- Joined
- Oct 25, 2012
- Country
-
Wow. Nobody has commented about the Grand Final, or the results. 
Well, I’ll just have to fix that!
Sorry that I am only commenting now. There have been so many things going wrong over the past month or so that it is taking me a long time to get things done. Although I got most of the performances watched the Thursday after the contest, and the last 5 and the interval acts watched on the following Monday, I didn’t get watching the results until the following Thursday. And then it took me 2 weeks to write this!
Before I pass comment on what happened, I feel I should pass comment about each of the Pre-Qualified songs.
United Kingdom: Well, I can see why James Newman is such a successful songwriter. That was a great song. Unfortunately, James is not a great singer. So, perhaps in future it would be better for him to stick to writing songs for other people to sing. But, he seems like a really nice guy.
Spain: Loved this song. For a start, it was sung in Spanish. Plus, you gotta love a song where the first few lines are sung à cappella. And boys but Blas Cantó pulled it off! As he did with the rest of the song. There was no messing about with fancy things – it was just a pure and simple performance. And that was part of what made it so good. This is something that I wish that these countries that put on elaborate presentations would learn – that less is actually more. Still can’t understand how he scored nothing in the Public Vote, and finished in antepenultimate place in both the Jury Vote and overall. 
(Relieved that 2 of his 6 points came from the UK jury, though).
Germany: What on Earth?! Graham Norton said that this song would be like Marmite. Well, sorry, but I wouldn’t even go that far. It was awful!
France: Loved this song. For a start, it was sung in French. The clever thing is that if you were able to switch off the vocals, you would still know what country it was from. Everything about it was just so French! Right down to how Barbara looked on stage. And, like I already said for the Spanish entry, the simplicity of everything is part of what made it so good. (Incidentally, that was my only complaint about the other 2021 entry that was sung in French. I loved the song from Switzerland, but I was not able to look at the screen during the performance because there was strobe lighting the whole way through).
The Netherlands: Loved this song. HOWEVER, although I liked the backing music, it was too loud. There were times when it was drowning out Jeangu’s singing. If the volume of the music had been just a little bit lower, it would have made all the difference.
Italy: This song had all the ingredients for me to like it. You all know by now that I prefer the songs that are not sung in English, and this ticked that box. And I do tend to like the rock songs that appear. However, I didn’t like this song. Or, more specifically, I didn’t like the singer. The music was great. But the singing left a lot to be desired. The other heavy metal song in the contest, from 
Finland, was far superior to this song.
Here are my Top 6 from the Grand Final:
Since it wasn’t too far off my Top 6, I may as well link to the host country’s song as well:
Suffice to say, I was not happy with the winner. But, I was happy that the other podium positions were occupied by songs from my Top 6. I admit that I was devastated that my favourite song from the whole week only managed 21st place, and that my 3rd favourite song from the Grand Final only managed 18th. But, my second favourite song from the whole week finished in 6th position, so at least that was something.
Moving away from the competitive side of things, and I just want to pass one comment on the costumes. The Grand Final started with Cyprus, followed by Albania. Although I hadn’t picked up on it before, because they were in different Semi Finals, the costumes were VERY similar. Indeed, in between the two performances, the BBC commentator Graham Norton said “you’ll notice there’s a lot of performers tonight in this sort of, er, silver Vegas leotard look”.
And he wasn’t wrong! For the rest of the show, I would burst out laughing every time somebody appeared wearing that style of costume. It was as if a memo had been sent out to a pile of the acts saying there was a dress code. But, the best bit was during the interval, when they had a series of former winners performing. Even the 2005 winner had got the memo!
Helena Paparizou - "My Number One" (as part of a medley performance)
Normally Semi Final 1 and the Grand Final would each open with the reigning champion performing their winning song. Unfortunately, Duncan Laurence tested positive for COVID-19 the day after his Semi 1 appearance. With only a few days to find a new way to open the Final, the organisers had to quickly fins and alternative. So, they opted to have the contestants paraded on, just like is done during the Olympics Opening Ceremonies. And, just like the Olympics Opening Ceremonies, it dragged on!
Given how the pandemic had resulted in the organisers cutting out most of the unnecessary things to really streamline the show so that it would not over-run like it does every other year, I couldn’t help but think that they should have just started the show with the hosts coming out on stage and getting down to business.
The interval acts were a mixed bag.
A couple of years ago, I made a fan video for the birthday of one of the skaters I have adopted. And for the music, I used Tulisa Contostavlos’ beautiful acoustic cover of “Titanium”. I didn’t use the original version because, although I think Sia Furler has an amazing voice, I do not like her version of the song.
Well, I liked the version performed by Glennis Grace during the interval even less. It was brutal! Thankfully, I was able to zone out and instead was hearing Tulisa in my head.
I really enjoyed the performances on the roof by former winners, although why they were on the roof is a good question. Being extra careful with the social distancing?
I posted a link to the medley’s video earlier, but that particular link was taking you directly to a particular performance in it. So, to save you the bother of winding it back, here is the link that takes you to the start of the video:
"Rock The Roof" (medley)
And on that note, I felt really uncomfortable with the way they did the countdown to the lines closing. If this had been any other year, I would have been saying that having a lot of dancers making the shapes of the numbers was very clever. But this year, when we are still in a pandemic?! No! They were too close to each other!
As usual, the thing that really dragged the show out was going around all the countries that had entered this year to get their Jury Results. Now, I realise that it is done this way for two reasons:
BUT, surely this could have been streamlined in some way. Even if it was merely telling the people that were revealing their country’s votes to just announce the results straight away. Ugh, it drives me mad the way they drag it out with waffling at the start, and dramatic pauses when doing the reveal! I lost count of the times I shouted “Get on with it!!!” The only announcer that did not drag it out was the wee boy that was representing Greece. He just got straight down to revealing the results. And it was all the better for it! I wish all the announcers would do that.
All in all, although I still think that the best option would have been to have each night of the Contest as a playout of videos this year (and last year!), I do think that the streamlining of things worked very well. And I hope that that the hosts of future editions continue down this road. Because it has become too big and cumbersome in recent years.
To finish, here is my favourite moment of the night:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30Cm6xAXMok&t=387
CaroLiza_fan
Well, I’ll just have to fix that!
Sorry that I am only commenting now. There have been so many things going wrong over the past month or so that it is taking me a long time to get things done. Although I got most of the performances watched the Thursday after the contest, and the last 5 and the interval acts watched on the following Monday, I didn’t get watching the results until the following Thursday. And then it took me 2 weeks to write this!
Before I pass comment on what happened, I feel I should pass comment about each of the Pre-Qualified songs.
United Kingdom: Well, I can see why James Newman is such a successful songwriter. That was a great song. Unfortunately, James is not a great singer. So, perhaps in future it would be better for him to stick to writing songs for other people to sing. But, he seems like a really nice guy. Spain: Loved this song. For a start, it was sung in Spanish. Plus, you gotta love a song where the first few lines are sung à cappella. And boys but Blas Cantó pulled it off! As he did with the rest of the song. There was no messing about with fancy things – it was just a pure and simple performance. And that was part of what made it so good. This is something that I wish that these countries that put on elaborate presentations would learn – that less is actually more. Still can’t understand how he scored nothing in the Public Vote, and finished in antepenultimate place in both the Jury Vote and overall. (Relieved that 2 of his 6 points came from the UK jury, though). Germany: What on Earth?! Graham Norton said that this song would be like Marmite. Well, sorry, but I wouldn’t even go that far. It was awful! France: Loved this song. For a start, it was sung in French. The clever thing is that if you were able to switch off the vocals, you would still know what country it was from. Everything about it was just so French! Right down to how Barbara looked on stage. And, like I already said for the Spanish entry, the simplicity of everything is part of what made it so good. (Incidentally, that was my only complaint about the other 2021 entry that was sung in French. I loved the song from Switzerland, but I was not able to look at the screen during the performance because there was strobe lighting the whole way through). The Netherlands: Loved this song. HOWEVER, although I liked the backing music, it was too loud. There were times when it was drowning out Jeangu’s singing. If the volume of the music had been just a little bit lower, it would have made all the difference. Italy: This song had all the ingredients for me to like it. You all know by now that I prefer the songs that are not sung in English, and this ticked that box. And I do tend to like the rock songs that appear. However, I didn’t like this song. Or, more specifically, I didn’t like the singer. The music was great. But the singing left a lot to be desired. The other heavy metal song in the contest, from Finland, was far superior to this song.Here are my Top 6 from the Grand Final:
Anxhela Peristeri - "Karma" (21st)- Blind Channel - "Dark Side" (6th)
TIX - "Fallen Angel" (18th)- Blas Cantó - "Voy A Quedarme" (24th)
Gjon’s Tears - "Tout l’Univers" (3rd)- Barbara Pravi - "Voilà" (2nd)
Since it wasn’t too far off my Top 6, I may as well link to the host country’s song as well:
- Jeangu Macrooy - "Birth Of A New Age" (23rd)
Suffice to say, I was not happy with the winner. But, I was happy that the other podium positions were occupied by songs from my Top 6. I admit that I was devastated that my favourite song from the whole week only managed 21st place, and that my 3rd favourite song from the Grand Final only managed 18th. But, my second favourite song from the whole week finished in 6th position, so at least that was something.
Moving away from the competitive side of things, and I just want to pass one comment on the costumes. The Grand Final started with Cyprus, followed by Albania. Although I hadn’t picked up on it before, because they were in different Semi Finals, the costumes were VERY similar. Indeed, in between the two performances, the BBC commentator Graham Norton said “you’ll notice there’s a lot of performers tonight in this sort of, er, silver Vegas leotard look”.
And he wasn’t wrong! For the rest of the show, I would burst out laughing every time somebody appeared wearing that style of costume. It was as if a memo had been sent out to a pile of the acts saying there was a dress code. But, the best bit was during the interval, when they had a series of former winners performing. Even the 2005 winner had got the memo!
Helena Paparizou - "My Number One" (as part of a medley performance)Normally Semi Final 1 and the Grand Final would each open with the reigning champion performing their winning song. Unfortunately, Duncan Laurence tested positive for COVID-19 the day after his Semi 1 appearance. With only a few days to find a new way to open the Final, the organisers had to quickly fins and alternative. So, they opted to have the contestants paraded on, just like is done during the Olympics Opening Ceremonies. And, just like the Olympics Opening Ceremonies, it dragged on!
Given how the pandemic had resulted in the organisers cutting out most of the unnecessary things to really streamline the show so that it would not over-run like it does every other year, I couldn’t help but think that they should have just started the show with the hosts coming out on stage and getting down to business.
The interval acts were a mixed bag.
A couple of years ago, I made a fan video for the birthday of one of the skaters I have adopted. And for the music, I used Tulisa Contostavlos’ beautiful acoustic cover of “Titanium”. I didn’t use the original version because, although I think Sia Furler has an amazing voice, I do not like her version of the song.
Well, I liked the version performed by Glennis Grace during the interval even less. It was brutal! Thankfully, I was able to zone out and instead was hearing Tulisa in my head.
I really enjoyed the performances on the roof by former winners, although why they were on the roof is a good question. Being extra careful with the social distancing?
I posted a link to the medley’s video earlier, but that particular link was taking you directly to a particular performance in it. So, to save you the bother of winding it back, here is the link that takes you to the start of the video:
"Rock The Roof" (medley)
And on that note, I felt really uncomfortable with the way they did the countdown to the lines closing. If this had been any other year, I would have been saying that having a lot of dancers making the shapes of the numbers was very clever. But this year, when we are still in a pandemic?! No! They were too close to each other!
As usual, the thing that really dragged the show out was going around all the countries that had entered this year to get their Jury Results. Now, I realise that it is done this way for two reasons:
- This is how the results were traditionally revealed, and it is a way of keeping in touch with the glory days of Eurovision.
- It gives the independent adjudicators time to check and verify the results of the public vote.
BUT, surely this could have been streamlined in some way. Even if it was merely telling the people that were revealing their country’s votes to just announce the results straight away. Ugh, it drives me mad the way they drag it out with waffling at the start, and dramatic pauses when doing the reveal! I lost count of the times I shouted “Get on with it!!!” The only announcer that did not drag it out was the wee boy that was representing Greece. He just got straight down to revealing the results. And it was all the better for it! I wish all the announcers would do that.
All in all, although I still think that the best option would have been to have each night of the Contest as a playout of videos this year (and last year!), I do think that the streamlining of things worked very well. And I hope that that the hosts of future editions continue down this road. Because it has become too big and cumbersome in recent years.
To finish, here is my favourite moment of the night:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30Cm6xAXMok&t=387
CaroLiza_fan
Last edited:
