Eurovision 2016: Sweden Yet Again

[SnideAsides]

May 10, 12, and 14, from Stockholm.

 

Hosts have been announced. To nobody's surprise, 2013 host Petra Mede is back, but this time she's joined by 2015 winner Mans Zelmerlow, who hopefully will display more personality than "aloof dick" like he normally comes across as.

 

Not too much change in terms of countries - Portugal's out because as much as they don't want to win, they also don't want to keep losing in the semis; Ukraine's back in after a year off; three of the Balkan countries (well, two and Bulgaria) are back after boycotting because of how badly they all did a couple of years ago; and Australia's returning but this time has to qualify through a semi-final like everyone else.

[SnideAsides]

New voting system! Sigh.

[lovemytvshows]

Hosts have been announced. To nobody's surprise, 2013 host Petra Mede is back, but this time she's joined by 2015 winner Mans Zelmerlow, who hopefully will display more personality than "aloof dick" like he normally comes across as.

 

I was over the moon about having Petra Mede back as host since I was a very big fan of her sojourn in Malmo. To be honest, she's been the most entertaining hosts in recent times, the others come across as trying too hard too be funny and all buddy-buddy with each other. That said, why do we need Mans Zelmerloew? Petra is perfectly capable of carrying the whole show, if SVT are desperate to have Mans, they could just chuck him in the Green Room? To be fair, Conchita as the Green Room host last year completely outshone the actual hosts.

 

Also about half (?) of the countries' songs have been chosen and are out there to be sampled. Slight controversy with Ukraine's entry this year (http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-35630395) but to be honest, it wouldn't be Eurovision if there wasn't at least one song per year that takes aim at Mother Russia. That said, I'm actually a fan of the Ukrainian entry. I love the blend of old and new, the slightly RnB feel which branches off into being otherworldly. The singer has got a pretty good set of pipes on her as well.

 

I'm a lousy pick when it comes to winners but my favourites so far (in no particular order): Estonia, France, Ukraine and Germany

 

Estonia's song was co-written by last year's entrant, Stig Rasta, and it's another great 60s tinged one, this time with a solo male performer with the silkiest deep voice.

 

Germany's entrant was a complete surprise to me but stands as a testament to how we judge looks before anything else. She's a young 17 or 18 year old who is into a type of Japanese fashion (I forgot the proper name for it!). So we can definitely look forward to some interesting costumes from her performance. That said, I thought the song is pretty good and catchy and she's got the voice to match (being the winner of S5 of The Voice of Germany). I hope it goes far and ends up faring much much better to Ann Sophie from last year.

[SnideAsides]

Someone pointed this out to me last year and it seems to generally hold true: watch what the UK picks. Almost every single year (last year was the first break in quite a while), they will correctly match the genre or hook of one of the top three, but the actual terrible quality of their song and performance means they get stuck at the bottom while the other country rises to the top. In 2014 they sent Cut-Price Adele and lost to Conchita's Bond anthem. In 2013, Bonnie Tyler performed a generic cheesy Idol coronation song, but lost to Denmark's even cheesier Idol coronation song. Engelbert Humperdinck and the Russian grannies. Blue and one-man boyband Eric Saade. And so on.

 

If the pattern holds true, I'd say we're probably going to be in Cyprus next year.

[Odelia]

We need Mans to look sexy, that's all :D

As for the songs, Russia, Austria and Iceland sound nice!

[lovemytvshows]

Seems like Russia is leading in the favourites pack to win. Normally I am averse to them winning (politics and all that) but I have to say that I won't quite mind it if they won this year. Song is quite catchy and Sergey Lazarev can sing live and perform with lots of energy. If they stage the live performance as well and flashy as the music video looks, they have a serious shot at winning.

[SnideAsides]

I still think the huge gay audience will power vote against Russia/Putin, but I wouldn't be disappointed if they did win. Now that all of the songs have been announced, I feel like this year will have the same problems as last year (too many self-serious dull ballads, not enough fun), but the only song I actively hate is Bulgaria's. Which is a shame, because I'd love for them to win one year, but... not this year.

[Odelia]

Why do you hate only Bulgaria, it's very similar to so many other songs this year?

[SnideAsides]

I'm not sure, actually. Something about it just doesn't work for me, where whatever it is works with other songs, and I can't quite put my finger on it. I do generally like what Bulgaria sends - they're a lot closer to the fun ridiculousness the ex-Yugoslav countries send every year than they are to the bland Swedish-penned ballads many of the ex-Soviet countries have been sending recently - but this one just missed the mark for me.

[lovemytvshows]

How is Sweden the second favourite to win? The song is terrible! I mean Sweden has always sent top notch songs to Eurovision and hell they won it twice in recent times but this one? Absolutely terrible. I don't know what bugs me more, the song or the insistence of the Swedish singer to sing in a faux-Ed Sheeran Brit accent. 

[SnideAsides]

Short answer: They can afford to host the thing next year.

 

There are only a few countries who actually can afford the contest, and once you take out the anti-gay countries (Russia, Azerbaijan), countries that won't win for other political reasons (the UK, Germany), and the security nightmare that France would be, you're basically just left with Sweden. Depending on what the exact rules for an Australia win would be (it definitely has to be held in Europe with an EBU member broadcaster co-producing, but aside from that it's vague in terms of who actually has to pay for the contest), that result could open it up to a second-tier country like Ireland or the Netherlands that clearly wants the contest but probably couldn't afford it on their own.

[lovemytvshows]

Yeah I kinda figured it would be tied in a little bit with money and political stability but I'm a little annoyed that it's partly because of that. Would be less annoyed if they sent a good song!

 

What about the other Nordic countries though? They have the funds to host. Give Norway a chance (again!) or Denmark (again!) or Iceland, etc etc.

 

That said I have a sinking feeling despite the anti-gay stance, Russia might claim it this year. That would almost guarantee Ukraine pulling out of the contest next year.

[SnideAsides]

Denmark probably could afford it in a few years but can't really handle it right now, so soon after their last win. And Norway's broadcaster had to give up the rights to some major sporting event (I want to say the soccer World Cup?) to be able to host it the last time they did it, so I can't imagine they're in a hurry to win again.

 

Iceland, sadly, doesn't really have anywhere they could host it. The entire country has fewer people than Honolulu and the only stadium big enough is outdoors, so even if they could find a way to stage the contest in a stadium that really doesn't suit arena shows and in a city without the hotel capacity needed, they'd still be at the mercy of rain and chilly Reykjavik nights.

[Odelia]

I enjoy: Iceland, Austria, Bulgaria, Malta, Russia, Spain, Germany to some degree. Agree that Sweden is rubbish. I think Iceland, Malta or Germany could all win. Latvia is a favourite to win but it's horrendous.

[Wootini]

I have to admit that Sweden's entry has grown on my over time as I listen to the album. But the first time I heard it was was like - ACK!

My favorites are Finland and Belgium, which usually means that they won't even make it out of the semis. ;)

I wouldn't mind if Russia won. Although I also really like France's entry (even if I don't speak French so I don't really know what it's about) :D

Worst this year is definitely San Marino with Greece coming a close second.

[SnideAsides]

Eurovision's finally getting an American broadcast: Logo's airing the Saturday final live. Not sure about either of the semi-finals though, or about which commentary it'll have, if any (if they do take a feed with commentary it'll probably be the BBC's, but both Australia and Ireland have their own English-language commentaries; I can't see Logo springing for its own commentators).

[lovemytvshows]

For the first time I'm not put off by the bookies' favourites: Russia & France

Happy to see either of them win. Normally the favourites really irk me, like Mans from last year and Aram MP3 the year before but thank god Conchita won. 

Not quite sure how to feel about Romania being disqualified. I think I would care more if they had a really good song but Ovidiu Anton's one sounds really cheesy. Good Eurovision cheese, I supposed.

 have to admit that Sweden's entry has grown on my over time as I listen to the album. But the first time I heard it was was like - ACK!

I am NOT a fan of Frans. Totally biased and I'll be the first to admit that.  It's the faux-sounding (might be real...but it doesn't matter) Brit accent when he sings, the very grating song, the fact that he tries to act all cool and blase (like the message of his song perhaps?) in interviews. His stupid hair and beanie and the terribly bland staging just adds to the hate.

[SnideAsides]

Moldova's apparently offered to let Ovidiu on as one of their backup dancers so he'd still get to be on stage, which is just adorable. And totally misguided.

I haven't listened to too many of this year's songs, but I'm also really enjoying Russia's. It probably won't win because Putin + gay voters, but I do hope it does well. Also growing on me? Poland. It's not great, but it's surprisingly catchy.

Running order for the semi-finals has been announced:

Semi-Final 1
1. Finland
2. Greece
3. Moldova
4. Hungary
5. Croatia
6. The Netherlands
7. Armenia
8. San Marino
9. Russia
10. Czech Republic
11. Cyprus
12. Austria
13. Estonia
14. Azerbaijan
15. Montenegro
16. Iceland
17. Bosnia & Herzegovina
18. Malta
Semi-Final 2
1. Latvia
2. Poland
3. Switzerland
4. Israel
5. Belarus
6. Serbia
7. Ireland
8. FYR Macedonia
9. Lithuania
10. Australia
11. Slovenia
12. Bulgaria
13. Denmark
14. Ukraine
15. Norway
16. Georgia
17. Albania
18. Belgium

[lovemytvshows]

Snippets of the first rehearsals are up on the official Eurovision Youtube page, avoid if you don't want to be spoiled at all about what the final staging might look like.

[SnideAsides]

Semi-Final 1 is tonight. Americans, watching everything this year will be a bit confusing for you: the semi-finals will be live-streamed on the official Eurovision website, but because Logo are showing the final live, that stream will be geoblocked on Saturday and you'll have to watch either Logo itself or the live stream on their website or app. (This could all be fixed if Logo would show all three nights, but... you know, logic and Eurovision don't mix.)

The Grand Final interval act has been announced, and... it's not at all what I would have expected. And yet, it kind of is?

[SnideAsides]

Now that I've had a day and a half to mull over the first semi-final, I'm... not sold on the new voting format, if these are the kind of results we're going to keep getting. I'm thankful Greece finally missed the cut (first time ever, somehow) and that the Czech Republic got through (again, first time ever), but aside from them and the Netherlands (which did nothing for me on the CD but which I adored live), it kind of felt like all the experimental songs were eliminated while all the blandly mediocre ones got through? Sigh.

[Occasional Hope]

I liked the Netherlands.

[Occasional Hope]

The voting break seems even longer and more boring than usual.

[die Frau]

The Netherlands Entry was an absolute masterpiece compared to the rest. I can imagine it getting overlooked though. 

As usual Germany won't win, but probably will do better than last year. 

Did not get the appeal of Australis and found Sweden to be the "worst"

[Occasional Hope]

Yes, that Swedish guy''s fake accent set my teeth on edge.  He's listened to too much Lily Allen.

[die Frau]

What was I saying about Germany not coming in last? Why is Sweden doing so well? Ugh.

[SnideAsides]

I sort of love that the new system was added to (1) stop blowouts, (2) make the reveal quicker, (3) stop the Big Five finishing last every year, (4) avoid voterigging, and (5) make for a more tense reveal, and... one out of five? If that?

 

Also huge LOLs at Timberlake not even being one of the two best interval acts tonight.

[beata]

Look at the difference between the 'jury' votes on Poland and viewer votes I was very surprised and shocked that the jury gave Michal’s song only 7 points (second last). But the public gave Poland 222 points - 3rd place. What a discrepancy between these two votes.

[Bill1978]

That was my biggest WTF from the whole competition. Such a major difference between the 2 voting groups. Did I miss something with the song for it to connect with the voting public so strongly. Not saying it was a bad song, but that huge difference is amazing. Is something going on in Poland that may have caused sympathy votes?

Glad I wasn't the only one who thought Timberlake's performance was boring.

I loved the new way the voting is revealed and I hope they keep it. Extremely tense cause you have no idea how many points are still left up for grab. I found it very tense especially when my country was winning until the very end. Damn you Ukraine!!!

The new voting also showed how much the public still isn't prepared to vote for the Big 5, in particular the UK. Even though they finished last at least Germany didn't connect with either voting groups. The UK was close to being on the left side of the board until the public votes came through.

[beata]

I think it is the opposite. I do not think it was sympathy voting. This song was well received by public prior to the finals. Polish people feel that Poland political situation (PiS government and its action) is the reason for the jury voting.

Edited May 15, 2016 by beata

[Bill1978]

Thanks for the insight beata.

Just going through the voting data that EBU has made available to see exactly how the public vote went compared to the jury votes. The breakdowns of the 12 points allocations are as follows:

Public Vote (Only Multiples Included)

Russia - 9

Serbia - 6

Ukraine - 6

Lithuania - 3

Australia - 3

Armenia - 3

Poland - 2

Belgium - 2

Bulgaria - 2

Sweden - 2

 

Jury Votes (Only Multiples Included)

Ukraine - 11

Australia - 9

Russia - 4

Armenia - 3

Swden - 3

Italy - 2

Belgium - 2

 

I hope I didn't mess up these stats

[SnideAsides]

Poland's ridiculous televote was pretty much all expats. They only missed out on points from six countries (one of which was Australia), and all of their big points were from western Europe. Imagine what would have happened if they'd sent a song the juries didn't completely hate.

12 from Austria, Belgium
10 from Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Sweden, Netherlands, UK
8 from Hungary, Ukraine
7 from Czech Republic, France, San Marino
6 from Belarus, Bulgaria, Lithuania
5 from Albania, Denmark, Finland, Latvia, Russia, Spain, Switzerland
4 from Croatia, Georgia, Israel, Slovenia
3 from Azerbaijan, Greece
2 from Cyprus, FYR Macedonia
1 from Armenia, Estonia
0 from Australia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Malta, Moldova, Montenegro, Serbia

 

Interestingly, Russia got televotes from literally every single country, and its worst result was a 3 from the Netherlands. (Ukraine missed out on points from Iceland, and Australia missed out on points from Armenia, France, Italy, and Montenegro.)

[TimWil]

I listened to all the songs again via BBC Radio 2's telecast and Poland's song was my favorite. Many voters seemed to feel the same way.

Comedienne Michelle Collins and reality star Carson Kressley did decent, relatively funny commentary here in the US for Logo. Collins seemed well-informed about the rules but Kressley didn't even know that countries couldn't vote for their own song.

Edited May 15, 2016 by TimWil

[lovemytvshows]

Tremendously pleased with the results, Ukraine's song stood out the most when I first heard it because it was so different to all of the others. It wasn't my favourite but well within my top 5 and the victory was so sweet.

I was prepared to hate on the new voting system until I saw the madness and the magic of it. It was truly the most nerve-wrecking hour or so of voting I've ever experienced in all my years of watching Eurovision. I was incredibly against Australia winning and considering they took hold of the lead and a big one at that for pretty much 90% of the voting, I thought it would've been a blow out. 

Naturally all the hateful anti-Ukraine comments have surfaced all over Youtube, Instagram etc etc. It really bothers me. Looking at the voting breakdown on the Eurovision site/app, the Ukraine public gave Russia top votes and the Russian public gave Ukraine the 2nd highest votes. Clearly these Eurovision viewers do not hate each other as much as the ones spewing the hateful vitriolic comments on social media.

I think Jamala is a great artist, it was a good song performed with so much raw emotion and power. It goes to show that you don't need crazy fireworks or fancy props or men running in hamster wheels, to convey a poignant song across and touch peoples' hearts.

[SnideAsides]

Yeah, I also can't buy Russia's indignation when in addition to being a pretty blatant knockoff of last year's winner, they gave 12 points to Armenia's genocide song in the semi final last year (and 6 in the final) and they stole the other part of their visual gimmick (climbing a white wall) from the song they gave 12 points to in 2007.

[vavera4ka]

On ‎5‎/‎15‎/‎2016 at 8:10 PM, beata said:

Look at the difference between the 'jury' votes on Poland and viewer votes I was very surprised and shocked that the jury gave Michal’s song only 7 points (second last). But the public gave Poland 222 points - 3rd place. What a discrepancy between these two votes.

Apparently Michal botched his high note for jury vote performance the day before, then delivered his best vocals to date at the actual Grand Finale.

Still shouldn't have been last. He was my fav this year. I just connected with the song and his energy the most.

Also JUST ex-pat diaspora voting wouldn't deliver 222 points, and where were all those people when Poland constantly was among the last countries.

It helped to propel it to the 3rd, for sure, but a lot of people connected with the song, and he arguably had some of the best vocals this year out of all participants.

I like Jamala and I like Sergey. But like I couldn't get behind Russia dragging politics into the contest last year with hypocritical peace song, same way I couldn't get fully behind Ukraine's "not political but historical" song this year. Sergey wasn't my fav, but after seeing how jury was treating him, I started wanting him to win...

 

And I quite liked the new points reveal, keeps the tension and makes the jury "professional" voting a lot more transparent. Sweden 12 points from multiple countries? WTF? There was no voice, no performance, bland, boring song... TWELVE POINTS? and Michal with 7 total. Just voice alone should have given him mid-position from professionals... smh

[SnideAsides]

I'd suggest Sweden's big vote was just the usual "Thanks for hosting!" votes that used to turn up every single year, but it was somehow one of the favourites before the contest (as in, ahead of Australia and Ukraine, and almost tied with Russia), and Austria ended up with a grand total of zero points last year, so I don't know. Sweden's is the biggest and most accessible of the national finals, though, so maybe more people were exposed to it beforehand? Or Europe just likes bad Nate Ruess impersonators.

[ratgirlagogo]

I'm one of the US viewers who saw this event for the very first time this year on Logo.  It was so much more "normal" than I was expecting it to be having only watched segments of it over the years online and I have to tell you all that I was disappointed. I remember wild over the top costuming and crazy choreography and just nutty performances in general.  What I saw on Logo  was more like American Idol or something.  Reading this forum I realize I was expecting something very different from what Eurovision actually is.

[SnideAsides]

They tweaked the old voting format a few years ago because the same countries were missing out every year, and the change they made meant only the 'conventional' songs were qualifying, so the last couple of years most countries have been aiming for middle-of-the-road radio-friendly dance tracks (and most of them were hiring Swedish songwriters as a result). This year's new format wasn't announced until countries were in the middle of picking their songs, so it may have been a holdover from that. Hopefully next year will be wackier.

[joelene]

Yep, and now that there's a semi final you have to win before the final it means the wackier entries don't make it through. It's a damn shame. I still love the whole thing but it was definitely more fun 10-20 years ago. 

[SnideAsides]

I do wonder if they need to perhaps work out some system of weighting votes so that the playing field is levelled a bit for countries that rarely get anyone voting for them (not just the obvious western countries; Bulgaria's only qualified twice (and ended up top-five both times), Macedonia's only qualified once in the last nine years, and the Czech Republic got through for the first time this year, plus other places like Latvia and Slovenia also have terrible records) and against the countries that are pretty much guaranteed to qualify and end up on the left side of the scoreboard just by turning up (Russia, Ukraine, and Azerbaijan have never missed a final in any year they've competed, and Romania (who got disqualified for not paying old debts on time) and Greece both missed out for the first time this year; Armenia and Sweden have also only missed out once).

The organisers clearly know there's a problem with regional votes, given the semi-final draws are done so traditional voting blocs are split up as much as possible, but all that actually means is a country like Switzerland that basically only has one or two semi-final allies anyway (Austria and maybe Belgium at a stretch; the only other countries it really has any attachment to are Big Five members that qualify automatically and microstates that have either quit the contest or never competed) is screwed when it gets drawn in the other semi, especially when the format means they're up against the traditional point trading of the ex-Soviet countries and the Nordic countries and so forth, and especially when their own points also have to go somewhere.

[Bill1978]

From what I understand UK was originally ignored because of the invasion of Afghanistan - well that's when they started to drop on the table. And it seems now that they must continue to be 'punsihed' but yet a country like Russia that has been getting booed for a couple of years (for a variety of different issues) can still succeed at Eurovision. I don't think I will ever understand voting in Eurovision.

[SnideAsides]

I think the Afghanistan logic was basically just the BBC not wanting to take the blame for so badly fucking up the national final that year (only four songs to pick from, with three dull Idol coronation ballads) that Jemini kind of won by default. And then their refusal to change the format led to all their other bad songs until they decided to make Andrew Lloyd Webber play the piano on stage one year.

It's the same kind of issue they had this year, to be honest - it was good they brought back the national final and moved it to an arena rather than a dinky studio at the BBC, but with only six songs it was too much of a "vote for the least mediocre" situation. And with Joe & Jake being semi-known names courtesy of The Voice and getting the patented Idol Pimp Slot by performing last, it was basically a foregone conclusion that they were the winners. I don't think they necessarily need to follow Sweden's format and have so many songs they need weeks and weeks of semi finals beforehand, but they should at least bump the final up to ten or twelve songs so that an actual Best Song wins rather than a Least Worst Song.

Also Ireland needs to stop literally making their selection a segment on a late-night talk show, but that's an argument for another day.

[Cosmic Muffin]

I watched the 4 hours Logo aired and really enjoyed it, well, mainly the first two hours not so much the two hours of tallying votes. I had recorded this, and then I had my appendix out and was hanging around the house on painkillers. This show was perfect for that. I enjoyed Carson and Michelle as the US hosts. As they were, I was a bit baffled by the Swedish comment about there always being room in the butt. Must be an idiom we don't have or that doesn't translate well. I really liked the Romanian song, and the Israeli song and many of the others. Well done, and I look forward to next year. I hope they air the semi finals as well. I wouldn't mind them keeping the US hosts, either.

[QueBueno]

Cosmic Muffin, I had the exact opposite reaction to the US hosts.  They made stupid comments throughout, and talked over the hosts and other parts of the show that I was trying to listen to.  I normally like Carson Kressly (wasn't familiar with the other cohost), but I hope they won't be back next year.  I had only seen parts of Eurovision in the past, but I thought it would be more over the top.

[basset hound]

Cosmic Muffin might've been watching a different show, as Romania wasn't in the contest this year.

[Bill1978]

As someone who has watched many years of Eurovision, I definitely think this year wasn't the best year for 'over the topness' From the costumes, the presentation, to the songs. It was very very subdued. The most Eurovisionesque of all the entries was San Marino's in my opinion. Having said all that I did enjoy the fact that the presentation for the majority of the songs focused on the performer and allowed the song to shine (or not in some cases) on their own merits, instead of using background nonsense to make their songs stand out (as described in the song Love Love Peace Peace)

[Cosmic Muffin]

On 5/28/2016 at 11:04 PM, basset hound said:

Cosmic Muffin might've been watching a different show, as Romania wasn't in the contest this year.

Romania were in the contest and they were awesome, if you take enough pain pills! They won!!! I also loved the Brazilian duet with Antarctica for the half time show!

I kid, sorry, I meant I really liked Bulgaria (Poli Genova, singing If Love Was A Crime), not Romania, which I know is a totally different country. I do blame the pain pills for my mix up. No disrespect to Romania or Bulgaria.

[vavera4ka]

I did like Bulgaria too.

And Romania... they were my top 5 before they were disqualified... they would have made the contest better, and more in tune with what it used to be. their song was overly dramatic and faux-epic lol throw in gothic costumes and guy liner... why did EBU have to punish them!

[NutMeg]

Hey, watched way after the event to see what everyone was talking about, and while I found a few alright, my favorite was Cyprus (I think, the rock sound number?)