Before we are thrown into the crazy period of the national final season for 2017, we thought we would take a step back in time to see our favourite songs from the 2015 national final season. In 2015, we saw many top quality songs make it to Eurovision, but what about the songs that didn’t make it? Well, for me, I actually found it difficult to find 5 stand out songs to write about. Either that means that the best songs were chosen for Eurovision, or the songs just weren’t that great – maybe it’s a combination of both. Anyway, let’s get into it! Here are our favourites from 2015!
5. Minus One – Shine
Boy was I disappointed when this didn’t win the national final in Cyprus. The field wasn’t that strong, however Minus One stood out from the get go. The song had a good blend of rock elements but wasn’t too much for Eurovision. We’ve seen this type of rock at Eurovision by the likes of Turkey (many times, think Mor ve Otesi, Yuksek Sadakat and MaNga) Georgia and Finland, to name a few, and we’ve seen that it can do very well. Other than Yuksek Sadakat, rock music has achieved decent results in recent years – if MaNga can reach a respectable 2nd place, I think Minus One could have been successful with Shine, however luckily enough we were lucky to see them perform at Eurovision 2016 with the song Alter Ego, and even though Shine reaches our top 5, we are glad to have seen Alter Ego as the song they took to the Eurovision stage.
4. FriĂ°rik DĂłr – ĂŤ SĂĂ°asta Skipti
We can always trust Iceland to have an entertaining and high quality national final, and 2015 was no exception. Out of all the songs, this was the one that I enjoyed the most. In the end, it was only just beaten by Maria Olafs, and part of me wishes it was the other way around. I can’t be certain that it would have done better than Unbroken at Eurovision, as this was one of the songs that seemed to divide Eurovision fans. It is quite a simple song, but it’s charming. I do prefer the Icelandic version a lot better than the English version, as I think it loses some of that charm. The acoustic version is also pretty darn good.
3. Robin Juhkental & The Big Bangers – Troubles
I may be the only one, but I seem to just love anything Robin puts his voice to, whether it’s a cover or an original. I loved his entry at Eurovision 2010, and then his entries in Eesti Laul, the song Bye from Eesti Laul 2012 would have to be one of my favourite songs… ever. Robin just has that quirkiness in his stage presence but also his voice. I can see how it can be dividing, but for me, I don’t think he can put a foot wrong. I think for the 2015 edition of Eesti Laul, there was no doubt that Stig and Elina were going to win, but I personally rate this higher than Goodbye to Yesterday.
2. Chiara – Stroadinario
It wouldn’t be a top 5 without an Italian song, would it? This song was an absolute tie with Una Finestra Tra le Stelle by Annalisa, however for the sake of sticking to a top 5, I chose to include this song. You can’t deny the passion in this song, and it just has one of those choruses that stick with you after listening to the song. I could argue that both this and Annalisa’s song probably wouldn’t have done better than Il Volo, but they could both come back to Sanremo, end up in Eurovision and do incredibly well.
1. Szakács Gergő – ősz utca
This song was absolute love at first listen. After listening to all the songs in contention to win A Dal 2015, this was the stand out for me. The song is a modern, powerful pop song, and it hooks you within the first second. It also has that rawness of his voice, which naturally I am attracted to the sound of, and this is even more present in the acoustic version. I was absolutely devastated when this did not make it to the final, and naturally, didn’t end up watching A Dal out of disappointment that my favourite was out of the running. I will admit this didn’t translate very well live, but as a studio version song, this was top notch. I really really disliked the choice that Hungary made in Wars for Nothing, and even though the live performance of this song wasn’t the greatest, anything would have been better than Boggie (sorry to all Boggie fans!)
And that brings us to the end of our top 5! Make sure to let us know who you enjoyed from the 2015 National Final season, and who you’d love to see try to reach Eurovision in 2017!