By now, you’ve all had a chance to look through my Eurovision 2011 preview and my best of the rest too. As I write this, we are eight days away from the first semi-final. So, I think it’s about time we revisited the top ten table and played around with the order a little. After all, the sun is shining and the vitamin A does funny things to us, doesn’t it? I’m sure it changes our musical tastes all the more the further north we go. So, we have not one, not two, not three, but four new entries, a new number one and a minor Eastern European invasion! Although Northern Europe still has a firm – in fact, increasing – grip on the table!
Before you look at the table, you’ll be disappointed if you are Italian. Italy have fallen from fourth to unranked, Belgium from fifth, Turkey from seventh and the Former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia from ninth – and not just because it’s a pain to fit in the table. The truth is, outside of the top five or six, there’s a group of about a dozen songs fighting the the last few positions. My opinion really depends which side of bed I get out of in the morning. Today, I got out of bed from the left-hand side. Yesterday, I got out of bed from the left-hand side. On Sunday, I got out of bed on the left-hand side…
What do you mean that makes no sense? Anyway, enough of that, it’s the top ten table (to be revise again next week, I’m quite sure of that!):
| Rank | Country | Artist | Song | Old Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | United Kingdom | Blue | I Can | 2 |
| 2 | Sweden | Eric Saade | Popular | 8 |
| 3 | Norway | Stella Mwangi | Haba Haba | 6 |
| 4 | Estonia | Getter Jaani | Rockefeller Street | NEW! |
| 5 | Germany | Lena | Taken By A Stranger | 1 |
| 6 | Latvia | Musiqq | Angel In Disguise | NEW! |
| 7 | France | Amaury | Sognu | 3 |
| 8 | Hungary | Kati Wolf | What About My Dreams? | 10 |
| 9 | Finland | Paradise Oskar | Da Da Dum | NEW! |
| 10 | Israel | Dana International | Ding Dong | NEW! |
I can tell you, it’s been torture trying to sort the table into some sort of order… I will wake up tomorrow and re-order the table again, I’m sure. Next week, full rankings for each semi-final, and after that, likely the final too!
So, why the changes? Well, I’ve avoided putting the United Kingdom at the top to avoid the inevitable claims of bias, but the fact is, it’s a catchy tune. Takes getting used to, but it’s catchy, and Blue can perform it well live. The same goes for Eric Saade – Popular isn’t the best song lyrically, but it’s catchy and the performance will be spectacular. It has a little extra something. I want to put Stella ahead of Eric, but I just can’t… and Getter Jaani, well I just can’t quite make up my mind how much I like Rockefeller Street. It’s a hard one. Lena’s fallen from the top, but the top five are all clearly ahead of the rest in my eyes.
Out of the next five, there’s a new entry from Lativa. Again, I can’t quite decide how much I like Angel In Disquise, but I think I do like it. The French entry – in Corsican – is wonderful, and the two at the bottom – Finland and Israel – are almost wildcards. I do like them, but they could drop out next week too. Kati Wolf’s What About My Dreams? is a nice song, but from what I’ve seen and heard, it may disappoint in the Arena. We shall see…