#just to be sure I'm not hating loreen

[beauty-and-passion]

Eurovision and the jury’s problem (but mostly the jury’s problem)

Ah, the Eurovision national juries. I love them so much. My love is so big that, since I started this tradition of writing a post about Eurovision, I’ve always included one paragraph to openly express my love for them and, not surprisingly, my love took the shape of FUCK YOU JURY.

So this year gave me the final push to do more research and finally give them the post they deserve, in which I will finally explain why they do more harm than good and are generally useless.

If that’s what you wanted to know, you can close the post now, thank you for your time. But if you want to know why I think the jury is useless, then allow me to expand more and properly explain myself.

_______________________

The jury has always been part of the show!

Yes, but now always with the same power.

Let’s do a bit of history: Eurovision started in the 50s, right after the end of WW2. TV was starting to grow stronger and with the birth of the EBU, they were searching for a TV program that could’ve involved and united all nations.

And so, an Italian journalist said: “Hey, here in Italy we have this sick song competition called Sanremo. We can make something similar, but every European country should send an artist.”. Marcel Bezençon, general manager of the EBU at the time, liked the idea and, after a few meetings, it was decided to make this music competition that will become Eurovision.

So yes, this is how Eurovision started. It’s because of Sanremo. It’s because of Italy. My country might do stupid shit, but we are still able to do something good once in a while.

The first edition counted 7 countries: Belgium, France, West Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, The Netherlands and Switzerland. Four of them will become the “Big Five”, because they are the ones that put more money into this competition. Other countries will slowly join in.

The jury was first introduced because, well, there was no possible way to call every single person who was watching the show. The TV was still in its infancy, let alone the global communications, so of course there was a jury. IT was the only way.

However, over time the televoting system was born and it started to improve. In 1997 five countries used it for the first time and from the year after all countries could use it. The jury was left in the back and used only under exceptional circumstances when televoting was not possible.

This lasted from 1997 to 2009. Then from 2010 it started the 50/50 system.

So yes, the jury has always been part of the show. But at first it was present because it was the only way to choose a winner, then it was pushed in the back, only to regain more power in the last 10 years.

But hey, you may ask: since Eurovision has been inspired by Sanremo, maybe this is how Sanremo voting system works too, right?

Nope. We are Italians, so we should make the most complicated voting system ever. Sanremo is currently articulated in five evenings and every evening has different juries and different ways to vote. I won’t go into too much detail because it’s bonkers, but I can tell you that:

1) There are multiple juries: the public, a jury made of 150 accredited representatives and the opinion poll jury. This one in particular is a group of people chosen by the national public broadcasting company RAI (which broadcasts Sanremo) out of a sample of habitual music users and selected according to criteria of age/geographical origin.

So no, the system is completely different and yes, this system is evolving too, because the opinion poll jury counted 1000 people last year, this year only 300 and who knows how many there will be in the future.

2) The final result is the sum of all three votes: 33% of the final voting is made of the representative’s jury, 33% of the opinion poll jury and 34% of the televoting. So even if by just one measly point, the televoting is the most important one out of the three.

Is this system perfect? No, it doesn’t work either and it’s fucking complicated. But at least it acknowledges that the public deserves to have more power than the juries. And there is also more than one jury, which at least allows a wider vision of things.

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The jury is here because it brings more variety!

Aww, how adorable.

I specifically searched for every single winning song from 1997 to 2023, thus including both the years without jury (1997-2008) and the ones with jury (2009-2023). I checked which is the musical genre of every winning song.

Do you want to know which genre won the most? Pop.

Do you want to know how many times a pop song won in the years without jury (including europop and latin-pop)? 9 times.

Do you want to know how many times a pop song won in the years with jury (including folk-pop, dance-pop and electro-pop)? 10 times.

Please, tell me more about the variety the jury brings. Can’t wait to hear it.

_______________________

The jury is here because it brings variety 2: Englishvision

Europe: a country with a shit ton of languages and we use always the same one for singing.

Do you want to know how many times we had a winning song that wasn’t in English from 1997 to 2023? 7 times and in two of them there were English parts.

The first three winners come from the years without jury (Dana International - "Diva", Ruslana - "Wild Dances", Marija Šerifović - "Molitva"). The others come from the years with jury and my god we had to fight tooth and nail to have them:

Jamala - "1944"

Salvador Sobral - "Amar Pelos Dois"

Måneskin - "Zitti e buoni"

Kalush Orchestra - "Stefania"

Those are people’s winners. Well, except for Jamala who no one wanted as a winner, because the public wanted Russia and the jury Australia. However, let’s leave it in for now: it’s a particular case I want to talk about later.

What I want to let you know is that, in order to have these winners, the public had to do a massive collective effort to give them enough points to overcome the jury - especially the last two. And if you know them, it’s because they are in the top 10 list of the public’s favorites.

But what if I tell you we could’ve had two more songs in their native languages on this list?

In 2015 the public’s favourite was Italy with Il Volo. An Italian song, genre classical music. It lost against Sweden’s pop song.

In 2023 the public’s massive favourite was, as you know, Finland. A Finnish song, genre hyperpop/industrial metal. It lost against Sweden’s pop song.

What a strange coincidence, isn’t it? Both times a song in a native language lost against an English pop song. Both times, the public’s favourite lost because the jury’s favourite won. Both times it was against Sweden.

Please, tell me again about the fairness of this system and how much variety it brings.

________________________

The jury is here because the eastern countries all vote for their neighbors!

Just because the western countries all hate each other’s neighbours, it’s not a valid reason to blame the eastern ones for that.

Also, hey, wasn’t that a music competition? Why should we even care about which country the winning song comes from? Shouldn’t the jury think just about the music? Please tell me more about the impartiality of the jury.

Another thing: maybe it’s just me, but I supposed everyone studied math or had a basic knowledge of how many countries are in Europe. Well, I did both for you and if we divide Europe in half, we will have more o less 21 countries on the west and 26 countries on the east (I am including Australia in the west).

In my world, 26 is a bigger number than 21. So if the east slightly wins more times than the west is, well, understandable. The probability for them to win is higher, because there are more artists from those countries and so they have more chances to bring the winning song. I don’t think it’s so difficult to understand.

Maybe the reason why the western countries win less is not because “the easterns votes for their neighbours”, but because the westerns do not take the competition seriously and send shitty songs. Why Italy rarely gets a bad position? Because we care about music and we want to send something good. Why the UK fails a lot of times? Because they don’t care enough to send a good song. They are both Big Fives and they both put money on this show: the only difference is that one cares a bit more than the other. So instead of blaming the east, maybe it’s time to start bringing more decent songs.

And this “the east wins more” is even more stupider, if you look at the countries with the highest number of victories: Ireland, Sweden, the Netherlands, the UK, Luxembourg and France.

In my world, those countries are all in the west. I know we all hate each other, but knowing when our rivals are on a map would be a good start.

Do you want to know why this stupid theory exists? It’s all because of the years without jury. It’s because in the years 2001-2008 we had this series of winners:

Estonia

Latvia

Turkey

Ukraine

Greece

Finland

Serbia

Russia

Since they are all in the east, they thought these countries were all voting for each other’s. That’s it.

I don’t know how they justified Ireland winning 3 times in a row (1992-1994) in their minds but hey, maybe that’s why I’m not a member of the EBU.

_________________________

The jury doesn’t have a favourite!

Very cute.

Do you want to know which are the countries with the most victories in the years 1997-2023? Here is a very funny list:

Israel: 2 times

1998 (no jury year) with Dana International - "Diva" (public’s favourite)

2018 (jury year) with Netta - "Toy" (public’s favourite)

Denmark: 2 times

2000 (no jury year) with Olsen Brothers - "Fly On The Wings Of Love" (public’s favourite)

2013 (jury year) with Emmelie de Forest - "Only Teardrops" (public’s favourite)

Ukraine: 3 times

2004 (no jury year) with Ruslana - "Wild Dances" (public’s favourite)

2016 (jury year) with Jamala - "1944" (not public’s favourite, but highly appreciated by the public)

2022 (jury year) with Kalush Orchestra - "Stefania" (public’s favourite)

Sweden: 4 times

1999 (no jury year) with Charlotte Nilsson - "Take Me To Your Heaven" (public’s favourite)

2012 (jury year) with Loreen - "Euphoria" (public’s favourite)

2015 (jury year) with Måns Zelmerlöw - "Heroes" (jury’s favourite)

2023 (jury year) with Loreen - "Tattoo" (jury’s favourite)

I don’t know you, but I notice two victories that made the public unhappy because both times the jury’s power overcame the public’s power. How weird it happened for the same country that won three times since the 50/50 system has been introduced.

Sure, the first victory was wanted by the public, but the other two were against the public’s will. And please allow me to repeat it again because this is what upsets me the most: both times an English pop song won instead of a song in a native language with a different musical genre.

And what makes these two victories even more undeserved, is that in general the winner has always been the public’s favourite. In 27 years the public’s favourite won 23 times and two times it was a public’s appreciated artist (Jamala, Duncan Lawrence).

The only two times public’s favourite didn’t win, it was a Swedish artist with a massive push from the jury that made it impossible to defeat it.

But hey, maybe this point is a bit unfair. After all, it’s not Sweden’s fault if they learned what the jury likes and keep sending the same kind of song to get their votes. Maybe I am just jealous: I mean, my country basically invented Eurovision and yet we’re not able to exploit this show to win all the times? Gosh, we’re useless :P

The problem is not Sweden’s cleverness. The problem is that the jury always uses the same criteria, so one country has been able to recognize and exploit them. In a democratic world with a fair competition, the organizers of said competition would say: “okay, maybe we should change the criteria all the time, so no one would be able to use them and the jury will remain impartial”. But I suppose this was a too difficult choice for the EBU.

Or maybe they just own Sweden some money, who knows. I really have no idea.

_____________________

The jury is here because otherwise people’s votes would be political!

Oh, so hilarious.

This is the list of the winning entries by jury and by the public:

Until the recent years, public and jury agreeded on the winner and when the public chose a winner, it was jury’s second choice. So if the public’s votes were political back then, the jury’s votes were political as well.

Only in the last editions jury and public started to truly diverge and unless I missed something, Israel just had a catchy song, Italy’s victory had nothing political behind, Ukraine’s victory was a massive collective justifiable effort to say “fuck you” to Russia and people just like Finland’s song more. So, again, nothing political behind.

However, there are also two very interesting cases, the only ones in which the winner was a country no one chose as favorite:

2016: public’s favourite: Russia - jury’s favourite: Australia. Winner: Ukraine

2019: public’s favourite: Norway - jury’s favourite: North Macedonia. Winner: the Netherlands

Do you want to know why the jury’s favourite of 2016 is Australia? I don’t know. What I know is that Australia joined Eurovision in 2015 and it was supposed to be just a one time thing, so they were automatically qualified for the finals. But in 2016 they joined like everyone else and had to make through the semifinals and... well, it wouldn’t be nice to send back home a country that just joined. I am not saying these two things are related, but it’s a bit of a weird coincidence, isn’t it?

Do you want to know why the jury’s favourite of 2019 is North Macedonia? I don’t know. What I know is that on June 2018 the country changed its name to the Republic of North Macedonia. And, you know, it’s nice to hear it more times, just to leave an impression on people’s minds. Again: I am not saying these two things are related, but it’s a bit of a weird coincidence, isn’t it?

Okay, let’s leave the tinfoil hat theories on the side. Do you really want to know where the “the public’s vote is too political” thing comes from? It comes from Jamala winning in 2016. Because Russia has already started with their bullshit in Crimea and Jamala’s song (despite not specifically talking about that invasion) was a reminder of that situation. And so everyone blamed the public for this victory and said that “the public was influenced by the actual political situation”. All while Jamala was second favorite of both the public AND the jury. So, again, if the public was biased, the jury is biased as well.

Actually, in her case the jury is a lot more biased than the public, because the public’s favorite was Russia! So, well, who is the political one now?

The truth is that the public is made of people and of course people will be influenced by the situation in which they live. But same goes for the jury: the jury is also influenced by the current situations, both Eurovision-related and world-related. So it’s totally unfair to blame the public for having a heart and a mind and for their will to choose a song over the other - especially when they are not influenced by the world situation (like in 2016) or when they are as it happened in 2022.

And, honestly, I’d much rather prefer people choosing a winner because of a fucking war, than a bunch of people choosing their winner for reasons that will benefit them only.

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The jury is made of experts and they give their expert opinion!

Awesome. Now explain to me how can you objectively choose the best song between a pop one, a folk one, a metal one and a rock one. Tell me which universal criteria will you apply.

Voice? But each genre requires a different kind of voice. An opera singer has a powerful voice, but growl music requires a powerful voice as well - heck, it’s even more complicated than opera, so it should be more praised than that! I mean, try growling without sounding like an idiot: it’s immensely hard. How can you decide which is better in an objective way? Do you just focus on which is more difficult to perform? But then it’s unfair to the pop singers, who also have good beautiful voices. How can you objectively choose the best?

Performance? But every genre requires a specific kind of performance. You can’t put an energetic performance on a ballad or slow dancers on a rock song. If two performance are equally beautifully ftting for their music genre, how can you decide which is objectively better?

Lyrics? But not everyone knows the lyrics of all songs and some lyrics might have multiple meanings or refer to particular aspects of the country’s culture, so you might not understand how beautiful they are. How can you choice which one is better, without knowing all these details?

Overall impression of the song? That’s not even an objective criteria, try harder.

The truth is that you CANNOT choose between different songs and different genres in a universally objective way. You will always be influenced by your own preferences and musical tastes.

Do you want to know how these criteria could’ve worked? If everyone brought the same song. Then okay, you can objectively make your choice: after all, we are talking about one genre and one song. In all other cases, this criteria makes zero sense.

And before you say “the jury needs to recognize the good singers”: people have ears. If a singer is bad, people can hear it by themselves. Polish people proved very well that they can recognize a very bad singer from an extremely good one and I doubt the entire country of Poland is made of musical experts or that everyone likes dance-pop/electro-industrial music.

Same goes for all the people around the world who praised Jann and said Blanka is terrible: I doubt they are all music experts or Polish. Maybe they just have ears.

Sure, some people have better taste than others, I don’t deny that. But considering that all humans have ears and a brain, I don’t think they need someone else to tell them that yes, this thing you like is good or no, that thing you don’t like is bad. Maybe they can understand it by themselves.

And if the problem is that the public doesn’t have a taste, then give them the means to acquire said taste. Let experts give more insights about an artist: they could explain why their voices are good or bad, why their performance works or not and why the lyrics are complex or simple. Let the public take a decision, instead of treating them like toddlers who should be spoon-fed.

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The importance of the public

What makes this 2023 victory so empty, is that it has nothing Eurovision stands for. It’s not the victory of an unknown, talented artist. It’s not a victory the majority wanted. It’s not a victory that sends a good message.

It’s the victory of mainstream and safety. It’s a victory that doesn’t look forward and doesn’t try anything new, because it prefers to rely on the same old stuff. It’s a victory of nostalgia, industries and brands.

And if it hurts so much, it’s not just because the public’s will has never been so blatantly clear about who they wanted to win, but also because after two years in which we had native languages and new genres on the top, we were really, really hoping for a switch towards something different.

I don’t blame the past artists for not trying more, the years were different. But we are in the 20s of the year 2000 now. We are more open to different people, genders, sexual orientations. We don’t have to play safe anymore, not in a world that is moving forward. We can have different winners, we can have different cultures and we can have different genres.

I really hope that this year will teach something, not just to us, but to the EBU and to Europe. If things will change, good. And despite my harsh words, I am okay if the jury stays: it has always been present, after all, even when pushed in the back. So if we have to keep it, let’s keep it.

But it’s time to give them less power. It’s time for a 30/70 or a 20/80 system. 50/50 is just not acceptable anymore.

Or, as the 2023 public’s winner said:

Thank you for your time and please, keep support your winners.

(Clips from THIS video)

[italianmisakitakahashi]

From the 1st semifinal, one of the Italian commentator said the Sweden was the frontrunner and he repeated it several times. I'm not mad with him because he's a great TV host. I just don't get it why everyone chose this Country. I mean, I saw lots of fans of Loreen on socials, but there was more hype for Norway, Finland, Czechia, Croatia.

I don't hate Loreen and I like her song (not my favorite), I just felt like everyone already chose the winner before the Song Contest even started.

Anyway, a big hug to Eurovision fans (especially if you're feeling sad just like me). I know it isn't easy, but I'm sure that all our favorite ESC 2023 artists will have all the success that they deserve and we'll do our best to support them.

I didn't like the results, but Eurovision give me again the same opportunity to learn new things about other Countries (and mine too) and meet new amazing artists that perhaps I would never have listen to.

Can't wait for the next year.

[esc-is-holding-me-hostage]

Final thoughts/rant/whatever

- Yeah, Greece giving Cyprus meager 4 points meant that it's all doomed

- The real crimes of the juries were putting Israel 2nd and Estonia 5th

- My tweet asking Ukrainians not to vote for Poland got a surprising 1000+ likes and retweets. And guess what? IT DIDN'T FUCKING MATTER, 'CAUSE WE GAVE 12 POINTS TO POLAND ANYWAY сукакурванахуйблядь I hate it here

- Slovenia in the 21st place is makes me wanna put on Joker (hehe) makeup

- Germany putting in effort and still being dead last is just sad

And now for the big thing

Do I think that the show was "rigged" in Loreen's favor? No.

But I'm still upset and the difference of 163 points between her and jury's second place is absolutely fucking baffling.

The jury vote system is designed in such a way that huge point gaps are less likely to occur AND YET. May I remind you that in 2019 correcting the votes of one (1) country changed the jury winner.

I'm sure they will try to change the system somehow next year. After all, we've got the current system after Sweden won as a jury 1st, televote 3rd place.

That said. Oh my god, can you guys fucking chill? Stop with these ridiculous conspiracy theories. "It's because of ABBA's win anniversary", "Melfest was purposely made bad so she could win" - jeeeesus.

Loreen was second in the televote, she got points from literally every country except for Finland (obviously), it's not like she was pushed to the winning spot from out of the top 10. People, a lot of people, voted for her. She did have the whole package with a good song, great vocals and great staging. It's not like the juries handed Bridges a win.

Do you all have the memory of a goldfish and don't remember KEiiNO? Who also won the televote but not the whole thing? This is not the first time this is happenned, come on, shit like this is bound to occur sometimes.

"The juries were put in place because of the anti Eastern-European sentiment, we don't need them anymore". Yes, and also because the contest was filled with shit-tier joke entries fighting for the televotes.

"The televoters know what's best!" After 5 points (last place) to Blanca and 81 points (8th) to Blanka? After 16 points to Austria? Really?

Look. I am also upset at the result. I turned off my TV before the winner's repriese, for fuck's sake. I expected Loreen to fight for that 1st jury spot. I expected Käärijä to get between 60 and 100 jury points so I could give up my hopes before they even started announcing the televote results. But he was in the 4th spot, and I thought that maybe, just maybe he can still win. And that's why you should never get your expectations up, kids.

tl;dr: Käärijä deserved to win, but making up fucking conspiracy theories to justify your fave not winning is stupid and you all should chill and stream Cha Cha Cha or something. Give the green man those 0.003 dollars.

[theladysilvermoon]

I am not mad that Sweden won Eurovision. I do think there were other artists who deserved to win more then Sweden, but I'm not gonna hate on Loreen and Sweden for winning.

I don't believe any of the other artists of this years Eurovision would want such hate towards Loreen and Sweden, I'm sure they are all very happy on her behalf. And she got high points not just from the jury but the televotes too, so you can't say it was unfair and there were only 57 points between Sweden and Finland.

Don't forget what Eurovision is really about.

[freelystrangenight]

Rating every Eurovision final performance until I get bored (tw: opinions):

1) Austria : 9/10 not the greatest thing since sliced bread but a solid vibe, my kinda weird and pleasant musically, like the "ghostly" harmonies, scrarch my brain pleasantly, and as English lit student I appreciate poe.

2) Portugal: 5/10 not bad but legit don't remember anything and it just finished; piano riff sounded like I Will Survive by Gloria Gaynor

3) Switzerland: 4,5/10 feels very general-pop; good lyrics but the arrangement/melody makes me kinda too bored to really listen; formal line sounded like "Sk8ter boy" by Avril Lavigne

4) Poland (motherland, I'm so not proud, WHY): 4/10 song is generic summer radio pop, nothing original but honestly not the worst I've heard, tho I'm pretty sure I have heard a Latino/Spanish pop song at least very similar; also unfortunately heard fragments of this before and this performance is not too bad for her, at least she worked on it; why the dance solo (pun intended hehe) exists tho

5) Serbia: 6/10 man, the boi is pretty, but can he sing? Apparently not really 😬 visually interesting performance, auditorily not so much 😭 (dunno if it's a word). Points for originality tho, but will not stream.

6) France: 8/10 Strong vocals. Song is definitely not what I initially expected, which makes it more interesting. Really vibing. Honestly didn't find anything I didn't like aside from the length of her nails but their hers not my business. Maybe not "Eurovision crazy" enough to win but still love it

7) Cyprus: 3,5/10 pleasant voice but nothing special yet; song feels ESC-generic, don't like the falsetto high notes. Lyrics feel like AI generated broken heart song

8) Spain: 8/10 kinda arabic vibes? Great vibes, song very original, not my personal fave, but still amazing quality-wise imo.

9) Sweden 7/10 Loreen my girl this isn't Euphoria -level :( not bad, but nothing special, tho the singing is mostly amazing. Her nails are a safety hazard, sorry to the French lady.

10) Albania: 5,5/10 very Eastern vibe. Original enough, the main lady sings great, but the song doesn't really resonate with me so far. Don't like the dude.

11) Italy: 9.5/10 sounds like a generic pop but in Italian, and I like his bedazzled top. Ok, nvm, song is not groundbreaking but his voice makes up for it. Not sure if win material but "add to playlist material" for sure. Im pretty sure I've just heard "calzone" in there, prolly incorrect but don't care, extra point

12) Estonia: 9/10 not the most innovative but has 'something', like it so far. Would fit a fantasy soundtrack, maybe that's what has me hooked. The auto-playing piano cracks me up tho, same with the wrist-belts, but those take nothing from the performance.

13) Finland: 6/10 heard it all over Tiktok through last week and am fed up with it😬 is a vibe, but after too many times imo plain annoying. Points for the outfit, personally hate it but is already iconic. Unfortunately song is even more irritating live :/ but also frustratingly catchy, gonna be stuck in my head

14) Czechia: 7/10 was loving the slavicness, wish it didn't switch to English, ruins the vibe, also Female Power points. The performance doesn't give much to watch, but nice to listen to.

15) Australia: 8/10 yeah, never saw a dude in a car on stage before. I like the song very much, but not the most original in the genre. But, might be on of the best ones tonight.

16) Belgium 4/10 generic EDM pop, gives the same vibe as Be My Lover by La Bouche but worse and with Positive Message™️

17) Armenia: 6,5/10 pretty but? Im gonna forget about it in 5 mins or make it my personality for the next 10 days, but option 1 is more probable.

18) Moldova: 9/10 don't know what's going on but in a good way. I think this song may be doing to me what Chachacha was supposed to, tho it's not the greatest thing. (Got a bit bored in the edm interlude)

19) Ukraine: 3/10 feels like they knew what they wanted to say but unfortunately needed to make it into a song. Don't like it at all tbh, but organs in the background are cool.

20) Norway: 10/10 my fave!!!!! Haven't heard the beginning yet! Sounds like she has stage fright:( love tho pls win? Love how she looks like she's enjoying herself

21) Germany: 6/10 why is their leader cosplaying Vecna from ST???? Song stands out but, feels generic at the same time?

22) Lithuania: 6,5/10 life story but make it Disney soundtrack. Nothing we haven't heard on ESC before, but not bad. Pretty visual display .

23) Israel: 3/10 ummm no. Shame it isn't in a language I don't know, would like it much better. Like the voice, and the instrumentals at the beginning, but that's it. No, I didn't wanna see you dance. Choreo is nice tho.

24) Slovenia: 9,5/10 sounds like something I usually would like (i think(on second thought no, not really)) but I do. Guy has a good voice, love their energy, somehow they look friendly.

25) Croatia: 10/10 gay sailors who's mother bought a tractor? Eurovision at it's finest 😂 this one stands out like nothing else

26) UK: 2/10 don't be boring pls!!! Ok, you are ;( the intro was promising, then she started to sing... Nothing criminally bad, would bear it on the radio, but boring af

Disclaimer: I now nothing or next to nothing about the artists, their backgrounds etc. Also my ratings don't reflect any predictions as to who may win.

[laifelow]

Yeah, so I haven't had internet at home for a few weeks. It's back now.

Have some Eurovision

(If you want opinion about the rest of the 2023, it's here or there)

Armenia : Brunette - Future Lover. You go girl, give us nothing! Yeah. It's really meh to me. Meh at best.

Portugal : Mimicat - Ai Coraçao. You go queen! I love your energy! It's so unique and lovely

Switzerland : Remo Forrer - Watergun. Switzerland really does has a well of great singer with unique voices. Alas, they also are an untarnichable well of boring ballads.

Israel : Noa Kirel - Unicorn. I like the chorus, I hate the "its phenomepheomephenomenal". Not sure about this one. Pretty sure it's gonna be great live tho.

Sweden : Loreen - Tattoo. Absolute banger, Loreen DOES NOT disapoint. Earworm af.

Azerbaijan : TuralTuranX - Tell Me More. I feel like I've heard it before (derogatory). They sure are sweet, it's just VERY forgetable.

Grece : Victor Vernicos - What They Say. IT's cute, I like it.

Georgia : Iru - Echo. Oh, ok, that slaps actually. A bit repetitive maybe?

Austria : Teya & Salena - Who The Hell is Edgar? Now we're speaking! It's fun. But also quite repetitive, I wish I liked that more :') But I'm pretty sure the live version is gonna be a banger.

United Kingdom : Mae Muller - I Wrote a Song. Yeah, I like it. Its... effective. An easy listen. A good one.

Yeah, so there's some VERY good song this year, a buch of forgettable one, and honestly, only a few are bad. Good year, good year.

[ingrid-marie]

My Eurovision 2023 Ranking

🌟It's timeeee🌟

🤬BAD🤬

37. SAN MARINO: I’m sorry but “I can smell you like an animal”......WHAT. I literally have no other comment. Also the audience is completely dead and that’s pretty telling lol.

36. ICELAND: This is so boring to me, there is literally nothing special about it. The more I listen to it the more I dislike it (I’m so sorry for the tone Diljá I'm sure you're lovely!!!! I just don't like your song)

35. BELGIUM: I’m sorry but my dislike for this song is sooo strong lol. It reminds me of early 00’s but not in a fun, nostalgic way. There’s just not much for me in this song.

😐OK😐

34: SWITZERLAND: Switzerland just can’t stop sending boys singing ballads lol. Sometimes they hit (Gjon's tears my beloved) and sometimes they don’t, which is the case this year. Good vocals but such a boring song.

33: ALBANIA: This is not my thing, but I appreciate the ethnic elements.

32: MOLDOVA: Cool ethnic elements but this is not something I listen to, at all. I really wish I liked this more than I do.

31: POLAND: In a year filled with many girlbosses girlslaying, this girlboss is sadly girlslaying the least (well, maybe Iceland is worse). And the music video is somehow giving me 2014 American YouTuber (?) vibes to me, in a bad way lol. But it is catchy, so there's that.

30: IRELAND: This is sooooo safe and generic. I like the pre-chorus but other than that this feels so boring. Come on Ireland, send something interesting for once.

29: PORTUGAL: I love a good traditional song, but this just isn’t really my thing. But Portuguese is so beautiful.

28: ISRAEL: Im sorry but I CAN'T take a song with the lyric “I got the power of a unicorn” seriously. Also I feel like I’ve heard a song like this on the Eurovision stage many many times. Let’s just hope they won’t bring out the unicorn/centaur hybrid on stage…

27: AUSTRALIA: This is fun! Is it good? That can be discussed. And what’s with the lyrics? Are we playing never have I ever?

26: FRANCE: I saw a comment somewhere saying that France sends the same song every year, and you know what? They are right (except last year Alvan & Ahez ily). I skip this song pretty much every time it comes on my esc playlist. I just find it boooring. Good vocals though.

25: GEORGIA: The chorus is good, the verses are bad. Just doesn’t stand out to me. Good vocals though. I miss Circus Mircus so much💔

🙂GOOD🙂

24: ROMANIA: I hate to say it, but this song is catchy as hell. Some parts of the song are actually really good and some are terrible lol (like that high note I desperately wish he could hit).

23: UNITED KINGDOM: At first listen I really liked this but after a few listens I found it pretty boring, especially after the first chorus, I just want to skip to the next song. It’s a good song but doesn’t really excite me nor does it stand out.

22: SWEDEN: Not me putting Loreen so low🤭 But this is… underwhelming. I like the chorus and her vocals are amazing, but this song doesn’t do anything for me. It’s just boring. Will it win? Probably.

21: ARMENIA: This song makes me laugh because it literally reads like a tumblr post. Oh, you want to read books, make art and visit old bookstores? Ok girlblogger. The song is pretty weird, the (rap?) bridge comes out of nowhere and chorus is repetitive (ok I GET IT, you decide to be good, do good and look good). The last 30 seconds are great though, I wish she would sing the whole song in Armenian.

20: GERMANY: The German accent :’) I’m just happy Germany sent something original, and it’s catchy as hell! Not really my thing though, but I can really appreciate it.

19: SERBIA: The “hello?” reminds me of Shane Dawson for some reason and it’s pretty off putting LOL. Other than that this song is pretty cool! I love the instrumentals and visuals. My boyfriend says Luke Black looks like he plays League Of Legends so there's that.

😎GREAT😎

18: CYPRUS: This is good but doesn’t stand out. Some parts are really good (like the pre chorus and bridge) but some are forgettable.

17: GREECE: The way I would eat this up when I was 17… Sadly not quite as much at 24. But it’s still pretty good and I feel like it will be a grower on me.

16: MALTA: This feels different from what Malta usually sends and I like that! I love a funky saxophone so this is pretty good to me.

15: SPAIN: I have such mixed feelings about this song. I can listen to it and love it and the next time I’m not so sure. It’s interesting for sure! And her vocals are amazing.

14: CROATIA: TRACTOR! This is so funny and catchy, the most unique song of the year for sure.

13: DENMARK: This is soooo cringey but sadly a guilty pleasure of mine. The autotune really put me off at first but now I like it. I like the song okay? Put me behind bars.

12: ITALY: This has definitely been a grower for me, at first I thought it was meh and didn’t stick out to me at all. But after a few more listens it has really grown on me! The pre-chorus is so good, but it’s not one of the best Italian entries there is.

11: UKRAINE: Greaaaat song!! It feels different in a good way, definitely a breath of fresh air.

10: AZERBAIJAN: Maybe this years most unpopular opinion, but this is GOOD, ok?? This song reminds me of spring and it feels like it belongs to the soundtrack of a 00’s romcom.. And the rap parts are really good, I won’t accept any questions about this right now.

9: LITHUANIA: This is really good and I’ve listened to it a lot. Love the lithuanian chorus and I loooooove her orange outfit. And omg her VOCALS!! I’m scared it won’t make it far in Liverpool though :(

8: NETHERLANDS: This song took me a few listens but now I’m hooked. The power ballad duet we all needed. In an ocean of upbeat songs this song is a nice calm break.

7: NORWAY: VOCALS!! So good. So catchy. Great performance. Amazing outfit. Just really really good overall.

🥰THE BEST🥰

6: AUSTRIA: This so soooo fun and catchy and good. I LOVE IT!! There are a lot of upbeat pop songs this year but this is for sure one of the best ones. Excited to see what they will do on stage.

5. ESTONIA: LOVE this!! I’m hooked from the first bar. I feel like it should play in a scene in a movie where the main character is sitting at a cafe, looking out the rainy window, thinking about all the people who wronged them. It’s just a powerful song.

4. LATVIA: Love this so much. The chorus hits me every single time. PLEASE DONT WAKE UP WAKE UP!!

3: FINLAND: This song just has it all; rock, pop, lyrics everyone can sing along to, male titties. If you don’t go ape shit crazy while listening to this song then I don’t know what to tell you… SO! GOOD!

2: SLOVENIA: I’ve been hooked on this song since the first listen, I keep trying to sing along as if I knew slovene. This is just so good, the vibe, the instrumentals, I just want to DANCE!

1: CZECHIA: This songs chorus makes me absolutely sob, the SISTERHOOD of it all. The costumes, the four different languages, the meaning…This is my absolute favourite of the year, in a perfect world it would win it all. I just hope they nail the live performance because the national final was not very good… I hope they bring the elements (and budget lol) of the music video to stage, I'm obsessed with their costumes.

[girl-bateman]

Oh no, my rant was not meant to hate on Loreen or anything! Even tho personally I was rooting for for Finland.

I’ve tried starting to learn Finnish two years ago, but there was not much progress as the very first and basically only thing Duolingo taught me was “Minä olen velho” and I’m not sure this will really help me around in Finland.

Last fall I started an official Finnish class, as I really like the language and wanted to actually learn, and passed some weeks ago! (I would’ve continued it this summer if I had the time) And actually learning it from my teacher who actually was Finnish (and part Swedish) was so much fun and interesting!

The Finnish names for each months are very fitting, and learning about the existence of Raskasta Joulua was the most fun lesson, we did nothing but listen to Finnish Christmas songs for an hour. My teacher was shocked when she realized we don’t really have something similar here

(Wtf is going on with the grammar concerning -illa and -issa tho??? Like depending on whether the city is near water changes the ending? Yet Helsinki doesn’t count as it’s not a RIVER that’s there?? But Tampere counts? And apparently some cities are not sure which ending they should have???)

When I then found out that Finnland was finally sending a song in Finnish I was very excited! I love the language but it’s so hard to find Finnish songs that fit my type of music.

With that being said I am not mad at all that Sweden won, she was great! I am just sad that Finnland did not win

On the bright side, Sweden has always been a truly great host (I am not sure whether I should be scared or excited that Mans will be back lol)

So really looking forward to that and ABBA of course!!!!

Wishing you a lovely week💕 -ABBA Anon

Omg I always answer these so late sorry💀 but omg it's so so cool that you're learning Finnish!!! I never knew the illa/issa rule even tho I'm half Finnish😳 I always just use the one that "feels right" lol, but then again I don't speak Finnish that often sadly.

I am kinda sad Finland didn't win bc it would have been so cool for a non-english song to win, but regardless it feels like a huge win in itself that the song got so much international attention and love :)<3

I wish I could recommend some great Finnish songs but I don't really listen to that much Finnish music lmao. What I can say tho, is that Finland has a tradition of sorts to translate a lot of popular music into Finnish so you might have some luck in finding your fave songs translated. I do think that the music from the movie "risto räppääjä ja viileä venla" is pretty iconic (me and my fam still sing the songs regularly) but I might be a tad bit influenced by childhood nostalgia.

Wishing you the bested week back 🥰💞💞

[darkerthanblack-666]

Re: ESC 2024 hosting because of ABBA: I’ve got THOUGHTS even tho I’m just an American (don’t get me started on American Song Contest that needs to die we have 57 of those WHY DO WE NEED THAT ONE) lol. The thought are as follows: I get that it’s ~tradition~ for the winner to host next year’s contest (afaik it’s not like written in the rules, right??) but like… had they just been HONEST and said “Sweden is going to host ESC 2024 regardless of winner for ABBA’s 50th anniversary” I really think everyone would’ve been like “ok that’s fine get on with the show, whoever wins can host 2025 or have a separate event” but instead (this may just be the American in me who sees corruption everywhere lol) I fully believe Sweden paid a lot of money to get the jury to make them the winner (or otherwise somehow rigged it) and because of that, whether you like her or not, Loreen’s “win” will always seem suspect and luckily it seems like the juries are bearing the brunt of the nasty reactions, not Loreen (whether you like her or not, nobody deserves to be shat on for what the juries did), she’s always gonna have those allegations over her. Do I think Finland should’ve won with that popular vote count? Yes. Do I think Loreen had anything to do with Sweden actually winning? Not really. I really hope whoever’s in charge gets their shit together before next year and change rules to have it actually be fair (ie, if you won once you can’t compete again, abolish the juries and have the popular vote win, etc) because it was FUN this year with unique acts (for the most part lol) and then Sweden ruined it and soured the whole thing for everyone INCLUDING THE PERFORMERS and that makes me sad. It’s supposed to be fun. You’re not supposed to go home hoping your country doesn’t hate you.

Listen, even before the Swedish national selections I've been reading wank to Loreen. I didn't know who she was, because I don't watch Eurovision religiously (metalheads in general think that Eurovision is crap and this year we all were proven it is crap indeed). I heard her song and didn't even remember it for the first time, I totally spaced out when I watched the video. It's nothing special. But everyone was treating it like the highest form of art.

They kept saying she's going to win the national selections, and then the whole contest. I think someone created that hype around her on purpose. So many viewers thought the song was something exceptional, while it isn't. I personally think they pulled her out of her sleeve and created the hype to win it. Because the same strategy was used with Blanka in Poland. Promoting the song on TV, then in multiple countries, etc.

Sometimes shady tactics are not necessary to get high score in televote, it's simply marketing and I can easily see it in both cases here (but ofc Blanka didn't get that many points from the jury, because Poland is not one of the jury pets and we always do better at televote).

The jury votes, I'll leave it to your own interpretation. Whether it was marketing (the bookmaker odds overhyped Sweden to the ridiculous degree as well, it could also be a marketing strategy), or if they were paid. Who knows? There is no proof for anything, but to me the blatant promotion of the song was pretty clear.

To me Loreen is no one special and because of this whole hype around her I just can't look at her, I avoid everything related to her, and didn't even want to look at her performance. I'm not the person to send someone hate, however. I just avoid what I dislike. I love Käärijä, so all my attention goes to him. Indeed, Sweden ruined it all, because without them even the televote could be different. Many people mass voted for Finland trying to beat Sweden (they were probably tired of the whole promotion of this song, too). I think Käärijä would still win the televote without Sweden playing dirty, but without such a huge advantage. Would Loreen be 2nd though? I'm not so sure. Every person I talk to, says that the song is nothing special.

Next year I'm definitely not going to vote. When there's a good song, I'll just stream that artist on Spotify and support them on social media. This year we were proven that even great artists can score very little points, so this whole Eurovision ranking is for bragging rights only. Nothing else than that. Just being there is good for every artist, because they get huge exposure.

So it really doesn't matter if we vote for them or not. It only matters if they go there. That's it.

[hwajin]

im not as excited abt the whole esc thing but i lowkey felt like the song that loreen won with this year sounds exactly like the one that she won with in 2012 lmaoo like its a nice song but liikeeee euphoria sounds the same imo

it was similar for sure but like that only makes sense since it's the same singer, like every singer that went more than once always went with similar songs so i'm not rlly mad about it, every country always sends their stenghts (except germany LMAO) it worked the first time so it's gonna work the second 😭 i do love that she won, like her performance stuck with me and i hate the hate she's getting :(( like i loved finland too and would have been as happy if he won but she deserved it just as much imo

[ailidh08]

My Eurovision 2023 Finals Top 10 As Someone Who Has Never Watched Eurovision Before

10. Cyprus

I don't have strong opinions on this one, it's just a decent song. I almost swapped this one out for Isreal because I appreciate the girlboss energy of that one and I like Noa's performance more but I think this song is just more to my taste.

9. Moldova

I was kind of baffled the first time I saw this one but it's grown on me, especially since it's my best friend's favourite. I'm 90% sure they're attempting to summon a demon with that performance and I'm digging it. That guy absolutely goes OFF on that flute.

8. Switzerland

okay look I know everyone hates this one and I get it. It does feel a little cheap and pandering but I just like the vague Arcade vibes. At this point I think I'm just loyal to it because it was the one of the first songs this year that I began to recognise. The irony of the guy from Switzerland singing that he doesn't want to go to war is not lost on me.

7. Slovenia

I don't think I need to say much about this one, everyone loves Joker Out. Bojan can hmu if he decides he's over Käärijä.

6. Finland

Speaking of Käärijä, I did NOT like this song at all when I first heard it but I succumbed to Stockholm syndrome and it's now a certified banger in my books. I was drawn in by Käärijä interviews and I can't help but like him now. CHA CHA CHA-CHA-CHA-CHA CHA

5. Australia

Australia absolutely popped off with this one. Their staging is absolutely fantastic too. Showing up in a fucking car in the best act at the end of semi 2 was such a powermove. My inner Australian patriotism jumps out whenever someone mentions Voyager. I kind of want them to win because the idea of Australia winning Eurovision is so fucking funny to me and they have definitely earned it this year.

4. Sweden

I feel like everyone either loves or hates this one. I am definitely in the former camp. Loreen is an extremely talented performer, she's absolutely ate every performance so far and Tatoo has some of the most eye-catching staging. That being said, I do think this song is slightly overrated as one of the favourites to win and given that Loreen has already won Eurovision I absolutely do NOT want this one to be the winner.

The top 3 can be completely interchangeable, there's a chance that I could vote for any of these tonight.

3. Czechia

This song. I absolutely adore the message of female solidarity and sisterhood in this song but the song itself is just fucking epic. It sounds like it should be the theme behind the climactic battle in a movie or something. I don't know how to explain it but the chorus almost moves me to tears every time. I don't think this one is going to win but I would be very happy if it did.

2. Ukraine

This was the first song from this year that caught my attention. It's probably the closest in style to my actual taste in music and it's been on my playlist for months so I definitely feel some kind of loyalty to it. You can just feel the defiance and resilience in this song and it feels very genuine and raw. I only found out recently that Heart of Steel references a real world event where the Ukrainian army defended the Azovstal Iron and Steel Works against Russian forces. The rehearsal they showed for Heart of Steel has me slightly worried that the Finals performance won't live up to my expectations but I think the message could be enough to get them the public favour.

1. Norway

I have been listening to Queen of Kings non-stop over this past week. Norway has been on my radar since I started listening to this year's lineup but Alessandra's performance in that first semi-final really blew me away. The raw power and girlboss energy of this song is just so -ugh. I think I might be in love with that girl. I also do think she has a good shot at winning it all and I hope she does.

Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.

[eurovision-del]

Having finished posting my rankings yesterday, here’s my thoughts on this year overall!

My general feeling after hearing all the songs but before starting my ranking was that this was a reasonable year, not particularly weak, but not especially strong either, so I was a little surprised to see just how many songs I actually loved when it came time to put them in order! There’s so many rock songs this year, all in completely different sub-genres from metal to punk to indie, and I love pretty much all of them – back on form for me after last year where a lot of the rock we had failed to connect with me. Outside of rock, there’s plenty of other exciting, brilliant entries. I said the same thing the last couple of years, but I am very impressed with the entire big 5 and maybe, for real this time, this might be the year where they all avoid the bottom five? I’m still not ruling out one flopping on the night (like Fulenn last year, I’m still not over it) and ending at the bottom of the scoreboard, though I’d hate to see it happen. We've got fewer ballads than normal this year, but in general I think we've got a good range of genres. The language diversity is also decent too – 14 songs are currently listed on Wikipedia as being in at least partially Not English, with several more containing small phrases of other languages – not quite as many as last year but at least we're a long way from the dearth of different languages of the mid-2010s.

I think part of the reason I didn’t think this year was too strong despite having so many songs I enjoy is because of the lack of competition this year, with only two potential winners. Personally, I’m sure Sweden are winning. I can’t see anyone else winning the jury vote, and I also reckon she’ll get plenty of televote support – Tattoo is still a great song and the vast majority of people won’t know or care that her light box is smaller than it was in MelFest. However, I do still hold hope that Finland could pull off a Måneskin/Kalush Orchestra style victory by winning the televote, although that will still require the juries putting Käärijä in their top five at minimum, and I worry that might be too much to ask. I also don’t think him winning the televote is guaranteed, I’m sure Finland will do well there, but I think the song could be very divisive among the general public. I reckon the new voting rules are actually going to bias the final results towards the jury – all the qualifiers from the semis will have proven televote appeal, with fewer jury-friendly entries getting through, which might result in the jury votes being more concentrated on certain entries, and since I'm sure they'll go for Loreen I'm confident she'll most likley win in the end. I would love it if Finland do win though, or even if someone else manages to pull off an upset victory!

Way, way back when the semi finals were announced, since semi one had only fifteen songs compared to semi two’s sixteen, I’d assumed that semi one would be the easier one. That did not turn out to be the case! Fandom consensus is that it is much harder, and that's definitely how I feel too, as my rankings show – in fact, my entire top three comes from there! It’s going to be a very tense voting sequence, that’s for sure. I think there’s five clear qualifiers (Sweden, Finland, Norway, Moldova, Israel), but the fight for those final five places will be a tough one. However, there’s still plenty of songs I love in semi 2, – I feel especially strongly for Romania and San Marino since they’re such underdogs, I’ll be cheering them on on the night! Semi 2 may be less tense, but it should be even more interesting seeing who qualifies because it feels so open right now. I only feel confident saying that Austria and Australia are through for certain – after that it’s anyone’s game.

I also want to say that I love how the BBC have handled hosting so far! I like the designs we’ve got this year, very bold and striking, and the stage seems perfect for accommodating everyone (unless you wanted to hang any heavy equipment from the ceiling). I cannot speak on behalf of Ukrainians – although I do think maybe more could have been done to make it clear that it’s their party, we’re just the hosts – but on the whole I’m proud of how the contest here is shaping up. There’s such an excitement in the UK for Eurovision unlike anything we’ve had since long before I started following the contest! Liverpool seem to have really thrown themselves into it – I’m excited to see what it’s like on the ground next week!

Overall, I think this is on course to be a great year! It may not be the most competitive one, but hey, Finland currently have all the momentum, we could be in for a tight battle between them and Sweden next Saturday! I’m so excited for everything, I cannot wait to get started!   

[xthecaptainssaviorx]

My thoughts on the Final Eurovision songs in order of performance tonight. Keep in mind, I haven't listened to most of these songs more than once and I'm an unapologetic ballad enjoyer.

Overall, I genuinely think, there are so many amazing singers this year, I was super surprised during the semi finals. Their voices are incredible.

Who the Hell is Edgar? - Austria It grows on me, wasn't an instant love and definitely not my favourite but it's fun.

Ai Coração - Portugal I unironically really enjoy this one. Plus, it's in Portuguese so that's an extra point for me.

Watergun - Switzerland It's probably controversial for me to say but I really really like this one. Is it a bit tone-deaf? Uh year, definitely but I do have this in my favourites regardless of that.

Solo - Poland Now this one is really growing on me. Is it one of the best songs? no. Is it groundbreaking? absolutely not but it's a fun song to casually listen to. I can definitely imagine this will get played on the radio a lot after Eurovision.

Samo Mi Se Spava - Serbia Not my cup of tea, I fear. I don't hate it and don't dislike it as much as I did when I first heard it. Plus, it has the native language so that's a plus point.

Évidemment - France Just listened to it for the very first time and I think I like it. It's not a winner song but it's not bad.

Break A Broken Heart - Cyprus His voice really surprised me in the semi-final and I'm glad Cyprus qualified because I really like this song. Yes, it's a "boring" ballad but whatever.

Eaea - Spain Not a song I would actively search for to listen to again but it's not awful either.

Tattoo - Sweden Why the hell did no one tell me that LOREEN is back?! Another "boring" ballad that I really adore. Her voice is incredible and I'm glad she's back but I understand why people find this boring.

Duje - Albania If you can be sure of something, then it's that I rarely vibe with Albania's entries, this year isn't much different. Although, I have to admit I already like it better than the first time I listened to it. I like the chorus and they sing in Albanian which is pretty nice.

Due Vite - Italy Just heard it for the first time and it's really nice. I don't think it'll stand out much but I like it a lot.

Bridges - Estonia A lovely ballad but I fear it's a bit forgettable.

Cha Cha Cha - Finland Now let me tell you, I didn't like this one at all the first time I heard it. The last Chorus was fine to me but everything else was a big no. Since then, it was grown on me A LOT. Now, I really enjoy it and I can't sit still when this plays. I definitely see the appeal.

My Sister's Crown - Czechia I actually kinda like this? I like the chorus, at least. I love that they sing in four different languages. Hello? That's incredible.

Promise - Australia I'm actually 50/50 about this. I love the retro vibe, it's fun and vibey but the metal part is not my thing at all. So I don't like that but other than that part, I enjoy this one.

Because of You - Belgium It's vibey and funky, I enjoy it but I don't love it.

Future Lover - Armenia Another "boring" ballad that I actually enjoy. Plus, there are Armenian parts in this one which sounds lovely. It's not in my favorites and I think it won't stand out but it's a nice song.

Soarele şi Luna - Moldova This one is super interesting and I'm unsure how I feel about it. I don't dislike it but I don't love it either. But he sings in Romanian, plus point, and it's kinda vibey so yeah, I don't know.

Heart of Steel - Ukraine A great entry. I actually really like it and it will go in my playlist. I don't love all parts of the song but it's a good one. Plus, there's Ukrainian.

Queen of Kings - Norway I'm unsure about this one, honestly. I like it a lot but I don't love it. At least not after listening to it twice. But it has me bopping along.

 Blood & Glitter - Germany Just listened to it for the first time and it's not for me. I'm just not a metal fan but it has good parts that I enjoy.

Stay - Lithuania And another "boring" ballad. I like her voice a lot and I do enjoy the song.

Unicorn - Israel I'm 50/50 about it. I like the beginning, the pre-chorus and the chorus but I don't love the second half of the song. Maybe it's a song that'll need to grow on me.

Carpe Diem - Slovenia I actually really enjoy this one a lot. It's really funky and kinda fun and they sing in Slovenian. But I don't know if it'll be memorable in all of this. I hope so.

Mama ŠČ! - Croatia Not for me, I fear. I don't hate it but I probably wouldn't listen to it again after this.

I Wrote a Song - UK Apparently, everyone here hates this. I don't know. I don't hate it, I don't love it either. It's vibey but pretty forgettable.

[greppelheks]

tagged by @fxreflyes thank you for tagging me in these, this was so much fun! I'm gonna do them all in one post. :)

"answer these questions using only song titles of one artist/band!" artist: tori amos what's your gender: girl (glad she has a song called this. wanted to jokingly enter 'father lucifer'. how do you feel: abnormally attracted to sin if you could go anywhere: virginia favourite time of day: enjoy the silence & pancake if your life was tv show: little eartquakes relationship status: speaking with trees your fears: digital ghost

last song: mother by tori amos favorite color: orange; copper/rust/terracotta. last movie/tv show: oof... I watched a few episodes of gilmore girls last night during dinner. sweet/savory/spicy: a combination of all three in a dish! savory for snacks. relationship status: professionally single last thing i googled: how many miles the netherlands was hahaha because of our conversation just now current obsession: as an obsessive person, everything... embroidery and all the fun things I want to make, new clothes I want to buy, the guy at work I like last book: I'm currently reading a Dutch book called 'Verhalen uit het gekkenhuis' (stories from the madhouse) by J.M.A. Biesheuvel. My 63 year old coworker went to a book reading by a Dutch author who wrote a book about growing up in an unstable family, and finding refuge at the house of an older, eccentric couple in the neighbourhood. At the reading she found out the book was autobiographical, and that it was written about Biesheuvel and his wife, Eva. I wasn't familiar with the author, so I got one of his books from the library, which is the one I'm reading right now. Apparently he's been committed to psychiatric hospitals multiple times in his life, and he wrote stories from and about there. I've only read a few pages! looking forward to: I'm treating my sister to dinner for her birthday in a city about 30 minutes away from here. We're gonna go shopping and have a drink beforehand. I'm excited for that!

Put your on repeat playlist on shuffle & the first 12 songs represent your 2024

January: one more smile (live at electric lady) by yebba). (you know as january has passed and brought me some new hope; accurate song) February: mexico by shells (secret trip I don't know about?) March: hate the way I love you by loreen (bad omen!! bad omen!!) April: broken sleep by agnes obel (I'll only allow it if it's because of 1. sex, 2. midnight conversations, 3. party) May: hothouse by aly & aj (my job at the vegetable garden will start again in probably may so this is accurate) June: keeping time by angie mcmahon (not sure if this is good or bad?) July: talk on the street by greta van fleet August: concrete mother by gazelle twin September: meet me in the woods by lord huron (hell yea) October: you shook me by led zeppelin (hell yeaaaaaa) November: tumbling lights by the acid (november's got a deep deep depression in store for me) December: everything nice by jaako eino kalevi and farao (short lived depression! yay!)

[dodgebolts]

hiiii lysssss I’ve been mostly offline for the last week but I finally managed to get most of my python code to work but now I can’t figure out how to plot it and I still need to introduce a resetting rate and I have no idea how so I’m loosing my mind a little but it’s fine everything is fine <- said through gritted teeth

also I found a masters program I really love but I would have to pay wayyy too much money to go there (here I would have to pay a few hundred a semester and there it would be almost 30,000 in just tuition fees) and also my average seems to be too low by exactly 0.1 to get in anyway so now I’m feeling kinda shitty…I have a backup plan but it still kinda sucks

in much more fun news eurovision is in a month and having all of the songs to listen to I have to say thats its a pretty decent year overall but I don’t think there’s one song that really stands out across the board for both juries and televoters….I think finland is gonna be the televoters favourite and sweden is gonna sweep the jury vote (they love sweden anyway and they adore loreen) but I still think france could do really well with both but we’ll see. I just hope we won’t be last again

-🌻

YAYYYY THAT'S SO EXCITING I'M SO HAPPY FOR YOU! I tried looking up resetting rates but I have 0 experience in either finance or physics so I'm not sure how to help on that but for plotting I would recommend using plotly!! It's a really clean looking data viz library, the same one I used for the MrBeast/Dream data and it's relatively intuitive! Good luck though it sounds tough but I believe in u 🫡

I hope everything works out on the masters' end though, I have to start thinking about that soon and I'm LOST rn trying to figure out exactly where I want to go/what to do so I get the struggle—private universities are annoying when it comes to tuition and it's rough ngl (like my uni's sticker price like $85k a year which is nuts who the fuck would be able to pay that without aid???? why do universities hate us smh) <333

I haven't even thought of esc in a hot minute, I still need to get onto listening to sm but I've seen salty say the year isn't anything special and I trust her on that since she's the resident escposter around dtblr LOL I do hope France does well bc the song fucking slays

[imjustli]

My ranking of the eurovision songs as of now, with comments

1. Slovenia - love Slovienia for sending boy band bangers two years in a row. This is probably the first esc song that genuinely has favourite song potential even outside the context of esc

2. Romania - I'd actually listen to this outside of esc too. His staging is so bad though. I honestly think it could take the n1 spot if it was better

3. Azerbaijan - I just fucking love this song

4. Latvia - Again, very similar to my actual music taste

5. Czechia - I can't explain the chokehold this song has on me

6. Netherlands - just really good 10/10

7. Moldova - I love a modern song with traditional elements. Or the other way around

8. Spain - idk it grew on me I love it now

9. Iceland - I think it would benefit from better staging, but aside from that I really enjoy it

10. Ukraine - my 15 year old self would have eaten this up. The little The Score stan left in me still does

11. Portugal - 10/10 vibes I sure like this

12. Denmark - don't get me wrong, I'd love to dislike this. Sadly I really like it

13. Ireland - this sounds like something my mom would listen to, but the kind I still enjoy

14. Australia - this also sounds like something my mom would listen to. I think they should've competed last year though, that song was better

15. Switzerland - I enjoy a good ballad

16. UK - good breakup song. I like it. It's kinda generic, so I doubt it's gonna get a lot of votes though

17. Estonia - again, I enjoy I good ballad

18. Norway - it's a great song, still feels overrated tho

19. Armenia - it's good, but it's the sort of song that is very double or nothing when performed live

20. Malta - this sounds like something I should love, but it's just a little wrong. Maybe it'll grow on me

21. France - so, it grew on me. Maybe it'll grow on me more

22. Belgium - catchy, but that's about it

23. Albania - I think it'll grow on me, but it's not there yet

24. Georgia - didn't stand out to me

25. San Marino - it's good but it didn't stand out to me

26. Serbia - I have a love-hate relationship with this song. The hate-part is leading 53-47%. This may change

27. Greece - didn't stand out

28. Cyprus - also didn't stand out to me

29. Austria - eh

30. Croatia - I'm usually not a fan of meme entries in the beginning, so I'm sure it'll grow on me

31. Israel - I just dont vibe with it, and it's kinda generic (also, why is she dressed like a raw steak in the video?)

32. Finland - Just not my type of rock. I honestly still hope it wins, even though I didn't particularly like it

33. Germany - this is also just not my type of rock. I genuinely think it's great Germany sent it though, probably the best chance they have had at winning in a while

34. Lithuania - I enjoy a good ballad. This one isn't particularly good. It's really funny that they sent a Monika L 2 years on a row tho

35. Sweden - sure it's an ok song, and I actually quite like Loreens music (but this is honestly one of her worse). I just believe we need to start flopping. Like so bad. We should suck for a bit, we could do with the humbling. Let's have a 10 year nonqualifing streak!

36. Italy - this one is gonna be so overhyped because people have a weird fucking obsession with Italy. It's alright, I guess

37. Poland - girlie can't fucking sing. The studio version is pretty good though, she needed the autotune