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...

The voting in Eurovision has always been political - I can remember my parents complaining about it as far back as the early 1960s. Occasionally a reasonable song does win, but as long as we have appalling talentless people like the man who represented the UK last night, we will never win again. We've had some pretty dreadful UK entries over the years but I think last nights was probably the worst I've ever heard.

I miss the days when you could actually hear different countries music in their own language. It always interested me to see the different cultures.

Now it's just all the same and mostly in English.

The politics are there as always. I think we are being harsh, I think if anything the singers are more talented than I remember.

Lastly, I think here in the Uk we pretty isolated from mainland Europe; most of our music influences come from US; we aren't very good with other languages but countries in Europe are more open to each others music and stars. So you will find that some of the artists that attend Eurovision are already known across Europe so they more likely to be voted.

Amazingly op people have different opinions than you and don't vote the way you do. Shocking, I know.

Ukraine and France spoke in their languages?

I know they have different opinions, that's why I asked! MY point is not just the different opinions - it is the MOTIVE behind the opinions.

Germany placed lower than deserved due to the absurd people who are STILL up in arms over the Second World War, if Russia was allowed to participate they would have the same unfair treatment.

its not a shock when you look at those who thrived on public votes (the 'victim' countries Israel and Ukraine)

everyone speaks some French, I think the poster meant some of the more rogue languages

No, they don't. That's your circle. Everybody does not speak or understand French.

French and Spanish (after English) are the most commonly taught languages in Europe. its not just 'my circle'

It's been political as long as I can remember. It is sooo vulgar now though I stopped the kids watching. They had been excited after talking about it at school but it was just trashy

Yes, it is. It doesn't matter how 'common' those languages are.

Germany placed lower than deserved due to the absurd people who are STILL up in arms over the Second World War, if Russia was allowed to participate they would have the same unfair treatment.
Germany have placed in the Top 3 on 9 occasions and have won it twice (in 1982 and 2010).

Maybe, just maybe, them not placing as high as you felt they should is just a matter of your personal opinion not being shared by the rest of Europe and has nothing to do with WW2.

No one voting for Eurovision gives a shit about ww2.

Italy almost always sing in Italian and have been top 10 almost every year since they returned. Portugal won in Portuguese, no one speaks that.

Aprildecember

You're right, Italy always sing in Italian. Also, the reason why they do so well is because they send artists from their national competition (Sanremo). This show, and the artist that compete there are shown in other European countries and those artists sell albums not just in their country.

I'm a bit biased but I think Angelina Mango is a great singer and her song should have done way better.

Yes, Sanremo has become a recent fascination of mine! I started paying attention because of Mahmood. There are few Italian entries that I haven't enjoyed to be honest, they usually send something quality, the effort shows! But my second favourite, Emma Marrone, did terribly 😂Her vocals were pretty weak on the night , I'm sad to admit.

Sanremo is also pretty prestigious, right? So quality artists will put themselves forward. The UK did well in Eurovision the one year the act didn't act all apologetic and embarrassed about it. Sam Ryder behaved like it was a privilege to participate.

The Uk's entry was just sleazy. Who knew people wouldn't love the prison bathroom aesthetic 🤔

Seriously though, he had weak vocals and the song was forgettable and that's why we were nowhere near winning.

When we send decent acts, we get points (see Sam Ryder).

It's not a fix. And interestingly, I think the country's that leaned most heavily into sleaze were punished by the public vote (notably the UK and Spain). I think there are lessons to be learned from that.

I'm old but I love Mahmood. There's so many great artists in Italy. I love Elodie too and of course Emma.

I'm also a huge fan of Pino Daniele. Just genius.
It's just great to hear something different from usual US scene. It's led me to search up other countries music too.
Yes Sanremo is very prestigious. They have a newcomer section as well established acts. I've not watched it though.

I agree Sam Ryder was great. He could sing and great entertainer. We did well, was soo proud.

I agree the U.K. version was just sleazy. I hated the dirty shower room aesthetic and what looked like olly giving one of the dancers his microphone / Willy.

i liked the idea of dancing upside down but clearly his vocals couldn’t cope with it!

less of the porno vibes and a bit more wholesome is my advice.

and yes what was Irelands entry?! A far cry from their glory days of river dance ( yes I know the half time entertainment) and Dana!

I was so disappointed at the clear political motive behind the jury and popularity votes this year.

You must've have only recently started watching the Eurovision contest because that's exactly what happens EVERY year. It's always political. Close neighbors all club together e.g Romania, will give Albania 100 points no matter what awfulness they sing, Germany, Poland, denmark will vote for each other, I'm sure no one voted for Israel? depending on what wars are currently going on and whose side each country is on will get a vote or not etc everyone seems to hate England no matter what they sing, we tend to expect something from Ireland. It's all part of the fun seeing how current politics will drive voting on singing day. The utter hilarity of it all is what makes it so fun.

'Rogue' languages?!?!?!

I think 'minority' or 'less widely-spoken' might be a slightly more diplomatic descriptor...

Didn't they change the language rules because the 'own language' rules were heavily weighted in favour of the UK and Ireland?

Fair or not, people always prefer a song more when they can understand the lyrics as well as the music - and far, far more people understand English than Serbian, Estonian or Icelandic.

Italy is probably a noble exception, because it sounds so beautiful, even if you don't have a clue what they're singing about - plus a lot of folk are already used to opera.

Absolutely this. No longer a family show at all.

Agree, it's not fair that the UK and the others of the big 5 automatically qualify to the grandfinal due to their financial contributions. They should have to compete along with everyone else.

I only watched about half of the show. I was gobsmacked at how every 'song' was absolutely dreadful, over choreographed and sounded almost exactly the same. I think I will return to ignoring in it future!

I don’t think it was political- I thought it was unusual and interesting!! And I actually enjoyed all the songs that did well, although I was gutted that Histonia didn’t do better. I’ll be really honest, I’m glad most of the heavily sexualIsed songs didn’t do well, that gave me hope for Eurovision!!!