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...).

The Return of Ralph.

Yes, you read that right, San Marino.

Fair enough, the Netherlands have had a rough ride. But it's still the Dutch. San Marino provide the greater shock. Despite being an old country, they have a population of a mere 32,000 (according to sources) and have only been competing in Eurovision since 2008. Admittedly this is the same amount of time as Azerbaijan (winners, and last year's hosts), but they are a bigger, richer country. This is San Marino! The country which gave us the Social Network Song. Yes, remember that? Well the girl woman that sung the Social Network Song, Valentina Monetta, is back with a bigger, better song. And guess what? It's not good, it's brillaint.

The Social Network Song was wrong for all the right reasons. 'Crisalide (vola)' is right for all the right reasons. And guess who wrote Crisalide? Ralph Siegel. For those of you who don't know who Ralph Siegel is, just type his name into google. He is one of the biggest stars of Eurovision, composing songs since the 70's (that is 5 decades now!) but only has 1 win under his name - 1982 winner Nicole and 'Ein Bisschen Frieden', notably one of the greatest songs & winners in Eurovision history. Yes he did happen to pen the Social Network Song last year - and yes that did follow in a line of poor attempts - but he is back to strike again with Crisalide. Valentina is now acting her age, Siegel has screwed his head back on, and San Marino are ready to finally come to Eurovision with a decent song - and that has meant a decent chance.

It's hard to predict if they could win. If you listen to the song, you'll see why people like it and fans are voting for it in online polls. Without knowing the meaning in the lyrics, they are moving and emotive, and the composition really pulls this through. From a slow ballad to a modern beat/melody, a song like this has potential to branch into acapella/acoustic and become a club smash hit. The key word there is 'potential'. Crisalide is a song to be remembered - even if it underperforms, fans will remember it as an upset. But that's not why this will be remembered. It's Valentina Monetta transforming from a Social Network disaster to a Crisalide masterpiece. It's Ralph Siegel restoring his old Eurovision power. It's San Marino putting themselves on the map.

By the way, San Marino is situated in the North of Italy.

Will they finally qualify? Yes, it's the Netherlands!

I never thought I'd say it. Watch out for the Dutch. They could be about to take Eurovision by a storm.

The song? 'Birds'.
The artist? 'Anouk'.

Wow. Just wow. This is simply beautiful.

The Netherlands are one of the most successful acts ever in Eurovision. Ireland have won most times with 7 wins, followed by France, Luxembourg, United Kingdom and Sweden with 5 wins. Then comes the Netherlands. They have 4 wins; 1957, 1959, 1969, and 1975. They haven't even been in the top 3 since then. Following their win in 1975, they had varied success - they never came last, but then as just mentioned, they never challenged the top spots. And then came the 21st century. Like many other western countries, the demise of success came after the 90's with the influx of eastern European countries. However, it has hit hardest in the Netherlands - a proud Eurovision nation with a history of some beautiful songs. Teddy Scholten's 'Eet Beetje' (the winner in 1959) is a classic! Since the introduction of the semi finals in 2004, they have qualified once. Just once - and that was in 2004. That's how long we have been absent of the Dutch representative. They haven't had bad songs and it's an unfair record in my opinion. Nevertheless, that is all about to change. Anouk will fly high with 'Birds' and she will qualify - and contend.

Birds is the type of song which doesn't disappear from your mind. Birds is the type of song which makes you think. And you want to know the lyrics. And you want to know what they mean. Even if it takes you several listens, over and over again, you don't mind - you enjoy it. You have this song on repeat. It's deep and metaphorical. It has been composed beautifully. The lyrics are beautiful. It's simple a beautiful song. Beatifully sad that is. People can connect to this song and it's emotive language - and it's a contender. If it doesn't even qualify then I want to know what the beef is with the Netherlands.

Good Luck to Holland!

Glorious AND... German!?

16 days to go now everyone!

However, someone who you won't see until the actual final is Germany. As one of the "big 5" countries, Germany have automatic qualification. This year they are represented by Cascada and the song 'Glorious'.

Cascada is one of the biggest artists in the competition this year. And naturally, Glorious has turned out to be one of the biggest songs in the competition. The song is uber catchy and really modern. The lead singer of Cacada, Natalie, has a big voice - and so really everything about this is BIG. It will be played in all the clubs around Europe, and has already started to chart. By the end of Eurovision, it will be charting very well. This is just the type of song and performance that will be remembered at the end of the contest, even if it is performed first. UK fans will vote Cascada on name recognition alone and I feel that even though continental success hasn't truly happened in the rest of Europe, people will still know who they are (or at least who Natalie is). Germany are doing well in recent years - following the disaster of 'Miss Kiss Kiss Bang', they went on to win with 'Satellite'. Lena then took to the stage again with 'Taken By A Stranger' which finished within the top 10, a fate repeated by Roman Lob and 'Standing Still' last year. Glorious has success written all over it and fans should feel confident in saying this is a high finisher - and possible contender. The song is doing extremely well in the fans online polls and the rumours of plagiarism? Well lets be honest, they are ridiculous. Good Luck Germany! Will we being going there again!? It would be amusing. After competing in the contest since the dawn of time, they've won twice - 1982 and 2010. In a period of "bloc, diaspora voting" where "everyone votes for neighbouring countries" and it is all "soo political", Germany shouldn't have even won in 2010. Eurovision is changing - the critics need to accept it and move on. Well I say critics, I mean the miserable b******* in the UK who are insistent it's a waste of time (even though they are just fed up we've stopped being so successful).