Shalom! It’s that time of year again. The first jury rehearsal has been done and dusted, and now it’s time to bite the bullet and try and deduct who’s going to be getting a flight home tomorrow.
Neither of the team saw the TV feed and are making their predictions based on rehearsal footage and word from reliable sources on the ground. Will that affect their accuracy in picking our ten qualifiers? Let’s find outโฆ
1: ๐จ๐พ Cyprus ๐จ๐พ
Kylie: Yes
There’s no reason why not, really.
John: Yes
Yeah yeah, fire. Tomata (sic) should sail through – it looks and sounds professional, and her two home countries are voting.
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2: ๐ฒ๐ช Montenegro ๐ฒ๐ช
Kylie: No
Do I NEED to explain why?
John: No
Idea for Montevizija 2020 – each member of D mol gets a solo track. The revamp of Heaven was a minor miracle, but they’ll need another major one to qualify.
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3: ๐ซ๐ฎ Finland ๐ซ๐ฎ
Kylie: No
I personally don’t mind this, but from what I saw there’s a sad case of Empty Stage Syndrome and I’ve said before that sadly this will fall into the same โfailed Eurodance megastarโ category as DJ Bobo and Cascada.
John: No
It’s the wrong trousers, Gromit…
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4: ๐ต๐ฑ Poland ๐ต๐ฑ
Kylie: No
This is looking pretty nifty from what we’ve seen. I really like the colour scheme here, and I like how they went for a nice mix of modern and traditional visuals in a way that compliments each other. But in the end, I went against my personal liking out of fear that this might be a bit too niche.
John: No
Poland will definitely stand out for being unique and powerful. Will that be a vote winner – I donโt know. Iโm sceptical at the moment. Knowing what I know from last year the diaspora isn’t always enough.
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5: ๐ธ๐ฎ Slovenia ๐ธ๐ฎ
Kylie: Yes
OK, I’m taking a HUGE gamble on this. I’ve got a horrible feeling that people won’t get this, but I try to split my predictions evenly between the halves, although this is the first half prediction I’m by far the least confident on. Keep hope alive, I guess? This was my tenth pick and Iโm still second guessing myself a lot. This semi is so difficult, argh!
John: No
Norma John and Claudia Pascoal say hi, unfortunately, so I can’t get too excited about the prospect of Slovenia qualifying right now, even though they probably should.
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6: ๐จ๐ฟ Czech Republic ๐จ๐ฟ
Kylie: Yes
Give them credit, they’ve put together another well-done package here. I can see this getting jury support.
John: Yes
I’ll actually be surprised if this doesn’t qualify. It’s got that likeability factor on stage.
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7: ๐ญ๐บ Hungary ๐ญ๐บ
Kylie: Yes
One of the most stunning LED backdrops of the year for me. Add in the authenticity hook for viewers and I think this is relatively comfortable.
John: Yes
This had better qualify. It’s so heartfelt and so real.
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8: ๐ง๐พ Belarus ๐ง๐พ
Kylie: No
I don’t see how it’s going to get the 100 or so points needed here. There was a lot of praise for her jury rehearsal but I remember Switzerland last year.
John: No
Zena gives it her all and it’s a cool little pop song. But in this ruthless semi-final, I really don’t think it’s going to be enough.
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9: ๐ท๐ธ Serbia ๐ท๐ธ
Kylie: Yes
OMFG, that sparkle tornado! She better get redemption!
John: Yes
This was one of my favourite rehearsal clips. It just looks and sounds so good and I think that even though it won’t be easy, this time around Nevena should make it to the final.
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10: ๐ง๐ช Belgium ๐ง๐ช
Kylie: Yes
Big gamble #2. In the context of this running order, there is a big risk that this could get memory-holed. To give everyone insight into my predictions logic, I had two second-half qualification spots remaining and it was between this, Georgia and Estonia. It was not easy to work out, I’ll say as much! I’m well aware that this is a SUPER risky call for me to make but I have faith that Belgium will pull it out of the bag. Remember two years ago? Feel free to laugh at me if I’m wrong, though.
John: No
Funnily enough, I’ve narrowed it down to the same three songs for my last qualifier! I feel for Eliot, I think he’s going to struggle, bless him. But I would be happy to see Belgium qualify. And I quite like the staging, it reminds me of the French entry from 1990.
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11: ๐ฌ๐ช Georgia ๐ฌ๐ช
Kylie: No
OK, I’m aware that a lot of fans and press are now raving about this. However, I fear that this could be very much like Malta last year: another entry that got lots of praise in rehearsals and was tipped to qualify but really failed to click with viewers in the end. Being in between two comparatively light songs doesn’t help.
John: Yes
There always has to be at least one bold call, and this is mine. Remember the lady in the gold dress at the Georgian final? I think the power of this performance will make more people than just her bop to it. Equally, this could also finish last. Nothing would surprise me.
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12: ๐ฆ๐บ Australia ๐ฆ๐บ
Kylie: Yes
Who’s not going to vote for the floating space fairy?
John: Yes
She looks like a beautiful fairytale princess. I’m confident that enough people will love this to get it through, whether they be jurors or televoters.
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13: ๐ฎ๐ธ Iceland ๐ฎ๐ธ
Kylie: Yes
It’s the biggest talking point in the semi, I don’t see how this doesn’t make it. In regards to the semi, I’d imagine it would get a similar voting breakdown as the Babushki did in their semi in 2012: top 2 in televote and around 4-7th with juries.
John: Yes
This will divide Europe, but it’s always the divisive songs that make it. And we all want Iceland back in the final after 4 years out, don’t we?
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14: ๐ช๐ช Estonia ๐ช๐ช
Kylie: Yes
Despite my misgivings about this (I’m still convinced the juries will do their best to snuff it), I found that I couldn’t fully count this out due to my number crunching when working out my predictions. To go back to my dilemma in my Belgium prediction earlier, I was talking with one of my good punter friends when trying to decide between the three songs and he said something along the lines of: โwhich of those three do you think the teenage girls and housewives are going to swoon over?โ. Good point.
John: No
I’m writing this before the dress rehearsal having not heard news of a single successful run-through for this song. To be fair I had made my peace with the prospect of this not qualifying some time ago, but I’m certainly not feeling too confident at the moment. If, and it’s a big if, Estonia do qualify, I think this would make a great opener for the final.
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15: ๐ต๐น Portugal ๐ต๐น
Kylie: No
This HURTS to write this. I fear that the casuals will just not get it. I want to be proved wrong here.
John: Yes
Keep the faith, hope never dies – oh wait those songs didnโt qualify… I’m scared. I’m lighting candles and chanting as we speak.
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16: ๐ฌ๐ท Greece ๐ฌ๐ท
Kylie: Yes
This is one of the few I feel very confident in calling in this crazy second half.
John: Yes
Greece have nothing to worry about this year. It’s one of the strongest songs of the night.
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17: ๐ธ๐ฒ San Marino ๐ธ๐ฒ
Kylie: No
Sigh… I’d LOVE to be proved wrong but sadly I think #Serhat4Saturday is a long shot in my opinion.
John: Yes
I still have faith, I still believe in chasing rainbows…
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So there you have it! The team agree on seven qualifiers: Cyprus, Czech Republic, Hungary, Serbia, Australia, Iceland and Greece. Kylie picked Slovenia, Belgium and Estonia for her final three spots while John picked Georgia, Portugal and San Marino instead.
Who will get the most right? Will both of them be hilariously wrong? We’ll find out later tonight, enjoy the show!
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