Eurovision 2024: reviews of Semi-Final 1 casualties

The 2024 Eurovision Song Contest has finally started in earnest! Semi-Final 1 is done and five entrants have been knocked out. Here are my reviews of those unsuccessful performances and a mini round-up of notable surprises, both good and bad, from the rest of the semi-final.

Here's a quick recap of my scoring system in 2 parts: first for the song composition itself, incorporating the studio recording. This will be the same as my initial (p)review scoring unless something drastic has changed to the recording used for playback.

no stars = if I had control of the playlist I would turn it off or skip

★ wouldn't skip if it came up on shuffle

★★ on my "2024 Eurovision Favourites" playlist on Spotify

★★★ spent my own money getting a digital download; gone digging around their back catalogue for more stuff

★★★★ bought their entire back catalogue; checking out tour dates

Next, for vocal performance on the night (just the vocals because everything else is recorded and played back):

No faces = out of tune or poor tone, either on average, or with a small number of mistakes so glaring the song is ruined

😮 Good enough to execute the song competently on the night without drawing attention to any mistakes that did occur.

😮😮Control and artistry was demonstrated, but not for the whole song.

😮😮😮Consistent control and artistic judgement throughout.

😮😮😮😮In control and musically well-judged, with genuinely impressive stand-out moments.

Semi-Final 1: non-qualifiers

Poland: Luna - "The Tower" 😮

I predicted this would get knocked out, and I think that's a fair result, but somehow I don't feel very satisfied to be proved right. Though I still can't see the appeal of the composition at all, Luna did an OK job delivering the vocals. For lots of the performance she used the same breathy tone as we heard on the studio recording and at times it sounded as if she was applying quite wide and strong vibrato to a fundamentally small and fragile vocal sound. Nevertheless, it was mostly in tune, and was obviously delivered in the style intended. Not quite enough to get 2 sing-y faces from me though.

Moldova: Natalia Barbu - "In the Middle" ★★😮😮😮

Sadly my prediction was correct here, and this little gem has been eliminated. The ejection seems especially undeserved in light of the quality of Natalia's vocal delivery in Semi-Final 1, which had undergone a significant upgrade from the competent but not pitch-perfect performance from Moldova's national final.

Moldova, I want you to be happy...

 

My suspicion is that the difference comes down to better sound tech set up in the Malmö arena and that Natalia had much better in-ear monitoring. Pitching was noticeably more accurate overall, including the final octave-up chorus, and there was more musical expression, organically delivered and going beyond merely singing the right notes. This included some ornaments in the second verse which deviated from the studio version and sounded improvised (whether they were or not). I love that violin interlude more every time I hear it and I wish it was eighty bars long rather than eight. Definitely another song to add to my "undeserved Eurovision non-qualifiers" playlist, and I'm sad to see it go.

Iceland: Hera Björk - "Scared of Heights" 😮😮

This was the most obvious candidate for elimination in this semi, and as predicted the televoters did not turn out to vote for this in significant numbers. While the song is still extra dull and the staging failed to make up for that, I have to admit that Hera's vocal delivery was a step up from the Icelandic national final. The wonky added-sixth note didn't stick out as much this time (even though I still think it's a weird mismatch of melody and harmony), and pitching was very competent. Hera still didn't find any opportunity to add her own interpretation or expression, but was always going to struggle with that given the musical material and the boring production of the recording on playback. There appeared to be live backing vocalists on stage - they certainly weren't there for visual appeal, as the cameras barely showed them, but once more the rule allowing vocals on playback means I struggled to be sure what was live and what wasn't. Sad really, because if there was one possible way of squeezing any success out of this song, I feel it would have been to focus on live vocal harmony. As it is, it sounded like mere competent karaoke.

Azerbaijan: Fahree feat. Ilkin Dovlatov - "Özünlə Apar" ★😮😮

Well I finally learned the name of the style Ilkin Dovlatov sang in here - apparently it's called mugham and it was delivered confidently and forcefully on stage. Fahree's vocals more or less lived up to the studio version and overall I found this performance competent and pleasant, but not pleasant enough to be sad they didn't qualify.

Australia: Electric Fields - "One Milkali (One Blood)" ★😮😮

My first prediction error is courtesy of 2 Australian acts: instead of Australian Silia Kapsis being eliminated (representing Cyprus), the actual Australian representatives, Electric Fields, got booted out. While I still don't love the song itself, it was mostly well sung. However, Zaachariaha's highest vocal lines edged sharp as the volume increased towards the second half of the tune, and Michael's 2nd verse delivery was quite quiet and overshadowed by Zaachariaha's line when he joined in.

Notable moments from Semi-Final 1

From the performances that did qualify (plus the UK, Sweden and Germany who get a bye to the final but performed in full anyway) a few things stood out for me. Disappointing moments included:

• Cyprus's Silia Kapsis sang more or less adequately when she did actually sing, but left significant chunks of singing to be carried by the playback vocals. In my book that means she's gone from "predicted but undeserved non-qualifier" to "undeserved qualifier". Purely judged on singing, I would happily have seen Azerbaijan, Moldova or Australia qualify in preference to Cyprus.
  
• Finland's playback vocals were higher in the mix than I expected, detracting from Henri Piispanen's very competent singing. I don't think this will fundamentally affect their appeal in the final, but it's yet another example of annoying playback vocals actually hindering despite being intended to help.

Being more positive, I was pleasantly surprised by a few acts:

• The UK's Ollie Alexander doesn't have any live backing vocals as I'd hoped, but he did sing excellently and the staging was extremely striking. He might actually do well in the final results - but imagine what he could do with a better song!
• Croatia's Baby Lasagna delivered a really solid performance. I still don't quite see why he's such a favourite with the bookies but then I said that about Sweden's Loreen last year...
• Ireland's Bambie Thug took a couple of steps up in both vocal delivery and staging. The metal-style scream at the end, paired with a sort of telekinesis idea in the choreography, is stunning. Divisive perhaps - who knows what the average Grand Final televoter will think of this - but stunning nevertheless.
  

Ireland: from most dull in 2023 to least dull in 2024

My predictions: 80% correct so far

Right, enough for now. From my original predictions, 4 out of 5 have turned out to be correct, but with Semi-Final 2 scheduled for tonight, I can feel some more of my predictions being proved wrong soon... More to follow once the Semi-Final 2 results are in!