We’ve finally reached the year of the EBU taking tighter control over Eurovision. From now on, the copyright would be shared by the host broadcaster and the EBU, the branding would be standardised and the televoting would be conducted by a centralised organisation, not each broadcaster separately. Also, the rules explicitly banned live music starting with this edition. However, the most important change was definitely the introduction of a semifinal. From now on, no country would have to skip a year because of poor results. Of course, the single semifinal format still wasn’t ideal, but it was infinitely better than any iteration of relegation. It’s for this reason we could extend a warm welcome to four debuting countries, Albania, Andorra, Belarus and Serbia and Montenegro, as well as wave our hands to a bunch of returning countries: Denmark, Finland, Lithuania, Monaco (returning after 25 years), North Macedonia and Switzerland. This means that 36 countries took part this year, an increase of 10 from the previous year and the record at the time (though not for long). This year will already show us why a semifinal was necessary, so let’s dive right in.
Since I plan on reviewing both (and, later, all three) shows in one post, I’m trying out a new format. Instead of a general intro, I’ll give an intro for both(/all three) shows separately. With that said, welcome to the first official semifinal of Eurovision (it only took them a decade to come up with this).
We open with the new official logo: the word Eurovision with the heart flag replacing the letter V that we all know and love (but written in a more cursive-style font than nowadays). As I said in my ESC 2000 review, I wouldn’t have minded the lips logo becoming the permanent official one (there was some serious discussion about it, and I think their more abstract look is quite cool). Still, the hearts are all I’ve known all my life, so I’m also pretty biased towards them, as they’re truly iconic.
For the opening act, TRT prepared a nice act showcasing traditional Turkish dance, and I actually kinda enjoyed it, it was fun. After that, we were introduced to the hosts - Korhan Abay and Meltem Cumbul - who greet us in English and French (the French is better than the English, to be honest), as well as make some jokes of varying quality, but manage to remain charming even when the jokes fall flat, which is fine enough by me. After a quick singalong of the chorus of Volare, the first song begins after just under 7 minutes.
Yep, it’s tango, alright. The title didn’t lie at all. It isn’t even that bad, I certainly enjoy it, but it’s also a bit plain. It relies on its tango gimmick too much, and I can’t say it charms me too much with that. We’ve definitely had better tango entries before (like Denmark in 1979 and Spain in 1982).
For the first of four debutants, let’s welcome Belarus. Belarus sent a style we’ll be hearing a lot from them: a danceable entry in heavily accented English. This time, it’s even more heavily accented than usual, to the point where I can barely understand anything. To be fair, it’s kinda vaguely ethnic and not super bad, but I’m not sad it didn’t qualify.
Ok, yeah, it’s this entry. Let’s get this over with, shall we? I don’t think it’s a surprise that I don’t like this, but honestly, I don’t absolutely despise it either. At the very least, it’s a sincerely bad entry. Sure, his voice grates on me every time I listen to it, and he’s trying to force me to have fun. I hate it when people do that, but at least it was all done sincerely. Some entries are made to be ironically bad and I usually can’t stand them even more. While I can’t really stand this either (as you’ve probably gathered by now) and consider it to be a particularly low point for the contest (this actually would’ve been in the final if the relegation system was kept) and an absolute torture to listen to, I actually no longer consider it to be the worst entry ever (which I did for the longest time). But it’s still in my bottom 10 of all time.
You know, I feel really bad that this didn’t qualify. It’s the only Latvian entry that’s actually in Latvian, but it’s also just a really good indie rock song. I’m always slightly biased towards rock in Eurovision, and this is no exception. I just find it really genuine, which is the biggest reason why I like a song. And nothing proves this more than the fact that it was translated into about a trillion other languages (or actually eight, to be precise). Apart from Latvian, there are Belarussian, Lithuanian, Russian, Ukrainian, Estonian and English (I cannot find a copy anywhere). I find these choices fairly unsurprising, but Polish, Dutch, and Finnish are slightly more exotic options. I checked in with my Latvian-speaking friends to verify the accuracy of the translation, and I can confirm that they all (or at least the Ukrainian, Russian and English versions) are faithful in spirit. So I’m gonna go by both the original Latvian version (whose title translates to Song about happiness) and the Ukrainian version (whose title translates to Song of hope).
First of all, according to my Latvian friends, the lyrics are very poetic and uplifting, rich in metaphors and so on. They generally had a lot of praise for it. And, while I can’t talk about the Latvian version, I can talk about the Ukrainian version, which is also great. This time according to me, it’s also very genuine and sweet. The lyrics are also really good - they clearly got a native speaker to adapt the song - because, yes, it isn’t a straight-up translation; it’s an adaptation. They even use the short form of a verb, which isn’t something that’s commonly taught to foreigners as it’s considered too casual. Again, that makes me appreciate the song a lot more. I also find his accent charming, as it’s very cute and actually adds to the Ukrainian version. And alright, maybe I should only judge the original live performance (which is still good in my opinion - he might sway around too much, but I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing), and I will, but I still want to highlight the effort that went into translating the song.
So, even disregarding the good alternate versions, I still like it for its vibes. It never fails to improve my mood, and I have to give it credit for it. I understand why it didn’t qualify, but I wish it did. Maybe Latvia would’ve been more keen on sending songs in Latvian.
You all know how I feel about opera by now, so it shouldn’t surprise anyone that I don’t like this at all. However, I don’t dislike it as much as I probably should either. It falls just slightly short of being really bad, even though I would’ve preferred it if he used a normal voice to sing it. I think the key difference between him and most other opera-style performances is that, first of all, he doesnt go overboard, and, secondly, the instrumental is quite dancey, which distracts from the operatic part a bit. I can see why this came 11th in the semifinal, but I’m kinda glad it didn’t do any better than that.
I can’t argue that the performance in the semi-final wasn’t that great, but this is one of the songs that I’m ready to pull the “but the national final performance/the studio version” card. Because, yes, the final version got revamped to be a little worse, and her styling is absolutely atrocious. In particular, that haircut is just so bad, but the choreography doesn’t fit at all, either. The song presented at the national final was very sweet and likeable, the staging kinda got the point across even if you can’t speak Catalan (btw, let’s all welcome the first song sung in Catalan).
But the main reason why I like it (even the live performance) is because it’s just a very competent and light pop song. There’s just a feeling of airiness around it that makes it an absolute joy to listen to. It’s one of a couple songs that are completely unrelated to each other musically that give me the same sort of vibe: freedom. Listening to it makes me feel like I’m running through a field with the wind blowing on my face. In fact, this only makes me more mad that they replaced a staging that was very fitting to this kind of song with one that doesn’t suit it at all. If they wanted to change something, they could’ve at least tried to recreate the music video.
And now back to deserved non-qualifiers. Portugal just sent a dancey song in Portuguese which doesn’t do anything for me. It isn’t bad, but it’s just totally dull. I’m incredibly underwhelmed (and will continue being underwhelmed by Portugal for the next few years).
After this entry, there was a short green room segment with Pierro and his MuscStars beatboxing and David D’Or doing more opera, all of which felt extremely awkward (but it could be because I’m watching without any commentary this time since Russia didn’t broadcast the semifinal and I don’t want to listen to Terry Wogan).
After the first qualifier of the night (Malta), we return to non-qualifiers. Next on the chopping block, Monaco, back for the first time since 1979. And honestly, this is alright. It’s both dancey and chansony, but in a way that actually kinda works for me. Of course, it’s absolutely chanceless, and I definitely wouldn’t have expected this to qualify if I werre watching it back in 2004, but it’s decently enjoyable.
After two more non-qualifiers (Greece and Ukraine, both of which would go on to place top 3 in the final), it’s back to the non-qualifiers. Honestly, it’s not a bad Latin-feeling song, not the best one of the year, but not that bad either. The thing that ruins it for me is the vocal performance, which kinda just grates on my ears. In general, it’s just alright, I can definitely understand why it didn’t qualify - coming after two much more memorable and flashy songs is always difficult, but especially if you aren’t that great even in isolation.
Three more qualifiers have performed (Albania, Cyprus, Macedonia) and another green room segment has passed, so it’s time to go back to non-qualifiers. So now, it’s time for Slovenia, and oh my god, this is really bad. It’s not giving at all; in fact, it’s actively taking away. There aren’t really any positives I can find here, it’s like it was made specifically to annoy me. The singers are off-key, the song is extremely repetitive and boring, and the performance is bland too. I didn’t enjoy it at all.
Again, I feel a bit bad that this didn’t qualify. It’s actually a pretty nice and competitive ethnic entry and I would’ve expected it to qualify if I was watching the 2004 semifinal at the time. The music is pretty interesting, the staging is very appropriate for this kind of entry (I love the way they dance together during the chorus), the drummer is awesome, he adds a lot to the staging as well.
So, what’s the major flaw here? Why didn’t it qualify? Well, it just isn’t catchy. The song has no hook for the listeners to remember, so by the time all other entries had finished, a lot of people probably forgot that this song existed at all. But it’s honestly quite a shame - it was just a couple tweaks away from greatness.
Final NQ of the evening, and it’s actually not that bad. It’s fairly enjoyable, the Latin vibes are very nice, and Tomas is actually a pretty charismatic performance. It’s always sad to see Denmark not being rewarded when they actually try to send something good and unique (cough 2021 cough) but then place in the top 5 with the blandest entries ever. And sure, it’s far from perfect - the fire/desire rhyme is super cheesy - but it also just kinda worked for me.
This was decent. It was far from the strongest show ever, but there were enough good songs to keep me going. All of the NQs were understandable, even if I like some of them, so I can’t really say anything was robbed. We’re really lucky we got the semifinal this year, as otherwise, we would’ve missed out on some really good entries (Greece and Cyprus specifically, but also Bosnia) but we would’ve had to suffer through stuff like Switzerland in the final. It’s definitely better for the contest’s reputation that most viewers didn’t actually see it at all.
Anyway, the hosts reminded us that we couldn’t vote for our own country (though they didn’t say “vous ne pouvez pas voter pour votre propre pays” as they usually do, which kinda caught me a little bit off-guard, that phrase is almost as iconic as “douze points” at this point). Also, they extended the voting window from five munites to ten, which is fair enough, I imagine there were plenty of people who didn’t have time to vote during the old window. As the countdown was going on, there was a pretty fun interval act with drumming, which kept me entertained. After it finished, there was a sketch featuring doll recreations of ABBA, which I’ve seen before I knew that it was first shown in Eurovision. It’s actually pretty funny and sweet, I always enjoy rewatching it. It’s kinda crazy to think that it was shown for the 30th anniversary of their win while we just celebrated the 50th. Time really does fly, doesn’t it?
Anyway, it’s time for the first ever qualifiers reveal in ESC history. It’s done in a bit of a different way than nowadays, but I definitely prefer it to the way it’s done now. The reveals are actually done in a random order since the hosts have to open actual physical envelopes. The running order slots are also allocated according to the order of the reveal, so they had to ensure that the reveal order was truly fair and random. Even though I knew the results already, I was still so happy when Ukraine (my country) qualified. They also showed the points of the non-qualifiers, which is, unfortunately, the only time this has ever happened. Seeing a 0 in front of Switzerland was really funny too. I honestly wish they still did this, I don’t know why they changed their minds literally next year.
Anyway, scroll down just a little bit and join me for the final.
This time, I actually am watching with commentary - specifically, Russian commentary since Russia actually broadcast the final. It’s still ripped from VHS, so the recording quality is quite shit, which is why I’ll be supplementing it with an upscaled copy with no commentary.
Now, here’s the first show I actually watched live. I was just three years old and fell asleep about halfway through, but my parents were recording it on VHS, so I got to watch the songs that I’d missed the next day. I only enjoyed two songs back then (no spoilers which ones), so let’s see if my tastes have changed (the answer is yes, by the way).
The final opens with Sertab Erener reprising Everyway That I Can, which is such a perfect opener. I like that the ribbons are now green instead of pink, but I don’t think she looks good as a blonde. After that, she premieres her new song called Leave, which is also really good, if a bit standard.
While the hosts welcome everyone, the commentators talk about the fact that Russia will hold a televote for the first time ever, remind everyone that they can’t vote for Russia (multiple times), tell everyone to write down the running order of the song they like the best and so on. All in all, it’s a very quick opening and we quickly move to the first song, which is from Spain.
Spain is here to out-Spain everyone else (which definitely makes sense). Not only is this the perfect opener, but it’s the perfect summer hit and was actually musically relevant to Europe’s tastes at the time. It’s honestly impossible to dislike this with the nice guitar and drums and its energetic performance, and it really puts me in a much better mood for the rest of the final. And we’d never get an opener like it with the producer-made running order since it isn’t in English.
Props for singing in German, but its a shame the song is a total dud. For a boyband, they have very bad harmonies and zero chemistry with each other. Add to that a very plain and derivative instrumental, and you get a song that just innately annoys me on every level. At least I can’t understand the lyrics, which probably saves it just a teensy bit for me (I’ll wait for Cookiefonster to tell me whether they’re cliche or not).
While the verses are a total dud, the chorus is mildly rousing, though I find his voice to be too nasally for me to actually enjoy. It’s a very obvious candiate for last place - not because it’s the worst entry of the evening, but because it’s the most unremarkable one. Though I think the rainbow effects are kinda cute, if cheesy.
The completely unnecessary change to Spanish for part of the song has always baffled me because a lot of people probably didn’t even notice it. I also don’t like his voice, it feels like he’s shouting at me. The staging is also too weird: the lady on stilts adds absolutely nothing to the performance.
That said, I actually find the song itself to be nice and well-written. For some reason, I find myself returning to it pretty often. It just feels very calming and pleasant. It’s definitely a fair effort from France, even if it falls short in multiple ways.
From a purely musical perspective, it’s absolutely gorgeous. It does the kind of progression I love: adding new instruments over time. It starts off with a very simple flute intro, quickly adds the drums (having a beat people’s minds can grip on is highly important), the chorus adds a bouzouki, and then we get a violin solo. It also has an immensely memorable melody for people to remember. There’s a reason why it managed to get second place after being performed fifth and being followed by a lot more flashy entries.
But (there’s always a but), I’ve never been able to fully connect with it. I really wish I could, as everyone else loves it, but it has never clicked with me. And I think the main reason is that it’s a bit too dramatic for me. Don’t get me wrong, I love dramatic songs, but this song’s kind of drama just isn’t for me. It doesn’t tug at the strings of my heart, which is a requirement for a song like this. Luckily, Željko will have ones that actually do that for me, and I’m excited to explain why.
And here’s Malta, which somehow made opera palatable to me. I think the key is that, first of all, the instrumental is dancey, not opera-style, but secondly, and more importantly, the opera parts are sung in normal registers. Neither one goes into falsetto at any point, which is just perfect, as I can’t stand it when people do that. Plus, they have good chemistry and harmonies, which helps them sell the song even further.
What the random draw gives, the random draw takes away. Netherlands were blessed with a great running order in the semifinal and managed a pretty safe qualification. And I’m really happy for them as after this, they’re gonna start their dark era of eight consecutive non-qualifications. So let’s enjoy having the Netherlands in the final this year.
And honestly, it’s a very lovely song. They have very good harmonies with each other, and I really like the guitar. It’s a shame this didn’t do better, although the reason for this is apparent: they had to perform before a slightly better guitar pop song, which I’ll be covering next.
I definitely prefer this guitar pop song, though, surprisingly, not by a lot. They’re both different enough for me to be able to appreciate both without lumping them together. Still, I think the slightly more reserved style of this entry just makes me like it more, and I really like the switch to Turkish - it’s pandering, sure, but it’s also cool. It’s very hard to resist this simple but effective melody and Max’s nice and sincere delivery. It also has a very nice progression and adds some new instruments throughout the song, but it does it in a very sneaky way.
Also, here’s a fun fact: if you don’t count Stefan Raab as one of the backing performers here (he doesn’t even provide any backing vocals), then 2004 is the last year without any returning artists, which is extremely surprising to me.
If I had to pick one word to describe this, it would be “cute.” I just really enjoy this entry and the song: Anjeza just really sells it to me. Actually, here’s a bit of a weird thing about it: I love to turn it on while I’m walking. I have no idea why, but I always feel so confident and sassy while listening to it. It’s definitely a debut Albania can be proud of and a well-deserved 7th place.
And now, it’s time for my country’s real debut. We tested out the waters in 2003, saw what works and what doesn’t and made necessary conclusions. And decided to absolutely fucking kill it.
It’s hard to overstate just how iconic this song is in Ukraine. Without a doubt, this is what everyone thinks of first when people mention Eurovision. For example, I was recently talking to one of my grandmother’s sisters and touched on Eurovision, and she asked me, “Is that the one with Ruslana?” I truly believe that we wouldn’t have been anywhere near as interested in Eurovision as we are without this song. She even got an award for a “legendary Ukrainian song” in 2021 for Wild Dances (or rather for Дикі Танці, which is the fully Ukrainian version that actually became a hit, but same difference, they’re both great).
So, why does this work? What makes this so iconic and memorable? Why am I in love with it? Well, honestly, there are several reasons. First of all, it’s a perfect performance. For the most part, all of our performers can sing while doing some extensive choreography without any assistance from backing singers. In fact, Ruslana doesn’t have any backing vocals - apart from some “hey"s and “hoo"s. And she doesn’t need them - she can dance and sing at the same time without getting out of breath. In a year where most of the performers are a little off-key even while standing still, she stands out in a particularly good way. Plus, she can rise above the sound issues that plagued this edition (but it was totally not sabotage (it was almost definitely sabotage)), which, again, helps her stand out even more. It’s easy to believe that the televote doesn’t care about vocals, but they definitely do - even if a little less than the juries. I often hear that someone had poor vocals from non-fans that watch the show, which proves that they do actually care.
But it’s also the performance itself. Dancing usually goes over well in Eurovision, but only if it adds something. And with a title like Wild Dances, an entry pretty much requires having dancing. Of course, it’s executed in the most perfect way for this entry. There could be many different ways to stage this performance, but there’s only one correct way to stage it: this one. Iryna Mazur, the person responsible for the staging, and Roksolana Bohutska, who is responsible for the costumes, both did a fantastic job at bringing this song to the stage. And, of course, the backing dancers (from the ballet group Zhyttya (Life)) are another element that makes this a truly excellent experience. But let’s not beat around the bush: it’s Ruslana that truly makes it shine (but she wouldn’t have been able to do it as effectively without any of these elements). She has this star quality that allows her to elevate any song she’s singing. Because let’s be honest, this song isn’t particularly special. To bring in a food analogy, the song is just rice, while her performance is the meat and sauce. That doesn’t mean the song is bad or boring, of course. It didn’t become the best-selling single in Ukraine ever because it was boring. But the live performance definitely lets it shine even more to the point where I still imagine it even while listening to the studio cut of the song. I also have to credit her English singing skills, considering she didn’t speak English at all (and had to bring an interpreter along).
On the whole, it’s definitely one of the first entries that pop up in my head when I think of Eurovision and for a good reason too. Also, fun fact, I actually met Ruslana once: she came to my school to give a speech while she was a politician. Our teacher explicitly told us not to talk to her about her music career (and I didn’t), but she’s a very nice person (or, at least, she seems to be).
You know, I never really gave much attention to this before. Sure, I considered it to be a fine song and all, but not much more. In fact, I only placed it as a bare qualifier from a semifinal. But after I watched the semifinal, I had to take a little break, and I found it popping up in my head all the time. It’s one of those “sneakily interesting” songs I love so much.
On the surface, it’s just a fairly generic ballad with some janky lyrics, but wow, the instrumentation is so beautiful. It starts off with a very mysterious and simple intro with a simple guitar and some percussion. The verses add a couple more instruments, but they’re still very subtle (but they still add a lot). I also love the epic chorus, that’s the part that always pops up in my head. I really love the bells, they give it a bit of an Italian feel (and generally, this has some Italian influences in its sound, although it also sounds firmly Balkan). I think that the transition could’ve been a bit better, but (as I’ve said before) I also enjoy abrupt transitions, so I can’t say I dislike the way it’s done.
But mostly, I just like his performance. He really puts his soul into it and I resonate with him 100%. That’s the quality I’m looking for in ballads - a connection, some kind of relatability. I don’t care that he’s a little bit vocally imperfect and that he has to rush his singing because some lines don’t really fit the music. He hides it all under an insane amount of charisma. I also have to remark on the backing singers. While they get a bit loud at times, that’s pretty normal for ex-Yugoslav music of the time (as you could tell from me remarking upon it before). So, while I would’ve preferred it if they were tuned down a bit, it’s just a stylistic choice that doesn’t exactly affect my enjoyment.
The biggest twink of the year is giving us the most 💅 performance ever. To quote one of my friends, he was here to gay and to slay. Sadly, he also has some of the worst vocals of the night, but I honestly don’t really care that much. A different friend has said that he’s never heard anyone sound out of tune whilst whispering. But I’m going to blame two things here. First of all, the sound issues that have plagued this show (but it’s totally not sabotage), but also the fact that his in-ear falls out after the first verse, so he clearly can’t hear the backing track at all. And, just like Jemini last year, he’s struggling to find the note - although he manages to disguise it by adding some extra breathiness into his singing. And while I love making fun of poor singers (sometimes), I also understand that technical issues exist, so I wouldn’t feel right making fun of him after I defended the UK last year. Plus, the song is an absolute banger, there’s no denying it.
Luckily for the flow of the show, we had a little break where they showed the crowds around the world (well, in Hamburg and Istanbul specifically). Why “luckily”? Well, because this song is a little similar in spirit to the previous one, so this break helped them stand out despite that. But, to be honest, I prefer this over the Bosnian entry. It’s mostly because of the percussion. I absolutely love the drums here, they create such a memorable melody, it’s insane. And it also has such a singable chorus that very aggressively sticks in your brain for days. But, overall, it just makes me want to dance and be happy, which is more than enough for me to like an entry. Belgium is always robbed, I’m telling you, especially the Flemish part.
This is such a nothing song. The choruses are boring and repetitive and the verses are absolutely nonexistent. It also has no progression at all and I always forget it about five seconds after it ends. And it’s weird because a lot of famous people were involved with this. I suppose the intro is the best part, it promises something a lot more interesting than what we end up getting.
But there’s apparently a lot of background drama related to this, mostly because most viewers in Russia thought this song was shit. I found a website that has details on the background of the selection as well as the song itself (in Russian). Apparently, the initial shortlist had four artists, and none of them were Yulia Savicheva (one of them was actually Verka Serduchka, but she was rejected because of Slovenia’s 2002 result and her inability to sing in English). In the end, Julia was selected anyway, Max Fadeev composed the music, and Marina Borodiskaya wrote the lyrics, all according to an imagined “European standard”: everything was made “for Eurovision”. And I believe that was the biggest mistake - the song was simply made to tick the boxes. You can see how uncomfortable Julia looks on stage (apparently, neither her producer nor her father flew to Istanbul with her because they didn’t believe in her at all). And that’s why I don’t feel any connection with the song either because she doesn’t feel any connection with it either.
It also commits the biggest mistake ever: overstaging. According to the commentators, the Russian broadcaster hired French stylists, designers and a staging director (the same director staged the French entry, by the way). Clearly, all of this high-profile talent didn’t work out as intended. The song is just trying to be too elaborately staged, which instead just makes it cringe and insincere. But if there’s one person I can’t really fault here, it’s Julia herself. Despite being just 17 years old and effectively on her own, she did her best. It wasn’t really enough, she didn’t elevate the song in any way, but she did what she could. The real blame lies on Channel 1 for selecting her in the first place instead of someone more experienced. And I honestly don’t know what Russia expected. At least they got a deservedly mediocre low result - 11th place with just 67 points - and I’ll admit, only because of bloc voting.
To me, this is the quintessential North Macedonian entry. The song itself is really good, with a memorable melody, a singable chorus and interesting verses. The singer is great as well, he has a voice that really fits this song, and he actually sings really well in English. But the staging is just so poorly done, same as nearly every other North Macedonian entry. I find the backing dancers that grab him from behind to be quite creepy, and the rest of it is just confusing. But I often forgive North Macedonia for poor presentation, they often send great songs anyway. Plus I’m a little bit biased for it because of its 7/8 beat, which makes it a lot more interesting.
Technically, this is the Greek entry with the most points. While it only came third, it did that with 252 points, while My Number One won with just 230 points. I had to say this because I really have nothing interesting to say about it. It’s a bit of fun, it’s memorable, it’s danceable and Sakis is a charismatic performer, but man, I’m just not interested in this at all. Still, I’m happy for Greece, this is an obvious crowd-pleaser and really deserved its score, it just isn’t for me.
I know that most people find this boring, but I think it’s very nice and soulful. Jonsi is a strong and charismatic performer and makes me believe him. His vocal style fits this really well (he goes a bit overboard, but that doesn’t make it much worse), and the instrumental works really well (I really like the strings) and the lyrics are well-written as well. I’m also really glad this didn’t have any backing vocals or dancers: I think neither one would’ve added anything to the song. Unfortunately for me, it’s one of those songs I simply find good and don’t really have a lot to say about.
On the other hand, Ireland sent a ballad that doesn’t touch me at all. It has a very stale instrumentation and religious undertones that completely put me off this. Chris isn’t even that good of a vocalist, so I can’t even give it any praise for that. Even the backing vocals kinda annoy me, I think the song would’ve been a little better without them.
You know what, I actually quite like this! The lyrics are a bit repetitive (ok, very repetitive), and the music itself isn’t that varied either, but I like the live performance, and her distinctive singing style definitely adds to the song rather than subtracts from it. Plus I really enjoy the Spanish sound this year (too bad this is pretty much the last year of this trend, but at least we’ll finally start getting more ethnobops in general).
This is hardly interesting, but it’s a very honest effort from the UK. So, while I don’t love it, I don’t dislike it either. Granted, it’s very unstimulating and unmemorable (though I do like the way the guitar goes just a little harder when he sings the title), but it’s still miles better than most of the British entries that will follow, so maybe I can appreciate this a little more with that context.
While I really like this song in isolation, I can’t really connect with her performance. On a technical level, there’s really nothing wrong here. In fact, it’s executed flawlessly, the melody is slow but not dull, the vocal performance is great and so on. But she just feels too young to be singing a song like this, I simply don’t believe her. And, as I said before, a song like this needs to tug at my heartstrings for me to truly enjoy it.
Turkey sent something that all countries should send as host entries: something completely out of left field and experimental. We’ve never seen ska in Eurovision before, and I didn’t realise just how much I needed it. We’re finally entering the era of rock music being more embraced by viewers (thank god), which will encourage more countries to try it out (culminating in Finland’s win just two years from now) and, as someone who loves rock, I couldn’t be happier about it. Also, it’s obvious that these people are experienced performers since they really know how to engage the crowd (and they’re really helped by the crowd absolutely loving them - which makes sense as this is the host entry).
Despite all the attempts to make this sound danceable and fun, it’s actually just super dull. The only saving grace is the muscular backing dancer in a transparent glittery shirt because he gives me something to focus on. Without it, I’m pretty sure I would’ve fallen asleep ten seconds in. It also helps me not to focus on her outfit, which is by far the worst one of the year and completely deserved the Barbara Dex award.
I don’t think I’ve ever talked about it before, but I love the trope of sad lyrics set to upbeat and happy music. This could’ve easily been a sad ballad that tries to tug at your heartstrings that I probably would’ve completely failed to connect with, but instead, it’s a very upbeat and fun schlager song. It also helps that Lena is an experienced performer and really elevates this, with her fun performance. I also surprisingly enjoy the parts where the backing singers go loud, which is surprising since this trope rarely works for me. But I really wish this was kept in Swedish, Det gör ont (the Swedish version that actually won Melodifestivalen) is an even bigger earworm for me. Though I Admit (hehe), the translation was done really well, so it doesn’t make me sad too much.
Meh. This was a relatively fine year, I guess, but the songs were hardly worth getting excited about. There were some good songs here and there (and, luckily, they were spread out fairly evenly), but not really that many. But still, I really don’t dislike this year either: it showed that the semifinal works and really allowed Eurovision to grow. And the hosting was pretty good too, which always helps me get through a mediocre year much easier. Overall, this year is far from one of my favourites, but it also isn’t exactly down there at the bottom. It pretty much just served its purpose and that’s it.
Instead of the interval act, the Russian broadcast cut to a talk show, where they did some interviews with the audience, most of whom didn’t really like Julia and her father, who said that he didn’t like the performance since it left a lot to be desired. The other audience members were split, with some calling the song outdated and doubting that she’d be able to win (although they also criticised other songs as outdated as well), but others being completely behind it. Before the end, there was a quick round with some audience members being asked their favourites, which I’ll list in order of mention, as well as reasons: Belgium (fun and danceable), Ukraine (great vocals and costumes), Albania (lovely singer, great debut), Turkey (great performance, fun song) and Ukraine again (energetic and memorable performance).
But let’s circle back to the interval act (the benefits of being able to watch multiple recordings). I really enjoyed it, with the ethnic dancing and all that. There isn’t exactly a lot to say about it, but it’s certainly among the better interval acts.
The voting was quite a drag, though. With 36 countries having to announce their 1-12 points, it went on for over an hour, which made me just skip around to remind myself who was leading at various points, but I didn’t pay a lot of attention to it otherwise. At least we get the first appearance of Svante Stockselius, whom we’ll get to meet again for the rest of the 2000s. While Spain led after the votes from Andorra, Greece quickly jumped into the lead and was quickly overtaken by Serbia and Montenegro. It took until the votes from Lithuania for Ukraine to go into the lead, and it never changed afterwards. Overall, the voting felt a little less exciting than usual due to so many points being up for grabs and the top 3 having such a big lead over other countries.
Nevertheless, I’ll see you all in my home city for the 50th edition of Eurovision (and also much better songs)!
Some new changes in the way the results are displayed: from now on, bold will be used for automatic qualifiers, italics will be used for non-qualifiers and regular upright text will be used for entries that qualified from a semifinal. As for my winner, I really didn’t expect to be picking it, but I agonised over it a lot and just had to choose it.