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Eurovision 2015 Semifinal Two: Post-Mortem Written by on May 21, 2015 | 8 Comments

And that’s it! We’ve got our final ten qualifiers, and our lineup for Saturday night (although, of course, the official running order will have to wait until the Powers That Be do their number crunching and determine which order would optimize the Grand Final’s potential to create the best show possible).

Let’s take a look at tonight’s results, shall we, and the qualification prowess of our 2015 grand finalists.

  • Lithuania: 6 of 11, first since “Something” in 2013.
  • Montenegro: 2 of 7, second consecutive qualification.
  • Norway: 7 of 9, fourth consecutive qualification.
  • Israel: 5 of 11, first since “Milim” in 2010.
  • Latvia: 4 of 11, first since “Wolves of the Sea” in 2008.
  • Azerbaijan: Perfect qualification record maintained, 7 of 7.
  • Sweden: 8 of 9, fifth consecutive qualification.
  • Cyprus: 4 of 10, first since “La La Love” in 2012.
  • Slovenia: 4 of 12, second consecutive qualification.
  • Poland: 3 of 9, second consecutive qualification.

Let’s take a look at the non-qualifiers from this evening:

  • Ireland: Their record is now 5 of 9, with their second Final miss in a row.
  • San Marino: The microstate’s record is now 1 of 6.
  • Malta: 5 of 10, and their first non-qualification since 2011.
  • Portugal: 3 of 11, meaning we haven’t seen Portugal in a Final since 2010.
  • Czech Republic: 0 of 4, making them the only nation participating at Eurovision to never have been seen on Saturday night.
  • Iceland: 7 of 11, marking their first Final miss since 2007.
  • Switzerland: The nation’s record is now 3 of 11.

Drawn into the First Half of the Final are:

  • Israel, Cyprus, Lithuania, Norway, Slovenia, and Sweden.

Drawn into the Second Half are:

  • Azerbaijan, Latvia, Montenegro, and Poland.

As for some other stats dug up from this evening’s results:

  • It appears that only three songs qualified from songs 1-8, and seven qualified from songs 9-17.
  • Out of the five duets shown tonight, three qualified (Lithuania, Norway, and Slovenia), while two (San Marino, Czech Republic) were left by the wayside.
  • Out of the nations of Former Yugoslavia, only Macedonia will not be seen on Saturday.
  • This is the first time since 2002 that all three Baltic states will be competing in the Final.
  • The average BPM for the qualifiers in this semifinal is 99, as opposed to 90 for the non-qualifiers.
  • All of tonight’s qualifiers took part in the Eurovision in Concert preview event in Amsterdam.
  • Two songs were performed in languages other than English. One qualified (Montenegro), while the other did not (Portugal).
  • Out of the songs with familial connections, all qualified: Montenegro (Knez’s daughter on backup), Slovenia (Maraaya are made up of a married couple, Marjetka and Raay), and Poland (the song was composed by Monika’s husband, Jakub “Kuba” Raczyński)
  • Many of the songs performed in Semifinal Two were composed by Eurovision veterans. Of those songs, only San Marino’s “Chain of Light”, by Ralph Siegel, missed out on qualification.

 

(Correction: an earlier version of this article put the wrong past qualification rate for Poland. Please pardon the error!)

About The Author: Samantha Ross

Vaguely aware of the Contest since childhood, a fanatic since 2008, and an ESC blogger since 2009, Samantha Ross made her first sojourn to Eurovision in 2011, and was quickly welcomed into the fold at ESC Insight. Over the years, she's been interviewed by BBC World News, SVT, LBC Radio, and many others. She was a semi-regular contributor to Oystermouth Radio's weekly dedicated Eurovision program, "Wales 12 Points". Furthermore, Samantha contributed to BBC Radio 2's coverage of the Copenhagen contest, and was a member of the official JuniorEurovision.tv web team in 2014 and 2015. She also worked as a member of the Bulgarian Delegation, serving as Assistant Head of Press in Kyiv and Lisbon. She is also the creator of the podcast "12 Points from America", an irreverent look at Eurovision from a US point of view. When not at Eurovision, Samantha is a regular on the Twin Cities pub quiz circuit, and has volunteered as a moderator for the local high school quiz bowl for over ten years. She lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota, but is wistfully looking for opportunities to get geographically closer to the heart of the Eurovision action. You can follow Samantha on Twitter (@escinsider).

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Have Your Say

8 responses to “Eurovision 2015 Semifinal Two: Post-Mortem”

  1. Ben Cook says:

    Poland is 3/9 no?

  2. You know what, you’re right, Ben! (Obviously, the cold meds I’ve been on have been addling my brain-pan a bit.)

  3. HarrietKrohn says:

    I wonder if you can really call Slovenia a duet? I mean, does Raay even sing? I know Maraaya is a duo (or two-person band?), but I don’t think anyone perceives them as a duet on stage, unlike, say, Norway or Estonia or San Marino. Doesn’t a duet require two voices singing?

  4. Jake says:

    Samantha
    You forgot to mention that all Western European countries from this Semi were non-qualifiers. Even Iceland is more Western of the Nordics combined with Denmark who also fell in Semi 1.
    In fact, the only Western country to qualify this year to the final from Semis would be Belgium.
    When you start opening the Eurovision contest to non-European countries and them giving them free path to Final while western countries fail year after year, you will start to see Western countries leave.
    Will not be surprised if Czech Rep, Portugal, San Marino step away next year.

  5. Marc says:

    Great job in giving this analysis. Love it.

    Plus, so excited that all three Baltics are in the final for the first time since 2002. They always manage to provide something… awkwardly different, but engaging.

  6. Fatima says:

    Calm down Jake. First I would regard Norway as ‘Western’. Bergen was further west than Zurich the last time I looked at a map. If you are going to regard Cyprus as an ‘Eastern’ state, you can’t have it both ways.
    Second most of western Europe is comprised of the big five, who are in the final regardless.
    Finally, have you considered that one reason the EBU invited Australia was the very lack of enthusiasm from the west which you bemoan. If all eligible EBU members entered (including Luxembourg, Monaco and Andorra) then there wouldn’t be room at the table.

  7. Jake says:

    Fatima
    I am incredibly calm. Don’t worry. I was just stating facts. I don’t consider Cyprus “eastern” but certainly it’s not part of Western Europe– I mean even Turkey and Ukraine are mapwise more Western than Cyprus. Also I’m not making generalizations that Western countries don’t have neighbors or diaspora–they simply just didn’t qualify this year. It’ll be a year with only one Western country that did not automatically qualify. That’s all. Also, Norway is a Northern country.

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