ESC 2011 - Reviewing the countries beginning with "I"

Iceland sends Sjonni Brink's Friends with the song "Coming Home" written by Þórunn Erna Clausen and Sigurjón Brink.

Sympathy vote! This wasn't the best song and I am sure that if Brink hadn't died he wasn't gonna win. His friends performed the song in the icelandic NF and they won. I am not a fan of the song. It's not bad but it's nothing special. By the way, if you have a facebook account (I'm sure most of you have!) you probably know the game FrontierVille. The first 5 seconds of the song are almost identical to FrontierVille's music! Hahaha Oh anyway... I hope this works for Iceland.
Iceland competes in the 1st semi-final with running order #14.

3pts from me and good luck to Iceland!

Ireland sends Jedward with the song "Lipstick" written by Dan Priddy, Lars Jensen and Martin Larson.

I don't know if I like this or hate this! I'm closer to the second. "You say you're on it, but you just don't know. You're spending money like you're on death row". The underlined parts are so annoying!! Seriously I hate the way they sing that! I've watched some videos of Jedward and I saw that they always have a show so I guess they might make it to the final but I made up my mind. I don't like the song!
Ireland competes in the 2nd semi-final with running order #17.

1pt from me and good luck to Ireland!

Israel sends Dana International with the song "Ding Dong" written by Dana International.

Another comeback of a previous winner. I just LOVE this song! And as it seems Dana will use the original version of the song and not the 2nd official! Listen for yourselves! The first one is much better. She tried to make it more "clubby" but it didn't really work. She shot her video (which is not out yet) with the second version but I guess she saw the negative feedback of the 2nd version and she decided to go for the first. LOVE the intro and the bells in the chorus. These things made me love the song and removing them from the 2nd version was a really bad move. Fingers crossed for the original version!
Israel competes in the 2nd semi-final with running order #12.

12pts from me and good luck to Israel!

Italy sends Raphael Gualazzi with the song "Madness Of Love" written by Raphael Gualazzi.

Italy returns to the contest after 13 years of absence and they're doing this with a bad song, imo. I don't like it. The left us (actually you since I watched the ESC for the first time in 2002 :P) with an icredible song and this comeback isn't the best. It's definitely not my cup of tea and it has a really old sound. It kinda reminds me of Germany’s entry in 2007. I didn't like it and I don't like this one. That's it!
Italy competes in the final with running order #12.

1pt from me and good luck to Italy!