Hi again 
second part of my comments coming up!
10. Belgium: After last year's failure, I was looking forward to RTBF's new contribution, but my expections weren't met. "Wake Up" is an okay composition to me, it's a nostalgic electro-pop song that, as many people said before, suffers from its linearity and a lack of transition from verses to choruses, which makes the latter sound jarring. Although it seems to moderately grow on me, I feel like something was missing to make it complete. Eliot is a cutie and his live performance wasn't as bad as I remembered, yet I didn't find him convincing: I don't know if it's because he wasn't seasoned enough as a singer or if the song wasn't the most suitable choice for him... Something was off imo. Visually, this was rather bad to me: the blue/red colour scheme was always tricky to work with, the two "drummers" were useless af and low-key reminded me of Roberto Bellarosa's weird dancers for some reason...
Their outfits were neither flattering nor pleasing to look at nor strong enough to really make an artistic statement imo: seriously, who thought for a second dark blue and neon orange could look great? Even the triangle platform they were the only ones to use didn't add anything special to the package. Although Belgium's non-qualification didn't surprise me (because there were so many more memorable options in this semi), I kind of expected them to narrowly make it thanks to juries. Well, I was wrong. Belgians can do better tbh.
11. Georgia: Hahaha, that postcard was funny! I like that for the second time in a row now, Georgians have sent interesting songs in their native language. "Keep On Going" isn't an easily digestible composition: the song is very dramatic and people in general are easily off-put by efforts that come across as "aggressive" it seems. Not gonna lie, I'm still trying to tame the song because there are parts I like and others I don't know what to make of yet. With that being said, it's an effort I respect a lot for its musical merit (as often with Georgia). Oto's voice is certainly one of the most beautiful ones of this edition, he has a very rich tone and he can use it to great effect: perfect live performance. Visually, they surpassed themselves with the magnificent storytelling backdrops, the climax to me was when the backing vocalists came closer to Oto (aka Kai's crush) amid flames and smoke. That was chill-inducing. The audience's reaction was louder than I remembered. Despite the non-qualification, this is an effort Georgia should be proud of.
12. Australia: Let's address the elephant in the room. Not only Aussies held their very first NF for the contest, but they picked a song that contrasted big time with their past efforts. "Zero Gravity" brought to the Eurovision posterity its own take on pop-opera, a musical genre I'm always here for. What I like about the composition is that it's gripping from start to finish, it's ever-evolving (there are roughly three different stages in the song) and it's CREATIVE (that chorus was super effective). Kate seems to be a nice person, she's cute. Vocally, she was nowhere near as impressive as some former lyrical contestants imo, but she still did the job to make the song come alive live. Of course, I couldn't remain silent about the staging, which was undoubtedly the most impressive and splending presentation I've ever seen in Eurovision, Aussies elevated their act to such heights that it HAD to do well: the siren-of-outer-space and Statue-of-Liberty-meets-fairy outfits were wonderful, the camera angles and special effects created a perfect illusion, and the space backdrops were so poetically magnificent I'm still astounded. Good thing that they showed the poles the girls were standing on so that people could clearly see it wasn't a music video (hey Ingrosso! ) The whole package rightfully screamed qualification and winner of the semi imo. Kate got me shook.
13. Iceland: Nice to see Iceland get back on track after years of hopeless efforts. Hatari were obviously one of the craziest and most memorable acts of the year. I have mixed feelings about the song: on one hand, I liked that we finally got to hear Icelandic in the contest and I found the instrumental really catchy; and on the other hand, the verses lack a proper melody for me to be on board. Visually, this was a well thought-out feast around their BDSM universe (the outfits, the colour scheme, the flames, and the props were on point): it's not really my thing, but it proved to be accessible and palatable. Still this band freaks me out and their political undertones don't help as far as I'm concerned. However, while trying to be as "objective" as possible, they deserved their success. I hope it won't just be a one-off and we'll have another inspiring entry from Iceland next year.
14. Estonia: I followed Eesti Laul and wasn't here for "Storm" at all: an Avicii 2014 track that doesn't bring anything to the table. Actually, I don't have much to say about the song: clichéd lyrics, trite arrangements and melody... Basicness at its best, at least it kinda catchy, but my expectations in music are bit higher, especially regarding Estonia. I'm not positive about Victor either: his voice is annoying and doesn't suit the chorus, no charisma and a real-pain face that - as far as I'm concerned - definitely put me off. The staging was as "ambitious" as in the NF, the best shot was when Crone turned his back on the crowd. The recorded part looked quite cheap imo, I preferred the former one, but I guess a storm needs to be lil' messy, right? Crone's qualification was a genuine surprise to me, I thought juries had pushed him to the final but it turned out to be the other way round. I didn't expect that, I guess people need their mainstream dance track, even if it's super basic and poorly sung. In the meantime, more interesting entries were left behind. Pity.
15. Portugal: KING OF THE WORLD. Period. I already expressed my opinion about Conan and "Telemoveis": everything looked and sounded high-art (what a change after Estonia!). The song isn't just a song, it's an intimate spiritual experience that puts me into a mystic trance whenever I listen to it. Conan's voice is strangely enthralling and his stage presence is everything. That performance was visually perfect for me: from the daring colour scheme to the avant-garde outfits (that jaw mask though
) to the camera work and arabising backdrops. Also, the choreography gave me life, there aren't enough superlatives for me to describe this effort! Well done Portugal! The results were a disgrace, this package should have been in the final at the very least. It's unbelievable juries ranked Portugal last.
16. Greece: These postcards are amazing, the way they played with colours and space is so great! Was Greece as great? Well, it depends on who you ask!
Katerine's voice is for sure quite peculiar, and I usually love me some voice with character, but hers isn't really for my taste. Still, she hit the notes like the professional she is and gave an enjoyable performance. My issue here is the same as with Finland: the visuals are great, but the song is a let down. I found the staging interesting, that kind of pastel-colours-and-artsy-props-and-embellishments is quite common in indie-ish music videos, but almost never replicated on stage, so I found it refreshing to go that route for Eurovision. Sadly, the most important element -aka the song - didn't deserve all that visual work. To me, "Better Love" is nothing more than a glorified x-factor winner's debut song, I've heard it a million times before. I knew it couldn't fail because this is precisely this type of song that many people like to highlight. And that's okay: just let me sit this one out. xshifty
17. San Marino: first of all, I like the song and I liked Dad in 2016, so we were off to a good start. "Say Na Na Na" is an infectious and delicious feel-good disco party anthem that was perfect to end the first semi imo. Dad was off during one third of the song, but it didn't prevent him from serving fun during three minutes. He was also serving looks business as usual. At first, I was disappointed by the staging because I had watched the MV beforehand and expected something as colourful and dynamic in Tel Aviv. In hindsight though, Serhat made the right choice by limiting the colour scheme (pink, black, white, orange), so that it made the performance look classier and less tacky, and it made every element of the presentation (dancers, props, words on screen) pop as it should. It was so much fun, the backing vocalists were literally me on fire whenever I listen to the song, except that they were in tune. Overall, although unexpected, it was a strong, pleasant and tasteful show closer imo. Dad made it in the end! As anaraqueen would say: talent won! 
And to end my post, here is my ranking of the second half:
1. Portugal
2. San Marino
3. Australia
4. Belgium
5. Georgia
6. Iceland
7. Greece
8. Estonia xhand
Regarding the qualifiers, I would have replaced Czech Republic, Estonia and Greece with Poland, Hungary and Portugal.
second part of my comments coming up!10. Belgium: After last year's failure, I was looking forward to RTBF's new contribution, but my expections weren't met. "Wake Up" is an okay composition to me, it's a nostalgic electro-pop song that, as many people said before, suffers from its linearity and a lack of transition from verses to choruses, which makes the latter sound jarring. Although it seems to moderately grow on me, I feel like something was missing to make it complete. Eliot is a cutie and his live performance wasn't as bad as I remembered, yet I didn't find him convincing: I don't know if it's because he wasn't seasoned enough as a singer or if the song wasn't the most suitable choice for him... Something was off imo. Visually, this was rather bad to me: the blue/red colour scheme was always tricky to work with, the two "drummers" were useless af and low-key reminded me of Roberto Bellarosa's weird dancers for some reason...
Their outfits were neither flattering nor pleasing to look at nor strong enough to really make an artistic statement imo: seriously, who thought for a second dark blue and neon orange could look great? Even the triangle platform they were the only ones to use didn't add anything special to the package. Although Belgium's non-qualification didn't surprise me (because there were so many more memorable options in this semi), I kind of expected them to narrowly make it thanks to juries. Well, I was wrong. Belgians can do better tbh.11. Georgia: Hahaha, that postcard was funny!
I like that for the second time in a row now, Georgians have sent interesting songs in their native language. "Keep On Going" isn't an easily digestible composition: the song is very dramatic and people in general are easily off-put by efforts that come across as "aggressive" it seems. Not gonna lie, I'm still trying to tame the song because there are parts I like and others I don't know what to make of yet. With that being said, it's an effort I respect a lot for its musical merit (as often with Georgia). Oto's voice is certainly one of the most beautiful ones of this edition, he has a very rich tone and he can use it to great effect: perfect live performance. Visually, they surpassed themselves with the magnificent storytelling backdrops, the climax to me was when the backing vocalists came closer to Oto (aka Kai's crush) amid flames and smoke. That was chill-inducing. The audience's reaction was louder than I remembered. Despite the non-qualification, this is an effort Georgia should be proud of. 12. Australia: Let's address the elephant in the room. Not only Aussies held their very first NF for the contest, but they picked a song that contrasted big time with their past efforts. "Zero Gravity" brought to the Eurovision posterity its own take on pop-opera, a musical genre I'm always here for. What I like about the composition is that it's gripping from start to finish, it's ever-evolving (there are roughly three different stages in the song) and it's CREATIVE (that chorus was super effective). Kate seems to be a nice person, she's cute. Vocally, she was nowhere near as impressive as some former lyrical contestants imo, but she still did the job to make the song come alive live. Of course, I couldn't remain silent about the staging, which was undoubtedly the most impressive and splending presentation I've ever seen in Eurovision, Aussies elevated their act to such heights that it HAD to do well: the siren-of-outer-space and Statue-of-Liberty-meets-fairy outfits were wonderful, the camera angles and special effects created a perfect illusion, and the space backdrops were so poetically magnificent I'm still astounded.
Good thing that they showed the poles the girls were standing on so that people could clearly see it wasn't a music video (hey Ingrosso! ) The whole package rightfully screamed qualification and winner of the semi imo. Kate got me shook.13. Iceland: Nice to see Iceland get back on track after years of hopeless efforts. Hatari were obviously one of the craziest and most memorable acts of the year. I have mixed feelings about the song: on one hand, I liked that we finally got to hear Icelandic in the contest and I found the instrumental really catchy; and on the other hand, the verses lack a proper melody for me to be on board. Visually, this was a well thought-out feast around their BDSM universe (the outfits, the colour scheme, the flames, and the props were on point): it's not really my thing, but it proved to be accessible and palatable. Still this band freaks me out and their political undertones don't help as far as I'm concerned. However, while trying to be as "objective" as possible, they deserved their success. I hope it won't just be a one-off and we'll have another inspiring entry from Iceland next year.
14. Estonia: I followed Eesti Laul and wasn't here for "Storm" at all: an Avicii 2014 track that doesn't bring anything to the table. Actually, I don't have much to say about the song: clichéd lyrics, trite arrangements and melody... Basicness at its best, at least it kinda catchy, but my expectations in music are bit higher, especially regarding Estonia. I'm not positive about Victor either: his voice is annoying and doesn't suit the chorus, no charisma and a real-pain face that - as far as I'm concerned - definitely put me off. The staging was as "ambitious" as in the NF, the best shot was when Crone turned his back on the crowd. The recorded part looked quite cheap imo, I preferred the former one, but I guess a storm needs to be lil' messy, right? Crone's qualification was a genuine surprise to me, I thought juries had pushed him to the final but it turned out to be the other way round. I didn't expect that, I guess people need their mainstream dance track, even if it's super basic and poorly sung. In the meantime, more interesting entries were left behind. Pity.
15. Portugal: KING OF THE WORLD. Period. I already expressed my opinion about Conan and "Telemoveis": everything looked and sounded high-art (what a change after Estonia!). The song isn't just a song, it's an intimate spiritual experience that puts me into a mystic trance whenever I listen to it. Conan's voice is strangely enthralling and his stage presence is everything. That performance was visually perfect for me: from the daring colour scheme to the avant-garde outfits (that jaw mask though
) to the camera work and arabising backdrops. Also, the choreography gave me life, there aren't enough superlatives for me to describe this effort! Well done Portugal! The results were a disgrace, this package should have been in the final at the very least. It's unbelievable juries ranked Portugal last.16. Greece: These postcards are amazing, the way they played with colours and space is so great! Was Greece as great? Well, it depends on who you ask!
Katerine's voice is for sure quite peculiar, and I usually love me some voice with character, but hers isn't really for my taste. Still, she hit the notes like the professional she is and gave an enjoyable performance. My issue here is the same as with Finland: the visuals are great, but the song is a let down. I found the staging interesting, that kind of pastel-colours-and-artsy-props-and-embellishments is quite common in indie-ish music videos, but almost never replicated on stage, so I found it refreshing to go that route for Eurovision. Sadly, the most important element -aka the song - didn't deserve all that visual work. To me, "Better Love" is nothing more than a glorified x-factor winner's debut song, I've heard it a million times before. I knew it couldn't fail because this is precisely this type of song that many people like to highlight. And that's okay: just let me sit this one out. xshifty17. San Marino: first of all, I like the song and I liked Dad in 2016, so we were off to a good start.
"Say Na Na Na" is an infectious and delicious feel-good disco party anthem that was perfect to end the first semi imo. Dad was off during one third of the song, but it didn't prevent him from serving fun during three minutes. He was also serving looks business as usual. At first, I was disappointed by the staging because I had watched the MV beforehand and expected something as colourful and dynamic in Tel Aviv. In hindsight though, Serhat made the right choice by limiting the colour scheme (pink, black, white, orange), so that it made the performance look classier and less tacky, and it made every element of the presentation (dancers, props, words on screen) pop as it should. It was so much fun, the backing vocalists were literally me on fire whenever I listen to the song, except that they were in tune. Overall, although unexpected, it was a strong, pleasant and tasteful show closer imo. Dad made it in the end! As anaraqueen would say: talent won! And to end my post, here is my ranking of the second half:
1. Portugal
2. San Marino
3. Australia
4. Belgium
5. Georgia
6. Iceland
7. Greece
8. Estonia xhand
Regarding the qualifiers, I would have replaced Czech Republic, Estonia and Greece with Poland, Hungary and Portugal.
Moving on to the second semi today. 
