Stelian — “Remember”
Very serious ballad that takes itself very seriously, but that’s okay. I think I’ve heard songs on the Eurovision which sounded like this one, which is a point in its favour. Unfortunately for Stelian, they didn’t do particularly well. The only thing wrong with this song is that we’ve heard this style and structure many times before, and while I’m sure there are ways the formula can be tinkered with to make a song engaging, this isn’t it — too much a case of a song-by-numbers for me to get into.

VANU — “Never Give Up”
This is one of those songs where the lyrics are so engaging you forget about the music. I’m going to assume that this is not a thought experiment or “character” song, and hence Vanu is singing about the death of his brother. The vocals certainly are heartfelt, and this in itself elevates the song to a higher level, despite the instrument being decent but nothing spectacular. It’s worth noting that when you can write a song with this kind of personal element to it, the chances of it connecting with people is so much higher than just another love song, of which we’ve heard plenty of examples so far.