Semi-final two of Eurovision 2021 took place on Thursday 20 May, with 17 acts hoping to qualify. But in the end only ten countries could receive tickets through to Saturday’s grand final.
Eurovision 2021: Semi-Final 2 Results
Semi-Final 2 Qualifiers
The ten acts advancing to the Eurovision 2021 grand final are, in announcement order:
- Albania: Anxhela Peristeri — “Karma”
- Serbia: Hurricane — “Loco Loco”
- Bulgaria: VICTORIA — “Growing Up Is Getting Old”
- Moldova: Natalia Gordienko — “Sugar”
- Portugal: The Black Mamba — “Love Is On My Side”
- Iceland: Daði og Gagnamagnið — “10 Years”
- San Marino: Senhit feat. Flo Rida — “Adrenalina”
- Switzerland: Gjon’s Tears — “Tout l’univers”
- Greece: Stefania — “Last Dance”
- Finland: Blind Channel — “Dark Side”
These acts will perform again in Saturday’s grand final along with the ten qualifiers from semi-final one and six pre-qualified finalists including the Big Five nations and host country The Netherlands.
Semi-Final 2 Non-Qualifiers
Unfortunately, we have to say goodbye to seven acts. They are:
- Estonia: Uku Suviste — “The Lucky One”
- Czech Republic: Benny Cristo — “omaga”
- Austria: Vincent Bueno — “Amen”
- Poland: Rafal — “The Ride”
- Georgia: Tornike Kipiani — “You”
- Latvia: Samanta Tina — “The Moon Is Rising”
- Denmark: Fyr og Flamme – “Øve os på hinanden”
Automatic qualifier performances
In addition to the 17 acts performing and competing in semi-final two, tonight we also saw clips from three of Saturday’s six automatic qualifiers — France, United Kingdom and Spain.
- France: Barbara Pravi — “Voilà”
- United Kingdom: James Newman — “Embers”
- Spain: Blas Cantó — “Voy a quedarme”
Did your favourite make it through? Who was done wrong? Is the Eurovision 2021 winner amongst tonight’s qualifiers? Let us know in the comments below.
And then there are the reserve finalists and their full video performances posted at Eurovision.tv. Gjon is going to have to step up his game…
9.70 France
9.55 Italy
9.40 United Kingdom
9.39 Netherlands
9.38 Spain
9.31 Germany
Who designed the CGI for Barbara? That more than makes up for the vocal edge that Gjon has on her. I wouldn’t be surprised if they ended up 1-2 in a French-language battle for points right to the end. But given the bookies now, we may yet have our chance to get lost in Verona.
My take on the 2nd semifinal (again, using 10 criteria): 9.67 Switzerland 9.64 Iceland (best rehearsal session used) 9.63 Bulgaria 9.51 Serbia 9.48 Greece 9.48 San Marino 9.43 Portugal 9.42 Denmark 9.41 Austria 9.41 Finland – – – – – – – – – – – – 9.32 Estonia 9.30 Albania 9.28 Georgia 9.28 Moldova 9.25 Czech Republic 9.20 Poland 9.11 Latvia 8 out of 10 this time; 18 out of 20 overall. Given the schedule and rehearsals the participants have throughout these 2 weeks, one would guess that they would be predisposed to being at their absolute best during… Read more »
Switzerland was outstanding yesterday. Its hard to predict the winner this year but this guy is my personal favorite. But Malta, France, Italy and a couple of more entries are in it for the win.
If its allowed to be a little shallow the staging, clothing etc of Switzerland is peculiar. But perhaps its just typical central european.
He put on a lot of weight , so that baggy shirt was necessary
Albania and Switzerland the best… and so sad Benny did not Q!
Switzerland was amazing yesterday. Finally, the real good songs are getting credit. Happy for Portugal as they have been completely ignored by our fandom, and despite we got the dress rehearsal footage from Iceland, they were a blast.
This year we saw (or heard) a lot of shaky vocals and this semi was full of it. I was really disappointed with Senhit (SMR), Latvia and Moldova, all of them had terrible vocals, especially Natalia. I was pleasantly surprised by Greece, however; amazing voice, better than the recorded version. Every note was on point, respect. Victoria and Gjon did amazing as well, but that was expected. Serbia: wow the black haired girl can sing and carries the entire song, the other two… hmm not so much. Especially the blonde who sings third was completely off. Iceland was also really… Read more »
My prediction about last night´s placing:
That sounds about right to me. I am just not sure about Bulgaria. I don’t think she actually won it but even 3rd place. She was perfect but the staging very underwhelming
My prediction would be:
I bet Gjon easily won both … both Bulgaria and Iceland underperformed
Looking forward to seeing the split results for both semis, have a strange feeling that Croatia and Denmark got screwed by the juries…
First of all I am super happy for Portugal! What a rise!!! They are now in top 10 in the odds! Who would have thought! Happy that Albania passed and Moldava, which is my guilty pleasure this year. Also sad for Denmark, but I do understand that the historic reference is too specific for Nordic countries and senior Eurovision fans 🙂 Greece and Albania should not have qualified IMO. Both songs are not good and have to resort to all sort of tricks to be remarked. Also, Stefania is not not a good vocalist, sorry. Her performance was lukewarm to… Read more »
I respect your opinion, but Stefania gave a great performance. Yes, her dancing was slightly wooden, but the vocals and song were excellent. She also looked stunning. All in all, a great package. Austria has a great vocalist…..no doubt about that…but the song was incredibly repetitive. The same phrase over and over again.
I am sorry to disagree, but for me Stefania is not mature enough for this stage and song. For me she was one of the worst vocalist and performer in this year edition. As for her looks, well I leave that aside as I think that performers should not be judged based on looks.
Very happy about the outcome and especially for Portugal. I was in the audience and I can confirm that probably the biggest audience response was for ICELAND even if they were only shown the screen.
Happy that serbia and Greece got through and I’m also happy for Portugal they definitely improved at lot. I’m sad Czech Republic didn’t make it through but his vocals weren’t great I’m also sad for Denmark it was in such a good spot and I loved the 80’s feel to the song they also really improved too
This was amazing to hear…Finland-Denmark-Finland-Denmark from the crowd.
So sad about Denmark (could take Moldova’s place) but from the other hand Finland was a well-deserved qualifier.
In general fair results.
My favorites Serbia, Greece and Finland! Not my cup of tea, but Portugal was very good too. I’m happy with the results, but surprised for Moldova, I would switch for Austria, he was great. I understand 80’s are trendy now, but just as an inspiration (Greece, Lithuania, Iceland..), not as total copy/paste lol (Denmark, Poland).
Semi final 2 is over and the grand final is two days away! Here are my thoughts on the qualifiers and non-qualifiers: The Qualifiers: Albania: Fans really slept on this entry when it won FiK way back in December. I was also concerned that it might not make it considering where it was placed. Well, thanks to a great staging, it is through! Serbia: Every four years since 2009, Serbia fails to qualify, but Hurricane broke the curse! Did you really think this wasn’t going through? It’s exactly the kind of song we need in the final and I am… Read more »
Bulgaria will be lucky to be even in the top ten … poor
We’ll find out Saturday–I’m keeping my mind open. Anything can happen.
I don’t think esc fans wrongfully slept on Albania because I think personally that this entry has improved significantly since the nf. I think it just shows that staging and styling can impact a song a lot.
In the nf, I didn’t like it at all.
The revamp, I preferred but some of the visuals were a bit meh, like going around the table.
I was shocked with the staging, I wasn’t expecting it to be that good and it deserved to qualify
Oh, and another thing, the most heartbreaking moment of the night was before Finland was announced as the last qualifier and the camera showed Fyr&Flamme hugging each other knowing that they’re already out…
If you were not Ukraine and Finland on Tuesday and Thursday respectively you knew you were out after qualifier # 9 had been called. Sad.
9/10 predictions before the announcement, I put Benny instead of Anxhela :'(
The SF2 results were more disappointing results for me than SF1. I am sad to see Georgia, Denmark, Poland, Austria and Estonia go but then of the ones that made it through, I think only Albania and Moldova I would say were questionable. So for me it turned out to be a strong semi. I thought Switzerland and Bulgaria were amazing, I am not sure why fans are so down on them, they deserve to be placed high in the final.
I didnt think Greece looked as bad as fans say?
But then I dont know if I can be objective.
Glad Stefania made it anyway, no matter the staging, she is very sweet and talented
Unfortunately she remained in tense and she looked so frightened due to difficult and risky staging. It was easy to see the fear in her eyes. She is talented but so unexperienced as live performer and Fokas and the rest ‘experts’ didn’t teach her….but on the contrary they just made her life much more difficult. The vocals were good in general…but before the stairs she faced trembling problems. She is just 18, fresh and promising…and the production decide her first concern to be not to fall down from the stairs. So pitty. With this face expression and these movements…do not… Read more »
Where was the amazing performance ? where the innovation ? She used a green wall… we are in 2021… that’s not something revolutionary…
I am so disappointed…. I really believed people who said that her performance would be stunning. I had her in my top 3. Past tense.
No one said it would be revolutionary as you say, the producer said that it hadn’t been done ever before in Eurovision, that’s all
I wasn’t impressed either, after all the hype it ended up looking more like a really cheap music video.
With a few exceptions overall I didn’t think much of the stage with many performers getting lost in the mess behind and beneath them, what was the obsession with blue and pink this year?
I mean it was cool and different.
She looked rather stiff all the time, that was the problem.
yes, the main one.
This was a good set of qualifiers. My only change would’ve been Austria for Moldova…her staging should’ve recreated the music video. The final is going to be fierce!
I am sad for Austria since Vincent sang his heart out but not surprised it didn’t qualify. The song was too safe and the performance went nowhere just like Paeda’s Limits. He should’ve followed up from Alive and sent another uptempo song.
I do like the song from Moldova, but was the long note really necessary? To me it felt like it was added there just to break a record.
I got 9/10 correct in predictions.
I thought Austria would’ve gotten in ahead of Moldova.
It was tougher than the first semi final, every live performances are fantastic, and I’m convinced about Uku’s performance. I just can’t imagine a grand final without Ove os pa hinanden ?? ? their live performances is superb. Voters should basing their votes on live performance rather than the music videos.
Not sure about Moldova,her voice was really weird…but I´m really glad to see Finland in the final and bravo to Portugal what a classy and amazing performance. Seems like these last two are dark horses this year.
EUROPEEE
Definitely Kirkorov encouraged her to say that. Creep.
cringiest moment of the night ngl
Moldova qualifying after that performance was questionable…….
At the very least…..
I thought Finland were good tonight and I still think Switzerland has one of the best songs in the contest but not sure about the stageing. Both Malta and Switzerland have been screwed over by that overhyped stageing guru.
The surprise for me tonight was Georgia and Denmark I would of put both through which I never saw coming. Moldova was also a surprise like the song but the stageing and performance were not great.
Serbia’s Hurricane really did not disappoint. To dance like that and to sing that way while CONSTANTLY moving takes months of hard and dedicated work. Just outstanding.
came here to see people get all hormonal about who they thought was bad. wasn’t disappointed. i am never disappointed.
My heart almost stopped when there was only one spot left and the crowd was shouting “Finland!”, absolute moment! Congrats to all qualifiers!
I FEEL YOUUUUUUU
It reminded me of the crown shouting “Iceland, Iceland!” in 2010!
“Crown”? I guess Samanta’s spirit already haunts me
https://wiwibloggs.com/2021/05/20/eurovision-2021-semi-final-2-odds-have-switzerland-as-favourite-to-win-ahead-of-bulgaria/265367/#comment-1182251
Once again I got 9/10 qualifiers correct! And no, I didn’t bet any money so it’s just for fun!
I’m so happy with the qualifiers especially Portugal!!
I am actually kinda happy with these qualifiers! Iceland was never one of my faves but they blew me away tonight! And honest to God, Poland had no right to seem like such a good package in the end lol.
Anyways I’m so happy for my Balkan queens all qualifying (even tho Greece seemed… off). Georgia was set upppp going after Serbia, and I’ve never seen a performance derail as hard as Moldova it was hillarious xD. A bit sad for Denmark tho
I knew they wouldn’t qualify since they won DMGP, the song didn’t stand a chance.
Atleast Ireland isn’t the only western NQ this year,
How you doin Denmark and Austria? <3
Prague or Pilsen, where Benny comes from ließ westwards of Vienna…make it 3 Western NQs?
Overall, I was impressed tonight with the ten that went through! Finland was my biggest surprise, I never liked the song but you can’t deny the performance was perhaps the best of the night! Austria did an incredible job, and I honestly don’t know what he could have done better to qualify, it was so beautiful! Benny’s vocals were kinda weak, I was so surprised because I know that he can sing! He was holding back perhaps? Estonia also did wonderful tonight, even if I don’t love the song. So proud also of Albania and Serbia, great job guys!
I was in the audience last night and the crowd went wild on Finland, so I agree on best performance for them.
Portugal really deserved to go through but I’ll be mad if they start sending English songs every year because of it
Totally agree!
Great show from them tonight but I do hope they don’t become just like everyone else.
Portugal is one of the few countries that usually come in their native language, so I hope this doesn’t set some kind of precedent
I’m from Portugal, don’t worry almost all of our songs in the national selection are in portuguese so I don’t really think we are going to start singing only in english, this was just the most voted this year 😀
Well Moldova was something… She sounded much better live last year – Trust Kirkorov to give an artist a song that doesn’t fit their voice
She would be ok WITHOUT him…
“aww..my baby” said Kateryna Pavlenko when camera showed Gjons cute face on screen
she posted it on Insta with 3 hearts emojis, how adorable
Love it!!!!!
Reaction on Twitter from SuRie (UK 2018):
https://twitter.com/surieofficial/status/1395474220994420737
Lollll
I’m so happy for the countries that are in the final, I can’t wait saturday night!!!
Time for a recap of 2nd semi! Starting by the fact that pre-recorded backing vocals saved many perofrmers tonight which would have sounded maybe even dreadful! Some obvious examples are Moldova and Poland. San Marino turned out to be a great opener. Flo Rida really elevates the performance. My country actually managed to dissapoint again (Greece). The shadows were all over the place and visually it didn’t impress me as much as Greek delegation and media promised us. I’m very sorry but I still can’t see why Bulgaria and Iceland are still considered as favorites. They didn’t impress me once… Read more »
First time that I agree with 100% of someone’s analysis. Word for word.
Poland was such a cringe fest. The backing vocals could not salvage that
“The Ride” was a car crash. It was embarrassing to watch.
the last problem was…the shadows. Not even noticed. The problem was in the performance and mainly in the visual part.
I feel like Denmark could have gotten around 7th in the televote, but the juries murdered them, so sad. Sad thing is it would have qualified in English. 🙁 Juries need to stop killing risky entries, it promotes generic songs.
Denmark was AWFUL. I’m sorry but the lead singer spent 20 seconds running around in circles in the middle of the song LOL. Albania, Ukraine, Russia and Switzerland all qualified with songs in national languages. The fact that a Folktronica song is 4th favourite to win kind of disproves you
What was awful about Danmark?
Pretty much everything. In the 80s this was mainstream. You had some of it in the Esc and it never did well because it wasn’t good enough. No need to get trash back from the past…
Granted, he sounded good live, but the awful vest and even worse blazer. The basic melody, the completely random bursts of frantic dancing and running. This could have been in English, hell, it could have been in Japanese and it still would have been bad
Still hurts….
What’s risky in recycling 80s trash? Sure the Danish entry is fun, but there’s no originality or any quality to it. As the above poster said, what’s new in running in circles for 20 secs in the middle of a 3 minute performance?
Denmark wouldnt have qualified in english, I dont like to be harsh but denmark can do better then this. It felt like a song the karaoke-host would sing at the local danish pub and only there, not suited for eurovision. As a swede, I think that denmark and sweden are the weakest scandinavian entries this year.
I’ll upvote just for the sake of the memes but I think the 2nd semi was more stressful than the 1st
Is it just me or that wind in the face of anxhela and dadi is really annoying?
It is just you
In Dadi’s case, it’s done on purpose. They’re playing with the wind-machine cliche..
sugar is great.
Ehm…Are you are Kirkorov fan?))
Am I the only one who doesn’t get the hype for Bulgaria?
Switzerland had AMAZING staging and direction it really was 10/10.
Also Senhit had to be stood up by the dancers while singing and not missing a note – that was, idk I loved it! Also, yay for Albania and Portugal qualifying <3
Unfortunately, I told you that Benny doesn’t have a big chance of qualifying, listening to the odds. Nonetheless, before the semis, I did put him among predicted qualifiers. After he performed, it was sadly obvious that the rumors of his lack of energy or direction on stage weren’t exaggerated. I still think this is a kickass studio song.
I don’t think that either qualified via juries, though. He just got a lower televote. We’ll see, but this is my prediction.
Song-wise, certainly. Performance-wise, not necessarily. I would’ve been happy if he still defied the odds, but much like with Roxen and Lesley, I can sadly see the angle of why they didn’t. If this means anything to you, he was still high up the list of my personal qualifiers.
Benny’s performance did not deserve to pass. Saying this as a Czech. Lacked everything, yet I agree that Omaga is catchy as a Radio track. It is obvious that Czechia must Play it televote friendly (=fresh,modern) and jury-safe (on-key). Hoping for a female bop in EsCz 22 ?
I actually managed to predict the 10 qualifiers of this semi! In contrast to the 1st semi, there I predicted all except for Belgium xD
It’s gonna be a strong final! Good luck to everyone!
Note that from all the singers only Gjon’s Tear can overpower the pre-recorded vocals that can even be noticed. Malta has too much loud pre-recorded vocals in comparison.
Samanta Tina is laughing.
Yes, both Gjon and Samanta were very powerful, vocally.
Why so mean?