The Eurovision Song Contest Thread

[Naava]

By the way... I want to let you all know that the Finnish subtitles were, once again, pure gold:



"I don't know your name so imma call you Keke"
"Well go ahead and be Jussi then if Keke wasn't good enough for you"


Also these:



Thanks to the translator, without these I would've never understood what she was singing!

[md0]

You don't know how good you have it Finland may be one of the only countries who subtitles ESC songs. It must give at least some boost to non-English songs. Such a common sense thing to do, and yet barely anyone does it.

[Naava]

Don't worry, I've tried to be as grateful as possible ever since I heard other countries don't have subtitles! (I think Estonia was the only one besides Finland who had them? Correct me if I'm wrong.) But the best part is that the translator doesn't even try to make it sound good. Usually you have to be so careful with it, trying to keep the message the same and the connotations the same and maybe even rhyming while also making it sound natural... But with Eurovision, the translator keeps the message the same but I'm pretty sure they actively try to make it sound as awkward and silly as possible - and it's the best part of the show.

[Naava]

Alright, second semifinal done! Did your favourites qualify? Any surprises?

[md0]

It was such a disappointing night for me, only saved by Serbia qualifying.

My top 10 in order were:

1. Serbia - In Corpore Sano
=. North Macedonia - Circles
3. Czechia - Lights off
4. Ireland - That's Rich
5. San Marino - Stripper
6. Estonia - Hope
7. Poland - River
8. Georgia - Lock Me In
9. Finland - Jezebel
10. Montengro - Breath

I was disappointed by Cyprus (the vocals were horrible) and Montenegro (extremely weak performance). I expected better from both. I was positively surprised by San Marino (managed to go beyond being a repeat of last year's winner), and Czechia (it didn't do it for me in the studio version, bit it was great live). Georgia came out of nowhere for me too, I actively hated it before.

I'm most disappointed by MKD not qualifying. I think she was perfect on there.

[Naava]

Guys, check this out! Estonia has the songs in sign language and it's so cool! I really liked the interpretator of Norway's and Finland's songs - they looked like they were having so much fun.

My personal favourites at the moment:

France
- I don't know if it's because they sing in Breton or because I like the song.
Finland
- Nostalgia here we come!
Estonia
- Not too bad, I kinda like it. I don't think it'll win, but it was a nice change to what we usually get in Eurovision.
Serbia
- Not a bad song, crazy lyrics, and extra points for having the English translations on screen give off a slightly different vibe than the actual lyrics. Also I guess I'm giving more extra points for the Finnish subtitles. "For example black rings around the eyes can be liver disease, spots near lips caused by spleen problems, and a big spleen is not beautiful" - amazing. "God give me health, give me health, because I don't have health insurance". I don't know how close these are to the actual lyrics but I loved them.
Cyprus
- Nice melody and what would you call it? Ornaments? The lyrics aren't that original but I'll forgive it because she's not singing in English well, not the entire time.

Songs I don't really like:

UK
- Sorry I keep forgetting what their song sounds like. I listen to it and it's immediately deleted from my memory. It's not bad, I don't hate it, it's just... too easy to forget.
German
- Yeah didn't impress me. Basic song, not bad, but not memorable either. I could use this for background music when cleaning or writing or something.
Albania
- I like the chorus (I will never regret, you'll be my secret) but everything else is just nah.
Israel
- Not my style of music.
Azerbaijan
- Another song I can't remember no matter how many times I listen to it.
Georgia
- I didn't like the song but the costumes were beautiful. I loved the flower beard (and so did the Finnish commentator).
Malta
- Aasdfasdfadsfasdfasdf. It's so basic and I hate the "I'm who I am : )" message that felt so... fake and unoriginal. No, no points from me. Also the piano was not on fire, huge minus!
San Marino
- I didn't like the singing style, the melody, the lyrics, nothing. I'll give a point for bringing that bull to stage though.
Sweden
- ???? This was so boring. They only qualified because it's Sweden.

Other comments:

- I'm starting to warm up to Norway. It's not that bad. I mean it's a crazy song, that's Eurovision tradition, how could I not like it? Still not really my style of music but...
- I actively hated Romania's short shirts. (Btw, I saw someone said they were made of the scraps left over from the women's oufits. )
- I also saw someone say Poland was taken to his river by dementors.
- Montenegro what are these lyrics.

[md0]

I hate the "I'm who I am : )" message that felt so... fake and unoriginal.

Amen to that. They should give that dead horse a rest at last. I swear I feel both Malta and Israel have been sending the same song practically for the last three years.

[Linguaphile]

Guys, check this out! Estonia has the songs in sign language and it's so cool! I really liked the interpretator of Norway's and Finland's songs - they looked like they were having so much fun.

Thanks for the link! I like how it's a mix of sign and dance and just plain expression. And the facial expressions that the interpreter does for Norway's are hilarious. I feel like all of the interpreters did a really good job of presenting the vibe and style of the music.

France
- I don't know if it's because they sing in Breton or because I like the song.

I agree.

Estonia
- Not too bad, I kinda like it. I don't think it'll win, but it was a nice change to what we usually get in Eurovision.

Yes. The first time I heard it I didn't like but but by now I'm like, yeah, sing your heart out, boy, for all the people great and and small.
I'd love for it to win, but you're right, it probably won't. It's good it made it to the finals, though.

[TheStrayCat]

I haven't had the time to listen to all nominations so I listened to the recap and then to those songs that I didn't find too boring.

My favorites are Ukraine, Moldova, Lithuania, France, Finland and Iceland. Israel and Serbia are okay but not really crazy about them. Most of the rest just sounds kind of... cookie-cutter, I don't know.

[TheStrayCat]

Respect to Kalush Orchestra for standing up for what truly matters.

[Naava]

I think my current favourites are France, Lithuania, Estonia, Norway (as much as I'm confused how this happened myself), maybe also Iceland. Ukraine and Romania are okay too.

Btw, is there anyone else as stupid as me here and planning to watch the point giving tour?

[Naava]

Double post but I am stupid and staying up to see how wrong the juries were once again, but...

I don't know which one is funnier, that the current leader is THE UK or that Germany is the only country without any points at all. 😂

[Linguaphile]

Double post but I am stupid and staying up to see how wrong the juries were once again, but...

I don't know which one is funnier, that the current leader is THE UK or that Germany is the only country without any points at all. 😂

You should've stayed up longer*, Ukraine is the winner! UK is second. Germany got 6 points.


*hilarious for me to say that, it's afternoon over here.

[Naava]

Double post but I am stupid and staying up to see how wrong the juries were once again, but...

I don't know which one is funnier, that the current leader is THE UK or that Germany is the only country without any points at all. 😂

You should've stayed up longer*, Ukraine is the winner! UK is second. Germany got 6 points.

Don't you worry, I watched it till the end like I always do! I gasped when they got 400 p from the audience. I also found it hilarious that Switzerland got 0 p from audience.

[md0]

Wow, this was not how I predicted things going.

I watched the final with friends at a bar, so I don't think I can comment on the performances with any credibility, the sound was shit at the venue. I'm just shocked that both the UK, Sweden and Azerbaijan were favoured by public and juries. I feel so out of touch as there's nothing in these songs that picks my attention. Azerbaijan's song never stuck even a little in my memory.

It was satisfying to see Moldova dominate the televote (aside Ukraine, obviously). I was off by one place about my darling, I expected Serbia to rank 4th (and also expected Ukraine to be 2nd).

My biggest prediction fail was France. I had it as one of the potential winners. It got almost no points.

Apparently there were shenanigans with the jury vote in six countries.

[Naava]

Wow, this was not how I predicted things going.

Same. I honestly thought France, Norway, Serbia, Moldova, and Romania would get more points even though I didn't think they'd win. It felt good to see Serbia and Moldova get some points from the public, but jury clearly didn't appreciate them and I was shocked how little the public cared for France and Romania because I had heard quite a lot of people say they liked them online. I also honestly expected Norway to get more points from the televote than they did.

And once again, I'm really surprised by (and disappointed in) the jury. Sweden?? Sweden??? It was so boring and unimaginative and jury just worshipped it? And Spain?? They really just gave them booty points? The song wasn't bad but it wasn't that good either! Also UK... Nice song but why on earth did the jury love it so?

Apparently there were shenanigans with the jury vote in six countries.

They couldn't contact them for live feed for some reason. I saw someone joke about it online, saying it was easier to get in contact with someone in space than those six countries in Europe [in the Eurovision sense].

[awrui]

Azerbaijan's song never stuck even a little in my memory.

When they showed the recap, bot me and my friends were like, what, when did they show this??? None of us remembered that song at all!

I get why Spain got so many votes, they had ASS^TM. Makes me still sad though that a shit song can rank so high because of that...
Something I don't understand, is Switzerland and Sweden. Those songs are generic AF, how could they even end up in the main finale?

[vijayjohn]

Okay, md0, I normally completely ignore Eurovision, but your list got me too curious (and entertained) to do that this time. I watched at least parts of some of the songs. If I was voting, I would've given France top points just for singing in Breton, mostly just because I am so fucking sick of everyone singing in English and this is only the third time in the contest's entire history that anyone has sung a song in a Celtic language (but it also sounds like a really good song!). Of course I loved Moldova's song, but I also liked Slovenia's, Iceland's, Cyprus's, and, to be honest, even Portugal's. Portugal's is in English, but at least it's about something culturally specific. (Cyprus's is also mostly in English, but hey, it has Greek in it!).

Israel's was not so great, but my God, that is the gayest Eurovision song I have ever seen (important contextual note: I have seen very few Eurovision songs). Those guys were kinda hot. I didn't care much for North Macedonia, and Poland, seriously? You just got some random American dude to sing in English? Come on! I didn't care much for Serbia's, but I would have ranked it over Cyprus's or Portugal's for sure since it's at least entirely in Serbian, though I guess below Iceland's. I didn't care much for North Macedonia's, either (come on, please sing in Macedonian again!).

[TheStrayCat]

Israel's was not so great, but my God, that is the gayest Eurovision song I have ever seen (important contextual note: I have seen very few Eurovision songs)

Then you probably missed Conchita?

[md0]

(Cyprus's is also mostly in English, but hey, it has Greek in it!).

While I've been critical of Cyprus' decision to just use the same formula year after year ever since they almost won in 2019(?), I have to say that this year's song at least had some connection to the local music tradition and I appreciated that.
I think the song would have fared better if Andromache sang fully in Greek. The studio version of the song was very good, but the live was hard to watch. No doubt she would be more confident if she didn't have to sing in English. Anyway, it's long overdue that Cyprus returns to a national selection system instead of direct appointment like they've been doing for the last decade.

As for Israel, I'll be very happy if they gave the Israeli broadcaster a year's suspension from the competition. Apparently Michael Ben David has been extremely disruptive on and off stage and made a lot of people uncomfortable with what seems to sometimes border on sexual harassment. It was certainly satisfying to see him flop in the semifinal.

I get why Spain got so many votes, they had ASS^TM. Makes me still sad though that a shit song can rank so high because of that...

During the show I was curious how the broadcasters reacted to Spain's entry since this was even more explicit than Albania's entry and she was asked to tone it down. I'm not sure CyBC back in Cyprus felt comfortable airing that.
But the eyecandy sure went a long way.