Page 5 | To think Eurovision is no longer about the talent

misszebra · 2024-05-12T17:20:08+00:00

Following from a discussion seen in lots of threads. I was so disappointed at the clear political motive behind the jury and popularity votes this year. Switzerland did fantastic, but IMO the image of Switzerland as the 'neutral' country might have been behind a lot of the jury votes at least, although I am glad he won over some others. Germany were the best by miles I felt, Isaak has such fantastic raw talent and didn't need the circus around him to prove it. Does anyone else think a lot of the votes were due to politics? Its a shame to see clear talent pushed under the rug...

Original poster

misszebra · 12/05/2024 20:45

I was surprised France did so well (I did enjoy) last night because many are still up in arms over the napoleonic war.
Germany didn't get the public vote due to the Second World War and sadly some people still can't move on from it.

OP posts:

eileandubh · 12/05/2024 20:42

I honestly can't remember which one was Germany's song.

PossumintheHouse · 12/05/2024 20:42

Gingerbee · 12/05/2024 20:36

Why do people assume that people don't like the UK? Sam Ryder was very good.
Maybe the last two years we didn't have great songs and lack lustre singers.

Eurovision begrudgingly likes the UK. If the song is decent, they'll like us. But they'll do no favours otherwise.

HeadDeskHeadDesk · 12/05/2024 20:39

I know Eurovision has always been very camp and very LGBTQ friendly but in the last 5-8 years or so it's almost become the competition's whole raison d'etre, to be as outrageously camp and shocking as possible, and it's becoming tedious.

I think Ollie Alexander's dancers' performance last night was just too explicit and that's probably why he didn't get any public votes. And his vocals were a bit dodgy because his routine was too physically taxing for him to sing properly.

Spain didn't do so well and neither did Finland's man with no pants. It seems the audience do actually prefer a great song to the sight of virtually naked men writhing around with oiled buttons like they are at an ancient greek orgy.

Many of the voting countries like Azerbaijan, Albania, Poland etc are still quite socially conservative compared to us, and the populations are somewhat homophobic or prudish by comparison. I imagine people think twice about letting young children watch Eurovision now, it's no longer suitable.

France was the best. A good song, really well sung. No gimmicks.

As for Ireland. WTAF was that? Just utterly terrible.

SwedishKvinnaboske · 12/05/2024 20:37

missmollygreen · 12/05/2024 20:17

I dont think anyone would argue that there is no/has been no talented acts for 50 years.
But the voting is totally political. The UK could put the Beatles in and we would still lose

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I'm not even sure that the mighty ABBA would necessarily do all that well if they were entering as a new, unknown young group now.

Even if Benny wore a dress, Bjorn had his bum fully out on display and the women claimed to be demi-sexual furries.

Gingerbee · 12/05/2024 20:36

Why do people assume that people don't like the UK? Sam Ryder was very good.
Maybe the last two years we didn't have great songs and lack lustre singers.

Original poster

misszebra · 12/05/2024 20:33

SwedishKvinnaboske · 12/05/2024 20:29

People who say that it's all political are as wrong as those who say it IS all about the music. It's a mixture of both, and has always been.

As we saw with Sam Ryder, a truly outstanding song and performance will do well. As for asking why we always get nil points, the sad fact is that we normally send in any old entry whilst other countries spend the entire year meticulously planning and preparing every single detail.

If anything, we should be doubly ashamed to send in a lacklustre entry, considering our historical (and current) place on the world popular music stage. We are one of the two countries that have guided and dominated world pop music far more than any others over decades, so when a country like Armenia - not known for their multiple international pop stars - can send in an infinitely better song and performance than we apparently can, there's something seriously wrong with us.

Also, I think a lot of people consistently fail to understand that not a single person or country is 'giving us zero points'. People are voting for their favourites, and those favourites clearly don't include us. If you always go to a handful of your favourite restaurants, that absolutely does not in any way mean that you hate all the others that don't quite make the cut for you.

When the votes are counted up for each country, they give points to their ten most-enjoyed songs, so we could be every single person's 11th favourite - not a bad showing at all out of 26 (or 25), well above average - and that would still earn us zero points.

I agree - and its embarrassing that as a country with countless hugely talented and successful singers, we seem to (other than with sam Ryder) send some dreadful acts into the competition!

OP posts:

PossumintheHouse · 12/05/2024 20:32

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SwedishKvinnaboske · 12/05/2024 20:31

NeelyOHara1 · 12/05/2024 19:20

Expanding it into a World Song Contest might refresh things a bit?

Yes, this very much - if there's one thing that nobody can deny about Eurovision, it's that the shows are currently far, far too short

SwedishKvinnaboske · 12/05/2024 20:29

People who say that it's all political are as wrong as those who say it IS all about the music. It's a mixture of both, and has always been.

As we saw with Sam Ryder, a truly outstanding song and performance will do well. As for asking why we always get nil points, the sad fact is that we normally send in any old entry whilst other countries spend the entire year meticulously planning and preparing every single detail.

If anything, we should be doubly ashamed to send in a lacklustre entry, considering our historical (and current) place on the world popular music stage. We are one of the two countries that have guided and dominated world pop music far more than any others over decades, so when a country like Armenia - not known for their multiple international pop stars - can send in an infinitely better song and performance than we apparently can, there's something seriously wrong with us.

Also, I think a lot of people consistently fail to understand that not a single person or country is 'giving us zero points'. People are voting for their favourites, and those favourites clearly don't include us. If you always go to a handful of your favourite restaurants, that absolutely does not in any way mean that you hate all the others that don't quite make the cut for you.

When the votes are counted up for each country, they give points to their ten most-enjoyed songs, so we could be every single person's 11th favourite - not a bad showing at all out of 26 (or 25), well above average - and that would still earn us zero points.

DesperateDelia · 12/05/2024 20:28

NeelyOHara1 · 12/05/2024 19:20

Expanding it into a World Song Contest might refresh things a bit?

What, like having Australia enter? 😂

Original poster

misszebra · 12/05/2024 20:28

AprilDecember · 12/05/2024 19:29

Your fave Germany came a very respectable 12th, largely thanks to these supposedly political juries you are complaining about. Such a variety of countries and genres have won recently that the politics argument holds little water.

I think its politics which stopped Germany from winning the show to be honest

OP posts:

Original poster

misszebra · 12/05/2024 20:27

VestibuleVirgin · 12/05/2024 20:21

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🙂😂😂😂😂😂
Did you actually watch it??!

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glad someone else has their head straight! Switzerland did great however not going to comment on the rest of the top 5

OP posts:

DesperateDelia · 12/05/2024 20:24

Well putting two corpses and Ringo Starr would be different...

🤣 did you miss someone out?!

Justcallmebebes · 12/05/2024 20:23

Well I wasn't overly impressed with Switzerland. Loved Croatia though. They can always be relied upon to bring the bat shit crazy

PossumintheHouse · 12/05/2024 20:23

VestibuleVirgin · 12/05/2024 20:21

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🙂😂😂😂😂😂
Did you actually watch it??!

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Are you nuts? I very much watched it.

VestibuleVirgin · 12/05/2024 20:21

PossumintheHouse · 12/05/2024 18:34

Look at the top five this year. Every one deserved a place based on their performance.

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🙂😂😂😂😂😂
Did you actually watch it??!

VestibuleVirgin · 12/05/2024 20:19

misszebra · 12/05/2024 18:23

you know what I mean. whether or not you think they are talented, at least its previously been about the performance they put on and was it entertaining.

No, it hasn't

AprilDecember · 12/05/2024 20:19

missmollygreen · 12/05/2024 20:17

I dont think anyone would argue that there is no/has been no talented acts for 50 years.
But the voting is totally political. The UK could put the Beatles in and we would still lose

Show quote history

Well putting two corpses and Ringo Starr would be different...

VeganFromSveden · 12/05/2024 20:17

I'm probably not qualified to say, but years ago, I was told that it's about the song...
the performer(s) were the ones chosen to best portray that song.
So the voting should be for the song, and not the singer(s)
Was I told wrong?

missmollygreen · 12/05/2024 20:17

misszebra · 12/05/2024 18:23

you didn't watch Austria in 2014 I take it?

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I dont think anyone would argue that there is no/has been no talented acts for 50 years.
But the voting is totally political. The UK could put the Beatles in and we would still lose

AprilDecember · 12/05/2024 20:16

2Old2Tango · 12/05/2024 20:13

Eurovision gets weirder every year and it's all about staging nowadays, and freaky costumes/dances/makeup, not to mention the political aspect.

I don't know why we bother to enter tbh as it's clear everyone dislikes the UK. Having said that, our entry wasn't all that good, imo.

Again, UK scored highly with the juries and the public in 2022 and came second, how does that show everyone dislikes the UK?

VestibuleVirgin · 12/05/2024 20:15

Take it from a person who has seen many, many ESCs, it's never about the talent, always the politics. Tactical voting is the norm

2Old2Tango · 12/05/2024 20:13

Eurovision gets weirder every year and it's all about staging nowadays, and freaky costumes/dances/makeup, not to mention the political aspect.

I don't know why we bother to enter tbh as it's clear everyone dislikes the UK. Having said that, our entry wasn't all that good, imo.

AprilDecember · 12/05/2024 20:08

decionsdecisions62 · 12/05/2024 19:42

It's clearly political and that's why we always get nil points.

If by "we" you mean United Kingdom, we came second just two contests ago, and scored exceptionally well with both the juries and the televote.