Måns Zelmerlöw from Sweden
The Eurovision results are in and Sweden, the favourite, was declared the winner. It was a catchy song, with simple but effective staging and deserved the crown. I had a good evening – The Bloke and I got the snacky treats in, we gorged ourselves during the contest and I was amused by the thousands of Twitter comments that dominated my timeline for the majority of the evening. Admittedly, it was a little more relaxed (and dare I say, dull) this year – the competition was littered by powerful ballads, with a distinct lack of gimmicks that I have come to associate Eurovision with over the years. Clearly, many have started to take it much more seriously.
To make things a bit more interesting, I had teamed up with Steve from Steve Says and Talk About Pop Music and Hugh from Hugh’s Views and News prior to the final to offer our predictions for the outcome. Here were our predictions:
And here is the final list:
I got seven of the top 10, as did Steve, and Hugh got six, so I think we did quite well. However, all three of us were quite deflated at the fact that the UK yet again was more of the comedy item for the year and we finished in a much deserved 24th place. Steve did a fantastic post about this, that I totally agree with. As one of the ‘Big Five,’ who contribute the most money and automatically gain a place in the final, you’d think that whoever is in charge would take it a little more seriously and stop submitting the rubbish that they come up with every year. It was embarrassing to see our entry – a Mick Jagger tribute and an unknown reality contestant – prancing around on the stage wearing, as Steve put it ‘cheap wrap-around glow sticks purchased at Poundland,’ to some awful charleston inspired nonsense and attempting to resurrect Louis Armstrong. No, BBC, just no.
To make matters worse, we can’t even blame the tactical political voting that has been such a prominent part of the system for so many years – there was far less of this in the competition, with countries giving 12 points to countries that they wouldn’t normally vote for.
I was, however, delighted for Guy Sebastian and his brilliant performance for Australia. So much so, in fact, I bought the song from iTunes and have been listening to it constantly since the competition ended.
What did you think of the contest? Did the right person win?
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Suzie Speaks 
I had so much fun watching Eurovision this year – my money was on Serbia, but I also liked Australia’s entry too. Hoping that Ireland make it in next year!
I placed Serbia really highly too – Australia was my favourite overall – I thought that Guy did a fantastic job! Ireland’s song was certainly better than ours!
Sometimes I think that Ireland won it so much in the 80s and 90s that they don’t want to win it anymore!
It might be a question of money and being able to afford it…
Did auto-fill sabotage your first sentence? Says Spain won instead of Sweden… Although I have lots of friends in Spain who would have liked that very much! (even if they don’t have the money to host the contest next year).
I had a great time watching Eurovision this year and also thought that Sweden was a very deserving winner. 🙂
Haha! I noticed that just after I had published it – Ive got NO idea where that came from at all… My brain is fried at the minute! Was Sweden your favourite?
I liked the song a lot – but I think I was also swayed by the staging and the fact that the singer isn’t exactly – how shall I put this – “hard on the eye”!
I thought it was really harsh that Germany got no points. I thought the performance was great.
In the end though I was just so relieved Russia didn’t win! Not sure how welcoming they would have been to the event next year…
I agree – there would have been lots of controversy I think… She did a good job though! Loved her dress!
I agree with you about the UK entry – if they had been better singers, it might have worked but as it was the sound was hacky and the whole thing just looked like a mess. There was a piece on the BBC news website comparing the effort put into Australia’s entry (Guy is one of their best singers) to the crap that UK sends. As a country that has produced some of the world’s most talented and famous musicians, we should be able to come up with something so much better. As for the winner, I really liked the Swedish song – well done to them – although Belgium actually ended up as my daughter’s and my favourite. We’ve even downloaded the song to Itunes! Also, my US based sister-in-law sent me a message just before it began and I mentioned that we were about to watch Eurovision. She had never heard of it but, when she found out what it was, decided to watch as well, messaging me as it went on. She was amazed, loved it and put aside everything she had to do that day to watch – so that was pretty cool 🙂
Aww that sounds nice! I totally agree with you – Guy Sebastian was my favourite and he absolutely nailed the performance – Ive bought that song on iTunes!
Think I might have to as well 🙂
Never heard of it? I will happily educate her lol
i watched the finals in you tube, i love Spain’s entry, the girl with that little red riding hood costume.. too bad she didn’t win. Although i’m from asia, i did enjoy watching the show. Regarding sweden as the winner, i love the lyrics , , reminds me of Maria Carey’s Heroes. The guy is cute, of course that doesn’t matter, It’s a good show for someone like me who just watched it recently (only started watching Eurovision when Conchita won last year) so that makes me still a newbie. Anyway it was entertaining. What more can i say?
Absolutely! There were quite a few songs that sounded like others – I thought the Belgium song sounded like Lorde and the Romanian song has been driving me nuts over the last few days because I can’t remember the song it sounds like!
so what is the basis for winning if the public can’t even understand the lyrics? because not all entries are in english or in someone’s native language and there are 40 countries voting, just asking, i’m new to eurovision.
It used to be that countries sang in their native language, but now lots of them sing in English or a mixture of both. It’s never really been about the actual lyrics, plenty of songs have won by singing in their native tongue, it’s more about the atmosphere, the melodies and the presentation…
I see, that’s fair enough . It’s so cool the whole europe have that annual show, i wonder if it’ll ever happen in asia.
I reckon at some point that others will start getting involved, particularly now Australia did so well…
I hope someday we have that thing, just like the world cup of music where all countries can participate and vote eventually.
It would be a huge undertaking!
yes absolutely, perhaps not in our generation, or who knows that will be like opening a floodgate for a new world movement. I believe poeple will detest that especially when it becomes too politicized then it defeats the purpose. Anyway, just a thought.
It’s a good thought!
Thanks for the post suzie i enjoyed reading your eurovison article. Have a wonderful monday.
Thank you!
you’re welcome.
Yes, this years Eurovision was far duller than last year’s; who could forget the Polish milk maids in 2014?!! Many people were raving about England’s entry this year, but I found it rather dull, to be honest. My favourites were Australia and Sweden by far, because they had the most musically interesting pieces. There was the usual Eurovision cringe, but this year the cringe wasn’t amusing as such, just, well, cringe-tactic. I’m surprised Australia didn’t get more, and Russia did very well. I have heard comments that Russia only got so many points because people (especially in the Eastern European countries) were so afraid of a Russian invasion! Did Ukraine take part this year? I didn’t see it if they did… Some other rumours I’ve heard are that England did so badly because we aren’t neighbours with anyone in particular, and no one really likes us! Do you think Australia’s participation was a good thing?
At least we did better than France, hey?
Australia was my favourite overall – I loved the song so much I bought it on iTunes! On a political sense, we’ve done badly ever since we got involved in the Iraq war, but we can’t blame the political voting this year…
I’m glad your deux points went to Australia. I have loved Guy since he first appeared as the winner of the very first Australian Idol in 2003. He didn’t fade into the background like the many “idols” since then, he has grown and matured into an Aussie favorite.
My favorite, after Guy of course, was Serbia, Belgium, Russia and Cyprus. Although the Swedish song was good and sung well, the performance was a bit too gimmicky (?) for me. Maybe I was concentrating on the animation instead of the tune.
But I am a Gen Xer that can’t listen to music and concentrate on anything else. It’s always been one or the other. I maybe a balls in the air juggling mother, but when it comes to music, I love just tuning everything else out and really listening. Thats why the Cypriate did it for me with his tone, his timing and his tune.
Can’t wait till next year.
Michelle.
Thanks Michelle! I’d never heard of Guy before the contest and Im so glad I did! I loved the song from Cyprus too – I bought that from iTunes so I can listen to it again! I am the opposite – I have to have music in the background of whatever I do – I suppose that’s what comes with being a music teacher haha!
Still not on here in America. I checked all the channels…
You should join Phil – he wants to do campaign to get it shown on TV over there…
We’d have to change the title then. 🙂
Our predictions weren’t too bad after all. It sounds like the penny is dropping that the UK does rubbish because they send rubbish and it’s not about the politics anymore. Here’s to 2016!
Absolutely! We can do a big party next year!
Seriously don’t understand how the UK don’t win every year with so much AMAZING music coming from there!
I know! Sam Smith? Adele?
Thanks for a brilliant Eurovision Twitter party, Suzie. I felt like we were all in the same room watching the contest together. It was such a laugh especially as the drink got more and more consumed. Some of the comments were truly amazing and if they were ever published I’m sure we’d have our own one off comedy series.
Keep in mind about next year and that maybe the three of us, plus partners, should think about getting together for the evening. If that happens maybe we should record the evening and publish a VLOG.
I’m still laughing about how you compared one of the dancers from Azerbaijan to you when trying to climb the stairs – “that’s me when I am pissed and trying to get upstairs to go to bed.”
Haha – you clearly got more and more progressively drunk as you were going along – you were hilarious!
Reblogged this on Hugh's Views & News and commented:
Yes, I’m still harping on about The Eurovision Song Contest, only this time courtesy of Suzie. Along with Suzie and Steve (from Steve Says and Talk About Pop Music) I joined them at our very own Eurovision Twitter party to talk about the contest as it was happening. It was an evening I won’t forget for a long time.
Check out Suzie’s post to find out her thoughts on the evening.
Thanks for the reblog!
Love your post Suzie. My 22 year old daughter loves the Eurovision Song Contest and so hubby and I watch it with her every year. We are forbiddden to go out on the night it shows, ha 😉 And I agree with all you say here, especially about our rubbish entry. Couldn’t believe how bad it was. Also amazed that Austria and Germany didn’t get any points, I liked their songs!! Australia did really well too, but like you, glad that Sweden took the prize, great song. Thought it all a bit tame though, bring back the crazy, I say 🙂
It was really strange this year wasn’t it? Of the big five, only Italy got any decent posts… I can’t believe how rubbish our songs repeatedly are! I agree – bring back the crazy!
I like to watch the show, but I think winning depends a little on where you’re from… If the Italian boys would have been from Scandinavia or Eastern Europe, they may had won. Too many votes are wasted just by giving them to neighboring countries.
This year all acts haven’t been bad, but there was nothing really spectacular.. My favourite was by far Italy!!
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