Eurovision 2012

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So! The 2 semi-finals are over and we have the 26 finalist: Hungary, Albania, Lithuania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Russia, Iceland, Cyprus, Estonia, Norway, Romania, Denmark, Greece, Sweden, Turkey, Malta, FYR Macedonia, Ireland, Serbia, Ukraine and Moldova, alonside the big 5 of course; UK, France, Italy, Spain and Germany and the host country Azerbaijan.

As usual there were some surprises from the semi-finals, I thought countries like Slovenia and Bulgaria would qualify, and others like Malta and Lithuania wouldn't. Even so I'm quite satisfied with the results, after all for the first time, my top 10 favourites are all in the final XD Who would've known?

I was very glad to see Russia qualifying, the grannies are so cute. I had my doubts because on one side many people love them but on the other, there are also many people who think they're only a big joke so I wasn't sure they would pass. But they did! So yay!

Other countries I was glad to see qualify were Albania and Denmark. At first I hated Rona Nishliu's song but with time I learned to appreciate it. Now I want it to take a good place, let's hope so! Denmark as well, I love that song! I hope Soluna to take a good position at the and as well.


My personal top 10:


10. Can Bonomo - Love Me Back (Turkey)
Turkey is usually one of my favourite countries when it comes to Eurovision, Dum Tek Tek from 2009 and We could be the same from 2010 are probably two of my favourite songs from the contest ever. Can Bonomo's Love me back is not precisely my top favourite from this year, but is still a good one, catchy and quite different.


9. Nina Zilli - L'Amore È Femmina (Italy)
Forgive me if I was skeptical about Italy, because even when it came second last year, I didn't like Raphael Gualazzi's song at all. However Nina is a different story and I instantly fell in love with this retro-feeling song. I'm more a fan of the original in full italian, however I'm already getting used to this bilingual version (mostly in english).


8. Ivi Adamou - La La Love (Cyprus)
You can't deny how catchy this song is, you only have to listen to it once and it'll get stuck in your head all day.


7. Gaitana - Be My Guest (Ukraine)
Another catchy song. Admittedly it sounds more like a soccer song, (ideal for the Euro Cup maybe?) However I never said that as a bad thing XD


6. Mandinga - Zaleilah (Romania)
I find this as one of the most peculiar songs from this year, I was not expecting to hear a song sung in spanish from a country like Romania XD (I mean if it was Spain it would be more than expectable right?) However it was a nice surprise. I couldn't like this song more!


5. Eleftheria Eleftheriou - Aphrodisiac (Greece)
Greece is also one of my favourite countries when it comes to Eurovision. I've liked the greek entries almost without fail every year and Aphrodisiac was not an exception. I really like the rhythm, and the set on stage promises to be one of my favourites.


4. Tooji - Stay (Norway)
Norway was a big deception last year, not because I didn't like Stella Mwangi's song, but precisely the opposite, I was hoping it to qualify to the final but it didn't. I hope this year will be different with Tooji's hips :P And yes, I know he looks like a copy of Eric Saade, but really, it's only appearance, both songs and interpreters are quite different.


3. Loreen - Euphoria (Sweden)
The big favourite, the one everybody is talking about. Just like the majority of fans I also think is gonna be the winner, and I would be very happy about it! I do think is a great song, and I really like Loreen, she seems to be a very down to earth girl, but in my very honest and personal opinion, there are other 2 songs I like more....


2. Zeljko Joksimovic - Nije ljubav stvar (Serbia)
I really loved Zeljko's participation in 2004, when I heard he would be back this year I got excited and had big expectations for the song. I didn't get disappointed. I absolutely adore this song, the combination of gorgeous instrumentation and the beautiful serbian language make this one a delight to my ears.


1. Pastora Soler - Quédate Conmigo (Spain)
It's a surprise even for me, to have this song in first position. First of all, I don't usually like the spanish entries, at least not enough to be on my top 10. Secondly, I first heard this song and I didn't like it that much, but with time it grew on me to the point that today is my top favourite. In my opinion the most emotional song of this year, Pastora's voice is amazing. With Spain you never know what's gonna happen, but I'm hoping it will do well, because this song deserves it, but regardless of the official results, this song is a winner for me :)