From our special correspondent in Malmö (Sweden)
If we had to summarize the second semi-final of Eurovision 2024 which took place this Thursday at the Malmö Arena in one word, we would choose “bouncy”. The majority of the sixteen songs in the competition invited the audience to jump and those who spared their least effort made a jump in the final.
For the Netherlands, Europapa brought out his gabber rhythm (a subgenre of techno) for an express cardio session, while the duo Ladaniva, based in Lille and representing Armenia, wowed the audience with their infectious energy on Jake. Zariby star Marina Satti, a piece generous with swaying hips and a daring change of rhythms, also validated its ticket for the final.
A firefighter “Firefighter”
The same goes for the unclassifiable (and unpronounceable) (nendest) narkootikumidest ei tea me (küll) midagi by 5miinust & Puuluup under the Estonian banner – we can’t tell if it’s so cheesy that it becomes cool or if we have a nerdy notion of cool. They were in any case more original than the Georgian Nutsa Buzaladze who sang a Firefighter in a literally firefighter setting with its flames in computer-generated images. But it still works for her too.
The return of hype of nineties sounds brought luck to the Austrian Kaleen who, with her We Will Raveresurrected for three minutes the spirit of Haddaway or Dr. Alban. The Code was especially bouncy for its performer, Lea Suisse Nemo, who is among the favorites of this edition. The non-binary artist chained together sung passages and rapped moments while challenging his sense of balance on a kind of giant spinning top… The Norwegians from Gåte, with Ulvehamthey remained more statistical but the singer’s voice had the potential to take your breath away as much as a trampoline session.
Hurricane of Eden Golan for Israel and Hollow from Dons for Latvia, two (power) ballads, seemed almost counter-programming, that did not prevent them from qualifying. But in this same register Before The Party is Over of the Belgian Mustii and Sand of Saba for Denmark were left behind.
No pedestal for Czechia
In the eliminated camp, the latter were joined by the Maltese Sarah Bonnici who would undoubtedly have had more chances if Eurovision had been a choreography competition, because on her song Loop, she mainly delivered a dance demonstration. Czech Aiko sang Pedestal but it will not rise any higher. His journey ends halfway with a track with radio rock energy. It jumps but it stays in place.
Bad news also for the Spanish group Megara which represented San Marino and which, despite a well-designed scenography offering a riot of pink and black, did not collect enough votes to return on Saturday. The Albanian Besa did not get the expected shock either with Titan.
This semi-final was also an opportunity to discover the performances of three of the automatically qualified countries (see box), including France. End of the wait for fans of Slimane and the French team who were eager to discover what he had prepared for the competition with My love.