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Our next country looms on the horizon, but before we can welcome them to our “Expert” Panel, we must first take a look at the reaction to the last. How did #YOU feel about the entry from Australia?

ApEsc (Forum) – “About a month ago I said that Australia and Spain are my favorites, in a kind of draw, and as of now, after the show in Israel, Australia is completely in my first place by a relatively large margin.”

Iker (Forum) – “For me, this is the quintessence of the generic song and I dislike the Australian entry. It’s likely to finish high though.”

Howard A. (Facebook) – “When I first heard that this year’s Australian song was called ‘We Got Love’, I had a good idea of what it would be like. I reckon I got it about 95% right. ;-)”

So some good and bad reviews across the board for the song and this is reflected in the score; Australia’s final tally from the ‘televoters’ is 57 points. We’ll find out how this stacks up later on. Next up, it’s Slovenia!

36. SLOVENIA – Lea Sirk – Hvala, ne!

9 points

Calvin – “Slovenia are one of a small handful of countries this year who actually use a drop quite well. After the prechorus, the aggressive, loud, powerful cry of “hvala ne, ne!” really stands out; it’s the best part of a very strong entry. Lea is a really compelling performer who brings something fun and agreeable to the song as well; she seems to be enjoying the song a lot, and it comes across to me as a listener. Really strong entry overall.”

8 points

Zack – “Sassy despite its rather barebones structure and backing. I feel like a revamp could have really helped this song go to the next level. Still, Lea is a strong and likable singer. I remember her vividly standing out back in 2014 as backup for Tinkara Kovac. I’m overjoyed to see her get her chance as the lead.”

7 points

Efe – “Hvala YES! I can imagine myself and colleagues (including Matt) dancing crazy in the EuroClub with that song! It looks like Lea doesn’t have as many fans like other favorite countries but she may be lucky in the second semi-final. Fingers crossed for her! Love you Lea, good luck!”

Sean – “This is one of those songs that just really comes to life in a live setting! It’s a really quirky and modern entry from Slovenia which I did not expect. Lea Sirk is clearly a very confident and sassy performer, perfect for the energy of this song. It took a while to grow on me and it’s not going to break records in Lisbon but it’s a welcome addition to the pack for sure!”

Stefan – “It wasn’t one of my favorites, but I knew it had high chances to win. Also I am not digging the lyrics, I was hoping for a translation, since most of the people wouldn’t understand it. Everybody is just into the tune and repeating Hvala, ne. The performance at EMA was just OK, so I am also hoping to see something new in Lisbon. Let’s see how it goes…”

6 points

Matt – “Definitely something I enjoy enough, not hitting the skip button. Now there are several things that bother me about this, the biggest issue I have is that I wish that she’d “sing” more. It feels a bit talky and I get it, that’s intentional. But it kinda rubs me the wrong way. It is fun for what it is though.”

5 points

Christian – “It has been my skip song so far this year but of course gave it a few spins again to review it. This kind of electro dub step has a hard time at ESC just think of Lithuania 2014 “Attention”. I am exited to hear the good arguments of the fans of the song. For me it is just a matter of personal taste but the genre does not appeal to me at all. I love that this song is sung in native tongue and I like that this genre is presented to give a wide appeal in music taste.”

3 points

Connor – “This is a weird entry to me, and I think my biggest issue is that the vocals and the backing track seem to be competing with each other for 3 minutes. Add in the really disappointing chorus, and we’ve got a meh song with picture frames and a bright LED staging. I’m not sure how well Slovenia will do this year, but they won’t pull an Omar and come last. They could surprise me though.”

2 points

David – “This song could’ve been so good, but there is just one point, that ruins is so much for me. Whenever the song builds up more and more, then the beat drops, and that’s where getting completely off. It doesn’t happen only once, but multiple times during the song, and I’m honestly surprised how much it damages the song in my ears. A sweet dance track, that just get’s completely ruined. I’ve tried to like it so much, but I just can’t.”

0 points

Robert – “Flashy lights and noise. This song has a decent 15 seconds in the build up to the chorus, but everything else about it is just so trashy. I have no respect for this entry at all. The singing is hardly anything exceptional, but there’s so little about it that would ever appeal to me. There is a horrific drop in the middle – what’s clever or good about it?! Anyone can pause! Nope, definitely not for me this year.”

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A love or hate entry from Slovenia this year then it seems, which results in a final jury score of 54 points! Will this improve much with the televote? We will see tomorrow… but for now here are the current scores!

  1. 🇮🇱 Israel – Netta – Toy (157)
  2. 🇫🇷 France – Madame Monsieur – Mercy (153)
  3. 🇦🇹 Austria – Cesár Sampson – Nobody But You (153)
  4. 🇧🇬 Bulgaria – Equinox – Bones (153)
  5. 🇲🇰 (FYR) Macedonia – Eye Cue – Lost and Found (153)
  6. 🇵🇹 Portugal – Cláudia Pascoal – O jardim (144)
  7. 🇮🇹 Italy – Ermal Meta & Fabrizio Moro – Non mi avete fatto niente (142)
  8. 🇫🇮 Finland – Saara Aalto – Monsters (142)
  9. 🇪🇪 Estonia – Elina Nechayeva – La Forza (139)
  10. 🇳🇱 Netherlands – Waylon – Outlaw in ’em (137)
  11. 🇨🇾 Cyprus – Eleni Foureira – Fuego (130)
  12. 🇦🇺 Australia – Jessica Mauboy – We Got Love (130, lower televote score)
  13. 🇨🇭 Switzerland – Zibbz – Stones (129)
  14. 🇭🇺 Hungary – AWS – Viszlát nyár (127)
  15. 🇷🇴 Romania – The Humans – Goodbye (127)
  16. 🇨🇿 Czech Republic – Mikolas Josef – Lie to Me (120)
  17. 🇩🇪 Germany – Michael Schulte – You Let Me Walk Alone (120)
  18. 🇸🇪 Sweden – Benjamin Ingrosso – Dance You Off (118)
  19. 🇦🇲 Armenia – Sevak Khanagyan – Qami (116)
  20. 🇦🇿 Azerbaijan – Aisel – X My Heart (116)
  21. 🇦🇱 Albania – Eugent Bushpepa – Mall (115)
  22. 🇭🇷 Croatia – Franka – Crazy (113)
  23. 🇪🇸 Spain – Alfred & Amaia – Tu canción (112)
  24. 🇷🇸 Serbia – Sanja Ilić & Balkanika – Nova deca (109)
  25. 🇲🇹 Malta – Christabelle – Taboo (107)
  26. 🇱🇻 Latvia – Laura Rizzotto – Funny Girl (107)
  27. 🇬🇧 United Kingdom – SuRie – Storm (104)
  28. 🇬🇪 Georgia – Iriao – For You (104)
  29. 🇱🇹 Lithuania – Ieva Zasimauskaite – When We’re Old (102)
  30. 🇧🇾 Belarus – Alekseev – Forever (96)
  31. 🇲🇩 Moldova – DoReDos – My Lucky Day (96)
  32. 🇳🇴 Norway – Alexander Rybak – That’s How You Write a Song (88)
  33. 🇮🇸 Iceland – Ari Ólafsson – Our Choice (81)
  34. 🇸🇲 San Marino – Jessika ft. Jenifer B – Who We Are (76)
  35. 🇷🇺 Russia – Yulia Samoylova – I Won’t Break (66)
  36. Slovenia – Lea Sirk – Hvala, ne! (52)

Australia move into joint 11th but sit behind Cyprus owing to an inferior televote score. Can anyone actually displace Israel this year?

Now it’s up to #YOU – what are your thoughts on the Slovenian entry this year? Share your short review of the song below in the comments, on our forum HERE or on social media @escunited and we’ll feature the best tomorrow. Also, don’t forget to vote in our poll to help decide the full score for Slovenia!

Tomorrow we move west, as Ireland’s soothing ballad is the next song to face the panel!

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