The Ukraine are relatively new at Eurovision, appearing for the first time in 2003, with the first ever contortionist as their stage gimmick.  Unfortunately, it didn't draw people away from what was more of a joke entry which the Ukrainians seemed to take rather seriously.  They finished 14th.  But then, all of a sudden, great things happened in 2005 when they won the Contest with the fantastic Xena Warrior Princess-esque performance from Ruslana.  Unfortunately, their luck took a tumble, with what certainly was a bad entry in 2005, coming 20th out of 24.  Consequently, the Ukraine find themselves in the 2006 Semi-Final.

 

 

Originally the song was called 'I'm Your Queen', but the producers of the song made a wise decision to change the lyrics and title of the song when they jazzed it up a little.  The song isn't the best in the contest, but I do like it, and it is one of those ones that you do hum and sing after you've heard it.  Tina Karol is a popular performer in the Ukraine, and she should do her country proud on the night.

 

 

This is one of the outsiders that could just slip into the top ten or just miss out.  I suspect it will miss out narrowly but should it make it through to the final would get lost among the competition anyway.  As much as I like it I think the Ukraine will have to wait at least another year for another win.

 

 

When I was watching this on the Semi-Final night I thought it would be a shame if this didn't qualify because it was very well performed.  And so, we find it in the Final - one of the big surprises this year!  I'm gonna be bold enough to say this is another contender for victory - I thought Tina gave a great vocal and performance, and the song had something extra about it when it was performed live.  I think it will pick up lots of Eastern votes, and will appeal to Western Europe as well.  Good luck!

 

 

When watching the Eurovision each year I think it's wonderful to see a song that no-one expects to do particularly well, come to life on stage and be a truly pleasant surprise.  Show Me Your Love was the pleasant surprise of 2006 - and deserved it's success.  The whole thing really looked and sounded great on stage, and securing 7th in both the Semi and the Grand Final is alot more than many Eurovision fanatics and critics expected this to muster up.  The performance was thoroughly enjoyable - Tina looked drop dead gorgeous, her vocal was wonderful and the choreography was gripping - it really added to the whole positive stage effect - the tambourines personally did it for me!  I was initially very happy to be proved wrong on this one, because as I have said, when I watched this on the Semi-Final night I thought it would be a shame not to see it qualify. Although she wasn't really a contender for victory, she did meet my 6th-8th prediction, so I guess that counts as a right n wrong :o)