Yeah, as we can see, EBU suddenly decided to change the rules exactly as eurofans dreamed, it seems. Literally, just too many wishes I've read on youtube (at least) from eurofans came true. There're some undoubted ones, like limiting the amount of votes from 20 to at least 10, maybe they will also restrict the number of votes per country, we'll see, it's not clear right now. Prohibiting those big advertising campaigns.
But there're also ones that are kinda sad to hear. Yeah, I mean the juries things. And I'm not even gonna say that I'm super against it. Because first of all, I've always been against the fact that juries always had 50% of votes in the final, since 2009. That always was my biggest problem. Not just having or not having them in the semis. At the same time, I can't really wish to reduce their power right now, as we still can't get rid of mass voting for some countries now. And at the same time, I totally agree with eurofans that it's not totally right to have different voting systems in the semis and the final.
But the arguments that they use about that, that's the problem. The only one that I can't say anything clear about is, of course, that thing with jury landslides in 2023 - 2025 that actually led to the jury winners being overall winners too, exactly in those years when the semi finals were televote only. Fans are trying to prove that if only semis in those years had juries, the finals would have more jury-friendly songs and these landslides wouldn't happen. The thing is, there're no mathematical models or thought experiments that could prove or refute it. It's literally just us connecting the dots: in these exact 3 years jury landslides happened in the final. It's only 3 cases, too few to be absolutely sure that there's some connection here. And I just can't imagine how having 1-2 more jury-friendly songs in the final in those years would lead to these landslides not happening. And don't forget, we also had jury landslides in 2015 - 2017, so it's not like they just never happen with semis having juries. And in 2015 it actually lead to the jury winner becoming overall winner too.
The other arguments basically all come down to the fact that eurofans have the same favorites as juries, so they think with televote-only semis too many songs get "robbed". So, they just want everything to be right, expected and ideal, no surprises or intrigue should happen. Like in this year, I'm sure juries would easily take Belgium to the final, so we wouldn't have such a sensation that someone with 85% chance of qualifying isn't going through.
Actually, even another thing eurofans wished happened - juries getting wider and more diverse. I still believe it would change nothing. But for now, it's just 7 instead of 5 of them, and these new two have to be between 18 and 25 years old... How is this gonna change anything? So, now it's not gonna be only old dinosaurs in the juries and stuff, fine. But what kind of diversity will they bring? They would still vote for something pop/chart friendly/potential commercial successes, they would still not understand some unusual voices/performances like Norway 2024, they would still hate and find "cringy" stuff like Let 3 or Windows95man, just like older jury members.
Anyway, it seems like now they're gonna leave Israel in 100%. So, fans' happiness with them is gonna suddenly stop on the day they announce it, I guess. We'll see.
19 - 15
Yeah, no surprise. The thing I feared the most actually happened - Moldova is back, yeah... But with no auditions, at least there will be no broadcast of them, even if they are gonna happen. Only the safe national final itself.
I still stan with my opinion about last year - their talking like "we didn't have literally anything good, it's so embarrassing, so we're gonna even withdraw midway in the selection process" was a total BS. The main argument is simple.
They held AND broadcasted these auditions at least from 2018 - 2019 (not sure about the exact year). They have always been a formality - 95% of participants knew for sure they had no chance for anything. For Eurovision ticket, it has always been between 1-3 favorites with money who can pay for everything at ESC... Or some Kirkorov's puppets who can pay for everything too, with his money (in 2018 and 2020->2021, I mean).
So, these broadcasted auditions have always been basically just a fun thing for participants to just come from the street, sing, appear on a national tv and disappear until the next year. And for us to have fun too and make memes. Just lighthearted fun, a very warm and humanly one, I would say. I just wanted to be there, to talk to many people from there, to feel the atmosphere. There're not too many other national finals that give me the same kind of feeling. The "quality" of songs has always been "low" if we just apply here some Swedish/Danish/whatever pop criteria. These songs weren't made to be slick, radio-friendly and competitive, they were made by amateurs who just like music and wanted to perform on TV and come a biit close to ESC at least like that. And again, we weren't even supposed to see it, Moldova is literally the only country that broadcasted its auditions, even San Marino stopped doing that earlier.
And everyone was ok with that all those years. No matter what the other 25 songs were, again, there were always 1-3 people with a competitive song and money who would go to ESC anyway, surprise winners never happened here. So, they always had a chance to say it's not good, it's embarrassing so we're out. But they did it only now, for absolutely no reason. Because the "quality" of songs and overall picture was the same as in any of last years: lots of fun/amateur/warm/memeable stuff and 2 main favorites with money (Semafoare and Timpul). If you compare it with previous years, you would see that it wasn't "worse" in terms of "quality" at all, even much better in terms of diversity. But they suddenly cancelled everything.
So, based on that, I make a conclusion: that reason to withdraw made no sense. They either had something personal against the favorites to win the NF or there was some new person in their team who turned out to be a party pooper with much power and decided that all this fun thing had to go, so it won't be "embarrassing" anymore, no eurofans will laugh at us, the dumb majority of people will be pleased, no "cringe" anymore and so so on. I can't see any other explanations.
But the saddest thing is how everyone totally believed in this reason and started screaming how bad it actually was and stuff, even though more than 50%of those people never watched it and who did, didn't try to enjoy it and just applied those slick pop criteria here. ESC Gabe released a whole video about it (The Worst National Selection of All Time), using all the professional journalists and working with people's masses tricks and stuff and squeezing as much drama as possible for entertainment (props for him from a technical point of view). Along the way, calling auditions a "national final" yet again, taking as "bad examples" songs that didn't qualify from the auditions to the NF and so on.
Yeah, I'm extremely mad here and have too much to say, just because I hate party poopers and hate being lied to and bullied by the absence of basic logic. That's exactly what people behind Moldovan ESC team did here.
27 - 19
After some time, I'm gonna try another trick with YouTube. It still has me in a so-called shadow ban in terms of "advanced features" being turned off (which means no links in the description, no pinned comments and stuff) for "not enough activity", even though many channels still have them with absolutely zero activity. Just calm uploading of 2-4 videos a month wasn't enough, so then I'll do it in other way. One day I'll just upload 10 videos in 10 days, we'll see how it works. Along with that, I'll try more other tricks at the same time. So, the channel will be silent until I make those 10 videos (or even like 12, to be absolutely sure). They also have to be meaningful and actual, not just some random one-minute stuff, they actually have to score some views, only then this trick might probably work. If not, then... Idk
19 - 8
And it's the 2nd year in a row I read that same line "juries saved us" from so many people. That's sad, really really sad. The problem is, it's not true. Like, it's relatively true, but only partially. The main part here is: if someone (juries or televoters) have to vote someone down on purpose to not let them win or even come close to winning or something bad will happen otherwise, it's not us or the contest that "needs saving", it's people behind this contest are doing something wrong. In general, voting someone up or down on purpose not for the reasons related to the song is really bad. But hey, when we agree with that then it's fine, as usual.
But the problem is - juries didn't even vote Israel down that much, this and last year. Both their jury points are just what an uninspiring X Factor ballad by numbers would get representing any other country (not Italy or France, though). Or maximum, around 20-30 points more, no more than that. Also, didn't you notice that technically, they also underrated Estonia, if only they gave them 2 more points then we would get the split screen between Austria and Estonia. And I can guarantee you, there would be much less "juries saved us" statements from everyone. Just 2 points of a difference.
And of course, juries didn't "save" anyone last year. Israel didn't even win the televote then.
It just feels like everytime there's a chance to praise or defend juries, modern eurofans will take it. Just the way they aligned their Eurovision taste over those years, to this 50/50 system. If juries were in the semi finals this year, someone among Cyprus or Belgium would qualify instead of San Marino, which too many people would be happy about :( But it could've been Slovenia too, so be careful with your wishes :)
84 - 22
But the biggest mystery of the season for me is Croatia, that lasts all the way from their national final results, from the beginning of March. The only question is what the hell just happened? From my view, their national selection was the most interesting one. Ok, it's just me, it's probably somewhere in the middle for an average person. But still, it definitely had enough decent songs.
And the winner was totally decided by the juries, 4 Croatian and 4 international ones. Poison Cake finished only 4th with the televote but it was relatively close... But juries gave it a big enough advantage, so it was enough to overpower the televote favorites. It didn't seem like a too unprecedented situation, it happens both at national finals and at Eurovision, what can we do. And Poison Cake was 2nd in some fan polls before the show... But as long as it won, people immediately started hating it too much, calling it a disjointed mishmash, a cringy tiktok breakup song and stuff, that would never be accessible for the big audiences, it became last or near last in the odds... And then it actually didn't qualify, even though did better than expected.
So, what do we have here? The song was chosen totally by juries (again, both national and international) instead of a couple of televote favorites, ended up being hated by everyone to the death and actually did badly at Eurovision... So, what the hell? What was it? Was it a sabotage from juries? Were juries told to vote for Marko and rig the contest for him? Did juries seriously thought it was the best in the selection by a mile, so if juries were in the Eurovision semi finals, he would get a lot of points from them there? I don't think so. I have no idea. No explanations seem logical. So, techni ally, it's those 8 juries that spoiled everything for Croatia this year. Just like I have no idea how fans started hating it after having it as one of their favorites before the show.
79 - 22
I just adore how the channel with Israel ads is still public on YouTube. A separate video for every single participating country made identically: Yuval Raphael saying "hi everyone, vote for New Day Will Rise" in the country's language and same part of the music video after. 36 goddamn videos, for every single country, including San Marino that can't even have its own televoteđź’€
The funniest thing is, I'm not sure we and they will ever know if these ads even effective. Like, it targets only people who know about Eurovision and encourages them to vote many times, so it's big enough contribution. But still, the most of votes come from casual televoters from diaspora or just supporting Israel.
93 - 46
But one of the biggest shocks for me is still San Marino. When Tutta l'Italia actually was invited to San Marino and, of course, won it, I totally expected it to be loved by everyone. It had everything on paper to become the bop of the year, just an iconic entry, the most sing-along one and etc, at least one thing out of these. But nah, it became none of it, not even close, and ended up being around 25th out of 37 with eurofans. Ok, I was thinking, maybe it's just yet another strange opinion from eurofans, a very usual thing.
But at the contest, nothing changed too, general public also wasn't feeling it at all. It barely scraped into the final, thanks to 12 points from Italy and some lower half points from multiple countries. And then did nothing in the final, dead last with juries by average places (and 2nd to last by points), really low with the televoters too, despite performing late (even though we know that late running order in the final is not really a good thing historically), getting most of the points from Italy yet again. Yeah, we could blame the staging here but it couldn't spoil everything that much, the song was still definitely not understood. It really felt like literally ONLY Italian people and russian eurofans really got it, to the point of having it in the top 5 comfortably, while ALL the other people just didn't care at all.
68 - 13
Honestly, I applaud Tommy Cash, from a logical side. He decided to do something unexpected specifically for Eurovision, not something of his genre but still really close to it, something that is just... art, that doesn't have to follow any particular logic.
The whole thing was as low effort musically as possible, but with enough subtle ideas that secretly elevated the entry. I'd even say, it was among the closest to what people call "Eurovision joke entry". Only Austria 2003 or Estonia 2008 could also be called that, all the other entries people consider as "jokes" actually have something really interesting in them, maybe in terms of meaning, maybe music, maybe anything else.
Espresso Macchiato at first looked like a set of random words with no particular meaning and with simplest melody performed by a famous person with far from the best vocals even. Kinda explosive mix, what is the real "joke entry" if not this?
BUT. Actually, it wasn't a random set of words. One could see here the low effort of this being the actual meaning here, how despite it, it's still popular. Other could see here some mocking of consumerism and/or annoying rich brats/unbearable visitors of coffeeshops and etc (like the lyrical hero of this song). And it could all be true or not true, again, it's just art for Tommy, that doesn't have to be strictly explained.
And the use of mix of English and Italian words closest to English ones, despite being annoying, actually worked in its favor 100%. Like, it's basically fully in English, so everyone understands everything. At the same time, it's not really fully English, so it stands out in a very unique way.
And the main theme is coffee, in a paper cup. A totally international thing. Maybe coffee at home, maybe outside. If not coffee then tea, in a similar cup. Relatable to as many people as possible. And stereotypes about Italy are known well enough too, so it added something too. So, we have, basically, a televote winner, that scored way more than, for example, a huuuge favorite Sweden. It wasn't in English at all, sauna is totally nothing compared to coffee on the international scale, it's popular only in Nordic countries and kinda in a couple of countries that don't participate. Not many people saw that coming, that's where KAJ lost a lot of votes "for a fun entry", A LOT.
And juries... It was the most jury-hostile on song of the year on paper, by a mile. BUT juries can be cracked. To get some visible points from them with this kind of songs, you need something. For example, being internationally famous and relevant, ideally now, not 10-20 years ago. And also if your song, despite being a jokey/fun/ridiculous and etc one, still gained a lot of streaming & social media success. Only one of these things might still not be enough. But Tommy had both, more than confidentally. So, juries were cracked. 9th place, 98 points, getting some points from 21 countries.
So, that entry actually was calculated to have the success, it wasn't just having fun. I mean, he almost actually won. If somehow just a bit more juries were cracked and Austria didn't appear to be that both jury and televote-friendly, everything was very possible. Tommy definitely knows enough wide audience-pleasing tricks that he definitely used here. After all, he somehow became super famous doing a "genre" like "post-Soviet rap" in English with heavy Eastern European accent. So, it's logical that he knows how to work with people.
72 - 16
Well, that final running order allocation with "producer's choices" is yet again so hilarious and sad at the same time, I can't.
Like, they literally almost copied a block of like 5 countries in the 1st half from last year, yet again putting a couple of countries that would score many televote points anyway that early (Estonia & Israel), so they won't score even more and won't contend for a win (even though they wouldn't anyway).
In 2023, when we had only 1st and 2nd half draw, both Loreen and Kaarija got 1st half, so producers had to do something, and they put them 9th and 13th respectfully, as late and separately as possible. The funnies thing is that now, almost the same situation happened again, even though we now only have 6 1st half places. Austria and Finland got this1st half. Austria has very similar aesthetics to Loreen, a theatrical performance with a complicated enough staging, a lot of artistism and perfect loud vocals. Finland now has very similar aesthetics to Kaarija too, a certainly-not-introverted performer with a very high energy upbeat pop song among the favorites. And yeah, producers literally did the same thing, putting Austria 9th and Finland 13th :)
But what about the favorites that got 2nd half or producers' choice? Just like last year, they just got technically the best spots, in the 2nd half but not at the very end. Sweden literally got Baby Lasagna's spot, 23rd. I guess they almost did the same thing as last year yet again, putting France 25th and someone non-competitive 24th (so it scores even less televote points)... But no, this year they decided to have France 24th, right after the upbeat favorite.
So, I guess if Sweden wins and they will be desperate to change some rules again next year, they will just abolish those pathetic 6 1st half and 2nd half spots left, making it fully producer's choice. I mean, they planned to do it anyway, and it will be a great opportunity to do it that soon.
49 - 18
From the both semi finals, it was definitely Cyprus and Greece that fooled us with the choices of 30 seconds rehearsal clips the most (comparing to the full performances), moreover, in the opposite ways.
Cyprus chose the first 30 seconds, where the vocals are not weak yet and the staging is not that random yet. So, we thought it was gonna be a sure Q, I even thought it could come 3rd due to closing the show... No.
Greece's clip looked like she would stand on that rock for the whole 30 minutes, I even thought it could become a shock NQ. But no, there were a lot of good visuals in the full performance, I changed my opinion during the show.
Well, and also I thought not only that Cyprus would finish 3rd in the 1st semi but also Australia would finish 4th in the 2nd semiđź’€
69 - 14
Welcome to my YouTube channel, I'm a random Eurovision fan from Eastern Europe with an opinion that can be different from the others sometimes.
Joined 1 March 2020