EUROVISION GRAND FINALS!
It's time for...
A EUROVISION
DISCUSSION POST!
This is sort of on topic because it's a competition that involves singing. And Ivy said that I could post this so whatever whatever I do what I want.
For those of you who have no idea what the fuck I am talking about, Eurovision is a magical annual event. Every year countries from all over Europe (and Israel... lol) submit songs and then they get together and perform them and get judged. There are two semifinal groups and then the top ten from each + the Big Five (Germany, Italy, the UK, Spain and France who are automatic finalists) go on to the finals.
It is AMAZING. There are a lot of cheesy performances, fireworks, pyrotechnics, crazy costumes and ridiculous dancing.
Today was the GRAND FINAL! Behind the cut are the performances from the Big 5 whose songs I haven't yet posted. If you want to see the songs from the the other countries, check out Semifinal #1 Post and Semifinal #2 Post.
(P.S. Just so you know, I'm posting the BBC official videos which aren't the whole song since as I was making this post some of the unofficial videos were being taken down for copyright infringement and I didn't want to come back to this post a couple of hours later to see all the videos blocked. But even though these aren't the full songs, it's enough to give you a taste and you can try to find full versions of youtube if you like them.)
Italy - It's a nice little jazzy number, I guess. BUT HOW DID THIS GET SECOND PLACE? WTFFFFF? Sometimes I don't get you, Europe.
France - So every other country submits a song that is a nice dance or pop or rocks song... and France submits this. An opera style song in CORSICAN. lol Ok France. The staging is amusingly and appropriately dramatic though so I can't hate it. And this guy's voice is fabulous even if his hair is out of control.
Spain - LOL LOL SPAAAAIN WHAT WERE YOU EVEN THINKING? THIS SONG IS RIDICULOUS.
Germany - Lena won Eurovision last year and Germany sent her back as their representative this year, except this time she came with a group of backup dancers that look like they walked off the set of Power Rangers.
The United Kingdom - Ok, as much as I love this song, this was not a great live performance. I'll admit it but the recording is actually really great. I wish we had placed higher. :(
A helpful diagram to help explain how political voting in Eurovision works:
Voting in Eurovision works like this: each country in the whole competition (even those who didn't make it to the finals, so that's 43 countries total this year) has judges and can also vote in by phone and the judges votes are weighted at 50% and the phones in votes are also weighted at 50%. A country cannot vote for itself. Then each country awards 12 points to their favorite, 10 to the second favorite, 8 to the third, and then 7-1 points for the next seven. As the diagram above illustrates there's often a bit of a political element to the voting with countries tending to vote for their neighbors regardless of how good the song is. This is how voting went tonight:
1. Azerbaijan - 221 points
2. Italy - 189 points
3. Sweden - 185 points
4. Ukraine - 159 points
5. Denmark - 135 points
6. Bosnia & Herzegovina - 125 points
7. Greece - 120 points
8. Ireland - 119 points
9. Georgia - 110 points
10. Germany - 107 points
11. United Kingdom - 100 points
12. Moldova - 97 points
13. Slovenia - 96 points
14. Serbia - 85 points
15. France - 82 points
16. Russia - 77 points
17. Romania - 77 points
18. Austria - 64 points
19. Lithuania - 63 points
20. Iceland - 61 points
21. Finland - 57 points
22. Hungary - 53 points
23. Spain - 50 points
24. Estonia - 44 points
25. Switzerland - 19 points
My reactions: Congratulations Azerbaijan! You can actually afford to host Eurovision! So it's good that you won. haha. Their song was pretty decent too. It was probably in my top 5. I cannot believe how many points Italy got. I mean their song wasn't bad, but it was not second place kind of good either.
Sweden got third which is fair. It's a really fun pop song. I'm also a bit baffled by how high the Ukraine placed, but I think it has to do with the sand art that was featured because the song itself was not that fabulous.
I'm SO excited that Denmark placed fifth because their song was probably in my top 3 of the whole competition. It's a legit good song. And the lead singer is hot. I would hit that. The high placement of Bosnia & Herzegovina(old guy in a plaid suit waving his arms around... is fun... I guess) and Greece (the rapping was SO BAD even if the singing was really great) boggles my mind a bit, but whatever.
Well done Jedward for placing in the top 10! I'm really disappointed that the UK was only in 11th place though. WE DESERVED A HIGHER FINISH, GDI. Even Ireland who usually votes for us only gave us six points. WTF Ireland? Is this revenge for the shitty way we treated you for centuries? Fair enough, I guess. Ah well at least we got 100 points. Last year we only got 10. LOL. Next year, bbs! The UK will make a comeback one of these days. And I am shocked that Russia only placed 16th. Their song was super catchy. Also, you'd better watch out, Eastern Europe. You didn't vote for Russia, and now Russia is going to have its eye on you.
And finally, YEEEEESSSS MOLDOVA TROLLDOVA PLACED 12TH! Their performance was so insane. PERFECTION. I LOVE EVERYONE WHO VOTED FOR IT.
So what are your thoughts? Are you happy with this outcome? Were there any real surprises for you in the voting this year?
A EUROVISION
DISCUSSION POST!
This is sort of on topic because it's a competition that involves singing. And Ivy said that I could post this so whatever whatever I do what I want.
For those of you who have no idea what the fuck I am talking about, Eurovision is a magical annual event. Every year countries from all over Europe (and Israel... lol) submit songs and then they get together and perform them and get judged. There are two semifinal groups and then the top ten from each + the Big Five (Germany, Italy, the UK, Spain and France who are automatic finalists) go on to the finals.
It is AMAZING. There are a lot of cheesy performances, fireworks, pyrotechnics, crazy costumes and ridiculous dancing.
Today was the GRAND FINAL! Behind the cut are the performances from the Big 5 whose songs I haven't yet posted. If you want to see the songs from the the other countries, check out Semifinal #1 Post and Semifinal #2 Post.
(P.S. Just so you know, I'm posting the BBC official videos which aren't the whole song since as I was making this post some of the unofficial videos were being taken down for copyright infringement and I didn't want to come back to this post a couple of hours later to see all the videos blocked. But even though these aren't the full songs, it's enough to give you a taste and you can try to find full versions of youtube if you like them.)
Click to viewItaly - It's a nice little jazzy number, I guess. BUT HOW DID THIS GET SECOND PLACE? WTFFFFF? Sometimes I don't get you, Europe.
France - So every other country submits a song that is a nice dance or pop or rocks song... and France submits this. An opera style song in CORSICAN. lol Ok France. The staging is amusingly and appropriately dramatic though so I can't hate it. And this guy's voice is fabulous even if his hair is out of control.
Spain - LOL LOL SPAAAAIN WHAT WERE YOU EVEN THINKING? THIS SONG IS RIDICULOUS.
Germany - Lena won Eurovision last year and Germany sent her back as their representative this year, except this time she came with a group of backup dancers that look like they walked off the set of Power Rangers.
The United Kingdom - Ok, as much as I love this song, this was not a great live performance. I'll admit it but the recording is actually really great. I wish we had placed higher. :(
A helpful diagram to help explain how political voting in Eurovision works:
Voting in Eurovision works like this: each country in the whole competition (even those who didn't make it to the finals, so that's 43 countries total this year) has judges and can also vote in by phone and the judges votes are weighted at 50% and the phones in votes are also weighted at 50%. A country cannot vote for itself. Then each country awards 12 points to their favorite, 10 to the second favorite, 8 to the third, and then 7-1 points for the next seven. As the diagram above illustrates there's often a bit of a political element to the voting with countries tending to vote for their neighbors regardless of how good the song is. This is how voting went tonight:
1. Azerbaijan - 221 points
2. Italy - 189 points
3. Sweden - 185 points
4. Ukraine - 159 points
5. Denmark - 135 points
6. Bosnia & Herzegovina - 125 points
7. Greece - 120 points
8. Ireland - 119 points
9. Georgia - 110 points
10. Germany - 107 points
11. United Kingdom - 100 points
12. Moldova - 97 points
13. Slovenia - 96 points
14. Serbia - 85 points
15. France - 82 points
16. Russia - 77 points
17. Romania - 77 points
18. Austria - 64 points
19. Lithuania - 63 points
20. Iceland - 61 points
21. Finland - 57 points
22. Hungary - 53 points
23. Spain - 50 points
24. Estonia - 44 points
25. Switzerland - 19 points
My reactions: Congratulations Azerbaijan! You can actually afford to host Eurovision! So it's good that you won. haha. Their song was pretty decent too. It was probably in my top 5. I cannot believe how many points Italy got. I mean their song wasn't bad, but it was not second place kind of good either.
Sweden got third which is fair. It's a really fun pop song. I'm also a bit baffled by how high the Ukraine placed, but I think it has to do with the sand art that was featured because the song itself was not that fabulous.
I'm SO excited that Denmark placed fifth because their song was probably in my top 3 of the whole competition. It's a legit good song. And the lead singer is hot. I would hit that. The high placement of Bosnia & Herzegovina(old guy in a plaid suit waving his arms around... is fun... I guess) and Greece (the rapping was SO BAD even if the singing was really great) boggles my mind a bit, but whatever.
Well done Jedward for placing in the top 10! I'm really disappointed that the UK was only in 11th place though. WE DESERVED A HIGHER FINISH, GDI. Even Ireland who usually votes for us only gave us six points. WTF Ireland? Is this revenge for the shitty way we treated you for centuries? Fair enough, I guess. Ah well at least we got 100 points. Last year we only got 10. LOL. Next year, bbs! The UK will make a comeback one of these days. And I am shocked that Russia only placed 16th. Their song was super catchy. Also, you'd better watch out, Eastern Europe. You didn't vote for Russia, and now Russia is going to have its eye on you.
And finally, YEEEEESSSS MOLDOVA TROLLDOVA PLACED 12TH! Their performance was so insane. PERFECTION. I LOVE EVERYONE WHO VOTED FOR IT.
So what are your thoughts? Are you happy with this outcome? Were there any real surprises for you in the voting this year?