Armenia and Slovenia stand out in a second Eurovision semifinal without favorites

The Armenian Brunette and the Slovenian group Joker Out have rescued this Thursday from mediocrity and irrelevance the second Eurovision 2023 semifinal, one of the poorest galas that are remembered from the festival in recent years. With the complete absence of favorites (the Swedish Loreen and the Finnish Käärijä, leaders in the bookmakers, acted in the semifinal on Tuesday), many of the sixteen applicants of the last screening before the final presented expired, empty proposals – in some cases even coarse – and unworthy of achieving the pass to the final. Unfortunately for the viewer, several succeeded.

In a festival that is considered avant-garde, and which has seen important names such as Céline Dion, ABBA, Franco Battiato or Dulce Pontes, it is discouraging to observe the vocal level of some of this year’s participants, such as the Danish Reiley or the Greek Victor Vernicos, as well as the vulgar staging of the Romanian Theodor Andrei. A sum of nonsense that happened throughout a night with, yes, some honorable flashes of brilliance.

Tiktok fever is here to stay at Eurovision. If the British Sam Ryder was discovered by the BBC on this social network to, in the end, come in second at the festival, this year the Danish audience was fooled by the young Reiley and his ten million followers. In this case, the mix did not have the same effect and the Dane offered one of the worst live shows of the night. Only the colorful staging, very consistent with the H generationeartstoppers, and the candor of his image, saved the proposal.

Something very positive when compared to the ode to bad taste by the Romanian Theodor Andrei. Dressed in a loud pink suit and SpongeBob socks, the young man tried to defend an eminently amateur proposal with a certain vocal punch. But it was impossible: the images of half-naked women in puddles that looked like blood and…. derailed any classification option. He hello my baby from WRS last year was caviar compared to what Romanian television has offered this year in Liverpool.

The same fate suffered the very young Víctor Vernicos, only 16 years old, representing Greece. The interpreter, very nervous, was vocally irregular throughout his entire performance and did not know how to elevate a song like What the say, very conventional in its style but in another voice it would have worked much better. The elimination of Victor is especially painful for the Hellenic country, since it occurs after one of the singers accused Greek public television of having rigged the internal election. The matter even came to be settled by the country’s justice system.

Faced with this storm of calamity and catastrophe, countries like Armenia or Estonia were a breath of fresh air. The Armenian Brunette gave an outstanding performance of her Future Lover, a feminist and protest song with touches of R&B and rap. The staging, an explosion of color with projections on a platform that blended in with the performer’s wardrobe, was a bold and accurate game of lighting. Meanwhile, the Slovenian band Joker Out fell in love with the audience with their particular “shagadelic rock’n’roll” style, which they themselves have defined. A shot of good vibes that the audience knew how to value in a positive way.

Also expected was the classification of the Austrian duo Teya and Salena with the unclassifiable Who the Hell Is Edgar?, a kind of criticism of the music industry under a mocking appearance and with the possession of the spirit of the novelist Edgar Allan Poe as a regular element of the scenery. With their proposal, the two girls talk about their frustration with the music business and even the difficulties women face as songwriters or artists. Said claim, peculiar and bordering on the extravagant, had the support of the public.

As in the first semifinal, the diversity of styles was also rewarded. The Australian rock of the band Voyager, the folk with ethnic touches of Albina and her family (mother, father and brothers doing the choirs), and the spirit of voguing and ballrooms embodied in the Belgian Gustaph, easily passed the semifinals. . They will be joined by Australian (but Cyprus representative) Andrew Lambrou with his half time Break a broken heartthe Polish Blanka with the pop theme Solo and the Stay from Lithuanian Monika Linkytė, repeat in the contest after having participated already in

With the ten classified this Thursday, the list of countries that will compete this Saturday for the crystal microphone is completed. The Spanish Blanca Paloma, who will perform in the first block of the final, has had a few minutes on stage to present her Hey and tell why he calls his fans pigeons. Some followers who hope, this year, the long-awaited triumph of Spain in Eurovision.