#sweden i was expecting but ISRAEL??? also italy is unexpected

[muirneach]

why are sweden and israel getting SOO many points

[notasapleasure]

After finally listening to all this year's ESC entries my takeaways are:

NORWAY FTW

Yes yes, Finland and its bonkers Franken-genre is as good as everyone said

The broken-hearted Danish lad and Cypriot lad should probably just get together (their songs are both fine actually, I just think it's funny they're are so similar in subject matter)

Wow Ireland deserved to be voted out, as did the Netherlands and Azerbaijan. The first two don't surprise me, the latter was an unexpected dip in taste and made me feel like I was in an alternate late '90s/early '00s universe listening to safe daytime radio sk8 rock.

I'm not watching tonight's semi live either and won't be making predictions, but I can see why people are into Austria - who hasn't felt possessed by the spirit of Edgar Allen Poe at one time or another? Semi final 1 weeded the ballads out nicely, here's to Semi final 2 doing the same - Armenia, Estonia, Iceland and Greece would be the first I'd get rid of. Fyrirgefðu!

The big five are surprisingly strong this year! Italy is forgettable but the others could all win happily - even, I can't believe I'm admitting this, the UK entry. Like Denmark/Cyprus though, I think she needs to team up with Poland, who is also loving the 'I just dumped a useless man' life.

I love Germany, I know it's kinda cynical, but they had me at 'blood and glitter / paint and thinner'.

As always, I award mental bonus points for not singing in English if your country doesn't have English as an official language (if it does, and you don't sing in English [bring on the day the UK remembers it includes Wales and Scotland and NI, and Ireland gives it a go as gaeilge] then you get all my votes). I particularly enjoyed: Croatia (mum....bought a tractor?) and Serbia and Albania. Oh, fine, and Slovenia, Czechia, Moldova and Portugal. All strong in my books.

HE AIN'T GJON SWITZERLAND YOU CAN'T MAKE THAT HAPPEN AGAIN esp not en anglais with a song that is the embodiment of your heart full of neutrality

Georgia easily wins the Caucasus this year but I don't think the voting public of post-Soviet countries is gonna give a shit how good her voice is. Expect GD telling us how this is all part of the narrative to discredit the beliefs and will of the Georgian people.

Australia is *so* Australian in such a different way from Technicolour (she was ROBBED last year) but I kinda dig it.

Sweden is disappointing. I know Loreen will belt it out live and it'll come across better but it's still meh in my books. Israel is also dull but will do well as usual.

So I'm gonna watch ALL the semis on Saturday before the final. I'm probably gonna have voting problems again - UK number, Irish phone signal - and I WILL get angry about schlager, and people who think Sweden and Israel are good.

The only valid ballad is Conchita. Gjon wasn't a ballad. Once more I say: NORWAY FTW.

I always tag #esc 2023 and #i need a eurovision tag and if I come up with an actual Eurovision tag I'll let y'all know.

[borisbubbles]

01. LITHUANIA

Ieva Zasimauskaite - “When we’re old” 12th place

After six, long arduous months, this ranking somehow outlived the entire Almaia relationship, and that alone should be reason enough to finish the ranking immediately, but the the upcoming ban of all nfsw stuff (/porn) from this website will also cause a homosexual exodus (homosexodus? 🤔), sooooo, definitely time to finish this ranking before I lose 85% of my current audience. 

Look, listen OKAY, just like how I naturally gravitate towards Lea Sirk’s sass and Elina’s pristineness and DoReDoS’s hilarious whateverthatwas, I was simply never *not* going to like a Lithuanian frumpy space princess and annointed HINDU with a voice more brittle than Theresa May’s position in the House of Commons, whose meditation rites include drinking a cup of boiling water (without the tea! just water) on a daily basis to *purify* her mind and soul. Okay the last MAY be an exaggeration on the behalf of the Flemish commentator (Peter Van de Veire is a known jokester), but then again, I can totally see Ieva telling this to random bystanders in her hotel lobby? Such oblivious, but well-meaning wackiness is just so Ieva SassyMouseKyte. 

Naturally, one MASSIVE part of my Ieva stanning is JUST her personality, which is both intensely kooky and disarmingly innocent, see above. Another example: Ieva serenly sliding off the stage during the semifinal, only to find the nearest camera and exclaim  ”I FELT THE PRESENCE OF *GODS* ON THE STAGE WHILE I WAS SINGING ^__^ I FEEL *ENLIGHTENED* 🤗🤗” llke she was Siddharta Gautama under the Bodhi tree <3 I am no a religious man but if Ieva said the stage was brightened with a non-descript Eastern Deity’s presence during the performance, who am I to refute it? 😁 

Gods or no gods, I will say that it took a *serious* amount of dharma to give us *the most unexpected gift* we’ve ever could’ve been granted, which is a COMPETENT EUROVISION ENTRY FOR LITHUANIA. In terms of Eurovision, Lithuania are amongst of the objective *worst* on a  terrifyingly consistent basis and here you have a fairly pleasant Ellie Goulding-inspired, frumpolicious Hindu cleric bringing a ballad about the inevitability of high medieval alliance pacts. Let’s Sing The Song That She Wrote:

Actually that’s selling the act a bit short, because for a brief moment, Ieva managed to transform her moment during the sheer INSANITY that was this year’s finale (well the sheer insanity streaked with horrifying, terrible, machinal dullness, not naming any names but *cough*austriaandaustralia*cough), into an oasis of *pure show-stopping sentiment* and that’s a powerful feat to accomplish for a Eurovision entry. Normally, you think such an entry would Blackbird itself into oblivion but as Ieva had prophetically declared, GOD WAS ON HER SIDE, AMEN, so nope, think again Christerifer Morningstar 😈

Speaking of, praise Hallellujah, Oh Glory and Mazzel-Motherfucking-Tov that Ieva qualified under the hilarity that is the current combined voting system (to those who still hate it, AISEL would’ve qualified under the old system despite being 12th in both jury and televote 🙃 Granted this would be funny if this had happened to Sennek or Ari or Eye Cue or basically anyone other than Aisel, but it didn’t so The Old System remains CANCELLED, s/n/s) because not only is Ieva an Elyon Goddess Moste High, and has the unique quality of being a Good Entry from Lithuania, “When We’re Old” is also... fucking awesome in itself?

 “When we’re old” is *not* your typical BorisBubbles fave on the surface (lol as if I can expect you to know what a typical Boris fave is after only two full rankings  on tumblr 😬), but it totally is? Ieva hits that personal sweet spot for me that I require from my faves: Quirky, but not overbearingly weird. Well-liked, but not liked *enough* to top every post-show list. Sentimental, but because her emotions are *real*, not because of some forced commercialized acting gig. (such as, um, fucking Rona Nishliu and her fake-as-fuck dry sobbing ugh die bitch! (k not literally, just musically, 5ever)). Also, this song makes me want to sing along like the soft ass fag that I am. “When Weeeeeeeeee’re OWLED Hooooooooooooooo!!!” All of this cements Ieva as a dark horse, an underdog and an eternal outsider and these are  the *specific*  type of entries that I started this blog for.   

I guess I should write a bit more, with more *sass and pizzazz*, but that’s basically my Ieva love in a nutshell! I think she’s an utter gem, both as a human and a Eurovision participant, “When We’re Old” *still* remains the only entry this year to give me *emotional attachment* in the form of shivers and near-tears and bad impromptu karaoke.  If you don’t think she’s all that, well that’s your loss, not sorry! She made the final through the good graces of Hare Krishna and did better than Jessi*can’t* and *No*lexander ! If I get a relationship, I want it be precisely like Ieva and her Hubbo’s. GET A LIFE!!

ALL HAIL THE QUEEN OF EUROVISION 2018

Thank you for reading this ranking, it’s been a blast! See you on the 1st of April 2019 for the #TelAviv2019 preshow ranking. God bless you and shalom! 

EUROVISION 2018 - POST SHOW

01. Lithuania (Ieva Zasimauskaite - “When we’re old”) 02. Moldova (DoReDoS - “My Lucky Day”)

03. Estonia (Elina Nechayeva - “La Forza”)

04. Slovenia (Lea Sirk - “Hvala, ne!”)

05. Switzerland (ZiBBZ - “Stones”)

06. Germany (Michael Schulte - “You let me walk alone”)

07. Albania (Eugent Bushpepa - “Mall”)

08. France (Madame Monsieur - “Mercy”)

09. Hungary (AWS - “Viszlát nyár”)

10. Finland (Saara Aalto - “Monsters”)

11. Bulgaria (EQUINOX - “Bones”)

12. Denmark (Rasmussen - “Higher ground”)

13. Malta (Christabelle - “Taboo”)

14. Cyprus (Eleni Foureira - “Fuego”)

15. United Kingdom (SuRie - “Storm”)

16. Serbia (Balkanika - “Nova Deca”)

17. Portugal (Cláudia Pascoal - “O jardim”)

18. The Netherlands (Waylon - “Outlaw in ‘em”)

19. Ukraine (MÉLOVIN - “Under the ladder”)

20. Macedonia (Eye Cue - “Lost and Found”)

21. San Marino (Jessika ft. Jenifer Brening - “Who We Are”)

22. Sweden (Benjamin Ingrosso - “Dance You Off”)

23. Austria (Cesár Sampson - “Nobody but you”)

24. Latvia (Laura Rizzotto - “Funny girl”)

25. Azerbaijan (AISEL - “X my heart”)

26. Israel (Netta - “Toy”)

27. Norway (Alexander Rybak  - “That’s how you write a song”)

28. Montenegro (Vanja Radovanovic - “Inje”)

29. Armenia (Sevak Khanagyan - “Qami”)

30. Poland (Gromee ft. Lukas Meijer - “Light me up”)

31. Greece (Yianna Terzi - “Oniro mou”)

32. Georgia (Iriao - “For you”)

33. Belgium (Sennek - “A matter of time”)

34. Italy (Ermal Meta & Fabrizio Moro - “Non mi avete fatto niente”)

35. Romania (The Humans - “Goodbye”)

36. Ireland (Ryan O'Shaughnessy - “Together”)

37. Croatia (Franka - “Crazy”)

38. Belarus (ALEKSEEV - “Forever”)

39. Russia (Julia Samoylova - “I Won’t Break”)

40. Spain (Amaia & Alfred - “Tu canción”)

41. Iceland (Ari Ólafsson - “Our choice”)

42. Australia (Jessica Mauboy - “We got love”)

43. Czech Republic (Mikolas Jozef - “Lie to me”)

HALL OF BORIS BUBBLES EUROVISION FAVES (1972-2018) 1972: the Netherlands (Sandra & Andres - “Als het om de liefde gaat”) 1973: United Kingdom (Cliff Richard - “Power to all our friends”) 1974: Sweden (ABBA - “Waterloo”) (ed: totally by default btw. Shit year.) 1975: Germany (Joy Fleming - “Ein Lied kann Eine Brücke Sein” )  1976: Luxembourg (Jürgen Marcus - “Chansons pour ceux qui s’aiment”) (😂) 1977: Belgium (Dream Express - “A million in 1-2-3″) (ed.: top five ESC year) 1978: Israel (Izhar Cohen & Alfabeta - “A Ba Ni Bi”) 1979: Germany (Dschinghis Khan - “Dschinghis Khan”) 1980: Luxembourg (Sofie & Magaly - “Papa Pingouïn”) 1981: Belgium - (Emly Starr - “Samson”) 1982: Germany - (Nicole - “Ein Bißchen Frieden”) 1983: Israel (Ofra Haza - “Hi”) 1984: Ireland (Linda Martin - “Terminal 3″) 1985: Turkey (MFÖ - “Didai, Didai, Dai”) 1986: Belgium (Sandra Kim - ”J’aime la vie”) (même si c’est une folie!) 1987: Belgium (Liliane St. Pierre - “Soldiers of Love”) (ed.: top Five esc entry) 1988: Switzerland (Céline Dion - “Ne Partez Pas Sans Moi”) 1989: Denmark ( Birthe Kjær -  "Vi maler byen rød") 1990: Yugoslavia/Croatia (Tajci - “Hajde, da ludujemo) 1991: Sweden (Carola -  “ Fångad av en stormvind”) (ed.: top five ESC entry) 1992: Denmark (Lotte Nilsson & Kenny Lübcke - “Allting som ingen ser”) 1993: the Netherlands (Ruth Jacott - “Vrede”) 1994: Germany (MeKaDo  - “Wir geben ‘ne Party”) 1995: Cyprus (Alexandros Panayi - “Sti fotia”) 1996:  Croatia (Maja Blagdan - “Sveta ljubav”) 1997: Poland (Anne-Marie Jopek - “Ale jestem”) (ed.: Top five ESC year) 1998: the Netherlands (Edsilia Rombley - “Hemel en aarde”) (I think???? lol 😬) 1999: Croatia (Doris Dragovic - “MARIJA MAGDALENAAAAAAA”) 2000: Latvia (Brainstorm - “My Star”) (ed.: top five ESC entry) 2001: France (Natasha St. Pier - “Je n’ai que mon âme”) (but also, nobody) 2002: Spain (Rosa - “Yooropz leebin a selebrayshun”) (ed.: this trashfest <3) 2003: Germany (Lou - “Let’s get happy”) (and let’s be GAY!) 2004: Albania (Anjeza Shahini - “Image of you”) 2005: Romania (Luminita Anghel and Sistem - “Let me try”) (Ed.: top five year) 2006: Iceland (Silvia Night - “Congratulations”) (ed.: 2006 SF > 2006 GF 😬)   2007: Georgia (Sopho - “Visionary Dream”) (ed.: i have about 9 absofaves from this year though lol) 2008: Iceland (Euroband - “This is my life) 2009: Iceland (Yohanna - “Is it true?”) (ed.: top five ESC entry) 2010: Albania (Juliana Pasha - “It’s all about you”) 2011: Germany (Lena - “Taken by a stranger) (ed.: top 5 entry, bottom 5 year >_<) 2012: Sweden (Loreen - “Euphoria”) (ed.: as with ABBA Loreen wins my ranking by default because this year is mostly rubbish.) 2013: Greece (Koza Mostra - “Alcohol is free”) (ed.: personal fave ESC year :)) 2014: Slovenia (Tinkara Kovac ft. Lea Sirk - “Round and round) (ed.: top five ESC year) 2015: Latvia (Aminata - “Love Injected”)  2016: Armenia (Iveta Mukuchyan - “LoveWave) 2017: Belgium (Blanche - “City Lights”) 2018: Lithuania (Ieva Zasimauskaite - “When we’re old”) (ooooohhhhhhhh)

[lageografiademicamino]

My positive review of ESC 2018

It’s been two weeks since the Eurovision 2018 Grand Final and I’ve been trying to cope with my PED (Post Eurovision Depression) and not only processing the results but also my very first experience in Eurovision. Here comes the positive part! The negative one will follow later..

First of all it was just amazing to be there in the same space where the actual magic happens, see what goes on at the stage during the postcards etc. The stage was gorgeous! For sure it is one hell of a big thing to cross on my “things to do before I die” check list. 

I also enjoyed tremendously watching every day how the event was built in front of where I work. The hype was all around and I was super glad and proud to be part of that. Loudly as my friends witnessed (sorry!).

Besides of my favorites I always hope for a diversed Final show with different genres, songs and performers. This year we had plenty and was super glad to see Slovenia (rap), Estonia (opera), Hungary (heavy metal) and Netherlands (rock country) going through even though not all of these were my top 10 favorites. 

I was so happy and relieved to see Denmark, Albania, Serbia, Finland and Lithuania qualifying! I was worried for all of them! Especially Albania’s success in the Final also was great thing to watch! Eugent is such an amazing singer and the song was soooo good! 

About Finland. Finnish media has done its traditional dance around Eurovision “coulda-woulda-shoulda” after the event and putting down the artist, the song, the entire process. But there were 43 countries taking part this year which we left quite many behind! Okay fine, the points were lower than what expected but our song and performed was loved by Eurovision community. I felt that love and I’m sure Saara felt it too. Besides we were in the freaking Final which we haven’t been for FOUR YEARS! She did a good job and we had a great song. Unfortunately this year’s competition was full of good songs! Someone has to go down. 

Also Italy was big fan favourite in the Final - the hype around the song wasn’t as strong as with France and Bulgaria for example so I did not expect fans to embrace the song the way they did. Especially after those jury votes...The guys had a good spot though performing last. With Denmark it was also the same thing! Televotes made the day! 

My ultimate favorite from Semifinal II Romania didn’t qualify but it improved a lot during the rehearsals and I saw many people changing their minds about the song! I will be listening to this song for a long time! 

Germany spoke to me this year! The song made me cry. And obviously I wasn’t the only. People reacted and this was the best result for Germany for many years. And totally deserved! 

We Finns often envy Swedes and make fun of them and especially in Eurovision. And I’m so sorry for putting this to my list of positive things in ESC but....Swedish entry wasn’t clearly the best track but it was still well produced and slick Swedish quality which I did expect to please the viewers. Also their performance, lights and visuals were memorable - even though maybe not as memorable as the juries thought across EU. However what a shocker that SWEDEN GOT LESS TELEVOTES THAN FINLAND! This is historical! Audience dropped them hard! 

As Israel kept on climbing towards the top Cyprus was getting its strength. The hype around Fuego was unexpected and sudden. However I was glad to see someone being strong enough to challenge Netta - it was beginning to be to obvious. Eleni did a grand job and her performance was perfect! Toy however did carry an important message and stands out pretty much anything else we’ve ever seen on ESC before. The right one won.  

[popblank]

Thoughts on the Eurovision 2017 Grand Final (late, as usual):

The individual country introductions/Parade of Nations at the beginning of the show might be my favorite obvious change that the show has made in the last five years. The screens were put to good use, and with the camera work it made it look like every contestant materialized from the darkness in a shower of glitter and confetti under an enormous image of their national flag.  Did the announcer’s mic cut out a couple of times? I didn’t hear him announce Belarus or Armenia.

I don’t have a lot of new comments on the semifinal qualifiers.  In general I liked them better than I did in the semi, possibly because of repeated viewing and possibly because the performances were actually better.

Israel, IMRI, “I Feel Alive” – Good choice of high-energy song to start things off. 

Poland, Kasia Moś – Strong vocal.

Belarus, Naviband, “Story of My Life” – Awwww.

Austria, Nathan Trent, “Running on Air” – Definitely more relaxed, and better for it I think.

Armenia, Artsvik, “Fly With Me” – She really holds my attention.

The Netherlands, OG3NE, “Lights and Shadows” – Staging is kind of literal, in multiple senses of the word.

Moldova, Sunstroke Project, “Hey Mamma” – Still well done.

Hungary, Joci Pápai, “Origo” – I like this much better as a live performance than audio-only.  (I was inconsistent about paying attention to visuals in the official videos.)

Italy, Francesco Gabbani, “Occidentali’s Karma” – I am not sure this staging (EDIT: and camera work) helped the song.  It was constantly minimizing one of the strongest elements of the performance – Francesco himself.  

Denmark, Anya, “Where I Am” – Tough spot in the running order.

Portugal, Salvador Sobral, “Amar Pelos Dois” – I had barely noticed the backdrop of trees, but it was very nice.  I think his singing was stronger this time.

Azerbaijan, Dihaj, “Skeletons” – Also in a tough spot.  Probably my favorite entry from Azerbaijan.

Croatia, Jacques Houdek, “My Friend” – I preferred the feeling of the first music video (the one with the writing).

Australia, Isaiah, “Don’t Come Easy” – Better singing this time but I still don’t understand the stage presentation.

Greece, Demy, “This is Love” – This is fine.

Spain, Manel Navarro, “Do It for Your Lover” – This would be perfectly pleasant if not for the chorus (and that unfortunate screech).

Norway, JOWST, “Grab the Moment” – That was fine. 

United Kingdom, Lucie Jones, “Never Give Up On You” – Not bad.  I was feeling more positive after the semifinal preview clip, while this seemed a tiny bit overwrought.  But it sounded pretty good and the staging looked good, and it appears to have been a solid effort.  

Cyprus, Hovig, “Gravity” – (shrug)

Romania, Ilinca feat. Alex Florea, “Yodel It!” – Kiss was a little awkward.

Germany, Levina, “Perfect Life” – Liked the camera shot that came down through the chandelier lighting contraption thing.  Liked the color scheme, though as a visual presentation it was very restrained.  Nice but not a standout.

Ukraine, O. Torvald, “Time” – Guitar break was the best part. Did not really understand the giant head, even when it was explained in the semifinal preview.

Belgium, Blanche, “City Lights” – She looked so much more comfortable on stage.  What the staging said to me: if you did want to take her hand, you’d have to get through all these barriers around her – the swirling triangle mesh (which seems to pop from the screen thanks to the display and lighting effects), the whirlpool on the floor, the cage of lights, the triangle ring, all the while trying to avoid upsetting the giant pulsing orb behind her.  Sounds kind of like a video game but it works as a metaphor.

Sweden, Robin Bengtsson, “I Can’t Go On” – This is at least my sixth time watching this on a livestream and it just isn’t  song I need to hear that often.

(EDIT: oops I forgot to add a comment on Bulgaria)

Bulgaria, Kristian Kostov, “Beautiful Mess” – I think Bulgaria and Australia would have had similar goals as far as presentation, and I think Bulgaria executed better.

France, Alma, “Requiem” – While I liked the background graphics, couldn’t they have done a bit more?  

On the results:

Happy for Portugal.  One unexpected side effect of this year’s competition is that I am inclined to look up Luísa Sobral’s music.

Befuddled by Bulgaria.  For whatever reason, this song has barely made an impression on me.  (Yet I occasionally find last year’s “Soldiers of Love” playing in a loop in my head.  My mind can be a mystery.)

Surprised and happy for Belgium.  Fourth place is considerably better than I expected after the semi.

Surprised that Italy didn’t end up closer to the top given the expectations.  Later on I watched the Sanremo performance and realized it had some of the same graphics (I had only watched it once before) – but with much, much more focus on Francesco.  Could Italy have gotten a better result if they’d used fewer shots where he was a barely-visible dot on the stage?  I think so.

Belarus and Armenia, not even on the left side of the board.  Europe, why?

On the whole it was a pretty good show and not that bad a year for songs, even if none of them turned out to be as all-consuming as “If Love Was a Crime.” I don’t plan to buy the album, but I’ve already bought "City Lights” and may get a few of the other individual songs.