c4countdown

Thought somebody had better start a thread.
Have to say the UK entry is pretty good

I don't think it is. Another year scraping around the bottom places.

I don't like the UK entry at all this year - too much speeding up and slowing down to make it effective, one line repeated over and over, and generally forgettable. Will be surprised if it is not very close to last.

A shame as we seemed to have finally cracked what it took to do well with Sam Ryder after years of using tactical voting as a scapegoat for us sending crap sings, and ever since then we have gone back to entering steaming turds again.

Martin Hurst wrote: ↑Sat May 10, 2025 12:44 am I don't like the UK entry at all this year - too much speeding up and slowing down to make it effective, one line repeated over and over, and generally forgettable. Will be surprised if it is not very close to last.

A shame as we seemed to have finally cracked what it took to do well with Sam Ryder after years of using tactical voting as a scapegoat for us sending crap sings, and ever since then we have gone back to entering steaming turds again.

When I first heard it in the car on Sunday my immediate reaction was it was a bit early for Elaine Paige as I was convinced it was from a musical.
Maybe this song is more appealing to oldies like me

Martin Hurst wrote: ↑Sat May 10, 2025 12:44 am I don't like the UK entry at all this year - too much speeding up and slowing down to make it effective, one line repeated over and over, and generally forgettable. Will be surprised if it is not very close to last.

A shame as we seemed to have finally cracked what it took to do well with Sam Ryder after years of using tactical voting as a scapegoat for us sending crap sings, and ever since then we have gone back to entering steaming turds again.

I still think some countries get an easier ride than others. The UK and Germany I've noticed are often way down the bottom below other equally bad songs. The UK frequenently sends bad songs but it's by no means an outlier in doing this.

Back in the past the UK got an easier ride. Everyone remembers Katrina and the Waves winning in 1997, but what they don't remember is that the next year the UK came 2nd with a pile of rubbish as I mentioned previously. Couldn't get away with that now.

It's the 69th running of the Eurovision Song Contest and a few countries have entered into the spirit of things... Malta are "serving Kant" (until the censors got to them and now they're just "serving"), Australia's "Milkshake Man" is about drinking his special milk, and Finland (who I've backed to win at 28-1) have got "Ich Komme", which needs no translation.

Remarkably, 24 songs are either wholly or partially not in English this year, including six wholly or partially in French (France, Switzerland, Luxembourg unsurprisingly, but also Australia, Israel, and The Netherlands).

The UK is, much like last year, hard to predict. I don't especially like it but it reminds me of the Dutch entry from 2017 (jury: 135; televote: 15) and I honestly suspect that will happen again. The juries have very little to vote for this year so it's not entirely impossible we could even win the jury vote but get zero from the public again.

The standard isn't great this year. This year's contest, if you believe the bookies, is a one-horse race for Sweden, and whilst I really like Bara Bada Bastu, it'd break quite a few unwritten rules if it were to win it (wrong language, key change...).

Tonight's first semi final is one of the easiest to predict in history: Poland, Estonia, Ukraine, Sweden, Norway, Belgium, San Marino, Albania, The Netherlands, Cyprus will qualify. Hard to see what else could make it.

As ever I have ranked all the songs in reverse order: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQ_h0md7t9U

Albania, Portugal and Azerbaijan are my faves from this Semi-final (and the competition), but the latter two performances won't advance imo. Agree with most of your qualifier predictions, Rhys, but think Slovenia will be in- possibly at the expense of San Marino or Poland.

Poland, Estonia, Ukraine, Sweden, Norway, Belgium, San Marino, Albania, The Netherlands, Cyprus will qualify. Hard to see what else could make it.

Well I got 8 right. HOW did Portugal get in!? And I'm also amazed Iceland made it.

The staging for Portugal was too simplistic n my opinion, but it is authentic.It may have got some votes from the Rest of the World vote, given that it went viral with Portuguese migrants on TikTok. I'm quite shocked by Belgium not qualifying- I didn't think it was his best vocal performance, but the high notes were on point. Genuinely thought that Ukraine were going out when they went down to the final few. The Cypriot staging was good, but lost my interest after the 1st 90 secs or so. Wasn't really a fan of the song, and didn't think his vocals were that good either.

Opening the show helped Iceland out in my opinion.

My predictions tonight - much harder to predict: Australia, Latvia, Armenia, Austria, Lithuania, Malta, Denmark, Luxembourg, Israel, Finland. Greece could easily make it but it's hard to see what misses out.

9/10 for my predictions. Greece for Australia the only one I missed.

Did my usual blind ranking for the final. Sharing my rankings and comments pre-results:

1. Latvia (Exciting rhythm. Great harmony. Unique. Visually excellent too.)
2. Denmark (Classic Europop. Great singing. Some quality small details that took it up a level.)
3. Ukraine (high up the list because it had some actually interesting chords in it. Nice rhythm. Singing not perfect.)
4. Finland (Catchy theme, great EV vibes)
5. Switzerland (Very pleasant. Reminds me of my favourite EV song - France 2021. Not near that level though.)
6. Lithuania (song was actually kinda cool, but the singer seemed uninterested)
7. Albania (Deadpan rap - not complaining. Nice rhythm. Decent overall.)
8. Poland (A solid, enjoyable EV experience)
9. Germany (Not much to it, but at least it had a beat.)
10. Estonia (Classic EV vibes)
11. Greece (Singer was solid. Song was fine enough.)
12. UK (performance and singing were great, but song was pretty tepid)
13. Italy (Good performance. Somewhat boring)
14. Netherlands (Emotive, solid singing. Dull chords.)
15. Iceland (Impeccable energy and vibes. Fiddle a plus. But the backing music was just a classic 4 chord loop a.k.a boring and shit)
16. Luxembourg (singing shaky but song not terrible by EV standards)
17. Sweden (A typical EV experience. A bit of silliness but the actual music has nothing going for it.)
18. Austria (Guy could clearly sing. Staging was cool. But the song made me wince more than smile until the cool last bit which only lasted a few moments)
19. Armenia (Very meh all round. Tried to be dramatic.)
20. Portugal (Boring and unmemorable but not actively bad I guess.)
21. Malta (Very meh. A typical unmemorable EV bore.)
22. Spain (singer was great but song was boring af)
23. Israel (reasonable singing - boring song)
24. France (Good singer. Very boring song.)
25. San Marino (Utterly dull. What’s the point.)
26. Norway (guy couldn’t sing - song was dull af)

As usual, the bookies odds seem to be completely unrelated to the quality of the entry. Why tf are Sweden heavy favourites!? Austria second favourites I can least understand as the singer is clearly exceptional - I just didn't like the song. France third favourites? So unmemorable and uninteresting. That's how it goes I guess.

I liked Sweden. But anyway, what happened tonight is likely to happen every year now if Israel continue in the tournament.

The very fact that the public can vote before they have heard a song means any shres of credibility it had has gone.
It's the most political non political event on the planet

Marc Meakin wrote: ↑Sun May 18, 2025 4:42 am The very fact that the public can vote before they have heard a song means any shres of credibility it had has gone.
It's the most political non political event on the planet

I think it was supposed to be to stop earlier songs being forgotten about and disadvantaged. But anyway a friend linked me to this video about Eurovision being rigged for Israel. He also said he got a YouTube advert telling him to vote for Israel.

There has always been political voting, but this co-ordinated effort from the Israel lobby has taken things to new levels to the point that Eurovision will not be sustainable in the future unless changes are made.

There is nothing outright wrong with countries advertising for votes. Malta did it too, on Grindr, hilariously.

It does raise questions about pay-for-play and level playing fields, but how on earth do you ban something like that? Broadcasters and governments will simply wash the money and get influencers to do it themselves.

Well the point is that if Israel are automatically contenders for the win every time regardless, it will be a turn-off. There are calls for them to be banned anyway.

There could be ways to change how voting works possibly. The jury is a double-edged sword. Saved us from an Israel win this year, robbed us of Cha Cha Cha a couple of years ago.

Quite a few people have pointed to the fact that you can vote 20 times. Most people won't spam vote like that for a single country, but those involved in a co-ordinated campaign are more likely to. It would be much simpler to say you can vote for as many countries as you want, but only once for each. Approval voting.

Ireland saying they'll pull out next year if Israel participate.

Gavin Chipper wrote: ↑Thu Sep 11, 2025 4:15 pm Ireland saying they'll pull out next year if Israel participate.

Bye bye Ireland.
If you want to eliminate countries then use the " not in Europe" as a reason not the country.
I also say that banning Russia from sports is wrong as long as the athletes are clean

I agree it's wrong to ban Russian athletes from individual sports, but a stronger case can be made to ban Russian national teams, as well as Israeli ones. Eurovision is more about the country than the act.

Gavin Chipper wrote: ↑Fri Sep 12, 2025 9:52 am I agree it's wrong to ban Russian athletes from individual sports, but a stronger case can be made to ban Russian national teams, as well as Israeli ones. Eurovision is more about the country than the act.

The Dutch has also threatened to pull out.
Maybe let Palestine enter and Israel will pull out

People representing war criminals should be banned from everything. Since the Eurovision is a competition between country representatives, a country executing a genocide must not be included.

Same for any athlete who wants to participate under the Israeli / Russian flag. Individual ones? Sure, as long as they're not associated with war criminals in any way.