EUROVISION THREAD 3. THE UK ARE TOP OF THE LEADERBOARD (FOR NOW)

[RedToothBrush]

JUST THAT.

@RedToothBrush

This changes everything for the UK and Eurovision. It proves we CAN win, if we have a good song.

We CAN NOT blame our shit score on political voting.

LOL so true! It's so amazing that we came second, and as I said on another thread ... I bet all the Remainers /anti-Brexit people who laughed every time the UK lost Eurovision (spectacularly) over the past 4 or 5 years, are licking their wounds and wiping the egg off their face this morning! Because they are WRONG. Europe does NOT hate us.

Echoing Taytocrisps.

Congratulations everyone in the UK! I was delighted to see your entry do so well and get the recognition it deserved. It's a brilliant song and Sam is an amazing performer and he spoke so well too when he was talking to the hosts.

I'm happy for Ukraine too. I did like their song.

Altogether, it was a really good contest.

So the question I’m pondering this morning is: will the U.K. be like France (2nd last year, back to near the bottom of the scoreboard this year)? or will they be like Italy (safely in the top 10, unlucky to miss out on a top 5 spot)?

That said, I think France doing as badly as they did was the biggest surprise of the night.

Altogether, it was a really good contest.

It really was. The overall standard was very high, and a good mix of different song types including the obligatory bonkers ones (Serbia and Norway).

Sharing this as this is the website that Facebook screenshot comes from. It's really illuminating. Someone also also explained that they rank the songs voted for by each country's public and give the highest scoring 12 points, the second one 10, the third one 8, etc. From that, I understand that Ireland giving the UK 2 points means the UK's was the 9th highest voted song by the Irish public. I think that's right?

I think it depends on what we learn from this. I don't think France's entry was one which wanted to win.

I think the interesting country is Italy who have consistently done well in recent years. They were hitting a certain mark.

I think tiktok is where its at as well as a proper media tour.

Also we didn't have a song written for Eurovision. Theres a documentary with Sam Ryder on iplayer. He is a massive eurovision fan and loved every second of it. He said the song was written and was a gem and then they picked it for eurovision. He also didn't start being successful until he stopped trying to copy the path of others and decided to just sing for the love of singing. I definitely think this shows.

The joy of singing.

Well the idiotic SNP woman (can't remember if she's a Councillor or an MSP) who tweeted last year about it being not just Europe who hates the UK but Scotland too , certainly should be.

Its the mediocre song complex.

If you enter something mediocre you can end up anywhere on the right hand side. If it doesn't capture the attention of the public you can do worse than a more marmite song. Plus i think this is where taste across country borders disadvantages us as an island and where politics does creep in.

France's entry was ok, but not stand out. It didn't benefit from French being spoken in other countries. And French politics haven't been terribly popular lately. Same goes for Germany (which I thought dull and the comments my friends made was it was generic and sounded like a mash of other things but never getting the best aspects of them).

In recent years, Germany has bombed arguably as badly as the UK and just hasn't quite got its head around what works. Its been consistently rubbish since they won.

I understand that Ireland giving the UK 2 points means the UK's was the 9th highest voted song by the Irish public. I think that's right?

According to that site we got 14 points from Ireland, 6 from the public and 8 from the Jury. Are you looking at France by mistake - I think they are adjacent to Ireland on one of the charts and we got 2 from their tele voting.

We liked the German song in this house but it wasn't bonkers enough for Eurovision was it? Surprised France did so poorly, I liked that they sang in Breton.

France song upset me, not because of the song but it made me delve into the history of the Breton language, and I was so sad to discover it's an endangered language and France doesn't appear to be doing anything to save it really.

As a fluent Welsh speaker and Breton bing an ancient Celtic language alongside Irish Gaelic and Scottish Gaelic I felt so sad that a ancient language is dissapearing Infront of our eyes 😳

I felt like taking a flight over and saying look this is how we save it, climb some masts, disrupt television, burn some cottages protest for a billingual and protected language act 🤣 I was ready to go with my pitchfork and torch lol.

I was surprised France did so poorly too.

especially when Portugal did so well. Their song was probably the worst of the bunch.

I thought the Ukranian entry was dreadful. I really didn't like it. I'm not going to be sycophantic and say it was great when I thought it wasn't. It's not a normal year this year - for different reasons than the last two - and am happy for their victory though. Even Sam Ryder will be, I'm sure.

My mistake. I thought an earlier poster said Ireland only gave the UK 2 points, but I must have misunderstood. I should have checked on the website before posting. It's a really helpful website, though, isn't it?

I said on one of the other threads that Ukraine could have entered a mangey dog farting and would still have run away with it.

The important thing for the Ukraine vote was the expression of solidarity and everyone recognises that.

I’m perplexed that Greece’s ‘murder-suicide so you can’t leave me for her’ song is so popular.

I think it's Leavers who have been more likely to have insisted that Europe hates us.

I'm a remainer and I think that Eurovision is political and remains political. We are respected at the moment as we have been giving Ukraine a lot of military hardware. Did the Ukrainian jury really like our song the best or were they feeling more positively towards the UK anyway or want to demonstrate that close relationship?

Every year I watch it and think why do I bother with this? It's always frustrating.

I think the U.K. song ought to be in Welsh next year. It is one of the UK's official languages so no issues there.

Wouldn't that be fab! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

I think the interesting country is Italy who have consistently done well in recent years. They were hitting a certain mark.
Italy's song is always the winner of the San Remo contest held earlier in the year and so has been played a lot which helps. I didn't like the song at first but when you hear it a lot it grows on you!

So true, a totally wacky, but strongly opinion dividing song can still benefit from a musical equivalent of a 'so bad it's good' film. The effort still shines through.

Whereas a middle of the road, nice, little bit catchy song can be forgotten as people prioritise a few songs to vote for and choose the most memorable.

I do wonder where it will be held. It poses a problem for Ukraine. They cannot afford it and politically even if the war is over its problematic as they have to have the hotels available for foreigners at a time when millions of their population are displaced.

Unless they could set up a temporary village for eurovision which then can be used for ukrainians its going to be controversial.

Typically Eurovision takes 12 months of planning with the venue being formally announced in August.

I am not convinced thats realistic. The conversations about alternative venues will have to happen.

The options are Ukraine choses or it falls to the big 5. If Ukraine chooses I think it would be between Poland and the UK. If its down to the Big 5 that also gets interesting politically. Italy won't want to do it cos they did it this year. Ukraine may be hesitant about France and Germany. That leaves us and Spain.

In this context I could well see Johnson seeing this as an opportunity and putting an offer to Zelensky. I think the government potentially would stump up extra bbc cash for the PR stunt. You could have a situation with Rylan hosting in the UK (in Manchester) and a couple of Ukrainian hosts presenting in Ukraine with live performances in Ukraine being dialled in.

It will be interesting to see what happens but the prospect of one of the furthest eastern countries working together with one of the furthest western countries is about as Eurovision as it gets.

The BBC have the ability to pull it off, its just the money thats the problem. I do think this is the type of thing thats right up Johnson's street to want to do. (which might be controversial but will also be popular too).

Its very possible as things stand that the UK could 'win' anyway.

I think Poland is the other real contender if Ukraine can't do it but again they are going to have controversy doing it.

One to 'watch this space' for.

I caught up to Serbia's entry and I think it was sheer genius!

Definitely would have voted for that a couple times!

Greece was great as well.

I missed a really good Eurovision. Guess that means next years will be totally bonkers and we'll be back in our comfortable bottom chair.

But let's hope we learn from this and pick another great song next year, and keep the trend going.

I think that would be a great idea

I felt like taking a flight over and saying look this is how we save it, climb some masts, disrupt television, burn some cottages protest for a billingual and protected language act 🤣 I was ready to go with my pitchfork and torch lol.

I totally hear you, @ObjectionHearsay . Endangered language speakers need to fight for their language. What a shame France isn't protecting Breton. Occitan is in a similar situation, particularly the Provençal dialect.