Hello welcome to my series of quick takes designed to get you ready for Eurovision 2019. Just some quick thoughts / my take on each of the 41 songs this year. The countries are in alphabetical order so without further ado: Israel.

Country: Israel
Singer: Kobi Marimi
Song: Home
Personal Score: 21 out of 41
My Prediction: Auto Qualified

Someone in one of my Eurovision groups referred to Kobi’s voice as a haunted chimney and I am never going to be able to unhear it. That being said, I don’t think that’s actually a bad thing. Kobi has a really interesting and layered vocal performance that tends toward these really cold but controlled sounds but with the stark and stripped down “Home” that’s a big plus. This is probably mostly jury bait which will be ignored by the audience at home unless the performance is perfectly paced and shot to let people connect with him but that’s alright. The song is very musical but it feels strangely modern as well, you wouldn’t be too shocked to hear this on a Spotify playlist for 50 year old housewives. It’s a pretty strange match for someone this young but he is doing a great job trying to meet it where it stands. If Israel wasn’t qualifying automatically I’m not sure this would have gotten out of the semi finals but I won’t be sad to see it in the final line up, it’s a perfectly pleasant piece with some potential to be touching.

Hello welcome to my series of quick takes designed to get you ready for Eurovision 2019. Just some quick thoughts / my take on each of the 41 songs this year. The countries are in alphabetical order so without further ado: Ireland.

Country: Ireland
Singer: Sarah McTernan
Song: 22
Personal Score: 23 out of 41
My Prediction: NQ

This is a cute little diddy out of Ireland but it’s got basically nothing anyone is looking for in a Eurovision song. There’s no stellar vocals, there’s no big dance number, there’s no ear catching hook and it’s horribly out of date. The song is basically a bad match for Sarah McTernan’s voice since she can’t seem to give it enough power to turn the song into something more than just a three minute plod. I think this was written with the Megan Trainor vibe implied but Trainor’s biggest hits are already a half decade behind the times and the retro feeling in the song isn’t matched with style or energy. “22” ends up a kind of standard “I will always love you” song that seems tepid on both the love AND the always parts of that thesis. I think Ireland would have to pull a whirlwind staging again in order to have this get anywhere near the momentum it needs to cross into the final and without the power of gay dancers and vocal prowess they had last year, this is more than likely going to get held back. I will likely not remember this song in a year or two which is somehow much worse.

Hello welcome to my series of quick takes designed to get you ready for Eurovision 2019. Just some quick thoughts / my take on each of the 41 songs this year. The countries are in alphabetical order so without further ado: Iceland.

Country: Iceland
Singer: Hatari
Song: Hatrið mun sigra
Personal Score: 4 out of 41
My Prediction: Q

The most important thing to remember when considering this entry is that you can only vote for things you like, you cannot vote against things you do not like. This works well in favor of what I would call “specialty” songs, songs that fall outside the ballad, pop, and pop-ballad that regularly show up in Eurovision’s stable of qualifiers. It worked for Georgia’s psychedelic inspired rock in 2016 and especially for Hungary’s metalcore song last year and the odds are pretty good it’s going to work for Hatari this year as well.

Personally I love this. The stage show is fantastic, the costumes are fantastic, the message is intense and strangely delivered but also really fantastic, and everyone’s singing is top notch. I think this delivers exactly what Eurovision needs which is a three minute cohesive story told dramatically to music. If you look at what makes a Eurovision winner that’s all the key pieces. This is not a winner by any means (and I wouldn’t be terribly shocked if it gets stuck in the semi-finals) but this is a really well crafted piece of music and an even better crafted idea. It’s nice to see something like this at Eurovision because it always influences more diversity of sound in Europe.

Hello welcome to my series of quick takes designed to get you ready for Eurovision 2019. Just some quick thoughts / my take on each of the 41 songs this year. The countries are in alphabetical order so without further ado: Hungary.

Country: Hungary
Singer: Joci Pápai
Song: Az én apám
Personal Score: 25 out of 41
My Prediction: Q

The first time I heard this I thought that maybe I was just biased against whistling but one of my favorites from Switzerland had a whistling chorus in it so it’s not quite that. This is a pretty meaty song and it has the same folksy but modern quality that brought Joci to 8th place last time he was at Eurovision. I think of the two songs this one is MUCH weaker. Both song share a lot in common including large wordless portions of the song filled by “instrumental” and I still don’t love that. The whistle hook in this song you may have guessed, sounds very commercial and because of that it does not work for me but I do like the verses quite a bit. The staging was a little muddled at A Dal so maybe they can clarify it a little – though again, I found his staging in 2017 to also be too busy for my taste. I think sticking to his guns isn’t a terrible idea and its likely to lead to a second qualification.

Hello welcome to my series of quick takes designed to get you ready for Eurovision 2019. Just some quick thoughts / my take on each of the 41 songs this year. The countries are in alphabetical order so without further ado: Greece.

Country: Greece
Singer: Katerine Duska
Song: Better Love
Personal Score: 6 out of 41
My Prediction: Q

Trying to divorce this song from the art house movie of a video is really difficult but I found a lot to love in this piece as a whole so I’m not even going to worry about it. I think it’s hard not to point out how deep and silky her voice is and that is always going to appeal to me and be a turn off for plenty of people. I hope that that staging can preserve some of the strange and mysterious feelings that the video has because that’ll help it stick in peoples mind and also give it a really cool flare. While the song seems to be about deepening a relationship it can also be read as “marriage / love / relationship equality” which is nice but doesn’t always play well at Eurovision. I think the vocals and the absolute stunning composition will easily help this modern ballad stand out. I can’t quite think of the artist it reminds me of but maybe a little Sia mixed with Florence and the Machine. An easy going vibe that feels like it is deeper than it is. Not bad Greece.

Hello welcome to my series of quick takes designed to get you ready for Eurovision 2019. Just some quick thoughts / my take on each of the 41 songs this year. The countries are in alphabetical order so without further ado: Germany.

Country: Germany
Singer: S!sters
Song: Sisters
Personal Score: 41 out of 41
My Prediction: Auto Qualifier

I think Germany needs to change their selection process because this wasn’t anyone’s favorite song, and it was actually 5th or 6th with the audience and yet still won? There’s a lot about this song that just does not work for me. The staging, which I assume they’ll likely keep at Eurovision, is boring so I hope they’ll consider something else. The outfits give me little information and are of no interest. The topic of the song was never going to be a hit with me. The two women singing are…something. Their voices never really blend, they spend a lot of time singing past each other and really screeching out most of their notes with some shaky trilling and that doesn’t work for me. The song plods along without much resolution or build. I think at the end of the day they might have been trying for an empowerment vibe (a la Toy) and missed the mark by a mile because it just doesn’t read that way. I don’t know if this can be changed in any meaningful way to work but since Germany auto qualifies and they had a good placing last year I’m not sure they really care if this probably ends up in last place.

Hello welcome to my series of quick takes designed to get you ready for Eurovision 2019. Just some quick thoughts / my take on each of the 41 songs this year. The countries are in alphabetical order so without further ado: France.

Country: France
Singer: Bilal Hassani
Song: Roi
Personal Score: 7 out of 41
My Prediction: Auto Qualifier

I was really pleasantly surprised by this song. France is a little hit or miss for me but this is a bunch of hits. The only real problem with this song is that Bilal didn’t really look like he was 100% for 200 million eyes to be on him. I find this song very easy to remember and catchy in the right way where I find myself humming it around the house. The mix of French and English lyrics is pretty much perfect, something for everyone. Love the message, hope the staging will be a little better and I hope that Bilal works on his vocal performance and delivery since it’s not a shy song and it needs to be delivered with a lot of gusto. I hope that so many people around him causes a swell in pride that lets this song shine as much as the artist.

Hello welcome to my series of quick takes designed to get you ready for Eurovision 2019. Just some quick thoughts / my take on each of the 41 songs this year. The countries are in alphabetical order so without further ado: Finland.

Country: Finland
Singer: Darude feat. Sebastian Rejman
Song: Look Away
Personal Score: 18 out of 41
My Prediction: NQ

Darude has been making commercial music for the past 20 years and honestly this is a well crafted song that is both surprisingly contemporary for a man who is approaching “old people” territory but it’s also not exactly the world’s most engaging piece of music either. Sebastian needs a few notes on his performance (mostly he has adopted a really confusing power stance) but the performance a whole sold me a little more on the song. I don’t think is a qualifier though because of the dark undertones in the song and the message of environmentalism – as important as that is I’m not a Eurovision audience is really going to vibe with that. I’ve been wrong before and Hungary has gotten a few good turns with “issue” songs that surprised me. The building tension in Look Away isn’t about to make anyone go completely wild on the dance floor but it’s memorable and solid and Finland should be really proud of their choice.

Hello welcome to my series of quick takes designed to get you ready for Eurovision 2019. Just some quick thoughts / my take on each of the 41 songs this year. The countries are in alphabetical order so without further ado: Estonia.

Country: Estonia
Singer: Victor Crone
Song: Storm
Personal Score: 18 out of 41
My Prediction: Q

Make no mistake. I do not want this song for Estonia. I voted for a different song (two different songs!) and I don’t really want it to qualify either but Estonia is in the easier for the two semi finals and the song is passable and the staging (if it stays) is pretty good so it’s likely it’ll squeeze by in 8th or 9th place just barely passing something I actually like. I know I rated it 18th out of 41st and that’s because I hear an idealized version in my head but as it’s performed…is another story.

In summary of this performance I have to say: O Lord, please grant me the confidence of a mediocre white man who thinks he is hitting notes he is getting nowhere near.

In theory he could figure out how to actually sing this song in the next month but in reality the recorded version of this track and all the live performances I have seen of it have the same vocal tics and issues that made me cringe when I heard it the first time. The song itself is a cute Eurovision bait song and it’s such a travesty that a nation full of great singers is sending a Swedish man who is way out of his depth. He is trying to channel Justs’ “Heartbeat” look but fails at that even. Honestly I expect this song to come 4th place in Melodifestivalen but that kind of music DOES play well at Eurovision so I think it will do well despite…short comings.

Hello welcome to my series of quick takes designed to get you ready for Eurovision 2019. Just some quick thoughts / my take on each of the 41 songs this year. The countries are in alphabetical order so without further ado: Denmark

Country: Denmark
Singer: Leonora
Song: Love is Forever
Personal Score: 32 out of 41
My Prediction: NQ

Now here’s something a little different. I assume this is supposed to be a sweet “we are all one and we all love the same” song but the style which mimics both a very simple musical number but also a sort of French diddy feeling ends up in a really muddled space for me. The delivery also leaves me…uncomfortable. The staging effect of her sitting in a giant chair is fine but Leonora stares into the camera like she’s just got someone trapped in her basement and is holding them there against their will. I don’t think this will qualify because it’s a little too simple and too sweet but that’s been Denmark’s specialty since 2014 with mixed results. Certainly singing in four languages (English, German, Danish, and French) will tweak a few heartstrings but otherwise this song feels more like a platitude than anything real. If it qualifies it won’t shock me as peace is a good goal but there’s just something about it that rubs me in all the wrong ways.

I know when people talk about plastic music they’re mostly referring to pop songs that just mimic other pop songs but this is the type of song I think about: a song made for no reason other than to coolly appeal to people who want to think they’re very magnanimous. When it turns out they’re just doing it for the likes (or in this case the douze points) :/