I Listened to All 37 Eurovision Songs So You Didn’t Have To
But you should probably still listen to many of them anyway. There is a competition coming up.
Introduction
Let me start by saying that I’m an American fan of the Eurovision Song Contest. I’ve loved this contest for decades since I was younger. My favorite singer, Céline Dion, won as a representative for the country of Switzerland in the 1988 Eurovision Song Contest.
There have been so many more stars that have come from the competition and who were already stars and competed in it as well. I’m looking at you, Bonnie Tyler, UK’s 19th-place finisher in 2013.
Loreen from Sweden is competing again after winning in 2012. She competed on “Idol” and placed fourth and has found success in the charts as well. She seems to be an odds-on favorite to win again early.
Johnny Logan of Ireland is the only one to have won twice in the contest personally. Loreen has a chance to replicate history with her second win for Sweden. It will be amazing to see that but it’d also be great to see someone else win in 2023 since the field is so wide open. Take a look at some of my favorites in no particular order.
My Personal Top Group:
Armenia-You’ve got to take a listen to the Brunette song “Future Lover”, it’s a solid entry from Armenia this year and could easily finish top 5–10.
Australia-See, I liked this song. I thought it was definitely top 10–15 but the online polls seem to have it lower. It will be interesting to see how the live performances go and how the judges receive them.
Cyprus-I could see this song easily cracking the top 10. The singer has great range and it’s a good song. Watch out for this one.
Czechia-Quirky video, fun Czech lyrics, and even some rap. This is a solid top-10 selection.
Finland-This one is top 5–10 easily. It’s so catchy too. Watch out for Finland.
France (automatic qualifier)-This one impressed me just by the sheer vocals. I don’t really have to say anything about this song until the finals but it’s definitely one to watch.
Israel-Noa Kirel, unicorn, this song has the potential to win the whole thing if not place in the top 3 at the very least.
Lithuania-I’m disappointed in how fans are receiving this one. I thought that this one was definitely the best out of the Baltic state entries other than Finland. This is top 10–15.
Moldova-This one is a sneaky one for me. I didn’t expect this one to be so good. But again, it looks like in online polling, it’s near the bottom half of the field.
Norway-Easily one of my favorite songs this year. Top 5 easily. This one could even win. I can’t wait to see what happens in the live show.
Serbia-I’m glad that the polls I’ve seen agree that this song is at least top 10. It’s very good and the fact that it’s in Serbian is definitely a bonus. The performance should be a good one.
Sweden-Loreen is back. She’s won. She might win again. At least, that’s what the early polling is saying at this point. Sure, her song is another hit. We’ll see if she can do it again.
Switzerland-This is a song that I really liked but it seems like it’s not getting much love from the online polls. This worries me a bit for picking this one so high. I still like it.
My Middle Group:
Austria-Quirky and fun song about Edgar Allan Poe possessing a writer’s body. It’s a fun one. This one should make it to the finals.
Belgium-I was unclear where to put this song on the list. I liked it enough but it looks lost in the fray in online polling. I worry that this is one song I might’ve missed on.
Croatia-This one should slide under the radar and make the final. It’s a good song. I hope it does well.
Estonia-This song was very middle of the pack for me but it should also make the final. It’s definitely top 15–20 this year.
Germany (automatic qualifier)-Since Germany is an automatic qualifier for the final, I’ll just say that this is the most overrated song of the year. I like it, don’t get me wrong but it’s a little excessive in the video and could’ve toned it down a bit. But it’s metal and metal seems to do well when it’s good.
Greece-This one is one that I see in the top 15–20. It’s a good enough song to get into the finals.
Italy (automatic qualifier)-This song is an Italian ballad sung by a hot Italian guy. I’m just going to say here if it wasn’t an automatic qualifier, it still would’ve made it. Enough said.
Latvia-This video was really weird and I was into it. It was just quirky enough to catch my attention. I think that’s important to get it into the finals.
Malta-This song might be my miss but I thought that it reminded me of some of my favorite genres of pop-alternative with a sassy saxophone that I hope it makes it through.
Slovenia-The video in this one was fun too. Hopefully, they can deliver in the live performance.
Spain (automatic qualifier)-Spain is fortunate in my mind that they qualified because this one was borderline for me. The dance moves and the vocals were cool but I wasn’t feeling this one as much as many others.
Ukraine (automatic qualifier)-A hip-hop song from the Ukraine? This is so cool. I like that they did something unexpected this year knowing that they qualify for the finals. This song could sneak up on some people. Let’s see how it does in the live semifinals.
United Kingdom (automatic qualifier)-This is probably my favorite entry from the UK in such a long time. They are not going to finish in last place. I’ll tell you that much. They might even get a top-10 finish. That’s how it looks right now based solely on the fan polls. I had them closer to the middle but I’m not surprised.
Bottom Eleven Overall
Albania-Albanian folk song about a family with a family? I don’t think it has that universal appeal to get enough votes.
Azerbaijan-This song is vocally a mess and I never really got into it. The fans seem to agree so far too.
Denmark-A social media style song catered to younger fans? That’s not going to fly in this competition. It’s my second-least favorite song in the competition.
Georgia-I didn’t really get this song. Fans have it near the middle in the polls. It could slide through but it’s a top-20 finisher at best.
Iceland-The vocals are nice on this. I just couldn’t get into the song but this is also one that I don’t truly appreciate that the fans and the judges might help through.
Ireland-It looks like the consensus agrees with me that this song isn’t for them. I don’t think covering their faces live is going to give them any support either. This song could be dead before it gets off the ground.
Netherlands-Another borderline choice. I don’t really like it but it’s near the middle with fans. Maybe it’ll grow on me. It’s a sappy duet with a guy and a girl. Overdone but it looks like it might get them into the finals.
Poland-This song has been universally panned. It’s near the bottom of all of the fan polls and it’s my least favorite song of the competition. I get that Poland was going for fun here but damn. They had to constantly moon me with their singer in the video. I just didn’t appreciate the soulless, upbeat pop they threw out this year.
Portugal-I might be wrong about this song, I’ll admit it. I just didn’t personally like it so much. I love the sound of the Portuguese language and love that the singer sang in Portuguese for the whole song. It’s definitely a good representation of the country in the international competition. It just lacked something for me. I’m afraid this is going to be one of the ones that prove me wrong.
Romania-Yikes. This song sung in Romanian is just bad. The funny part is that the initials in the song are the same as the name of my travel pub. If it had been a good song, I might be jealous and wanted to use it for promotion, but alas, I don’t want this thing anywhere near me or my publication. It is my third-least favorite song and in the online polls, it’s second-to-last with fans.
San Marino-I’m glad that I’m not the only one who didn’t really enjoy this song either. The lyrics are bad and cheesy and the singer tried really hard in the video to hit those high notes at the end and just didn’t execute. It’s right down there for me with Romania, Poland, and Denmark. They should be disqualified from participating any further if they’re going to put a product out like this.
Well, you can hear all of the songs below in the order that they’re going to perform in the semifinals in Liverpool, England, UK on May 9th and May 11th. The finals are going to be the final 26 on May 13th and of course, that will be who will be crowned the winner.
I know that the top 26 will qualify for the Eurovision finals and I don’t feel like every one of the bottom 11 will miss out on them this year. This is just my list and it looks like fans are disagreeing with some of my picks from the top 26 so it’ll be interesting to see which way the votes go.
First of all, my list is heavier with eliminations from the second semifinals so there are definitely going to be some surprises for me. Australia is getting a surprisingly low amount of support. Portugal is getting a lot of love and again I wanted to love that song but I don’t know why I didn’t. Switzerland is also getting a surprising amount of low support in online polls right now.
Hopefully, these aren’t the official polls and the fans will hear the songs that they are missing out on. I did look at my list again and it is actually possible for my picks to hit but I do love to be surprised so I hope I’m not 100% accurate. Below are the links to the country, artist, and song for each performance.
Order of Performances-Semifinals 1, top 10 qualify from this group
Norway-Queen of Kings Alessandra
Malta-Dance (Our Own Party) The Busker
Serbia-Samo mi se spava Luke Black
Switzerland-Watergun Remo Forrer
Moldova-Soarele și Luna Pasha Parfeni
Azerbaijan-Tell Me More TuralTuranX
Czechia-My Sister’s Crown Vesna
Netherlands-Burning Daylight Mia Nicolai & Dion Cooper
Semifinal 2, top 10 qualify from this group also
Denmark-Breaking My Heart Reiley
Romania-D.G.T. (Off and On) Theodor Andrei
Belgium-Because of You Gustaph
Cyprus-Break a Broken Heart Andrew Lambrou
Greece-What They Say Victor Vernicos
San Marino-Like An Animal Piqued Jacks
Austria-Who The Hell Is Edgar? Teya & Salena
Albania-Duje Albina & Familja Kelmendi
Automatic Final Qualifiers
Germany-Blood & Glitter Lord Of The Lost
Ukraine-Heart of Steel Tvorchi
United Kingdom-I Wrote A Song Mae Muller
Whoever wins this year, it will be so much fun to hear all (most) of these performances live and go against the judges’ votes as well. I can’t wait to see who will take home the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 crown this year. Where do you think your own country will place? If you’re an American like me and have no real stake since my country isn’t in this, who would you like to see win? Who are some of your dark horse choices for the finals or to win it all?