My Eurovision Countdown to Copenhagen Part 4

By ajmained on April 23, 2014 • ( 3 Comments )

Axel Hirsoux
Respective Broadcasters/EBU

Like 80’s band Europe I am getting towards my “Final Countdown” in this year’s Eurovision songs – minus the big hair! It’s Andrew James Main here again and in the build up towards Copenhagen I am going to publish my Eurovision Countdown of all of the songs. There will be 6 parts in all and the fourth part takes us through from position 18 to 13. This is something that I do every year and post to my Facebook wall so that some of my friends can saviour some of the delights and some of the horrors that we have to look forward to come May.

In all honesty this year is a fairly level playing field with no runaway stand out favourites and no absolute horrors. So continuing on from Part 3 which was published last week we start at position 18.

MY EUROVISION COUNTDOWN NO.18

Moving onward and upward in my countdown we come to plucky Belgium who are sending the big voice of Axel Hirsoux to Copenhagen with his Mother( the name of the song and his Mother will be going too.) Axel is a big character in more ways than one , but he is quite shy and unassuming until he starts to sing. Then its a complete transformation, what a voice he has it totally knocks spots off many of the other artists this year. The song itself I find to be rather sentimental and a little dull but Axel brings it up into the stratosphere with his immense voice to such an extent that I can see this as a definite qualifier and could even sneak into the Top 10 in the Final.

MY EUROVISION COUNTDOWN NO.17

No stranger to music competition having won San Remo two years ago is Emma Marrone from Italy. She is a very accomplished singer and performer who should have no trouble adjusting to the Eurovision stage. She brings a distinctly rock inspired song La Mia Citta to Copenhagen. This is a slap in the face that the competition needs as it reeks of power, the studio version is great but we still have to be convinced that the live presentation will be just as powerful. However this is a very daring Unitalian Eurovision entry this year and is modern and should appeal to a broad spectrum of voters so we may see Italy in the top 10 again.

MY EUROVISION COUNTDOWN NO.16

Congratulations have to go to the next country for picking and sending their best ever entry to Eurovision this year. That is after sending a great song last year too which I happened to cover in my Eurostars performance in Manchester. I speak of course of Lithuania who are sending a most modern and contemporary piece that certainly is grabbing mine as well has a great voice and sells this song really well with a great hook and a powerful beat and a most inventive dance routine which along with the male dancer really enhances the stage performance of this song. She went solo in Amsterdam last week but still managed to sell the song to me live. I am fairly convinced this will get to the final and may give Lithuania their best result to date.

MY EUROVISION COUNTDOWN NO.15

We move to a country that know how to sell an entry to the Eurovision audience and buy votes from Eurovision juries. Azerbaijan have a great track record at Eurovision and always seem to send something that has a broad appeal and comes over as a great performance. This time they have sent Dilara Kazimova to Copenhagen with Start a Fire (The Azeri’s seem to like fire as it is a continuing theme over the years). I think the song is perfectly acceptable as a ballad albeit a safe choice. I am sure the production of it on stage will be excellent and Dilara has a good voice so will sell it well too.I think it is a safe bet for the Final but not convinced it will be a top 10 contender for them this year.

MY EUROVISION COUNTDOWN NO.14

It is great to see that Mumford and Sons have agreed to take part this year. Oh wait it is not them but a group that sound remarkably like them. Malta have sent Firelight with the instantly catchy Coming Home. Richard’s vocal is uncannily like the Mumford connection. Country does not normally sell well at Eurovision but I can see this picking up votes from all over the continent as it will have a broad appeal. It is happy and bouncy and the staging of it simple and perfect. I can see it flying up the scoreboard in the Final and possibly reaching the top 10 too.

EUROVISION COUNTDOWN NO.13

What is it the proverb says? if you do not succeed then try and try and try and try (7 times) again. Something like that anyway but Sanna Neilson certainly stuck at it till she finally won the chance to represent Sweden at Eurovision with her song Undo. It won Melodifestivalen by the merest whisker but fair play to Sanna, she is a great singer and performer and does a great job on the song. I do like the vibe of the song but feel its been done many times before with pumped up synths and backing vocals jumping out at us.This is quite high on my list because it is Sanna and Sweden but not for the song itself which is safe and should qualify for the final. But I do not think it will quite reach the top 10.

So I will be back later this week with part 5 of the countdown from 12-7.

Do you agree or disagree strongly with any of my position’s or comments then let us know?

Author/Andrew James Main

Source : Eurovision Ireland