Time to do something about the juries

Last night I tweeted how disappointing it was to see the juries do Finland dirty. Some people interpreted that as me being a bad loser (the eurovision online fans were always easy to rub the wrong way) but this goes back to something I have been saying for many years: the jury system needs to be reformed.

I repeat myself - just to be very clear - that this is not a case about Loreen. She was a well deserved winner if you ask me, even if the viewers at home largely disagreed.

To be perfectly clear: I don't want the juries gone. I am a big fan of juries and I support the idea that juries should reward things the televoting crowds could overlook on a first listen. But that's not what the juries are doing.

In recent years, time and time again the juries have punished edgy and creative entries and instead rewarded safer efforts instead. This problem is however far from new.

Ever since the current points system was introduced in 1975, the way the juries vote has one big flaw. When a group of people decide their points together, the winner will be a compromise. Instead of rewarding the most relevant och interesting songs, a jury is going to reward the songs that most people can agree upon and like at least a bit.

Everything that displeases one or several jurors - maybe for being too contemporary, for being too experimental, for being too commercial or even for not being "a suitable ESC entry" - will get punished in a jury system like this.

We have also seen many times how being part of a jury really can put people on the highest of horses: suddenly they refuse anything fun or lightweight or hit friendly in favour of more serious and "sophisticated" things. That's when a worldwide hit single like Gina G's "Ooh Aah Just A Little Bit" ends up with a disappointing 8th place.

The current formula of jurors ranking all the songs from first to last is not helping things. A full ranking of all the songs will inevitably become a bit arbitrary in the middle. Most people can easily identify their top favourites and the songs clearly placed at the bottom of their list. But the entries in between?

Say that a juror doesn't care for a specific song, it can still make a world of difference if they randomly place it 9th or if they randomly place it 21st.

I would like to see two major changes made to the jury system:

1. How the jurors are selected. 

These people impact the result in a big way, why are they the right people to do it? The jurors should be real professionals that don't just know music - they should also be able to read the room, pick up on what feels exciting and vibrant and also judge entries on the correct merits. (Not all entries should be judged on pitch perfect vocals, for instance, unless perfect vocals are the selling point of the entry.) I want to see less "friends of the delegations" and more people from outside the ESC bubble do the job.

2. How the jurors vote. 

I would like to remove - as far as possible - the chance for individual jurors to vote down anything they don't like. I want the jurors to vote FOR songs they like, not AGAINST things they don't get. I even have an idea how that could be possible but let's save that for another day. 

I also want full transparency of how individual jurors voted, I find that essential in order to maintain the good name of the contest.

I think the current split 50/50 between jury and televote makes for great television, so I wouldn't want to change that. I just think we have the right to expect more bravery from the jurors. If not, what is the point in having them?

Last night, the entry that won the televote in eighteen countries got nul points from no less than fourteen juries. That really isn't a feather in the hat for the current system. It needs a change and it needs it now.

Screenshot from Wikipedia

ESC 2023: a few quick thoughts about the result

The final is over and the big favourite Loreen won. It's a sensational victory in many ways: Loreen is only the second main performer ever to win twice and Sweden now equals Ireland's record of seven victories.

Make no mistake: Loreen is a very deserved winner. Winning once is very hard, winning twice is as good as impossible. To be The Thing twice is really out of this world.

We know for sure that SVT will give us a terrific final next year. We know they can do it. They have done it many times before.

Finland ended in an equally sensational second place. To think that a weird and experimental song in Finnish - performed by a rapper, not a singer - could get so close to winning the ESC is really wild and extraordinary.

However, it is hard not to feel just a bit disappointed. Not because Finland didn't win but because of the way Finland didn't win. The juries really did Käärijä dirty. Fourteen juries giving nul points to "Cha Cha Cha" really feels like a slap on the face.

Some day soon - maybe already tomorrow - I will write a post on why the current jury system is long past its expiry date and needs a complete overhaul.

As for the last place - I know I predicted Poland but also wrote a comment on Facebook how it would make more sense to predict the UK or Germany. Oh dear.

Anyway, congratulations to Queen Loreen. And in almost every way Finland won too. So congratulations to us all!

ESC 2023, semi 2: what about the songs that left us?

All the envelopes have been opened and the line-up for the 2023 Eurovision final is complete. We'll get back to the finalists, but let's spend a moment contemplating the songs that were voted off the island tonight.

I did a terrible job predicting the finalists - I only got seven correct out of ten - but maybe it's not all my fault. It was an even field and the outcome was destined to be a bit arbitrary. Plus Europe made some odd choices. It's not me, it's you.

Anyway, the entries gone with the wind are:

ROMANIA. I have no idea what they thought they were doing but they sure worked hard to achieve it. The visuals were better than in the national final but nothing else was. Mystifying. Maybe Romania should give internal selection a go next year?

SAN MARINO is a little gem of sorts, a clunky schlager rocker with a shouty finish. Doomed from the word go but also entertaining in a way you wouldn't want to miss out on. I hope they don't give up on their national final for next year, all they need are better jurors.

Many spent the whole season thinking GEORGIA had it in the bag but when it mattered all the wild drama turned static and not particularly engaging. Only a minor surprise to see it drop out in the end.

ICELAND had showed great energy and a fresh approach to performing but the song never spoke to me. Few things jive less than a performer super excited about a song that is meh at best.

DENMARK went for an unusually contemporary sound for being them, a shame that didn't pay off. But while Reiley is an adorable personality he doesn't have the voice or the stage presence needed to carry a song by himself.

Finally my heart is bleeding a bit for Victor Vernicos from GREECE, who is really gifted but had the misfortune of getting chosen too soon. Had he been given two or three more years to grow and develop he could have been a Greek Paradise Oskar. I hope somebody gives him a hug and reminds him what a talent he is and that there's still a future in music for him. There must be.

I wasn't really surprised by Cyprus qualifying but Albania made my face grow long. Not to mention Poland. But more about them in time for the final where we could be heading for an epic battle of Sweden vs Finland. 

ESC 2023, semi 1: what about the songs that left us?

The first semi final is over, we have ten new songs for Saturday and much more of an idea what this year's final could shape up to be. A few surprises because there had to be: there were more than ten songs tonight that would have deserved to qualify.

In my own prediction I got 8 out of 10 finalists correct and I have to be pleased with that. There were a bunch of songs that felt like they were drawing lots for who would proceed and who would flunk.

MALTA is my biggest disappointment. The band put up great energy and I find that saxophone hook really catchy. What a shame it didn't pay off to go for a song written by domestic songwriters, I really hope they won't go back to buying C-level Melodifestivalen rejects in coming years. Maltese songwriters deserve this chance to show off their craft abroad.

I'm equally sad about LATVIA. This was a quality entry performed in good voice and - at least by the end - pretty decent camera contact. I'm not really sure why Latvia keeps getting it wrong or what they should try for next year. Would it be time to do an internal selection and see if that would pay off better.

IRELAND deserved every inch of their NQ, I'm afraid. A very square and formulaic tune performed with zero conviction by a singer who couldn't even be bothered to pretend to sing the high notes.

AZERBAIJAN fills me with very conflicting feelings. Again I would have wanted to like it when they finally went for a local product again at long last. But while the boys were charming, their song was nowhere near strong enough. Every time it threatened to go somewhere it would stop and start over.

The NETHERLANDS had a very pretty song but already during the performance I know it was Game Over. While the duo hit their notes better than they had in the lead-up to the contest, they still seemed deeply insecure and it was anything but pleasant to watch and listen. 

As for the show, the BBC put on a really good show where great attention had been paid to graphics, inserts, interval acts and postcards. It all looked fantastic on my tv. However - and I will have to watch again before using too big words here - I'm not sure the directing of the entries was always the best possible. 

I'm also pleased how present Ukraine was in every heartbeat during the show, that was very well executed all throughout.

Time for bed - on Thursday we find ourselves another ten finalists.

ESC 2022: Ukraine did it again

You know the feeling when Eurovision is over and your head is boiling and you should go to bed but you really feel the need to blog a bit in order for your thoughts not to get too filtered through sleep?

So. Team Ukraine won. Big style. Like the bookmakers had thought they would ever since March. I had expected them to end in a dignified second place but the support from the televote was deafening.

In the end, the pop entries from the UK, Spain and Sweden had nothing on the etno-flute-rap served up by Kalush Orchestra. A strong entry that could have won any old year but that turned invincible by the emotional twist of cruel reality.

In case you know me, you know I am a pop kid who would want the most likely commercial hit to win the ESC. Even the slightest suspicion that something won because of anything else than hit factor is usually a big no in my book. But this is not our average year. This is a very unusual and very disturbing time. How can we expect any corner of our lives and cultures to be untouched by that?

The voting turned out to be very exciting although a bit shaky. Why was Laura Pausini absent for most of it? What happened to the countries that could not be contacted? Why did the hosts have to win time at deeply illogical places? 

A very large number of voting irregularities had been spotted in the semi finals. Would it be time to shrink the voting window down (and maybe get the voting started some ten-fifteen minutes after the last song) and see if that makes it harder to try and manipulate things? Or was it juries that behaved badly?

Speaking of irregularities but somebody has to mention Azerbaijan. The votes they received from the juries were odd to put it gently and the fact they qualified on jury vote alone while getting zero points from the viewers is astounding. For how much longer do we have to put up with their games?

Some things surprised me but I will content myself with saying how deeply sorry I am about the French fiasco. Going from a hot favourite to second last in a matter of days without really doing anything wrong is brutal. I hope the team doesn't give up - hang in there, la France. 

And then the big question... where will we go to next year? There is no way Ukraine can undertake an event like the ESC in 2023, even if the war was over tomorrow. The logical thing would be to ask the UK or Spain if they want to host, but would they want to without winning? Would they rather try to win it next year instead of hosting as a consolation prize?

Next year's contest is likely to be hosted by some EBU member broadcaster that could take it on without their budget taking too much of a hit while remaining relatively invisible and make room for a large input from Ukrainian television. I'd say the obvious choice would be Germany but what would that look like, now that they scored their third last place in ten years?

So many question and so little sleep ahead. Sweet dreams and may many of the entries live long and prosper in the charts.

ESC 2022, semi 2: what about the songs that left us?

The two semi finals are done and the lineup for Saturday's final is complete. The second semi final saw an unfortunate amount of awkward pauses where the hosts had to improvise like there was no tomorrow and ended with a few surprises.

Eight entries lost out and in my prediction I got eight out of ten finalists right. I should feel pleased but some things surprised me as well.

Let's get back to the finalists before the final but who lost out and why? 

The saddest thing for me is that the force of nature that is Achille Lauro didn't take San Marino to the final. Admittedly "Stripper" was not the strongest number in his catalogue - far from it - and he should have entered something stronger. But still. Having one more Italian stage in the final would have been nice for Rai.

The other familiar face for the home audience that lost out was Malta's Emma, which was less surprising. Not an exactly spotless performance of a very anonymous song. I was way more disappointed to see Cyprus go but Andromache had very low energy and didn't break through the cameras. What a pity.

North Macedonia and Montenegro both performed well. The former had a weak entry and the latter just missed the beat on what the audience wanted. The Big Balkan Ballad's comeback moment isn't just yet.

Ireland had a trashy 80's energy that would have been welcome in the final but it came across as a tiny bit tame and disorganised. On a similar note, what could have been a piece of splendid and explosive madness from Georgia just turned surprisingly static. 

The one exit I must admit to being very pleased with - proving myself really petty at the same time - is Israel. Not only was the song a thin soup with few nutritious elements, his performance in the green room was one of the cringiest things I have seen in a long time. You do not disturb the hosts during a live show and that is the first rule in the book. Unbearable.

So. Let's recharge some batteries (and do some other things in between) and then it's time to pick a winner.

ESC 2022, semi 1: what about the songs that left us?

 

The first semi came to an end and here we stand with ten finalists. I am pretty pleased with having predicted nine of them correctly and at one point I admit I let out a tiny happy yahoo during the revelation segment.

I had already resigned to the fact that we'd lose Lithuania - one of my big personal favourites this year, but one I feared was too demanding to hit home on a first listen. I'll focus more on the tremendous Monika Liu and the other finalists later in the week, but what went wrong for the seven songs that left us?

Albania and Latvia - the two first to take to the stage - both wanted a lot but were visually all over the place. Frenetic while lacking a certain focus at the same time, difficult to pick up on if you heard the for the first time. Probably no jury favourites and left to the mercy of the viewers.

Bulgaria and Denmark both tried to rock the house down but both were let down by very basic songs. The Bulgarian rock uncles were doing the same poses that Denmark made with more conviction but both entries were surprisingly un-heavy in the end.

Slovenia's lads were awfully sweet but never stood any sort of chance and the same goes for Croatia. I can't even put my finger on what didn't work for Croatia - there was a polished song in a polished performance by a likeable singer - but probably the whole thing got a bit anonymous. I would not be surprised if Croatia ended in 11th place again.

The one I got wrong was Austria and I was a bit surprised to see it go. Maybe Pia Maria is not the most precise vocalist we have ever heard but the whole thing had energy and joy - Lumix is possibly the happiest DJ I have ever seen - and a sense of 90's nostalgia I thought would overcome the cascade of sick notes.

I'm especially surprised to see Switzerland being the one taking the spot I thought was Austria's. I like the song but thought the performance was stiff and a bit awkward. I can only suppose the jurors saw qualities in Marius Bear while tanking Austria completely. But I don't want to take the happiness away from Switzerland that now qualified for the third consecutive edition. Well done.

More drama coming up on Thursday with ten new finalists to predict in what I find the weaker of the two semis this year.

ESC 2021: I say it because I care

 

In a statement to Aftonbladet's Torbjörn Ek, the EBU has responded to the questions raised around Moldova's odd-looking results from the televoting in the second semi final. 

The EBU maintains all votes have been verified by their partners and that the result is valid and that there will be no further investigation of the matter. So that's that.

We don't really know what this means, of course. Maybe it is EBU speak that means they have no intention to discuss the matter further in public. Maybe they will still bring this onto the agenda for future editions.

Of course it is a bit embarrassing that the EBU partners don't discover what looks like a clear case of vote manipulation. They didn't notice anything wrong in 2013 either, until several newspapers published stories on attempted manipulation.

The EBU is the body that organises this contest. They write the rules and decide upon the interpretation of those very rules. It is their right not to investigate if they feel there is no reason to.

However, I am not sure that Estonian viewers for instance will feel particularly inclined to vote in the future if their votes don't matter and are open to be tampered with.

It is also possible that Denmark lost their place in the final if the Moldovan delegation manipulated the votes. I don't think it will be easier convincing singers and songwriters to go into competition if there is even the slightest suspicion you can get booted out in favour of someone paying their way in.

I remember the 90's, when a small group of countries kept swapping points between them, year after year. Nothing was ever investigated or proven back then either but a very quick look on the voting patterns is enough to smell a rat.

I love this old song contest but one of its major foundations - just as important as the entries if not more - is trust. Why should viewers and producers and songwriters and broadcasters invest time and money and effort in a contest where bending the rules is fine?

I think not addressing this situation is the wrong way to go. I don't say it to annoy anyone but because I care. 

ESC 2021: Italy rocked Eurovision - at last

 

Four hours of Eurovision final later and it finally paid off to be Italy and continuously enter top talent - their biggest names that have already conquered the Sanremo festival. If that's not a seal of approval, I don't know what would be.

My prediction went pretty well in the end as well. My predicted top four all had a top five finish, only not in the order I thought. 

I'm honestly a bit disappointed it wasn't to be Switzerland in the end. A shame that Gjon's Tears didn't hit home more with the viewers. But for him, as a new talent, a third place is a sensational result. Maybe better than a victory in the long run.

Switzerland and France (and the entire top six, in fact) showed that the old cliché is true: if you are yourself, work hard, do your best and have a bit of luck nothing is impossible. Now I hope especially France will remember this moment and not let their momentum slip. I want to see a French victory in the next few years.

Finland's sixth place is our second best showing ever (shared with Marion in 1973). Now the big task is to show we can do well with other types of music than rock. How about some excellent dark electropop next year?

Malta took over Sweden's old stunt of getting lots of points from the juries and then very little from the viewers. If you look at the the top six again, I think Malta would do better to kick the habit of buying songs from foreign songwriters and go for local talent instead. 

Maybe let local songwriters work together with some more internationally renowned name? Worked really well for Switzerland. The same lesson could apply to Cyprus, Azerbaijan and San Marino too.

If I almost nailed the top four, I unfortunately also got the bottom two correctly. I thought the UK had really ruined their chances with that staging but nul points? That was very harsh.

Which brings me to one thing I really want to change for coming years. The current way of reading out the televote results really makes the segment awkward and puts an enormous focus on individual failure. It also becomes difficult to keep track of who was actually the viewer favourite.

Go back to the old system: read the televotes quickly, in ascending order. Read the bottom 16 quickly and don't dwell on who gets nul points. It wasn't particularly pleasant to see Gjon's Tears sweat and sweat and then get disappointed. This voting sequence would have been really dramatic anyway as televote winner Italy would storm up the board and win.

But next year in Torino, right? Let's hope that event will be a bit easier to organise.

ESC 2021, semi 2: What about the songs that left us?

 

The semis are over. The lineup is complete. We know what 26 songs will fight it out to take the title and win the 2021 Eurovision Song Contest.

Just like in the first semi final, my prediction turned out rather nicely and I managed to pick nine out of ten qualifiers correctly. But just like on Tuesday, the one I got wrong meant one of my personal favourites missed out.

I'm just as blue for Denmark now as I was for Croatia then. For Denmark, this looked a bit like a new beginning at the ESC. In the last fifteen years or so, no other country have sent in as many ESC-only entries: songs that could have been created in a Eurovision Lab and that can only live and thrive within the very context of this tv show. With no life outside of it.

This year, Fyr og Flamme had been digging in the Danish pop history and made a song that could have been a local smash hit in 1986 or so. (If you don't believe me, check out my Laban playlist.) It went to number one in the charts and made the band household names. 

I'm just afraid tonight's results tells Denmark they shouldn't be themselves and contribute stuff they like but to go back to their regular stuff. And I will have to wait another two decades for a Danish entry I can like.

During the show not everyone shone, to say the least. Estonia, Czech republic and Georgia all lacked energy, Moldova didn't exactly nail every note of that performance and Poland's Old Kid On The Block was never going to go far.

Latvia had great energy but not much of a song and coming that late in the running order, you can't afford that. Austria was my borderline qualifier all along. Excellent vocal performance of a repetitive song. It could just as well have landed on the right side of the qualification line.

I could never be unhappy about Portugal going to the final but I really don't see what you see or hear what you hear. Pretentious at best, but mainly dull. Let's see how far it carries in the final.

ESC 2021, semi 1: What about the songs that left us?

 

That was it, the first semi final is in the bag. It was a really nice moment in front of the tv set (yes, I am old-fashioned) and everything went down rather well.

In my prediction I managed to get nine out of ten qualifiers correct and while I'm happy to see Belgium in the final, I feel a bit sad that Croatia was the one who had to miss out. 

I admit: it took me a while to get my head around Croatia so I can't blame anyone else for not getting it on a first listen. But I thought "Tick Tock" had a personality and a flair some of the other "girl with dancers"-entries were lacking. It's also a shame that the new ESC hype in Croatia is likely to fade out again.

I will focus on the finalists later in the week but what about the songs that missed out? 

Slovenia and North Macedonia relied too much on impressive vocals while not having songs that reached the same level. Especially Slovenia ended up sounding more aggressive than impressive in the high notes and the audience seldom enjoys that.

Ireland was the typical example of someone thinking up a smart stage concept that they decide to push through regardless if it suits the singer (or the song). The Irish number was apparently sophisticated and hard to set up but only distracted the singer from doing her job of singing the best she could. To a lesser extent, Romania's third consecutive failure comes down to the same thing. Sometimes it is better not to try so hard and focus on what matters instead.

Australia lost out for the first time and unsurprisingly so. I applaud the effort to be yourself and do something unorthodox for the contest, but "Technicolour" only ever felt complicated for the sake of being complicated. It never felt genuine or like an organic piece of songwriting. Too bad about Montaigne who is a truly fascinating performer.

So where will Australia go from here? They are still the exception in the line-up and the one in need of special permission to take part. Will they be granted a longer stay or should they focus on getting Eurovision Asia to finally take off?

Dutch tv made a good show even if they had some technical difficulties between a few of the entries. I enjoyed the full focus on performers and performances without having camera shots obstructed by huge flags or having close-ups of random people in the audience during the songs. I want to see the audience before and after the songs, not during. Can we take a note of this for future years, please?

Without commenting further on the current situation I was also happy to see Eden Alene get a place in the final. She performed really well and it was a relief that she was judged on that and nothing else.

Time to catch some sleep and then we regroup and refocus and look forwards to semi final 2 on Thursday.

ESC 2019: Hup Holland Hup

They did it. After what felt like 200 years of waiting, the Netherlands finally broke through and got a fifth victory at the Eurovision Song Contest. After an outright terrible run of entries, somebody at Dutch television decided to shape up in 2013 and it finally paid off.

"Arcade" is a lovely, contemporary song. I saw it as a potential winner all through the season but never thought it would actually win in the end. It seemed a bit too moody, a bit too demanding. And the disappointment would have been too great if I predicted them and they failed.

The winner could translate into the well-needed commercial success I've been missing for the last few years and possibly Duncan himself could have a shot at a lasting career.

Now it is anybody's guess where the final will be held next year. Amsterdam? The Hague? Rotterdam? Somewhere else? Is there a suitable arena in Hilversum as a nod to Eurovision history?

My personal winner of last night was Italy. Initial reports from Tel Aviv suggested Mahmood didn't go through the cameras but when it mattered he performed the life out of his song. I found myself watching this on repeat several times today. The emotion of the last chorus is breathtaking. What a star he is!

As a political side note (since this contest tends to get a bit political now and then) I really hope Salvini was watching last night as he insinuated after Sanremo that Mahmood was not Italian enough to win.

I am also overjoyed that the juries finally saw reason and voted for Italy. Maybe next year we could finally have that Italian victory that is so long overdue.

The big surprise was - of course - North Macedonia. Just like Mahmood, Queen Tamara knew how to squeeze every little drop out of her performance and the juries poured their love over her.

Unlike some others, she also had the wit and composure to hold her poker face and give her widest smile even as the lack of televote support transpired. Anyhow she travels back with what is by far the country's best showing to date.

John Lundvik was not as lucky as the camera truly well registered his disappointment as the televote mark was read out. A sixth place is not a failure for anyone else but maybe it is for Sweden. Their songs go down a storm with the juries while the voters at home are left cold.

Has Europe finally overdosed on the Swedish perfection and craftsmanship? It sure feels like the blue and yellow domination is broken in many ways. Even if Swedish backing singers, dancers and choreographers are still heavily in demand most of the songs in the top placings were local products rather than something leased from Sweden.

The biggest challenge for Melodifestivalen in the near future is maybe just that. How to find new ideas and expressions that feel fresh and organic instead of immaculately produced and fine-tuned? Sweden would never find anything like Mahmood or Hatari with their current formula.

Hatari gave a surprisingly unfocused performance but still stood out enough to give Iceland its first top ten showing since 2009. Then they pulled their Palestine banners out and may have landed RÚV in trouble for next year.

If the EBU wants anyone to take the rules banning political messages and statements seriously, they must put their foot down. Who knows what kind of manifestation other participants will want to go through with in the future. Iceland got a firm warning before the broadcast and could therefore get fined or - possibly - disqualified for next year.

The Belarusian jury got themselves disqualified after the semi final as they shared their scores in public. Stupid and unprofessional and instead of jury points, the Belarus score was calculated according to some EBU formula.

I would very much like to know what that formula looks like as the set of points the Minsk spokesperson got to read out were outright bizarre. Full marks to Israel? High marks to Germany and Estonia? Where did these points come from?

The new way of reading out the televote scores was also a big success and kept the excitement at a maximum until the very end of the voting sequence. A real thriller and exciting like it sometimes was back in the good old days of unpredictable national juries.

What doesn't work at all is the ridiculously long voting window. No shade over any of the interval acts - maybe there was a sick note or two, but Madonna is still Madonna - but it took over an hour from the last song until we got any points. In Finland it was over one in the morning when the first jury was called up. A few years ago, the show was supposed to end around that time. I wonder how many viewers gave up and went to bed before the interval acts came to an end?

Israeli tv got better and better throughout the week. From the first rather shaky semifinal into Saturday's fun and slick final. All in all, very well done and a tough act for the Netherlands to follow.

ESC 2019, semi 2: Tobson shapes up

After the Tuesday night debacle where I only got six out of ten correct I feel back in form with 9/10. I'm pleased but tonight's results felt more logical somehow.

There was room for disappointment also during this semi: surprisingly many countries underperformed and failed at giving their entries the punch and the momentum needed to qualify.

After seeing all live performances I realised I had six countries I cared for and that wanted to see in the final: Switzerland, Sweden, Russia, Netherlands, North Macedonia and Azerbaijan. All of them made it through.

I am particularly pleased for North Macedonia. After years of disastrous performances they just nailed it. Tamara was focused and in good voice and really deserved her spot in the final.

The only one I got wrong was that we had Albania instead of Armenia and frankly I am happier like that. Armenia was vocally solid but visually poor with a surprisingly static performance.

Romania has lost their grip and gone from being a country that can't lose to failing two years in a row. Last year heads were rolling at TVR and it will be interesting to see how they play it this time around. One guess is the international judges will be scrapped in the national final next year.

Denmark, Norway and Sweden all made it, leaving Finland to be the only Nordic country outside of the final. Let's take that as a sign that UMK has given what it had to give and it is time to find a new formula for next year.

I will leave all speculation about the final for later when we know the running order. But I have a sneaky feeling San Marino might open the whole show on Saturday.

ESC 2018 - a thriller to remember

It is all over and I find myself breathing again. Oh my, what a terrific voting we had in Lisbon. How beautifully the 12-pointers were spread out all over the place and how beautifully the televote then changed everything.

This is just the way it is supposed to be. Could we order votings like this one every year?

I got three placings exactly correct: Israel 1st, Cyprus 2nd, Czech republic 6th. Apart from that I was completely off here and there. You liked some weird songs while you overlooked some really good ones. But I forgive you.

The great part about Israel winning is that we can now go back to the studio version and the excellent video clip. It was a hard song to pull off live. Netta did well but the studio version is the real deal.

Cyprus is the perfect runner-up. Slightly dated but with hit potential. Hopefully it will turn into a major hit around Europe and convince established songwriters how the ESC is worth a go.

No idea how Austria and Germany scored so well but I am very happy for them. Austria's song is far from a favourite of mine but I would never be upset about them having success. ORF has grown into a very ambitious broadcaster and deserves appreciation.

I can't help feeling a little bit bitter about the juries keeping Italy down, for the third time in four years. This is perhaps something that Rai should address in the next EBU meeting?

Finland and Portugal landed at the very bottom of the scoreboard. Neither one deserved that but you can't win every time. I just wonder where Saara Aalto will go from here. What is her next goal?

Two things really need to be discussed on a high EBU level as soon as possible. First thing - how long does the voting window have to be? Every year lately it feels like the interval acts never end.

Secondly - and most importantly - it is long overdue to do something about the arena security. This was the third time that the stage was invaded by someone who didn't belong there and what happened during the UK entry looked particularly nasty and potentially dangerous. One of these days the intruder will have a different agenda than to just shout a few words into a microphone.

Some surprises and just desserts - Semi 1 summed up

In the strongest semi final we've seen in many a good day it was obvious there would be a few surprises in store. So many songs had massive fan support and there just wasn't room for all of them in the ten envelopes.

I got eight out of ten finalists right and I am totally satisfied with that. I am even more satisfied with the fact that the two entries messing up my track record - Albania and Lithuania - both are songs I feel a great deal for and that I am genuinely happy to see successful.

As for my two qualifiers that failed to make it I still find Armenia to be a nifty little etno ballad with that nice local flavour. It's a shame that a usually successful country suddenly flops the first time they opt to sing in their own language.

I have held Belgium as a personal favourite - and potential winner - throughout the season but suddenly Sennek was ripping her own chances apart with both hands using full strength. A complete lack of staging left the song in ruins. Just like with FYR Macedonia last year, I will from now on pretend the live performance never happened, never watch it again and just focus on the studio version.

Azerbaijan missed the final for the first time. It should have happened already in 2016 but this time they didn't manage to wriggle their way in. Their complete lack of effort made this non-qualification truly deserved.

Azerbaijan's failure opens up other possibilities too. Suddenly anyone can fail and this could mean Russia will have a nervous night come Thursday.

ESC 2016: Russia vs Ukraine

It's a shame the aftermath of the ESC is so political. It is hard to discuss music when the general tone is harsh and unforgiving.

I am happy that Ukraine won. It is a daring and demanding piece of music and ot your usual happy little pop song. While I would have hoped for something slightly more commercial, I'm happy that experimental and alternative sounds stand a chance in the contest.

Several times when I tried to make this point I was met by the question if I was happy now as LGBT rights in Ukraine are almost as bad as the ones in Russia. I beg your pardon?

This was the year I really tried to keep politics out of this. Russia ditched the hypocritical peace anthems that made me see red in the past so I decided to follow suit and judge them on musical merit.

In my humble opinion the Russian song was good but not excellent while the performance was state of the art, partially very impressive, partially very cold and technical. Add all these things together and I think a third place is a really fair outcome. A result most countries would be really happy with.

Then of course the relationship between Russia and Ukraine is not an easy one. Especially not at the moment. Had a look at the Ukrainian tv news that seemed happier about being Russia than actually winning. And the tone of the many articles declaring Eurovision dead and hopeless, published by Russian "news outlet" RT, is nothing but ridiculous. At least it was nice to see Ukraine scoring highly in the Russian televote and vice versa.

Time to take a deep breath and remind ourselves this is just a song contest?

ESC 2016: Voting and stuff

Screenshot borrowed from svt.se

If you were one of the 16 countries that received a lower score in the televote it was really easy to lose track and hard to keep up with where your own country eventually landed in the ranking. That is my only criticism of the new voting sequence introduced this year.

The suspense was kept up until the very last second as Ukraine first snatched the until then seemingly dead certain Australian victory and then managed to keep it despite Russia winning the televote. Perfect drama.

Isolating the jury votes also brought back an air of Eurovision what it used to be like back in the day when I fell in love with the contest. Completely unpredictable results, someone gets a 12 from one country only to get nothing from the next.

But again I'd like to raise the same old discussion. Who is really on the jury? And what are they told to reward? Originality is one of the criteria, right?

I'm surprised that my dear Italy didn't get more love from the juries. A real quality pop song with remarkable production values and classy songwriting that was totally ignored by many juries.

Instead the likes of Lithuania and Belgium got a great deal of points. While I'm happy for two usually unlucky participant countries, I still don't see what there is in either song that would trigger such a reaction from experts.

At the same time, the juries held down Austria so much not even a strong televote finish could secure Zoë a spot in the top ten. Surprising.

ESC 2016: How do you solve a problem like Germany?

I got many things wrong in my prediction yesterday but I did foresee that Germany would end in last place for the second consecutive year. Jamie-Lee didn't deserve it, but it was understandable.

The German song was designed to live a long life in the charts, not to break through to people in three short minutes. It lacked intensity and was anything but instant. It won the German final because the audience was already familiar with it after several weeks of airplay.

Had Jamie-Lee been forced to enter the national final with a new song instead - one that would have had to impress people on a first listening - she would have had every chance to hit home better in Stockholm as well. This is something for ARD to ponder for years to come.

The UK had a pretty similar problem as they had selected a song that felt more fresh and likeable than what the audience expected. It was a good and energetic song and it was really good for being a recent UK entry. That's also the problem with it.

When you get 26 songs at once, you vote for the one that stands out and speaks to you. You don't give kind bonus points to any country just because they happen to be better than you'd expect them to be. You vote for your winner. And while the UK was good it was in no way a winner.

The UK has ended up in the well-known territory of Finland - you find a song you really believe in and think will impress people, but in the end they find it to be OK but average and nobody votes for you. "You're Not Alone" was the best song on offer in the UK final but all songs participating were very safe and inoffensive. Next year they would need to find some edge.

And then Spain. I must say the low placing of Barei was a great injustice. She gave a good and spirited performance but probably got overshadowed by Russia in the eye of the average viewer.

According to people in my Twitter feed there was a real good outcry on social media against TVE and their ESC attitude last night. I can understand that anger.

Spain is one of those countries that should be able to make top ten every year if they wanted to. There is so much quality music being made there, of every form and shape imaginable. If TVE would tap into the large pool of established professionals instead of using the people willing to go into an unestablished national final formula, maybe the results would improve?

ESC 2016: Tobson's thoughts after the final

Now wasn't that a shocker, Europe? The final of the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest ended like a real thriller should with suspense up until the very last vote was cast.

The worst thing about the new voting sequence is that it reminds me a bit of the system used in 1971-1973 in the sense that many big numbers fly across the screen in short time. It was far from easy to keep track on where in the ranking countries landed if they were out of the top ten in the televote.

The best thing about the new voting sequence was of course the excitement. Just as you thought Australia had won by a landslide the whole thing was turned upside down and everything changed with the second last set of votes and almost changed again in the last round. Excellent entertainment.

Ukraine ended in second place with both juries and televotes. Some people are upset and mean they didn't deserve the victory because of that. It is like arguing Bucks Fizz did not deserve to win in 1981 as they only got two sets of 12 points. The song that receives the highest amount of points wins. End of.

I did mention Ukraine as a potential winner the other day but was still a bit surprised. Sadly the winner is unlikely to become a commercial hit in a traditional sense, but it is a good thing in a year dominated by theatrics, moving sets and projections that an entry focusing entirely on music and singing won.

I would honestly have been pleased with Australia or Russia winning as well. I was really happy for Bulgaria and France for great placings and for Austria doing so well in the televote.

Sad that my darling from Italy only managed a 16th place in the end. Thought she would receive far more love from the juries. Also Spain and United Kingdom deserved more than these fiascos.

And Germany - last for the second consecutive year. ARD really must take a long hard think how to improve quality control in their national final and find entries that break through to international audiences. How to achieve that is a question for tomorrow, however.

The results:
01) Ukraine / 1944 / Jamala 534 points
02) Australia / Sound of Silence / Dami Im 511
03) Russia / You're The Only One / Sergey Lazarev 491
04) Bulgaria / If Love Was A Crime / Poli Genova 307
05) Sweden / If I Were Sorry / Frans 261

06) France 257, 07) Armenia 249, 08) Poland 229, 09) Lithuania 200, 10) Belgium 181, 11) Netherlands 153, 12) Malta 153, 13) Austria 151, 14) Israel 135, 15) Latvia 132, 16) Italy 124, 17) Azerbaijan 117, 18) Serbia 115, 19) Hungary 108, 20) Georgia 104, 21) Cyprus 96, 22) Spain 77, 23) Croatia 73, 24) United Kingdom 62, 25) Czech republic 41, 26) Germany 11.



Jamala / 1944 (Ukraine 2016)

Tobson's thoughts after semi 2

What we needed in the final was diversity and we had it in the shape of Georgia's weird and psychedelic rock number. It's not my favourite song and I don't think it will do awfully well come Saturday, but I cheered happily as they were announced as one of ten finalists.

It will add some dynamics and an element of the unexpected. Not to mention it is head and shoulders above that rather stale rocker from Cyprus.

The second semi was a most entertaining show - Petra and Måns were in top form - and again I nailed nine out of the ten qualifiers correctly. I was nanoseconds away from putting Norway as a non-qualifier instead of Israel - which would have given me a full ten - but I sort of wanted to be right as Agnete is a sweet girl who struggled hard to get her act together. Israel is the better song so I'm not upset about being wrong.

All Nordic countries are out of the running - only host country Sweden will be there on Saturday. It means Frans is likely to receive 4 x 12 points at least. Since the semis were introduced, it never happened that we had less than two Nordic countries in a final. Disappointing perhaps but also pretty well deserved. The Nordic national finals left a few things to be desired this year.

Also it is good for the contest that also the Nordic countries fail at times and the likes of Belgium make it two years in a row.

Tomorrow morning we will have the running order - then we'll start predicting the winner. I still have a gut feeling Italy will do extremely well but so will Australia and Ukraine.