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

Ranking the Swedish Winners - Day 18

Things are getting exciting now we’re just 17 days to go! Today I was supposed to be doing all-time battles, but we all seem to have done so many on Twitter! So instead I thought I would take on the most difficult challenge of all. So in honour of our fabulous hosts, I will be ranking all six Swedish winners of the contest. I doubt my decision will be popular, but then Eric Saade didn’t win so it was never going to be.

(*terrible Eurovision joke, many apologies!)

(but a perfect time to insert my new favourite gif again...

)

#6 2015 – Mans Zelmerlow “Heroes”

Coming bottom of a very tough list is our winner from last year. I like Heroes just as much as the next person, but it was never a favourite for me in the same way that the others are. Sorry Heroes fans…

#5 1999 – Charlotte Nilsson “Take Me To Your Heaven”

Absolutely love this track, maybe a little too dated to have won in 1999, but I can feel the ABBA themes; it’s fucking awesome and catchy and yes Charlotte Nilsson.

#4 1984 – The Herreys “Diggi-Loo Diggi-Lee”

The Herreys are amazing, GOLDEN SHOES, say no more!

OH MY GOD THIS IS SO HARD

#3 1974 – ABBA “Waterloo”

The reason I want to rank this so highly is because it’s freaking ABBA. They gave Eurovision everything, they introduced a new sound to the world, they are simply incredible. But Waterloo is actually not that highly ranked among my fave ABBA tracks, and to deny the other two a chance at the top because it’s ABBA would be unfair in a ranking of my fave Swedish winners.

#2 2012 – Loreen “Euphoria”

Whilst Euphoria is again, everything, and has cemented Eurovision back among the quality standards we saw pre-00s, I didn’t want Euphoria to win for big chunks of the pre-2012 season. That’s simply because I wanted there to be more of a contest (of which I explained further here). Loreen is incredible, you’d be a fool not to love Euphoria but it misses #1 for reasons explained below.

#1 1991 – Carola “Fangad av en Stormvind”

It was a difficult decision but I've given #1 to Carola. I know people that rank this as their least favourite Swedish winner. But I really don’t care.

When I properly fell in love with Eurovision and researched its rich history and became engrossed in the contest, Carola’s winner from 1991 was one of the few winners I downloaded and I still listen to. Because I love it. I do not speak Swedish but did decide to learn all of the words, which is more than can be said for the Herreys, and would have no shame in calling Carola among one of my favourite Eurovision entrants of all time (for Framling '83 and Invincible '06). Carola also took the mick out of herself in Malmo, and I have huge appreciation for anyone willing to humiliate themselves.

Fangad av en Stormvind also tied with France in 1991, to much delight of the Italian crowd who were utterly perplexed for a while as to what was happening. It is a hell of a catchy track, Carola is a fantastically hilarious celeb, and I have no regrets in having this track as my favourite Swedish winner. Also my Twitter name is Fangad av en Chris and I love that. 

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).

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)