Baby Lasagna from Croatia with the song “Rim Tim Tagi Dim” advances to the Eurovision final. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)
Of NTB | 07.05.2024 23:24:25
Culture and entertainment: The first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest took place on Tuesday evening in Malmö Arena. Ten entries from each semi-final advance to the grand final.
Among the entries that progressed are favorites Baby Lasagna from Croatia with the song “Rim Tim Tagi Dim” and Ukrainian alyona alyona & Jerry Heil with the song “Teresa & Maria”.
The odds favorite at Norsk Tipping was Croatia even before the semi-finals, followed by Switzerland and Ukraine. The trend was similar with the international betting companies when NTB took a check on Monday evening.
Serbia, Portugal, Slovenia, Lithuania, Finland, Cyprus, Ireland and Luxembourg are also through to the final on Saturday 11 May.
The big five (Italy, Spain, France, Germany and Great Britain) and the host nation (Sweden) will also participate.
It was Norwegian Marcus and Martinus who won the Melodifestivalen, and thus represent Sweden in this year’s Eurovision. Despite the fact that Sweden, as the host nation, is guaranteed a place in the final, the twins were able to perform their contribution “Unforgettable” in Tuesday’s semi-final.
Dagbladet’s reviewer referred to the performance as “antiseptic” and gave the 22-year-olds a three, while VGs reviewer wrote the following:
– M&M definitely does not embarrass either its home country or its participating country. They delivered the best among the direct qualifiers tonight.
At Norsk Tipping, the twins are predicted to place 17th.
The second semi-final will be held on Thursday. This year’s Norwegian hope Gåte, with the song “Ulveham”, will perform as number 15 out of 16 entries.
(© NTB)