“Sweden and Finland triumph in Eurovision Semifinal; Loreen and Käärijä qualify for the finals”

As expected, Loreen qualified for the final without any problems. With her number ‘Tattoo’, which currently already scores very high in the Belgian Ultratop, she managed to conquer the hearts of the Eurovision viewers, just like when she won the competition in 2012 with ‘Euphoria’. If she triumphs again on Saturday, equals Sweden the seven victories of current record holder Ireland.

In the finals, Loreen faces off again Finland to stand. Singer Käärijä stole the show with the energetic ‘Cha Cha Cha’. In it he clambered out of a box in a green vest and bare-chested, to yearn for a pina colada together with four fluorescent-pink tango dancers. A catchy song that instantly cheers you up.

Also Norwaythe third Scandinavian country that is highly ranked by the bookmakers, convinced with singer Alessandra and her epic song ‘Queen of kings’.

Girl power

The two songs that most explicitly referred to the war both made it to the final. ‘Mom SC!’a colorful parody of rulers à la Putin by the Let 3 group Croatiacould not be more different from the rather sentimental anti-war ballad ‘watergun’ by singer Remo Forrer Switzerland.

The entries with a pronounced feminist message will also be included again on Saturday. Czech Republic brought with ‘My sister’s crown’ an excellent act, in which identically dressed female performers with long braids ‘We are not your dolls’ singing in English, Czech, Ukrainian and Bulgarian. Pop diva Noa Kirel out Israel convinced especially with the swirling dance scene at the end of her song ‘Unicorn’in which feminine rhymes with phenomenal.

Also the dark banger out SerbiaIt colorful cabaret van Portugal and the ethnic trance van Moldavia advanced to the final.

Switched off

It was looking forward to the singing performance of The Netherlands, after the duo Mia Nicolai and Dion Cooper sang very out of tune at some Eurovision pre-parties. Again, both singers had to concentrate very much on the high notes, so there was little spontaneous chemistry between them. Their ‘Burning daylight’ therefore did not reach the final.

The cheerful saxophonist of Maltathe indie rockers of Latvia and the U2-in-glitter outfit from Ireland were also eliminated, as were the singing twins of Azerbaijan.

Ode to Ukraine

Last year the Eurovision Song Contest was won by the group Kalush Orchestra and their song ‘Stefania’, but Ukraine was unable to organize this edition due to the Russian invasion. Still, the show was all about the country, with performances by guest artists from Ukraine and Ukrainian singer Julia Sanina as one of three hosts, alongside singer Alesha Dixon and Game of Thrones-actrice Hannah Waddingham.

The Belgian candidate Gustaph will perform in the second semifinal on Thursday with his song ‘Because of you’.