Odds Review #6: Week Ending 09/02
Ireland started the weekend off by selecting Emmy after she gave the most likeable performance at Eurosong, seeing off Samantha Mumba and bad loser Bobbi. It was the first and not the last entry result to cause a bit of optimism on the exchange with Ireland shortening into 50s. Finland were able to leapfrog Ukraine in both the odds and song selection order with Vidbir dragging on for an eternity. Erika Vikman's ICH KOMME has got the market more excited than for anything else confirmed yet, currently sat in the high teens. Ziferblat winning through meanwhile has sent Ukraine spiralling in the odds. Latvia's choice of Tautumeitas sees them deep in triple figures whilst Malta were rescued from that fate by deciding to serve Kant. They have been hovering in the low 30s mostly today.
Once again I'll be working through this backlog in the komming week so stay tuned for my full thoughts on all those.
Elsewhere we have some song releases and Denmark will once again be on the qualification borderline likely and no more drifting to 100+. Sissal is the early favourite there and looks to be facing the most competition from the returning Tim Schou and Adel The Second.
Armenia have also released their songs earlier this evening and have remained around 30-50 loosely. I'd seriously recommend Flora Bikchachyan in terms of highest ceiling whilst Athena Manoukian is the early fan favourite because returning name + "queen". sigh.
In the ongoing national finals, what can only be a faulty bot has took a liking to something in Lithuania - Katarsis apparently - with them being matched in single figures and settling in the 30s. Over in Sweden, Klara Hammarstrom was the victim of a 15-1 upset in failing to win heat two of Melodifestivalen which will see her slip right back down in the odds and so far zero opposition to Måns has emerged.
In the rumour mill the UK currently have a Schrodinger's entry with Remember Monday being seen as the act but also remaining unconfirmed. How many sources this consensus has come from is unclear. If this were another broadcaster I'd suggest they might be throwing names out just to gauge the general reaction (not a great one) before deciding. This saga might not be entirely over as you might expect them to just announce it at this point (a La France). It will be very anticlimactic if they just get revealed in two-three weeks anyway.
Azerbaijan confirmed their act will be Mamagama which was met by a collective shrug whilst artists for the anticipated German national final have been released. I don't have much insight to offer on that one and like most am waiting for the songs.
Finally, we also got a glimpse of an act I was quite keen on in Adonxs’ accoustic version of his entry ‘Kiss Kiss, Goodbye’. In that form, it was a very solid ballad and he’s rightly come crashing back down in the odds. The actual version is promised to be more energetic and we’ll see if that can match the renewed expectation here. Perhaps Czechia have stumbled on a solid release strategy after all…
The highlight of 'national final' season, Sanremo, begins in Italy on tuesday and concludes late on Saturday night, when Estonia, Lithuania and Norway also select. Poland bring us some valentines day action before that on the Friday and Armenia will round of the week on the Sunday. We also have a couple of heats in Germany to fill out the week whilst Melfest of course rolls on too.
That's at least 6 confirmed entries heading our way in the next week so a very busy one is in store yet again.
