Eurovision 2016 Preview: Semi-Final 2 Country-by-Country Guide

Spotlight: center stage! Tonight at 21:00 CET, eighteen more acts will perform at Stockholm’s Globe Arena to win one of ten qualifying spots for Saturday night’s Grand Final. We’ve put together our guide to help you through the twists and turns of Semi-Final 2. For each song we have excerpts from the Wiwi Jury 2016 and where they ranked in our poll for Semi-Final 2. Who do you think will make the grade? Let us know who you’re giving an A+ and ticket to the final below! 

EUROVISION 2016: SEMI-FINAL 2 PREVIEW

SONG 1: Latvia: Justs with “Heartbeat”

The Wiwi Jury good: “His voice is so raw and he hits every note. The staging in the national final was pretty simple, but it made Justs and his song stand out even more. Together with Aminata, it’s a killer combination.” (Denise)

The Wiwi Jury bad: “The staging is cool, but the vocal becomes shouty and unlike Aminata, this is really lacking a mystique to make the pitch compelling.” (Angus)

SONG 2: Poland: Michal Szpak with “Colour of Your Life”

The Wiwi Jury good: “Michal is possibly the best performer of the whole year – his raw emotion when singing convinces me that the awful lyrics are in fact a masterpiece.” (Edd)

The Wiwi Jury bad: “The song goes on for about a minute too long and I’m pretty sure that Glenn Medeiros sang this at some point in the late 1980s. It’d be great in a Polish telenovela — you know, husband leaves wife for stepdaughter melodrama — but it’s just not current enough for ESC.” (William)

SONG 3: Switzerland: Rykka with “The Last of Our Kind”

The Wiwi Jury good: “Contemporary, elegant and sophisticated — this song could have come straight off a Sia album. Rykka’s vocals are enchanting and the lyrics are uplifting and powerful.” (Antranig)

The Wiwi Jury bad: “How more boring can it be? It is flat, it is unoriginal and depressing. The “We’re the last of our kind” line is on loop there and it becomes really annoying. The melody itself is bounded, like it has some real constraints, like if it will go one note up then it will be punished with some sort of electroshock.” (Mikhail)

SONG 4: Israel: Hovi Star with “Made of Stars”

The Wiwi Jury good: “Take note, Europe. This is how you save a meh song, with days to spare before the deadline. Israel had a rock that was sinking to the bottom of my top 43, and they polished it into a diamond that is shining like a star.” (Bogdan)

The Wiwi Jury bad: “This revamped attempt loses a lot of the soul that made the song feel original and like it was meant for Hovi. To me, this is incredibly hollow and completely negates Hovi’s presence as a performer.” (Chris)

SONG 5: Belarus: Ivan with “Help You Fly”

The Wiwi Jury good: “IVAN can hold a note really well and shows it off in “Help You Fly”, he can gaze head-on into the camera pretty well too, and went along with the decision to be filmed naked with wolves.” (Maria)

The Wiwi Jury bad: “I like the chorus, but that’s all. I don’t think this song will qualify to the final in Stockholm. Last year’s song was better than this.” (Sinan)

SONG 6: Serbia: ZAA Sanja Vucic with “Goodbye (Shelter)”

The Wiwi Jury good: “Sanja’s performance really hits the spot with both her dark soul voice and her acting, making this “Goodbye” a musical journey through pain and suffering from beginning to end. Serbia aims high again with a different formula.” (Diego)

The Wiwi Jury bad: “This Serbian song leaves me cold. Maybe it’s her forced and bizarre interpretation but I’m just not connecting to it.” (Cristian)

SONG 7: Ireland: Nicky Byrne with “Sunlight”

The Wiwi Jury good: “The lyrics are pure cheese, but that just makes me love it even more. If he can bring the party on stage, then he should really stand out from this year’s overload of dramatic ballads.” (Edd)

The Wiwi Jury bad: “The gorgeous hunk of this year, Nicky Byrne, is competing for Ireland. He is eye candy but sadly the song isn’t as sweet as Nicky himself. It’s a quite flat song and it’s not as strong as I first was hoping for when I heard that Nicky would compete for Ireland.” (Tobias)

SONG 8: FYR Macedonia: Kaliopi with “Dona”

The Wiwi Jury good: “Kaliopi slays and her wonderful voice makes the song even better. I know the live version is going to be even better and thus, I have really high expectations.” (George)

The Wiwi Jury bad: “While I loved “Crno i belo”, “Dona” just does nothing for me. Comparing the two, I just feel disconnected to “Dona”. It’s a lot more old style, and I find the chorus rather annoying.” (William)

SONG 9: Lithuania: Donny Montell with “I’ve Been Waiting For This Night”

The Wiwi Jury good: “I love this guy, love his song and love his staging in the selection. Mother nature created a beautiful guy with a stunning voice. Lithuania tends to shock us and, oh boy, it does this year — but in a good way.” (Patrick)

The Wiwi Jury bad: “So generic, so boring, typical Eurovision fanwank I would use as toilet break. There is no creativity, there is no fun.” (Cristian)

SONG 10: Australia: Dami Im with “Sound of Silence”

The Wiwi Jury good: “I love this entry now, but I was lukewarm at first. “Sound of Silence” thunders with killer vocals, and channels unadulterated emotion. There is a rawness here that stamps on the listener’s territory, and lingers beyond its airtime.” (Deban)

The Wiwi Jury bad: “Last year Australia totally deserved their top five placement, but I can’t see them repeating that this year.” (Sami)

SONG 11: Slovenia: ManuElla with “Blue and Red”

The Wiwi Jury good: “Her delightful ditty, which is all about ditching her man and getting her happy back, builds a bridge from Ljubljana to Nashville. The country-pop sound is a nice addition to the contest, as are ManuElla’s sultry sex goddess vocals.” (William)

The Wiwi Jury bad: “It lacks life shortly after it beats, only to rely on optical illusion, and costume-change gimmicks to revive itself later. In a sea of comeback stars and stellar compositions, Slovenia’s colours won’t stand out this year.” (Deban)

SONG 12: Bulgaria: Poli Genova with “If Love Was a Crime”

The Wiwi Jury good: “I’ve been hoping for a big, bold contemporary pop moment and here it is. This is what the mid 2010s sound like, so bravo to Bulgaria for getting in there with a cool modern pop sound and not trying to formulate a “Eurovision hit”.” (Robyn)

The Wiwi Jury bad: “What “If Love Was a Crime” gives us is really expensively produced verses, building up to a cheap chorus.” (Edd)

SONG 13: Denmark: Lighthouse X with “Soldiers of Love”

The Wiwi Jury good: “For me, it’s one of the best songs in this year’s contest. The guys look very confident on the stage and they sound good — together and in their solos. The chorus is really catchy and even though the lyrics are extremely cheesy, I can’t help singing along to it every time I hear it.” (Sami)

The Wiwi Jury bad: “Basically it’s average in every way. I’d be much more impressed if the song title was a double entendre, at least then I’d have something to snigger at.” (Padraig)

SONG 14: Ukraine: Jamala with “1944”

The Wiwi Jury good: “: One of the strongest entries this year, and definitely the most serious, Ukraine’s “1944” blends a heart-wrenching message with a sweeping melody and a show-stopping performance.” (Bogdan)

The Wiwi Jury bad: ““1944” may have rocked the political stratosphere, but truthfully, this is borderline boring when you’re oblivious to the back-story.” (Deban)

SONG 15: Norway: Agnete with “Icebreaker”

The Wiwi Jury good: “ Norway have been building to a winner the past few years and in Agnete they have their girl! Every time I hear the tempo changes it hits like an iceberg to the face and I want more.” (Angus)

The Wiwi Jury bad: “Ultimately this is two different songs stitched together. When you have two snowballs and slam them together, you don’t get a nice big snowball, you get a weird ass mess.” (Mikhail)

SONG 16: Georgia: Nika Kocharov & Young Georgian Lolitaz with “Midnight Gold”

The Wiwi Jury good: ““Midnight Gold” is easily one of my favourite tracks of 2016. I love the mix of the brash and obnoxious guitar, the seductive bassline, the trippy lyrics and Nika Kocharov’s laid-back Britpop vocals — and the studio version adds a disco breakdown amid the feedback solo.” (Robyn)

The Wiwi Jury bad: “After sending quality entries for several years and not doing that well, Georgia has clearly decided to send absolute crap and see how that does. It’s an interesting experiment, but an awful song. It’s a bunch of atonal shouting with uninteresting loud music for the backdrop.” (David)

SONG 17: Albania: Eneda Tarifa with “Fairytale”

The Wiwi Jury good: “Girl, you can sing.” (William)

The Wiwi Jury bad: “I just don’t get it! It was rich in sound at Festival I Kenges, but its current version is languid despite sitting on a chilled dance vibe. The supporting imagery featuring Tarifa in a myriad of playful roles doesn’t translate tastefully. It may take a lifetime to understand much of what this entry means.” (Deban)

SONG 18: Belgium: Laura with “What’s the Pressure”

The Wiwi Jury good: “Hit play and don’t stop, mister DJ! “What’s the Pressure” is the funk jam this year’s contest needs. Laura werked the microphone for all it was worth on stage in the Belgian national final and I for one am hoping she gets to work a stand out on stage in Stockholm.” (Angus)

The Wiwi Jury bad: “The song has a decent message of empowerment, but why on earth it is set to such a dated funk beat is beyond me.  Laura asks “What’s the pressure?”  The pressure, Laura, is if you want to have a song with a message, at least attempt to have an inkling of gravitas.” (Forrest)