Farida — “Dangerous”
The ballad of semi-final 2, what this song does particularly well is build tension on the way to each chorus, complete with a brief moment of silence before the instruments and Farida’s vocals crash in. Yes, there’s a piano with lush background instrumentation, and Farida sings with the kind of intimacy and skill you’d expect for this kind of song. But when you’re listening, it’s the way the music reinforces Farida’s warning that she’s “dangerous” that grabs you and focuses your attention.

Daniel Lukas — “Kvelertak”
And then to complete our journey through musical genres in this semi-final, we have a dance track — sung in Norwegian, which is always a refreshing change. This one takes the form of synth-pop in cruise control mode. This is not entirely a criticism, more an observation of how tightly this is produced from beginning to end. The advantage of this is that everything is smooth and in its right place. Lukas’s vocals are in balance with the music and there’s nothing divisive or to dislike. My concern is that it’s a bit generic and predictable as a result.