Blanca Paloma gave an extraordinary vocal performance, and I loved the new violin intro. Unfortunately, however, I just can't really connect with this song. Maybe it does well with the juries but I can't see how it fares well with the public vote.
Teya and Salena were a bit shaky on the first verse which I didn't really notice when I was there. The harmonies were good and the whole thing was excellent fun. This remains one of my top 3 in the contest and I'm a bit mystified why it's dropping in the betting. They were first of the class of 2023 at London and they really kicked off the party.
Don't think there were any real hints as to the staging here.
Luke Black was... fine.. I guess. This is another song that I'm not a huge fan of. I've heard he phoned in some of his other preview parties, and he didn't do that for London. Staging was pretty good. I can see it coming top 10, even if it's not my cup of tea.
Somehow I had forgotten that Mimicat was at London. Watching it back, it seems the crowd was pretty flat. She put in a competent performance with a good vocal. It feels a bit bare without the staging though,.
Before Loreen blew the roof off with Euphoria, she gave us Tattoo. Vocally on point as you'd expect. As others have noted, without the staging the song is exposed as a pale imitation of Euphoria. I still enjoyed it, but until we know what Loreen's staging is going to be in Liverpool, I'm pretty sure the value bet for the win is Finland
(I'm doing this in the order of the wiwibloggs playlist, and only reviewing 2023 entries)
Hometown girl Mae Muller is getting more confident and growing into the song. There was some notable autotune in the chorus (stylistic I guess), and some new jazzy call-and-response in the second verse. The high note at the end does not feel comfortable, even in it's newly lower register. More practice needed.
My Sister's Crown is one of my favourite songs this year and I'm glad to see them continuing to get better. I thought they did really well here and it went down pretty well live. The anthemic chorus is awesome and it just sounds like solidarity.
Alessandra had a very shaky vocal in the first verse. Which is strange for someone with such a big operatic voice. She hit the whistle note perfectly though. This song was my early favourite and I put a bet on it months ago, but I think maybe I've played it too much. It's going to take something special in the staging to lift it back up.
Voyager were a bit of a surprise to me. They're a really good live band - the vocals are tight. At first I thought it was irredeemably cheesy and dated, but I've warmed to it, particularly the bombastic, over-the-top ending.
It's going to be a super show-closer in SF2 and has a good chance of qualifying.
Monika has been a massive grower on me. I didn't see her live performance for ages, and once I did the song made more sense to me. With the London Community Gospel Choir, this song gave me chills. Her vocal was perhaps not as perfect as I've seen it other times, but in the second half of SF2, Stay has a very good chance of qualifying.
Pasha Parfeni's mic was very low in the mix, so it was difficult to tell how good his vocal was. I know there are lots of people who like this (and I do find it stuck in my head a lot) but I'm not sure why this doesn't suffer the same fate as, the stylistically very similar, France 2022 entry.
The Busker get me tapping my feet, and their performance at London was fine, but this just feels very dated to me and I can't see it springing any surprises in Liverpool.
I loved "Tell Me More" immediately when I heard it, and since then I've rapidly gone off it. It's utterly derivative. The harmonies in London left a lot to be desired (which is a problem when you're basically a beatles-harmony-play). NQ I expect.
Wild Youth: Conor's vocal is much improved. Someone on backing was well off in the chorus though. The guys are confident and have great stage presence. I want them to be better, but the song's just not good enough.
(Conor was lovely to me when I met him in the crowd though)
Bridges is a "meh" song for me, and Alika did nothing to change my mind in London. Her vocal was very low in the mix, and heavily reliant on the backing track, but what I could hear sounded good. This feels like more of an Albania entry than an Estonia entry.