Stick with me until the end, here’s part 19 of the run through of this year’s contestants! Will they be beautiful butterflies, or rather moths that have to hide away in the dark? 
First of all, a bit of framework for the judging – I’ll be looking at the song, the vocal performance and the stage presentation (or concept of the video if we haven’t seen a stage performance) and I’ll round up by putting them to the DIMI test (do I think it’s Dramatic, Intriguing and/or Modern enough to Include in my iTunes library?). I’ll score the entries from 1 to 5 on each of those points, resulting in a score out of a possible maximum of 20.
3. Italy – Marco Mengoni – L’essenziale
The Song: Ballad number 5326 in this Contest. But the most quintessential one of the bunch, I’m sure. The fact that it’s in the language of love sure doesn’t hurt its chances, and even though it borderlines (rather heavily) on the ‘been there, done that’ feeling it’s got that certain je ne sais quoi that makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand up, whether you want them to or not. It sounds gorgeous in Italian, pity the poetic lyrics won’t touch everyone.
Verdict: 
The Voice: Marco’s nasal sound takes about 30 seconds to get used to, after that he blends beautifully with the rest of the composition. Love his timing when he’s pronouncing the title to the song at the end of the (rather demure) chorus.
Verdict:
The Performance: Eye candy alert. This song doesn’t require a lot of fuss and a lot will come down to Marco himself and how he performs the song. I have no doubt he will be perfectly groomed, which will make ladies and other fans of men Swoon with a capital S.
Verdict:
The DIMI test: Is it too Eros R? Perhaps. But for those three minutes on that one Saturday in May I don’t think I will mind.
Verdict:
PERSONAL TOTAL: 16/20
PREDICTION: Is it too Eros R? Perhaps. But for those three minutes on that one Saturday in May I don’t think Europe will mind. Sure top 5, possible winner.
4. Spain – ESDM – Contigo hasta el final
The Song: The Corrs have moved to Spain it seems. I also smell a toch of Ireland 2007, even though this is more clever in production: I love how many instruments are used here and the layering is very clever. It doesn’t obey the standard Eurovision build-up, which makes me love it even more, but it does take quite some time before we get to the essence of the song and that might not be very beneficial. Still, kuddos to them for sticking to their style instead of sacrificing their proverbal artistic soul.
Verdict:
The Voice: It’s a tad on the sharp side but with their live reputation I don’t think vocals are going to be an issue. Unless a crowd of a possible 120 million viewers gets the better of them.
Verdict:
The Performance: This might be the pitfall for Spain. There’s not an awful lot you can do with this song, so I think a rather straight to the point approach would work best for them. I fear for it though, the Spanish are notorious in fracking up their entries when it comes to the actual presentation on stage. I hope ESDM are putting their foot down.
Verdict:
The DIMI test: It’s a nice little ditty. A perfectly nice spring song. Nothing too extraordinary, out of this world, must put it on repeat multiple times though…
Verdict:
PERSONAL TOTAL: 13/20
PREDICTION: I fear this is too sweet for its own good and will get lost in translation. Possible bottom 5 contender.
Tomorrow: UK & Sweden
Dimivision 