ESC 2009: Norway, semifinal

We be watching ... !! I'm at home for this broadcast too, Anne Ida and KAS and trilltrall are here, we've made a delicious whale stroganoff :-D and stuffed ourselves silly, and now we're watching the show. A good time being had by all.

This year we're trying out the 'duel' system in our ESC selection in this country ... ie the eight competing songs (two each from the two quarter-finals, and two jokers, ie songs that didn't really make it through from their quarter-final, but are getting a second chance anyway). It's a little confusing- even to Per Sundnes, the host, LOL! - but basically the songs will compete against each other in pairs, viewers will vote during the performances and one song from each pair will get through to the next round. Then the process will be repeated, so we're left with two songs that will compete in the final round next Saturday. Whew. Keep those votes coming ... !

Duel #1 - KeSera vs Espen Hana (my reviews here). No question who will get through here ... not the kids, that's for sure. Aand ... yup, Two of a Kind is the winner. Well, of this round, obviously. No surprise there.

Duel #2 - Janni Santillan vs Surferosa (my reviews here and here). I'm sure this round will go to Surferosa. Hard for a young singer just starting out to compete against an established band with a pretty big fanbase. I definitely prefer that song too - not because I like it so much, but because Like You Did (Yesterday) is just so slow and just ... not an entry we ought to send. So let's see ... and yes, it's Surferosa.

Duel #3 - Sunny vs Publiners (my reviews here and here). Go Sunny ... !! I like her song so much, I so want her to win this round. She's hardly the best singer out there, and her outfit kind of sucks (she's wearing the same weird combo as in the quarter-final) but the song is soo catchy. :-) A great beat and great energy. Those Publiners are potentially dangerous though ... it's the kind of song that Norwegian audiences like. And they've got fire on stage, ooh. :-) I do like that the song is in Norwegian ... and it's a perfectly good song, it just doesn't have that little something that it would need to be remembered. Well, I've voted for Carrie five times, and KAS twice, so let's hope. The winner is ... Publiners. Oh noes ... !! :-( Boo! :-(

Duel #4 - Foxy vs Jane Helen (my reviews here). I don't really care about either of these. Do It Again is an uptempo dance song performed by two pretty blondes with good energy on stage ... an OK song but probably too bland to be noticed much. Shuffled is too strange to have any real chance in Moscow, but it would be cool to be the first nation to send a punk rock song to the ESC. :-) This could go either way. The winner is ... Jane Helen. Sure, whatever.

Second round ... !!

Duel #1 - Espen Hana vs Surferosa. That guy is starting to annoy me. That dancing ... ! Stop it, you're a grown man! o_O I'm pretty sure that Surferosa will be the ones to walk away from this one. Is that good or bad - well, they'll appeal to the younger viewers, so that's good. Not at all sure about their song though. Oh well, we'll see ...

Duel # - Publiners vs Jane Helen. I really don't care either way about these, to be honest. But my money is on Publiners.

OK, the last two finalists:
Espen Hana - oh, surprise. I'm happy though, I prefer this song. Just ... enough with the dancing already, please.
Publiners - no surprise. :-)

IMO this goes to prove that in this country, it's the older generation that watches this show on a Saturday night ... mostly, anyway. ;-)

One week and we'll have our entry for Moscow. And it'll be called Fairytale ... !