Eurovision 2016 Final review and personal thoughts
First of all let me tell you that we are extremly happy because of Ukraine’s win. Finally something else wins Eurovision and this is allways a good thing. Hopefully people will take this contest more seriously than before, and slowly but surely a few of the Eurovision stereotypes will fade. We pray for that.!!!
Seccond of all Ukraine did not beat Russia….Ukraine beat Australia placed 2nd. Russia managed the 3rd place. The voting announcement created that feeling, and indeed it was very exciting. We like the new voting announcement, we think they achieved the exact ammount of excitement they were aiming for. As far as the fairness of the voting, it is not for us to judge, but we can say that 50-50 is the fair way to go. No less and no more to either sides. Nor the judges or the public had a clear common favourite and this is why the seccond place form both of them won. It is purely mathematics…and it was very correct!
As far as the winner is concerned, Jamala deliverd her soul on a platter to all the viewers and it was all worth it. She didn’t do it for votes, like some other performers did, she did it for herself, believing in what she sang. It helped a lot the fact that she wrote both the song and the lyrics. In this way she delivered exactly what she wrote about. It is the perfect way to do it: to perform something you yourself created. Congratualtions Jamala, for winning the whole thing, and for showing us that LESS IS MORE!
Now to the Final itself 🙂 Pretty god show I can say, very technical, very funny and very exciting. Petra and Mans were indeed the best hosts so far , and mokying your own contest ( Peace and Love song ) was the best thing ever. The audience was one of the best (trust me I was in the Golben) , and the general feeling is that it was a very good Eurovision. Certanly not the best, but SVT didn’t disapoint at all. Congratulations to their professionalism, which I could experience for myself. Good job! After the brilliant catwalk presentation of the flags, the songs followed. And what an eclectic line up 🙂
- Belgium – Laura performed with a lot of ease and a the dancers were a nice touch. She took the song to a very childish and playfull place and this payed of with a top 10. Personally we didn’t enjoyd her performance that much, but the song deserved the top 10.
- Czech Republic– THE MOST UNDERRATED SONG IN THE FINAL. She was perfect for eurovision: song, charisma, setting. If only they didn’t placed her in the number 2 spot 🙁
- The Netherlands – a big no from us. Sorry but this song was not our cup of tea.
- Azerbaijan – The staging was very eurovision, marking all the winning boxes. Yet they managed place 17. It laked the “feeling”, and a few notes out of tune. People get tired of this kind of entries. The song though was good.
- Hunk-gary 🙂 Freddy was there heart and soul. I am sorry for this song. It deserved a top 10. It was shocking to see the televoters did not go with this.
- Italy– totally missing out on charisma, she didn’t transmit anything. She was completely blank, and the make up made her look “evil”. We saw her as a “spoiled brat” trying to impress us. Too bad cause the song was top notch. She tried but we get it why she placed only 16. If she tried to be warmer and more sincere, to really belive what she was singing, it would have been a top 10 for Italy.
- Israel– 8 with the juryes I get it, but 22 with the televoting..?An then I realised it might have to do with the singer himself. Except the voice, which was amazing, he had a very confusing look and attitude , combining a few LGBT stereotypes ( hair, make-up, clothes, gloves, gestures), and people got a little confused by that. Otherwise I cannot see why Israel placed 14th.
- Bulgaria – Congratualtions Poli. This was not only a perfect Eurovision song, but also she is a very very beautiful human being, and this translated into votes, especialy for performing with such a great charisma, and feel-good vibes. She was perfect!! We thought she would go top 3. But hey it is still the best result Bulgaria had so far, and she will allways be our Poli!
- Sweden – nice, simple, good
- Germany – we absolutley love this song. The juries giving it 1 point is purely insane. I don’t get it. Apart from the look which might not apeal to everyone, the song itself is a perfect radio tune. Just too bad and we are soo sorrry for Germany this year!
- France – the top favourite acording to Ogae International, didn’t disapoint at all. He delivered clean and nice, but maybe a bit too simple for the catchy song . I would have gone with something else, to give it more standout. Overall we agree with the placing.. He deserved it!
- Poland – 8th place for Poland?..Hmmm..don’t know what to say . Too much dramma in the performance payed of with the televoters, but it sure didn’t help with the juries. The song was not bad at all, but it was such a classical composition, it was tooo old for 2016.
- Australia – they were here to win, and if it wasn’t for mathematics, they would have 🙂 We are glad they didn’t 🙂 Not because we didn’t like it . The song was good, the singer was amazing, but with many still thinking Australia has no place in this contest, they might never win this 🙂
- Cyprus – I really thought they would pull a Manga 2nd place. Nice rockish song, performed very well, but I think the visuals didn’t help them. They followed a clasic rock staging for Eurovision and didn’t stand out. We,ve seen this before.
- Serbia – From a top 10 song to a 18th place in the final..really don’t know what happened. Maybe too much going on the stage got the audience confused.
- Lithuania – Decent from all points of view. This gets me thinking that there is a young audience for Eurovision, and more countries should go with the younger generation.
- Croatia – It was the dress ..I tell you 🙂
- Russia – winner of the televoting, as expected, didn’t manage to make it into the top 3 for the juries. There were simply far better songs thatn this, musicaly speaking. They followed the oldest reciepe in Eurovision, but this didn’t bring them the victory. We are sad for Sergey but happy for the fact that finally a classic pop song, staged perfectly didn’t win. It was time for that to happen.
- Spain– Is there simply no love for Spain in this contest?…Oh wait..no…Pastora Soler got the love, and Ruth Lorenzo got the love…Barei didn’t. It was too pushy, to theatricaly fake, and although vocal it was perfect, the song was bad, let’s face it. Everybody wanted to love this, and the fans went mad for this one, but that wasn’t enough. Eurovision fans may set the trend, but the people whatching it on tv and those who vote are the real audience every country shoul appeal to. But they had a super fun performance so Thank you Spain!
- Latvia – too minimal for Eurovision, but good, I would have replaced Latvia for Lithuania in the overall top.
- Ukraine – what more is there to say? She came, she performed and she conquered! She blew everyone off with this performance, and she won the whole thing. It was such a desereving win. No matter what people say, Ukraine won with the most raw and heartfelt performance, of a non hit-type song. Perfect outcome, if we ever want to change something in Eurovision. There will allways be catchy pop tunes, and power ballads, but there will never be another 1944. Bravo!
- Malta – Ira did her best, she was as perfect as she can be. It just wasn’t enough for the televoters. Juries though placed her 4th, which is something. Malta wil win this in a few years from now , I am sure of it!
- Georgia– for me this was the dark horse. They managed to qualify to the final, despite all odds. I even expected them to go much higher in the overal top. Remember Georgia from 2011. I thought they will pull the same stunt. Too bad cause the song was really good!
- Austria – well deserved 13 place in the final. It was a stand out from all other songs, and this is why televoters gave it credit. Good job Austria. And the big cheer in the audience was genuine, because everybody here loved Zoe.
- United Kingdom – This was the first year they send a sincere song, with two cute guys to perform it. But sincere does not mean good. It was average all the way!
- Armenia – “The body” they call her, and what a body. A very nice closing song for the final, and a very good placing in the end. Well deserved!
The interval act was amazingly fun, and Justin’s performance was the cherry on top.
This is the amazing Jamala and her epic win:
So it’s Kyev next year, cause I really don’t think they will pick something else. Let’s hope Verka Serduchka will host 🙂
Ionut Demetriad for escromania.com
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photo: eurovision.tv / video: youtube.com
