Don't hate the UK song but it has strong "eliminated in Andra Chansen" energy
― TWELVE Michelob stars?!? (seandalai), Friday, 10 March 2023 12:39 (one year ago) link
Albania always a favourite of mine, but this year it looked like they botched it with a mess of a song - but lo and behold, they dusted it off and remixed it, and now it sounds awesome, love the drill bass (!) that's in there at some points, just a fabulous melange of modern and traditional sounds and instruments:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mp8OG4ApocIAlbina & Familja Kelmendi • Duje
― at bottom, wrapping my arms around some tripe called "Quest" (breastcrawl), Tuesday, 14 March 2023 21:12 (one year ago) link
another big favourite this year:
Latvia's Sudden Lights with "Aijā": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRV2-jPqaUw
― at bottom, wrapping my arms around some tripe called "Quest" (breastcrawl), Tuesday, 14 March 2023 21:17 (one year ago) link
*personal* favourite obv, both of them, neither of these will make it to the final unfortunately.
the Spanish and Czech entries, sister acts in a way, will do much better:
Blanca Paloma • Eaea: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxuO0qZITko
Vesna • My Sister's Crown: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-y78qgDlzAM
― at bottom, wrapping my arms around some tripe called "Quest" (breastcrawl), Tuesday, 14 March 2023 21:21 (one year ago) link
I also love our Dutch entry. it goes (pretty shamelessly) for a Duncan Lawrence x Common Linnets hybrid, but it actually works imvho. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOf-oKDlO6AMia Nicolai & Dion Cooper • Burning Daylight
would never give this type of stuff the time of day outside of Euro season, but I'm glad to have this yearly opportunity to indulge in it
Loreen winning again would be the boringest thing ever btw. the song is okay, but it offers nothing new, it's a retreat. please remain a Eurovision icon, don't become a mascot. one Johnny Logan is plenty, thank you.
― at bottom, wrapping my arms around some tripe called "Quest" (breastcrawl), Tuesday, 14 March 2023 21:38 (one year ago) link
Agreed that Czechia is pretty choice. And agreed on Loreen so here's hoping not, I'm still giving it to their neighbors across the Gulf of Bothnia.
Full playlist of all 37 choices is now up:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJ21grjN6wU
But if you just need a summary:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LC9LgRDtRU
― Ned Raggett, Sunday, 19 March 2023 21:56 (one year ago) link
Anyway made my annual Eurowhat appearance -- and among other things I got to talk about Finland so I win.
https://fireside.fm/episode/HEjpsK8z+fzttA7ls
― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 28 March 2023 14:45 (one year ago) link
First three days of rehearsals for the semis done -- gotta say most everything looks pretty solid. Should be a hell of an entertaining week next week!
― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 2 May 2023 23:59 (one year ago) link
Who's watching the semis tonight? It feels like this one's stacked in comparison to Thursday's bout.
― emil.y, Tuesday, 9 May 2023 15:57 (one year ago) link
yes, just seen the draw, should be excellent tonight
― nxd, Tuesday, 9 May 2023 16:01 (one year ago) link
Yeah first half is easily the better of the two, but there are some good ones in the second. Just nowhere near as many!
Anyway two hours to go!
― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 9 May 2023 16:59 (one year ago) link
great performance!
― nxd, Tuesday, 9 May 2023 19:43 (one year ago) link
phenomphenomphenomenal
― danzig, Tuesday, 9 May 2023 19:50 (one year ago) link
I know this is a bit off-topic but I just wanted to point out that imho this song from Italy that ALMOST made it (Placed 2nd at the Sanremo festival) would've been my favorite:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5ab7U9RVLE
― daavid, Tuesday, 9 May 2023 20:03 (one year ago) link
Fucking hell, far too many good songs in this semi final.
― emil.y, Tuesday, 9 May 2023 20:20 (one year ago) link
yep what a finale that was
― nxd, Tuesday, 9 May 2023 20:21 (one year ago) link
want to see the following qualifyFinland, Israel, Moldova, Sweden, Croatia, Norway, Czechia, Netherlands, Portugal, Serbia
― danzig, Tuesday, 9 May 2023 20:25 (one year ago) link
finland, croatia and moldova my choice picksmy outfit for saturday mirrors netherlands' so them too
― nxd, Tuesday, 9 May 2023 20:26 (one year ago) link
Croatia, Norway, Finland, Czechia, Serbia, Moldova... but a bunch of the other ones were really good too.
― emil.y, Tuesday, 9 May 2023 20:31 (one year ago) link
excellent results
― nxd, Tuesday, 9 May 2023 21:10 (one year ago) link
Very very pleased with these results. Saturday is going to be immense.
― emil.y, Tuesday, 9 May 2023 21:26 (one year ago) link
Yep, semi 1 is absolutely the stronger of the two and got rid of a lot of chaff today (not all, Switzerland getting through is garbage). Semi 2 will be chaos but a couple of good acts in there that should go through, and given the relative strength of the autoqualifiers Saturday should indeed be a hell of a treat.
― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 9 May 2023 21:59 (one year ago) link
Was very glad Albania got through tonight, what a great performance.
― emil.y, Thursday, 11 May 2023 21:23 (one year ago) link
Yeah Albania and Slovenia were my two levelled-up-in-performance choices, and well deserved from both. Some 'eh' numbers inevitably got through because the first semi was so stacked in comparison but otherwise everyone who I already wanted to go through in this semi -- Australia, Austria, Belgium -- did.
― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 11 May 2023 21:33 (one year ago) link
Oof, you liked Belgium? I hated that one!
I liked Georgia and it was a shame that they didn't get through, but honestly I need a few songs that I don't like otherwise the final will be too exhausting.
― emil.y, Thursday, 11 May 2023 21:40 (one year ago) link
Lithuania my favourite of this crop, Albania having her mum and dad as backing singers was v cute
― nxd, Thursday, 11 May 2023 21:49 (one year ago) link
Oh Belgium wasn't spectacularly great -- very much a song that knows its market and a classic case of everything around the core performer doing the heavy lifting! -- but it was sweet enough in its own way.
Speaking of 'everything around' that's KINDA how I feel about Lithuania but the song does carry the performer well enough when it fully gets going.
I wouldn't've minded swapping out Armenia for Iceland, but at least Greece got the heave-ho.
― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 11 May 2023 22:00 (one year ago) link
Lithuania and Albania were the two I voted for, and for once I did ok on predictions: 9/10. The six that I really liked got through, and the three that I hated didn’t, so yay.
― mike t-diva, Thursday, 11 May 2023 22:02 (one year ago) link
Man, Denmark really crashed and burned. No pun intended.
― Frederik B, Friday, 12 May 2023 07:56 (one year ago) link
Lithuania is 22nd of 26 in tomorrow night's running order (Sweden and Finland are both performed a lot earlier), and the odds this morning were an astonishing 300/1. I have never placed an online bet before, but an each-way at these odds was screaming to be placed. It was our clear favourite last night, anyway.
― mike t-diva, Friday, 12 May 2023 10:21 (one year ago) link
Checking in here!
― kinder, Friday, 12 May 2023 10:40 (one year ago) link
xp thanks for the tip, can confirm it's still 300-1 at ladbrokes
― the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Friday, 12 May 2023 11:07 (one year ago) link
I’ve missed most of the semis this year, kind of into that stupid Austrian meme song. Will watch the final ofc
― Everybody's gonna get what they got coming (gyac), Friday, 12 May 2023 11:13 (one year ago) link
Checking ebay for that sweet Denmark outfit
― nxd, Friday, 12 May 2023 12:49 (one year ago) link
Some mutterings of mine about some of my favorites.
― Ned Raggett, Friday, 12 May 2023 23:13 (one year ago) link
my favourites tonight: Austria, Israel, Czechia, Portugal, Finland
Loreen winning will be pretty boring but I've long ago made my peace with not caring about the results
― TWELVE Michelob stars?!? (seandalai), Saturday, 13 May 2023 15:29 (one year ago) link
I've wound up convincing myself that Finland will win and being very excited for it. Usually I just assume that my favourites won't do well and am happy as long as they get a few points. I'm not even sure that Finland are my very favourite (I love a lot of tracks this year) but I feel like they totally deserve the win and I'll be gutted if they don't get it.
― emil.y, Saturday, 13 May 2023 15:52 (one year ago) link
team finland too, croatia on penultimate will hopefully benefit themwill be quite funny as Europe will just be talking about that performance while the uk are on
― nxd, Saturday, 13 May 2023 15:55 (one year ago) link
Deservedly.
― Ned Raggett, Saturday, 13 May 2023 16:13 (one year ago) link
Half hour to the madness!
― Ned Raggett, Saturday, 13 May 2023 18:26 (one year ago) link
Personal favourites: Spain and France.Top Ten prediction:1 Finland2 Israel (their position in the draw will give it a boost)3 Sweden 4 Spain5 Lithuania 6 Ukraine7 Germany 8 Slovenia9 UK10 AlbaniaLast: Portugal just below Italy.With a much stronger first half than second half, it’s quite an open competition this year. Were the draw reversed, the predictions would be very different.
― mike t-diva, Saturday, 13 May 2023 18:54 (one year ago) link
the kate middleton eurovision cameo just go booed in liverpool. absolutely scenes— William Rayfet Hunter (@willhunterr) May 13, 2023
― Everybody's gonna get what they got coming (gyac), Saturday, 13 May 2023 19:08 (one year ago) link
VERKA
― Everybody's gonna get what they got coming (gyac), Saturday, 13 May 2023 19:15 (one year ago) link
enjoyed the retro vibes of Portugal
― contrapuntal aversion (Noodle Vague), Saturday, 13 May 2023 19:28 (one year ago) link
Austria is going to be hard to top
― xyzzzz__, Saturday, 13 May 2023 19:30 (one year ago) link
Swiss lad reminded me of Rag'n'Bone Man, that's not a good thing
― contrapuntal aversion (Noodle Vague), Saturday, 13 May 2023 19:32 (one year ago) link
oh i like Serbia's movie theme thing tho
― contrapuntal aversion (Noodle Vague), Saturday, 13 May 2023 19:39 (one year ago) link
It's excellent.
Poland didn't have any killer moves.
― xyzzzz__, Saturday, 13 May 2023 19:41 (one year ago) link
ENEMY DEFEATED
― Everybody's gonna get what they got coming (gyac), Saturday, 13 May 2023 19:41 (one year ago) link
generally a sign that something is interesting if G Norton is sniffy about it
― contrapuntal aversion (Noodle Vague), Saturday, 13 May 2023 19:42 (one year ago) link
Fucking bullshit!@!
― emil.y, Saturday, 13 May 2023 23:03 (one year ago) link
Nonsense
― Everybody's gonna get what they got coming (gyac), Saturday, 13 May 2023 23:03 (one year ago) link
Ugh
― xyzzzz__, Saturday, 13 May 2023 23:03 (one year ago) link
Ban jury votes
Only beat Finland due to the jury votes and people remembering her far superior Euphoria #Eurovision2023 pic.twitter.com/rzxV1iqsIs— Samplo Corvodina (@TreborRhurbarb) May 13, 2023
― xyzzzz__, Saturday, 13 May 2023 23:06 (one year ago) link
backed 2nd 3rd and 4th ffs, blatant match fixing by the juries
― or something, Saturday, 13 May 2023 23:07 (one year ago) link
I agree with the outrage and Finland should have won of course, but the Sweden song is still good, sorry.
― the world is your octopus (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Saturday, 13 May 2023 23:08 (one year ago) link
So near and yer so far. At least Loreen IS iconic, if it had been some more run of the mill singer I would have contemplated violence.
― Ned Raggett, Saturday, 13 May 2023 23:12 (one year ago) link
NEW CONSPIRACY THEORY JUST DROPPED https://t.co/C9Qan1Wynk— Jay Hulme (@JayHulmePoet) May 13, 2023
― xyzzzz__, Saturday, 13 May 2023 23:14 (one year ago) link
Haha, my god, I literally just said that we should start that conspiracy theory to my Eurovision groupchat.
― emil.y, Saturday, 13 May 2023 23:17 (one year ago) link
get your rewards new NATO members Sweden and Finland#letsconspireaway
― slugbuggy, life has new meaning to me (breastcrawl), Saturday, 13 May 2023 23:19 (one year ago) link
That's an interesting point, though a few good tracks got shafted and Eurovision tracks play with the edges of what is novelty.
The industry juries sometimes come away with different prefs to the general audience because they sit listening to all the songs carefully on recordings for a long time which most of the popular audience don't. That format makes ballads better and cheap novelty tactics worse— hos and trichs 🆓 (@fireh9lly) May 14, 2023
― xyzzzz__, Sunday, 14 May 2023 08:12 (one year ago) link
juries mostly made up of boring conservatives, but sometimes act as a check and balance against public "voting for the narrative" trends, in short the voting is the boring bit of Eurovision i just turned off when the songs had finished
― contrapuntal aversion (Noodle Vague), Sunday, 14 May 2023 08:22 (one year ago) link
like watching an ILM poll work itself out in real time
don't really remember the details of last year but wasn't it the public vote that gave Ukraine the Eurovision Being Invaded Is Bad award?
― contrapuntal aversion (Noodle Vague), Sunday, 14 May 2023 08:24 (one year ago) link
Doesn't the narrative around various entries start at the latest several weeks before the contest? And aren't most viewers unaware of these narratives anyway? If there was a narrative around the Portugal entry for example I wasn't aware of it. This year both the public and jury votes were in accord regarding the winner and the act that came last. (German entry: glam + Rammstein = Glamstein? I'm not going to get a chance to make that joke again)
― you gotta roll with the pączki to get to what's real (snoball), Sunday, 14 May 2023 08:33 (one year ago) link
Missed it for once. Last year saw the demise of the usual whining about how everyone hates the British because
1. The Empire or sumthin'2. Brexit3. They're just jealous
So I wonder if it'll make a comeback in spite of Boris Johnson being canonised in Kyiv and the UK handing out missiles to the Ukraine like sweeties (and making sure everyone knows about it).
― Maggot Bairn (Tom D.), Sunday, 14 May 2023 09:12 (one year ago) link
Why shouldn't the UK be handing out missiles to "the" Ukraine like sweeties?
― lord of the rongs (anagram), Sunday, 14 May 2023 11:44 (one year ago) link
take it to the rolling proxy wars thread
― contrapuntal aversion (Noodle Vague), Sunday, 14 May 2023 12:32 (one year ago) link
Finland was joyous - the true winner obv. The crowd shouting "cha cha cha" at random points throughout the night made it feel like a moment.
I wonder if there's any good writing about the effect of rules changes on songs and staging - e.g. those video effects that you can now do at the beginning, I don't think anyone really worked out how to make use of them; the introduction of prerecorded backing vocals seems to mean that the "six people on stage" budget is getting spent on dancers rather than singers hiding at the rear of the stage.
― TWELVE Michelob stars?!? (seandalai), Sunday, 14 May 2023 13:27 (one year ago) link
Good page for looking at stats: https://eurovisionworld.com/eurovision/2023
There would have been plenty to complain about in a public-only vote too, but I'm still seething about Sweden beating Finland.
― contrapuntal aversion (Noodle Vague)
This was a good thing, not a bad thing.
― emil.y, Sunday, 14 May 2023 14:00 (one year ago) link
'Stefania' being actually good helped a lotCouldn't understand the love for the Israel and Italy entries.
― nashwan, Sunday, 14 May 2023 17:54 (one year ago) link
Very slickly professional and competent-as-such enough to win a ton of jury votes, plus a little televote love. Unsurprising in the end.
― Ned Raggett, Sunday, 14 May 2023 17:58 (one year ago) link
I am absolutely not getting the love for Hannah Waddingham, at all. She was truly awful in every way.
― boxedjoy, Monday, 15 May 2023 07:12 (one year ago) link
She's getting the dads to watch it.
― xyzzzz__, Monday, 15 May 2023 07:19 (one year ago) link
Speaking as a dad, I love her, but in my experience it is the mums who are her core constituency.
― Piedie Gimbel, Monday, 15 May 2023 07:30 (one year ago) link
i liked her as a host, personally
― werewolves of laudanum (VegemiteGrrl), Monday, 15 May 2023 07:54 (one year ago) link
Norton looked pretty grumpy a lot of the time but did laugh at his "it's juries, not Tinder" line.
― nashwan, Monday, 15 May 2023 09:35 (one year ago) link
Oh, Hannah Waddingham was the SHAME nun from Game of Thrones, knew there was something she was familiar from
― hiroyoshi tins in (Sgt. Biscuits), Monday, 15 May 2023 09:37 (one year ago) link
yeah it took me a little while to realise that also
― nashwan, Monday, 15 May 2023 09:38 (one year ago) link
Guess you don't watch Ted Lasso, then?
― lord of the rongs (anagram), Monday, 15 May 2023 10:15 (one year ago) link
Her mugging for the camera and "posh totty" persona just rubbed me up the wrong way completely. She reminded me of being 18 and meeting women who would say "oh I LOVE gay men let's be bffs!!!" because they expected us to be constantly quoting Mean Girls and singing Kylie
― boxedjoy, Monday, 15 May 2023 17:07 (one year ago) link
― Everybody's gonna get what they got coming (gyac), Monday, 15 May 2023 17:15 (one year ago) link
"COMING SOON - Online auction of Eurovision 2023 props and costumes"
https://auctions.ramco.uk/auctions/8565/ramco-11297
― koogs, Friday, 26 May 2023 15:35 (one year ago) link