223 songs. Ouch. Well, in for a penny, in for a pound. Don’t expect huge walls of text for every song because most of them will be below 4/10. Also, don’t expect any specific thoughts regarding the semi-finals themselves because they’re just a straight stream of songs without any opening acts or breaks.
The song might not be absolutely awful, but he lacks any vocal power to deliver it in any way that comes off as convincing. That high note was one of the most pitiful high notes of the season too.
This is what people mean when they say, “Rap? More like Crap”. He had a severe absence of any kind of talent to be on stage, and I didn’t enjoy a single second of this. The vocals were even worse than in the first song.
For UVPSM, this is actually pretty nice. She started off rather flat, but quickly found her vocals. And, while the song is very messy, it has an identity and I think the addition of French lyrics and operatic parts is kinda fun. Not a bad effort at all.
This is almost enjoyable in some rare moments, but it really fell apart live, although I suspect that the completely absent production values are at least partly to blame here. It’s still above some other songs by actually trying to be good, even if it doesn’t succeed.
There are two people here and they both sound bad. It mixes very repetitive faux-anthemic verses that consist of title repetitis with a really poor rap section. It’s a big no from me.
With this, I can definitely blame the production for making this sound bad because he clearly tries. I think that this would be much better with proper production. And the dancer is cool.
Of the songs so far, this is easily the most competent song, which makes sense because these guys are actually competent. The song is still a little cringy, but in a likeable way. I also liked the Hungarian lyrics at the end.
This is extremely chaotic and tries to be a million diffent things at once, but it’s actually weirdly enjoyable. She’s a really good vocalist, the other performers have some charisma too, the operatic parts weirdly don’t annoy me and it’s an overall nice and competent rock song.
This is very old-school, but not in a dated way. This is the third song in a row I’ve actually enjoyed, but maybe that’s because the mixing got better, and they were all in a genre that appeals to me. I could actually imagine listening to this normally.
Ok, we’re back to songs that fail to be good in every way. First of all, I can’t understand what he’s singing at all. I didn’t even realise this was in English until someone pointed it out to me. Secondly, every time he tries to reach for a high note, he fails in the most spectacular way.
There’s something promising about this song, but the UVPSM studio is actively preventing her from realising it. It’s still less offensively bad than a bunch of other songs I’ve had to sit through this season.
This is better than a lot of songs in Benidorm Fest this year. She’s a surprisingly good performer and delivers enough energy for me to be able to enjoy it, even considering the limitations the production places on her.
It’s back to incomprehensibly sung rock for us, and I don’t like it any more than previous songs of this type. Maybe it could’ve been better with some polish, or if it was in Italian, I don’t know.
If she could find the note, this might’ve been alright. As is, this is very amateur and mediocre, but still, not to the point where my ears start bleeding.
This is a rare song where the rapped part is better than the sung part. They should just send the rapper alone (and give him a better song). But this is very solid.
For the most part, this was a good song (yes, what a surprise). Unfortunately, he had a couple of voice cracks, which made it a little worse for me, but this is something he can work on. It feels more like a Sanremo Giovani act that doesn’t do much but isn’t bad, either.
There are some shreds of potential here, but they’re destroyed by a very unlikeable performance and a weird song with no structure. The instrumental bridge was by far the best part.
This is far from great, but there’s something enjoyable about it at times, which puts it above most other songs tonight. His vocals were all over the place, but the song itself seemed fairly pleasant.
This isn’t too bad, but it isn’t good either. Its biggest crime is being entirely forgettable, sadly.
Of all the bad vocalists, this is probably the worst one. He floated around notes, and the song mostly sounded like “eeEEeeEE”. I found this very bad.
Well, she’s doing pretty well, considering the conditions. The vocals are good, the song is pleasant, and the performance is enjoyable as well. The butterfly dress is one of the worst outfits I’ve seen this season, though. Overall, it’s fine.
A peace/unity rock song? Well, I suppose that’s something different. In fact, despite being insanely cheesy, I don’t think this is too bad actually. I think this safely qualifies as a “guilty pleasure”. The orchestral intro was still the strongest part though. The vocals were weird though: he sang a little poorly, but then hit every high note. I think this shows that this is more of a mixing issue.
As you all know, I usually heavily dislike opera, especially sopranos. However, I found this surprisingly not too irritating at first. As it went on, I was able to tolerate it less, but I have to give it props for almost pulling off a tolerable soprano opera song.
This is certified trash and I love it. It’s so irresistibly fun that nobody can hate it. It has two key changes, bad vocals, nonsense lyrics and an incredibly charismatic performer. I’m gonna listen to this after UVPSM is over and I won’t regret a thing. Banger!
It’s a bore. This had no progression, climax or anything at all. It just plodded on for three minutes and ended. I wouldn’t be able to remember anything about it.
This was a decently competent song with a decently competent performance. It failed to engage me, but it was better than a bunch of other songs.
This was hilariously bad. To be honest, the song isn’t even that bad, but the performance considerably brings it down. But still, (minor) props for effort.
Without all the screaming, this could actually be pretty good. She sounds fine, even considering the production. A revamp could make it nice.
I found this just bland and uninspired. I don’t have anything to say about this, but it didn’t offend me.
I don’t actively hate this, but I do dislike this. I dislike the cheesy lyrics and the cheap clubby beat, but whatever. There’s been worse here already.
For the most part, it sounded like a generic Italian song, except it was very whispery and quiet, but then she broke my ears with the screamed chorus in English. And I know that this is a mixing issue, so I won’t knock too many points off this, so whatever. There’s been worse anyway.
She’s a good singer, but the song is incredibly average and one-note. I think that this could benefit from a revamp and then I’d actually like it.
She isn’t such a bad singer, I suppose, but the song is the most generic of the night. It’s just generic self-empowerment crap that isn’t actually relatable to anyone.
This is super cheap and not even performed that well, but I suppose it isn’t the absolute worst song of the night simply because I find the title funny.
The title is certainly iconic, and the rest of the song is actually kinda entertaining. At the very, the lyrics aren’t too bad. Overall, this isn’t such a bad opener.
This was a drag of a song, although he didn’t perform it too poorly. Overall, I’ve heard worse.
This felt way longer than 3 minutes, although I didn’t think it was terrible. It was only a bit of a bore.
It’s certainly a song. If it was a little but less overperformed, I would’ve liked it more, I think.
It’s a pretty alright song, I suppose, but the live performance really brings it down. It’s just meh.
The song isn’t super awful, but the live performance is. I think it’s unfair to blame the singers for everything, considering the production quality, though. So, I’ll throw this a couple of points for potential.
I actually found this decent. There was clearly effort put into this, and she sounded pretty nice as well.
Ok, this was actually pretty professionally done and performed. I definitely enjoyed this.
She went on stage and tried to do her best and, in my opinion, succeeded. With work, this could even work on the larger stage.
The song is more competitive than most before it, and the live performance is far from the worst I’ve hear even outside of UVPSM, so yeah, not bad.
The song sounds a bit incoherent and she doesn’t sound very good, but I don’t despise it. It’s definitely not the kind of song that can work in these conditions, though, with the abundance of high notes and an operatic part. Props for trying, though.
Without the annoying backing vocals, I think I would like this a lot more. As it is, I couldn’t even finish listening to it.
This was a train wreck from start to finish, and I’ve never been more entertained than while watching this performance. You’d have to throw everything away and make a song from scratch to make this work, but I liked the costumes.
This was actually above average. Not incredible, but he’s a competent vocalist, the song is nice and he even tries to do something live. I’m sold.
Well, this was entertaining, which is good, but it wasn’t good, which is bad. Well, at least she’s a pretty good performer and kept my attention throughout the performance.
This was surprisingly enjoyable. He delivered it well and with emotion, even if the song is a little forgettable. But hey, I enjoyed watching it, which is all that matters.
Now I see where all the boybands went instead of Ireland’s Eurosong. I can’t say this was in any way enjoyable for me because I very rarely like boybands, but I guess they objectively weren’t too bad.
I like her voice and performance style, but the song is a bit too soft to match it. Still, this was pretty professionally executed, and I enjoyed it.
This is pure kitsch and not in a good way at all. The singing is weak, the Spanish pronunciation (because, yes, a guy from Poland is singing in Spanish in the Sammarinese selection ) is pretty poor, and I don’t like the song in general.
This had no energy whatsoever, which might’ve been fine if the song wasn’t super boring and repetitive as well. I didn’t like this one at all, sadly.
I don’t think she should follow her own advice. The song is just way too repetitive and feels like it’s made up of the chorus and nothing else. She just goes “sing it louder, sing it louder” over and over again.
I liked his deep voice, but I didn’t find the song interesting. I mostly treated it as background sound with a pleasant timbre.
I was just bored by this. It didn’t do anything interesting or enjoyable, and I’m glad it ended.
This was a very cool song, but this production absolutely murdered it. It’s disappointing because they actually have experience with performing live. Also, this song was published in 2021, so whatever.
This was super mediocre. Not offensive, just mediocre. It’s competent and performed decently, but it doesn’t do anything for me at all.
The song is good, the performance is good, and it’s pretty polished overall. I enjoyed most things about it except for his costume, which is easily changed, so it doesn’t bother me much.
Ok, this was genuinely good. No ifs, no buts or asides. It was a cute and enjoyable song with a good and enjoyable performance. It sounds like something I could hear on Sanremo Giovani (in a positive way).
Ok, the song is really enjoyable, and the performance doesn’t even bring it down that much for me. It’s certainly enjoyable.
Oof, this was a unique kind of bad. We get it: you’re here, you’re queer and you want us to cum come with you. But it was very lifeless and unfun. Of course, it also had a key change.
Whoa, this is actually really good. She managed to hit every note and sounded good despite the production. Once again, this wouldn’t sound out of place in Sanremo Giovani.
Nothing about this worked and it was actively painful to listen to, but at least this entertained me for a couple seconds, so I’ll be just milidly less harsh on this while rating it.
Oh, this is a pretty nice girlbop with a nice staging concept. I even liked her singing and the fast scat parts. This was a nice effort.
This is so messy, but in a bit of a charming way, I guess. At the very least, I didn’t think it was totally bad even though the performance was bad even by UVPSM standards.
Not bad. Well, not good either, but it was weirdly entertaining. And this definitely wouldn’t be my last place of Benidorm Fest, so they must be doing something right.
This does one thing well and five other things very poorly and overall comes off an an unenjoyable and unlikeable package. I didn’t even find it ironically funny.
This is a good start. The performance is good - he even pulled off the screamo, which is important. The energy on stage is there, and the song itself is pretty good, too. I could see myself revisiting this.
I’ve definitely heard worse before, which doesn’t mean that I love this. It was still quite dreadful.
This was some dystopic singing. It was so hard to listen that I basically had to turn off my brain for the last second because of how pitchy she was.
This was just annoying to listen to with that pounding beat. It’s borderline headache-inducing, and I didn’t enjoy a second of it.
This might not be “objectively” great, but it’s decently entertaining, so I can’tbe too harsh on this.
Without the backing dancer, this would be fairly unremarkable. She sings decently well, but the song is just uninteresting. The backing dancer doing some of the weirdest interpretive dance does elevate it though.
While the performance was one of the best ones of the semi-finals so far, the song just wasn’t strong enough. I wish they brought something a lot better because they managed to overcome UVPSM’s awful production and sounded really well.
There are two good songs stitched together into one here. They both sound good in isolation, but they absolutely don’t sound good together. The Adele-like opening is mysterious and enticing, but then it switches into dance pop with an annoying beat, which I didn’t like at all. But maybe this could be decent with a revamp.
This was a very lovely folky song with a really good performance. I’d go as far as to say that I’d listen to this in my spare time. I really love the woman’s voice especially, she just has the kind of timbre that complements this sort of cute folk rock really well, though that’s not to say that the male was bad - he complimented her well.
Good? God no. Funny? Certainly. I’ll have the ah-ah-ah-Alice part stuck in my mind for the rest of the day, I guess. I do prefer funny bad songs over dull bad ones.
Even though he’s a good singer, and the music is alright, too, I can’t get past the cringiest lyrics of the season. It just overrides everything good about the song. Still, I’ll try to be a little less harsh on this.
Here’s a classic example of a disaster bop. I think I would’ve liked it more if the singing was more competent, but it was mostly just whispering on the part of the female performer. At least she sounded good during the choruses.
It’s a bit of fun, but not enough for me to care about this too much. The energy was there though, so I’m fine with it existing.
This is the definition of fine. The song is actually pretty strong, although she doesn’t elevate it to its full potential. Still, it was enjoyable, and I could even imagine hearing it during the first round of Sanremo Giovani.
It’s fine, he’s a good singer, but the song is the definition of a nothingburger. It tries to sound dramatic, but I just feel nothing.
This was a total vibe. I would’ve liked to see just a tinge more drama, as well as a better ending that doesn’t ruin the whole song, but the base is solid. I could see myself listening to this.
Despite the English title, the song is mainly sung in Italian with some French parts. I think it was pretty enjoyable, and he sang well. There wasn’t a lot going on, but I don’t think it needed anything.
Even though I rarely like opera, I think this was good because there was a male voice that sang together with her and made it a lot less over-the-top. Plus, it’s rock, which goes with operatic vocals a lot better.
If more notes were sung correctly, I could see myself enjoying this, but not with a vocal as bad as this. I can’t even blame the mixing on this because most performers sounded fine this time around.
While it was a bit of a disaster, it wasn’t a total trainwreck, and I still thought it was entertaining.
I don’t have anything to say about this because I totally checked out from this song due to how uninteresting it was.
The lyrics were a bit cringe, but they were great performers. I’m immediately adding this to my Spotify. The vocals were on point, the theming was very memorable, and it was just overall really good. Even the costumes worked.
This was just bad in every way. I didn’t like anything here, and I’d go out of my way to avoid this until the end of my life.
This wasn’t bad at all, but it was quite uninteresting. I’ll just stick it in the middle of my rankings and forget about it.
I quite like this song, but I don’t think his voice fits it. Still, not a bad attempt at all.
The singer completely killed the song and I mean this in a bad way. I hear the potential, but his voice doesn’t work for a song like this - he’s way too pitchy and drifts around.
This felt like a proper Sanremo ballad. He performed it really well, but the melody was great too. I loved the synth work and how it complemented the more classical instrumentation. I’m seriously adding this to my playlist too.
I liked this. It was a good imitation of 1920s music with a charismatic performer. He elevated it live, somehow.
This was a likeable mess. I don’t have any strong remarks about the song, but I mildly enjoyed it.
Oh no, this has Italian verses and an English chorus, which almost never works. Her voice is also too ear-piercing, which is never a good thing.
If you know my opinion about peace ballads, you’ll know that I don’t like them too much. I also don’t like his vocal style.
Ew, vocoded backing vocals. Also, ew title repetitis. And also ew 90% chorus. This gets a huge no from me.
Another quite dull song that didn’t evoke any feelings in me.
Ok, here we go. This is exactly what I expect from San Marino: an absolute disaster bop that entertains me to no end. I definitely can’t hate anything about it.
And we’re ending on a bit of a dull note. It’s another song that makes me feel nothing at all.
I didn’t enjoy this at all. It was a pure vocal show-off - which didn’t even sound that good to my ears, but it’s opera, so whatever - with a very minimalistic backing track. It’s basically the definition of “not for me”.
It’s impossible for me to hate a cute indue guitar song like this, but I won’t be putting it very high either, as it’s still ultimately unimpactful.
This was a nice techno song. While it probably could’ve been sung better, the music is really good, and I’ll try looking up a studio cut because I actually enjoyed it.
I feel for her because this was a nasty technical fault. The backing track (and apparently her in-ear) just cut out and she had to sing the second half of the song entirely acapella. As such, I don’t think I can judge this properly as the performance is clearly not delivered in a way that was intended. But the part without any issues is good, so I’ll only score based on that.
This sounds like an ’80s Italian hit, and I mean this entirely positively. It’s the kind of music I listened to growing up (among many other things), so it works for me.
One more song I find just alright is certainly what I deserve for trying to review this. But hey, it’s better to be pleasant and nice to listen to than horrible. He does have a nice voice for this kind of song, but it’s just too repetitive.
It ended up feeling way longer than 3 minutes, which made me feel absolutely bored out of my mind by the end. But it wasn’t awful.
I like the accordeon in this song and the energetic backing dancers, but I wish his singing was more energetic to sell this better. But still, not bad.
She was very screechy, and the backing track was unpleasant, too. I suspect that some part of this might’ve been the mixing, but since a lot of other artists were mixed fine, that can’t be the only thing to blame.
Her vocals were great, but the song was rather average. Still, I could actually see myself reivisiting this at some point if I remember about it.
This was fine. I don’t mind soft pop rock like this and being in Italian slightly elevates it, but it’s still very average.
What can I say, except that this is iconic as shit? Only in UVPSM could you get a Dutch band with an “å” in their name singing praise to San Marino. Here’s the thing: it’s actually kinda good. Sure, she isn’t singing very well, but this is exactly the kind of joke entry I can totally get behind.
I actually don’t mind this in theory, but I do mind her as a performer. It’s a very challenging song and she isn’t up to the challenge, unfortunately.
This is one of many songs that evoke no thought or feeling in me. It’s basically the most average song that could possibly exist. Yawn.
This was nice and cute. I liked his voice more than I liked the song, but it was a decently enjoyable package overall.
This just drags on and on and on despite being upbeat. It just dragged on and on and on.
The singing is pretty expressive, which elevates the song decently enough. Except it has a key change, so it’s going down down down.
I like her voice, I like the melody, but I don’t like the beat that overpowers all other elements, which seriously brings it down for me.
This was a struggle to sit through. The melody was too minimalistic to carry the song, while the vocals were too… operatic in a bad way. Except they weren’t even tecnically impressive.
Mid song with a bad performance. No further comments.
There’s some ambition here, which is better than a lot of the songs before it. Even if it wasn’t executed that well, at least it wasn’t DAF.
This is a song dedicated to her mother, who has ovarian cancer, hence her wearing a cancer awareness ribbon. To be honest, the emotions do come across really well, and the minimalistic piano-based instrumental sets the mood well. I think this deserved to be here.
This is actually kind of a bop in a good way. He performed it, uh, not really perfectly, but he made the energy come through.
This song is straight out of a Polish NF in 2017. It’s just a very generic English-language half-ballad/half-pop song.
This is a song whose existence I don’t mind, but that’s about it. I quite like his voice though.
It was kinda nice. I don’t think it’s totally outstanding, but it was a pleasant listen.
It’s not a terrible song, but it’s a rather lifeless performance. Nothing that offends me sonically, though.
This was good. It was a good performance and a good song with a good flow. Perhaps it was a little forgettable, but not in a bad way.
He has a great voice. I also loved the modern take on a ballad with a modern synth-based instrumental.
This is also surprisingly enjoyable. There’s a dubstep break straight out of 2012, but this just feels charmingly retro in 2025 instead of annoyingly overused. And he’s a good dancer (not so much singer). But I mostly enjoyed the composition.
This was a trainwreck from start to finish, but it was ever so slightly charming, so I don’t think I despised it. I didn’t like it though.
Even though the title is in Italian, they’re actually singing in Greek for some reason, not that I’m complaining. It’s very dramatic but in a good way. I actually think this will stick in my mind after the show.
This is another song that sounds like it’s from Sanremo Giovani. The guy definitely can sing, though the song lacks a hook to elevate it to greatness.
Not a bad song either. He’s a bit too breathy, but he has the right kind of energy for a song like this. I think this was nice.
This was moderately enjoyable. She has a very expressive voice and actually sells this song very well. Good job to her for making such an average song into a pretty enjoyable experience.
I think it’s pleasant, but very forgettable. I didn’t find this offensively bad, but it faild to stick in my mind.
This is a different Angy from the one we had yesterday. This Angy’s full name is Angelica De Carolis. As for her song, it’s alright, if a little unoriginal. I found myself nodding to it, which puts it into the good tier for me.
Here’s a song I could consider listening to in my free time. The performers have really good energy and the singer has a raspy voice that fits this song well. It would be far from my last place in most NFs so far.
Their performance is weirdly enjoyable. Sure, the song isn’t something that appeals to me at all, but the live performance elevates it above so many songs that I was surprised myself.
Somehow, this was even less good than TiTAN. It’s very repetitive and musically flat, although Besa performs it better, so I don’t mind it existing.
Here’s one of the most boring pop songs I’ve ever experienced. It has absolutely nothinggoing for it and I was so hapy when it ended that I didn’t even notice that the next song started. It really dragged on.
This was nice. The energy was right, and her performance was good. Combine that with a pretty good song, and you will get something quite enjoyable.
This reminds me of Spain’s 2011 entry, except more lowkey. She also has some very likeable energy that helps her sell the song to me. I found myself bopping along as she was singing it, so I can safely put it into my “like” tier.
Wow, this was dreadful. The song sounds like it should have an energetic performance with a lot of choreography, but it had no energy whatsoever. She just stood there and did some hip thrusts, put on sunglasses, took off her jacket, and then just turned around. But I mostly hate the song, which really irritated me.
This was also really bad. First of all, the song is bad. It felt disjointed and annoying, and the performance was bad too. But at least it made me laugh a little bit, so I’ll give it the tiniest amount of credit for that.
This was surprisingly good for an opera song. Like, I didn’t wince once from the fact that it’s opera. Unfortunately, his voice started cracking at the end, which ruined the illusion for me. Still, huge props for actually making me enjoy opera.
This was so generic, I could barely sit through it. It’s a shame because she’s a good singer and the start was decent, but then it became way too american-sounding.
I actually could get on with this in a way. Her accent is so weird that I just treated it as a conlang, but overall it was a very nice 2000s-feeling girlbop that I could enjoy.
This was just kinda dull, but not bad - at least until the key change, at which point he stopped being able to cope with the song and entirely phoned it in. Not good.
This is a little average, but not bad. They perform it well, and it’s just a nice song. This just shows that good energy is all that’s needed to sell a song.
This is super weird, but not bæd. It has a weirdly compelling flow, even though the chorus does come close to annoying me. I’m just happy that it manages to stop just short of that. I also really like the bridge.
I can’t say this was good, but it wasn’t bad, either. I mostly focused on his costume, which might compete for the Barbara Dex Award of the season. But the song was perfectly forgettable but pleasant.
I quite enjoyed this song. It wasn’t too standout, but it was dancey and boppy in a good way, so it was an enjoyable package overall.
It’s not bad, but it doesn’t stand out either: it’s just alright. It’s just a song.
Another boring rock song. It didn’t offend me sonically, but I didn’t think it was anything special at all.
Look, I do like rock, but I can’t like all the boring Disney channel pop rock on offer. They didn’t even have the decency to perform it well.
This wasn’t terrible. Sure, the vocals went out of the window about a couple of seconds after she started singing, but it made me bop a little, so I was fine with its existence.
This goes from a quiet ballad to a very screamy ballad, but I didn’t dislike it all that much. And the staging was cool, especially considering the restrictions.
I won’t say no to a decent Spanish-sounding bop like this, although it definitely isn’t a keeper.
This is just a very average pop song with a subpar performance. I have no further comments.
This is a very boring and generic rock song that completely fails to interest me in any way.
There’s once again nothing that interests me here, but it also has a very bad key change. I like this even less.
To the surprise of nobody, I didn’t enjoy this at all. There’s just no energy to it whatsoever, she has an ear-piercing voice and the song has an annoying beat.
I didn’t like her performance of this at all. It was just a bunch of varyingly poor long notes that ended up boring me.
The costume change reminded me of Neka mi ne svane, but it’s nowhere near as good. Still, I think it’s quite pleasant and she has a nice voice.
While this wasn’t bad, it was totally boring and indistinct. It just sounds like the most generic Nordic song, which makes sense as that’s what it is.
I’m sure she just got lost on her way to DMGP despite being Italian. It has that classic faux-anthemic DMGP vibe a lot of songs there have. She also has an incredibly annoying manner of singing that puts me off the song even further. This is incredibly not for me.
The song itself was actually pretty good, but I don’t think her singing brought out the song’s potential at all. Still, I’d be interested to check out the studio recording - it will probably be better.
This is the definition of super average and I have no opinion about this song whatsover. It exists, he sings it and that’s it. Whatever.
The song isn’t inherently bad - I’ve heard worse over the course of this selection. The performance is quite meh, but I don’t think it’s bad enough for me to hate the song.
Not bad. I liked her energy, which is important to sell a girlbop. It’s another one that I didn’t mind at all.
This was overperformed, overstaged and overdone. Nothing came together and it just irritated me for three minutes. I’m really happy it’s over.
This was nothing special. Just a fairly unremarkable Italian ballad - though it wasn’t bad at all.
This was interesting. I wouldn’t call it perfect, but there’s something compelling about how messy it is. I’ll definitely remember this for some time.
This wasn’t good, but still, good for her. She spent 150 euros from her pension (or savings) just to travel to San Marino and have fun. It isn’t a bad holiday idea at all.
This was flat and charmless. In fact, it managed to be both forgettable and irritating. As some of my fellow reviewers would say, it was totally DAF.
There was something quite intriguing here. I think the studio cut could be highly enjoyable, but even the live was good enough for me to want to return to it. I have to commend him for pulling it off so well under the UVPSM restrictions.
Not bad. In fact, this was pretty good too. Maybe I’m in a good mood because I’m enjoying a lot of songs so far.
Oh wow, this was really good, especially by UVPSM standards. They sounded good together, the song was good and catchy, and even the (barebones) staging was good enough. I really liked this.
If she had more vocal training, I think she could’ve slayed a song like this. She already hit the long note pretty well as is, so yeah. I’ll try to see if there’s a studio cut somewhere because it could be good.
Well, this was flawed but enjoyable. Again, she just needs more training, but this was already pretty solid. I think I could enjoy this.
This is very flawed, but I have to admit: I still liked it, even though it’s a classic example of strong verses and weak choruses. But, to be honest, the pre-chorus was actually the strongest part. Still, I liked it.
There’s a good song here, but I can’t say it was outstanding. Still, I’ll just throw it on the “not bad” pile.
Another song that just is. The most interesting part was her outfit - and not for a good reason. Why was she wearing a torn off denim sleeve with a dress?
Another typically Italian song that didn’t do much for me. I didn’t hate it though, which is all that matters.
There was a lot of potential here, but the singer’s voice really brought it down. It was just so nasally and annoying that I could barely finish listening to the song. But the melody was enjoyable, which is why it still won’t be entirely at the bottom.
She’s from Estonia and, to be honest, this wouldn’t even be my last in Eesti Laul this year. Sure, the song isn’t totally brilliant, but it was pretty enjoyable. I also liked the choreo.
Well, he didn’t perform it very well, but I didn’t dislike it. I liked her enthusiasm, which made the whole experience considerably more enjoyable.
He was a very competent performer performing a good song. This is a song that will definitely make it to my playlist for actually being very interesting.
This was incredibly cheesy and unenjoyable, and I don’t even want to bother with a review.
Well, this was surprisingly nice. She just turned 16, which is quite obvious because her performance isn’t polished. Still, she was good for the most part - it was only the big note that she really botched. Still, using UVPSM to practice is a great idea. I’m excited to see her again.
There were some good parts here, but I don’t think the overall result was good. It felt like he was singing too quickly and the verses were mostly spoken, which made me enjoy it even less. But still, there were enough good parts that I didn’t hate it.
This was weird but in a surprisingly enjoyable way. There was very little energy, but the song made me bop anyway. I’m pleasantly surprised by this.
She’s one of those very expressive performers, which always helps ballads like this. Plus, I think it’s nice musically. I’d like to check it out in the studio, but I’m sold!
Yeah, this is a good song. There’s enough energy to keep me engaged for the whole song. It has a bit of a Scandipop feel to it, but not in a bad way either. This is one more song I could imagine myself listening to.
He was a shit singer, but this was so so so so so fun. I loved every second of it: I loved his shit outfit, I loved his lack of moves, and I loved everything else. This really improved my mood.
Well, this was lovely. I really liked the guitar instrumental, and I liked his performance too. I could imagine myself listening to it when I’m in the right mood. Even the random Italian phrase dropping (this was in English) was cute.
I didn’t mind this at all. It was a bit of a generic unity sort of ballad, but he performed it well and it wasn’t janky. I could imagine hearing this in any other NF, to be honest.
It might be quite generic, but it’s a pleasant listen. The staging was a bit weird, but I didn’t really mind it despite that.
This has enough attitude for me to actually enjoy it. The backing track has some nice musical ideas, and the performance is good. I liked it.
Well, let’s hear the 11th wildcard entry for Vidbir. I wonder how it would’ve fared there.
To be fair, this is quite nice. The song definitely gets better as it goes on. I liked the short vocal show-off part because it actually fit in with the song. And while it also isn’t the most amazing song ever in the world, I think it’s cute.
So, would it have qualified from the wildcard round into the Vidbir final? Eh, probably not. Nothing was ever beating Kultura, let’s be fair.
This was a very solid closer and a really nice performance. They can definitely get the crowd going, so yeah,
This was one of the rock songs of all time. To be fair, the song wasn’t that bad, but the performance wasn’t really up to snuff. Still, it’s alright.
The song was just average, but the performance brought it down. I thought his performance last year was better.
At least this was creative. I can’t say I liked the shouty singing too much, but I can appreciate the attempt to do something different.
I liked the mysterious vibe this song had, but the performance didn’t manage to sell it to me. A song like this needs to be very immersive both musically and vocally to work properly.
It wouldn’t be UVPSM without Kida in it. I generally always enjoy her songs in some way and this year isn’t an exception. She’s a good performer with nice energy and she always brings nice songs. I found myself bopping to this.
This is genuinely pretty competent. I’m not really sold on the backing dancers or the tap dancing, but it’s a solid radio-friendly pop song with basically no faults. I don’t think it stands out too much, but he performed well, and it makes sense that this won the semi-final.
If she was less shrill thoughout the song, I could imagine myself enjoying this more as the song is pretty nice. Unfortunately, I didn’t enjoy listening to her singing at all.
This would’ve been my winner if it was just the growler. He’s really good at dirty vocals - he was clearly trained, but the regular singer really brought it down for me. But then, I like dirty vocals, so I can probably appreciate them more properly.
Hooray, it’s time for the final, let’s go!
San Marino always ends up having some high-effort songs, and this is definitely one of them. These people are a lot better in the final, thanks to the improved production. They fill in the “hectic rock song” niche and have already made it on my playlist. In fact, I’ll even try to keep an eye out for their future releases. I especially love the violin solo and the lead singer’s raspy voice.
Her vocals verge on operatic most of the time, which doesn’t really work for me, but also doesn’t sound that awful either. And I actually quite like the epic instrumental, it lifts it up quite a lot.
This is a lovely song. It isn’t flashy at all, but I just like her voice quite a lot. It flows well and makes for a very pleasant listening experience. But it isn’t very memorable overall, that’s true.
I’m just not big on boybands, but this isn’t bad at all. It’s sleek and professional and even a bit fun. It would probably score really well a decade ago.
Wow, this is worse than most non-qualifiers. It’s probably supposed to be fun, but it ends up being a dull mess with no energy. And she’s supposed to be a big artist.
I didn’t like Titan, but this is even worse. It feels so cheap and boring. I just don’t like anything about this.
She has a pretty decent voice, but the song is just incredibly average and boring.
While it’s very overdramatic, I think it actually works in this song. The instrumental is very suitably epic and helps him sell the drama of the song a lot better. I’m surprised that I like it, but I’m also happy I do.
I actually like this. It’s danceable and fun, though not something I’d choose to listen to in my own free time. Still, it’s pretty nice. He also spoke in Italian at the end to thank everyone, which is nice.
I’ve already added this to my playlist simply because it’s so nice. It’s just some nice unassuming soft rock in Italian that just feels very listenable and sincere.
This is simply average and I won’t remember it the second it ends. It’s simply one of many songs that leave no impression. The rasp in his voice is kinda nice.
I might stick this on my playlist to see if it sticks. I’m uncertain because I like the mysterious verses, but the chorus just falls flat. However, she definitely elevates it with her performance.
There’s some promise in this, but it doesn’t deliver overall. It just never builds up and resolves the slightly interesting parts the song has. The bridge is the best part of the song by far.
As far as boybands go, this is pretty good. They have chemistry together and the song is above average by boyband standards. Still not something I’d revisit, but I can respect this song’s existence.
Yeah, I just like this. It’s very Italian and not very exciting, but I allowed myself to just vibe to this and ended up really enjoying this. He never stops singing, which helps me keep myself suspended in the atmosphere the song creates. I’m definitely going to come back to this.
Some people have said that this is completely playback. I don’t agree that it’s/fully/ playback, but the use of pre-recorded vocals is definitely excessive here. The verses are definitely sung live, as they sound very different from the studio version, but the choruses are definitely way too perfect to be live. However, I like the song, so I’ll let it off the hook for now.
She gives this enough passion for me to like the performance, although I definitely won’t return to the song itself as it’s just incredibly average.
This is fully instrumental, so it wouldn’t have been allowed in Eurovision as is, but the rules SMRTV has put out allow instrumental songs as long as lyrics are added before the submission. There was also a huge break before this song as he’s performing it live, so they certainly needed to do an extensive soundcheck in a show that otherwise relies on backing tracks.
I really like this though. It’s very mesmerising, and I keep coming back to the live performance. There’s a lot of warmth in the overall package, and I genuinely wonder how they would’ve changed this for Eurovision (it would’ve certainly been worse). It’s the least Eurovisiony song I’ve ever seen competing in a Eurovision NF, and we’re all better off for having witnessed it.
It’s alright, but not very remarakle. The sung English parts are also much worse than the rapped Italian parts. There was literally no reason for the language changes here and it would’ve been much better off fully in Italian.
SMRTV decided to finish us off with some good old cringe. This just tries to be too edgy but comes off as incredibly tryhard and annoying. This is literally the kind of music I was listening to in 2014, and I thought that it was cool.
While yes, there production wasn’t perfect, it was much better than last year. The audio in the semi-finals was actually audible and the finals were pretty nice too. More than that, there were plenty of songs I actually found worth keeping.
The interval acts were also pretty nice. They were integrated into the show much better than last year. Now, I did skip the opening act from Al Bano due to personal biases, but I was happy to see La Rappresentante di Lista performing in the final after all the songs. They immediately went to the results after that. In the end, Gabry Ponte won, and I have to say that it was deserved. I hope San Marino can now qualify in Basel.
Sorry for the long list, but I can’t do it any other way.