Well, it’s less than two weeks before I depart for Baku, and the lull of post-preseason-to-pre-Eurovision activity will be replaced with a veritable maelstrom of news, rehearsal footage, interviews, punditry, and behind-the-scenes gossip.  Sounds like a perfect opportunity to publish my own Unranked Rankings, don’t you think?

As some of you might remember from my list last year, it’s very hard for me to pinpoint an absolute favorite.  My preferences change with my mood, the direction of the wind, and whether or not Venus is rising in Scorpio.  In order to placate my often-indecisive streak, I put songs together in groups according to my general opinion of them.  Keep in mind, however, that this list is subject to change as we see the staging of the entries, or simply as time passes (for example, I couldn’t stand “I Love Belarus” at first, but now it’s a complete guilty pleasure that I dance around to in my apartment when I’m sure nobody’s looking).  Furthermore, these rankings are completely unrelated to how I think the songs will actually do on the scoreboard in Baku!

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Well, the calm before the storm still reigns in the world of Eurovision, as there is little news from delegations between the Allocation Draw and the first rounds of rehearsals.  There is, however, plenty of news coming in from our Azerbaijani hosts.  Let’s take a look at what’s been going on in Baku:

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