Since it’s going to be a few days at least before I have looked at enough YouTube videos in order to determine running order of the preview countdown, how about a few selections from the national finals that didn’t make it. There were a lot of fine songs and guilty pleasures amongst them so let’s start with Estonia, Finland and Hungary.

Estonia

Laura “Supersonic” – runner up in Eesti Laul, Estonian national final:

Estonia’s national final generally has good depth of quality and I think that both this and the song that actually won are worthy of a Eurovision final.

Finland

Saara Aalto “No Fear” – runner up in Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu (UMK), Finnish national final:

I didn’t have a chance to see much of the Finnish national final, but I think this had been the pre-show favourite. As it turned out, Saara missed out on a place in Stockholm but I think it’s still a decent song.

Hungary

Gergő Oláh “Győz a jó” – runner up in A Dal, Hungarian national final:

The quality of Hungary’s national final (A Dal) has increased over the years, and it’s now one of the most well known and best produced of the national finals, and this year saw a lot of very good entries. This choice of mine might seem a little left field, but I really like it – I think Eurovision sees less now of the varied distinctive regional sounds in recent years so good to hear something like this!

Mushu “Uncle Tom – finalist in A Dal, Hungarian national final:

Give yourself a bit of time to get into this one, but I really enjoy it once it gets into the song (and particularly from about 1:10 into song!)

What do you think of these? Should they have been going to Stockholm? Or have I missed any from those three countries – comment below!