That’s me finished with Eurovision.
For years, all we have been hearing is that Eurovision is political. And I get so angry when I hear this. And I try to argue that neighbouring countries don’t vote for each other because of politics; they vote for each other because it is only natural that neighbouring countries have similar tastes in music.
But the events of Saturday night have proved that I have been deluding myself all these years.
There is no way that a song where a large portion of it is rapping should be anywhere near the Top 10 of a song contest, never mind being the runaway winner.
If the song had stuck to being just traditional music, it would have been quite a good song. But, it didn’t. It had rapping as well. Which ruined the song.
It just goes proves what I have always said about the likes of Eurovision, the “X Factor”, “Britain’s Got Talent”, “Strictly Come Dancing”, “Dancing On Ice”, the ISU Awards, etc. The general public just cannot be trusted to vote for the best people. It becomes a popularity contest, not a song / singing / talent / dancing / skating contest.
Look at the results of the Jury Vote. The Top 10 positions were pretty much filled with the better songs from the Grand Final. Indeed, my favourite song topped the Jury Vote, with my third favourite song in 2nd. (Admittedly, my second favourite song was in 22nd, but you can’t have anything).
These Juries are made up of people who are experts in music. They know what they are talking about. The general public don’t. And you can see that when comparing the results of the two sets of votes. Here are just a few highlights:
- The UK was 91 points ahead of the Ukraine in the Jury Vote, but was 256 points behind them in the Public Vote.
- A joke song (Moldova) that was down in 20th in the Jury Vote finished 2nd in the Public Vote.
- A weird song (Serbia) that was 11th in the Jury Vote finished 4th in the Public Vote.
Of course, we’ve had weak songs winning before due to topping the Public Vote after being beaten by better songs in the Jury Vote. Such as Israel in 2018. But, that was being of the public going for an upbeat song. This year’s winning song was not upbeat or fun or anything. Voting for it was pure politics.
As I’ve said many times before, politics have no place in entertainment and sporting events. Things like these are where people go to escape the problems of the real world.
But, there’s no point going over that old ground yet again, because some people just cannot accept that viewpoint.
That was what I wrote on Monday morning. I had watched the Grand Final in a couple of stages on Sunday (performances in the morning before the French MotoGP coverage started, and results in the afternoon after the bikes had finished), but I was so shocked and angry on Sunday evening that I decided to wait to see how I felt after I had had some time to take it all in.
Although I’m still angry with the results, I’ve calmed down sufficiently to write what I had been thinking in my head before the results of the Public Vote were announced.
I have always liked Laura Pausini. I have always liked Mika. So, I was all excited when I found out that, as well as their presenting duties, they would be doing a duet during Semi-Final 2.
It was hopeless!
Also, because I like her, I have been holding my tongue. But, I can’t hold back any longer. Laura is not presenter material. To say she is wooden would be an understatement.
I think I heard that she has a solo number on Saturday night. So, I really hope that rescues the week for her.
Laura opened the show, and boys but she did redeem herself! She was brilliant!!!
But, I was getting so angry with Graham Norton for talking so much during her performance. It was a medley of snippets of her songs, and Graham talked during every transition.
Laura Pausini -
Medley
I really wish Laura had got a longer slot, because it would have been nice to hear more of each of the songs. In fact, I wish she had got the headline slot during the interval that Mika had got to do his medley. Because her singing was much better than his! (Mika’s voice has changed so much since his heyday around 15 years ago that his old songs just don’t have the same impact).
As it turned out, it was a good job Laura didn’t get the interval slot, because she disappeared for most of the interval and the announcement of the Jury Vote results. I just read that it was because she was suffering from low blood pressure, so I hope it is much better now and I wish her all the best.
As for the quality of the presenting, it did not improve from the Semi-Finals. All three of them were still making me cringe every time they opened their mouths. During the interval, one of the trips down memory lane they showed had a clip of Måns Zelmerlöw singing his winning song, and I thought “he was a far better presenter than any of these three”. Come to think of it, I would love to see his co-presenter from 2016, Petra Mede, doing it for a third time. She was great too!
Mind you, if Laura hadn’t been presenting, we wouldn’t have got her great rendition of the 1958 Italian entry during one of the many occasions when the presenters were having to fill while sets were being changed. [Oh, how I miss the days when it was just the act and their microphone(s) on stage!] A rendition during which every single person in the audience was singing along for the whole song, and every single person watching on TV (including myself) joined in for the chorus!
Laura Pausini -
"Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu"
(Never realised before that it was that line that was the title! Like many people, I just assumed the first word of the chorus was the title).
Of course, it’s not as if she’s never sung it before. Here she is singing it way back in 2006 as a duet with another Italian singer I like:
Laura Pausini and Eros Ramazzotti -
"Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu"
Have to admit, I don’t think I like this arrangement. But they sing it well. And the video is worth watching if only to admire Laura’s dress!
Anyway, the other interval act was the singer and song that gave Italy their first Eurovision win back in 1964:
Gigliola Cinquetti -
"Non Ho L’Età"
Yes, another song where everybody in the audience was singing along for the entirety!
Getting back to this year’s contestants, I should probably pass comment on the Pre-Qualified songs.
France: This was so frustrating. This song had all the ingredients of what I want from a Eurovision song – e.g. the vocals weren’t in English; and the music had a Middle Eastern feel (I don’t know why, but I have always had a soft spot for Middle Eastern music). Unfortunately, the music had the beat ramped up to become overbearing, and it really spoiled the whole song. If this hadn’t been done, it would have been one of my favourites. But because it had, I didn’t mark it as a song I liked.
Italy: A major problem with the Italian entry was that the audience were singing along for practically the whole song. Hence, we didn’t get to hear it properly! From what we did manage to hear, I loved the first two thirds of the song when they were singing. But I hated the section in the last third when they were shouting. That section totally spoiled the whole song for me.
Spain: I liked that it was in Spanish, and Chanel did do a good job in singing it. On the whole, it wasn’t my taste in music, but I knew it would go down well with the fans. And not just because of the costumes. Or, rather, the lack of. I couldn’t believe it. Chanel was interviewed by Rylan Clarke during the BBC coverage of Semi Final 1, and she came across as a really nice girl. From that interview, I would never have guessed that her performance would be so risqué.
Germany: Loved this song. Yes, there was a section of rapping. And yes, it did get to the stage that he was shouting. But, unlike in the Ukrainian or Italian songs, it actually worked in this song. And I think it was because it was only a relatively short section, and it tied in well with the backing music.
United Kingdom: Where has this guy been hiding?! Never heard tell of Sam Ryder before this week (I managed to avoid all the BBC’s pre-Contest hype this year, thank goodness), but he was absolutely brilliant! After hearing the Finnish and Swedish entries in Semi-Final 2, I was next to positive that none of the songs from the Pre-Qualified countries could possibly overtake them as my favourite.
So, since I have already given away which acts were in my Top 3, I suppose I should now reveal my Top 6 from the Grand Final:
- Sam Ryder - "SPACE MAN"
The Rasmus - "Jezebel"
Cornelia Jakobs - "Hold Me Closer"
Sheldon Riley - "Not The Same"
Amanda Georgiadi Tenfjord - "Die Together"
Nadir Rustamli - "Fade To Black"
For the first time in years, the UK act has not been chosen by a public vote in a TV show. And for the first time in years, the UK has an entry that is not just brilliant, but was a genuine challenger for the title. Coincidence? I think not! It just goes to show that the general public cannot be relied upon to choose somebody who will be successful at Eurovision.
It was very telling that Graham Norton kept mentioning during the announcement of the Jury Results that the executives at the BBC will be panicking because of how well Sam was doing. And then when the Public Votes were added in and we didn’t win, Graham said that they will be breathing a sigh of relief.
You see, the BBC has been drastically cutting back on their services for years to save money because the government is not letting them increase the Licence Fee. (Despite what the BBC says, the Licence Fee is actually too high. The problem is that the BBC has got far too many staff, who are being paid far higher than they should be! As a result, there isn’t enough money left after that to do everything the BBC used to do, and which we expect the BBC to still do). Because they are struggling with budgets as it is, the expense of hosting a Eurovision Song Contest is the last thing that the BBC wants!
With that in mind, it was a good thing that we didn’t win. That said, I can’t see how NTU are going to be in a position to be able to host the contest next year. Even if the war is over by then, it is going to take years for the country to recover. They can’t afford to be spending large amounts of money on trivial things like hosting Eurovision.
So, who knows where we’ll be heading next May.
CaroLiza_fan
Plus, since the formation of the super-councils in 2015, we have actually been in the same local government area.
Mia Dimšić - 
Rosa Linn - 
Intelligent Music Project - 
REDDI - 
Israel in Semi-Final 2 was like 
the Ukraine in Semi-Final 1. I liked the first 15 or 20 seconds, and then it went totally weird.
Georgia would have been one of my favourites were it not for the verses being so weird. Well, I’m guessing that they were supposed to be verses. They weren’t like any verses I’ve ever heard before! Which is a shame, as the rest of the song was great!
San Marino had a great song, but didn’t have a great singer performing it.
Czech Republic’s song just wasn’t my taste.
Emma Muscat - 
probably had the best singer. Amazed she did so well after the muy caliente level of sexiness shown by 
, but their performances seemed nervier than those in the semifinals. 
and of course 
