Citi Zēni — “Eat Your Salad”
Okay, I’m going to assume that even if you’re slightly aware of what going in the Eurovision fandom, you’ll have heard something about this song, even if you haven’t heard it already. I’m trying to keep this blog as clean as possible, so I won’t quote the specifics, but the first line is a jaw-dropper, followed by others later on which are less shocking because the tone has already been set. In terms of making the most impact within the first 10 seconds, this song wins all the prizes. The broader lyrics are about the virtues of “being green” to “save the planet”, it’s just the way they’re presented which has everyone’s eyebrows raised. Musically, this is a relentlessly upbeat jazzy song, and I like a lot about it on that front, but unless they’ve already written some back-up lyrics, I don’t see how this will be allowed anywhere near a Eurovision stage.

Elīna Gluzunova — “Es pabiju tur”
After a selection of weird and wacky lyrics from the last few songs, one sung in Latvian comes as somewhat of a relief and palate-cleanser. It also helps that Gluzunova’s voice is genuinely a pleasure to listen to, switching from delicate to firm when needed, intimate like a solo performance in the middle of a busy musical. She is carefully accompanied by a mixture of synthetic and analogue instruments, making this something that juries would probably appreciate, even if I suspect the broader public will be looking for a more robust song.