EUROVISION 2019: SEMI-FINAL 1 REVIEW

What a show! It was always going to be a bloodbath, and it was once again last night. 17 acts but only 10 made it. I predicted 7/10 from my previous blog which isn't too bad for such an unpredictable semi! Here is a general overview of my thoughts from the show:

Greece obviously were going to qualify and nobody is surprised. This has real jury appeal and I think overall it worked in the position and semi-final it was in.

Belarus!!! I was so happy when they were called and honestly on the night I swapped them out of my prediction for Belgium after I saw how well she performed vocally. If she's better vocally than Tamta then why should she not qualify too? I'm so happy she made it, what a banger.

Serbia was one I predicted. A real magical performance and proof of how to elevate through staging.

Cyprus, no surprises! I did think that it had the potential to fall flat from where it was and maybe the jurors didn't give her the respect, but the song's a banger and the final wouldn't be the same without our queen.

Estonia... yeah if there was an act I could take out this would be it. Its not bad but we've seriously seen this bland pastiche of entry done so many times before, and when others that brought something totally new and more bold to the table this was a waste of a spot in my eyes. That's the way it goes though I guess.

Czech Republic, who's surprised? This has hugely broad appeal and I still think its on course for top 10.

Australia... this hands down won the semi-final. This gave me goosebumps on the night because it was a pure moment of performance perfection. Everyone was talking about this one as expected, and she is totally a dark horse for the victory, even if I don't think she'll get quite there.

Iceland breaking their qualification streak didn't even feel like a shock because this was just so obviously going through. A daring moment that obviously stood out for all the right reasons. Great job.

San Marino... KING! I honestly probably should be annoyed about this one but who cares because I'm so happy for Serhat and for San Marino, they finally made the final once again!

Slovenia being left until last was a real nervewracking one. This had the power to swing either way and I'm pleasantly shocked that people got this one and I'm unbelievably happy its in the final adding a touch of class to proceedings.

I was overjoyed when they were finally announced as they are my 2nd from this year but also at the same time broken because Portugal, who were my favourite from this year had just crashed out. I'm not going to lie and say I'm crushed about Portugal, even if I'd already predicted it wouldn't make the cut. Everything about this was an artistic concept executed to perfection. Conan said it best when he named him after Future Boy, as he truly is the boy of the future and maybe the locals weren't ready for his concept. Whatever happens, I'll continue to follow Conan's every move as this is the first time I've genuinely been so hooked and supportive of an artist in a very long time and this really was the crime of the night.

The biggest surprise in this semi-final for me was Hungary. Out of all their entries this decade, this really shouldn't have been the one to break their qualification streak. A beautiful LED and a catchy song, and this makes me worry for others in semi-final 2 that are in the first half and a little too repetitive, as I think that may have been this one's downfall.

Belgium not qualifying was a shame but I think on the night it kind of made sense. The chorus continued to not stand up against those pulsating verses and the staging was just messy. Something wasn't clicking and it showed on the night. The same could be said for Poland too, and after being on the fence I wasn't really surprised after seeing the full performance why they missed out. Crowd shows for this song... why?!

Georgia not qualifying was a shame as this one had really stepped it up from Georgian Idol, but I think that was the problem with people's predictions of this one. I think its a Croatia 2018 situation where the elevation from studio to live made people automatically presume it was qualifying, but they maybe forgot the song doesn't hook people in enough in the first place. Oto and Georgia should be proud of this though and I wouldn't be surprised if this was 11th or 12th from the night.

The other non-qualifiers, Finland and Montenegro... who's surprised really? At least their visions came together eventually and I hope they had fun.

Now onto semi-final 2, why does Eurovision week have to go so fast! I'll see you tomorrow for my semi-final 2 predictions!