In December, #EurovisionAgain will celebrate Eurovision non-qualifiers, with a fan rewatch and vote of 20 of the best songs that never made it to a grand final. But before that, we want to know which non-qualifiers are your favourites. We’re running a series of polls to see which acts wiwibloggs readers think deserve a second chance.
The polls include all countries who had more than one non-qualifier in the semi-finals era — from 2004 onwards. Listen to the non-qualifying tracks and vote for your favourites! We’re continuing with Iceland, Ireland, Israel and Latvia.
What is your favourite non-qualifier from Iceland?
- 2005: Selma – “If I Had Your Love”
- 2006: Silvía Night – “Congratulations”
- 2007: Eiríkur Hauksson – “Valentine Lost”
- 2015: María Ólafsdóttir – “Unbroken”
- 2016: Greta Salóme – “Hear Them Calling”
- 2017: Svala – “Paper”
- 2018: Ari Ólafsson – “Our Choice”
What is your favourite non-qualifier from Ireland?
- 2005: Donna and Joe – “Love?”
- 2008: Dustin the Turkey – “Irelande Douze Pointe”
- 2009: Sinéad Mulvey & Black Daisy – “Et Cetera”
- 2014: Can-Linn feat. Kasey Smith – “Heartbeat”
- 2015: Molly Sterling – “Playing with Numbers”
- 2016: Nicky Byrne – “Sunlight”
- 2017: Brendan Murray – “Dying to Try”
- 2019: Sarah McTernan – “22”
What is your favourite non-qualifier from Israel?
- 2004: David D’Or – “Leha’amin”
- 2007: Teapacks – “Push the Button”
- 2011: Dana International – “Ding Dong”
- 2012: Izabo – “Time”
- 2013: Moran Mazor – “Rak Bishvilo”
- 2014: Mei Finegold – “Same Heart”
What is your favourite non-qualifier from Latvia?
- 2004: Fomins and Kleins – “Dziesma par laimi”
- 2009: Intars Busulis – “Probka”
- 2010: Aisha – “What For?”
- 2011: Musiqq – “Angel in Disguise”
- 2012: Anmary – “Beautiful Song”
- 2013: PeR – “Here We Go”
- 2014: Aarzemnieki – “Cake to Bake”
- 2017: Triana Park – “Line”
- 2018: Laura Rizzotto – “Funny Girl”
- 2019: Carousel – “That Night”
Previous polls
- Part 1 – Albania, Andorra, Armenia and Austria
- Part 2 – Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia
- Part 3 – Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia
- Part 4 – Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark and Estonia.
Which non-qualifiers are your favourites? Who would you like to see have another shot at Eurovision? Tell us your thoughts below!
Ugh … I was hoping to never ever be reminded of the existence of ‘Cake to bake’ again. Other than that, Latvia had a few nice entries that might have just been overlooked simply because they weren’t spectacular in any way.
Okay, these four were more difficult to choose this time. But here goes: Iceland – I went with Greta Salome 2016, but I nearly went for the 2007 rock entry. I also love the song “Paper” but the live wasn’t great (sorry). Ireland – Easy one: Molly Sterling! I still listen to that song today. Israel – Ahaha, well “Push the Button” is my favourite ever ‘novelty’ entry, so yeah. 2007. Latvia: Laura Rizzotto, who is mesmerising on the stage; great song for her and she was lovely to meet in person. But I nearly went for 2011 (“Angel in… Read more »
1. Iceland – Hear Them Calling by very far. 5th in my overall top. I like Unbroken and Valentine Lost as well, but 2016 is one of the biggest injustices in Eurovision. It’s beyond me how it didn’t get through. Eurovision fans use to justify some nq’s by bad staging, dress or weak vocals rather than admit that the contest is simply often illogical and unfair – and it’s a topic for a whole another discussion why this is an example of “just-world fallacy”, given that many songs still get through despite all those – but here, with Greta Salome… Read more »
I have a feeling that many people deemed Greta’s staging to be a direct Måns rip-off.
Iceland: 2006, 2016, 2017
Ireland: 2005, 2009 and 2015
Israel: 2013, 2014
Latvia: 2011, 2017, 2018
Iceland: 2007, 2015, 2016 & 2017
Ireland: 2009
Israel: 2011
Latvia: 2011
Same Heart and Rak bishvilo are big faves of mine!
Unfortunately Mei feingold performed during the era which the Israeli broadcaster didn’t want to invest too much money on the performance(or anything else).
And then, they were trying to sell it off, and than certain things happened…
What are you talking about? I’m very interested.
I was disappointed their staging didn’t resemble the music video with Samurai theme.
As in the attempts to sell off the IBA, before it was eventually replaced with Kan during the 2017 contest.
Iceland 2005,2007,2016 (all deserved final)
Ireland 2009,2014 (both deserved final)
Israel 2004,2013,2014 (all deserved final)
Latvia 2009
For me, Iceland 2016 (2017 was also very good imo), Ireland 2015, Israel 2013 (2014 was a great song I feel the live performance let it down) and Latvia 2017.
Iceland: 2007. A very good song from Iceland that it seems to be underrated. Tbh the most NQs of Iceland are actually good songs and some of them are better than some Icelandic entries that qualified. But for me Valentine Lost is the best by far. However, I voted for 2005 as well (guilty pleasure) Ireland. 2014.It didn’t work live, but it is a very good song and I like it a lot. However, 2015 is now in the lead and I’m really happy because back in 2015 it seemed like I was the only one that was a fan… Read more »
This time we are pretty close in our rankings.
Iceland: Valentine Lost is my favorite by far, one of the best Iceland has sent. Greta was also very good
Ireland: Playing with numbers definitely deserved to qualify, it was a very warm song. Heartbeat was also nice.
Israel: Same heart was a great song. Shocking nq and second to last in a relatively easy semi. I guess people didn’t warm up to it, but juries ranking it last was too far.
Latvia: Line is a great song as well. It was a messy stage performance but still shocking last place.
Cheesecake was a grower, but Its qualification was hard to get. However, it is one of the 2014 songs I keep listening to, and its message, despite the funny lyrics, was a precursor to Toy. The qualifiers were deserved, and I like Slavic Girls, which is in fact my fave Poland entry, but Cleo was the best looking woman on stage imo and Donatan seems like a nationalistic and unpleasant person.
Sebalter, Carl Espen and Softengine are among my favorite ESC entries and I really enjoy Slavic Girls too. It’s the right kind of camp for me. I agree about Belarus. It was another average song, only elevated by his good choreography.
2nd SF in 2014 wasn’t bad but we need to remember there were 10 slots for 15 countries. Only 5 were out. It wasn’t that hard from that point.
The 10 qualifiers were the right ones imo though. And Belarus was a very clear one based on the live performance and how they sold that. Israel wasn’t.
Normally I wouldn’t find this information any useful but seeing you so puzzled I can’t help but share: “Cheesecake” was my mom’s winner and she sent a vote for it so I guess it perhaps appealed to a middle-aged audience.
For me it’s:
Iceland: Hear Them Calling (2016) (Most underrated non-qualifier in Eurovision history!)
Ireland: Playing With Numbers (2015)
Israel: Rak Bishvilo (2013)
Latvia: Line (2017)
Iceland – Hear Them Calling
Ireland – Heartbeat
Israel – Same Heart
Latvia – Funny Girl
For me it would be: Iceland 2016 – Hear Them Calling: I would have expected this to qualify and placed 15th. As a fan of Of Monsters and Men I was so dissapointed to see it fail. Ireland 2015 – Playing With Numbers: Maybe not the coolest or innovative song but for sure it had some feelings in it and Molly voice and vulnerability really sold it well. Israel 2014 – Same Heart: I think the problem was probably the staging. Mei voice was so incredible and the song sounded good to, even the Hebrew parts. I still listen to… Read more »
Playing with numbers is one of my personal favourites from 2015, it’s definitely in my top 5 from that year, and I still listen to it to this day. Same goes for Angel in Disguise, that one was sorely underrated imo
I’m not you, you aren’t me
But I gotta say I do agree
Off topic NEWS : The brand new French selection “Eurovision France, c’est vous qui décidez” has been confirmed for January 2021! Sound really exciting https://www.ozap.com/actu/arret-de-je-t-aime-etc-tout-compte-fait-menace-le-numero-2-de-france-tele-detaille-la-rentree-de-2021/599090
Exciting! Hope the quality is as good as Destination Eurovision!
”unflattering s*** librarian outfit” Ha ha ha Yeah, Moran is a pretty woman, but this styling did her no favors. This is indeed one of the cases I think that first time viewers wouldn’t react to well. I actually recall totally overlooking this entry until this year. It’s one of those which benefited from my re-done ratings. An interesting notion is that after Moran and Mei’s undeserving NQs, Israel switched to English and after Nadav’s qualification, mainly stayed in English. I honestly think that bland staging is what broke Israel in both 2013 and 2014 far more than the usage… Read more »
My favourites are Iceland – 2018, I didn’t like “Hear Them Calling” at all, I predicted from the beginning that it would fail to qualify; Israel – 2014; Ireland – 2017 and 2014; Latvia – 2010, 2011, 2012.
Prepare for downvotes from the angry ESC fanboys. I really appreciate your opinion. 🙂 I am glad I’m not the only one who is a fan of Ireland in 2017. And I actually think that Iceland in 2018 is better than people are giving it credit for. In my opinion, it was still a bit too by the numbers and less than modern to do any impact in the competitive semi final 1 of 2018, but it’s cute and well performed. It’s not in my bottom 10 of the year. Also, Latvia in 2011 was surprisingly okay, especially for the… Read more »
I don’t get the hate for Iceland 2018. People say it’s dated and repetitive (as is we’ve never had dated and repetitive songs before, even among qualifiers). I don’t know why but sometimes I just don’t mind old-fashioned sounds. There are a lot of not the most current songs I enjoy, like “Supergirl”, “Verona”, “Cicciolina”.
A lot of Ireland’s non-qualifiers are good for me actually, like 2014, 2015 and 2019 but they’re often unlucky to be in the harder semi-final. “Dying to Try” was the best and I wanted it to qualify instead of Austria.
Austria was my favorite of the semi. 🙂 Ireland and Norway form a strong top 3. 🙂 I don’t dislike any of the qualifiers, but I’d replace Israel with Ireland. But it was an overall good semi. Aside from San Marino and Lithuania, everything else had a shot at making it.
Uptempo songs often have more lenient standards when it comes to a lot of fan assessments. Sure, Verona and Cicciolina are both tributes to another era, but as long they aren’t ”boring ballads”, everything is forgiven. 😉
Far cuter than Together but less “modern” choreography
Same feeling about “Hear them calling”. I knew it wouldn’t qualify and when Russia came with a much better similar performance by a performer who had actually charisma it’s fate was sealed.
”unflattering s*** librarian outfit” Ha ha ha Yeah, Moran is a pretty woman, but this styling did her no favors. This is indeed one of the cases I think that first time viewers wouldn’t react to well. I actually recall totally overlooking this entry until this year. It’s one of those which benefited from my re-done ratings. An interesting notion is that after Moran and Mei’s undeserving NQs, Israel switched to English and after Nadav’s qualification, mainly stayed in English. I honestly think that bland staging is what broke Israel in both 2013 and 2014 far more than the usage… Read more »
I don’t think Line deserved last, but it did miss something that would have made it memorable and misfired. Hence why, despite me finding it a less uncomfortable listen than Still Breathing, I had no doubt that the latter would qualify. The costume and song were certainly not congruent for Israel in 2013.
Playing with numbers was so underrated. 🙁
I agree, but, Poland aside, couldn’t remove any qualifier from that heat to put it through. Cyprus and Norway in that heat were more effective for the same clientele.
Can someone tell me what they like about Same Heart? It was such a fan favourite but it sounds so messy, VERY dated for 2014, and the melody sounds so cheap to me. It was my second-last in the semi, but I’m genuinely asking why do people like this song?
If I remember right, I liked Same Heart the least from the three songs Mei had to offer that year. She will probably win this poll, but she was imo a deserved non qualifier. Izabo on the other hand …
Yeah, Izabo’s song is just not good. Looking into my Eurovision NF season archives, Nish’eret Iti was the song I wanted Mei to go to Eurovision with, but frankly that song isn’t that good either.
Time was certainly adding something different and they could sing, but it was a bit weird. I went to the HOD’s lecture last Christmas which mentioned how carefully they were managed to ensure their security, as well as discussing their finalists in 2005 and 2009.
She had a great voice, I’ll give her that. My main point of contention with the song is how dated the production is. It sounds like a very bad rip-off of Believe by Cher sans autotune and with more rock. I will also say that I love the Hebrew language, and whenever there is a language other than English in a song I automatically like it a little bit more. Thank u for sharing!
Glad I’m not the only one having Same Heart in their bottom 10 for 2014. I wasn’t really following online fan communities back in 2014 so it was surprising for me to find out people were outraged by her nq.
Some good ones here Our neighbours Ireland: they were either awful (2005, 2016 and 2017), unlucky (2015), good on paper but awful live (2014, 2019), uninspiring (2009) or unbelievable, in the case of 2008. When I was 13 at the time, I had the album bought for me, and, having not watched heat 1, focused on Dustin, almost until Jedward’s success 3 years later. Dustin has been an institution in Ireland since 1989, and, despite his failure, continues to be. Iceland: Hear them calling was a grower, and Paper was sweet – both were unlucky. Paper was compared too much… Read more »
There’s some big hitters here. Iceland 2016 and Israel 2014 are probably going to be big fan favourites and in with a chance of winning the whole thing.They’re both good but for me, a proper “robbed” SF non-qualifier is something that should’ve been a top five song in the final and neither of those were (for me).
Personal opinion, the clear and only standout entry for me here (using that criteria) here is Israel 2013.
“proper “robbed” SF non-qualifier is something that should’ve been a top five song in the final and neither of those were (for me).”
Fair enough. 🙂 I’d personally extend that to top 10, if not top 15, especially in more competitive years. Neither of these songs are in my personal top 5 either, but their omission from top 20 was shocking and also undeserving.
Haha. Maybe it’s just semantics but fans throw out the term “robbed” too much when “surprising” is probably more apt. I’d maybe give you top ten but anything further than that might be stretching it too far. 😉
I guess there is a difference between “robbed” (Top 5/ top 10 song which I would personally vote for and be happy if it won) and “robbed” (Would’ve been in my top 10 of the semi. / Should have qualified. Perhaps even included on my playlist, yet not something I actively voted for). Yeah, sometimes lines can be blurred, but there is a difference. For me personally, only a few songs this decade would be a part of the first category: Play, Blackbird, Crisalide, Inje, Playing with Numbers, Hope Never Dies, perhaps Dying to Try, Telemoveis, and based on the… Read more »
Iceland: Hear Them Calling – Second time that Greta got robbed! Woman just can’t get her justice, can she?
Ireland: Heartbeat – I love both 2014 and 2015,and both deserved to qualify. But I just love 2014 slightly more.
Israel: Same Heart – This is one of the biggest if not THE biggest robberies in the contest! It was my Top 5 that year, and I still don’t understand how it failed! It was near perfect performance!
Latvia: Line – Love the song, but the live performance on the other hand…
Iceland – Greta (who is my 2012 winner) had a good song in 2016 as well and certainly should have qualified. Still, my absolute favorite NQ from Iceland has to be Valentine Lost.
Ireland – Playing with Numbers, closely followed by Dying to Try. I voted for both. Honorable mention is Dustin the Turkey, a so bad it’s good gem.
Israel – Same Heart from 2014 is my favorite. Rak bishvilo is good too.
Latvia – Funny Girl and Line are both good. What For is a solid studio track as well.
Nothing major to disagree with here. You picked out some good ones to consider. I think you were kind to even bother with Latvia as none of their NQers are particularly good or worth mentioning.
At last somebody who appreciates Valentine Lost! I’ll post my picks later