The United Kingdom has seen Molly rise to become the favourite to win
Saturday’s Eurovision Song Contest in Copenhagen but a new rival for
the title emerged during last night’s first semi final.The Netherlands’ entry Calm After The Storm’, sung by The Common Linnets has caused a major stir in Denmark.
It sailed through in the semi final and has seen its odds cut from 100/1 outsiders to 7/1 overnight. A week ago, the song was written off as a 250/1 rank outsider.
The Common Linnets are Ilse DeLange and Waylon, a male-female duet with a country music background. The song is perhaps the most simple ever seen at the Eurovision Song Contest. It has just three chords and the first half of the song is shown in a single camera take.
The Eurovision Song Festival celebrates its 60th Birthday next year, and rather than thinking about retirement, the contest is stronger than ever, pulling in a staggering 180million television viewers. It is the most watched music event in the world.
There are still some storm clouds ahead for The Netherlands though. Of the ten songs to qualify from last night’s semi final, seven were ballads. There is still stiff competition from Armenia and Sweden in the genre and Malta also have a country song which is tipped to qualify from tomorrow night’s semi final.
One thing we do know is that the Eurovision Song Contest reputation for cheese and irrelevance is dying fast.
It is quickly becoming a showcase for musical talent, quality music and a great night’s television.
Read more: Eurovision 2014: The Netherlands emerges as major rival to UK at Eurovision | Metro News
