c4countdown

22 May 2012
24 May 2012
26 May 2012

Been waiting since June!

The contest this year is held in Baku, Azerbaijan ("Where is that?", I hear you ask) and, well, the songs this year.... remain to be good.

From Facebook to "my trumpet" to "Trackshittaz" to Englebert Humperdinck to Russian Grannies, Eurovision 2012 is one to remember!

One downside is the redesign of the BBC's Eurovision Website. Gone are all the 2012 songs but you can still see them on YouTube and on eurovision.tv.

Semi Final 1 in running order:

01 Montenegro
02 Iceland
03 Greece
04 Latvia
05 Albania
06 Romania
07 Switzerland
08 Belgium
09 Finland
10 Israel
11 San Marino
12 Cyprus
13 Denmark
14 Russia
15 Hungary
16 Austria
17 Moldova
18 Ireland

Semi final 2 in running order:

01 Serbia
02 FYR Macedonia
03 Netherlands
04 Malta
05 Belarus
06 Portugal
07 Ukraine
08 Bulgaria
09 Slovenia
10 Croatia
11 Sweden
12 Georgia
13 Turkey
14 Estonia
15 Slovakia
16 Norway
17 Bosnia & Herzegovina
18 Lithuania

Big 5 (or, in this case, 6) final positions:

01 United Kingdom (NO!)
09 France
10 Italy
13 Azerbaijan
19 Spain
20 Germany

Ones to watch:
Sweden - Bookies' favourite and it's Claudia Winkleman in a wind machine.
Norway - The one I'm voting for, unless Tooji gives us a horrible live performance.
UK - Englebert Humperdinck is massive in East Europe. Same tactic that Turkey did in 2010.
Ireland - The song is a lot better than last year, Jedward. But if (big if) they perform in tune on the night they could win.
Malta - My second favourite and the dark horse.
Romania - Loads on the internet love "Zaleilah" but I hate it.
San Marino - All the idiots who voted for Moldova last time out will vote for "The Social Network Song (Oh oh -- Uh - oh oh)".

Rhys Benjamin wrote: All the idiots who voted for Moldova last time out will vote for "The Social Network Song (Oh oh -- Uh - oh oh)".

Anyone who voted at all is an idiot.

Mark James wrote:

Rhys Benjamin wrote: All the idiots who voted for Moldova last time out will vote for "The Social Network Song (Oh oh -- Uh - oh oh)".

Anyone who voted at all is an idiot.

Actually I take that back. I do like the Eurovision when it comes to handing out the scores which your not gonna have if no one votes. I wouldn't vote myself though or watch the song section.

In.

Oh wait, is this not an Apterous tournament based on the Eurovision?

Rhys Benjamin wrote: Sweden - Bookies' favourite and it's Claudia Winkleman in a wind machine.

I prefer "House music version of Kate Bush" and every bit as good as that sounds.

Rhys Benjamin wrote: UK - Englebert Humperdinck is massive in East Europe. Same tactic that Turkey did in 2010.

Turkey 2010 were also massive in Turkey. Turkey are one of the nations that take ESC seriously. Sending an artist that is both really good and internationally popular is not a tactical move.

I don't think Humpy is as popular in Eastern Europe as the BBC like to make out. It's more a way of them trying to excuse the selection of a singer from the 1970s.

Rhys Benjamin wrote: Ireland - The song is a lot better than last year, Jedward. But if (big if) they perform in tune on the night they could win.

Kinda agree, although Lipstick suited them more and was easier to sing. Since ESC last year (because of, in fact) Jedward's fanbase has gone international. They will hoover up the televotes, no doubt, but I don't think the juries will quite like them enough to give them the win.

Rhys Benjamin wrote: San Marino - All the idiots who voted for Moldova last time out will vote for "The Social Network Song (Oh oh -- Uh - oh oh)".

I loved Moldova last year. It was hilarious rock anarchy.

San Marino is more in the so bad it's good category. They had to remove all references to Facebook to get through the anti-advertising rules and the ways they've plugged the gaps are unintentionally hilarious. It's a cult favourite, but I can't see it getting through the semis.

Rhys Benjamin wrote: Norway - The one I'm voting for, unless Tooji gives us a horrible live performance.
Malta - My second favourite and the dark horse.

You have horrible taste in music.

Martin Bishop wrote:

Rhys Benjamin wrote: Sweden - Bookies' favourite and it's Claudia Winkleman in a wind machine.

I prefer "House music version of Kate Bush" and every bit as good as that sounds.

No comment.

Martin Bishop wrote:

Rhys Benjamin wrote: UK - Englebert Humperdinck is massive in East Europe. Same tactic that Turkey did in 2010.

Turkey 2010 were also massive in Turkey. Turkey are one of the nations that take ESC seriously. Sending an artist that is both really good and internationally popular is not a tactical move.

I don't think Humpy is as popular in Eastern Europe as the BBC like to make out. It's more a way of them trying to excuse the selection of a singer from the 1970s.

The Hump is massive in East Europe already.

Martin Bishop wrote:

Rhys Benjamin wrote: Ireland - The song is a lot better than last year, Jedward. But if (big if) they perform in tune on the night they could win.

Kinda agree, although Lipstick suited them more and was easier to sing. Since ESC last year (because of, in fact) Jedward's fanbase has gone international. They will hoover up the televotes, no doubt, but I don't think the juries will quite like them enough to give them the win.

Interestingly, in the Irish National Selection, they received top marks from both juries and televoters this year but didn't receive jury marks last year.

Martin Bishop wrote:

Rhys Benjamin wrote: San Marino - All the idiots who voted for Moldova last time out will vote for "The Social Network Song (Oh oh -- Uh - oh oh)".

I loved Moldova last year. It was hilarious rock anarchy.

San Marino is more in the so bad it's good category. They had to remove all references to Facebook to get through the anti-advertising rules and the ways they've plugged the gaps are unintentionally hilarious. It's a cult favourite, but I can't see it getting through the semis.

Rhys Benjamin wrote: Norway - The one I'm voting for, unless Tooji gives us a horrible live performance.
Malta - My second favourite and the dark horse.

You have horrible taste in music.

No I don't.

NOOOOOOOOOO I HAD A LONG RESPONSE TO THIS TYPED OUT AND IT LOGGED ME OUT IN THE MEANTIME.

Ahem. I'm going to be liveblogging Eurovision this year if anyone's interested. (Because what's better than watching Eurovision? Watching someone write about watching Eurovision, obviously.)

As for the ones I've already heard:
UK - Dull, dull, dull
Austria - So dire, so childishly amusing, cool glow in the dark boob/bum outlines on the 2 minute mark
Sweden - Bearable, but not really my cuppa. Will probably do well as it appeals to those who enjoy clubbing (which seems to be a lot of people these days ). In my opinion, however, not as catchy as...
Greece - I'm a sucker for Eastern-style guitars, so I quite like the tune of this.
San Marino - So bad it's actually bad. Wow. Would be better without the insane amounts of autotune.
Norway - When did Scandanavia discover dubstep?! I liked it until the dubstep came in. So for about 2 seconds.
Ireland - If they could be in tune for the chorus this would be ok. Unfortunately, they're not, and it's not.
Iceland - I like the violin solo! This is pretty decent compared to the other songs, but very average compared to Jonsi's stuff with Sigur Ros.
Russia - Aww, singing grannies. Amusing and actually kind of catchy after the first 30 seconds, but unless political voting is worse than usual it's not going to win.

Also, Rhys, I'm pretty sure you posted your top 20 songs or something like that in Aptochat once and it was mostly made up of (bad) Eurovision songs. Am I right in thinking you don't listen to much music? Regardless, I'm going to have to agree with Martin. Soz.

Isn't Rhys' favourite song Josh Dubovie's entry?

Anyway, Jedward ftw.

Yes, no.

Rhys Benjamin wrote:

Martin Bishop wrote:

Rhys Benjamin wrote: UK - Englebert Humperdinck is massive in East Europe. Same tactic that Turkey did in 2010.

Turkey 2010 were also massive in Turkey. Turkey are one of the nations that take ESC seriously. Sending an artist that is both really good and internationally popular is not a tactical move.

I don't think Humpy is as popular in Eastern Europe as the BBC like to make out. It's more a way of them trying to excuse the selection of a singer from the 1970s.

The Hump is massive in East Europe already.

I don't doubt that he has fans internationally, but to me "massive" means he gets mobbed in the streets, sells out concerts in minutes and is regularly on the tv and radio.

I'm sad enough to belong to a Eurovision forum and none of the Eastern Europeans there had heard of him. I think he will be remembered by people old enough to have heard his stuff back in the day, but nothing special beyond that.

Right, SF1 is TOMORROW.

Eurovision CD arrived!!

I'm going to say WHO I WANT TO QUALIFY:

Denmark - "Should've Known Better" by Soluna Samay
Cyprus - "La la Love" by Ivi Amadou
Ireland - "Waterline" by Jedward
Israel - "Time" by Izabo
Greece - "Aphrodisiac" by Eleftheria Eleftheriou
Switzerland - "Unbreakable" by SinPlus
Hungary - "Sound of our Hearts" by Compact Disco
Iceland - "Never Forget" by Gréta Salóme & Jónsi
Belgium - "Would You?" by Iris
Latvia - "Beautiful Song" by Anmary

I've left Russia out because of that horrible opening. Too wishy-washy for me.
I really don't like Romania and Moldova. I loved Romania last year and voted for it. Not again.
Austria, Really?
Uh oh, San Marino.
Finland. No. Finnish, okay. Swedish, though...
I only have one thing to say about Albania:

QAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAJ!!!

(Yes, I did just play the note holding down "A").
Euro No points, Montenegro.

Granted it's not been a great decider in the past, but Zaleilah has over 7 million hits on YouTube, which can only be beneficial. Can't really see any reason why Jedward won't go through. Having not seen all the songs (wanna make the final interesting for myself without being too biased before), I think Ireland, Greece, Russia, Romania, Denmark, Belgium and Iceland will go through. Could see San Marino scraping through via the bluff vote but unlikely. Hard to call otherwise but I want Trackshittaz through purely because of last year's entry . Looking forward to it!
Only get to see half of Thursday's though

Thoughts?

Managed to predict 6 tonight. Like I said, thought San Marino or Austria would scrape through, also thought Belgium would too. Surprised Albania made it, hated their song! The result was exceptionally nerve-racking but I thought Jedward were great and deserved to go through.

Can't wait for Saturday.

I managed to guess 8 of the 10, my two wrong ones were the biggest punts (Belgium and San Marino instead of Hungary and Albania, both of whom I thought were really dull but I clearly undervalued how many friends they have). Reckon Romania and Moldova are the ones to watch out for in the final, although that view will doubtless change come Thursday. Russia's spinning pastry oven was incredible.

I believe it is an absolutely travesty that Latvia and Israel didn't make the final, when Hungary (boring) and Albania (TOO HIGH PITCHED!) did

Romania have said in an interview that their earpiece went faulty. The last time it happened was in 2003 (United Kingdom) and we got nul points...

Rhys Benjamin wrote:Romania have said in an interview that their earpiece went faulty. The last time it happened was in 2003 (United Kingdom) and we got nul points...

Yeah, but (a) Romania remained in tune and (b) in 2003 it was actually the UK's fault for not taking it seriously and coming ill-equipped.

Loreen was amazing for Sweden tonight. Even better than in the Melodifestivalen final.

I also voted for Macedonia, Netherlands (sympathy vote) and Malta (my mum's choice).

Here we go again... HOW DID THE NETHERLANDS NOT GET THROUGH???!!!!!
Bloody Eastern Europeans!

kieranbray wrote:Here we go again... HOW DID THE NETHERLANDS NOT GET THROUGH???!!!!!

Meh, I only ever thought it had a borderline chance. This year was one of the better Dutch efforts, but for the most part they send useless entries.

Amongst the Easterner bashing, it may be worth pointing out that Serbia and Macedonia both sent artists who are massively famous in the Balkans. Their neighbours weren't just voting for the country next door. Also, Estonia and Lithuania's recent records aren't all that good, so you can hardly say they were benefiting solely from friendly local relations. I have no idea how Lithuania got through, actually.

I voted for Malta (hides under boulder).

I think knowing anything about the songs before the contest (as in the final) goes against the spirit of watching Eurovision.

This post links to my Eurovision liveblog. I'll be updating it more regularly once the show has started - please read and comment at your leisure. It'd be great to have people reading it

I still can't believe that Albania got any points, let alone were in the top five...

Jennifer Steadman wrote:I still can't believe that Albania got any points, let alone were in the top five...

I thought the same. I'm not sure it even deserves to be classified as a song. The whole thing was a load of rubbish. What was so good about that Swedish song? It was a fairly generic (although below average) dance song. I think it sort of had an "unfair advantage" if it had already been number one in a load of countries already, which goes against what I said above - that these songs should be new to the viewers.

That Azerbaijan song was also a piece of nothing, so I wonder if people just voted for it because they were at home or something. And the Danish song that was the last to get off 0 points, I actually thought was OK! In conclusion, there was no correlation between how good a song was and how well it did.

What did everyone think?

I agree, Albania's song was awful, shocked they got so many points. Obviously I'm disappointed Jedward didn't do that well but there were a lot of songs tonight which were obviously going to do better. Sweden seemed to have it in the bag from the start with Loreen's number 1's. I liked Romania and (as Rhys puts it, "sadly") Malta's too. Russia were lovable and Serbia was the dark horse many bets were placed on. A great night as always, but not as many enjoyable songs this year IMO.

Sweden's song was pretty good actually, it's really grown on me. That, Romania, Greece, Iceland and (if you read my liveblog, you'll know) Russia were my favourites - especially Russia. Loved the grannies, they were so adorable - plus it was the only really novelty record in the final, apart from maybe Romania, and I like novelty records. Quite liked Cyprus too. Norway didn't deserve to do so badly, nor did the UK even though I didn't like the song. Honestly couldn't remember Serbia's song, was astounded it got so many votes - ditto Azerbaijan. I'll have nightmares about Albania's song for weeks.

Political voting is back with a vengeance! If indeed it ever left...

Agree with Gevin about Sweden. I really don't see why it was such a huge favourite (and I wonder if being a huge favourite before the contest gives a song an advantage). My personal favourites were Romania, Ukraine and Moldova. I also really enjoyed Turkey's weird boat transformation thing (didn't think much of the song), and was disappointed/mystified to see Serbia/Albania in the top 5.

Should be really interesting to see the jury/televote breakdown, particularly how Russia fare.

Why don't more acts in the Eurovision do native traditional music from their country? I'd love to see that. Most of the songs tonight sounded exactly the same. I think ideally you should be able to have a decent guess at what country the act is from just by hearing the song. I will say though that the best song definitely won tonight (Admittedly I only watch the round up of the songs just before the voting, not the full thing).

Gavin Chipper wrote: I think it sort of had an "unfair advantage" if it had already been number one in a load of countries already, which goes against what I said above - that these songs should be new to the viewers.

All the entries have to be selected by mid-March, so it's kinda hard to keep them secret. Pretty much every song in the competition would have already been commercially released in the run up to the show. It just happens that people wanted to buy the Swedish one more than the others (and it reached number one after it was picked for ESC).

I think the fact that you have original music that people want to purchase is a good thing. It's what sets Eurovision apart from the reality show karaoke contests.

I quite liked Albania. It was a very evocative performance of emotional distress and trauma. Not easy listening, granted, but captivating to me. I bet the juries loved it.

Also, I'll repeat it again, Serbia's Zeljko Joksimovic is famous in Eastern Europe. Forget the Hump, Serbia had the biggest star name on the show. I'm not a fan of his Balkan folk ballads, but I can't say I'm surprised he scored well.

I'm surprised at Engelbert's performance - his live performance was a key below that on the recorded version, and it gave me the impression that he just wasn't confident he could hit the high notes when it mattered.

I thought our song was rubbish, and Sweden's was really good. And I liked Albania, sorry guys!

I hated Albania. 5TH!? They've had better songs that have been TOTALLY CRAP. 2010!

Rhys Benjamin wrote:I hated Albania. 5TH!? They've had better songs that have been TOTALLY CRAP. 2010!

Their 2010 one is total poop!

Just going back to the Swedish one, it wasn't just that I thought it was fairly medicore (as I've said it was just a slightly sub-par generic dance track), it was that it lacked any of the character that you expect from Eurovision entries. Most of the songs are a bit rubbish really, but that song wasn't a worthy Eurovision winner. There's countless dance tracks released every year that are similar but better. Why aren't they all just saved up for Eurovision? Because it would be fucking boring.

Jon O'Neill wrote:

Rhys Benjamin wrote:I hated Albania. 5TH!? They've had better songs that have been TOTALLY CRAP. 2010!

Their 2010 one is total poop!

They revamped it.

I thought the Albanian entry was awful - almost unlistenably so - and like others, couldn't quite believe it did so well. As for Sweden, no surprise that it won (it had become such an overwhelming favourite with all the bookies that any other outcome would have been highly unlikely), but really it sounds like nothing more than a very standard dance track from about 1994, during the brief period when random divas wailing over Yamaha keyboard preset #19 (or similar) were fashionable.

However, I had a fiver each way on Russia and made a massive profit of 63 pence, so broadly speaking I'm happy with the outcome of the whole thing.

Has anybody else heard Euphoria on the radio lately?

Cool FM (NI's biggest station) has played it on request at least twice now. Also, they are linked with a UK station who present the Big Top 40 on Sunday's and it was number 1, so watch out this Sunday for the Official Chart!

I heard it yesterday on the Countdown!

Gavin Chipper wrote: it was that it lacked any of the character that you expect from Eurovision entries. Most of the songs are a bit rubbish really, but that song wasn't a worthy Eurovision winner.

I don't think there's such a thing as a typical eurovision song any more. It hasn't been a cheesy bubblegum pop contest for a good ten years. You can now get rock, folk, jazz, opera, musical theatre style ballads, dance and of course pop.