All-time Top 5

Day 33 is now really enticing, my top 5 entries of all time. All have featured in rankings and lists at some point along my epic journey to count down the days till semi-final number one. And with 34 days to go, it seemed like an eternity away. Now it's just a single day and we'll know the first ten acts to join the big 5 and hosts in the final.

#5 United Kingdom 1997 - 'Love Shine A Light' by Katrina & the Waves (1st/227 points)
This is such a jam. Don't be hating on such a classy written song. I have thousands of childhood memories singing this song at school - our headteacher thought it was fantastic - and then many years later I actually found out that it won Eurovision! You can imagine my delight. But this didn't just win Eurovision, it stormed the scoreboards (for the 90s), is the United Kingdom's highest scoring entry, undoubtedly holds a case for the UK's best ever entry, and is lyrically genius. Katrina herself is a star and I am so proud of this record.

#4 United Kingdom 1996 - "Ooh Aah Just A Little Bit" by Gina G (8th/77 points)

But Love Shine A Light isn't my favourite of all time. Oh no no no. That place belongs to Gina G's Ooh Aah Just A Little Bit. I have distant memories of this, hazy yet existent, of singing this, dancing to this and loving this. I was 3 when the UK entered with Gina G to give that some perspective. It's my family who have such wonderful memories of me camping it up to such an iconic camp number. And the crowd were deranged when this didn't win (and let's be honest, while I may be a big fan of 'The Voice', this should have won hands down). And for these reasons alone, it has to be in my all-time top 5.

#3 Sweden 2012 - Euphoria by Loreen (1st/372 points)

Does this need any explanation or introduction? Euphoria may be the Ooh Aah of this century, but it goes past an exaggerated glitz by one of the best performances seen on the Eurovision stage. The choreography is mastermind in portraying a simplicity, and powerfully reflecting an intensity. And the song? Well it's pure class. Pure phenomena. Pure Euphoria.

(I may have ranked Carola higher when ranking the Swedish winners, but I see that as a different category ;)

#2 Bulgaria 2007 - Water by Elitsa & Stoyan (5th/157 points)

I mentioned this the other day (here: Top 10 from the 00s) but it's highly worthy of an all-time top 5 placing. As I mentioned, it's the pinnacle of alternative, has a cunningly structured and yet frivolous delivery of folk-inspired ethno-funk, while brilliantly holding a unambiguous authenticity which enraptures or derides. I will never not praise this entry enough.

#1 Serbia 2007 - Molitva by Marija Serifovic (1st/268 points)

Where superlatives fail, just play Molitva. I honestly struggle to see what other's don't get nowadays about the song because I have simply fallen way beyond smitten with it. I could say that I speak Serbian, but I mean, I speak Molitvilian. This song and staging coupled with a unconquerable vocal are everything. Some say there is no absolute, I say there is Molitva. 

Something on Wogan...

When the 2007 contest came around, I was a wide-eyed and easily swayed 14 year old. When me and my parents watched the contest, we watched with Terry Wogan's commentary and it wasn't a lack of appreciation he had for Molitva, it was actually a devaluation and utter bewilderment to it's fans. And I was heavily influenced by such a strong opinion. Especially because Dancing Lasha Tumbai performed after, and I was a fan from the moment the strobes were going, and then Flying The Flag, which is still to this day one of my all-time favourites as well (I will shamelessly admit!). "How could this unattractive chick trying to look like Harry Potter win with a dreary, non-English ballad?" - and that my friends is why Wogan had to go. Whilst I enjoy(ed) 90% of his Eurovision commentary, his inability to see what others could always made him that kind of person to actually attempt disrespect, which especially with hindsight, is just bittersweet. However, in a post which is to come later, fans outside the UK need to understand the UK doesn't care about it's position within the contest, not truly, and the BBC really don't give a damn about winning because they don't need to try to in order to still destroy ITV in ratings. As soon as the BBC give the ESC up, ITV will swoop it up faster than you can say Boom-Bang-A-Bang. Wogan's early retirement from Eurovision came from an inadequate understanding of the modernisation of the contest, disengaging with the mega fan and deliberating the decrease in popularity among viewers. If the contest was to lose a watcher, lose a house party, or lose the international viewer seeking highly-respected commentary, then the BBC was losing the battle and it's cheapest (by far) Saturday night television programming would lose out. Ultimately the show is about making money, and the BBC needed to hold on to that. More to come.

Ranking the Swedish Winners - Day 18

Things are getting exciting now we’re just 17 days to go! Today I was supposed to be doing all-time battles, but we all seem to have done so many on Twitter! So instead I thought I would take on the most difficult challenge of all. So in honour of our fabulous hosts, I will be ranking all six Swedish winners of the contest. I doubt my decision will be popular, but then Eric Saade didn’t win so it was never going to be.

(*terrible Eurovision joke, many apologies!)

(but a perfect time to insert my new favourite gif again...

)

#6 2015 – Mans Zelmerlow “Heroes”

Coming bottom of a very tough list is our winner from last year. I like Heroes just as much as the next person, but it was never a favourite for me in the same way that the others are. Sorry Heroes fans…

#5 1999 – Charlotte Nilsson “Take Me To Your Heaven”

Absolutely love this track, maybe a little too dated to have won in 1999, but I can feel the ABBA themes; it’s fucking awesome and catchy and yes Charlotte Nilsson.

#4 1984 – The Herreys “Diggi-Loo Diggi-Lee”

The Herreys are amazing, GOLDEN SHOES, say no more!

OH MY GOD THIS IS SO HARD

#3 1974 – ABBA “Waterloo”

The reason I want to rank this so highly is because it’s freaking ABBA. They gave Eurovision everything, they introduced a new sound to the world, they are simply incredible. But Waterloo is actually not that highly ranked among my fave ABBA tracks, and to deny the other two a chance at the top because it’s ABBA would be unfair in a ranking of my fave Swedish winners.

#2 2012 – Loreen “Euphoria”

Whilst Euphoria is again, everything, and has cemented Eurovision back among the quality standards we saw pre-00s, I didn’t want Euphoria to win for big chunks of the pre-2012 season. That’s simply because I wanted there to be more of a contest (of which I explained further here). Loreen is incredible, you’d be a fool not to love Euphoria but it misses #1 for reasons explained below.

#1 1991 – Carola “Fangad av en Stormvind”

It was a difficult decision but I've given #1 to Carola. I know people that rank this as their least favourite Swedish winner. But I really don’t care.

When I properly fell in love with Eurovision and researched its rich history and became engrossed in the contest, Carola’s winner from 1991 was one of the few winners I downloaded and I still listen to. Because I love it. I do not speak Swedish but did decide to learn all of the words, which is more than can be said for the Herreys, and would have no shame in calling Carola among one of my favourite Eurovision entrants of all time (for Framling '83 and Invincible '06). Carola also took the mick out of herself in Malmo, and I have huge appreciation for anyone willing to humiliate themselves.

Fangad av en Stormvind also tied with France in 1991, to much delight of the Italian crowd who were utterly perplexed for a while as to what was happening. It is a hell of a catchy track, Carola is a fantastically hilarious celeb, and I have no regrets in having this track as my favourite Swedish winner. Also my Twitter name is Fangad av en Chris and I love that. 

Part II - Sweden

The Good Part II: Sweden

Welcome to the second edition of the Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Today's post is another "good" and this time it's Sweden!

'Undo' by Sanna Nielsen

Sweden have one of the best records in the Eurovision Song Contest, and rightfully so. Last year I blogged a history of Swedish winners in the contest following Loreen's euphoric triumph in 2012. If you missed that, you can read it here. Sweden have won at pivotal points of the Eurovision Song Contest, could they be on for win number 6? Polls and odds indicate that Sweden 2015 is very possible - and with 2015 being the 60th edition of the contest, the winner of this year's contest is 'pivotal'. It seems to all point in Sweden's favour.

So what of the song? Well 'Undo' is a classy ballad. A beautiful melody starts the song before Sanna's soft lyrics ease into the song. The first verse builds to a gentle first chorus, juxtaposing the tragedy for which Sanna sings about. By the time the beat kicks in on the second verse, Sanna's voice begins to strengthen and leads to a big second chorus. All the while, the song is just beautiful: the composition, lyrics, everything, just works. Sanna Nielsen adds that necessary elegance, and you feel the emotion channelled through her voice. As well as that, if her Eurovision performance is anything like her Melodifestivalen performance then the choreography will be perfect; no cheap gimmicks, just the right lighting - a cold, yet soulful blue. It's a recipe for success.

But there's just one thing hanging over me - in my opinion, something is missing. I think this song is very, very good, I've almost played it too much over the last 2 months, and I just think there's not a "winning factor" about it. I could easily see this song finishing in the top 10, potentially top 3, but not winning. I speak brutally honest, and I appreciate the fact that many will disagree with me. Over on ESC Stats, Sweden dominate the current poll, and they come a very close second on ESC Nation - I don't deny its a good song, I just can't see this winning. I have this horrible feeling that if this was to win, people would vote for it in polls such as "worst winner", for which it just doesn't deserve (in my opinion that crown could rightfully go to many countries: Latvia's win in 2002 still baffles me for example).

Additionally, it's another ballad, for which we are not short of this year. Being female does help, since 2004, 6 of the last 10 winners have been solo females, and in fact there have been more solo female winners than males or groups who have won the contest since Lys Assia's win for Switzerland at the first contest in 1956. But because of the ballad pile up this year, although not admittedly on the same scale as the fiasco that was 2012, we can pretty much guess that the draw for the final will play a strategic role in who wins the contest. For example, another popular female ballad is the UK's 'Children of the Universe' by Molly, which probably won't finish higher than Sweden if the Swedes perform last and the UK performs first. Therefore, it's all to play for. Sanna has been dealt position 4 in the hot first semi-final. Not ideal, but recent patterns suggest that performing 4th makes you at no great a disadvantage than performing last.

Could Sanna Nielsen do it? Could we be going back to Sweden once more? Let's be honest, it would be nice to go somewhere hot for Eurovision once again, but we all miss Petra Mede's hosting so it wouldn't be so bad. And plus, Sweden is a fantastic country.

Good Luck Sanna! Good Luck Sweden!




I leave you with this gem from the Greek entrant Freaky Fortune & RiskyKidd - it's a medley of the last few winners, although the seem to missed out 'Molitva'. Perhaps singing in Serbian was a bit too much for them, but nevermind, this still is pretty good. Could 'Undo' be mixed into another medley next year?

Welcome to the Eurovision Song Contest 2014

Can you believe the Eurovision season is here again?

I look outside my window to 17degrees and bright, sunny weather. Time is going much too quick! I'm now in my second year at university, and another new setting in which to blog about the Eurovision season from. This is now my third year as a blogger, and I think I'm starting to get the hang of things.

There couldn't be a better day to start blogging - the day after Melodifestivalen. Once more, the Swedish National Final delivered a grande evening of entertainment. The winner for Sweden was Sanna Nielsen and the ballad "Undo". Good Luck to Sanna! Once more, it looks as if Sweden will be in the mix on the poll sites and feature come voting time on Saturday 10th May in Denmark.

Denmark also held their national final yesterday; Dansk Melodi Grand Prix. The winner was Basim and the song Cliche Love Song. I'm likely to be doing a review of the best and the worst songs, but in my very first post of the season, I'm tipping Denmark for top 3 with this disco gem.

So what of our hosts? Denmark are one of the oldest competing nations, having come 3rd back on their debut in 1957 (the second ever contest). The first win for Denmark came in 1963 with the ever-so popular 'Dansevise' by Grethe and Jorgen Ingmann. They saw off stiff competition from Switzerland to win the contest. They have had varied success since then, and after taking a 10 year hiatus from the competition between 1967 and 1977, they didn't reach the top 3 again until 1988 with Eurovision regulars Hot Eyes. The turn of the millennium has provided varied success for Denmark still, but that has included two wins. Denmark won the Eurovision Song Contest for the second time in the year 2000 with "Fly On The Wings of Love" by the Olsen Brothers. Another very deserved winner, who some in the UK (and mainland Europe) might remember by the XTM dance remix. The last few years have seen personal favourites of mine, including 'Believe Again' in 2009 and 'All Night Long' in 2008, however Europe's personal favourite last year, 'Only Teardrops' by Emmelie de Forest has resulted in Copenhagen once more hosting the competition.

The 2014 contest sees no big changes to the rules. Turkey's boycott of the competition due to dissatisfaction of the big 5 and mixed jury/televoting has continued. They even held their own Turkvizyon Song Contest last year, with countries and regions who speak Turkish or have Turkish ethnicity eligible to participate. Azerbaijan took home the crown, and the contest will potentially return again this December. There have been reports that Turkey will return to the Eurovision Song Contest in 2015, but that's a year away, and a lot can happen in between now and then.

Serbia, Croatia, Cyprus and Bulgaria have all withdrawn from the 2014 contest, citing financial concerns for their non-participation. It has been sad to see them go, especially the likes of long time competitors Cyprus and the ever-so successful Serbia, producing some of the best songs since their participation in 2004. The absence of Bosnia & Herzegovina and the fact that Kosovo is still yet to be recognized as a country means the former Yugoslavs are quite under represented this year, with just FYR Macedonia and Montenegro flying their flags.

And what about the rest? The minnows of Andorra, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, and Monaco don't look like returning any time soon, especially with the effects of the 2008 global financial crisis still lingering. The Czech Republic and Slovakia announced their continued absence from the contest, little to the surprise of most, and one time competitors Morocco still don't look like competing either.

But welcome back Portugal and Poland! Fingers crossed for Portugal - 46 entries and not a winner (best place 6th) so hopefully it can finally happen for them! I very much look forward to hearing their song for the contest. They are 1 of 11 countries yet to release their song, but it appears the next week or so will rap up all the songs for this year's contest, and then the season will well and truly have begun.

Just a mention to the Junior Eurovision Song Contest! Congratulations to Malta for winning the JESC 2013 last November! However, the version of the contest looks like it's soon to reach an end. With only 6 countries confirmed to participate and many nations withdrawing, the contest potentially could well be in it's final year. As a UK fan, the Junior Eurovision Song Contest only ever appealed to me twice, when the UK came 2nd and 3rd (or something like that) about 10 years ago-ish (need to do my homework!). I was 10 years younger, and so as a child the JESC was more exciting than the actual contest. Maybe the UK not competing means I have no interest, or perhaps it was the fact I was child 10 years ago and now I'm an adult (just about). Whatever the case, it seems a lack of interest across Europe has been the reason for the downfall of the competition. A very sad day if it does go, but perhaps something new and better will come out of it! I'm still hoping for a Worldvision Song Contest to occur, even just as a one off. The likes of China, USA and Brazil taking on the Eurovision powerhouses like Azerbaijan would be one exciting battle!

Good Luck to all the participants in this year's Eurovision Song Contest. Let the season commence!

POST SEMI FINAL 2 EXCITEMENT

So revision has taken a complete backfoot this evening...but for good reasons.

Wasn't the second semi final fantastic? I thought it was so much better than the first! Sorry for being so overly critical of Petra Mede. She seemed to relax a lot more this evening and I thought she was pretty hilarious. Not as hilarious as Scott Mills getting caught in a lift though!!

What do we make of our qualifiers first of all? Were you shocked? People on twitter and facebook seem to be shocked about Armenia and Hungary making it through...really!? It's Armenia and Hungary for goodness sakes. I'll admit, I thought Hungary's performance got completely lost and it didn't stand out, but the song is really really nice and if Malta can do it, why can't the Hungarians? Admittedly Armenia don't have the same in the sense that the song isn't really as good, but come on, you can never be shocked to see Armenia in the finals of the modern era.

Latvia are the only country from the ex-Soviets not to make it through...I'll bet they're feeling pretty embarrassed right now. Lovely entry though, great enthusiasm and energy, and they sold it for me. Better opener than the song we all seemed to have forgotten about (cough Austria cough) but that's probably why they weren't able to qualify...opening spot and all.

Performance of the night? For me it was undoubtedly Iceland! Eg A Lif is a song I never really got. It wasn't bad but I never rated it. Iceland have a strong qualifying record so I saw this in the final, but never really appreciated it until tonight. It was the first real hair raising moment for me and Eythor Igni (is that right? Icelandics help me!) was just fantastic. Absolutely fantastic.
Is anyone thinking back to 2007 and Molitva? I really feel this has the same energy. Molitva is in a league of its own - without a shadow of a doubt one of the greatest songs in the entire history of the contest - but Eg A Lif does remind me of it in a funny way. A beautiful hair raising key change, an absolutely phenomenal vocal, a chorus to sing to yourself later (even if you don't understand what is being sung!) and a performance that doesn't have anything silly going on. I look back at Molitva and don't understand the walking that goes on halfway through, but the whole staging is all about the vocal, and that can definitely be said for Eg A Lif. I'm really impressed by it and really want it to do well. You never know, it could now do a Molitva and be the first win for Iceland like Molitva was for Serbia (and Serbia & Montenegro).

Other brilliant performances for me where Azerbaijan, Greece, and FYR Macedonia (absolutely gutted for Esma & Lozano!)

Disappointing performances? Well apart from Hungary getting lost, the fact I hate the Norwegian entry, I have to say the most disappointing performance for me was Switzerland. It just seemed really boring and dull. It wasn't that I was excited for Romania (believe me I wasn't), it was just something of nothing in the end. It's a real shame cos they did have so many selling points. For example, the oldest man in the contest. Why did they stand in a line? Where was the fun? Nothing ever really happened. 

So can we speculate now?

NO!

The draw goes up at 03:00 CET. That's 2am for me. However, you know it won't be until at least half 3 that it goes up. I won't be wasting my time waiting for it!

Saying all of that, we could possibly speculate. One of the songs that has been chosen to perform in the first half will do well - yes at least one will. That's not because of the songs in it, it's just because it would be highly unlikely that the top 10, or even the top 5 will ALL be from the first half. You've got the likes of Germany, Russia, the Netherlands all performing in the first half. But watch out for Moldova. Aliona Moon has a very rhythmic song which will stand out because of the amazing dress. I know that I am biased for Moldova, but I wouldn't rule them out of doing fairly well.

But I think we can all agree the second half will be where the winner is. Barring Hungary and Romania (and probably Ireland although I don't like to say it) have a chance. That is 10 countries which have the possibility of doing very well; Azerbaijan, Greece, Georgia, Iceland, Italy, Norway, Sweden, Ukraine, the UK, and then the fan favourite Denmark. How will SVT position them? Half of them are ballads, the other half are upbeat. That should make it easier for SVT to place, but how will this decision ever be easy? And with Romania having such a different song with a staging that really stands out, can they be this year's shock and upset the party? I think two of those ten will be disappointed, and there will be one country I've forgotten who go on to cause a big upset. Lithuania in the top 10 would just be hilarious!

Where will the former Yugoslavs vote for? They have no cultural companions so perhaps the likes of Italy, Hungary, Romania, Moldova, and even to an extent Greece, will pick up more points than before? Or will FYR Macedonia give their points randomly to the UK like they did in a scoreboard simulator I did earlier today (it completely threw me I won't lie!).

The draw at the end of the day doesn't mean the be all and end all. We have to go back almost 10 years to find a song that won from the first half (2004 - Ukraine - Ruslana - Wild Dances - performed 10th) but it still doesn't really matter. I mean Albania and Russia both had first half performances last year and still made top 5. They weren't even first half - they were early! I mean the only position you don't want is the death position at the end of the day. And in case there are any eurovision phobes out there, the reason 2nd is the death position is because noone has ever won from that position in the entire history of the contest. We've had people who have performed first and won - the Herreys in 1984, Brotherhood of Man in 1976 for example - but never from second position. Whoever gets it, I give you the biggest Good Luck!

And on that note I'm off. GET READY FOR SATURDAY PEOPLE!

Who will win the 58th Eurovision Song Contest?

So it all starts tonight then!

In this blog post, I outline my predictions as to who will qualify, who will win and blah blah blah.

This year, I took information from various online polls, credible guesses at winners, the odds (as of an hour ago), my own favourite songs, the draw, rehearsals, and just extra points for anything special an artist might have!

The results are fairly interesting.

Qualifiers from Semi-Final 1

Estonia, Belarus, Netherlands, Ukraine, Moldova, Denmark, Austria, Serbia, Russia, Ireland


Qualifiers from Semi-Final 2

Iceland, Greece, Azerbaijan, Hungary, Switzerland, Israel, Norway, Georgia, San Marino, Finland


Final Results: (score out of 54)

RANK	COUNTRY	TOTAL!
			Total
1st	Denmark		47.5
2nd	Germany		44.0
3rd	Ukraine		43.5
4th	Sweden		42.0
5th	Norway		41.5
6th	Netherlands		38.5
7th	Russia		38.5
8th	Italy		37.5
9th	San Marino		36.5
10th	Azerbaijan		36.5
11th	Greece		33.5
12th	Ireland		33.5
13th	United Kingdom		33.0
14th	Finland		33.0
15th	Georgia		31.0
16th	Moldova		29.0
17th	Austria		27.0
18th	Hungary		26.5
19th	Switzlerand		26.5
20th	Belarus		26.5
21st	Estonia		26.0
22nd	Serbia		24.0
23rd	Israel		23.5
24th	Iceland		23.0
25th	France		23.0
26th	Spain		21.5

SO! Will DENMARK and Emmelie's forest (or teardrops or something) win on Saturday? Interestingly I have her on top, but she is closely followed by Germany, who are closely followed by Ukraine and so on and so on. What I notice about this is that they are all female singers!? Now I have my doubts over an all female top 3. Give me a minute though feminists. Just look at the top 3 in recent times. Going all the way back to the year 2005 when one gender dominated the top 3, but even then Romania who finished 3rd had male drummers as apart of her act. It doesn't seem likely therefore that Denmark, Germany and Ukraine will finish as 1, 2, and 3. This is where the door opens for Sweden, Italy and Azerbaijan - and so I think one of these will end up being top contender when the points start coming in.

I've heard many commentators, bloggers, fans, trolls, whoever, mention that Only Teardrops has nothing on Eurphoria. Yes we can all agree the song has credentials and it has a unique aspect in the use of a tin whistle (yes I finally found out what that instrument was). BUT this does not translate to winning. I mean, come on, if Verka Serduchka can't pull a win out the bag with something as unique as Dancing Lasha Tumbai then I feel Emmelie wont be able to pull it off either. Sorry Denmark. I think we all partied a bit too earlier on your entrant. Norway have always been in and around the mix...and Margaret Berger (even if I am now at the point of detesting I Feed You My Love garbage) is causing a bit of a storm in Malmo, and she does bring a very strong performance to the stage. Could Norway snatch victory from their neighbours hands?

How silly of me. Ralph Siegel is back and ready to strike again. But could San Marino actually win the biggest singing competition in the world? I hope you've done your geography. I asked many of my housemates if they knew where San Marino was. Some didn't even know it was a country.

And then there is Bonnie. Oh Bonnie Bonnie Bonnie. Believe In Me is...well you'll see how much I like this later, but she is ridiculously FAMOUS. I Need A...Bonnie!! It's been 16 years now. That's a long time for the UK. A long, long, long time. I don't care if Andrew Lloyd Weber and his puppet bored us into 5th back in 2009 (that's very harsh, I do actually very much enjoy It's My Time), I want douze points!

Tomorrow, tomorrow, I'll love you tomorrow...it's only a day away...

Nope Nope, that's not the lyrics from Maltese entry, Gianluca Bezzina's 'Tomorrow' (which I recommend definitely checking out - the song is just as adorable as Robin Stjernberg's 'You' but I'm afraid Gianluca comes off a bit older than Robin and so the cute factor doesn't appear to be there, even in that amazing Christmas jumper I need to get my hands on!)... it's the lyrics from the musical Annie.

The first Semi Final of the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest is tomorrow at 20:00 CET.

Who's excited?

ME!

Why does Eurovision have to be in May? July would be a much better month. After all the exams. I have an exam in a week's time and revision might as well have been literally chucked out the window. Screw you Eurovision!

Anyway, does anyone else remember my strange addiction to Pasha Parfeny? He represented Moldova last year with the song "Lautar". And my god, he has gotten so much fitter.

He is something to do with Aliona Moon's entry this year. He either wrote the song or composed it. You do get to see him play the piano in the Moldovan national final. And he is in Malmo as far as I'm aware.

And then when this photo popped up, you can imagine my delight. Thankyou to www.escnation.com - so very kind people for sharing.

Check out their blog - and this page in particular. 

Tomorrow, I shall definitely be sharing the performances that you should not be missing this year. They'll probably be some exciting build up to the first semi final as well. But after months of preparation, we are only a day away! Thankyou to all my readers this year and I hope that you continue reading this week for my COMPLETELY NON-BAISED reporting of the competition.

Right then, revision.

Have no fear: We have a Eurovision hunk!

There are two more countries I think are one's to watch. Yes that does mean I've picked 10 countries as one's to watch but the contest is open this year and let's be honest, there are one's *not* to watch.

I finish with two countries who are dark horses. First up is Azerbaijan.

Farid Mammadov - Hold Me.

Seen this photo floating around the net?

That's right, Farid is fit and you know what that means... he's a vote stealer! Do the eurogays vote for power diva anthem or fitty? Well let's see, who remembers Eric Saade and Popular and who remembers Kati Wolf and What About My Dreams? Point proven.

It's not just the fact he is appealing to the eyes though - Farid has a good song. Yes, there are better songs in this year's competition, but he has something pretty unique. He has one of the very few MALE POWER BALLADS this year. There are a fair few ballads, there are a fair few power ballads, but they are mostly sung by females. There are male ballads, but this is a power ballad and that's why this will stand out. Azerbaijan were gifted in semi final selection, and a performance towards the end will definitely see this replicate Ell and Nikki's win from 2011. I have high hopes for Farid and Hold Me. Plus, just check out the Azeri Eurovision record:

2008 - 8th

2009 - 3rd

2010 - 5th

2011 - 1st

2012 - 4th

Any bets on second place anyone?

You'd be mad to say this won't do top 10.

Who will your Nan vote for? Sweden of course.

Sweden are this years hosts, and they are represented by Robin Stjernberg and the song "You".

This is a brilliant song! Robin has a song that is just "adorable", and he has a personality to match! A definite sweetie of this year's competition and someone I'm sure all the Nan's will vote for. But he took a very interesting route to get to the final. He wasn't a favourite during the Swedish selection process...Melodifestivalen (I hope I spelled that correct!). He went into the "second chance" round for the event - the people that qualify for this to reach the Swedish national final are usually just filling up the numbers. But this guy not only won the second chance round, he went on to win the actual competition to represent his country on home soil. It came down to the juries - the televoters didn't choose this as their favourite. Will this be the same on the night? Will Robin steal the votes from the juries only? Surely not. As explained, your Nan will vote for this one.

At the end of the day, it doesn't matter how he got there, he's in Malmo. After seeing the first rehearsal, there is definite room for improvement - but then that is the case for most of the artists. Maybe not a winner, but he'll definitely be up there. And the host country usually do well (forget Norway 2010, Ukraine 2005...).

Sweden - 2012

Well, here it is... the HOT favourite. Sweden are represented by Loreen and the song "Euphoria". Everyone is loving it: the bookies, the critics, the fans and so on. This is the first year in a while that we have had a favourite like this, who is destroying all the others. Euphoria will either challenge that "Fairytale" record, OR will do something similar to Popular from last year... be a favourite, but not quite win.

So wow. What a song. To be fair, you can see why this song is so popular, because it is brilliant. It does have that unbelievably catchy "uh-oh-uh-oh-uh-oh", and not in the way San Marino has. This doesn't feel like a cheap euordance song, this is a classy, well written and well composed dance song. Loreen has some amazing vocals which are really shown off in Euphoria, and this is a cross-cultural powerhouse anthem. But enough of me bigging it up. I think its now getting so popular that people are starting to not notice the bad parts of the song. One, it's bland. It's bland in the tune, as it is really competitive, and the lyrics are quite boring. It couldn't be a good acoustic song, let's say that, whereas Running Scared, Satellite, and Fairytale could. Two, Euphoria is way too "commercial" to win. Not commerical in the way that "Believe" and "Satellite" were because they broke away from the traditional commercialism in Eurovision, but this is too fitting to be a winner. Sounds crazy and a bit stupid for me to suggest, but I can't see people voting for this because it seems too perfect for Europe. If none of that makes any sense, then ask me questions on expanding what I mean, but for those that do know what I'm getting at, I'm sure you can agree. There is no doubt that this will qualify and challenge the top 5 places even if it does perform 2nd. Who knows, if it gets drawn 2nd in the final, this could be the first ever winner of Eurovision to have performed 2nd.

Personally, there is nothing more dull than having 5 countries left to vote and it's pretty obvious who the winner is, apart from when there is a complete runaway from the off. I enjoyed the 2009 voting, even though Norway completely stole the show. But voting such as in 2007, 2008 and 2010 was incredibly boring. It would be amazing if we could have a similar voting pattern to that of 1988 or 2003 please? I really don't want to have known that Sweden were going to win Eurovision, even before all the countries had chosen their representative. In fact, I think ever since Loreen first performed Euphoria on Melodifestivalen, Sweden have been hot favourite. How boring if it actually did go on to become a winner.

Song Rating: 8/10
Liklihood to win: 10/10

Current odds: 7-4                          (oddschecker.com) (on average)