Boom! Just like that another year of Eurovision is over. Similar to what I did last year, I wanna do a quick recap of this year’s contest. Since the title of this entry is part one of four, I guess this will not be so quick. I’m pretty much breaking this series into four parts:
Part 1: The first half of the grand final (Countries 1-13)
Part 2: The second half of the grand final (Countries 14 – 26)
Part 3: Countries that did not qualify for the final
Part 4: Concluding random thoughts
For Part 1 – 4, I’ll provide information on where the performances placed in the contests, my general thoughts about their performances, and my before and after score using my KOS Eurovision meter.
THE KOS EUROVISION METER
General Thoughts:
Overall, I thought the UK (and Ukraine) did a wonderful job hosting this year's contest. I definitely would put this year's contest in my Top 10 list of ESCs (if I had one). I think the BBC took note of all of the screwups that happened last year in Italy and was like that will NOT be us. While the UK did not place very well in this year's contest, the UK and the BBC have to give themselves a pat on the back for an amazing show. Although technically Ukraine won last year and was supposed to host, I thought the BBC did a great job with incorporating aspects of Ukrainian culture into the contest (e.g. hosts, interval acts, and the video postcards introducing the performers).
Image courtesy of Eurovision World
In terms of the contest, it was not a huge surprise that Loreen (Sweden) won. Even though she won the contest in 2012, she has been cemented both in and outside of the Eurovision bubble. Coming into this year’s contest, I thought (like most folks) that this year’s winner was going to be from a Nordic country. This year, three Nordic countries finished in the top five – Sweden, 1st; Finland, 2nd; and Norway, 5th. While Finland came in 2nd place, it still kind of counts as a win because the performer definitely was the heart of this year’s contest. While the difference between 1st and 2nd place was only 47 points, the difference between 2nd (Finland) and 3rd (Israel) place was 162 points!
Before getting into it, here were my rankings going into the contest.
Czechia 🇨🇿: Vesna - My Sister's Crown - 10th Place
Eurovision points: 120 total – 16 Public; 104 Jury Eurovision points: 129 total - 35 Public; 94 Jury
KOS points: 4 hearts before; 3 hearts after KOS points: 3 hearts before ESC; 5 hearts after ESC
Image courtesy of Eurovision World
Wow! These ladies understood the assignment and did the extra credit. However, I am a bit surprised that the juries gave Vesna more points than the public. During the national section season, it was a hard EH for me. I'm so glad the group decided to ditch the garage band aspect and elevated the performance into something a bit more artistic. Also, the vocals were a lot better than I remembered. The only thing I would have changed: give all the ladies a microphone even if some aren't singing. It looked a little weird that three out of the six members had microphones, but all were "singing". In my book, Vesna definitely get the 'most improved' award.
Australia 🇦🇺: Voyager - Promise - 9th Place
Eurovision points: 151 total - 21 Public; 130 Jury
KOS points: 1 heart before ESC; 4 hearts after ESC
Image courtesy of Eurovision World
At the beginning of the season, I slept HARD on this group because it was a bit too general 80s pop-rock for me. However, the song really grew on me over the past few months (or whenever it was released). Since the group has been performing for some time, the members knew what to do and how to engage with the audience. This another great example of how Australia really brings it to Eurovision. Honestly, if Australia was on the European continent, I think they probably would have won the contest a couple of times by now.
Belgium 🇧🇪: Gustaph - Because of You - 7th Place
Eurovision points: 182 total - 55 Public; 127 Jury
KOS points: 3 hearts before ESC; 5 hearts after ESC
Image courtesy of Eurovision World
"And, when the world got me going crazy, I carry on because of you." Ok, I was really happy when Gustaph qualified, but I had NO IDEA that he was going to do so well in the contest. Everything was on point with this performance - the vocals, the staging, and the dancing. I've said this before, but this song takes my back to my NYC gay nightlife days in the early 00s - a fun time in my life. Perhaps, this is a reason why I liked the song so much. In this performance, I loved how Gustaph engaged with and featured his background singers rather than just having them well . . . stay in the background. Also, I think Gustaph was one of the few performers that did not rely (or overly rely) on their pre-recorded backing tracking, which is always an A+ in my book.
Armenia 🇦🇲: Brunette - Future Lover - 14th Place
Eurovision points: 122 total - 53 Public; 69 Jury
KOS points: 4 hearts before ESC; 4 hearts after ESC
Image courtesy of Eurovision World
Man! This song makes me want to "be good; do good; look good." I really enjoyed the staging in Brunette's performance (especially the shadow effects with the lighting), but I'm glad they removed all of smoke that was in her SF performance. I think that I have a small bias favoring Brunette because she sounds a bit like Lana del Rey, especially during the spoken word/rap part of the song. While, I enjoyed most of her performance, I don't think the dance break was needed. It seemed like they threw it because of the positive reception of Chanel's dance break last year.
Moldova 🇲🇩: Pasha Parfeni - Soarele și Luna - 18th Place
Eurovision points: 96 total - 76 Public; 26 Jury
KOS points: 3 hearts before ESC; 3 hearts after ESC
Image courtesy of Eurovision World
Not sure what was going on during the 1st part of the song, but I thought his microphone was way too low. I mean, his backup singers were way louder than he was. Perhaps, he was conserving his vocal energy because he was moving around a lot during the performance. Vocals aside, I thought the performance was appealing because it felt like visual art rather than someone singing for three minutes. While I enjoyed his performance, the repetitiveness of the song kind of bugs me.
Ukraine 🇺🇦: Tvorchi - Heart of Steel - 6th Place
Eurovision points: 243 total - 189 Public; 54 Jury
KOS points: 3 hearts before ESC; 3 hearts after ESC
Image courtesy of Eurovision World
While I enjoyed this song and performance, I have a feeling that there was a little sympathy for Ukraine going on in regards to the public vote. Yes, Tvorchi had amazing staging and a powerful song, but I do not think the duo would have received close to 200 televotes if Tvorchi was from another country. Public sympathy aside, this performance was a case where the staging really uplifted the song. IMO, I think Ukraine incorporated the use of LED the best, with the UK coming in second. Like I said in the past, Ukraine knows how to do Eurovision staging, and they do it well.
Norway 🇳🇴: Alessandra - Queen of Kings - 5th Place
Eurovision points: 268 total -216 Public; 52 Jury
KOS points: 4 hearts before ESC; 3 hearts after ESC
Image courtesy of Eurovision World
I've loved this song since it was released, but it lost a little of that fire with me during ESC week. Perhaps, it was nerves or general fatigue, but I didn't think Alessandra's vocals were as strong as they were during Norway's national selection. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying her vocals were bad during the grand final, but there were a couple of WTF notes during this performance. A couple of things: 1. I wish she sang the aria live. 2. I wanted to Norway to change up the staging a bit, because it pretty much was the same from her national selection performance. I guess this isn't a huge deal because most folks watching Eurovision are seeing the performances for the 1st time. I wonder what happened during her jury performance because she received "only" 52 votes. Generally speaking, Alessandra has a pretty good voice, and she attempts a whistle note during the song. I'd figured that the jury would handsomely reward her for the whistle (or the near whistle). Perhaps, she didn't hit the note during her jury performance.
Germany 🇩🇪: Lord Of The Lost - Blood & Glitter - 26th Place
Eurovision points: 18 total -15 Public; 3 Jury
KOS points: 4 hearts before ESC; 4 hearts after ESC
Image courtesy of Eurovision World
Man, I was hoping that Germany would not continue its 'finish on the bottom right side of the scoreboard' streak. Germany also finished last in 2022's contest, second to last in 2021's contest, and second to last in 2019’s contest. While 2020’s contest was canceled, I think they would have landed in the top 15. Perhaps, I'm weird because I usually like most songs from Germany. I do not know what Germany needs to do to get a better placing in the contest, but I hope they figure it out.
Ok, this year, Germany sent an industrial rock group to the contest, which is somewhat unique in the contest. Uniqueness can either be a good or bad thing: 1. The good: you stand out from other countries especially if there are a lot of songs in one particular genre (e.g. the female pop bops of 2021). 2. The bad: if it's too different, then no one will understand or care for it (e.g. Spain in this year's contest). Although there have been plenty of rock acts in the contest, I don't think there have been too many industry rock groups. I understand this genre can be somewhat difficult to digest, especially with the juries. However, I thought the would have received a greater share of the public vote.
Lithuania 🇱🇹: Monika Linkytė - Stay - 11th Place
Eurovision points: 127 total -46 Public; 81 Jury
KOS points: 4 hearts before ESC; 5 hearts after ESC
Image courtesy of Eurovision World
Monika can do not wrong in my book because this song has been in my top three since it was released. While I wasn't exactly blown by the staging, I thought the song was strong enough to make up for it. Although some do not like when race is brought up in the ESC world, it was pretty cool that she kept her four backup singers - three of whom were Black. It's kind of funny because I think she had about 1% of Latvia's African-descent population on the stage with her. OH! I almost forgot something about the staging. There was a significant improvement from the national selection because I thought the lighting wasn't bright enough to see her backup singers. Vocally, Monika was quite impressive; however, I sensed some nerves during the 1st part of the song. This is understandable because the last part of the song requires quite a bit of vocal power. Also, I think she was having some issues with her earpiece at the beginning.
Israel 🇮🇱: Noa Kirel - Unicorn - 3rd Place
Eurovision points: 362 total -185 Public; 177 Jury
KOS points: 4 hearts before ESC; 4 hearts after ESC
Image courtesy of Eurovision World
U-Ni-Corn. Or as I like to say U-NEED-CORN. Although this was a fan favorite (well, mostly a fan favorite) going into the the contest, I was a bit surprised that it scored so well with the juries because the performance isn't your typical jury bait (i.e. a mid-tempo ballad). Also, she pretty much relied on the backing vocal during the last 1/4 of the song. Since Israel was being somewhat mum's the word regarding Noa's staging, I had no idea what to expect aside from a "dance break". During the last bit of the song, she asks the following: Do you wanna see me dance? Do You Wanna See Me Dance? DO YOU WANNA SEE ME DANCE?!!! Vocally, I have have to say that I was quite impressed by Noa because she actually lived up to the hype. While we were expecting a dance break during her performance (since there was one in the music video), I kinda wanted a bit more intricate choreography doing the solo part because it seemed like she was rolling around the floor. Don't get me wrong, I'm not hating because I probably would end up in the hospital if I tried to do half of what she did. However, I don't call myself a dancer. ;) Also, I thought the backup dancer-assisted flip at the end was messy as hell. Ok, since I'm being a bit nitpicky, I guess that I should move on to the next country.
Slovenia🇸🇮: Joker Out - Carpe Diem - 21st Place
Eurovision points: 78 total -45 Public; 33 Jury
KOS points: 2 hearts before ESC; 3 hearts after ESC
Image courtesy of Eurovision World
At first, I really didn't care for this one. Actually, about 1.5 weeks after the contest, I don't really remember the song. However, the lead singer definitely has charisma, which I think carried the group to the final. Also, the band looked like they were actually enjoying themselves while performing the song. I'm not super surprised with where they landed in the contest.
Croatia 🇭🇷: Let 3 - Mama ŠČ! - 13th Place
Eurovision points: 123 total -122 Public; 11 Jury
KOS points: 2 hearts before ESC; 2 hearts after ESC
Image courtesy of Eurovision World
Well . . . I can say this song definitely was in a league of its own. Actually, I should say songS because this song sounds like five songs in one. I will give Let 3 props because they were the oldest folks on the stage and kept up with some of the youngsters in this year's contest. Hell, they even stripped down to their undies while performing. I think a LOT of us (including me) were quite surprised that Let 3 landed in 13th place. I mean, they had the SEVENTH highest amount of public votes (that's out of 26 countries in the final). I think this happened because the song was really different (in a fun), and they were the second to last performers in the running order. I highly doubt that they would have been in the top 15 had they performed in the first half of the contest. But, contrats to LET 3 because the group broke Croatia's non-qualifying streak. Interesting, Let 3 came in 13th place just like the last Croatian act that qualified for the final.
United Kingdom 🇬🇧: Mae Muller - I Wrote A Song - 25th Place
Eurovision points: 24 total -9 Public; 15 Jury
KOS points: 3 hearts before ESC; 2 hearts after ESC
Image courtesy of Eurovision World
Oh man, I was so looking forward to this performance; however, it was a bit of a let down for me. Vocally, I thought Mae was just ok, but I her performance lacked a little oomph to me. I think she had all the components for success in the contest - a decent song about taking control of your life after a breakup, a repetitive hook, a girl power theme, and an upbeat tempo. However, I don't think Mae really sold the song especially as the last song for the night. While the performance had backup dancers, I would have liked the performance more if she moved around a bit. I mean, she pretty much walked around the stage for the entire performance, which would have been fine if she was belting out powerful notes. Also, I thought the last part of the song was about 90% pre-recorded backing vocals. Ok, Noa (Israel) relied on pre-recorded vocals for the last part of the song, but at least Noa did quite a bit of dancing during her performance. I will say that the graphics that were used in the staging were awesome.