Have you been keeping up with our line-up check of the ESC 2018 entries? Each song is assigned to one of our team, and once they’ve had their say, the other team members get a brief right of reply. That way you get to see what we all think – and whether we share the same opinions or disagree wildly.

Anyway, don’t worry if you missed a post or two – here’s a round-up of what we had to say about the songs in the first semi-final. Simply click the country name to read the full review!

1. Azerbaijan
“Let’s get to the point: how bad are the lyrics?”

2. Iceland
“People seem to think that Ari Ólafsson is the best thing about this entry...”

3. Albania
“If you want to put the essence of longing into music, then you write exactly this song.”

4. Belgium
“Sennek will need a top-tier performance in order to qualify.”

5. Czech Republic
“They can do well this year. Really well.”

6. Lithuania
“This rather unremarkable song actually managed to comfort me when everything else failed to.”

7. Israel
“Let’s make one thing clear: Netta is no Gabbani.”

8. Belarus
“Even the people involved don’t seem to have a great deal of confidence in it.”

9. Estonia
“A pretty girl in a pretty dress singing a pretty song prettily.”

10. Bulgaria
“We were promised a worthy winning candidate, and expectations were set accordingly.”

11. Macedonia
“‘Oh yeah, I remember these Macedonian entries. Were they really all in the same year?!'”

12. Croatia
“The real controversy is how a song this mediocre managed to be internally selected in the first place.“

13. Austria
“I have no doubt that the juries will be his friends, and I can only hope the televote will follow.”

14. Greece
“Pleasant enough, but it lacks both peaks and hooks.”

15. Finland
“I’m not sure this year’s Finnish team knows the difference between a talent show staging and a Eurovision one.”

16. Armenia
“It’s classic, melodic and sophisticated.”

17. Switzerland
“Could have come straight from the soundtrack to a corporate promotional video.”

18. Ireland
“My expectations were quite low, but then I was kind of relieved.”

19. Cyprus
“There is, of course, considerable car crash potential here.”

all images from eurovision.tv