Diodato unofficially won the semifinal for me. That was perfect. Unlike some of semi- final contestants. I am a bit sad because of Slovenia but also glad that most of my favourite entries moved forward. Oh, and Latvia's NQ (even though not my favourites) was unexpected.
I was not surprised for Albania. I thought the performance was a hot mess and they chose a weird clip for the recap. I am also not shocked that Moldova went through. The energy of the arena was the highest during their performance. My biggest shocker was Switzerland going through (100% juries are the reason) I am so happy for Lithuania and Portugal. I am sad for Slovenia, but I was emotionally prepared for it.
I always believed Switzerland would go through because most of the people that post their top 40 countdowns that were putting Switzerland near the bottom, are probably young people that look more for instant gratification in the form of beats and hooks. They aren’t accustomed to slower forms of entertainment. But my parents are in their 70s and loved Switzerland’s song and could see the quality in it. It actually gives me goosebumps and is the only song in Eurovision this year that does so it’s definitely not a bad song if it’s capable of doing that. I always was convinced the online Eurovision community weee underrating it. I wasn’t shocked about Moldova but I didn’t have it down as a qualifier because it just seemed novelty to me. But there are always a few surprises in qualifiers and this semi final was a very hard one to read.
Agree. Albanias girl song was messy and choreo not catchy at all.. I was surprised that I liked Switzerland because I normally doesn't like songs like that but his singing was so good
You read my thoughts! Slovenia and Latvia are in my top 3 both and Albania was a big fan favourite. I'm SHOOK Switzerland of all countries got through! Can't wait to see the official results after the final to see who gave points to whom and how many!
I am completely in shock for Latvia, as well as Albania. But I am happy for Iceland and Ukraine! Greetings and watching here from the Philippines! (And it's morning when I watched it!)
@@Molhedim poor? Not as good as we wanted, but definitely not poor. She was dancing, not hugging a fcking micro. Obviously you would sing better staying quiet as a statue, but who wants to watch something like that? Only juries.
@@LucaGarzeli spain had good vocals and she dances way more in the national selections. This is not an excuse for Albania, the same happened to Romania last year, moved all the time and couldn't carry the vocals. If you cannot dance and move at the same time, don't do it, not my problem as a viewer, hence why Albania was among the last places for me in first semifinal.
Portugal, Lithuania, Ukraine, Iceland and Switzerland had flawless performances and I am so happy to see them in the finals. Albania was unfortunately a disappointment as I love the song. Her staging, screaming, shouting just didn’t go well.
Good score. Moldova was pretty much the entry that got me the most hype this evening. Loved Ukraine, Greece and Norway as well, but those 4 was the best of the night in my mind.
My qualifiers were Greece, Ukraine, Austria, Albania, Armenia, Portugal, Netherlands, Iceland, Slovenia and Lithuania - so happy for Iceland and Portugal! Our immediate reactions to Moldova and Switzerland were exactly the same 😂 also the clips they chose for Albania and Austria were not good, very annoying!
I am so very happy about Switzerland. I loved the song from the very first moment, his voice, the song, the performance. Cross my fingers for Marius in the final again. Good luck Switzerland !
MOLDOVA was THE party and will get a huge televote on Saturday (2nd half amongst a sea of slow songs when loads of people watching are tipsy! ha! ). Albania tbh I thought was a bit of a mess and there's not much 'song' in that entry. I know she's super passionate and popular in the fandom but in this instance as someone who hadn't heard the revamp or seen the staging I wasn't surprised by this not qualifying. Have fun on Thursday....might be bigger shocks to come!
I did my predictions before I saw the performances tonight and I had Albania as going through, but I did not have Iceland. Others I guessed correctly. However, I was disappointed with Ronela's performance tongiht, so I was not shocked that she missed out tonight. I feel bad for Slovenia. I love that song and I love how cool and chill the guys are.
@@ef3309 I am sure she did. I just thought her vocal was shaky, some camera movements were messy and all in all it was not as amazing as I hoped it would be. I would not mind if she qualified, not at all, but I just understood why she did not.
I'm so sorry for Austria and especially for Albania 💔 I would vote for them but I couldn't since my country (Serbia) was not in this half of the semifinal. The only logical explanation that I have is that the juries have voted for slower songs (Switzerland, Iceland, Lithuania) and totally ignored those two. Great, now I'm nervous about second semifinal... But still, congrats to those who have passed and greetings to you Rachel, thank you for updating, and can't wait for your further thoughts.
The song from Austria was shitty. I told them even after the song comes out that they will not go to the finals with it. It was not a Lum!x song. It was a generic discosong.
I don´t think they ignored Austria. Austria just was a bad performance vocal wise and the juries tend to prefer great singers with a solid vocal performance (like Iceland, Lithuania or Switzerland)
@@astroandyborgloh Same as each country in ESC xDDDD come on, the only country that brings THE BEST year after year is Italy, so your argument is not only involving Austria, is for all the countries.
@@jamie_michelson Juries are bored as hell. ESC wants to have the control of the contest. Juries votes never could be 50%, maximum 30% of the total. There are amazing singers that would reach the final, Sam Rider, Sheldon Riley, Cornelia, Ochman, Rosa Linn, Amanda, Nadir Rustamly (I hope), please, put some spicy, some up tempo songs to bring some diversity here.
My favourite songs were: Ukraine, Portugal, Greece, Netherlands and Armenia. Moldova did a great job, most of people put them in the bottom of their lists but their video is amazing, positive and well directing, staging too. Respect for one of the poorest countries in Europe. Congratulations, Moldova/Moldavija from Montenegro. P.S. I don'l like Bakan folk music. :D
honestly what put me off about them wasn't the video that was good but the live performance in the national final that was really flat. Tonight they fixed that and were great, well earned qualification
To be entirely honest, I was amazed by the number of pitchy performances. Either there was something wrong with the sound system and the singers didn't get a correct audio or the contestants were not as good as they appeared to be in the official videos. I won't go into further detail if not by saying that some of these pitchy performers qualified for the final. In any case I am glad that Lithuania, my favourite in this group, qualified. Monika Liu was amazing.
My predictions were Switzerland, Ukraine, Armenia, Iceland, Greece, Slovenia, Portugal, Latvia, Albania and the Netherlands. I'm still shocked for the qualification of Moldova, but also for the "porca vacca" that Laura Pausini said when she recognized that she wasn't able to pronounce "6th" 😂 as an Italian I can relate to her
I wish to share my prediction, which was based solely on tonight's performance only. Latvia, Ukraine, Netherlands, Moldova, Portugal, Denmark, Iceland, Greece, Norway, Armenia = 8/10 I am sad that Latvia missed it. I met them and see them performed in person at the London Hard Rock Hotel during the London Eurovision Party and I thought they are such a good sport each time. The reason I can think of on why they missed out is the performance is a bit messy and not sleek with some weird movement. Moldova. I wrote "Wow" in my note after their performance. I thought they truly deserved it and such a standout in a sea of slow songs of female vocalists. Denmark. I am a little upset that they missed out. I thought they stood out too due to their uptempo number and rather natural performance. Iceland. They had a moment during their performance before that beautiful golden staging. I put them as qualifier without a second thought. Truly deserving. Switzerland. I am not expecting that. He is so lucky to be drawn into this semi (a sea of slow songs of female vocalists). Albania. Not my cup of tea. Austria. I thought they sound off pitch throughout the entire song. The melody is great tho. Semi final 2 will definitely have more surprises in store. All the good male vocalists will battle it out and some will definitely missed the Final.
Im SUPER HAPPY for Switzerland it was my runner up of the night, I left the neighborhood deaf from the shout I made, I expected Austria and Albania to pass at least but it is understandable and I am also super happy
Your reaction to Switzerland being announced first was PRICELESS. But honestly, same. He was 17th for me based on tonight. Albania was my 10th place and when I heard Switzerland and Iceland qualify, I thought she was going to be instantly out. Netherlands announced was great TV! Iceland surprised me because the lead singer of Systur sounded shaky and weak but I loved the song and wanted it to go to finals. The other one I thought qualifying was Latvia because of the excellent staging. Tomorrow is going to be a BLOOD BATH.
My favourite performance was Moldova. The song was catchy. There was too many ballads. Greece was really good but I don’t get the hype. I m not surprised that Albania didn’t qualify. It made me smile but it was too sexual, too all over the place. Austria gave me a headache.
"Austria gave me a headache." 🤣🤣🤣 I though the same about Albania. It was a bit too risque and the outfit and hair was a bust. Imagine if she wore her red carpet look and the dancers did all the sexy stuff. It would have been great!
@Ξεχαρβαλωμενη Μητρα Σσδδ I see I offended a Greek. 😂 . I think she will be at the top but it’s not my taste. I preferred Moldova. It was warm and upbeat. The performance was joyful and it was showcasing their culture. You are entitled to like an English song about committing suicide with your loved one like I’m entitled to prefer a joyful song about traveling on a train.
The staging really helped some of the songs that wasn't on my radar (Armenia especially! Moldova even!), too bad about Albania, I love the song but I think they tried too many things on the stage. A great show overall!
Seven out of 10 that qualified are slow song so I think the staging is very important and also the emotion coming out of the artists is very important. The remaining 2, Norway and Moldova, are extremely fun and "popping out". And of course, Ukraine was shining extremely. I'm very disappointed that Slovenia didn't get through, but with this staging and camera works, I'm not surprised. Moldova was the most entertaining of the night for me. With this beats, their energy and great camera angles, it's superb. Armenia, Norway and Lithuania also had good staging. And of course, I love Ukraine very much.
what about the emotional song from S10? I agree on Greece, Portugal, Lithuania and Croatia. I got 7 out of 10 right! Switzerland, Iceland and Lithuania was my one of my fave but I got my 10 places already and thought people might not like it but glad they did.
@@dvdb59 The Netherlands has a very beautiful song, but the singer was nervous and I did not connect with her. But other people connected with her for that reason.
Hi Rachel! It would be such a big fan to watch once the contest with you. I luv the way you get excited about it, and this happens to me too. I was shocked to see Island qualifying, and I went nuts with Switzerland qualifying, I really like this entry. All the other results were pretty predictable.
I did ESC quite differenlty this year. I abstained from watching any opinions online and only listened to the songs this past Sunday. I formed a very loose ranking based on first impressions. I had very little emotional attachment to any entry watching the 1st Semi Final and these were the countries I was rooting for after watching the performances: Lithuania, Ukraine, Netherlands, Moldova, Croatia, Iceland, Norway and Armenia. As you can see, I got 7/8 songs of choice going to the Grand Final. Weirdly, the song that ranks high for me, personally, is Croatia - but I notice it doesn't seem to get much love from anyone else. Is it just too sugary pop? I thought Mia's vocal was on point and was much better than some of the entries that qualified. Overall, satisfied with the results!
Ronela ruined it with the new staging and her outfit... should have kept it in a more traditional way as she did in the national selection, that was AMAZING! This did not fit to the song at all... Also her vocals weren't the strongest - as we know from the national selection and the pre-parties, she can do much better.
First out first wrong grate strart! lol i love your electronic pannels for resoult.... and finnaly yesssss, Laura said porca vacca!!!! grate job as usual!
I noticed a lot of the relaxing, more downbeat songs went through this year. It’s made me rethink my own predictions for semi2. I think this year is going to be the most ballad heavy contest in years. It could be one of the best too. A lot of strong songs this year and I’m gutted for those that didn’t make it.
I dont think it has anything to do with the songs being ballads. The downbeat songs in semi 1 had the most real and authentic performances/songs. Plus they were vocally on point unlike Austria and Albania for example. I think the public and jury is starting to put music and good vocals first, no matter if it’s upbeat or downbeat.
I am pretty happy with the qualifiers! My personal favorite moment of this evening: My mother and I watching the Slovenian performance, both thinking and saying: "They won't make it through". But after seeing the first recap, she was like: "This is actually a pretty good song!". And after the second recap, she said: "This is a great song!". So now I am not the only fan of them in my family, although they sadly didn't make it to the finals.
I love that you followed your dad's predictions too! 💕 I knew I'd find solace about Albania from you too, Rachel! {{Hugs}} THe change in staging is what killed her I'm sure. Still sad. 😢😢
Band from Moldova qualified due to charismatic performance and catchy moves). Nice that they went through. Chances for Switzerland and Iceland didn't seem to be evident, but they presented very interesting songs. They deserve to be in the Final! Latvia was good, too, shame that didn't qualify(.
Great video. We had the same preidtcion of course. Thrilled for Iceland, not too shocked at Switzerland to be honest with what may have been a very good jury mark... Albania out indeed, but I have to say... well, I'll leave it for my next video.
I think that there are some live performances that have put the artists in a better light that predictions. Like Moldova and Iceland (very good restyle of the song, I think). Greece almost perfect, at the start I was wondering if the absence of backing vocals would be damaging but no, very good performance. Not so good Netherlands, maybe she really must have had backing vocals? I was rooting for Croatia, she put even croatian in her song AFTER the national final, but doesn't made it. And, final thought, Diodato was simply perfect tonight.
For me...the only shock was Albania....but I struggle to see who to take out....Switzerland missed his high note....but the staging was awesome. Iceland...maybe. Moldova was just too much fun.
I feel that Albania and Latvia both being more sexualised in their performance/lyrics worked against them, especially being the first two acts of the show. Just seemed a bit inappropriate so early on and I think that reflected in the vote. I also felt Albania's vocals were a little shouty at times which is unfortunate.
Latvia was promising but the singers weren't strong enough. Austria was just plain bad. I loved Switzerland.... so not surprised It did go through.... such good quality.... also loved Greece, Portugal.... and of course Ukraine and The Netherlands....
C.mon you did great 7 out of 10! If the 2020 Eurovision song contest wasn't cancelled cos of the pandemic I think Diodato from Italy could have won.Great song!
7/10 right too, which was the ballpark of what I was expecting. This one was NOT easy. -As the night progressed I didn't see Switzerland going through, and then they went through FIRST!! Good for them, though. It's important to have that message in the final, and I'm actually kinda pleased in a self-deprecating/ironic way that the yearly tradition of me getting the first announced finalist of all 20 wrong is continuing :D -YEAH ICELAND!! I just KNEW they could have and probably were going to sneak in! -I knew that getting Lithuania and Moldova NQing wrong was highly probable, and tbh I love both of them (both in my overall top 10), so I'm glad I was proven wrong for both of them there. I have to say, both of Albania AND Austria going out is a shock, I thought maybe one of them would NQ (Albania didn't impress me at all, I'm afraid), but there you have it. And Latvia was almost a certain qualifier for me after watching the live performance, but again, I must've missed the memo. -Last but not least: RIP Slovenia :( Those guys were so cool, I hope they're not discouraged. We're off to a decent start Rach, but I'm kinda worried about predicting Thursday now 🤣
@@MariaCristina-th I know, but I think that it's still funny that Switzerland, who I and many other fans thought wasn't going to qualify was actually the first to be announced (regardless of their final position). Was quite the surprising start to the qualifiers!
RIP Slovenia 🇸🇮 What a shame!!! Now the final won’t have any interesting chords since no Slovenia or Latvia. I’ve got to be more careful with my SF2 predictions now
Hey Rachel, loved this type of video from you! Reacting to the live results is so fun to see. I honestly wanted to break my mug when Switzerland went through instead of Latvia. But for the rest I can totally agree, especially Moldova performed way above expectation and was tons of fun!
I got 7 out of 10 (Switzerland, Iceland and Moldova were the outliers in favor of Albania, Latvia and Denmark), but unlike you, I never saw a path for Austria when they sent an inexperienced young singer who needed heavy backing vocal support to not sound bad. I am lowkey mad at myself for removing Moldova as qualifier in my prediction at the last minute. I did the same mistake with Natalia last year. I could have had 8 out 10...
I did expect Switzerland qualifying (because of the juries) and since it's one of my favourites my instant reaction was shouting "YAY" 🥰 Iceland was a pleasant surprise. Sad for Slovenia (but expected it) Austria's and Albania's performances were a bit of a letdown for me. I get why they didn't make it
Well, I've just watched the first semi-final (at 1pm on Wednesday afternoon, because I had to go to bed at 8.30pm last night for work today, so couldn't stay up). I said yesterday that I'd wait until I'd seen all the performances before making my predictions on who I thought would qualify, and it's just as well I did. Anyway, here's who I finally (no pun intended) went for while the voting was taking place: Albania - I struggled with this, as her vocals were average, and she appeared out of breath by halfway. I still thought she might squeeze through, but it wasn't a great performance, sadly Lithuania - I think this was always going to make it, given her charisma and the sparkly staging Ukraine - you'd have to be a fool not to have had money on these going through Netherlands - I bet s10 needed new trousers after that cliff-hanger, but she sang it well, and probably finished higher than tenth in the overall voting Moldova - yes, the performance was very good, and you could hear the crowd getting behind them. From that moment on, I was confident they would make it, so I took a punt Portugal - another dead cert for the final Iceland - I would probably have chosen Austria over it before Austria performed. But then Austria performed, and I didn't even need to see this next to know it would go through ... Greece - the rehearsal clip we saw had slightly flat vocals, and I worried for her. And then I finally saw the whole performance, and I smiled. My second-favourite this year (behind Serbia). Also, you got the close-up shots you were hoping for in this one 🙂 Norway - who wasn't going to put this through? Armenia - I was torn between this and Albania, but had to wait until the end for it. Easily the better performance of the two, but I still went for Albania to qualify too, because WHO THE HELL WAS GOING TO VOTE FOR SWITZERLAND? That was a jury decision if ever I saw one. As for the rest: Austria - dreadful. The backing vocal was once again completely drowning out her voice, and when she did sing on her own, it was bad. It didn't deserve to go through. Denmark - I thought this might go through before the show (geddit?!), but Moldova and Lithuania brought it on the night, so someone had to go in the bin ... Latvia - Loving the crowd clearly shouting "pussy", and fair play to them. I'd love to know where this ended up in the overall vote. It can't have missed by much, can it? Bulgaria, Croatia, Slovenia - as predicted, probably nowhere close to getting through, despite my love for LPS Switzerland - can I swear in the comments? So in the end I got nine out of ten. God only knows what's going to happen tomorrow night in the semi-final of death ...
I did not pick switzerland but my friend pick as her favourite I play few times and it's beautiful song to listen to .my favourite song was last one snap but I up for sweden 🇸🇪 I am irish
Some thoughts from a slightly dissapointed dane: - Not at all surprised about Albania not going through tbh. - Was crossing my fingrs for my 2nd place this year, Slovenia, but I did see it comin during the show - they didn't have much of an impact, and close to no response from the audience in the arena. - Surprised and excited about the energy in the arena during Moldovas performance (top 3 in the televote?), and during my country, Denmarks, performance (I was thinking we could have gone through based on the reception). - I am curious about how Amanda did with the juries. Did she perform better during the jury show? Because she had a lot of (albeit minor) pitch issues in my ears, and if that was the case during the jury show, I don't see her a the jury winner (of this SF), we predicted. - I feel really sad and upset for Latvia. If they can't make it to the final with this, what hope do they have (I guess the juries disliked the lyrics and the style in general, even though they should apreciate it musically). - Surprisingly quiet audience during Norways performance. Are we overestimating this? Or is it just not for an Italian audience? - Fai Rumore was BY FAR the best song and performance of the night. I wanted to vote for it. - A technical thing: Was it me or did the songs begin almost before the graphics on the screen had dissappeared? I noticed how Greece, Denmark and Netherlands almost weren't ready for the first note of their song (or was it a sound engineering/mic-issue).
Wow, we had similar predictions. I also thought that Albania and Austria would qualify and Iceland and Moldova wouldn't, but I knew that Switzerland would qualify and Latvia wouldn't.
Biggest shocker to qualify: Switzerland (Jury did this. Televote will destroy this song's chances of winning without a doubt.) Biggest robbery: Denmark (To me a story within the song was there and I loved the energy and activity of the band and the song. My second favorite of the night with Ukraine taking first.) Last Place: Albania ( I was so excited for this song, so to see the song be an absolute dumpster fire of both vocals, staging, and performance was a gigantic disappointment for me, probably my biggest one since I watched ESC and JESC with Green Forces taking 2nd for biggest disappointment.) Guilty Pleasure: Denmark (Look at biggest robbery.)
Albania lost their qualifying chance the moment we saw that staging for the first time. There's just this insane almost clash between the song and the staging they went with, that even the casual viewer will feel it and think something's wrong there. Plus Ronela's vocals weren't the strongest today. Equally sad about Latvia and Slovenia though, if I had to take out two qualifiers for them it'd be Switzerland and Moldova.
Well, I'm not surprised about Moldova. Nice song, great performance, great vibe and... We can't just ignore the power of the televote. In fact, there's an huge community of proud Moldovan immigrants all around Europe. This has already happened with other countries in the past, and with not so strong entries. Anyway I'm happy for Moldova. I think it was deserved. (BTW Let's hope Moldova will not became the next victim of Russian imperialism).
unfortunately, I think we will become victims of the russian aggression, with all these news regarding our problematic separatist breakaway region (transnistria), its impossible for us not to be scared. I must admit that ever since ukraine was invaded I've become more and more depressed, so seeing my country qualifying brought a smile on my face, so my 'thank you' goes to the people who voted for us, I appreciate that. ❤
@@nikki7065 I voted on you and I´ll do it again for sure at the final! And I strongly hope that we are both wrong about this fear, about the safety of your country (in fact, the safety of the whole Europe). Let's be positive for a while, and believe there´s more than fools around us. Warm hug from Portugal!
My life is meaningless without latvia😢 at least there are norway and moldova for a bit of fun in the finale. I didn't expect switzerland and iceland at all, i'm quite shocked.
Diodato unofficially won the semifinal for me. That was perfect. Unlike some of semi- final contestants. I am a bit sad because of Slovenia but also glad that most of my favourite entries moved forward. Oh, and Latvia's NQ (even though not my favourites) was unexpected.
He was just incredible
Omg yes!
Makes me wish there was no limit of how many people could be on stage. The performance was amazing even though I'm not a fan of the song itself
Far , the best singer diodato ,
Anna SIMPLY STUNNING PERFORMANCE!!
I was not surprised for Albania. I thought the performance was a hot mess and they chose a weird clip for the recap.
I am also not shocked that Moldova went through. The energy of the arena was the highest during their performance.
My biggest shocker was Switzerland going through (100% juries are the reason)
I am so happy for Lithuania and Portugal.
I am sad for Slovenia, but I was emotionally prepared for it.
I always believed Switzerland would go through because most of the people that post their top 40 countdowns that were putting Switzerland near the bottom, are probably young people that look more for instant gratification in the form of beats and hooks. They aren’t accustomed to slower forms of entertainment.
But my parents are in their 70s and loved Switzerland’s song and could see the quality in it.
It actually gives me goosebumps and is the only song in Eurovision this year that does so it’s definitely not a bad song if it’s capable of doing that.
I always was convinced the online Eurovision community weee underrating it.
I wasn’t shocked about Moldova but I didn’t have it down as a qualifier because it just seemed novelty to me.
But there are always a few surprises in qualifiers and this semi final was a very hard one to read.
Agree. Albanias girl song was messy and choreo not catchy at all..
I was surprised that I liked Switzerland because I normally doesn't like songs like that but his singing was so good
@@____Sunflower____ I really wasn't excited about Switzerland until tonight - that was beautiful.
@@____Sunflower____ it was done as a protest against the gays running this song contest.
I am albanian but this was the albanian entry was very ugly.
I'm so sad about Slovenia and Latvia and absolutely SHOOK about Albania
You read my thoughts! Slovenia and Latvia are in my top 3 both and Albania was a big fan favourite. I'm SHOOK Switzerland of all countries got through! Can't wait to see the official results after the final to see who gave points to whom and how many!
I am completely in shock for Latvia, as well as Albania. But I am happy for Iceland and Ukraine!
Greetings and watching here from the Philippines!
(And it's morning when I watched it!)
don't tell me, I'm Italian but I live in Thailand... :D
that "What?!" when Switzerland was called was my response exactly lol. Albania was robbed.
why it was robbed? poor vocals
@@Molhedim poor? Not as good as we wanted, but definitely not poor. She was dancing, not hugging a fcking micro. Obviously you would sing better staying quiet as a statue, but who wants to watch something like that? Only juries.
@@LucaGarzeli spain had good vocals and she dances way more in the national selections. This is not an excuse for Albania, the same happened to Romania last year, moved all the time and couldn't carry the vocals. If you cannot dance and move at the same time, don't do it, not my problem as a viewer, hence why Albania was among the last places for me in first semifinal.
The best song of the eve was Diodato 😱😂😂😂
🙏❤😄
Diodato made me cry!!!!
Greece,Portugal and the party makers themselves (subwoofer)were my favorite!
Greece was fantastic!! So sorry for Slovenia they deserved to qualify
I love very much The Netherlands and Portugal ❤️
Portugal, Lithuania, Ukraine, Iceland and Switzerland had flawless performances and I am so happy to see them in the finals.
Albania was unfortunately a disappointment as I love the song. Her staging, screaming, shouting just didn’t go well.
Good score.
Moldova was pretty much the entry that got me the most hype this evening. Loved Ukraine, Greece and Norway as well, but those 4 was the best of the night in my mind.
I love Armenia-Portugal-Netherlands❤️
My qualifiers were Greece, Ukraine, Austria, Albania, Armenia, Portugal, Netherlands, Iceland, Slovenia and Lithuania - so happy for Iceland and Portugal! Our immediate reactions to Moldova and Switzerland were exactly the same 😂 also the clips they chose for Albania and Austria were not good, very annoying!
im happy for Iceland. Beautiful song.
Greetings from Italy💖
I also got 7/10 and same reaction to the Switzerland, haha. I am so happy for Portugal. Her performance and Diodato's one made me cry. So beautiful
❤️❤️
So many shockers tonight! I wonder if Semifinal 2 will be jaw-dropping as well! Good luck to all of them!
Loved Portugal and Iceland.
❤️Portugal ❤️Greece ❤️Armenia ❤️ The NL ❤️Ukraine 😍😍😍😍😍😍My. TOP 5 are in!!!!! LOVE IT!!!! Happy here!
I am so very happy about Switzerland. I loved the song from the very first moment, his voice, the song, the performance. Cross my fingers for Marius in the final again. Good luck Switzerland !
Loved Greece, Portugal, Armenia and Moldova
Happy for Moldova 🇲🇩 from Romania.
MOLDOVA was THE party and will get a huge televote on Saturday (2nd half amongst a sea of slow songs when loads of people watching are tipsy! ha! ). Albania tbh I thought was a bit of a mess and there's not much 'song' in that entry. I know she's super passionate and popular in the fandom but in this instance as someone who hadn't heard the revamp or seen the staging I wasn't surprised by this not qualifying. Have fun on Thursday....might be bigger shocks to come!
I was shitting myself thinking that Stien wouldn't qualify after such a teardropping performance.
I did my predictions before I saw the performances tonight and I had Albania as going through, but I did not have Iceland. Others I guessed correctly.
However, I was disappointed with Ronela's performance tongiht, so I was not shocked that she missed out tonight.
I feel bad for Slovenia. I love that song and I love how cool and chill the guys are.
Ronela's performance was powerfull. But people compare the choreograhy with the NF and it is totally different. But I think she did her best.
@@ef3309 I am sure she did. I just thought her vocal was shaky, some camera movements were messy and all in all it was not as amazing as I hoped it would be. I would not mind if she qualified, not at all, but I just understood why she did not.
I'm so sorry for Austria and especially for Albania 💔 I would vote for them but I couldn't since my country (Serbia) was not in this half of the semifinal. The only logical explanation that I have is that the juries have voted for slower songs (Switzerland, Iceland, Lithuania) and totally ignored those two.
Great, now I'm nervous about second semifinal...
But still, congrats to those who have passed and greetings to you Rachel, thank you for updating, and can't wait for your further thoughts.
I can not feel sorry for Austria. They have tons of amazing musicians, and none of them are sent to the ESC. Same thing with Germany.
The song from Austria was shitty. I told them even after the song comes out that they will not go to the finals with it. It was not a Lum!x song. It was a generic discosong.
I don´t think they ignored Austria. Austria just was a bad performance vocal wise and the juries tend to prefer great singers with a solid vocal performance (like Iceland, Lithuania or Switzerland)
@@astroandyborgloh Same as each country in ESC xDDDD come on, the only country that brings THE BEST year after year is Italy, so your argument is not only involving Austria, is for all the countries.
@@jamie_michelson Juries are bored as hell. ESC wants to have the control of the contest. Juries votes never could be 50%, maximum 30% of the total. There are amazing singers that would reach the final, Sam Rider, Sheldon Riley, Cornelia, Ochman, Rosa Linn, Amanda, Nadir Rustamly (I hope), please, put some spicy, some up tempo songs to bring some diversity here.
Greece moved me to tears although Amanda tonight was super anxious. I also adored the Netherlands.
My favourite songs were: Ukraine, Portugal, Greece, Netherlands and Armenia. Moldova did a great job, most of people put them in the bottom of their lists but their video is amazing, positive and well directing, staging too. Respect for one of the poorest countries in Europe. Congratulations, Moldova/Moldavija from Montenegro. P.S. I don'l like Bakan folk music. :D
honestly what put me off about them wasn't the video that was good but the live performance in the national final that was really flat. Tonight they fixed that and were great, well earned qualification
If semi 1 was so dramatic, imagine semi 2!
Love the authenticity of just recording yourself by your TV, no fancy graphics.
Love your channel 🤩 keep it up.
Thank you! It’s all just a bit of fun but I’m glad you enjoyed it :)
I’m so happy for Portugal, Lithuania, Iceland, Netherlands… But Slovenia 💔💔💔💔💔
To be entirely honest, I was amazed by the number of pitchy performances.
Either there was something wrong with the sound system and the singers didn't get a correct audio or the contestants were not as good as they appeared to be in the official videos.
I won't go into further detail if not by saying that some of these pitchy performers qualified for the final.
In any case I am glad that Lithuania, my favourite in this group, qualified. Monika Liu was amazing.
My predictions were Switzerland, Ukraine, Armenia, Iceland, Greece, Slovenia, Portugal, Latvia, Albania and the Netherlands.
I'm still shocked for the qualification of Moldova, but also for the "porca vacca" that Laura Pausini said when she recognized that she wasn't able to pronounce "6th" 😂 as an Italian I can relate to her
I wish to share my prediction, which was based solely on tonight's performance only.
Latvia, Ukraine, Netherlands, Moldova, Portugal, Denmark, Iceland, Greece, Norway, Armenia = 8/10
I am sad that Latvia missed it. I met them and see them performed in person at the London Hard Rock Hotel during the London Eurovision Party and I thought they are such a good sport each time. The reason I can think of on why they missed out is the performance is a bit messy and not sleek with some weird movement.
Moldova. I wrote "Wow" in my note after their performance. I thought they truly deserved it and such a standout in a sea of slow songs of female vocalists.
Denmark. I am a little upset that they missed out. I thought they stood out too due to their uptempo number and rather natural performance.
Iceland. They had a moment during their performance before that beautiful golden staging. I put them as qualifier without a second thought. Truly deserving.
Switzerland. I am not expecting that. He is so lucky to be drawn into this semi (a sea of slow songs of female vocalists).
Albania. Not my cup of tea.
Austria. I thought they sound off pitch throughout the entire song. The melody is great tho.
Semi final 2 will definitely have more surprises in store. All the good male vocalists will battle it out and some will definitely missed the Final.
Im SUPER HAPPY for Switzerland it was my runner up of the night, I left the neighborhood deaf from the shout I made, I expected Austria and Albania to pass at least but it is understandable and I am also super happy
Yesss i'm still shocked for Albania🥺🥺
I just absolutely love watching your reactions!! Sad for Slovenia but I was prepared for it 😔
Thank you 😊
Your reaction to Switzerland being announced first was PRICELESS. But honestly, same. He was 17th for me based on tonight.
Albania was my 10th place and when I heard Switzerland and Iceland qualify, I thought she was going to be instantly out.
Netherlands announced was great TV!
Iceland surprised me because the lead singer of Systur sounded shaky and weak but I loved the song and wanted it to go to finals.
The other one I thought qualifying was Latvia because of the excellent staging.
Tomorrow is going to be a BLOOD BATH.
My favourite performance was Moldova. The song was catchy. There was too many ballads. Greece was really good but I don’t get the hype. I m not surprised that Albania didn’t qualify. It made me smile but it was too sexual, too all over the place. Austria gave me a headache.
"Austria gave me a headache." 🤣🤣🤣
I though the same about Albania. It was a bit too risque and the outfit and hair was a bust. Imagine if she wore her red carpet look and the dancers did all the sexy stuff. It would have been great!
@@jet687 Oh yeah! Albania was a bit 😬. But at least, it made me smile. It was very Eurovision.
@Ξεχαρβαλωμενη Μητρα Σσδδ I see I offended a Greek. 😂 . I think she will be at the top but it’s not my taste. I preferred Moldova. It was warm and upbeat. The performance was joyful and it was showcasing their culture. You are entitled to like an English song about committing suicide with your loved one like I’m entitled to prefer a joyful song about traveling on a train.
@Ξεχαρβαλωμενη Μητρα Σσδδ If the song about train is better so why you so bitter? 💃🏼
:*****hugs from Moldova
The staging really helped some of the songs that wasn't on my radar (Armenia especially! Moldova even!), too bad about Albania, I love the song but I think they tried too many things on the stage. A great show overall!
Moldova had the best energy. The staging could have been better for them. It didn’t go with the theme.
Seven out of 10 that qualified are slow song so I think the staging is very important and also the emotion coming out of the artists is very important. The remaining 2, Norway and Moldova, are extremely fun and "popping out". And of course, Ukraine was shining extremely.
I'm very disappointed that Slovenia didn't get through, but with this staging and camera works, I'm not surprised.
Moldova was the most entertaining of the night for me. With this beats, their energy and great camera angles, it's superb.
Armenia, Norway and Lithuania also had good staging.
And of course, I love Ukraine very much.
The performances I enjoyed more tonight were Bulgaria, Iceland, Portugal, Ukraine, Switzerland and Norway. Greece my favourite as always.
what about the emotional song from S10? I agree on Greece, Portugal, Lithuania and Croatia. I got 7 out of 10 right! Switzerland, Iceland and Lithuania was my one of my fave but I got my 10 places already and thought people might not like it but glad they did.
@@dvdb59 The Netherlands has a very beautiful song, but the singer was nervous and I did not connect with her. But other people connected with her for that reason.
Hi Rachel! It would be such a big fan to watch once the contest with you. I luv the way you get excited about it, and this happens to me too. I was shocked to see Island qualifying, and I went nuts with Switzerland qualifying, I really like this entry. All the other results were pretty predictable.
Switzerland has done very well. I didn't think they would qualify! I am very happy for them! 🇨🇭
He's a good singer and he performed well so he earnt his place, the staging was nice too.
@@EmoBearRights he sings in cursive lol
I did ESC quite differenlty this year. I abstained from watching any opinions online and only listened to the songs this past Sunday. I formed a very loose ranking based on first impressions. I had very little emotional attachment to any entry watching the 1st Semi Final and these were the countries I was rooting for after watching the performances: Lithuania, Ukraine, Netherlands, Moldova, Croatia, Iceland, Norway and Armenia. As you can see, I got 7/8 songs of choice going to the Grand Final. Weirdly, the song that ranks high for me, personally, is Croatia - but I notice it doesn't seem to get much love from anyone else. Is it just too sugary pop? I thought Mia's vocal was on point and was much better than some of the entries that qualified. Overall, satisfied with the results!
Ronela ruined it with the new staging and her outfit... should have kept it in a more traditional way as she did in the national selection, that was AMAZING! This did not fit to the song at all... Also her vocals weren't the strongest - as we know from the national selection and the pre-parties, she can do much better.
First out first wrong grate strart! lol i love your electronic pannels for resoult.... and finnaly yesssss, Laura said porca vacca!!!!
grate job as usual!
I noticed a lot of the relaxing, more downbeat songs went through this year. It’s made me rethink my own predictions for semi2. I think this year is going to be the most ballad heavy contest in years. It could be one of the best too. A lot of strong songs this year and I’m gutted for those that didn’t make it.
I dont think it has anything to do with the songs being ballads. The downbeat songs in semi 1 had the most real and authentic performances/songs. Plus they were vocally on point unlike Austria and Albania for example. I think the public and jury is starting to put music and good vocals first, no matter if it’s upbeat or downbeat.
I am pretty happy with the qualifiers!
My personal favorite moment of this evening: My mother and I watching the Slovenian performance, both thinking and saying: "They won't make it through". But after seeing the first recap, she was like: "This is actually a pretty good song!". And after the second recap, she said: "This is a great song!". So now I am not the only fan of them in my family, although they sadly didn't make it to the finals.
I'm in SHOCK!!!
No words!!!!!
I feel the past few years the qualifiers were obvious… this year was truly an historic year of shock NQ’s… THE DRAMA IS WHAT WE LIVE FOR 🙌🏻🙌🏻
Hello, Thanks for sharing your reactions, asewome format, very simple and great !
I love that you followed your dad's predictions too! 💕 I knew I'd find solace about Albania from you too, Rachel! {{Hugs}} THe change in staging is what killed her I'm sure. Still sad. 😢😢
Hey, ho let's go the final🇲🇩🇲🇩🥰🥰
ALBANIA😭😭😭
Some surprises here. Somehow Moldova all made sense on the night. Gutted for Latvia - will miss them at the final!
I am sorry for Ronela but super happy for Amanda and Greece. The best song and performance tonight.
Iceland was magical and beautiful 🥰❤️
This Switzerland reaction was mine as well... VERY surprising 😂
Band from Moldova qualified due to charismatic performance and catchy moves). Nice that they went through.
Chances for Switzerland and Iceland didn't seem to be evident, but they presented very interesting songs. They deserve to be in the Final! Latvia was good, too, shame that didn't qualify(.
That was fun :) thanks!
Your channel is like an oasis in the desert you are absolutely lovely
Great video. We had the same preidtcion of course. Thrilled for Iceland, not too shocked at Switzerland to be honest with what may have been a very good jury mark... Albania out indeed, but I have to say... well, I'll leave it for my next video.
I love your reaction video style. Standing, in front of the TV. 🙂
I think that there are some live performances that have put the artists in a better light that predictions. Like Moldova and Iceland (very good restyle of the song, I think). Greece almost perfect, at the start I was wondering if the absence of backing vocals would be damaging but no, very good performance. Not so good Netherlands, maybe she really must have had backing vocals?
I was rooting for Croatia, she put even croatian in her song AFTER the national final, but doesn't made it.
And, final thought, Diodato was simply perfect tonight.
I was so happy to see Diodata and it was when a moment when the crowd were singing along with Fai Rumore's first chrous.
Your predictions and reactions were the same as mine. Especially the WHAT when they said Switzerland hahahah
For me...the only shock was Albania....but I struggle to see who to take out....Switzerland missed his high note....but the staging was awesome. Iceland...maybe. Moldova was just too much fun.
0:55 i had the same reaction that you had when Switzerland qualified 😂😂
I feel that Albania and Latvia both being more sexualised in their performance/lyrics worked against them, especially being the first two acts of the show. Just seemed a bit inappropriate so early on and I think that reflected in the vote. I also felt Albania's vocals were a little shouty at times which is unfortunate.
Latvia was promising but the singers weren't strong enough. Austria was just plain bad. I loved Switzerland.... so not surprised It did go through.... such good quality.... also loved Greece, Portugal.... and of course Ukraine and The Netherlands....
I get 9/10 right. I miss Iceland in place of Latvia but I'm happy that I get that wrong 😊
C.mon you did great 7 out of 10! If the 2020 Eurovision song contest wasn't cancelled cos of the pandemic I think Diodato from Italy could have won.Great song!
You´re biggest shout "Yes!" was when they annouced Portugal!😉
7/10 right too, which was the ballpark of what I was expecting. This one was NOT easy.
-As the night progressed I didn't see Switzerland going through, and then they went through FIRST!! Good for them, though. It's important to have that message in the final, and I'm actually kinda pleased in a self-deprecating/ironic way that the yearly tradition of me getting the first announced finalist of all 20 wrong is continuing :D
-YEAH ICELAND!! I just KNEW they could have and probably were going to sneak in!
-I knew that getting Lithuania and Moldova NQing wrong was highly probable, and tbh I love both of them (both in my overall top 10), so I'm glad I was proven wrong for both of them there.
I have to say, both of Albania AND Austria going out is a shock, I thought maybe one of them would NQ (Albania didn't impress me at all, I'm afraid), but there you have it. And Latvia was almost a certain qualifier for me after watching the live performance, but again, I must've missed the memo.
-Last but not least: RIP Slovenia :( Those guys were so cool, I hope they're not discouraged.
We're off to a decent start Rach, but I'm kinda worried about predicting Thursday now 🤣
The list of selected songs was not in a particular order.
@@MariaCristina-th I know, but I think that it's still funny that Switzerland, who I and many other fans thought wasn't going to qualify was actually the first to be announced (regardless of their final position). Was quite the surprising start to the qualifiers!
RIP Slovenia 🇸🇮
What a shame!!! Now the final won’t have any interesting chords since no Slovenia or Latvia.
I’ve got to be more careful with my SF2 predictions now
@@ThePeaceAround A moment of silence for the chords that didn't make it to Saturday's show. No chords, please, it's silence.
Hey Rachel, loved this type of video from you! Reacting to the live results is so fun to see.
I honestly wanted to break my mug when Switzerland went through instead of Latvia. But for the rest I can totally agree, especially Moldova performed way above expectation and was tons of fun!
Portugal, Netherlands and Ukraine are my fav. Diodato won without being a contestant. 🇮🇹
Shocking results!
we had the same reactions! Hopefully todays goes a lot better!!
I got 7 out of 10 (Switzerland, Iceland and Moldova were the outliers in favor of Albania, Latvia and Denmark), but unlike you, I never saw a path for Austria when they sent an inexperienced young singer who needed heavy backing vocal support to not sound bad.
I am lowkey mad at myself for removing Moldova as qualifier in my prediction at the last minute. I did the same mistake with Natalia last year. I could have had 8 out 10...
PORTUGAL, WINNER ALERT
I have one word.......M 💖O💖L💖D💖O💖V💖A !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I did expect Switzerland qualifying (because of the juries) and since it's one of my favourites my instant reaction was shouting "YAY" 🥰
Iceland was a pleasant surprise.
Sad for Slovenia (but expected it)
Austria's and Albania's performances were a bit of a letdown for me. I get why they didn't make it
Porca vacca!
Loved Greece, Netherlands , Lithuania, Iceland and Portugal
Sad for Latvia and Albania
Diodato best act of the night❤
Well, I've just watched the first semi-final (at 1pm on Wednesday afternoon, because I had to go to bed at 8.30pm last night for work today, so couldn't stay up).
I said yesterday that I'd wait until I'd seen all the performances before making my predictions on who I thought would qualify, and it's just as well I did. Anyway, here's who I finally (no pun intended) went for while the voting was taking place:
Albania - I struggled with this, as her vocals were average, and she appeared out of breath by halfway. I still thought she might squeeze through, but it wasn't a great performance, sadly
Lithuania - I think this was always going to make it, given her charisma and the sparkly staging
Ukraine - you'd have to be a fool not to have had money on these going through
Netherlands - I bet s10 needed new trousers after that cliff-hanger, but she sang it well, and probably finished higher than tenth in the overall voting
Moldova - yes, the performance was very good, and you could hear the crowd getting behind them. From that moment on, I was confident they would make it, so I took a punt
Portugal - another dead cert for the final
Iceland - I would probably have chosen Austria over it before Austria performed. But then Austria performed, and I didn't even need to see this next to know it would go through ...
Greece - the rehearsal clip we saw had slightly flat vocals, and I worried for her. And then I finally saw the whole performance, and I smiled. My second-favourite this year (behind Serbia). Also, you got the close-up shots you were hoping for in this one 🙂
Norway - who wasn't going to put this through?
Armenia - I was torn between this and Albania, but had to wait until the end for it. Easily the better performance of the two, but I still went for Albania to qualify too, because WHO THE HELL WAS GOING TO VOTE FOR SWITZERLAND? That was a jury decision if ever I saw one.
As for the rest:
Austria - dreadful. The backing vocal was once again completely drowning out her voice, and when she did sing on her own, it was bad. It didn't deserve to go through.
Denmark - I thought this might go through before the show (geddit?!), but Moldova and Lithuania brought it on the night, so someone had to go in the bin ...
Latvia - Loving the crowd clearly shouting "pussy", and fair play to them. I'd love to know where this ended up in the overall vote. It can't have missed by much, can it?
Bulgaria, Croatia, Slovenia - as predicted, probably nowhere close to getting through, despite my love for LPS
Switzerland - can I swear in the comments?
So in the end I got nine out of ten. God only knows what's going to happen tomorrow night in the semi-final of death ...
I did not pick switzerland but my friend pick as her favourite I play few times and it's beautiful song to listen to .my favourite song was last one snap but I up for sweden 🇸🇪 I am irish
Some thoughts from a slightly dissapointed dane:
- Not at all surprised about Albania not going through tbh.
- Was crossing my fingrs for my 2nd place this year, Slovenia, but I did see it comin during the show - they didn't have much of an impact, and close to no response from the audience in the arena.
- Surprised and excited about the energy in the arena during Moldovas performance (top 3 in the televote?), and during my country, Denmarks, performance (I was thinking we could have gone through based on the reception).
- I am curious about how Amanda did with the juries. Did she perform better during the jury show? Because she had a lot of (albeit minor) pitch issues in my ears, and if that was the case during the jury show, I don't see her a the jury winner (of this SF), we predicted.
- I feel really sad and upset for Latvia. If they can't make it to the final with this, what hope do they have (I guess the juries disliked the lyrics and the style in general, even though they should apreciate it musically).
- Surprisingly quiet audience during Norways performance. Are we overestimating this? Or is it just not for an Italian audience?
- Fai Rumore was BY FAR the best song and performance of the night. I wanted to vote for it.
- A technical thing: Was it me or did the songs begin almost before the graphics on the screen had dissappeared? I noticed how Greece, Denmark and Netherlands almost weren't ready for the first note of their song (or was it a sound engineering/mic-issue).
Have you heard DIODATO song FAI RUMORE?? WOW What a performance!!! ESC Should let him sing again on Saturday night!!
Which countries did not qualify?
I assume Poland is in semifinal two? That one better go through, it's my second favorite after Italy.
Wow, we had similar predictions. I also thought that Albania and Austria would qualify and Iceland and Moldova wouldn't, but I knew that Switzerland would qualify and Latvia wouldn't.
Biggest shocker to qualify: Switzerland (Jury did this. Televote will destroy this song's chances of winning without a doubt.)
Biggest robbery: Denmark (To me a story within the song was there and I loved the energy and activity of the band and the song. My second favorite of the night with Ukraine taking first.)
Last Place: Albania ( I was so excited for this song, so to see the song be an absolute dumpster fire of both vocals, staging, and performance was a gigantic disappointment for me, probably my biggest one since I watched ESC and JESC with Green Forces taking 2nd for biggest disappointment.)
Guilty Pleasure: Denmark (Look at biggest robbery.)
My guilty pleasure: guilty pleasure
@@GP-op4yt idk if this a joke or actually but lol
I'll vote for the Netherlands in the final.
I also had 7/10, would have prefered to have Slovenia and Croatia in the finals rather than Switzerland or Iceland (although I am happy for them).
Albania lost their qualifying chance the moment we saw that staging for the first time. There's just this insane almost clash between the song and the staging they went with, that even the casual viewer will feel it and think something's wrong there. Plus Ronela's vocals weren't the strongest today.
Equally sad about Latvia and Slovenia though, if I had to take out two qualifiers for them it'd be Switzerland and Moldova.
Mi piace la tua passione, sei troppo bella!
Well, I'm not surprised about Moldova. Nice song, great performance, great vibe and... We can't just ignore the power of the televote. In fact, there's an huge community of proud Moldovan immigrants all around Europe. This has already happened with other countries in the past, and with not so strong entries. Anyway I'm happy for Moldova. I think it was deserved. (BTW Let's hope Moldova will not became the next victim of Russian imperialism).
unfortunately, I think we will become victims of the russian aggression, with all these news regarding our problematic separatist breakaway region (transnistria), its impossible for us not to be scared. I must admit that ever since ukraine was invaded I've become more and more depressed, so seeing my country qualifying brought a smile on my face, so my 'thank you' goes to the people who voted for us, I appreciate that. ❤
@@nikki7065 I voted on you and I´ll do it again for sure at the final! And I strongly hope that we are both wrong about this fear, about the safety of your country (in fact, the safety of the whole Europe). Let's be positive for a while, and believe there´s more than fools around us. Warm hug from Portugal!
My life is meaningless without latvia😢 at least there are norway and moldova for a bit of fun in the finale. I didn't expect switzerland and iceland at all, i'm quite shocked.
Armenia the best 👌👍❤❤❤❤❤
I can't believe Albania don't qualify, I really like her song and performance 💔. I also like Slovenia.
5:04 ...... i feel you
i had no doubts about Greece
Portugal got my telly vote. Captivating, and appreciated in the hall.
Portugal was my favorite performance of the night! Loved the camera shots and the sweeping shots from above Maro’s head. It was so beautiful 😻
Do you know if the lady on reaction is coming back for grand final she is very good. David .