Eurovision 2016: Song Reviews (Part II)

By this point, Sarah and I had listened to eleven of the 43 songs that will compete in this year's Eurovision Song Contest. The night was young, and we still had thirty-two more to listen through. So far, my favourite was Ira for Malta, What's The Pressure was the front-runner for Sarah, and Cyprus was a solid second place for the pair of us. We were alternating picking songs from the bowl. Sarah had picked the first one, so it was me to select song number 12 for the evening.

If you didn't see the first part of this set of reviews, click here! We covered entries from Austria, Cyprus, Malta and our very own here from the United Kingdom. 

12) DENMARK: Lighthouse X "Soldiers of Love"

We both had different opinions on this one. Sarah wasn't a big fan of it, but I quite enjoyed it. It's incredibly corny but again, that's not much of an issue to me. Lighthouse X remind me of a failed late-1990s boy band, and watching their (rather good) National Final performance, it almost feels like I'm watching CD:UK back in 2000 or something. But yeah, this is certainly listenable, and probably not much more than that. 5.5/10 for this, as I'm undecided whether I prefer it to Azerbaijan or not.

13) GREECE: Argo "Utopian Land"

What on earth is this?! It's an absolute mess. The bad thing is, it isn't even laughably bad. The last chorus where it goes completely off tempo drives me insane. I'm sure I won't have to hear this on the night of the final. 1/10

Not the only one running for the exit...
  

14) BOSNIA & HERZEGOVINA: Dalal & Deen feat. Ana Rucner and Jala "Ljubav je"

This number seemed good after listening to that from Greece. But it really wasn't, in all honesty. The most forgiving thing about this was the building they were performing in. The whole production is just of a really poor quality, where the singers aren't actually that bad. The drums sound rather pathetic, unfortunately. Two minutes in, and this rapper comes out and again I've just got no idea what's going on. I couldn't enjoy it at all - 2.5/10. Come on, let's have some more good entries, please...

15) LATVIA: Justs "Heartbeat"

I had quite high hopes for Latvia after their great song and performance from last year. Clearly, they've tried to go for another unique entry. Sarah and I are feeling like we did when we heard Hungary's entry, though. We really like his voice, but we don't like the song as a whole. He has the capacity to perform a more grandiose song, and I hope he returns to Eurovision in the future with something rather different. 4.5/10

16) CROATIA: Nina Kraljić "Lighthouse"

This is the first time Croatia have participated in Eurovision since 2013, and they haven't been in a Grand Final since 2009. We're pretty certain they will this time though. This is a really nice song with lovely lyrics and a great vocal. I hope she can nail that big finish, and if she can, she'll be seeing her country to a rather good position on that Grand Final leaderboard. 7.5/10

17) ICELAND: Greta Salóme "Hear Them Calling"

Last year, Iceland sent quite a generic song which I quite enjoyed. Unfortunately, Maria must have been terrified when we stepped on stage in the Semi Final and her vocals were very shaky, and didn't qualify for the final. I like this years less than Unbroken, and I'm still unsure as to why. There are elements of that instrumental that are really quite good, and it's a rather unique entry this year. I think it's the chorus that puts me off this song the most, and I'm not the biggest fan of her vocal in general. Only 4.5/10 for this one.

18) LITHUANIA: Donny Montell "I've Been Waiting For This Night"

Hello Donny, what do we have here? I wasn't quite sure what to expect at the beginning with little more than a piano and some corny lyrics, but I absolutely love the sound of the chorus. It evolves into a rather upbeat pop anthem about seizing the day. The great thing is, he performs this incredibly well having seen his National Final performance. Big, big fan of this, and I hope Europe agree with me. 8.5/10

I think we may have found my mancrush for the year...

19) IRELAND: Nicky Byrne "Sunlight"

The last time Ireland sent someone from a popular Irish band to Eurovision, they came last in the Grand Final (Ryan Dolan, 2013). I'd be surprised if this song could actually get that far. The sad thing is it isn't far off being a great pop song, but the chorus is just a bit too boring and bland. The latter part of the chorus with the vocal harmonising, Sarah and I quite enjoyed, but even that's going to be difficult to get right when singing live. 4/10 for this unfortunate letdown.

20) BULGARIA: Poli Genova "If Love Was a Crime"

Like Croatia, Bulgaria have been absent since 2013, but haven't managed to qualify for the Grand Final since 2007. They have come back with a cracking pop song by Poli Genova who performed for Bulgaria in 2012. It's really catchy and we soon had big grins on our face after the first chorus. By the end, we were singing along. We thought it was great, but is it good enough to be a winner? We shall see. 8/10

21) ISRAEL: Hovi Star "Made of Stars"

From the country that brought us a big pop song among many ballads last year, they send the latter to the 2016 contest. This one is a more calm one and doesn't really build to a large crescendo like some of the others we have already heard. He's certainly a good singer, and I do quite like the song. Not much more than that though I don't think, and I'm not convinced it will survive Semi Final 2, either. 5.5/10

22) ARMENIA: Iveta Mukuchyan "LoveWave"

I can't ever recall liking an Armenian Eurovision entry that much in all honestly. That was until I heard this. It's very different, and couldn't really compare it to anything I've heard before. But it's an absolutely stunning song with a great instrumental and violin(?) solo two minutes in. I'm excited to see how they will stage this, it's going to look and sound incredible. No doubt I'll be seeing this at the Globe Arena on May 14th! Another big 8/10 for me.

 Suddenly I'm watching a perfume advert.

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We had just passed the half way mark, and things are already sounding absolutely fantastic. The excitement was certainly building, but what did the other twenty-one entries have in store for us?

Catch the next 11 songs in Part 3 where we listened to entries from Czech Republic, Finland, Norway and little old San Marino!

What are your thoughts on these songs? Which ones do you love and hate?