Interesting to see whether or not Ukraine will host in 2023…
1 Like
A couple of interesting developments- first is voting pattern discrepancies found among a number of countries.
And on the contest going to Ukraine in 2023 - they said in the post-event press conference that the current intention is to host the contest there. But it is still very early days to confirm it can take place. In any case, hosting rights would generally then generally be offered to the country who finished 2nd (the UK), but otherwise I’m sure another broadcaster would put their hand up.
Statement on Ukraine’s Eurovision Song Contest 2022 win - Eurovision Song Contest.
1 Like
I really wanted Sweden to win and thats what got most of my votes. When Sweden was out and it was down to UK and Ukraine, I was happy enough for Ukraine to win this time. It was nice to see UK do well for a change but I personally didn’t love it.
Overall a pretty good year and a few strong acts. It’s hard to tell what the outcome would’ve been in a normal year, as there would’ve been so many other points up for grabs that went to Ukraine. Any one of Sweden, Spain or UK could’ve got it and all were pretty close on public and jury vote.
I’m not surprised by Australia either. I always thought that it would do well on jury but not so much with the public. Much like how it didn’t win the public vote here either but for through by winning jury.
I agree it’s been downhill since Dami. It’s about song choice. I think both the Australian jury and public sometimes get too focused on the wrong attributes. I hate to say it, but they seem focused on social commentary or “wokeness” rather than a belting good song. The UK and Swedish songs this year demonstrate what we need to be aiming for… Enough about the latest cause - depression, mental illness, sexual identity! Just pick a kick-ass song! Look at Dami and Guy’s songs. I still maintain Voyager, Jaguar Jones or even Paulini had better songs this year.
1 Like
I enjoyed Kate Miller Heidke as well in 2019- her staging and voice was amazing. She was 9th which is a pretty good showing.
I agree however- I think Voyager or Jaguar Jonze would’ve been much better.
1 Like
And yet…to me, both were nothing special. I have no idea how they ended up at the top.
It was just about the only song that vaguely stood out imo
1 Like
This has now got beyond a joke! I have listened or watched Eurovision almost from the very start and originally it was always about the best song. Not staging, not singers or dancers. Gradually over the past 20 or so years it’s almost always about political voting. 2022 was the final straw for me. What is happening in the Ukraine is awful beyond words that doesn’t mean they should be “gifted” the Eurovision Song Contest. I feel very sorry for the UK after all their years at the bottom, IMO they were robbed.
I didn’t rate the Australian song at all but 2 votes from the public suggests to me it’s time for SBS to let it go. Find something better to spend the money on. The novelty has worn off!
4 Likes
They are both ok songs, but I don’t feel either of them are the absolute belters that was hyped up about them.
I think Eurovision has always had a political element about it. Not officially, of course, but voting patterns from individual countries I think have long had a political influence. e.g. Do Cyprus and Greece always vote for the best song when they give each other 12 points whenever possible? There would be many examples of bloc voting, etc. over the years as well.
1 Like
The UK’s best result since 2002 (3rd)
UK’s SIXTEENTH second place
UK’s highest points score (beating 227 of 1997)
3 Likes
And apparently there have been attempts to manipulate the voting in the second semi-final and grand final with “irregular voting patterns” detected in six countries. So far, those countries have not been identified.
The six countries were: Romania, San Marino, Azerbaijan, Montenegro, Poland and Georgia.
2 Likes
There’s a replay on SBS Viceland today at 11.30am and I think the whole thing is also on the SBS On Demand catch up service.
1 Like
You are acting like coming 15th out of 40 countries this year is bad. We also came 2nd in the second semi-final.
We’ve qualified for the final every year, except for the year that we didn’t perform there in person. Then 4/7 acts made the top 10. 2 of them top 5. That’s pretty decent odds when there are 40+ countries involved.
I also think one of our strongest songs “Don’t break me” which was for 2020 would’ve been right up there too. Of course we haven’t had a song as big as Dami’s but you can’t expect to be top of the pack every year.
1 Like
Really? I usually download two or three Eurovision songs each year, and UK and Sweden were the only worthy ones for me this year. Great songs.
So all in Russia’s sphere of influence except San Marino…
were they the ones where suddenly there were “technical difficulties” in crossing to some countries to get their points and the chief had to give them?
3 Likes
Sweden was the second most streamed song on Spotify of the 2022 acts in the lead up to the competition. It gained a lot of popularity/momentum in recent weeks. It’s just a good catchy song and one of my faves in recent years.
Italy was the most streamed, likely because it was very popular in Italy but that also did well. I think for the UK they did well because it was a very different entry for them. It had a very Eurovision feel so people were throwing their support behind it.
Yes a couple of them were the ones that they didn’t cross too. I’m interested to know what that voting irregularity was. Did the countries block vote the same way?
Yes, there were problems crossing to Romania, Azerbaijan and Georgia.
The UK song has charted Top 10 in the UK on the charts and downloads.
The UK song did well because it’s a great song, not because it’s different from their previous entries.
It won the jury vote by a clear margin, end of story. Taking into account the general bias against the UK seen over the last 20 years, the real margin was probably even higher. It was obvious a couple of the European juries are still giving nil or low points to UK on principle, and yet it still won.
1 Like