Mu$ic i$ the Door: Eurovision 2013: Semi-final 2

Eurovision 2013: Semi-final 2

17 May, 2013 6:26 PM

Published by MDS

Baku called last year after Ell & Nikki won the contest with their duet "Running Scared" in Düsseldorf. 42 acts competed on Azerbaijan's hosted contest last year yet it was Loreen's epic "Euphoria" which was awarded with the title, collecting 372 points, the second-highest point total in the contest's history, just below Alexander Rybak's 387 points for "Fairytale". This year, 38 countries have flown to Malmö to join Idol Sweden's Robin Stjernberg. 17 more acts will be performing tonight, with 10 of them making it to the Final. Important to note, the following post only features 8 performers, with 3 additional honorable mentions. Did your favourite made it?

Videos after the jump ...

8 - Krista Siegfrids

(Finland)

"Marry Me" - Through to the Final - Krista was a semi-finalist on the first season of The Voice of Finland, only performing once during the liveshows before getting the boot (Watch her performance HERE). Her song isn't very good but in such an uneventful night, it stood out thanks to her over the top delivery, her ridiculous wedding dress and the out of nowhere gay kiss at the end. An entertaining performance, final filler if you may.

7 - Moran Mazor

(Israel)

"Rak bishvilo" (רק בשבילו) - Eliminated - 22 y/o Moran won an Israeli contest, "Eyal Golan is Calling You", back in 2011 and despite her young age, the old fashioned glasses she's sporting make her look almost 40. A nice Hebrew sang slow ballad. Not much was remarkable about it, basically because it was so slow burning the fire went out before the performance even started heating and the few sparks of greatness we saw at the very end weren't enough to lit it up.

6 - Nodi Tatishvili and Sophie Gelovani

(Georgia)

"Waterfall" - Through to the Final - We've got two former Geostari ("ჯეოსტარი", Georgian Idol) contestants here. Nodi won the fourth season and Sophie was the runner up during the fifth. They make a pretty nice pairing, much like Ell & Nikki did the year they won. Unfortunately for them, their song isn't nearly as good. It's a pretty romantic duet, which they sing really well, and they play very well the chemistry between them but for an English song, I understood very few words. I'm not sure if it was a pronunciation issues or what but that ruined it for me.

5 - Valentina Monetta

(San Marino)

"Crisalide (Vola)" - Eliminated - After giving us possibly the worst song in recent history, "The Social Network Song", 38 y/o Valentina is back with an age suitable song. I guess a grown woman trying to look 18 creeped out the entire continent, thus the singer going for a mature song. I honestly think she completely redeemed herself with it. Not a hit, not the best song either, but considering how bad she was last year, it's a pretty surprising transformation, hence the song's title. Congrats to her for not looking like an utter joke anymore I guess.

4 - Eythor Ingi

(Iceland)

"Ég á líf" - Through to the Final - Icelandic is a beautiful sounding language and that's exactly what Eythor is proving with his performance. The song doesn't have a catchy hook, nor an epic delivery, but what it lacks in excitement it makes up with a gorgeous melody. And that's all the song has, it's melody.

3 - Gianluca

(Malta)

"Tomorrow" - Through to the Final - The guys is only a part time singer - he's a doctor. I strongly suggest he rethinks that. I had zero hopes for him but his amazing tone completely blew me away. The song is basically an "I'm Yours" retooling but then again, that tone is special, no matter how the actual song sounds.

2 - Dorians

(Armenia)

"Lonely Planet" - Through to the Final - Now we are talking. Finally a good rock song, something this semi-final pretty much lacked. Armenia's songs haven't been that great in the past but this is a killer tune. Yeah, the lyrics are cheesy but his delivery is so fantastic that he diverts the attention from it. The vocals are phenomenal, I really liked that. The fire was a nice addition as well, it probably made it better than it really was.

1 - Margaret Berger

(Norway)

"I Feed You My Love" - Through to the Final - Margaret was the runner-up during the second season of Idol Norge back in 2004 releasing two albums since then to much success. Now she's back with the first single from her new album, "Chastisement", and it's fantastic. The Nordic countries really stepped up their game this year, with Denmark's and Sweden's tunes being as good as Margaret's, if not better. The advantage she had was that the night was so disappointing her song was able to shine. That doesn't take merit away from it, since it's really well done. I love it's electronic sound, very current sounding, and her voice works perfectly with it. Great job.