The jurors have no say in the semi-finals, only the viewers’ votes can advance to Saturday’s final. The first one, on Tuesday, featured 15 countries competing for viewers’ votes. This year, the organizers decided to introduce something new – we saw three more performers than usual.
Changes in Eurovision, longer semi-final
Why? They came to the conclusion that countries that traditionally do not have to fight in the semi-finals and are automatically guaranteed places in the final clash are disadvantaged. The so-called The Big Five, which include: Germany, Great Britain, Spain, Italy and France, have appeared to viewers only once over the years. Therefore, during the finals, their artists could have been less recognizable than those who had already appeared on Tuesday or Thursday.
During Tuesday’s semi-final, Olly Alexander (“Dizzy”, Great Britain), Isaak (“Always on the Run”, Germany) and representatives of Sweden – last year’s winner and thus the host with a guaranteed place – sang without the opportunity to vote. In finale. The latter are represented this year by Marcus & Martinus with the song “Unforgettable”. On Thursday, Slimane (“Mon amour”, France), Nebulossa (“Zorra”, Spain) and Angelina Mango (“La noia”, Italy) will perform under the same rules.
Another interesting fact is that Luxembourg took part in Eurovision after many years of break. Representatives of this country won the competition final five times: in 1961, 1965, 1972, 1973 and 1983. In 1994, she was excluded from participation due to the poor result achieved the previous year and for the next three decades she was “offended” at the organizers. Now she has closed the field of the first semi-final.
The Polish representative was the sixth among the semi-finalists. Luna sang “The Tower” accompanied by dancers dressed as chess pieces. These are Julia Żytko (finalist of “You Can Dance – Po Prostu Tańcz”), Angus Simpson and Jordan Garcia.
Looking at the bookmakers’ quotations, just before the results of the first semi-final were announced, Poland was not among the favorites. The “certainties” were supposed to be: Croatia, Ukraine, Lithuania, Finland, Slovenia and Cyprus. However, everything was in the hands of the viewers until the line closed. Of course, according to the Eurovision rules, you cannot vote for artists from your own country, unless you are outside its borders. Everyone has 20 votes at their disposal.
Starting list of the first Eurovision semi-final – who will be in the final?
Who will perform on Saturday and fight for the win of hosting next year’s Eurovision Song Contest? The countries, artists and their songs bolded below are the finalists. Luna is not among them.
- Cyprus: Silia Kapsis – “Liar”
- Serbia: Teya Dora – “Ramonda”
- Lithuania: Silvester Belt – “Luktelk”
- Ireland: Bambie Thug – “Doomsday Blue”
- Ukraine: Alyona Alyona and Jerry Heil – “Teresa & Maria”
- Poland: Luna – “The Tower”
- Croatia: Baby Lasagna – “Rim Tim Tags Dim”
- Iceland: Hera Björk – “Scared of Heights”
- Slovenia: Raiven – “Veronika”
- Finland: Windows95man – “No Rules!”
- Moldova: Natalia Barbu – “In the Middle”
- Azerbaijan: Fahree feat. lkin Dövltov – “Özünl Apar”
- Australia: Electric Fields – “One Milkali (One Blood)”
- Portugal: Iolanda – “Grito”
- Luxembourg: Tali – “Fighter”
The following teams will compete in the second semi-final: Malta, Albania, Greece, Switzerland, Czech Republic, France, Austria, Denmark, Armenia, Latvia, Spain, San Marino, Georgia, Belgium, Estonia, Italy, Israel, Norway and the Netherlands. The broadcast begins on TVP1 at 9 p.m., you will also be able to follow the live coverage onkultura.gazeta.pl.
Source: Gazeta
Bruce is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment . He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the industry.
