Eurovision 2009 Semi-final 2

Country. Singer. Title. Language. Style.
1.Croatia. Igor Cukrov (featuring Andrea). Lijepa Tena (Beautiful Tena). Croatian.
A lovely, slow Croatian love song, Lijepa Tena was a strong beginning to semi-final 2. The performance was fairly good, except for around 10 seconds starting at 1:54 where the duet seemed a bit...off. Nonetheless recommended.
+ Show Spoiler [video] +
2. Ireland. Sinéad Mulvey and Black Daisy. Et Cetera. English. Rock.
A pretty good rock song from all-girl band Black Daisy.
+ Show Spoiler [video] +
3. Latvia. Intars Busulis. Probka (Traffic Jam). Russian. Electro-rock.
Did not like.
+ Show Spoiler [video] +
4. Serbia. Marko Kon and Milaan. Cipela (Shoe). Serbian. Folk.
This one needs to grow on you, I think. After seeing it a few times, it's grown on me.
First of all, it features an accordion, which is already enough to get my vote. Besides, it's a nice, folky song. The staging is a little silly, but fun. Overall an enjoyable entry.
+ Show Spoiler [video] +
5. Poland. Lidia Kopania. I Don't Wanna Leave. English. Pop, ballad.
A rather generic pop-ballad in English, this song was nice enough, but hardly memorable. Lidia Kopania sang it pretty well except for the end, where she messed up a bit.
+ Show Spoiler [video] +
6. Norway. Alexander Rybak. Fairytale. English.
This song, featuring a decent, Russian-esque tune, a singer whose boyish grin I found more annoying than endearing, and words that are utterly bland, and don't even really make sense ("I'm in love with a fairytale") probably deserved to make it out of the semi-final, but how it won the contest in the biggest landslide in Eurovision history is beyond me.
+ Show Spoiler [video] +
7. Cyprus. Christina Metaxa. Firefly. English.
I was not particularly enamored of the song, which was rather light and insubstantial, but the worst part of this performance was the singer. Christina Metaxa is only 16, and the song was written especially for her by her older brother, which is all very nice, but at the end of the day, she is not the most accomplished of singers, unfortunately. Her voice was thin, girlish and breathy; worse, she couldn't stay on key.
+ Show Spoiler [video] +
8. Slovakia. Kamil Mikulčík and Nela Pocisková. Leť tmou (Fly through the Darkness). Slovak.
This song starts slowly, but gets better. The female singer can't quite hit the high note at the end: other than that, the performance was fine.
+ Show Spoiler [video] +
9. Denmark. Niels Brinck. Believe Again. English. Soft rock.
This generic rock ballad was all right, but I found it on the boring side.
+ Show Spoiler [video] +
10. Slovenia. Quartissimo featuring Martina Majerle. Love Symphony. English/Slovene. Classical/pop.
This one was kind of cool. I liked the dramatic staging. The music was nice too, except that it never seemed to go anywhere. The whole piece seemed like an elaborate intro to something that never happened.
+ Show Spoiler [video] +
11. Hungary. Zoli Ádok. Dance With Me. English. Pop.
See below. The similarity between these two songs was striking: from the generic pop sound to the skimpily-dressed dancers. It's no coincidence that the catchiest bars of both songs were exactly the same. This is as generic as generic comes.
+ Show Spoiler [video] +
12. Azerbaijan. AySel and Arash. Always. English. Pop.
I was not very impressed by this. This was not much more than a generic pop song, despite the token introduction and the instrumental bit in the middle that were vaguely ethnic, but that did not fit with the rest of the piece at all. In fact none of the parts of the music or the choreography fit that well together: the song seemed cobbled together from some compose-by-numbers kit. The lyrics came from the parallel kit for lyricists (half off the second one if you buy them together!)
+ Show Spoiler [chorus] +Overall, nothing to write home about.
+ Show Spoiler [video] +
13. Greece. Sakis Rouvas. This Is Our Night. English. Dance.
An energetic and upbeat pop song with a dark undertone, the Greek entry was pretty good for what it was. Some neat choreographic tricks using a prop that looked like a giant box.
+ Show Spoiler [video] +
14. Lithuania. Sasha Son. Love. English/Lithuanian.
One of the more underrated songs from Eurovision, this song was very touching. Centered around a simple piano riff that set the tone, the song was a blend of wistful and hopeful. Nothing artificial here. Recommended.
+ Show Spoiler [video] +
15. Moldova. Nelly Ciobanu. Hora din Moldova (Dance from Moldova). Romanian, English. Folk.
The Moldovan entry was colorful, for sure. Colorful costumes, colorful dancing. Even though I didn't like the first version I saw of it, this one wasn't bad. Could have done without the shouting in the middle, though.
+ Show Spoiler [video] +
16. Albania. Kejsi Tola. Carry Me in Your Dreams. English. Folk/Pop.
Definitely one of the standout songs of the night. After a few listens, it became my favorite. The tune is really good: catchy but powerful, with Albanian flavor. The staging was kind of weird, featuring, among other things, a singer in a tutu, two breakdancing mimes, and a sort of Teal Man (think Blue Man Group style). But oddly, it worked: a faceless teal man, head-spinning red strobe lights, face-painted, head-spinning mimes: it all fit, somehow. The singer's performance was pretty good overall: Kejsi Tola (the winner of Albanian idol: how's that for globalism?) is only 17, but she has a powerful voice. She did stray very slightly from the key once or twice, but for the most part, she sang the song very well.

I wish they had sent the Albanian version. Also, the ending was a tad abrupt: there was a coda in the music, but not in the vocals. Nonetheless, this was my favorite song by far. I can't explain it; it just clicked.

No point in linking to a video, since Albania's national TV station is going around getting them pulled from YouTube, and they don't stay up for more than a few days, anyway.

17. Ukraine. Svetlana Loboda. Be My Valentine! (Anti-Crisis Girl). English. WTH.
This is one of those ridiculously cheesy songs that maybe you think of when you hear Eurovision. The performance is...I don't even know how to describe it: think soft-core Ukrainian gladiator porn. The words are kind of stupid. (I don't think "bom" even is a word). Aside from a nice little intro, the music is rather...basic. The first time I saw this, I was appalled that it even made the finals at all.

But...it grows on you. I can't say that I gained an aesthetic appreciation of this song, but it does have a certain campy fascination. It's the type of song that I can see becoming a Eurovision cult classic.
+ Show Spoiler [video] +
18. Estonia. Urban Symphony. Rändajad (Nomads). Estonian. Classical/pop.
This entry stood out from all the others. It was played by "Urban Symphony" an all-woman group with a lot of bowed instruments. It's kind of hard to describe. The tune was nice, although it verged on monotonous. But it's not just about the tune: the whole thing really created an atmosphere. The staging, dark blue lighting with points of light, evocative of a starry night, the singer (who was really pretty)'s look of serene detachment, the rest of the orchestra, sitting in the shadows, ceaselessly bowing, combined with the words themselves (well, if you look up the translation, at least) to convey a sense of austere beauty and endless wandering. The tune had just enough variety in it to save it from monotony.

A very different song from all of the others. This one is really worth listening to.
+ Show Spoiler [video] +
19. The Netherlands. The Toppers. Shine. English. ROFL.
With its sparkly outfits and feel-good message, this...joke entry?...from the Netherlands seemed like a parody of the cheesiest 80s music. I'm afraid they may have been serious, though.
+ Show Spoiler [sample comments from YouTube] +
+ Show Spoiler [video] +

1. Albania. Kejsi Tola. Carry Me in Your Dreams.
2. Estonia. Urban Symphony. Rändajad.
3. Lithuania. Sasha Son. Love.
4. Croatia. Igor Cukrov. Lijepa Tena.
5. Slovakia. Kamil Mikulčík and Nela Pocisková. Leť tmou.
6. Serbia. Marko Kon and Milaan. Cipela.
7. Ireland. Sinéad Mulvey and Black Daisy. Et Cetera.
8. Norway. Alexander Rybak. Fairytale.
9. Greece. Sakis Rouvas. This Is Our Night.
10. Ukraine. Svetlana Loboda. Be My Valentine! (Anti-Crisis Girl).

1. Norway. Alexander Rybak. Fairytale. Score: 201.
2. Azerbaijan. AySel and Arash. Always. 180.
3. Estonia. Urban Symphony. Rändajad. 115.
4. Greece. Sakis Rouvas. This Is Our Night. 110.
5. Moldova. Nelly Ciobanu. Hora din Moldova. 106.
6. Ukraine. Svetlana Loboda. Be My Valentine! (Anti-Crisis Girl). 90.
7. Albania. Kejsi Tola. Carry Me in Your Dreams. 73.
8. Denmark. Niels Brinck. Believe Again. 69.
9. Lithuania. Sasha Son. Love. 66.
10. Croatia. Igor Cukrov. Lijepa Tena. (33) Picked by jury over Serbia, Ireland, and Poland.

3 | 2.5. Estonia. Urban Symphony. Rändajad.
7 | 4.0. Albania. Kejsi Tola. Carry Me in Your Dreams.
8 | 4.5. Norway. Alexander Rybak. Fairytale.
9 | 6.0. Lithuania. Sasha Son. Love.
9 | 6.5. Greece. Sakis Rouvas. This Is Our Night.
10| 7.0 Croatia. Igor Cukrov. Lijepa Tena.
10| 8.0 Ukraine. Svetlana Loboda. Be My Valentine! (Anti-Crisis Girl).

If only the popular vote was looked at, Serbia (10| 8) would replace Croatia.