Patrick O’Sullivan — “One Night, One Kiss, One Promise”
If there’s one thing you can say about this song, it’s that it does its best to be a big synth pop anthem. Whether it succeeds is a question for everyone to answer individually, but I’m surprising myself by saying that it mostly works for me. The lyrics are clear and while not the most original you’ll hear this year, the refrain “one night, one kiss, one promise” will do well in a stadium. Sometimes I think O’Sullivan could reel back his vocals just a bit to keep his voice from straining, but I get that’s it’s part of the package, especially given the big note at the end of the song. There’s certainly a formula behind the way the track is structured, but I think it’s hidden in plain sight by the dynamic energy of the vocals.

Miles Graham — “Yeah, We’re Gonna Get Out Of It”
This song was mired in controversy early on when the lyrics video included a drawing of George Floyd next to the lyric “We’ll make sure you’re gonna breathe”, which understandably upset many people, leading to the video being edited to blur out Floyd’s image. (As an aside, it was spelled “breath” instead of “breathe” which was a bizarre error coming from an English-speaking country.) In any case, it’s undeniably a pandemic song, which is going to be divisive in itself — some people will appreciate the sentiment, others will have been looking forward to Eurovision as an escape from the difficult times we’re living in. I’m not keen on the children’s voices which accompany Graham at various parts in the song — there’s too much in this which feels like an appeal to the emotions. As you can see, I’ve spent a paragraph talking about the song without really discussing the music (basic hip-hop style beats with lots of brass instruments) and the vocals (fine, except for the children). This doesn’t bode well for its chances, although admittedly most of the people voting in Eurosong won’t know the backstory.