All-time Top 5

Day 33 is now really enticing, my top 5 entries of all time. All have featured in rankings and lists at some point along my epic journey to count down the days till semi-final number one. And with 34 days to go, it seemed like an eternity away. Now it's just a single day and we'll know the first ten acts to join the big 5 and hosts in the final.

#5 United Kingdom 1997 - 'Love Shine A Light' by Katrina & the Waves (1st/227 points)
This is such a jam. Don't be hating on such a classy written song. I have thousands of childhood memories singing this song at school - our headteacher thought it was fantastic - and then many years later I actually found out that it won Eurovision! You can imagine my delight. But this didn't just win Eurovision, it stormed the scoreboards (for the 90s), is the United Kingdom's highest scoring entry, undoubtedly holds a case for the UK's best ever entry, and is lyrically genius. Katrina herself is a star and I am so proud of this record.

#4 United Kingdom 1996 - "Ooh Aah Just A Little Bit" by Gina G (8th/77 points)

But Love Shine A Light isn't my favourite of all time. Oh no no no. That place belongs to Gina G's Ooh Aah Just A Little Bit. I have distant memories of this, hazy yet existent, of singing this, dancing to this and loving this. I was 3 when the UK entered with Gina G to give that some perspective. It's my family who have such wonderful memories of me camping it up to such an iconic camp number. And the crowd were deranged when this didn't win (and let's be honest, while I may be a big fan of 'The Voice', this should have won hands down). And for these reasons alone, it has to be in my all-time top 5.

#3 Sweden 2012 - Euphoria by Loreen (1st/372 points)

Does this need any explanation or introduction? Euphoria may be the Ooh Aah of this century, but it goes past an exaggerated glitz by one of the best performances seen on the Eurovision stage. The choreography is mastermind in portraying a simplicity, and powerfully reflecting an intensity. And the song? Well it's pure class. Pure phenomena. Pure Euphoria.

(I may have ranked Carola higher when ranking the Swedish winners, but I see that as a different category ;)

#2 Bulgaria 2007 - Water by Elitsa & Stoyan (5th/157 points)

I mentioned this the other day (here: Top 10 from the 00s) but it's highly worthy of an all-time top 5 placing. As I mentioned, it's the pinnacle of alternative, has a cunningly structured and yet frivolous delivery of folk-inspired ethno-funk, while brilliantly holding a unambiguous authenticity which enraptures or derides. I will never not praise this entry enough.

#1 Serbia 2007 - Molitva by Marija Serifovic (1st/268 points)

Where superlatives fail, just play Molitva. I honestly struggle to see what other's don't get nowadays about the song because I have simply fallen way beyond smitten with it. I could say that I speak Serbian, but I mean, I speak Molitvilian. This song and staging coupled with a unconquerable vocal are everything. Some say there is no absolute, I say there is Molitva. 

Something on Wogan...

When the 2007 contest came around, I was a wide-eyed and easily swayed 14 year old. When me and my parents watched the contest, we watched with Terry Wogan's commentary and it wasn't a lack of appreciation he had for Molitva, it was actually a devaluation and utter bewilderment to it's fans. And I was heavily influenced by such a strong opinion. Especially because Dancing Lasha Tumbai performed after, and I was a fan from the moment the strobes were going, and then Flying The Flag, which is still to this day one of my all-time favourites as well (I will shamelessly admit!). "How could this unattractive chick trying to look like Harry Potter win with a dreary, non-English ballad?" - and that my friends is why Wogan had to go. Whilst I enjoy(ed) 90% of his Eurovision commentary, his inability to see what others could always made him that kind of person to actually attempt disrespect, which especially with hindsight, is just bittersweet. However, in a post which is to come later, fans outside the UK need to understand the UK doesn't care about it's position within the contest, not truly, and the BBC really don't give a damn about winning because they don't need to try to in order to still destroy ITV in ratings. As soon as the BBC give the ESC up, ITV will swoop it up faster than you can say Boom-Bang-A-Bang. Wogan's early retirement from Eurovision came from an inadequate understanding of the modernisation of the contest, disengaging with the mega fan and deliberating the decrease in popularity among viewers. If the contest was to lose a watcher, lose a house party, or lose the international viewer seeking highly-respected commentary, then the BBC was losing the battle and it's cheapest (by far) Saturday night television programming would lose out. Ultimately the show is about making money, and the BBC needed to hold on to that. More to come.

My 3 Best Staging/Performances

11 days to go!

#3 Azerbaijan 2013 - "Hold Me" Farid Mammadov

#2 Sweden 2012 - "Euphoria" Loreen

#1 Netherlands 2014 - "Calm After The Storm" The Common Linnets

Do the polls lie?

As I Brit, I'm naturally expected to ask this question after our GE of 2015 when all preview polls told porkies and everyone was a little surprised by the polarisation in the result. A year on and we're all like "of course the polls were wrong...duh!" but it begs the question of ESC; do the polls lie?

I consider myself a mega fan since 2009. In 2009, I sought all songs pre-contest and ranked them and loved them and ah it was amazing. Then the UK came 5th and that definitely helped my love for the contest. 2011 is arguably the best contest ever, 2012 saw me blog as a result of that, we had Euphoria, and well, the rest you know...

So when it comes to considering the polls, I'll start by taking a look back to the '09 contest to try and reflect what was really happening pre-contest. The ESC World had a big bang on social media in 2011, and wasn't anywhere near as big back in 2009. But I can feel people disagreeing with me already, but come on, ESC wasn't anywhere near as big on social media in 2009 as it is now. Fact(!)


2009 proved to be Norway's Fairytale

As we entered the 2009 contest, there were two bookie favourites; Norway and Greece. The Greeks were represented by Sakis Rouvas who had already come 3rd in 2004 with popular dance song "Shake It". He had then hosted the 2006 contest, and he was a household name. Still is a household name. However his 2009 entrant "This Is Our Night"was being dwarfed in polls by "Fairytale" for Norway, even though it was a good 2nd in many online polls. After the rehearsals, "Fairytale" was a shoe in for victory, and well, we all know the rest. It's has the record for the biggest points win ever. It seems the polls were right.

Other highly placed finishers in 2009 also finished well in polls, and you'd be hard pushed to find a poll that has Iceland, Azerbaijan, Turkey, and even the UK and Estonia outside the top 10/15.


Did Satellite enjoy an expected victory?

Moving on to 2010, and "Satellite" really didn't steam to victory. Germany pulled off a relatively unchallenged win nonetheless, with Turkey, Romania, Denmark, Azerbaijan and Belgium rounding up a fairly 'safe' top six.

Romania and Belgium were a little surprising to finish as high as they did based on pre-contest polls, but the big casualty was Harel Skaat's "Milim" finishing as low as 14th. However, he was by no means a runaway favourite and in fact the polls were very close that year. You'd be hard pressed to find one of the big polls ranking Germany outside the top 5, and a lot had Germany to win. It seems the polls had it around-about pretty spot on, in otherwise a pretty unspectacular year.


2011 had Kati Wolf left thinking; "What about my dreams the POLLS!?"

2011 comes round and I'm biased to talk about it really because I became heavily invested and delighted by the fantastic show. I think the 2011 contest was the best ever, but you already know that. I mentioned in "the biggest fan flops of all time" that undoubtedly Hungary's dramatically low finish is up there with the best flops, but the polls all around were pretty out of it. Kati Wolf may have won a lot of polls, but Estonia were doing well (especially with the bookies), France were the bookies hot fave and were a poll top tenner quite consistently, and even the UK were expected to do so much better. In the end, we all know Azerbaijan stole the show, but for songs this was an incredibly strong year and the polls were very close at points.

What is paramount though, is that Azerbaijan were consistently featured in many top 10s and there was universal acclaim for ESC fans alike that it was a good song and deserved to do well. They didn't start the ESC season well, but by the time we got to Eurovision  Week it was a popular song. People lament them winning, but they frequently appeared high in polls, they just weren't expected to win.

But I think we can say that the polls lied in 2011.


Euphoria

2012 comes around and Euphoria won everything pre-contest, it won everything at the contest, and we really need not say anything about 2012. Perhaps the biggest flop was Pastora Soler for Spain, but 2012 was remembered for being slightly ballad heavy, and that's the biggest case we have for Spain not doing better.


Those who didn't rate Denmark were left with only teardrops

2013 happens and Emmelie de Forest is storming everything for Denmark. The polls start to become a bit more skewed at this point though, with fans swarming for San Valentina - but there was never any real doubt about the winner. The staging was beautiful and looking back through the results, it all seems to make sense.


Fantastrophes in 2014? No, just Conchita...

As a UK fan going into 2014, I was delighted to see Molly not just doing well, but winning a lot of polls. I thought there might be a chance. The bookies had Armenia to win, a lot of people thought Hungary might steal it, everyone predicted a strong finish for Sweden, and the biggest fantastrophe was Israel not qualifying (which is not that great a surprise honestly). But we all fell for the Common Linnets, I had them in my top 10 but was not surprised to see them so low in so many polls, and confess that I didn't see them having much of a chance. And then the performance was just absolute magic, turning a track into pure gold, and on hindsight we're all like "duh!".

And then the Conchita effect. With hindsight, I can't believe I wasn't predicting a win for Austria. It is so obvious post-contest. The performance definitely helped, as the performance is absolutely stunning, but it was Conchita. Of course she was going to win, she was everything at the contest, it was just Conchita... and this was despite not doing that great in polls.

In the end the polls failed to predict success for Austria and the Netherlands. But the polls failed to consider what Conchita Wurst was actually achieving that year, and there was scepticism whether countries like Russia would vote for her. They did, the whole of Eastern Europe did and all fans have learned their lesson.


"Goodbye to victory, there would only be Heroes"

Finally we move into 2015, and Heroes was doing well all over the shot. It was winning most polls, and where it wasn't, the place was often filled by Italy or Estonia. Estonia were unlucky in the end, I think Russia and Italy's draw definitely helped, and Estonia just performed a bit too early for such a heavy 27-song show. However, Russia were predicted to do extremely well, even if the fans didn't rate the song as highly as others. And when it comes to the performance, Estonia is just a bit flat live. Especially when you compare it to the performances of Sweden, Russia, Italy, Belgium and even Australia. It was hard to predict Sweden or Italy not winning, and at the end of the day, if we didn't have juries, Italy would have won the contest. So it seems once more, the polls can hardly be accused of lying.


Dr Chris: Fixing the 2016 Problems?

So how can we apply that to the 2016 season? Well have a look at the polls floating around. Over the next 3 weeks, the Eurovision world on social media will play host to thousands of returning semi-fans, and thousands of brand new fans. The polls are still relatively under-spoken, and the full magnitude of the Eurovision fan world is, I think, just beginning to kick off. It'll be bigger and better than any year previous, and due to that, I think let's hold off reading too much into the polls for another week, and give the bookies a look in about two weeks to start to get a real reflection of what's happening.

That being said, I'll have a crack. Anyone who has seen my page or follows me on Twitter at all knows that I have France and Russia as a lofty one-two. But you can hardly deny that France-Russia are the top two in just about every poll, they are the bookies favourites, and they really are starting to pull away from the rest. The likes of Croatia, Australia, Bulgaria, Iceland and Spain are filling up many top fives, and the overall standard of songs this year is pretty average. The real decisive factor appears to be Ukraine, who are a bit Marmite; you either love it or you hate it.

There is no Conchita effect going on; the standard isn't the greatest so there is little chance of a 2011 repeat; so we can presume based on recent history, that the polls won't be too far out. This leads me to state that both Russia and France will secure top five finishes at minimum.

Neither of the songs are Euphoria, and France-Russia have too much popularity in a ratio comparable to the rest, so we wont see a Milim style flop. The biggest risk for them is to suffer a flop similar to Estonia last year. I think we can all agree that won't happen to Russia, which will for the most part, have undeniably flawless production. France will be a wholly unknown quantity for the broadcasters to predict whether they can win, but the draw won't effect whether this can win or not. We already know this has got crowds at preview shows in full song and dance so will be performed to a very warm reception to TV viewers on the night.


The Innocence of Passion

I appreciate my next comment does have bias because I want France to win; but anyone calling the song "overrated" is, I believe, being naive and to some extent, immature. In 2012, I thought Euphoria was good but was upset because at the time I believe that 2012 was such a strong year and Euphoria didn't deserve to "runaway" with it. Ultimately, I wanted more of a contest. However I wasn't that big a fool to not rate the song, and had it firmly in my top ten. Fast forward to 2013, and Denmark were stealing the pre-contest race, albeit not as strongly as Sweden the year before. Again, I was perhaps a little devastated simply because I didn't think the song deserved to have such a lead because the songs were better once again. For that reason, I actually de-valued the quality of Only Teardrops, calling it the biggest overrated song in the contest.

A few years on from that, and I can't believe that those were my opinions, (1) because Euphoria makes literally everyone euphoric, (2) Only Teardrops is just lovely, and (3) 2012, and 2013 moreso, are with hindsight not that strong. The reason I say it's therefore naive to think France is overrated and isn't going to win, is simply because 2016 just isn't that good a year. People have the same songs over and over again in their top 10. I'm not talking about #1 favourites, I'm talking about top tens, which is something we all love to do because each country at Eurovision awards their top ten their points. For this reason, there are a good handful of countries who could finish top 3, and therefore appear a threat at winning. There are too many songs this year, like 2013, that don't have that "pulling, favouritism" power, especially in comparable quantity to France/Russia. For example, ESC Stats holds the top 10 polled this year with 49.3% of 'favourites', compared to last year's top 10 holding 65.2%. There were too many songs last year that were favourites, reflecting the strength in year and demonstrating why the polls this year are going to be favourably accurate in forseeing a French or Russian win. This is because their strength in popularity plays far greater magnitude in a comparable ratio to other songs.

The polls are a distinct reflection of epistemologically, portraying with authenticity, a positivist choice of quality. They demand an interpretation due to lacking any real ability to assume other's autonomy, and simply, Eurovision has taught me the interpretation can only be assumed as passion. The controversy, the debates, the intensity amongst fans pre-contest has never been so consuming, which can only be depicted as passion. For this reason, I celebrate a naive "overrated" comment. If France or Russia don't win the contest, I'll be damned. But for those saying it is overrated are simply evoking the passion of the contest; you want there to be more of a contest as you don't rate it as highly. And for those saying you "can't see France or Russia winning" you are simply being naive. They are winning the pre-contest polls pretty much everywhere, France are starting to really assail a lead over Russia, and so to say you cant see either of them winning is just optimistically wishing neither would. I'm sorry, but it's true.


What happens when Serhat steals victory and you Chris, look like a complete idiot?

I welcome it. For the very reasons I have laid out, my support for France and Russia will look entirely passionate. If I'm going to be very wrong after the final then so be it! I think there's a good chance they won't both finish top two, simply because there are arguments against both. France's just might not come across as great live, and Russia's lyrics might disenchant the ordinary voter. But I'm not going to start building a defence if my arguments for them winning humiliate me. I'll say it again, humiliation is part and parcel of being a Eurovision fan, because a true fan follows with passion and integrity, and those are two character traits you should never be afraid or ashamed of.


With love.

Part II - Sweden

The Good Part II: Sweden

Welcome to the second edition of the Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Today's post is another "good" and this time it's Sweden!

'Undo' by Sanna Nielsen

Sweden have one of the best records in the Eurovision Song Contest, and rightfully so. Last year I blogged a history of Swedish winners in the contest following Loreen's euphoric triumph in 2012. If you missed that, you can read it here. Sweden have won at pivotal points of the Eurovision Song Contest, could they be on for win number 6? Polls and odds indicate that Sweden 2015 is very possible - and with 2015 being the 60th edition of the contest, the winner of this year's contest is 'pivotal'. It seems to all point in Sweden's favour.

So what of the song? Well 'Undo' is a classy ballad. A beautiful melody starts the song before Sanna's soft lyrics ease into the song. The first verse builds to a gentle first chorus, juxtaposing the tragedy for which Sanna sings about. By the time the beat kicks in on the second verse, Sanna's voice begins to strengthen and leads to a big second chorus. All the while, the song is just beautiful: the composition, lyrics, everything, just works. Sanna Nielsen adds that necessary elegance, and you feel the emotion channelled through her voice. As well as that, if her Eurovision performance is anything like her Melodifestivalen performance then the choreography will be perfect; no cheap gimmicks, just the right lighting - a cold, yet soulful blue. It's a recipe for success.

But there's just one thing hanging over me - in my opinion, something is missing. I think this song is very, very good, I've almost played it too much over the last 2 months, and I just think there's not a "winning factor" about it. I could easily see this song finishing in the top 10, potentially top 3, but not winning. I speak brutally honest, and I appreciate the fact that many will disagree with me. Over on ESC Stats, Sweden dominate the current poll, and they come a very close second on ESC Nation - I don't deny its a good song, I just can't see this winning. I have this horrible feeling that if this was to win, people would vote for it in polls such as "worst winner", for which it just doesn't deserve (in my opinion that crown could rightfully go to many countries: Latvia's win in 2002 still baffles me for example).

Additionally, it's another ballad, for which we are not short of this year. Being female does help, since 2004, 6 of the last 10 winners have been solo females, and in fact there have been more solo female winners than males or groups who have won the contest since Lys Assia's win for Switzerland at the first contest in 1956. But because of the ballad pile up this year, although not admittedly on the same scale as the fiasco that was 2012, we can pretty much guess that the draw for the final will play a strategic role in who wins the contest. For example, another popular female ballad is the UK's 'Children of the Universe' by Molly, which probably won't finish higher than Sweden if the Swedes perform last and the UK performs first. Therefore, it's all to play for. Sanna has been dealt position 4 in the hot first semi-final. Not ideal, but recent patterns suggest that performing 4th makes you at no great a disadvantage than performing last.

Could Sanna Nielsen do it? Could we be going back to Sweden once more? Let's be honest, it would be nice to go somewhere hot for Eurovision once again, but we all miss Petra Mede's hosting so it wouldn't be so bad. And plus, Sweden is a fantastic country.

Good Luck Sanna! Good Luck Sweden!




I leave you with this gem from the Greek entrant Freaky Fortune & RiskyKidd - it's a medley of the last few winners, although the seem to missed out 'Molitva'. Perhaps singing in Serbian was a bit too much for them, but nevermind, this still is pretty good. Could 'Undo' be mixed into another medley next year?

POST SEMI FINAL 1 EXCITEMENT

SO wasn't last night just BRILLIANT!?

So glad to have Eurovision back on the screen! And wasn't it amazing? I don't know who commentates for your country, but you should really listen to Scott Mills and the girl from the Scissor Sisters who did the commentary for BBC (United Kingdom). They were hilarious. And of course we have Graham Norton for the final which is just excellent!!

First of all, wasn't Lynda Woodruff absolutely hilarious? Shame I can't say the same for Petra Mede - personally I found parts of her hosting just cringe-worthy nonsense. I thought Loreen was fantastic though. Those children were adorable and apart from when Loreen seemed to descend into a pit of over-excited Euro fanboys (although if I was in Malmo, I'm pretty sure I would have done exactly the same), I really enjoyed the opener to the show. The performances went without hiccough as far as I noticed, but I have to admit there were 2 absolute stand outs for me. They were (without bias) Moldova and Ireland! They worked perfectly going one after the other, but the best bit was that I wasn't expecting them to be so good. Wasn't Aliona Moon's dress just sheer brilliance!? Oh and of course, Pasha was on the piano. Splendid!

Let downs? Denmark. I knew that I would get extremely bored of the song by now, but still her performance wasn't just disappointing, it was embarrassing. No emotion at all, and her voice just came across generic without anything special. If it wasn't for the strength in the song and the tin whistle then I would even go as far as ruling Denmark out of contention. Don't get me wrong, I still reckon Emmelie will be top 5 at least, but will she win? Definitely needs to up her game.

Surprises? Belgium. Undoubtedly, Roberto Bellarosa has come a long way since being chosen to represent the Belgians this year. The re-mastering of the song never really changed much for me, but some how it really came across on the stage and the sounds and everything were just fantastic. AND HE CAN SING! After hearing that he won "The Voice" I was very sceptical of the amount of talent, but it turns out that Roberto can sing, so Congrats to him!

But let's be honest - the biggest shock was LITHUANIA QUALIFYING FOR THE FINAL. HOW!? I think Andrius Pojavis has tons of charisma, and naturally, his eyebrows can make for an interesting performance. But please, the song!? He sings about shoes for goodness sake! In all fairness, I was very critical of Donny Montell last year and he ended up doing very well for himself. There is always one shock, but I was maybe thinking Slovenia or Montenegro would provide the shock...not Lithuania and some dodgy lyrcis.

Interestingly, all the ex-Soviets made it through, but none of the ex-Yugoslavs made it through. If you've been reading all the blogs around they probably have reported how much of a shock it is blah blah blah. But is it that much of a shock!? Let's take a look at the facts. Slovenia was first up and Straight Into Love has never been popular, let's face it. Hannah and the dancers may have been great, but the song just wasn't good enough. It was the first real up beat song, but there were plenty of better upbeat songs coming later. Slovenia would have been forgotten...

Then we have Croatia. Now I found this interesting - it's not been a big favourite with fans but the vocals are very strong and the composition of the song works really well. The message comes across and I thought the juries would support that. Plus, its sung in national language. I think perhaps Croatia may have just missed out because they didn't receive enough televotes. And they were 4th after all...and they did proceed big favourite Denmark.

Coming up next is Montenegro. Igranka did provided a huge contrast to Birds before it and Something after it. But to vote for this, you have to appreciate it's absolute bonkers-ness and the song does require an acquired taste. I believe the juries didn't like this and it was the televoting that may have made this just miss out. Montenegro have never qualified independently though so they are always punching above their weight.

Finally we had Serbia. Not only do they have a strong qualifying record in Eurovision, they also performed last which usually makes you fresh for both juries and televoters. Yes there was some dodgy acting of the song, and the dresses looked like an explosion in the sweet factory but they had something going on. There was something to watch on screen, but perhaps everyone just saw this as a bit of mess following the slickness of Love Kills (let's be honest, that performance was rehearsed to the core - it was slick!). It'll be interesting to see if Serbia did finish 11th.

Every year there is diaspora voting (and it has been going for year's people!) so you'd of thought that one of the ex-Yugoslav countries would have benefitted from this. Evidently not (even if I did happen to vote for Ireland several times myself last night - but I did vote for Moldova just as many times, and I might have snuck one or two votes in for the Netherlands as well). If there was strong diaspora voting from the ex-Soviets that would explain why Lithuania made it but still, it just goes to show that we don't just vote for our neighbours anymore! And plus, there were 4 of the top favourites in last night's semi - Denmark, Russia, Ukraine and the Netherlands.

That brings me to my favourite part of last night - the Netherlands qualified for the final! Birds was such a contrast to Gravity and Igranka that Anouk really stood out. The song was very deep and emotional, and so unique that I think it may have put televoters off. But rest assure, I believe the juries rate this. I don't care how the Dutch do in the final, I'm just thrilled they shook off that horrible curse of not making it through!

And the draw for the final? WELL, this year we don't have one. You draw whether you perform in the first or the second half of the final. Maybe not as exciting in the press conference, but there were many countries who drew the first half. Denmark managed to sneak a second half performance though, so it'll be interesting to see where SVT places them. Ireland got second half - yes! Moldova sadly drew first half though :(
NO! I won't speculate...Russia and Albania proved top 5 can still happen from poor positions (although what would have happened if you had swapped Sweden and Azerbaijan in 2011? I'm still convinced Eric Saade would have snatched that victory and Sweden would have done the double).

Now I promise I won't speculate until I've seen the full draw, but I've just found out that Bonnie Tyler will perform for the UK in the second half of the final. Yes Yes Yes! This news does delight me. If Bonnie performs in the last 3 or 4, I reckon we stand a good chance of contending for the grand prize. She has that lift after all! (it's not a giant - but Bonnie Tyler brought on stage by a Giant? Only Ukraine could pull that off - which incidentally they very much did!).

SO then I look forward to tomorrow's semi final! Will FYR Macedonia be the only ex-Yugoslav country? Will Latvia join their friends in the final? Will we have ALL Scandinavian countries in the final? Will San Marino finally qualify?

My bets on the BIG shock (cos you know there will be one)...Malta (hopefully).

Who will win the 58th Eurovision Song Contest?

So it all starts tonight then!

In this blog post, I outline my predictions as to who will qualify, who will win and blah blah blah.

This year, I took information from various online polls, credible guesses at winners, the odds (as of an hour ago), my own favourite songs, the draw, rehearsals, and just extra points for anything special an artist might have!

The results are fairly interesting.

Qualifiers from Semi-Final 1

Estonia, Belarus, Netherlands, Ukraine, Moldova, Denmark, Austria, Serbia, Russia, Ireland


Qualifiers from Semi-Final 2

Iceland, Greece, Azerbaijan, Hungary, Switzerland, Israel, Norway, Georgia, San Marino, Finland


Final Results: (score out of 54)

RANK	COUNTRY	TOTAL!
			Total
1st	Denmark		47.5
2nd	Germany		44.0
3rd	Ukraine		43.5
4th	Sweden		42.0
5th	Norway		41.5
6th	Netherlands		38.5
7th	Russia		38.5
8th	Italy		37.5
9th	San Marino		36.5
10th	Azerbaijan		36.5
11th	Greece		33.5
12th	Ireland		33.5
13th	United Kingdom		33.0
14th	Finland		33.0
15th	Georgia		31.0
16th	Moldova		29.0
17th	Austria		27.0
18th	Hungary		26.5
19th	Switzlerand		26.5
20th	Belarus		26.5
21st	Estonia		26.0
22nd	Serbia		24.0
23rd	Israel		23.5
24th	Iceland		23.0
25th	France		23.0
26th	Spain		21.5

SO! Will DENMARK and Emmelie's forest (or teardrops or something) win on Saturday? Interestingly I have her on top, but she is closely followed by Germany, who are closely followed by Ukraine and so on and so on. What I notice about this is that they are all female singers!? Now I have my doubts over an all female top 3. Give me a minute though feminists. Just look at the top 3 in recent times. Going all the way back to the year 2005 when one gender dominated the top 3, but even then Romania who finished 3rd had male drummers as apart of her act. It doesn't seem likely therefore that Denmark, Germany and Ukraine will finish as 1, 2, and 3. This is where the door opens for Sweden, Italy and Azerbaijan - and so I think one of these will end up being top contender when the points start coming in.

I've heard many commentators, bloggers, fans, trolls, whoever, mention that Only Teardrops has nothing on Eurphoria. Yes we can all agree the song has credentials and it has a unique aspect in the use of a tin whistle (yes I finally found out what that instrument was). BUT this does not translate to winning. I mean, come on, if Verka Serduchka can't pull a win out the bag with something as unique as Dancing Lasha Tumbai then I feel Emmelie wont be able to pull it off either. Sorry Denmark. I think we all partied a bit too earlier on your entrant. Norway have always been in and around the mix...and Margaret Berger (even if I am now at the point of detesting I Feed You My Love garbage) is causing a bit of a storm in Malmo, and she does bring a very strong performance to the stage. Could Norway snatch victory from their neighbours hands?

How silly of me. Ralph Siegel is back and ready to strike again. But could San Marino actually win the biggest singing competition in the world? I hope you've done your geography. I asked many of my housemates if they knew where San Marino was. Some didn't even know it was a country.

And then there is Bonnie. Oh Bonnie Bonnie Bonnie. Believe In Me is...well you'll see how much I like this later, but she is ridiculously FAMOUS. I Need A...Bonnie!! It's been 16 years now. That's a long time for the UK. A long, long, long time. I don't care if Andrew Lloyd Weber and his puppet bored us into 5th back in 2009 (that's very harsh, I do actually very much enjoy It's My Time), I want douze points!

Who will your Nan vote for? Sweden of course.

Sweden are this years hosts, and they are represented by Robin Stjernberg and the song "You".

This is a brilliant song! Robin has a song that is just "adorable", and he has a personality to match! A definite sweetie of this year's competition and someone I'm sure all the Nan's will vote for. But he took a very interesting route to get to the final. He wasn't a favourite during the Swedish selection process...Melodifestivalen (I hope I spelled that correct!). He went into the "second chance" round for the event - the people that qualify for this to reach the Swedish national final are usually just filling up the numbers. But this guy not only won the second chance round, he went on to win the actual competition to represent his country on home soil. It came down to the juries - the televoters didn't choose this as their favourite. Will this be the same on the night? Will Robin steal the votes from the juries only? Surely not. As explained, your Nan will vote for this one.

At the end of the day, it doesn't matter how he got there, he's in Malmo. After seeing the first rehearsal, there is definite room for improvement - but then that is the case for most of the artists. Maybe not a winner, but he'll definitely be up there. And the host country usually do well (forget Norway 2010, Ukraine 2005...).

From the top...

So it's about to happen all over again! The Eurovision Song Contest 2013 will take place in the week commencing the 13th May in Malmo, Sweden. That's a month and a half away! Crikey.

What's been happening then?
Well as you can see, it's all change on the blog. I am still messing around with colours and fonts and so on, but settled for green for the 2013 season. I'm not satisfied, but it'll do! Since last June, I've been (lazily) updating the blog with my favourite ever Eurosongs. Now the songs for this year have been released, I'm changing my opinion on the songs already. And I keep finding gems from previous years that I either forgot or have never heard. I have a sneaky feeling my top 101 songs will change. In re-designing the blog though, I moved it to a separate page. Look at me go. I am starting to understand how the site works.

As well as that, I hit the big 20 earlier this year. That means I am no longer a teenager. Does it change any perceptions on Eurovision? Nope. But growing up has made me realise that I need to go to the final of the contest before I get tied down and won't have the opportunity to. So somewhere hot for 2014 please? Although maybe not Cyprus - what on earth would they do if they won? I can't even believe they are represented in the first place!

I went to university last September. Complete change in my life. Has Eurovision been affected? Nope. And I'm inflicting the songs on my housemates as well. They love put up with it.

What's been happening with Eurovision?
Sorry, went off on a tangent about myself. Well Eurovision has changed since 2012. The big change was in the running order...rules have been "adjusted" so that the big important people at EBU now decide the running order. There is a draw to allocate countries in the first or second half of the semi-final (and later the final) and then the bosses decide the order of songs. They want to mix up genres, genders, countries to make the show more exciting. Well you can see why - who else fell asleep with the Belgium/Finland combo in last year's semis?

The only country that knew exactly where they were performing was Sweden. They managed to draw themselves 16th position. Not bad when they could have had any of the 26. I don't know why the big 5 didn't at least get allocated a first or second half performance. Never mind I am sure it will all work out fairly.

Moving on, countries returned and withdrew. Armenia returned as I think most predicted. Turkey withdrew though. Turkey!? They've competed for a long time now. They were very successful in the last 10 years. Diaspora voting helped but they did send good songs. I have read many reasons as to why Turkey withdrew - who knew you could interpret what someone says in so many ways? As well as this, when translating things from Turkish to English, I believe some things weren't translated fully. Whatever the situation, it seems that a move from complete televoting to televoting/juries, coupled with a problem with the big 5 meant they were too unhappy to continue competing. I am very much looking forward to seeing who Azerbaijan now gives their 12 to. Will they even receive a 12 this year without Turkey? 

It's not all about Turkey though - Bosnia & Herzegovina have also withdrew!? Another strong country. Personally, I haven't enjoyed their songs as much as the results from previous years reflected but they have been strong. AND then there is Portugal. WILL WE EVER GO TO LISBON? Portugal have NEVER won Eurovision. Their best finish was 6th. This isn't right. Come on Portugal! Make that comeback in 2014 and show us what we missed. 

Slovakia have withdrawn as well. I don't think anyone apart from Malta will notice. That is harsh, I enjoyed Max Jason Mai's "Close Your Eyes", and Twiins' "I'm Still Alive", even if Europe didn't, but they have never sent anything to trouble anyone. Poland have had a little more success though (even if their best result was 2nd back on their debut in 1994) and they still haven't returned either. And then there is the Czech Republic - they aren't coming back.

Oh, there is the minor nations. But I think until the global financial crisis is truly over, we won't see countries like Andorra, Luxembourg, Monaco, Liechtenstein and so on. Sorry, I shouldn't call them the minor nations. Monaco and Luxembourg are both former winners. In fact Luxembourg share the runner-up prize in the countries with the most wins (that's 5 times by the way - they even did the double in 1972 and 1973!).

So where are we headed in 2014?
Well early fans favourites are Denmark. Early bookies' favourites are Denmark. They are represented by Emmelie de Forest with the song "Only Teardrops". The last time Denmark won was 2000 when the Olsen Brothers sang "Fly On The Wings Of Love" - and this just so happened to be in Sweden following Charlotte Perelli's victory in 1999 ("Take Me To Your Heaven"). Is it an omen? Does that mean Emmelie de Forest could take victory this year? OR what about the Netherlands? For the first time in what seems like forever, they have a strong song and the fans and the bookies both put the Netherlands high on their list. They are represented by Anouk with the song Birds. Coincidentally, the last time the Netherlands won was in Sweden, way back in 1975 (and that's further back than France's last win, 1977). Whatever the situation, this year is all about Sweden so in my first blog post for the 2013 Eurovision season, I thought I'd take a look at previous Swedish winners of Europe's illustrious crown.

Waterloo
Eurovision's most famous act (don't give me Celine Dion, ABBA sold more). ABBA's career only really took off when they won Eurovision in 1974. The song? Waterloo. And guess where they won? Because Luxembourg did a double victory in 1972 and '73, they couldn't afford to host the competition for another year and so the UK stepped in to provide a host. And the host city? Brighton. That's right. Brighton was where ABBA found fame. Interesting fact about 1974 - ABBA won with a really low percentage of votes. Apart from the tie in 1969, the 15% possible votes that could win was the lowest there has ever been for a Eurovision winner. Interesting considering that Waterloo went on to become a huge hit and ABBA went on to achieve international fame. They even beat Gigliola Cinquetti, the women who had won 10 years previous for Italy with "Non ho l'eta" - one of the most stunning songs ever to feature in Eurovision (that's right, it features highly on my top 101 if you couldn't guess).

Diggi-Loo Diggi-Ley
10 years on from the first win, and Sweden claimed their second in 1984. "Diggi-Loo Diggi-Ley" was the record, sung by the Herreys. I'll be honest - this is the Swedish win which I know the least about. 1984 isn't a big year. Bookies favourite's Ireland were beaten into second place though by the Swedes - who were that years dark horse. Representation for Ireland? Linda Martin with the song "Terminal 3", written by none other than Johnny Logan. And who won the 1992 contest? Linda Martin with "Why Me?", written by the king of Eurovision. And the 1992 contest was held in Sweden. All a weird coincidence, or maybe not. Maybe this is just a sign of how not much happened in 1984. The song is good though. Sung by a true 80s boyband, the Herreys were brothers and went on to have varied success in Europe for the rest of the 80s. Interesting fact? They performed first - and that was the last time someone has performed first and won the contest. Closest since then was 1994 when Ireland performed 3rd and won.

Fangad av en Stormvind
Sweden only had to wait 7 years for their next win though. Carola took Fangad av en Stormvind to victory in Italy in 1991. You might remember Carola from 2006? She came 5th then. She also had come 3rd though, back in 1983. It's not quite Johnny Logan's record, but Carola is a real queen of Eurovision - a 1st, 3rd and 5th in 3 different decades. That's an impressive fate. Could she be back within this decade? Probably not but she'll be remembered nonetheless. Fangad av en Stormvind is a very good song. Yes for 1991 it was "too 80's", but there was good choreography and Carola is a good singer. It all makes sense that she is a Eurovision winner. But she came very close to not picking up the title. After the tie in 1969, a rule had to be put in place to decide what would happen if two countries were on the same number of points once all the votes had come in. It wasn't until 1991 that it was needed though (although it did come close - 1988 was a particularly intense year). After 22 countries had voted, Sweden and France both sat with 146 points (search on youtube for the voting from 1991 - such confuson! Italy gave no points to Sweden but 12 to France. Neither country had a clue what to do - nor did the presenters. The audience didn't know either. They are all looking around. Somewhere in Italian, Carola is mentioned as the winner as you start seeing her jump around excited. All very entertaining). They both had received 4 sets of 12 points too. However, Carola had received more sets of 10 points and so she took the crown. Interestingly though, with todays revised rules, France would have won as they received points from more countries. The 1990s were truly some of the most interesting years for Eurovision in my opinion. And this year is just a huge part of that.

Take Me To Your Heaven
Charlotte Nilsson won the 1999 contest with a very cheesy, but still very good, "Take Me To Your Heaven". Eurovision had changed though. Between the years of 1991 and 1999, Eurovision underwent some major surgery. An influx of countries wanting to compete meant qualifications for entry had to be changed. Following the break-up of Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union, many, many countries debuted for the first time, and a relegation phase of Eurovision had to take place. This meant that if you finished in the bottom 5 of the contest, you were relegated so other countries could take your place. You would return the following year. Germany were one country to be relegated - but as a big financial contributor, they weren't happy. A big 4 system (UK, Spain, France and Germany) were given automatic qualification for the final. This changed to the big 5 when Italy decided to stop throwing a fuss and came back to the contest for 2011 (quite successfully, they beat Sweden into 2nd place). However, one big change was the language rule. For the first time, you could sing in any language. Would "Take Me To Your Heaven" have won if it was in Swedish? Oh I almost forgot - the orchestra was no longer a part and it was removed for the contest as live music was now considered a choice for Eurovision. Johnny Logan threw a hissy fit and called Eurovision 'karoke'. But was the orchestra really needed? I think it would just have been a waste of space when the 00s came in and to be honest, it was being needed less and less for Eurovision. Imagine Euphoria being introduced by the conductor and then played on the piano while Loreen danced around with those quirky arm movements and bare feet? Yes, it doesn't quite seem to fit does it.

Euphoria
Sheer brilliance. Deserved the high score. Cherry on top for a brilliant year in Eurovision. What else shall I say? Bring on 2013. Bring on Malmo. We truly, truly deserve to be in Sweden (even if Pasha Parfeny should really have brought it home for Moldova. I think Chisinau would be brilliant for Eurovision).

Sweden - 2012

Well, here it is... the HOT favourite. Sweden are represented by Loreen and the song "Euphoria". Everyone is loving it: the bookies, the critics, the fans and so on. This is the first year in a while that we have had a favourite like this, who is destroying all the others. Euphoria will either challenge that "Fairytale" record, OR will do something similar to Popular from last year... be a favourite, but not quite win.

So wow. What a song. To be fair, you can see why this song is so popular, because it is brilliant. It does have that unbelievably catchy "uh-oh-uh-oh-uh-oh", and not in the way San Marino has. This doesn't feel like a cheap euordance song, this is a classy, well written and well composed dance song. Loreen has some amazing vocals which are really shown off in Euphoria, and this is a cross-cultural powerhouse anthem. But enough of me bigging it up. I think its now getting so popular that people are starting to not notice the bad parts of the song. One, it's bland. It's bland in the tune, as it is really competitive, and the lyrics are quite boring. It couldn't be a good acoustic song, let's say that, whereas Running Scared, Satellite, and Fairytale could. Two, Euphoria is way too "commercial" to win. Not commerical in the way that "Believe" and "Satellite" were because they broke away from the traditional commercialism in Eurovision, but this is too fitting to be a winner. Sounds crazy and a bit stupid for me to suggest, but I can't see people voting for this because it seems too perfect for Europe. If none of that makes any sense, then ask me questions on expanding what I mean, but for those that do know what I'm getting at, I'm sure you can agree. There is no doubt that this will qualify and challenge the top 5 places even if it does perform 2nd. Who knows, if it gets drawn 2nd in the final, this could be the first ever winner of Eurovision to have performed 2nd.

Personally, there is nothing more dull than having 5 countries left to vote and it's pretty obvious who the winner is, apart from when there is a complete runaway from the off. I enjoyed the 2009 voting, even though Norway completely stole the show. But voting such as in 2007, 2008 and 2010 was incredibly boring. It would be amazing if we could have a similar voting pattern to that of 1988 or 2003 please? I really don't want to have known that Sweden were going to win Eurovision, even before all the countries had chosen their representative. In fact, I think ever since Loreen first performed Euphoria on Melodifestivalen, Sweden have been hot favourite. How boring if it actually did go on to become a winner.

Song Rating: 8/10
Liklihood to win: 10/10

Current odds: 7-4                          (oddschecker.com) (on average)