Checking out the Baltic states now. I don’t know much about these countries, aside from what I’ve read in the web comic, Scandinavia and the World and seen in the anime, Hetalia: Axis Powers.

Kidding! But not really… Typical American. Anyway, onto the songs.

Ott Lepland represents Estonia with the ballad, Kuula.

So nice. Lepland has a strong voice and sings with the power and emotion such a ballad demands. Again, I like it when the contestants sing in their own language. It gives the competition more of an international feel. I looked up “kuula” using Google Translate. It came up with “listen” in English. I do have to add a comment from adlitham on YouTube, which made me giggle. “love this song! even though i don’t understand a thing.. and in norwegian it sort of sounds like a declaration of love to Cola (as in Coca Cola), which makes me like it even more^^”

Anmary represents Latvia with the pop song, Beautiful Song.

I think I would have liked this better if it were in Latvian. The lyrics, about singing a beautiful song, fell flat with me. The tune is catchy and her voice is nice. Maybe I’ll like her live performance better than this contrived video setting. I was a bit disappointed that Mick Jagger didn’t show up.

Donny Montell represents Lithuania with the pop ballad, Love is Blind

Hated the blindfold. Hated it. But I loved his handstand. And the song seemed to pick up energy after that. He’s got a good voice and I can easily see this being remixed as a dance song. For the Eurovision performance, I really hope he forgets the blindfold and gives this song that handstand energy from beginning to end.

Of the Baltics, I’d say Estonia is my favorite. How about you? Any favorites so far?

These videos are from the list of Eurovison 2012 contestants on YouTube.