Finally it was time to judge the 26 songs that will fight for
the win in the 2023 Eurovision song contest. Well really only a handful of these songs have a real chance of winning, but if you’re in the starting field you can at least theoretically still win and that’s jury final, so you have to deliver the goods last night as well.

Melody 1 – Austria –

Still wondering why on earth they replaced the cool grown men from the video with slim young female dancers? However, they have a catchy melody for them and for them to make an old poet known again to a wider audience. Vocally, what we hear is perfectly fine.

Melody 2 – Portugal –

Red is really the overall tone here and they have thrown out the furniture from the national final and chosen to use the stage to an even greater extent. What happens on stage is fierce, but perhaps feels a little old-fashioned in between all the modern music. Our Portuguese friends raise the temperature in the hall properly on a cold May evening and they should be thankful for that. It is also vocally stable.

Melody 3 – Switzerland –

Finally there is a ballad and we can see that someone has spent money on a well-directed stage show. This is simply fun to look at and even if, on the whole, not very many colours are used, it is a great visual experience. It is delivered on the vocal level and this is one of the better ballads this year, if you ask me.

Melody 4 – Poland –

Next up we are served a summer feeling on stage and I think our Polish friend manages it quite effectively, even in slightly shaky English. There is a charm and lightness in the song and she is smart enough not to challenge herself vocally and then this becomes something to live with. Someone fix me a drink, because the song isn’t that interesting and original then.

Melody 5 – Serbia –

We are sailing into a more gloomy landscape and not even with our Serbian friends have they made such big changes since the national final. But this comes across as cool, although not sure how many people find this more weird than cool. I guess I also find the song a bit introspective as well, but in a positive and distinctive way. We give plus points for gloomy vocals in a song like this.

Melody 6 – France –

The next time you look in the dictionary it will be behind the word delicious – see La Zarra. This is so good and relatively delicious, but I think it works for the big gold medal. Well, the aesthetics from the video have been carried over with quite good elegance to the stage and it works quite well in my opinion. But, we somehow don’t quite get the icing on the cake in place.

Melody 7 – Cyprus –

Someone has obviously not skipped the daily trip to the gym. I think the powerful ballad is performed in a nice and strong way. But, as usual with mass-produced Swedish songs, it’s not terribly original. Anyway, most of it is rectified by the fact that it delivers such good vocals and with such good intensity as this and it rarely hurts that it is performed by a handsome fellow.

Melody 8 – Spain –

Perhaps the most ethnic contribution of the year and you feel the intensity of the performance deep inside your body, because that is how intense it is. I like this quite a lot, but I’m afraid that most people will feel that this will be a lot of screaming and far too little proper melody. This could go either way, I fear that the lower regions of the results list will be visited by this song.

Melody 9 – Sweden –

This is so classy and artistic and unique that it almost looks like the other entries haven’t done their job. This song still oozes winning. I am bewitched by the song and by the artist and she sings impeccably. Can’t quite see what or rather who is going to scalp this lady in ESC. But, it’s a bit of a cheat that they have to take so long to set up on stage then.

Melody 10 – Albania –

Our Albanian friends deliver as almost always on vocals and this year is no exception. And as regular suppliers of dramatic Balkan ballads, they do not disappoint this year either. There is a big lift in the song when the tempo is turned up, and that is possibly what took them to the final. It will be quite pleasant and festive in the end. Not the world’s most exciting song, though.

Melody 11 – Italy –

I am a well-married man and shouldn’t fall in love with anyone else, but with Marco the man I happily make an exception and in fact I think my husband would understand that. It is sung with such intensity that I just have to like it. Some people obviously have the quality that they can make gold out of what should be musical gray stone, but this song is a gem of a song.

Melody 12 – Estonia –

Finally, there is a song that is quite a straight forward big and powerful ballad performed in a classically fine way, unfortunately for our Estonian friend right behind an even better ballad. However, it is delivered with the right intensity in relation to the song and she has one of the year’s best and strongest voices without a doubt. But, in a song that wouldn’t have hurt to be a little more original. Maybe not possible to cross the bridge to a top 10 placing.

Melody 13 – Finland –

Those who thought this would be a heated affair on stage can relax, it will be. There is a lot of energy here and manufacturers of pallets have finally got their product out into the entertainment industry. This fellow has certainly not opted out of the match, here it is Finnish sisu so that will do and more. Delightful madness notwithstanding, he probably gets pulled for a slightly weak vocal with some. Anyway, is there a Swedish scalp he’s going to take before the night is over?

Melody 14 – Czech Republic –

Back when colour TV was relatively new, it was said that pink was a pleasant colour to use on costumes. Our Czech friends look like a bunch of sextuplets and they put on a great show that emphasizes the content of the song, without you fully understanding what they are singing about. Vocally okay, but the song gets a bit too messy for me to fall for it completely and I’m not sure if the colour pink radiates strength enough.

Melody 15 – Australia –

The musical 80s were knocking and we are happy to let them in with electro-rock is a genre that is both tough and catchy. The vocalist delivers the goods and then there is little to complain about. But, they probably put on a little too much on stage, and it can sound as if they haven’t quite decided what type of song to play, so they took a bit of everything. And which 80s artist is the vocalist’s voice similar to, I wonder.

Melody 16 – Belgium –

This song is catchy so it fits and I also think that our Belgian friend almost manages to have the same energy level in the performance as it is in the song. And a joy that he brings out his choristers on the stage where they belong. And with so many great vocalists on the same stage, this just has to be similar vocals, with lots of splash. We have to include a gay disco song every year, it doesn’t hurt.

Melody 17 – Armenia –

Psychedelic colours are obviously supposed to get us hooked into liking this, and there’s something seductive about it. Until suddenly there is a rap part that turns into a dance break that spoils a good bit. Fortunately, the tempo slows down again, but not enough to make it one of the better songs this evening. Great vocals, and it’s needed, the song seems strenuous to sing.

Melody 18 – Moldova –

Finally comes the ethno song that has to be with years that makes most of us think about what we see as the bedrock of ESC songs. Here we get large doses of both music, clothes and hairstyles. The presence of coincidence means that it is sung just before the country many would have thought this song was from. Appropriately intense vocals must be in a song like this and it almost is, it is a little shaky at times.

Melody 19 – Ukraine –

One of the coolest songs visually this year and it doesn’t hurt that the song is pretty cool too. There is a strength and underlying gloom that makes this song great in my eyes. I think they also have the coolest male costumes tonight. But, I don’t think the song has the necessary momentum to win, for that it is probably a little too anonymous in many people’s eyes.

Melody 20 – Norway –

This looks fatter than it did in the Norwegian final, but the performance hasn’t exactly gone on a diet. I like that more colours come in towards the end, but perhaps I would have liked the song to have stood out even more compared to the Norwegian final, the upgrade was not as big as I might have hoped, but God forbid it looks cool enough. And she sings quite wonderfully and delivers the goods almost to the tune of a thousand, this definitely gets the grade passed. And she oozes self-confidence on stage, then you always look good and then it deserves the top score.

Melody 21 – Germany –

The hard rock song this year and for a closet hard rocker like me this works almost like just a beating. This is as rough and tough as such songs should sound and I love the mix between rough vocals and the slightly toned down vocals in parts of the song. Nice to have something that blows out the earwax in between, but I think that the vocalist has a slightly flat and bland vocal at times. And the song is a bit messy for my taste too.

Melody 22 – Lithuania –

There are always a good number of vocally strong big songs from the extended ballad landscape. Our Lithuanian friend gets room for melancholic undertones before we get a touch of gospel that lifts the song as well. Impeccable and strong vocals add up plus the fact that the choristers are on stage as they should be on all the contributions. And, once again, a good vocalist manages to make a musical gray stone shine quite well.

Melody 23 – Israel –

Here the song starts with a clever use of a light box before the song takes off and becomes more dance-friendly. Reacts a little to the intense use of choristers on tape and the presentation of five dancers without a microphone. And no, I want to hear you sing, not see you wiggle around on the floor in dance spasms. Yes, the lady can sing quite well, but this ends up being a bit too much screaming and little wool and such performances drag the competition we love in the wrong direction, if you ask me, in the last minute of the song all the vocals come from a tape, not from the artist .

Melody 24 – Slovenia –

All the songs that had languages ​​other than English in them went to the final from semi-final 1. And our Slovenian friends followed up that feat by making it to the final. They have an energy level that suits the song and enough charm and pull in the song that this can appeal to a sufficient number of people. And the vocals are impeccable to my ears. If there is anything called feelgood rock, it must be this.

Melody 25 – Croatia –

The craziest song of the year has taken the stage and those expecting madness get an overdose of it here. Most overdoses are of the negative kind, but we just have to accept this one. I think the whole performance oozes a creative madness that actually hides a serious message. It’s always nice to see men of my own age take it like this, my dream of ESC participation can perhaps be brought forward again. Vocally, it’s within.

Melody 26 – Great Britain –

As the last participant in the final, we are at least guaranteed an ending with a high party factor. A bit of a shame for her home country’s hopes that she appears a bit unattractive and definitely not quite up to par vocally either. This could have been a banger of an ending with the right artist, now it’s more relaxed stuff. But, the audience in the hall takes enough of it anyway and them about it.

 

I’m leaning towards our Swedish friends taking home the victory, but I’ll certainly be happier if Finland, France or Italy do it.

Norway can certainly aim for their best position for a long time, up to first place the distance is probably too great I’m afraid, but Alessandra still has one day and occasionally you can take them on a long sprint.