s. It was no surprise then that the song would go to Number 1 in the nation's pop charts just after the conclusion of Eurovision '77.

The UK's Eurovision Top 3 in 1977 

• Ireland: The Swarbriggs Plus Two: It's Nice to Be in Love Again - 12 points 
• Belgium: Dream Express: A Million in One, Two, Three - 10 points 
• Germany: Silver Convention: Telegram - 8 points

Eurovision 2016: Review: Ireland: Nicky Byrne - Sunlight

Nicky Byrne basks in the Sunlight

Just as the UK reverts to a televised Eurovision national final for the first time in six years, Ireland has decided to ditch its own worn-out TV format of choosing its entry via RTE's The Late, Late Show. Instead, ex-Westlife crooner Nicky Byrne has stepped forward to provide the Emerald Isle with the internal pick, Sunlight.

This change in the selection process - mostly initiated by Byrne himself - is no doubt prompted by Ireland's failure to make any impression at the Contest in the last three years. The country's entries in 2014 and 2015 failed to qualify to the Final and Ryan Dolan's offering in 2013 could only manage a miserable last place.

So, can Nicky Byrne turn things around for the seven-time winners?

The short answer is yes. Not because Sunlight is exceptional, but because the singer is likely to be the most high profile participant in the 2016 competition. At their peak, Westlife sold shed loads of records around Europe - even if this happened more than eight years ago - so this fact alone should ensure Byrne a warm reception (and a head start on the scoreboard) come May.

Of course, a well-known name doesn't always guarantee a comfortable ride on the Eurovision merry-go-round: just ask Bonnie Tyler and Engelbert Humperdinck. But Nicky Byrne is slightly more relevant and definitely much closer to his birth than either of those blasts from the past. It also helps that his entry adopts a more contemporary feel as well.

Written by Byrne along with Wayne Hector and Ronan Hardiman, this songwriting pedigree ensures that Sunlight is a good pop song. Hector helped Westlife to the Number 1 spot seven times, while Hardiman composed the soundtracks to Michael Flatley's Lord of the Dance  and Feet of Flames.

However, "good" is as far as Sunlight goes. It feels like a B-side (if such a thing still exists), even if it does possess something of an ear worm in the chorus. It's upbeat and fits into the pop niche well, but the trouble is that it doesn't build: it lacks a key change (a Eurovision necessity) and its level of intensity is merely adequate throughout its three minutes. As a result, the track just feels too safe for today's Eurovision, lacking in any real wow factor.

Of course, the competition is no longer just a song contest; acts need to deliver the visuals too. It seems the Irishman has this sorted, though. He's brought in Tim Byrne, (former creative director with Simon Cowell’s Syco Music) and Lee Lodge, (a co-producer of recent Oscar shows and an executive producer of the 2015 MTV Video Music Awards).

Marry the song with what could be an impressive spectacle and this entry should surely qualify. Sunlight's not the winner, but the whole package could potentially return Ireland to the upper reaches of the scoreboard.

What do you think?

Review: Ireland: Eurovision 2015 | Molly Sterling

Molly Sterling will be 'Playing With Numbers' for Ireland in Vienna

Another national final was screened last night and this time it was the turn of Ireland to select its representative in Austria. It was a something of a surprise to see that Molly Sterling's self-penned Playing With Numbers will be the song going to Vienna in May.

As has become customary, RTE's Late, Late Show was the venue for this year's five candidates to present their songs and rumour had it that either Swedish singer Erika Selin or Ireland's own Nikki Kavanagh were the favourites to win. Performing in third and fourth positions, neither displayed their vocal talents at their best, evidently leaving it a two-horse race between Molly and the Irish country flavours of Kat Mahon. Once the result had been announced, the gentle ballad Playing With Numbers had narrowly secured the victory by a margin of four points.

Of the five, Molly's song was by far the best of a bland bunch. Had Nikki Kavanagh produced a better vocal, her song would probably have fit in with the pop requirements of Eurovision in 2015, but Molly's more measured and mature performance surpassed it and all the others.

That's pretty ironic considering that Molly is only 16-years-old. Not bad for a young girl who not only performs the entry, but who has also displayed that she is an equally talented songwriter and musician.

Unfortunately, in the realm of piano ballads this song is just not strong enough. Like its singer it's rather pretty but, in my opinion, it feels as if it evolves very little throughout its three minutes. There's nothing that truly captivates the listener, nor fascinates sufficiently to want to hear it again for a second or third time.

Sad, really. Following last year's failure for Ireland, and as a former Eurovision powerhouse, I was hoping that the country would be able to up its game in 2015. Unfortunately, it hasn't. 'Pretty' and 'nice' are not good enough reasons to vote for Playing With Numbers and I foresee it stalling in the semi-finals.

What are your thoughts about the Irish entry?

Eurovision 2014: Ireland: Heartbeat

Ireland: Can-Linn ft. Kasey Smith

If the general public was able to register its votes for the most entertaining Eurovision national final, it's highly probable the one broadcast from Ireland this year would be a strong contender for the win.

Of course, it had nothing to do with the performance of the songs, but rather the egos of a panellist and one of the mentors. An epic argument ensued between Eurovision veteran Linda Martin and Aslan's Billy McGuinness, but in the end it was Can-Linn featuring Kasey Smith that won the ticket to Copenhagen.

Heartbeat is the song which won a relatively close battle over the runner-up, The Movie Song. Probably the strongest of the five contenders, it is one that has the potential to do well in Denmark.

It has many of the elements that have helped Ireland to its seven previous wins: the Celtic instrumentation and flavouring that is a feature throughout the song. The obligatory fiddler is evident and near the beginning of the track, the traditional Irish bhodran can be heard drumming out the beat. It also benefits from a catchy chorus, which will do it no harm in collecting votes from across Europe. That's all good, but this upbeat offering is very much a reminder of last year's winner. That just may be its downfall.

What it also needs is better presentation than what was seen at the national final. Firstly, do away with the extraneous Irish dancers - they're cringeworthy and we have all the evidence we need in order to know that it's a song representing Ireland. Secondly, make sure the staging places more emphasis on the instrumentation. After all, those elements are an important part of the song. Lastly, and this could be the most challenging, make sure Kasey Smith's live vocals are more powerful than what was heard at the end of February when performing it on The Late, Late Show.

That said, all in all, it's a very good effort which should see Ireland qualify from its semi-final on May 8. It's not the 2014 winner, but it has the potential to score well enough to register on the left-hand side of the scoreboard.

Eurovision 2013: Ireland: Only Love Survives

 

Ryan Dolan: Only Love Survives

In late February, the Irish public and regional juries chose Only Love Survives, co-written and sung by Ryan Dolan, as the song to represent Ireland at Eurovision.

Dolan is hoping to bring the trophy back to Ireland for the eighth time, but somehow I don't see this happening. While it ticks all the right Eurovision boxes - upbeat, catchy Eurodance number with a repetitive refrain - the song is not particularly original. It also very much depends on the live vocal and performance on the night.

Having said that, Ireland will be performing in a semi-final that is bereft of uptempo tracks, so the song does stand a very high chance of qualifying. The problem is that singing live is not a strong point for Dolan, so winning the competition is out of the question. There are just better singers with better songs. 6/10.

Only Love Survives will be performed in thirteenth place in the first semi-final on May 14.

What are your thoughts about Ireland's song?

Live at Eurovision In Concert

Eurovision 2011: Ireland: Jedward

Ireland has chosen the twin brothers, Jedward, to sing Lipstick at the 2011 Eurovision Song Contest.

The song was selected through a 50/50 public/jury vote on February 11 as part of Ireland's Late, Late Show where the five finalists were presented. Jedward performed second in the line-up, and much of the publicity surrounding the Irish national selection put the duo as clear favourites to win.

The former UK X-Factor contestants first came into the spotlight on the reality show, and once they were voted off landed an Irish Number 1 and UK Number 2 single collaborating with One Hit Wonder, Vanilla Ice, on Under Pressure (Ice Ice Baby).

Lipstick is what you might expect from Jedward: a lively, uptempo number with an instant hook. The performance is frantic and crazy and will, no doubt, either suck in the Eurovision audience or freak them out with their look and sound.

With a strong Europop beat, the song will undoubtedly garner lots of votes and see Ireland on stage on Final night. My prediction is that Jedward should secure a Top 5 placing.

So, what do you think of Ireland's song choice?