Cav's Place

Overall, there have been better editions, but I wonder whether I’m not actually saying this because I’m comparing all other songs to the winner, or in fact to the top two. After all, this edition featured two songs I got completely hooked on, one of them being, at least in my opinion, the best that entered the competition in many years, so that probably makes up for plenty of other issues. Still, the final would have been better if not for some odd decisions made by voters and juries in the semifinals, but I guess that’s always the case.
This time around, I only tried to listen to the entries once, back in March, and I think there were a couple I couldn’t find at the time, so I didn’t quite know them at all before the actual competition. Otherwise, just like last year, I didn’t bother to try to follow any other news or reports, nor did I watch any images from rehearsals, so what happened on stage was largely new to me, unless the performance was very similar to that from the national final and I had watched a video of that back in March. There was just one particularly pleasant surprise in terms of show value, however.

As I said, if Austria wouldn’t have won tonight, something’d have been quite odd. My memory may be playing some tricks on me and, of course, it’s always a matter of mood and circumstances as well, but it certainly seemed to me to be the best Eurovision entry in a long time. Little additional show value to speak of, but honestly, considering the singer, was it even needed? Granted, that was also some cause for concern, as plenty of people might have been bothered by it, but thankfully that wasn’t the case.
The Netherlands also had a great entry, though I needed to listen to it a few times before I realized it. That doesn’t mean merely that I had completely ignored it after first listening to all of them, but that I was still uncertain about it at the end of the semifinal. It was only after I listened to it a couple more times later that night that I realized how great it truly was and got completely hooked on it… Until the second semifinal, when Austria blew me away, of course.
Sweden had a pretty good song, but there were several others of similar quality and at least a couple, not counting Austria and Netherlands, that were even better. Add the almost complete lack of show value and I am rather wondering why it finished third, though I don’t necessarily mind it.
What I definitely do mind is Armenia finishing fourth, seeing as I had ranked it last out of all 37 entries. There may be a passable moment there, when the song changes pace, but otherwise we’re talking about a poor song, a pretty average performance and little additional show value to help any of it along.
Hungary being fifth was another unpleasant surprise for me, seeing as I considered it a pretty average and, to put it bluntly, boring entry, with little to recommend it above even a few others that may have sounded slightly worse but which had at least one element that stood out in some way.

My ranking system is still the same, giving one mark for song and another for show value, plus a positive, neutral or negative modifier, and ranking first according to the overall mark that is the result of averaging the song and show ones, then according to the song mark and then, if both marks are equal, according to the modifier. In case all three are equal, the ranking is the result of me trying to quickly compare the performances in question at the end.
Once again, still largely for my own use, I’ll list all the information here, with the first number being the position in my classification, the one between parentheses that follows it being the actual position, the first number that follows the country name being the overall mark, the second being the song mark and the modifier, if not neutral, being listed at the end. All links are from the official channel, so they shouldn’t vanish.

1. (1.) Austria (7.5, 8.5)
2. (2.) Netherlands (7, 7.5, plus)
3. (7.) Russia (7, 7, plus)
4. (19.) Montenegro (7, 6.5)
5. (23.) Malta (6.75, 7.5, plus)
6. (24.) San Marino (6.75, 7, plus)
7. (12.) Romania (6.75, 6.5)
8. (6.) Ukraine (6.75, 6.5)
9. (8.) Norway (6.5, 7)
10. (25.) Slovenia (6.5, 7)
11. (10.) Spain (6.5, 7, minus)
12. (13.) Switzerland (6.5, 6.5, minus)
13. (22.) Azerbaijan (6.5, 6)
14. (3.) Sweden (6.25, 7, plus)
15. (17.) United Kingdom (6.25, 6, plus)
16. (15.) Iceland (6.25, 6, plus)
17. (9.) Denmark (6.25, 6, plus)
18. (5.) Hungary (6.25, 6)
19. (20.) Greece (6.25, 5.5, minus)
20. (16.) Belarus (6, 6, plus)
21. (11.) Finland (6, 6)
22. (21.) Italy (6, 6, minus)
23. (14.) Poland (6, 5, minus)
24. (18.) Germany (5.75, 5.5, plus)
25. (26.) France (5.75, 5.5)
26. (4.) Armenia (5.5, 5.5, plus)

My ranking matched the actual results in case of Austria and Netherlands, was one place off for France, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Norway, Spain and Switzerland, and two places off for Ukraine and United Kingdom. On the other hand, I was at least ten places off for Finland, Hungary, Malta, Montenegro, San Marino, Slovenia and Sweden, and even more than 20 places off for Armenia.
As for the semifinals, I’ll just say which entries I’d have wanted to qualify instead of which others regardless of the actual rankings that resulted from using my usual system, because there were some, shall we say, calibration issues. In the first one, I’d have put Belgium, Estonia and Moldova through instead of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Hungary, though if I could pick more than ten I’d have added Azerbaijan back in, along with Latvia and Portugal. The second was different, in the sense that I wanted no more than eight to go through, but Ireland and Israel were among those eight, while Greece and Poland definitely weren’t, and while needing to pick two more I had also placed Macedonia among them instead of Finland, though I don’t mind that it was the other way around.

And now, as usual, let me briefly explain my top ten picks.
I believe I already said enough about Austria, but just in case I didn’t, I’ll add that it brought tears to my eyes and I’d have even given it a 9. However, it seemed to me to have been performed slightly better during the semifinal, so I deducted half a point for that difference. Otherwise, just listen to the crowd singing along and that should tell you everything you need to know.
Regarding Netherlands, I’ll once again shamefully admit that it took me a while to recognize the quality of the song. Admittedly, that rhythm did make me start muttering “every breath you take…” at first, which may have initially put me in a negative frame of mind regarding it, but I still feel rather bad about it, because it’s a great song and the fact that the way the two singers look at each other and at the camera significantly adds to the show value is quite a feat as well.
With Russia it’s rather weird. Of course, it’s a nice song aided by a pretty good show and what’s going on right now isn’t the fault of the singers, so I didn’t let it affect my opinion of the performance, but I still feel quite rotten for ranking them so highly and was rather pleased to hear how the crowd reacted whenever they were given many points, and also when it was announced that they qualified from the semifinal.
Montenegro is the entry that, for me, stood out thanks to the show value added by that skater, and I actually deducted half a point from that because the way the camera seemed to make a point of focusing on her when her skirt was lifting during pirouettes seemed rather tasteless. I may have given the song another half a point as well, if it’d have been in English. Then again, adding anything would have put it into second, and it definitely didn’t belong there.
Based on the song alone, I’d have placed Malta third, but they had little additional show value other than the simple fact that they filled the stage with band members playing instruments, so that brought them down a few spots.
San Marino’s entry was nice, but it also was one I kept having second thoughts about and it may be that the good opinion I had formed back in March, after listening to the studio version, made me add half a point to the song mark now. Then again, she did sing it better than during the semifinal, so that also helped.
Romania had a decent song, but what boosted them in my classification was the show value, which included the chemistry between the two singers. I gave this quite some thought, wanting to make sure I didn’t favor them simply because they’re Romanian, and can say I have good reasons for placing them where I did.
Ukraine is in a similar situation, including the part about trying to make sure I didn’t give them additional points for reasons that have nothing to do with the actual performance. What made me place this entry behind Romania’s is just that chemistry, in Ukraine’s case the whole thing being much more obviously just an act.
Norway had a nice song, but the fact that the only show value was the simple fact that they had filled the stage with people playing instruments dragged it down a few spots. The fact that it was a male singer didn’t help either, since I respond much better to female voices.
As for Slovenia, I actually changed my mind regarding the song mark several times, but eventually decided it was nice enough after all, and this ended up placing it tenth. If I’d have cut half a point from it, it’d have gone down to 14th and Spain would have ended up tenth.