I am a dung beetle.... constantly pushing shit around

SPOILER ALERT: if you are yet to watch the semis, this is a list of the running order of the final, so the 11 non-qualifiers are not listed. if you don't want to know who qualified, stop reading now.

Other than an update  on the odds, this is mainly a copy and paste of what I wrote earlier in the week, mainly because it is not fair to base Denmark and the big 5 on their rehearsal and the 20 acts that qualified from the semis on their polished performance complete with gimmicks and effects, but Romania was pretty awesome in the end

( Final running order )

Denmark are the carry-over champions in this years Eurovision song contest after winning in Sweden last year. It was the second time Denmark won in Sweden and Denmark's third win over all. The bookmakers have Denmark back in the mix this year. It is understandable



Artist: Basim
Song: Cliché Love Song

This is boyband song sung by a solo artist. The solo artist is also a previous X-Factor contestant. The only interesting and unusual thing about him is that he is of Moroccan decent. Basim is so young though that his parents would have been children when Morocco was in their only Eurovision contest in 1980.

It is another song with whistling in it. OK it is a whistle before each chorus, but is whistling the in thing in Europe this summer? Maybe you will need a little whistle in your song this year to win Eurovision.

In the End the song is light and happy and mostly harmless. I think it is only as high as it is with the bookmakers at the moment because Denmark auto-qualify for the final. In the wash up after the semis are decided, this will probably drop to 6th or 7th or maybe out of the ten entirely.

Over Europe over the years there have been a few Idol/The Voice/X-Factor clones, and I am not talking about the competitors like Basim being clones, but the shows being clones of the same format. In the Baltic states there is a cross border show called Fizz Superstar which is an Idol-esque show that has Entrants from Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia and in 2004, two Lithuanian's who individually competed in the 2002 version of Fizz Superstar showed up on the Eurovision stage as a duo. I hate Idolists.

Italy gave us he most covered song in Eurovision history which is also regarded as the second most loved Eurovision song of all time, but Volare (Nel Blu dipinto di blu) never won Eurovision (it came third, THIRD!) and Italy has not won Eurovision as many times as it should have. Twice just highlights how jealous the EBU was of San Remo in the early days of Eurovision. Everyone still loves Italian music though and I am not sure why



Artist: Emma
Song: La Mia Città

I think Emma thinks of her self of being Madonna if Madonna was born 30 years later. Her clip performance looks somewhere between Madonna, Lady Gaga and Pink. The live clip looks a little Avril Lavigne crossed with Courtney Love. The song isn't as bad as those comparisons make it sound though.

I think what I like best about the clip is that that appears that she is wearing tummy tucking dacks. The pink bit, and by that I mean the pick chiffon outfit, does definitely show a high waist as does one of the black and white outfits.

This is one of the better songs this year and plausibly deserves to be better than the bookies rate it, however it feels like it should be a TV show or move theme or even a car commercial. A Toyota Corolla or a Mitsubishi Mirage would work driving around a city to this song. Top ten even if the bookies don't think so

And then there is the other Italy, San Marino. Lets face it, it cannot be a coincidence that San Marino returned to Eurovision the same year that Italy did in 2011

Germany has tried many styles of music to win Eurovision including big band and country, but they have only come out with two gongs. This year they are not trying.



Artist: Elaisa
Song: Is It Right

To answer your question, no it is not right, it is wrong, very wrong. I mean are they trying to put the sexy back into piano accordions? Can we bring back relegation and ban Germany from Eurovision for this shit?

OK when it gets to the bit before the chorus it improves slightly, and a good performance could make this song interesting at least. When the song starts though, I keep thinking it is leading into a Zorba's dance. Maybe that's what they could do...

The bookies don't rate this and neither do I. I think Germany will be in the bottom ¼ of the results, though they should be used to that by now

There has been many accordions featured in Eurovision according to the internet. One to block out of your mind was Latvia in 2001. This finished the night 18th out of 23. How?