Eurovision 2024

Another year, another Eurovision... Unfortunately for me there is still no thrash around (some idiot journalist called a glam song last year thrash and I've ever since wanted to see it in the contest). Truth be told, didn't really enjoy any of the songs themselves. Eurovision ain't exactly known for the quality of most of their songs, as we all know. Still, my country qualified for the final and I am happy about that. Lets see if we don't end up at the bottom of the table again!

But yeah, I watch the show mostly because of the performances, they're very weird and entertaining. In fact, it's thanks to one of those that I'm even making this post in the first place. Ireland had this really cinematic pagan-influenced crazy nonsense going on:

This is already insane by itself, but what really cracked me up and made me laugh my ass off and want to share this are the comments. There's a shit ton of people calling it "satanic", "scary", "not art at all" and saying "Eurovision should remove this!". All this thanks to a really soft and innocuous pop song. I want so badly to show these people a black metal music video now...

I thought the Satanic craze ended 40 years ago what's going on here

50 minutes ago, DSC said:

Another year, another Eurovision... Unfortunately for me there is still no thrash around (some idiot journalist called a glam song last year thrash and I've ever since wanted to see it in the contest). Truth be told, didn't really enjoy any of the songs themselves. Eurovision ain't exactly known for the quality of most of their songs, as we all know. Still, my country qualified for the final and I am happy about that. Lets see if we don't end up at the bottom of the table again!

 

But yeah, I watch the show mostly because of the performances, they're very weird and entertaining. In fact, it's thanks to one of those that I'm even making this post in the first place. Ireland had this really cinematic pagan-influenced crazy nonsense going on:

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This is already insane by itself, but what really cracked me up and made me laugh my ass off and want to share this are the comments. There's a shit ton of people calling it "satanic", "scary", "not art at all" and saying "Eurovision should remove this!". All this thanks to a really soft and innocuous pop song. I want so badly to show these people a black metal music video now...

I actually loved Bambie Thug because contrary to conservative opinion, it very much is art. Just Dark art. The track is all over the place, the performance is all over the place, the make up is surreal. When it comes to artform, this is a clear winner.

My voté's on Croatia though. Rammstein with a folklore beat and its metal, can't miss that.

Was hoping to see a thread like this. My personal view on some talking points of the first semi:

1. We smashed it. We finally smashed it and I can finally hope Zagreb will host a Eurovision. Marko has insane charisma on stage and humility and he improved tenfold from Dora. I have seldom had the chance to be proud of our performances at Eurovision. Considering it was a BACKUP ENTRY FOR OUR NATIONAL FINAL and is now leading the odds by like 38% vs 16% over the second place, that's just immense. Proud as fuck. Excuse my Croatian.

2. I expected Ireland to be freaky but this was just next level. Nothing against it, not a huge fan either, but it was definitely unique and art, as Redneckerz put it.

3. UK on the other hand I also expected to be an... interesting staging. And the whole concept of the staging in that tiny room is incredible and never-before-seen. I just wasn't expecting to see something as "out there" as that on stage. Somebody, however, wrote a good comment: nobody would be against that performance if the dancers were all female or 50/50 m/f. Which is true.

4. Azerbaijan deserved to go through, they finally had the balls to send something in Azerbaijani + mugham. But that's probably why it didn't go through, the European populace isn't generally used to mugham. Australia also deserved to go through, probably instead of Cyprus, which is the usual girl pop song with absolutely nothing going for it. Same country for the singers either way, as Silia is also Australian.

5. Finally all the ex-Yu participating countries are in the final. Serbia I'm super happy for because 2nd in the running order + a jury-bait song wasn't gonna do well in a semi that's televote-only, I thought, so I was happy to have been proven wrong. Slovenia was also a very artistic performance, though I'm not sure if she could've worn any less.

6. Finally, Finland grew on me with this performance so much. Those guys do not take themselves seriously at all and I love them. Performance was a blast as well, vocally especially. My overall favourite, Estonia, has such a vibe too - I like solid, unserious songs. (+ the guy looks like Vsauce. I mean.)

And my overall top 5, in no order:

• Croatia - I'm from there so I kind of have to put us in the top 5
• Estonia - Goofy song about drugs, very mocking, has some folklore, in Estonian. They take the piss out of themselves. Perfect.
• Greece - At first I did not understand this song, but then I realized I really enjoy how experimental it is. Brilliance.
• Switzerland - Well, honestly, the song is a bop and Nemo can sing. I genuinely feel the rap part brings it down cuz the chorus is immense.
• Norway - it took time to find a 5th place, but I'll give it to them. Another ethnic bop with a unique voice. Power ballads in Norwegian ftw. Lithuania is a super close 6th, modern song in LITHUANIAN? Cool.

1 hour ago, NaZa said:

Finally, Finland grew on me with this performance so much. Those guys do not take themselves seriously at all and I love them. Performance was a blast as well, vocally especially.

Yeah, Finland were along the Ireland the most "out there" performances. For anyone curious to see it:

Yeah, Croatia and Norway are the "best" for yesterday songs, Skovakia was... Cool, at least in staging that i liked, as well as the German singer have a really great singing voice... Yeah, that mandatory raw voice singer seen everytime on X Factor, that kind of singer.

Boy i imagine conservative Christian cucks going apeshit for irleand and australian singer, i already see the "illuminati won" posts on facebook lol

Get hyped for tomorrow!

My favourites went through yesterday (KUULA NUD SEDA) - not without super poor vocals, though - so I'm kinda glad. Was shocked, albeit overwhelmingly positively, when Latvia qualified. I really like the song and his performance, but when he was moved to tears at the end of the performance, I told my friend I suspected he thought that even this wasn't enough. After Serbia on Tuesday, just goes to show jury bait CAN make it through and I'm glad.

Belgium, on the other hand... Yeah. Please do keep sending bangers but also please send people who can perform them. This year they'd been on my top 5 until the rehearsals, but then it became evident they're not gonna do well. Same situation as in 2018, they sent winner material but then somehow they managed to fumble everything and did not even qualify. Shame. (2018 had some of the biggest robberies ever, though. The Greek song is another example.)

However, it's RAI's leaked televote that's worrying me. Apparently it's legit because they announced it on the television. Looking at that, Israel got 39,1% of every vote in Italy. Netherlands placed second and - a song pretty much created for the televote - got only 8%. In comparison it seems Ukraine in 2022 got 25% of the votes in the semi from Italy. The Israeli song seems to be okay, but if they win due to pity not long after such a case, not sure if that's a good sign for this SONG contest. Not to mention the amount of countries that would probably boycott the contest, a few were close to doing that this year also. My intention isn't to come across as antisemitic, as I'm not hating on Israel or Eden (and was not happy to watch how her entire performance in the arena was booed - she shouldn't bear the brunt of that); I'm just worried about pity voting influencing the outcome of the contest... again... The thing that makes the leak a bit suspicious though is the fact Norway was supposedly last in the Italian televote when they turned up. (Albania in 3rd would usually sound red flags too but in the Italian context it admittedly makes sense.)

I watch Eurovision every year. Last year Finland and Spain were my absolute favorites.

Spanish singer Blanca Paloma has a unique performance style that takes traditional Spanish songs, microtonal singing and polyrhythmic beats as its basis. And she came in one of the lowest places thanks to the jury's votes :) What a shame.

On the other hand, the excellent Finnish singer Käärijä with explosive energy and a great dance hit... ended up in second place because first place was taken by a mediocre Swedish singer who just... well, sings well. And simply because fuck you and the jury decided so.

In general, Finland has always been famous for its crazy performances and Finnish singers have a reputation for being freaks, but this year it’s somehow... meh.

You can throw tomatoes at me, but I don't find anything crazy or freaky about a guy in a thong swinging his dong while another guy in a cap sings BAD.

Ireland is rocking very hard this year, I voted for them from the start.

When I saw Estonia's number, I immediately said, “these guys will make it to the finals.” And they got there! Very nice :)

Croatia - well done! Making a great song that has both an electronic drop and a (sort of) metal breakdown at the same time is POWERFUL!

The Azerbaijanis also sang excellently, but.... of course they did not pass. Eurovision doesn't have enough just good singers, they also need catchy performances.

What a pity...

2 hours ago, NaZa said:

Was shocked [...] when Latvia qualified

Yeah, me too, as well as with Armenia song, didn't expected this at all. I am more glad for Norway, lovely piece!

Estonia and France are the one i enjoyed too...

Anyway, what is this story of leaked televote? Talking about songs that sounds "leaked" from Sanremo artist are Spain (that is quite literaly the Ricchi e Poveri song with some Annalisa vibes) and Belgium with it's ripoff, supposedly lamer (i didn't saw the lyrics, so i can't confirm the parallelism) version of Dargen D'Amico lol

25 minutes ago, Walter confetti said:

Anyway, what is this story of leaked televote? 

Apparently this happened on air:

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/MDMKmtfQFUUGLoDz/

Oh, i see... That was a mistake from our side (more than a mistake, apparently it's a rule about televote results on TV...), i hope we don't be rejected for this!

Update: EBU announced the Dutch representative has been barred from rehearsing until further notice. Will edit when we find out why as there's a lot of theories online atm and they're all just rumours.

Why is there so much drama to a song contest, man...

Wtf...

On 5/9/2024 at 12:06 AM, Walter confetti said:

australian singer

Australia are no longer in the finals.

Oh boy, the drama levels are real:

In short, the last year Finland singer meet the Israel delegation yesterday and did some headbanging with her singer, the video was recorded and uploaded by the delegation on social sites with a supposed support for Israel state that wasn't part of the guy intentions

Still no actual information on what the Netherlands representative did, but EBU finally talked: he is forbidden from participating in the jury rehearsal due to the ongoing investigation. Juries will give him points based off the SF performance. Not officially DQ'd yet. Currently the rumours are he had a physical altercation with a female cameraman. @Redneckerz as I seem to recall you're Dutch, are there any more concrete news in the Netherlands regarding the situation? From what I've read, they're saying Belgium would've withdrawn had they went through as well as Spain?

3 hours ago, NaZa said:

Still no actual information on what the Netherlands representative did, but EBU finally talked: he is forbidden from participating in the jury rehearsal due to the ongoing investigation. Juries will give him points based off the SF performance. Not officially DQ'd yet. Currently the rumours are he had a physical altercation with a female cameraman. @Redneckerz as I seem to recall you're Dutch, are there any more concrete news in the Netherlands regarding the situation? From what I've read, they're saying Belgium would've withdrawn had they went through as well as Spain?

Dutch national news reports it as a Polish journo asking Israel if she doesnt feel her appearance does not endanger the other people. Her press assistant told her not to respond. Joost replied: "Why not"? After which he unveiled himself underneath the Dutch flag.

Said flag is also removed from the stage,  but no DQ yet.

Its strange.

Joost is officially disqualified.

38 minutes ago, NaZa said:

Joost is officially disqualified.

What a friggin' shame. No more vaporwave-guy

It looks like Estonia will now refuse to perform as a sign of solidarity

Official statement by the EBU:

https://eurovision.tv/mediacentre/release/statement-dutch-participation-eurovision-song-contest

Quote

The Dutch artist Joost Klein will not be competing in the Grand Final of this year’s Eurovision Song Contest.

 

Swedish police have investigated a complaint made by a female member of the production crew after an incident following his performance in Thursday night’s Semi Final. While the legal process takes its course, it would not be appropriate for him to continue in the Contest.

We would like to make it clear that, contrary to some media reports and social media speculation, this incident did not involve any other performer or delegation member.

 

We maintain a zero-tolerance policy towards inappropriate behaviour at our event and are committed to providing a safe and secure working environment for all staff at the Contest. In light of this, Joost Klein’s behaviour towards a team member is deemed in breach of Contest rules.

 

The Grand Final of the 68th Eurovision Song Contest will now proceed with 25 participating songs.

Damn shame, especially with no details being out there. So essentially its a complaint and said complaint is enough to barr an act.

First time in history, but i think this is going to roll some eyes on the EBU, no matter if proven guilty or not.

15 minutes ago, Astar said:

It looks like Estonia will now refuse to perform as a sign of solidarity

Source?

1 hour ago, Astar said:

It looks like Estonia will now refuse to perform as a sign of solidarity

I've read that they personally debunked that, because their wording was ambiguous and taken to mean the other way. 

This could have big consequences. First off, AVROTROS is apparently hinting at a legal process due to the severity of the punishment. If Joost is guilty of whatever he did, if it's severe, I guess DQ is warranted, though why not be transparent in the first place? And why not slap the delegation with a fine, considering the contest is already underway and how much the song personally means to him? And the message of the united Europe during the Eurovision with the slogan United by Music, as well.

But imagine this accusation was either not that severe or nothing major happened, which would constitute defamation; I can see Netherlands withdrawing from participating next year along with the legal processes. And considering the Flanders broadcaster is due to organize Belgium's participation next year, it might spill over into Belgium as well. Especially after the Walloon broadcater also had a protest this Eurovision. Then you have Spain, who already asked for transparency over the issue and got none, and Malta reposted the AVROTROS decision on their own Eurovision page for some reason...

EDIT: Besa, the Albanian representative, called for reinstating Joost Klein into the final performance. Something also happened during the family show rehearsal because the Irish, Swiss, Cypriot and Greek representatives refused to take part in the flag parade. The Irish representative said they were in talks with EBU regarding an incident. Why is there so much drama. I wanted to watch us win in peace.

Dutch AVROTROS with more details (Dutch movie):

https://nos.nl/collectie/13971/video/2520081-avrotros-joost-maakte-dreigende-beweging-maar-heeft-niemand-aangeraakt

Translation:

Quote

Broadcaster AVROTROS has issued a statement about Thursday evening's incident involving Joost Klein. It states that Klein was filmed just after he stepped off stage. He had indicated that he did not want to be filmed, so he made a "threatening movement" towards the camera woman. That incident was subsequently reported to the EBU and the police.

 

AVROTROS says it has consulted extensively with the EBU and has proposed various solutions. "Despite this, the EBU has decided to disqualify Joost Klein." The broadcaster calls the measure disproportionate.

Despite numerous indications not to be filmed, the camera woman continued to do so. Nobody was hit, there was a threatening movement after numerous appeals by Klein not to be filmed.

This is kind of... Yeah.

He also apparently only pushed her phone down, in the words of the Dutch commentator who I'd say is a reputable source in this situation. I have no words if that's the reason of his disqualification. Literally calls for a fine, maybe, or only an apology, not a DQ. Horrifying.

2 minutes ago, NaZa said:

He also apparently only pushed her phone down, in the words of the Dutch commentator who I'd say is a reputable source in this situation. I have no words if that's the reason of his disqualification. Literally calls for a fine, maybe, or only an apology, not a DQ. Horrifying.

Agreed. And if this is DQ-worthy, i have seen a lot more in that regard:

• The Greek entry pretending to yawn and be asleep whenever Israel was interviewed
• The French entry who, at the rehearsals today, stopped the performance to make a political statement
• The Norwegian point bearer boycotting the event because of Klein, leading to her being replaced

I'd say most of that is equally DQing, right?

If anything else, The Finals are going to be very different tonight.

What a bizarre chain of events.

Sure hope we win. We did really well.

12 hours ago, NaZa said:

Sure hope we win. We did really well.

But in the end, it was the Swiss.

I am really disappointed by that because fan fave Croatia came in second. When i hear The Code, i hear nothing that screams to me that its a winner.

But (obviously) the media had to tell me that Nemo is the first non-binary person to win.

And call me a conspiracy thinker all day long, but i feel this was deliberate because being non-binary is the in-thing in society these days. Oh, and the spinning on a globe, that was cool.

Sorry if i come across as salty but after the BS i am not going to take EBU's and Eurovision's choices so lightly. So instead i say The Code was the winner because its the safe choice.

Congrats to Swiss Mika for winning this year Eurovision, token by storm at Jury (and somehow by televote) voting! It's a nice song with a cool arrangement, even if i expected a more different ranking even with Holland without the games. But in the end, isn't similar to last year, with the Ramnestein-like track on second place? Congrats again at the good ranks of France (groundbreaking voice, really) and Irleand... Didn't expected that Luxembourg ranked so high!

I've expected a higher ranking for Italy song, but it's a good ranking overall.

Sure, nobody (at least here in Italy) could have escaped from the spamming of Israel presence, you don't have idea how many times i saw the voting reel for "Hurricane" on YouTube yesterday, giving the high rates on televote, i think.

And all the drama thanks to a (i suspect) deliberate "error" in the Thursday broadcasting on RAI, but i'm not sure because i think it's Just a self-pity moment that we guys are masters of. Or at least, me and Repubblica think of this scenario.

I found Switzerland to be very meh. Wished they sent Coroner instead. Croatia and Netherlands (if they weren't disqualified) would have made for far better winners IMO. But the biggest crime of the night was Norway being dead last, completely undeserved.

It's hard to choose words, really. Yesterday I've been about as crushed as when we lost the World Cup final to France in 2018. We were so close. 

But then. We're a tiny, insignificant country. Half of our bloc does not participate at Eurovision anymore. We were there only with the silly song and no other backstory or lore. Yet we still won the televote (even ahead of sympathy votes for Ukraine with a strong song, and Israel; though there's a different controversy concerning that) and were only 44 points away from the eventual winner. Excuse my Croatian but I'm fucking proud. We achieved our best result ever. I'm crushed and proud at the same time. I don't know what to say.

I do like the Swiss song, as I've written above it's in my top 5. The performance was somewhat underwhelming but I'll say they are a worthy winner. They'd rank quite high in the jury vote even without the on-the-nose story, but that probably gave them the edge. I do not feel happy that the Croatian jury was the only one not to give the Swiss any votes, and adding up the public, we gave them the total of 1 point vs the 18 they gave us. Not a fan of tactical voting.

Norway in last and just barely qualifying in the first place has got to be one of the largest surprises I've seen in the past few years. Absolutely undeserved! They were 4th in my personal ranking of the finals! But I'm glad 1/9 of the Estonian points came from our 4 televote points. I just knew we'd appreciate them.

4 hours ago, Walter confetti said:

And all the drama thanks to a (i suspect) deliberate "error" in the Thursday broadcasting on RAI, but i'm not sure because i think it's Just a self-pity moment that we guys are masters of. Or at least, me and Repubblica think of this scenario.

I also think it was a deliberate leak to warn us of the televoting trends and mobilize the voters, as it's quite curious that San Marino gave Israel 12 points in the televote in the final and not, y'know, their immediate and only neighbours, or the country where their band is from. Also same here regarding the Israeli entry advertising, I have not gotten a single ad but my friends have been bombarded with them.