To think Eurovision is no longer about the talent

[misszebra]

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...

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

The only voting recently that was about talent was Sam Ryder coming second. No way would they usually vote for the UK. And even that could be seen as political as the UK were openly supporting Ukraine in the war (but Sam had a cracking song and voice)

Sam Ryder deserved his place that year as it was a good song.
I liked Mae muller too last year, but it didn't do as well.
I still think they should ditch it though , but clearly someone is making money from it ..
( the phone companies maybe ?)

I wish they'd do a 'back to basics' version without all the crazy staging. I'm not really interested in video production skill or whatever you'd call it.

yes I agree sam ryder was fantastic. deserved his spot 1000%

There's always been political voting. Certainly since the 90's.

That was exactly what I felt about it overall. Dated. I won’t be watching again.

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

It's always been political.

Completely.

that would be fantastic! would love to hear from the more developing countries I think they would shine and put a good show on

not to be taken as offensive - I mean these countries have much more positive vibes (Nigeria etc) and their music is always so great

So you miss Nigeria?

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.

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

OP I've been watching Eurovision for over 60 years.

It's always been a bit political but has reached extremes now and is not a Song Contest but a Who Can Be Most Vulgar Festival of Fetish.

I wish we'd pull out of it altogether.

I agree with you in principal ( about the obvious politics of the voting) BUT I also think a genuinely brilliant song or performance will overcome that - see Sam Ryder- through it doesn’t mean the rest of Europe still dont hate us 🤣 An average UK song/ performance, like sadly that of Olly Alexander’s ( and I loved him in Its a Sin) will get 0 points , when if he’d been from another country I think he would have placed slightly higher.

Best song/ performance won though- I think it’s got little to do the politics of Switzerland being neutral in this case. I’ve never heard of the Swiss singer and there were clearly singers that may have been stronger musically ( Germany, France etc) BUT his performance was amazing- hitting those notes, in tune whilst moving so much/well and to boot the song was quite interesting and very Eurovision- a bit of Freddie Mercury, crossed with Mika, a kind of pop, disco, rap fusion with even some operatic undertones. There might have been other songs more my personal taste but definitely a deserving winner, unlike other years!

It’s always been about the politics, also no country should be able to pay for a place.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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?

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

No, it hasn't