Four Favourites from the 2021 Eurovision Song Contest

The first semi-final of the 2021 Eurovision Song Contest is just over a month away, and as the artists go full steam ahead recording their postcards and back-up recordings it's time to do what any good Eurovision-loving blogger-type person would do and make a listicle.

Last year, I talked about every single Eurovision entry -- all 41 songs!! -- and then the contest got cancelled, which left a bit of a bitter taste in my mouth. So let's keep it nice and simple this year: here's the four Eurovision songs I can't get out of my head, for your listening and reading pleasure.

And hey, if you like the idea of stuff like this hitting your inbox, why not subscribe? I talk about the stuff I'm into at least twice a month, and it's all designed to be a nice easy read.

Daði og Gagnamagnið - 10 Years (Iceland)

Let's get this out of the way: Daði Freyr and Gagnamagnið ("the data plan") would have won Eurovision last year.

Think About Things, a delightfully sweet song about Freyr's baby daughter, wasn't just catchy and funky as all hell; it was a bonafide sensation, one of the TikTok dance crazes of the early pandemic, and a song I am frankly yet to tire of (apologies to my boyfriend.)

10 Years, about the decade Freyr and his wife Árný Fjola have spent together, follows beautifully in its footsteps. Everything's elevated; the costumes, the dance moves, the 2000-strong backing vocals. It's also just so damn earnest that I can't help but love it. Reykjavik 2022, anyone?

Montaigne - Technicolour (Australia)

Down in Australia, Montaigne unveiled her follow up to 2020's Don't Break Me in a stadium so full of people I genuinely thought it was a broadcast from another universe.

If you're not a big Eurovision person, you may have still heard stuff from Australia's entry; as a side project she wrote the new theme song for beloved podcast My Brother, My Brother and Me, which feels like a soundtrack piece from a mid-2000s teen movie. Technicolour, on the other hand, feels like a product of our times; it channels anxieties about our collective current state of being ("I wanna know that there's a future // that I can move myself towards") while also being... kinda witchy? Idk, if there's a lyric that feels the witchiest of any Eurovision entry this year it's "time to take off your cloaks".

Either way, it's a massive improvement off the good, if a little shaky, Don't Break Me. Australia have done pretty well since first taking part in 2015; I imagine they'll do pretty well this year, too.

Destiny - Je Me Casse (Malta)

Destiny has some serious Eurovision pedigree -- she won Junior Eurovision in 2015, and was a backing singer for 2019's Maltese entry -- and Je Me Casse (I'm out of here) feels like Malta's best ever shot at winning the adult contest.

It visits a couple of old Eurovision themes, too; namely, the female empowerment of Toy (Israel's 2018 winner) and the regrettable electro-swing of Still in Love with You (the UK's 2015 entry). It takes those two influences, throws them in a blender, and puts some serious vocal talent behind them, and the result is something that's oh so catchy.

The UK has a habit of voting for the Maltese entry that I've never quite understood. This time, though? I absolutely get it. This is -- ahem -- destined for greatness.

James Newman - Embers (United Kingdom (no, really))

Listen, I know this is a lot to take in -- especially if you're British! -- but we've finally done it; we've finally picked a song that has left-side-of-the-board potential.

It's taken a decade of mostly garbage to get there, but now we're finally sending something decent it feels so good. And feeling good is definitely the vibe of this song; it's a pretty typical British summer jam, the kind that does well not just in the UK but all over the world.

It has the kind of party-in-your-living room vibe that's been missing from British entries for years -- honestly, I'm just glad we're over our broad fixation on songs that could have been sung by X Factor winners.

I take back most of what I said when I made the case for Eurovision on ITV; this is some genuinely good stuff. Hopefully we can keep it up in the years to come.