We’re waiting for the results now to see who’s going to the final on Saturday.

I’m proud to say that Sweden’s entry has turned out better than (at least I) expected it. However:

  • Malena’s choice of dress was tragic!!! On the white background she disappears and despite all her spray-on tan, she looks washed out. On the black background she looks like a very tanned ghost.
  • What’s up with those background dancers? They’re totally useless, distracting and badly choreographed.
  • Malena did seem to have some trouble hitting certain notes, but hopefully those background dancers were hideous enough to distract from any vocal shortcomings.
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Iceland’s song (“Is It True” – Yohanna) was stunning. And I liked Finland (“Lose Control” – Waldo’s People) too, but then again I’m happy to listen to Europop anytime, anyplace.

OK, we’re still waiting for the results.

In the meantime, it just wouldn’t be a Russian event without a military band, Kosak dancers and sappy folk songs… Hey, only the balalaikas are missing… Eeeeekkk, I hope this intermission will be over soon.

France, Russia, the UK, Spain and Germany qualify to the final automatically. The rest we will know soon.

OK, here we go:

  • Turkey
  • SWEDEN!!!!!! yay yay yay yay!!!
  • Israel
  • Portugal (this one I’m surprised that it got through)
  • Malta (huh?)
  • FINLAND!!!! yay yay yay yay!!!
  • Bosnia and Herzegovina
  • Romania (whenever I hear this song I have a feeling that a rather large chunk of its lyrics is missing)
  • Armenia
  • ICELAND!!!! yay yay yay!!!

I’m happy, all my favorite songs will appear on Saturday in the final. And once I find a better video of Malena’s performance, I will replace this one. This is the only one that appeared on youtube immediately, still during the broadcast.

And here’s an interview with Malena right after she arrived in Moscow:

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PS. What I can’t figure out is why Arash is representing Azerbaijan… I read that he has Azerbaijani roots, but still… This means that practically anyone, from any European country (and beyond) can represent any other country in the Eurovision song contest… Which, at least in my opinion, is kind of pointless…