It’s the third day of our countdown of the top national final songs of 2018, as voted by the members of Team Wiwi. With songs separated by the narrowest of margins amongst our bloggers, anyone ranking here has definitely earned their place!
Today’s countdown includes the first appearance of songs from Armenia and Italy — but will it be the last?
20. “You & I” — Asmik Shiroyan (Armenia)
Depi Evratesil underwent a lot of changes for its second year, scrapping the Voice-style format from 2017. Instead, we were treated to a more traditional national final contest. That didn’t spot Asmik Shiroyan from returning though, with a real pop banger.
With odes to Sigala, “You & I” could easily have been a radio hit in Europe. Perhaps that’s why it didn’t quite click with Armenia, though. With the track’s production also unable to be matched in the smaller Armenian TV studio, “You & I” just didn’t quite fire off live. But that studio version can go on repeat plenty.
19. “Rêves de gamin” — Nassi (France)
Speaking of songs that didn’t quite connect as well live, France’s Nassi won a lot of people over with his studio snippet. “Rêves de gamin” was an early favourite for Destination Eurovision, but some nervy vocals threw a lot of people off in the semi-final.
Nassi improved for the final though, and the stage show definitely was memorable. Catchy and a whole lot of fun, this would have been another fine entry for France at Eurovision had it made it to Lisbon.
18. “Frida (Mai, Mai, Mai)” — The Kolors (Italy)
This year’s San Remo contest offered up a whole lot of different genres on show. And when it wasn’t dancing grannies winning people over, it was the pop-rock of The Kolors.
Even if those voting in Italy didn’t quite see the buzz around the band, the Kolors definitely charmed our readers. The group finished 3rd in our pre-final poll, and that popularity definitely carried over with our wiwibloggers.
17. “Domino” — Saara Aalto (Finland)
What a surprise: Saara Aalto, finishing second in a national final once again. Except, of course, she also won UMK (and came last, as a matter of fact). The change in format for this year’s show saw Saara bring three very different songs to the table.
An emotional ballad, “Domino” showed off Saara’s amazing vocals, whilst serving up some classic staging elements. We want to know where her revolving dominoes have ended up, y’all!
16. “For You” — Mariette (Sweden)
For her third attempt at taking the Melfest crown, the pressure was on Mariette even more so than usual. Tipped as the favourite, with the often-lauded spot of performing last in the final semi-final, there was a lot of expectation on her shoulders.
In the end, “For You” might not have had the same punch as her previous efforts. But as ever, it was none the less a great effort from Mariette. It’s another year of “so close, yet so far” for her though — will she ever claim top spot in Sweden?
And that takes us to the halfway mark of our countdown. Has your favourite shown up yet? What do you think of these five entries? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below!
How on EARTH did Mariette beat Madara what
Here I like all of them. However, love Nassi and The Kolors.
Mariette’s song was not better than Rêves de Gamin or Frida.
Had Nassi had more solid vocals (and a name change), he would be competing at Eurovision and he’d be a contender for the win. I hope to see him in better shape next year!
Renaida better place I swear ?
I would have loved to see The Kolors on the Eurovision stage and I hope that someday I will.
Frida is my favorite it’s extremely catchy… My friends were singing it for days after I made them listen to it… Even my 4 year-old nephew sings it. So I think it might have done really well in Eurovision
Among those five songs, today there’s only one I’m going to pick (I already have it in my playlist). It’s “Frida”. Although “Non mi avette fatto niente” was my clear favourite in Italy, I really liked that one also. I wouldn’t mind if it represented the country in another year.
“You & I” was such an adorable happy song. Armenia likes edgy stuff though so I am not surprised it did not win.
Asmik was the worst in Armenia and Mariette was one of the worsts in Sweden…
in what universe is mariette’s song better than asmik’s?????
I guess my top 30 would look like this: 1.Sudden Lights – Just Fine (Latvia) 2.Felix Sandman – Every single day (Sweden) 3.Tamas Horvath – Meggyfa (Hungary) 4. Ryk – You and I (Germany) 5. Samir & Viktor – Shuffla (Sweden) (I’m sorry for this, but I just love it. Don’t judge me.) 6. Madeira – Esamiba (Latvia) 7. Gergely Danielfy – Azt mondtad (Hungary) 8. Mionia – You (Latvia) 9. Nemra – I’m a liar (Armenia) 10. Leander Kills – Nem szol harang (Hungary) 11. The Kolors – Frida (Italy) 12. Eva Buresova – Fly (Czechia) 13.Sara de blue… Read more »
I like your list quite a lot. 🙂 Many similarities with mine.
Hope Queen asmik represents Armenia next year:)
I really hope to see Nassi representing France one day!
If Frida won Sanremo it would be in my top 15 :/
I don’t agree too much with you Wiwibloggs. I find most of your top 16-30 entries average. For me it hasn’t been an exceptional year in terms of quality, but there are some songs that will make it to my playlist. Hope some of my NF favourites songs are in your top 15. This is my NF season top 30: 1. Sudden Lights – “Just Fine” – Latvia (9.25/10) 2. Yesyes – “I Let You Run Away” – Hungary (9/10) 3. Chiara Dubey – Secrets and Lies – Switzerland (8.25/10) 4. Aitana – “Arde” – Spain (8/10) 5. Stig Rasta… Read more »
Hopefully there will be some songs from Beovizija(Serbian national selection).. I suggest Biber – Svatovi & Saska Janks – Pesma za tebe..
I expected Frida to become a huge hit here in Italy but after one month it’s already out of our top 100 chart.
And what about Il mondo prima di te ?
It’s doing well. But Lo Stato Sociale was the biggest success
Man, that sucks. I love Frida. Italian people have good taste in music most of the time but I guess there are always underrated groups. Are the Kolors successful there?
The Kolors had to win.
My Top 30 (continued) – places 20-16:
20. Rebecca: Who We Are (Norway)
19. Aden Ray: Everybody’s Dressed (Estonia)
18. Inis Neziri: Piedestal (Albania)
17. Nemra: I’m A Liar (Armenia)
16. Robert Koloyan: Get Away With Us (Armenia)
I agree more with your list than their’s, all of these were good 🙂
Mariette’s entry is AWFUL.
I agree. I don’t understand wiwiblog’s obsession with Melodifestivalen. There are 42 other countries. More than half the songs in Destination Eurovision are better than the best in Sweden this year. Even Albania Fik served quality songs that Sweden couldn’t offer this year
Maybe Wiwibloggs is slightly biased towards Sweden but we can also say you are definitely a bit biased against them.
To be honest, I never got the Mariette-hype. Her previous attempts didn’t already convince me and this year, she brought by far her weakest entry. I disliked her performance either with those weird arm movements…
Sweden should give her the spot soon, so that we can get it over with…
Reve de gamin on the other hand – I play it constantly in my itunes “running” list. Another example how strong the French final has been…
My top-30 in reverse order: 30. Sudden Lights – “Just fine” (Latvia) 29. Dilemma – “Na party” (Ukraine) 28. Biber & DJ Niko Bravo – “Svatovi” (Serbia) 27. Anna Ritsmar – “Starlight” (Denmark) 26. Noée – “L’un près de l’autre” (France) 25. Lo Stato Sociale – “Una vita in vacanza” (Italy) 24. Emmy Liyana – “OK ou KO” (France) 23. BQL – “Promise” (Slovenia) 22. Ifi Ude – “Love is stronger” (Poland) 21. Peu Madureira – “Só por ela” (Portugal) 20. The Erised – “Heroes” (Ukraine) 19. Frankie Animal – “(Can’t keep calling) Misty” (Estonia) 18. Stella & Alexandra –… Read more »
The Kolors might have been a good addition to this year’s line-up.
Domino>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Monsters
Wtf Mariette? Okay, no. She doesn’t even belong to the top 50. I find her song incredibly average and generic… Well, that kinda confirms that Samir & Viktor and Felix Sandman will be top 30 too, since they had a higher Rating than Mariette.