Eurovision 2018 – A Walk Down Memory Lane

Preface:

Since we are more or less in the quiet season, I can soothe my Eurovision itch by watching some of the previous contests. Since I’m at my computer all day and my workstation has three monitors, I figure that I could devote one monitor to ESCs while working on the other two. Yes, I know there is a Junior Eurovision, but I’m not a huge fan of children-based competitions.

Over the last couple of weeks, I managed to watch Eurovision 2018. Why?

1. Fake reason: I realized that we have not been using our VPN subscription. Of course, I signed up for a year’s subscription right after ESC22 without really thinking because I was slightly inebriated. I’m not sure why but all of the Eurovision contests after 2014 are not available on YouTube in the States.

2. EurovisioNYC (an NYC-based Eurovision group . . . as the name would suggest) is hosting a party where EyeCue, a North Macedonian group from ESC2018, will perform. I guess the country technically was the Former Yugoslavic Republic (FYR) of Macedonia back in 2018.

Image courtesy of EurovisioNYC (***)

While I half-assed watched ESC2018 years ago, I had no idea who EyeCue was or what the duo performed in the contest. Then I learned that they did not qualify for the final so that’s probably why I didn’t know about them. Until recently, I have only watched the finals for Eurovision and not the semifinal rounds so I missed the group’s performance. I was like let me put my VPN subscription to work and watch the semifinals of previous ESCs. Actually, I did not think the song (or the performance) was that bad, but 2018 was a strong year so I can see why the duo did not qualify.

EUROVISION 2018: QUICK INFO

Because of Salvador Sobral’s ESC2017 win in Kyiv with his song, Amar Pelos Dois, Portugal had the honor of hosting ESC2018.

Image courtesy of Wikipedia (***)

The contest was hosted by Silvia Alberto, Daniela Ruah, Catarina Furtado, and Filomena Cautela. Overall, I thought all four women did a great job. However, I did find that one of the hostesses was trying too hard to land jokes, but it could have been a language thing since English is not her first language. That said, I have to give many props to anyone that can host an international show in their non-primary language for 3+ hours. Once I asked the hubby who he thought would host Eurovision if Spain were to win. Jokingly, he was like I don’t know if there is anyone in Spain who can speak English consistently for four hours live in front of an international audience.

ESC2018 – MY THOUGHTS

Overall, I thought the Portuguese did an AMAZING job with the contest, especially with the video postcard segments, which are one of my favorite things about Eurovision. The video postcards give the audience a brief introduction to the artists and the hosting country before they perform. Also, it gives production a chance to set up the stage behind the scenes. For ESC2018’s postcards, the artists stepped into a door from their home country and ended up somewhere in Portugal. Here’s the postcard for Netta (Israel’s contestant) the winner of ESC2018.

Random thought: I wonder who determines what the ESC contestants will do in the postcards? My evil ass would be pissed if they had me herding cattle while another contestant does something fun like hang gliding, ziplining, scuba diving, etc.

The rankings

Once again, Europe and I did not really agree on the artists’ positions.

Here are the official results for the Big Five, the qualifying, and hosting countries.

Note the EyeCue from (FYR of Macedonia), the group that will perform at the EurovisioNYC party came in 2nd to last out of the entire contest. While the nonqualifying countries do not compete in the final, all the countries are ranked by each country’s points divided by the total points given in the semi-final.

Here are my results for ESC2018

While I obviously knew who won the contest, it was kind of interesting to rank the countries after the contest. To be perfectly honest, I remembered the top three artists prior to this rewatch. Before rewatching ESC2108, I actually listened to the Spotify playlist, and I’ll say that it was weird listening to the songs without knowing which countries submitted which songs. Of course, this is not a foolproof approach because clearly, songs submitted in Italian would be from Italy, those in Spanish from Spain, those in Portuguese from Portugal, etc. Actually, I wish there was a way to rank the songs in future contests WITHOUT knowing which country submitted them. Of course, this would only work if all of the songs are submitted in the same language, which is pretty impossible. I say this because I think that certain countries get preferential treatment (e.g. Sweden and Italy) even if they were to send a song with someone farting into a microphone for three minutes.

Of my top ten, I agreed with Europe with only five entries. Yes, I already knew about the top three (Israel, Cyprus, and Austria), but I did not really remember the ranking of the rest of the countries. While Israel won the contest, Cyprus was my winner, and Israel was in the sixth spot for me.

KOS-ranked songs from the final (songs 1-26)

Next up . . . Eurovision 2007

Things that I want (and don't want) in Eurovision 2023

First, happy Eurovision New Year. Honestly, I did not know that this was a thing, but Sept 1 marks the beginning of the new Eurovision season. Basically, any song released after Sept 1 could be a potential entry.

Since we are in the new season of ESC2023, I figure that I could write a post about the things that I want (and don't want) to see this year. Keep in mind that I NOT saying these things would make the contest better. I'm just giving an opinion of what I would like to see . . . Hey, I'm an only child, which means everything should be about me. ;)

Things that Kwame does not want to see:

Prerecorded backing vocals. I'm a little late for this one because the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) has announced that prerecorded backing vocals, which were first introduced in ESC21 because of COVID considerations, will be allowed in ESC23. I feel by allowing prerecorded backing vocals, the contest will move closer to a lipsync contest, but more about this rant in an upcoming post.

Toxicity in the fandom. Perhaps, the toxicity always was there, but ESC22 was my first time actively following the contest outside of Eurovision week. A couple of months ago, I removed myself from a Eurovision Facebook group because some folks were so nasty and so rude (as Nene Leaks would say)about not agreeing with their favorite selections. Fortunately, nothing was directed at me. Well, I don't really do the whole back and forth with strangers on social media because there are too many other things on which to focus. Actually, I probably have one foot out of the door of another group because the moderator is extremely biased towards one performer. He pretends to play it cool, but if you don't agree with his opinions about this performer, he gets caught up in his feelings. For instance, he'll make a post asking for the group's opinion about ESC2022. However, as soon as anyone says something critical (not negative) about his favorite artist, he starts spewing his vitriol and stupid GIFs. One of my pet peeves is folks asking for opinions about something and getting pissed off when it does not align with theirs. It reminds me of growing up back in the day when one had to be either Team Sega Genesis or Super Nintendo. Shoot, I'm talking about music. Ok, back in the day when it was East Coast Rappers vs West Coast Rappers, Team Christina Aguilera vs Team Britney Spears, or Team Monica vs Team Brandy. Note the 1st things that I mentioned were the things that I preferred back in the day.

A bunch of Elenis and Chanels:

Image courtesy of Cortilleo.es

Chanel's Slomo (Spain) was pretty much a game changer in terms of combining vocals (albeit with a prerecorded backing track) and intricate choreography in ESC22. Also, Eleni did something similar in ESC18. Because of Chanel’s success in ESC22, I have a feeling that many countries will send similar performances to ESC23.

Folks booing when Greece and Cyprus exchange 12 points: At this point, when it's time for Greece and Cyprus to vote, the crowd knows that they are going to give each other 12 points. Actually, it is kind of funny to hear the audience say the name of the country to which the points will go before the announcer even says it.

I understand that folks get annoyed with this exchange of votes (or block voting), but you do not hear as many negative responses when other countries give points to their "cousins" (eg many Scandinavian countries).

Things that Kwame wants to see:

More official languages: I get that singing in English is an easy way to increase the popularity and or accessibility of a song. However, one of the reasons that I flocked to this contest was the opportunity to hear more diverse music in different languages. Now, I'm not saying that EBU should reinstate the rule that submitted songs must be in an official language of the country. However, I would not mind seeing (or hearing) more songs performed in a non-English language or a combination of English and another language.

Engaging video postcards: Before the performers do their thing on the stage, a brief video postcard is shown featuring the performers in various locations of the hosting country. In particular, I enjoy the ones where they are engaging with the citizens of the hosting country. Here's an example of Albania’s ESC18 video postcard.

Unfortunately, we had virtual postcards due to the pandemic for the last two contests so I hope that ESC can return to using the “normal” postcards.

LOL. In some years, the performers are doing some sort of activity like rollerskating, rock climbing, or scuba diving. I wonder how they select the activities for the performers. I tell you this, I would be so pissed off if I had to do something like weaving a rug and learn that other folks were doing really adventurous things like hang gliding, ziplining, or parasailing.

Consideration for the mental health of the performers: I hope that EBU mandates that each delegation has at least one mental health professional on the team. It's probably a lot for an artist (especially a new one) to handle singing on an international stage as the sole representative of their country in this contest. In last year's contest, we saw the spirit of Ronela (the Albanian contestant) fade over the course of the preseason and the week leading up to ESC22. In this case, several people in the fandom heavily criticized her costume selections, weight, and vocal abilities. Unfortunately, she made it worse because she often responded to the comments on social media, which can be taxing on a performer to constantly defend themself. That said, I think she handled it well considering what she was up against.

What she wore which caused some controversy (left, Image courtesy of Wiwiblogs) and her cheeky response (right, Image courtesy of Politiko)

Continued success for the UK and Spain: ESC22 marked a great year for these two Big Five countries with the UK coming in 2nd place and Spain coming in 3rd place. It has been implied that Spain would have come in 2nd place had it not been for the jury voting scandal involving Azerbaijan, Georgia, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, and San Marino. Until ESC22, these countries cracked the top 10 in:

• 2014 - Spain (Ruth Lorenzo's Dancing in the Rain, 10th place)

• 2009 - the UK (Jade Ewan's It's My Time, 5th place)

Could this be a new era for these two Big Five countries?

Lorenzo’s Dancing in the Rain probably is one of my favorite ESC songs. See . . . to my earlier point, the song contains both English and Spanish.

A nice contest with a balanced mix of the UK and Ukraine: While Ukraine won last year's contest, the UK will host this year's contest because of the ongoing conflict between Ukraine and Russia. Please let this war come to an end very soon. I hope there will be a nice balance between the two countries in their hosting roles. I have a feeling that everything will be ok regarding the shared hosting responsibilities. Perhaps, this year's contest could have four hosts - two from the UK and two from Ukraine. If there is an even number of countries in this year's contest, there could be a 1:1 ratio between UK-based and Ukraine-based video postcards.

El Fin . . . for now.

Eurovision 2023 - We have a country!!!

In water is wet news, it was announced that the UK will host Eurovision 2023!!! I said this is 'water is wet' news because something was announced saying the BBC would work with the Ukrainian broadcaster to put on a great show . . . or something like that a month or two ago.

The country that wins Eurovision has the opportunity to host the following year's contest. Although Ukraine won Eurovision 2022 (ESC22), the powers that be decided that the UK, the runner-up, should host since Ukraine is currently at war with Russia and there is no end in sight.

The winning song: Kalush Orchestra Stefania

The runner up: Sam Ryder Space Man

Of course, this announcement has been met with some drama.

Ukraine will be at peace by the time Eurovision 2023 rolls around

There are folks who still believe that the contest should be held in Ukraine as a way to show Ukrainians that Europe still supports them. A contest like this takes a lot of planning so it's absolutely ridiculous that some folks feel that it still should be held in Ukraine even though we have no idea when Russia's invasion will end. That said, I hope it ends soon.

Also (my personal opinion), if I was from Ukraine, I would be pissed off if my country allocated funds for a song contest. You know, funds that could be used for supplies to help my country's people. Yes, Eurovision is a great way to increase tourism to a country during May, but how many folks will actually travel to Ukraine while they are at war (or immediately after one)?

Ukraine will win Eurovision 2023 through sympathy votes

Since some folks feel that Ukraine deserves to host Eurovision 2023 because of its ESC22 win, some are saying that folks will vote out of sympathy (again) this year or each year until Ukraine has the opportunity to host the contest. Although this is probably an unpopular opinion, I kind of agree that Ukraine won ESC22 (mostly) out of sympathy. That said, I do believe they would have placed in the top 10 even without the war.

The top ten overall finishers, televotes, and jury votes

Image courtesy of ESC Daily

Just look at the difference in the televotes for Ukraine (429) versus Moldova (239), the country with the 2nd most televotes. Honestly, I think Ukraine could have submitted a recording of waves crashing on a shore and still would have won. Maybe, I'm being someone of a hater because I find the lead singer of Kalush Orchestra a bit arrogant. Ok, enough ranting.

To be really honest, I do not think Ukraine should have competed in ESC22, but hear me out. Instead, I think Ukraine should have performed as an interval act for the contest instead. That way, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), could have donated a portion of the money collected from the televotes to Ukraine's defense efforts. In my opinion, I think this shows more solidarity and support than handing Ukraine a glass trophy and giving them a slim possibility of hosting next year's contest. A glass trophy that the winners eventually auctioned to raise money for Ukraine's war efforts. It's like "I know your country is suffering through an unjust war, but here is a trophy to make you feel better."

How much of ESC23 should be influenced by Ukraine and by the UK?

Some feel that the contest should be 100% Ukrainian even though ESC23 will be held in the UK. I really disagree with this. I mean if someone throws a party in my house, I'm damn sure going to be involved with the planning . . . especially if I'm contributing financially. I'm actually looking forward to a Eurovision that will have a taste of two countries in one contest. Here are a few ideas that I hope will be incorporated into ESC23:

• Have four presenters - two from the UK and two from Ukraine. But not the two blond dudes that co-hosted when the contest was held in Ukraine in 2017.

• Depending if there is an even number of countries participating, half of the video postcards can be from Ukraine with the other half from the UK.

• One semifinal's interval can be Ukraine-inspired and the other UK-inspired. The final could have inspiration from both countries with performances from Kulush Orchestra 🇺🇦and Sam Ryder 🇬🇧.

• Crap there was something else I was thinking of but I forgot. :(

The UK shouldn't host because it's not in Europe

Comments like this were probably some of the dumbest that I've seen. The UK left the EU, not the European continent.

What's next (I šta ćemo sad?, in Serbian)

War and drama aside, I am looking forward to ESC23. Now the next question is which city in the UK will host ESC23? Here are the 16 cities in the running to host next year's contest: Aberdeen, Belfast, Birmingham, Brighton, Bristol, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool, London, Newcastle, Nottingham, Sheffield, and Wolverhampton.

Eurovision playlists from the UK and Ukraine:

The UK

Ukraine

Ruslana's Wild Dances and Go-A's Shum are my favs. Note that Ruslana won Eurovision back in 2004. Ok, so her vocals were not that great, but it was a fun performance. According to the hubby, the late 90s and the early 00s were the bad years of Eurovision.