The dust is beginning to settle on yet another Eurovision, with the contest heading off the furthest east it has ever gone to the Asian edge of Europe in Baku, Azerbaijan, scheduled for 26 May 2012. Before going into the geopolitical, social and logistical ramifications of this win and the 'logistics', let's review how the songs of this contest won or lost.Finland - Boring presentation, really.
Bosnia-Herzegovina - Dino Merlin can thank his superstar status among the Balkan peoples for his 6th place, and the fact that the large number of Bosnian refugees live in countries whose own entries (plus those of countries of larger and/or better organised diasporas) had not made it through to the final i.e. 12 points from Norway.
Denmark - Professionally performed song which did well to get fourth place. Had it been later on in the draw, it could have won.
Lithuania - Dated song, not the best presentation, though well sung and I could immediately see this would appeal to Eastern European tastes, which it did. Did well to not come last as predicted.
Hungary - She was out of beat of this dated dance number. Dress was horrible. Like Iceland 2010, one for the gay fanbase only.
Ireland - Excellent visual presentation, definitely one for the kids. However, it was obvious that the twins hardly sang the song and relied heavily on the 'back-up' singers to carry it through.
Sweden - Convincing performance of a contemporary song that deserved its third place.
Estonia - She couldn't sing and looked like she gave up towards the end - hence the low score.
Greece - I can't believe this came seventh place!!! The UK bucked its trend of giving high points in recent years to Greece by giving nothing for this poor song. Graham Norton pointed out that the rapper, Stereo Mike is a professor of music at the University of Westminster and that come Monday Norton thought he could be out of a job - apt! I suspect that the 8 points from Russia was the result of an Armenian push to stop Azerbaijan, which could be the story for other points around Europe.
Russia - The Sovietsphere audience did not go for this, possibly tired of the former Alex Sparrow's cockiness and overexposure, which meant it died. Alex must be gutted. The song was presented very professionally though, but there's a limit to ego.
France - The favourite?? I had not seen a live performance by Amaury Vassili before Saturday night's show and relied solely on what turned out to be the hype created by Eurovision fans who obviously are unfamiliar to opera. I can't say that I am a regular listener of opera but I have been exposed enough to it to see and hear immediately on Saturday night that Amaury was obviously uncomfortable on stage, not used to singing in such an environment and is too young to sing such a song (as an opera singer friend of mine said, 19 is too young). Honestly, his singing was terrible and he looked like a dishevelled extra from Les Miserables. My previous commentary that the push for this aria was more a delusional case of some Eurovision fans to prove to themselves that they have culture has been vindicated.
Italy - The best surprise of the night! The fans had left this for dead leading up to the finale. Obviously as much as they can't spot bad opera, they can't spot good jazz. Raphael clearly is a professional live musician and singer who is so comfortable with performing and enjoys what he does that it shone. The fact that this jazz number had unexpected but neatly-woven Neapolitan elements also made it more than just another jazz song. A thoroughly deserving song. And to think so many fanboys are at a loss as to why this song did so well - yet another sign of their actual lack of exposure to a wider range of music styles.
Switzerland - The reason why it's unlucky to perform after the ad break is that the break is so short for today's standards, with many people having yet returned from the loo. So many people missed this one. The ones who didn't had to face a girl wearing a red sparkly dress that didn't match the song, rendering the presentation as unconvincing.
UK - Backdrop was fantastic and the song was great. The suits that Blue were wearing just didn't go with the song (see Sweden for more convincing costuming) and Lee, who had to sing a large part of the song, obviously couldn't get those many high notes - he looked like he was in strain. 11th place is still good but this goes to show that Blue is not that big in Europe. Plus, the prevailing attitude that 'if Blue can't win it, who can' has only solidified Eurovision's career graveyard status for UK artists. This doesn't bode well.
UK's Blue should have stuck to wearing this!
Moldova - Definitely the fav song for the all the rock, non-Eurovision-fanboy viewers out there and deservingly so. I enjoyed it. Zdob si Zdub did what they do well and great to have some Moldovan elements. By the way, the hats they wore were an exaggerated, crazy adaptation on the woolly hats that Moldovan peasant men wear - cool!
Germany - Lena has transformed from teen to vamp. Great presentation though a bit too moody for the Eurovision audience. A song like this was not going to do well with Eurovision's rather pedestrian televoters. Still, very professional performance and song and only goes to show that Lena has a great career ahead of her. Just drop the fake accent!
Romania - Ugh! As what one blogger commented, this is something you would have seen on Seaside Special in 1978. Romania is a powerhouse for light dance numbers throughout the non-English speaking world and all they could dredge up was this...?
Austria - Yes, the girl can sing but the Disney ballad was trite.
Azerbaijan - The comment made by a casual Eurovision viewer friend of mine (i.e. not a fanboy) summed this song up - it's aaahhhhhhhh. The sweetness of the song and the simple yet appropriate stage presentation guaranteed that it would do well on the night, despite what some fanboys had to say about the singers' abilities (the same guys that were applauding France for his "opera", mind you). However, what is proving to be the most important factor these days for a win at Eurovision is that Azerbaijan's 'Running Scared' was one of the very few songs from this year's contest that has been getting airplay on mainstream radio stations in certain countries around Europe. Airplay was key to Lena's victory with 'Satellite' last year, and the lack of airplay for Blue's 'I Can' this year definitely contributed to their fall. The fact that this was one of the few songs that was immediate in its appeal also added to its winning factor. As for the Turkish diaspora helping this song win... that didn't happen. Germany gave few points, and the UK and Macedonia (for instance) gave none, despite being home to large Turkish communities.
Italy's Raphael Gualazzi - a pleasant surprise!
Slovenia - Maja Keuc was just too weak with what should be very strong vocals for such a song. Plus, the song itself was about 8 years old in style.
Iceland - Sentimentality can only stretch so far
Spain - Despite a last minute surge by fanboys as to its merits, it was too light to make an impact. Spain by numbers, really. Hey, if Spanish fanboys didn't like it, how is the rest of Europe supposed to?
Ukraine - Amazingly scooped up the Sovietsphere and Eastern Europe votes away from Russia. Obviously its position towards the end of the night and, most of all, the hypnotic allure of the sand art (the true star of that performance) helped this into fourth place. I did like it how the Guardian wrote on its live blog that it was expecting the sand artist to toss it all in and end up drawing a willy.
Serbia - It was cute and all but this song ended up only with high-ish points from ex-Yugoslav states and low scores from countries where the Serbian diaspora live.
Georgia - Graham Norton was almost correct in saying that if you like rock, then you'll vote for this one as there is no other rock song (not correct as Moldova was in there too). It was competent enough.
Winner of Ukraine's Got Talent and star of Ukraine's Eurovision performance - sand artist Kseniya Simonova
That's my analysis for this year. I would like to make a special thank you to all the Eurovision bloggers out there, especially Piglet, for their dedicated work in keeping Eurovision fans informed about the lead up to the world's most biggest television show.
Coming up... how will Azerbaijan cope with hosting Eurovision? Finances are not a problem but are they aware of what social impact it will have on the country and Europe as a whole? And how does the ongoing animosity with Armenia affect preparations? Stay tuned...
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