LIVE. France impresses with powerful ballad at the Eurovision Song Contest, after industrial action VRT: Belgium comes 12th | Eurovision songfestival

Some countries have qualified directly for the final on Saturday. Spain is one of them, and brings synth-pop duo Nebulossa to the stage in Malmö. Their song ‘Zorra’ is neither the most original nor the strongest vocally, but the group has already managed to gather a large fan base. Whether their two half-naked dancers have anything to do with that? No se.

He is known in his native Latvia for his love of the Eurovision Song Contest, so it was only a matter of time before Dons would travel to the competition. His soulful power ballad ‘Hollow’ is not currently highly regarded, although that does not necessarily mean anything. So Dons – the Latvian – knew mister properSo to speak – he has won quite a few souls in recent weeks with his humorous posts on social media. Whether that, together with his unique voice, is enough to advance to the final? We’ll know soon.

A song must always be the shortest, and this edition of the Eurovision Song Contest ‘Jako’ by Ladaniva takes away that honor. If you blink your eyes a little too often, the Armenian group will have disappeared from the stage, so we advise you not to do that. The 2 minutes and 38 seconds in which they actually stand there are particularly infectious. The song – in their native language – combines ethnic influences with a bad ass attitude, which results in a joyful and energetic performance. Sometimes it doesn’t have to be anything more.

Or also: the Danish candidate SABA pretty much summarizes the essence of ‘Dune’ in ‘Sand’.

Her song ‘We will rave’ has about as much in common with a rave bitch as the average fan of bubblegum pink pop music, but that does not prevent Austrian candidate Kaleen from nodding to the nineties with her song. Always good for a party on TikTok and during rehearsals, and according to your Eurovision Song Contest wife, a party anthem that wouldn’t look out of place in the final.

We dare to doubt that she actually wins the competition – bearing in mind her vocal performance – but it would be a nice story. The singer has been involved in the Eurovision Song Contest and the Junior Eurovision Song Contest in various positions since 2018.

Some countries have qualified directly for the final on Saturday. France is one of them, and brings Slimane to the stage in Malmö. His ‘Mon Amour’ is a powerful love song, as only our southern neighbors can do.

In 2023, the Czech Republic opted for the rather traditional ‘My Sister’s Crown’ with the ladies of Vesna, and they finished tenth in the grand final. This year, the Central European country clearly wanted to do things differently. Enter singer Aiko, who gives a rocking speech about self-love with ‘Pedestal’. Unfortunately, the Czech is not exactly the best singer, and the whole thing sounds a bit like you are listening to the Aldi version of Avril Lavigne or Olivia Rodrigo.

Switzerland can take a shot at eternal Eurovision Song Contest fame in fourth place. The country has already won twice before, and has presented a serious candidate for final victory in Nemo. ‘The Code’, as the non-binary artist’s song is called, managed to keep Croatia out of first place among bookmakers for a while. And even today, Nemo and their song – which is about how they found their identity – is reportedly Baby Lasagna’s biggest competition.

Unpopular opinion, but your Eurovision Song Contest wife doesn’t understand why. ‘The Code’ feels like you’re fast-forwarding an entire musical in record time, making you want to crawl into bed exhausted at the end. Although we will compliment Nemo on their stability on that rotating disk. Downright impressive for all people without balance, including yours truly.

The third in the list is Marina Satti, who brings the catchy and extremely danceable ‘Zari’ for Greece’s fiftieth participation. In recent days, the singer had been battling a fever and a throat infection, but that seems to be the case – judging by the results dress rehearsals – for the time being – no influence on her vote. If Marina can keep that up for the next three minutes: certainty for the final.

At VRT, some of the staff did not understand Israel’s participation. You can find more about that here.

The second country to participate is Albania. Singer BESA was given the honor to represent her country, and does so with the song ‘Titan’. Again not a contender according to the bookies, and fair? Your Eurovision Song Contest wife understands why. BESA is a great singer, who even vocally reminds me a bit of Sia. Unfortunately, ‘Titan’ goes in too many directions to – in our view – make BESA the winner.

This second semi-final will be opened by Malta. They choose Sarah Bonnici, who performs ‘Loop’. A cheerful pop song with a Nillies vibe, but not very memorable. Unfortunately, the bookmakers have also noticed the latter, and according to them, Bonnici has no chance of advancing to the final. Or they really had to ignore the truth, of course.

Comedian, singer and two-time Eurovision Song Contest presenter (Malmö 2013 and Stockholm 2016, ed.) Petra Mede can once again put the show together, together with Hollywood star Malin Åkerman – who you may know from ‘Watchmen’, ’27 Dresses’ and ‘The Proposal’.

Today, however, they can show their funniest side and start with a pastiche of ‘Tattoo’, the song with which Loreen won last year.

Colleague Aagje Vanthomme hopes for the best for our entry from Malmö. You can watch what she said about this in VTM News below.

The Eurovision Song Contest has opted for a different scoring system since last year. For example, there will no longer be jury votes in the semi-finals. The points are therefore entirely determined by televoting. Just like previous editions, this year you can only vote in the semi-final in which your country participates. For Belgium that is today, in this second semi-final. You cannot vote for your own candidate.

Also remained: countries that do not participate in the Eurovision Song Contest can also cast a vote. This is possible in the semi-finals as well as in the final show on May 11. All those votes are counted together as ‘Rest of The World’, and are assigned the same value as one participating country. During the final, half of the points are determined by the viewers, the other half by the 37 national juries (by the number of countries participating, ed.).

That’s brand new again the big five and host country Sweden – as previous winners – will also perform their entry completely live, during the semi-finals in which they have been drawn to vote. During the second semi – today, for those who don’t understand – France, Italy and Spain get to compete. In the first semi-final it was Germany and the United Kingdom, just like the previous winner Sweden.