Aurela is a striking Albanianian who is filmed soaring over the Tirananaian skyline, metaphorically dabbing her lips on her beau's morning dew. Sadly her voice fails to soar quite as high as her eagle- heavy premise video, and the song veers between Balkan-friendly softly softly verse and squawkily shouty chorus.
A "let me share my song with you, just feel the passion" motif which is by the numbers, however you won't thank her for sharing and there's a noticeable lack of passion. The sculpted crimson play-doh hair may raise a comment though. A weak Albanianian effort this year.
 
       
27 year old Emmy won through the Armenian pre-selection at the third time of asking this year, and my, I for one am very glad. It's not often in these modern times you can turn on the TV in the UK and hear "boom boom, chaka chaka, your kiss is lika lika.."
Look out for a boxing motif to this performance (no, I don't know why either) so hopefully someone will floor her with a swift uppercut and end this sorry business. Ay-ay-ay.
 
       
Nadine Beiler a mere 21 (but looks a tad more than that), of Innsbruck (but used be in Inzing) has a very solid voice which is described in quarters away from here as "soulful". In addition to the voice, notice has to be paid to the legs on display and indeed the helmet haircut. Likely of more importance however is that she has the best voice of the competition, and I would hope that this coupled with the soflty tinged R&B teutonic ballard, should be good enough to take her through to the final. Good luck Austria.

 
       
Bearing in mind the song title, I feel this effort would be greatly enhanced with a Billy Crystal/Gregory Hines rollerblading dance routine to a McDonald backing singer. However I'm not a Azeri Eurosong producer and they know what's what. And what we have is a capable bloke singer and a bit of fluff in a mini skirt performing a solid MOR ballard. Nikki is the weak link and could be the factor that swings the final result elsewhere. However in what is an open year, and bearing in mind all the voting irregularities we've come to love, I've plumped for a high placing and a potential trip to Baku 2012. Time will tell.

 
       
And you may have thought old styley Soviet Bloc propaganda was dead and buried. But it's come pogroming back into our psyche with this gung ho shambles of a political tourist ditty, which if it works could make you stand in line for that visa to holiday in a place where personal freedoms are overestimated and the denomination of meat product is a challenge. Political messages are banned in Eurovision so how this one slipped through the net I'm not quite sure. "Being a goal-oriented, hardworking and diligent person, Anastasiya wanted to be number one in everything she did." Like all good comrades.

 
       
There needs to be minnows at Eurosong, and the Belgians seldom disappoint. Witloof Bay are an acapella act. Those of a weak constitution are advised to run for the wardrobe to hide. However those stronger will no doubt approve of the song being created from the name of their website (witloofbay.be), hence "With Love Baby". And they're lovely people all told. Bearing all these factors in mind, it's still an absolute horrible disgrace of a ditty. Vocal beat boxes abound, and for those whho grew up during Abigal's Party era of "Manhattan Transfer", you'll understand why my blood runs cold. Bringing up t'rear.

 
       
Dino (as his name suggests) is a big name in Bosnia. And to finish off the rather clever comment over his name, the song he's singing is magic. He has already been to Eurosong a couple of times, and had apparently been holding out for a re-appearance despite reprtedly being asked off record every year since '90. This makes sense when you listen to "Love in Rewind", an inimitably cheesy song that could easily have been penned in the 80's. And yet to my idiotically naive ears it's not dated a jot. By far the the best of the competition, this deserves to shine. Wave your arms, shout "Sito", and vote for Bosnia..

 
       

We'll all recognise 24 year old Poli from the group BonBon, and of course we all remember her rendition in the '09 Bulgarian national final , a song that in fact "moved Beyonce to tears".
Ms Genova is a sprightly young thing, and is so excited by the opportunity at belting out her MOR rock fancy (titled "For Spite", no less) at you, she won't be able to keep still. The walkways and steps will get full play here, and it even looks like she's thinking of popping backstage for a glass of Mavrud 2 minutes into the track. A borderline qualifier this one with a debatable chance, but I'll give her one.

 
       
Statuesque Daria Kinzer is half German which is just about the only thing in her favour, and even that's debatable. She towers around 2 feet over her backing singers which brings to mind a Teuton Wonka factory. Most notable about this uptempo monstrosity are the frocks. Euro couture fans have 3 Darla dresses to consider, the final one gets all of 2 seconds airplay. Utterly pointless then, as the only lasting thought is likely to be Dairy tottering around stage like a baby giraffe trying to get her mother's attention. Mid table position is the norm for Croatia. DK can only pray for such a success. It's outta here.

 
       
Christos' hobbies include tennis, swimming and informatics. Not bad for a 20 year old. There should be youthful vigour to the Cypriot song this year, however it is very much lacking. What is not lacking though is a wailing woman swinging an Ikea lampshade around her head along with men who would otherwise topple over were it not for their boots being nailed to the floor. Of course all this in the greatest Eurosong tradition attempts to distract from the woeful nature of the song. On this occasion it doesn't work, dry ice or no dry ice, and another semi final exit for Cyprus beckons.

 
       
This group of lads are big in Canada. Which although not much use here, is at least something for them to fall back on. The band having a Canadian audience also tells all you need to know about their style, or rather lack of it. So middle of the road they actually paint the lines, "A Friend in London" (called Damian by the way) are singing a typically confident dull pop ballard which goes nowhere slowly. It's a "crazy crazy world" however, so I wouldn't be the least surprised if this doesn't hit the top ten come Saturday. As their song puts it, "Who's hot, who's not?" Tepid often works for the Danes so why change?

 
       
Aah Estonia...always near the top of my 40+ nations come pre-selection. I don't know if it's the long nasal vowels, the perky innocence, or the bona fide imperative for all natives to be able to carry a tune. Could 18 year old Ms Jaani change their recent poor showing in the comp? Well she has a cracking early magic trick, papier mache skyscrapers, 5 other pre-pubsecent loons, and a breathless delivery. She was an early front runner, however I fear for her now. It's difficult to belt out a pop track when you're not the best singer and you're running to catch a bus. Quaint & sweet but with the edge of a bubble.