Is this a Super Saturday? In the strict sense of it being a Saturday night with many streams running simultaneously, then yes it is. But can one really call it that super? After a middling German selection turned down the very little standout quality they had last night, tonight’s selections feel much more like Sub-standard Saturday than Super Saturday.
Let’s kick off chronologically with the Moldovan national final, Etapa Națională. In a year when female vocalists are out there kicking arse (how many Rebecca Welton quotes can I get in here?) it’s no surprise in Moldova we have as many songs called Fever as we do male soloists.
Sadly, I missed the fever dream that is the Moldovan audition stream and only recently caught up with the songs. It’s at this point that if there are any kids reading this you should look away…
How in the name of all that is Tudor Bumbac is there a song about jizz? Plenty of songs, stagings and performances have flown close to the wind over the years but never have I heard a song so blatantly filthy as Sasha Letty’s DNA. The pre-c…horus goes a little something like this:
Let me just have a taste
None of you must go to waste
I want you deep inside of me
If you leave, something stays anyway
Your DNA, your DNA
That has all the sledgehammering subtlety to make Natalia Gordienko’s Sugar sound like a Jane Austen novel. Moldova have aced the memeage in the past and there’s a little tiny part of me (DON’T!) that would love them to send this for the gits and shiggles.
But they won’t, even Moldova is too sensible to send such dirt. Instead I reckon they’ll opt for the Anna Odobescu-esque Natalia Barbu with In the Middle. Looking forward to Natalia’s appearance in Fire Saga 2 in years to come. Pun intended.
🇲🇩 Natalia Barbu wll win Etapa Națională 🇲🇩
Further north Estonia & Lithuania will complete the Baltic line-up after Latvia chose their entry last week. Starting with the former, Estonia have the chance to send something fun and a little bit different to the Contest. As other countries are embracing the televote only semi final and no longer bowing to jury pressures Estonia could join them in taking the risky pick…
5miinust & Puuluup are hardly Winny Puhh in terms of weirdness but (Nendest) narkootikumidest ei tea me (küll) midagi would still feel like a great example of the Estonian quirkiness we’ve become so fond of over the years.
However, in the recent Contests the safer bets like Stefan and Alika have yielded decent results, in both cases being the best of the Baltics. So will Estonia break the habit and send the weirder option?
No. of course they won’t. Instead they’ll pick the ‘Top Gear Best of Driving Anthems’ album come to life that is My Friend.
🇪🇪 Ollie will win Eesti Laul 🇪🇪
The final nation to fill our Baltic trio is Lithuania. The Roop return after winning the 2020 and 2021 selections and they may have to buck a trend with returning winners….
- Keiino and Margaret Berger failed to win Norway’s MGP
- Laura didn’t make the aforementioned Eesti Laul final
- Melovin was runner up in Vidbir
- Plenty of previous winners didn’t make the superfinal in Sanremo
- And Andrius Pojavis has already been knocked out this very competition…
Whilst many Eurofans would like to see Silvester Belt continue the curse with Luktelk, it’s The Roop. They just don’t miss in Lithuania. Simple Joy would probably be their weakest winner but against a somewhat uncompetitive field this has got all the vibes of a done deal to me…
🇱🇹 The Roop will win Eurovizija.LT 🇱🇹
Last and by no means…actually I’m not sure I can finish that sentence…is Denmark. In the build up to the reveal of the Dansk Melodi Grand Prix artists, there was a rumoured returning winner.
Names like Emmlie de Forest and Rasmussen were touted but in the end it’s 2013 winner Basim, returning with a song about a dying old in a hospice with his Dad. Yeah…if The Roop aren’t breaking the returning winner’s curse, this certainly isn’t!
As for the rest, the current favourite is Saba with Sand, which to be honest just feels like a nice excuse to include this clip…
I would say running first in the running order with such a plain song would normally doom Saba but knowing Denmark they could still choose it. However, I think you’ll have to look at the opposite end of the running order for the winner. Aura Dione‘s Mirrorball of Hope is a nice and upbeat, if not a tad forgettable, three minutes. If anything sums up Denmark at Eurovision, it’s that.
🇩🇰 Aura Dione will win DMGP 🇩🇰
Elsewhere in the frozen north Sweden’s Melfest will continue the search for the home entry and Iceland’s Söngvakeppnin will get underway. At the end of the night we’ll have four more entries for the Contest, none of which I see troubling the big points in May. In fact, here’s one last little bonus prediction for you. Bookmark this now and we’ll revisit on May 12th…
Pif Paf Blog 