By Neil Durham

WHEN?: 8pm (UK time) 11 May 2024

WHERE?: Malmo Arena, Sweden

HOW DO I WATCH?: BBC1 in the UK SVT Also eurovision.tv

Nebulossa (pictured) showed some cheek in Spain’s national final selection and below we predict how it and the other pre-qualified finalists will fare in the Eurovision Song Contest final.

• Read on for reasons including how we think this year’s 6 Eurovision finalists will do on 11 May 2024

Sweden is tied with Ireland as Eurovision’s most successful country and this year hosts in Malmo and has selected 22-year-old Norwegian twins to represent itself.

1. SWEDEN: Marcus & Martinus Unforgettable (Jimmy ‘Joker’ Thörnfeldt, Joy Deb, Linnea Deb, Marcus Gunnarsen, Martinus Gunnarsen) PREDICTION: 1st to 5th

Last year’s runner-up Air was good but Unforgettable is next level. Co-writer Thörnfeldt has 4 other songs in this year’s Melodifestivalen finalen and this is a pulsating slice of Faithless-style dance music that is presented memorably with the stage restricted as Tattoo‘s was and something visually magical created that is as busy as the song. There’s a lot going on in the songs already selected for Eurovision 2024 but so far we see this as Croatia’s biggest challenge for the win despite it being drawn 1st.

UK: Olly Alexander Dizzy (Olly Alexander; Danny Harle) PREDICTION: 6th to 10th

Dizzy by former Years and Years frontman Olly Alexander is our song of the month for March and we said: ‘Last year we described Mae Muller’s I Wrote A Song as ‘the UK’s best Eurovision entry since Gina G’ and we’d say the same of this extremely catchy and tasteful track which draws on Pet Shop Boys influences.’ Co-written with Dua Lipa songwriter Daniel Harle, Dizzy isn’t quite the banger we were hoping for but it is extremely catchy and we think it’s more likely to top the charts at home than win Eurovision.

ITALY: Angelina Mango La Noia (Boredom) (Angelina Mango, Dario Faini, Francesca Calearo) PREDICTION: 2nd to 5th

It worked for the Pet Shop Boys’ Being Boring because the tune is far from it but calling a song Boredom is asking for trouble. Mango gives us attitude and performance which elevates the song which won’t benefit from the live band of the San Remo Festival. We preferred Sinceramente but notoriously underestimate Italian entries which we’ve remedied this year with our prediction.

SPAIN: Nebulossa Zorra (Bitch) (Maria Bas; Maek Dasousa) PREDICTION: 16th to 20th

This was our 3rd favourite of the 16 songs before seeing the performances in this year’s Benidorm Fest and we said: ‘Nebulossa are a synthpop duo formed by María Bas (vocals and production) and Mark Dasousa (synthesizers, production). Poliédrica de mí (Polyhedral of me) is the title of the debut album that the duo released in 2021, after previewing songs such as Glam. There’s an insistent 80s buzz to the music with Maria reclaiming a word often used to criticise. The catchy song recently topped Spotify’s Viral 50 Spain list.’ The Benidorm Fest performance (see main picture) contrasted cleverly with Chanel‘s iconic 2022 strut, the audience clearly loved it as you can hear them singing along and yet we don’t think juries will be impressed.

FRANCE: Slimane Mon Amour (My love) (Meïr Salah, Slimane Nebchi, Yaacov Salah) PREDICTION: 11th to 15th

The French conundrum is that, while they’ve won Junior Eurovision in 3 of the last 4 years, they’ve yet to repeat their 1977 victory in the main competition. Slimane is an internal selection and a popular singer/songwriter at home since 2017 where 3 of his 4 albums have topped the domestic charts. The title couldn’t be more quintessentially French, the song rather over-earnest and the live performance (see above) impressive jury bait.

GERMANY: Isaak Always On The Run (Greg Taro; Isaak Guderion; Kevin Lehr, Leo Salminen) PREDICTION: 26th

Germany has finished no higher than 25th in all but 1 of the contests since 2015 and this is neither the song nor performer to break that run. Isaak is giving us James Newman vibes which is to say this is well performed but the song is in no way memorable.

• Main picture via Facebook courtesy Eurovision Song Contest
• Have you seen a Eurovision Song Contest before and are what did you think of this production? Tickets Look out for our predictions for Semi Final 1 and 2 in March/April. We will update them ahead of the 11 May final. Semi final 2 predictions Updated final predictions
• Let us know what you thought in the comments below
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