Eurovision 2022 ‘The Sound Of Beauty’
The time is nearly upon us again for the annual Eurovision Song Contest, and as you may have guessed, this year’s slogan is ‘The Sound of Beauty’. The contest will be held on the 14th of May (save the date!), and as usual, there are a range of music genres being presented as offerings to the public. This year’s entries are a pretty diverse selection (in style, language, and the artists and their backgrounds).Some of the stand-out acts for me are Estonia, France, Georgia, Latvia, Norway (possibly one of my favourite songs ever, not just in Eurovision) and of course, Ukraine.
Below you can see what songs are performing this year, and how I feel about them. Of course, all of these songs will depend on a live performance, and in previous years there have been some very good songs that simply didn’t make it to the finals, or didn’t do as well during the finals (because of out of tune singing, staging that wasn’t interesting enough to stand out, or because the audience simply wasn’t feeling it…).
I am, of course, very excited and want to share my opinions (and some facts) with you! Note: if you want to watch the contest without bias or spoilers about the songs then I suggest you stop reading now…
Albania - Sekret (Ronela Hajati) This one starts with some birds screeching, which is interesting. This Albanian song won the national contest and is one of the songs with a more unique sound (though they didn’t avoid a Europop-style chorus…)
Armenia - Snap (Rosa Linn) Armenia’s song is very easy to listen to and even if the lyrics are a little sad, it’s actually quite a nice song and I really like it. I imagine it working well as background music to a scene with some kind of an emotional revelation in a rom-com.
Australia - Not the Same (Sheldon Riley) Australia (what are they even doing here?) have a very emotional Lewis Capaldi style ballad. Not bad, but too sad for my Eurovision tastes, though it could do very well, especially if the staging is interesting.
Austria - Halo (LUM!X & Pia Maria) Halo is just… Very Eurovision. I can see this being a favourite in Kiki’s once the contest is over, it’s definitely fun.
Azerbaijan - Fade to Black (Nadir Rustamli) A quite dramatic entry, and I think this could do well if they have some exciting staging or lighting effects. This is one that could depend heavily on the performance itself.
Belgium - Miss you (Jérémie Makiese) I get ‘James Bond Intro Song’ vibes from this song, and I can’t work out if that’s a good thing or not…
Bulgaria - Intention (Intelligent Music Project) Overall this is not a bad song, but I can’t be the only one that thinks the lyrics about being sent to war are a bit awkward in wake of the current situation in Ukraine. The song was chosen in December though, so it’s purely coincidental.
Croatia - Guilty Pleasure (Mia Dimšić) Now, I quite like this song, but I’m not sure how well it’ll do, there are a lot of very fun entries this year for it to compete with. It also seems to be about a woman wanting to cheat on her husband and I just don’t know if that’s a great idea for an entry.
Cyprus - Ela (Andromache) This one is interesting, but not as memorable as some of the others. It was composed by musicians from a diverse range of backgrounds.
Czech Republic - Lights Off (We Are Domi) I like this one, it’s easy to sing along to but the lyrics are a bit weird, and there are some parts where they clearly just needed a word to rhyme.
Denmark - The Show (Reddi) Another song that I can imagine being in a film, maybe a coming-of-age one? It starts off slow, but gets more interesting later on.
Estonia - Hope (Stefan) This song is one of my favourites, it gives me American ‘Outlaw Country’ vibes in the verses and a more Europop chorus.
Finland - Jezebel (The Rasmus) Not as exciting as some of the entries Finland has put forward in the past, but I think it still has a typical Finnish character.
France - Fulenn (Alvan & Ahez) I really love this song (my French housemates really do not), it’s not actually in French, but in Breton (France seems to like doing this, they put forward a song in Corsican in 2011).
Georgia - Lock me In (Circus Mircus) Circus Mircus were one of the first confirmed acts, it’s not a bad song for circus academy dropouts who claim to ignore the usual frameworks of ‘music’. I just have my fingers crossed for some crazy staging.
Germany - Rockstars (Malik Harris) Reminiscent of Lukas Graham and actually quite catchy, I could see this song doing well in the charts, maybe not so much at Eurovision, but who knows?
Greece - Die Together (Amanda Tenfjord) Unsurprisingly this song is quite depressing, it’s pretty, but depressing.
Iceland - Með hækkandi sól (Systur) This song has quite a peaceful, folkish feeling, and it would totally work on a road trip playlist, especially through nature.
Ireland - That’s Rich (Brooke Scullion) I was surprised to learn this was the Irish entry, it’s much more Europop than Ireland’s usual entries.
Israel - I.M (Michael Ben David) Israel’s entry is actually catchy as heck. I imagine the staging will involve a lot of strutting.
Italy - Brividi (Mahmood & Blanco) After last year’s winning song, Italy is back to its usual style with this one. It is nice, easy listening.
Latvia - Eat Your Salad (Citi Zēni) With an opening line of ‘Instead of meat I eat veggies and pussy’, this song is one of the more bizarre entries. It’s all about environmentalism, it’s catchy, has a great message and is weird enough to be memorable.
Lithuania - Sentimentai (Monika Liu) There aren’t any other songs like this this year, it]s probably a little too ‘cool’ (read: jazzy and smooth) for Eurovision. I foresee lots of sexy dancers wearing tight leather catsuits or something similar…
Malta - I Am What I Am (Emma Muscat) Yet another song that could work in a coming of age film. It’s wholesome and positive, and has potential. Actually, this is more what I expected from Ireland.
Moldova - Trenuleţul (Zdob şi Zdub & Fraţii Advahov) Zdob şi Zdub’s third time at Eurovision, it’s a fun and typically weird song. They’ve done well in the past (finishing 6th and 12th) so perhaps they can repeat past successes. This song is definitely interesting.
Montenegro - Breathe (Vladana) Like Greece, this song is depressing. Overall, it’s definitely not bad, and the staging could make or break it.
Netherlands - De Diepte (S10) I didn’t think I’d like this song, but the more I listen to it the more I enjoy it. It could do surprisingly well, but it has stiff competition.
North Macedonia - Circles (Andrea) With a title like ‘Circles’ the staging has potential to be quite cool, the song itself is not bad, but it’s definitely not as memorable as some of the others this year.
Norway - Give That Wolf a Banana (Subwoolfer) This is a Bop and if you say otherwise you are wrong. I love this, it is truly bonkers and weirdly catchy. 10/10.
Poland - River (Krystian Ochman) This song surprised me, I like it more than I expected to. Poland hasn’t qualified for the finals since 2017 (and then they came 22nd) so maybe this year will change that.
Portugal - Saudade, saudade (Maro) Portugal keeps submitting very romantic songs, this one is one of those. It’s peaceful, and easy to listen to, but perhaps a little slow for this contest, especially given some of the other acts…
Romania - Llámame (WRS) This one is fun because it’s being sung in Spanish, as a native English speaker I think it’s always fun when the songs aren’t in English, and this is a fun (somewhat surprising) choice.
San Marino - Stripper (Achille Lauro) Achille Lauro’s fashion sense was made for this competition, and I’m excited to see the outfit chosen for this song. This song sounds a little like it’s trying to be Måneskin, but it’s catchy for sure, and I like the random English words that pop up even if the rhymes are a bit repetitive.
Serbia - In Corpore Sano (Konstrakta) This song is actually very catchy, but just enjoy it without attempting to understand the lyrics. They talk about Meghan Markle and the importance of having a healthy body, ‘an enlarged spleen is not good’... you don’t say?
Slovenia - Disko (LPS) LPS (which apparently stands for ‘Last Pizza Slice’) is a very young band and their song is fun and jazzy and I hope it does well, but I think it might be too simple to make it to the final - it’s definitely not bad, but with Eurovision, I have the impression that ‘less is more’ doesn’t work.
Spain - SloMo (Chanel) Sung in both Spanish and English, this song is catchy and gives me summer, late-night party vibes, but is not really unique enough to be in my top picks this year.
Sweden - Hold Me Closer (Cornelia Jakobs) This one isn’t bad, but it’s another rom-com style song and might be hard to distinguish from the crowd during the semi-finals.
Switzerland - Boys Do Cry (Marius Bear) This song has the potential to do quite well, and yes, it absolutely could be in a rom-com, but I think it wouldn’t feel out of place in an emotional scene in a Pixar film (or for any British readers, perhaps a John Lewis advert).
Ukraine - Stefania (Kalush Orchestra) The winner of the Ukrainian contest wasn’t allowed to perform by the Ukrainian government, and this is the replacement act. I quite like it, and I think Ukraine will end up doing quite well.
United Kingdom - Space Man (Sam Ryder) I may be biased on this one since I’m British but it honestly isn’t bad! Sadly (or justifiably?) the UK never does well, but this is a TikTok singer, so maybe he’ll attract a younger audience regardless.