WHEN?: Friday 8 October 2021

WHERE?: Royal Vauxhall Tavern, London

Eurovision winner Charlotte Perrelli could only finish 8th in 2021’s Melodifestivalen but she is our pick of the bunch to win next month’s coveted Second Cherry.

• Read on for reasons including KEiiNO, La Rappresentate di Lista and Suured tüdrukud

For the uninitiated, hosts Matt and Monty produce a fun and informative podcast which reviews the Eurovision Song Contest national finals and picks a non-winner from each selection to have a second bite at the cherry.

The Ant and Dec of Eurovision have picked 14 cherries which you can watch at the Second Cherry site and below is how team monstagigz will be casting its vote in the online selection and why.

12 points: Sweden Charlotte Perrelli Still Young

A song of the week for us in March when we said: ‘Encapsulated within its 3-minute performance are a catwalk, sideways strutting, a false ending and a still-impressive vocal from Perrelli who proves she can still a front a demanding uptempo pop song complete with Beyonce hand movements.’ With Steps plundering the greatest show on earth for 2 songs on their most recent album, we predict this glorious pop stomper will be next.

10 points: Norway KEiiNO Monument

A song of the week for us in January when we reflected on their 2019 success with Spirit In The Sky and said: ‘Crowdpleasers like Spirit don’t tend to win Eurovision these days because of the professional jury vote and so it proved in 2019 with KEiiNO winning the televote but only placing 6th. Monument then is an attempt to right that wrong by honing in on what KEiiNO do well, accentuating the fine live voices the band have at its disposal, particularly Rotan’s, with an emphasis on the message.’

8 points: Italy La Rappresentante di Lista Amare

For us Second Cherry is at its strongest when it spotlights brilliant songs by artists we’ve yet to hear and so it proves with this selection from Italy’s San Remo Festival which ultimately gave us the thrilling victors of the 2021 Eurovision.

7 points: Finland Teflon Brothers x Pandora I Love You

A song of the week for us in January when we said: ‘The amazing 80s keyboard run here that is so good it evokes both a-Ha’s Take On Me and The Weeknd‘s big hit from last year which we shortlisted for a monsta as one of our songs of 2020.’

6 points: Estonia Suured tüdrukud Heaven’s Not That Far Tonight

It’s a 70s-inspired disco song complete with mirrorball that we can imagine Alcazar singing.

5 points: France Pony X Amour Fou

If you’re only checking out one Second Cherry episode we’d recommend either France or Italy because they give a real sense of how high quality the material on offer was. Amour Fou reminds these ears of Jamiroquai and was very different to to the song that eventually won and triumphed with the Eurovision juries ultimately finishing as runners up to Maneskin.

4 points: Blas Canto Memoria

We’re big fans of Canto’s and this is a respectable song but Spain made the right choice in not sending it. We only wish the song they had chosen would have fared better. We’re very interested by the song festival route they are going down to choose their 2022 entry.

3 points: Russia 2Mashi Bitter Words

This would have made a very international-friendly Eurovision entry with its Spanish vibe and honking R’n’B horn and brass sound. Again not a song we would have been familiar with without Second Cherry.

2 points: Denmark Jean Michel Beautiful

We loved the song the Danes chose but this was definitely its closest competition albeit a little too bland for our tastes.

1 point: Croatia Nina Kraljic Rijeka

Nina has Eurovision history and didn’t take too kindly to not winning Dora in 2021 but it’s definitely fun to hear from her again.

• Picture courtesy Charlotte Perrelli Tickets Watch the Second Cherry entries
• Have you seen any of these shows or heard the albums?Let us know what you thought in the comments below 
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