General Eurovision Discussion (2017)

There's a playlist of Wiwibloggs with all songs so the album isn't necessary anyway

Before the rehearsals are in full swing which will change things for sure, I'm going to post my predictions on the qualifiers from each semi based on the songs, their running order and voting patterns.

SEMI 1

QUALIFIERS
Australia - Simply for the fact that it's Australia, plus the song appeals to the jury rather well. In a semi full of ballads sung by mainly females, this is likely to stand out.
Armenia - It stands out from the rest of the songs by being quite ethnically oriented, has support from Georgia, Greece and Cyprus and is jury friendly.
Azerbaijan - For the same reasons as Armenia (except the first).
Sweden - Self-explanatory.
Belgium - Massive fan and bookies favourite and I can't see the juries hating this enough to stop it from qualifying.
Latvia - The song is trendy and current and is bound to do well in the televote, but performing last makes Latvia a certain qualifier.

Portugal - I am confident Portugal will qualify, but I would not be surprised if it doesn't. The juries will love this and if it picks up small amounts of televotes along the way, it will be enough to secure qualification.
Albania - Albania's going to receive a lot of jury love and with guaranteed high televote points from Greece, Montenegro and Italy, Albania will have enough to qualify at the bare minimum.
Cyprus - Radio friendly, is popular among fans and isn't doing too bad with the bookies - going after the Czech Republic also elevates their chances.
Finland - Perfomring straight after Montenegro is going to benefit Finland greatly as this is gonna drive the jury wild. Solid support from Iceland and Sweden, plus a few points here and there will cross Finland over the line

NON QUALIFIERS
Slovenia - Self-explanatory.
Czech Republic - The song is just far too dull, the Czech Republic has nobody to rely on for points (apart from Poland) and will be overshadowed by the other ballads in the semi.
Montenegro - The juries are going to slaughter this to pieces and most people will most probably see this as comic relief more than anything else.
Georgia - I wouldn't count Tamara out completely but she is performing second, has to follow Sweden and is performing before Albania, which fits the exact same diva ballad archetype. I feel like Albania is going to cancel out Georgia's jury votes and being inbetween songs like Sweden and Belgium will mean that Georgia will get lost in the televote entirely.
Iceland - I want this to qualify, but I don't think it will. Being inbetween two of the weaker songs in the semi is a huge plus but Iceland lacks any staunch support outside of Finland. If Iceland qualifies, they'll score moderately well in both the televote and jury and squeak through in 10th.
Moldova - Personally I feel that the song is too weak and forgettable to make an impression with the televoters, and it will not be liked by the jury. But I would not be surprised if Moldova qualifies.
Greece - Greece's entry is very average and begins the string of medicore songs that round out the semi. It's not a huge fan favourite nor is it going to appeal to the jury, so I think Greece is just going to miss out.
Poland - Only reason this is here is because there are only the qualifiers. It honestly depends on how impactful the diaspora vote is as to whether it qualifies or just misses out.

I'll edit this post and do SF2 tomorrow.

The Greek team also took off today

https://www.instagram.com/p/BTgebNOjX53