And y'all thought I'd never get round to this!
So as a little pre-game to Buzzvision 2021 which will be coming...at some point, we're going to reveal what we actually picked as our winner of Eurovision 2020. This way it'll be a nice way to wrap up and round off what in many ways is the first chapter in a two chapter story (and I'd argue that without 2020 being cancelled, we wouldn't have as good a contest as we're going to have this May). As we did away with the semi finals for circumstantial reasons we're going to be recapping the 2020 songs in the form of a countdown with commentary from yours truly until we reach BuzzJack's favourite!
If you need a refresher of what could have been, here's a recap of the contest that never was;
So lets begin an eleven month late results reveal and style it out like this was all planned from the beginning *.*
So lets begin with our wooden spoon, or should I say spoons?
=40 Estonia: Uku Suviste - What Love Is? (4 points)
=40 Portugal: Elisa - Medo De Sentir (4 points)
Getting the joint last place of 2020 are two of the basic ballads that are statistically tied with both of them exactly one set of 4 points (Campbell and uhsting to blame for each respectively). Obviously Uku would go on to win Eesti Laul again in 2021 for another shot but poor Elisa suffers the indignity of a wooden spoon followed by not even being invited back to compete in FdC so for our purposes at least makes her the biggest loser of this bunch. Obviously neither of these are really what you'd consider typical Buzzjack faves so I can't say I'm surprised to see them down this low.
39. San Marino: Senhit - Freaky (7 points)
4 points - Jason, 1 point - jafet, n4yr, nickthenoodle
In at 39 is the leading contender for glow up of the year - part pop-star, part money laundering scheme Senhit's Freaky which may or may not have been hastily clambered together after a certain other song from higher up in this countdown was snatched from San Marino's desperate hands! For all this would have sunk without trace in the before time semi finals, there's no denying that Senhit's the good time gal of both 2020 AND 2021.
And hey, whatever they saved on particpation costs for 2020 they obviously put to good use!
Medo De Sentir is underrated me thinks
Poor Freaky!
Can't wait for Senhit to get that 39-1 climb *.
Freaky was by no means bad, but very much a mid-rank sort of song so I understand why it struggled to pick up points.
A rather deserved joint last - I hope Uku performs a bit better in Buzzvision 2021, just to recognise that he has come back with a much better song.
Uku hasn't been a relevant presence in either contest but that's a bit harsh, I actually enjoyed his 2020 entry. Yet to do so for the 2021 one. Senhit, haha, but yes, 'Freaky' was terrible.
36. Spain: Blas Canto - Universo (14 points)
8 points - Cameron, 3 points - dan-G, AdamAloud
37. Croatia: Damir Kedzo - Divlji vjetre (13 points)
7 points - AdamAloud, 6 points - WhoOdyssey
38. France: Tom Leeb - Mon Alliée (The Best In Me) (10 points)
6 points - LUKE, 2 points - WhoOdyssey, 1 point - Jason, Jahq
Filling in the next few fodder slots we have that classic Buzzjack catnip, low to midtempo male ballads! Spain and France have wound up likely where they were going to end up had the contest gone ahead (unless the 40+ heterosexual women demographic went wild for Tom Leeb) and Croatia...could have been the surprise 10th placer in the semis? maybe? France and Croatia at least look like they're more primed for a glow up in 2021 and Spain...are just happy to be here!
34. Slovenia: Ana Soklic - Voda (29 points)
15 points - Bre, 7 points - Colm, NocheLuna
35. Poland: Alicja - Empire (21 points)
7 points - n4yr, Bre, Iz
Inkeeping with the matriarchal instincts of Buzzjack's tastes, following three male ballads are two female ballads. Both of these had their fans and were potentially on the borderline for qualification in the alternate universe. Slovenia are very much staying in the same lane for this year whilst poor Alicja was dumped for someone with, shall we say, "connections" to the Polish president - draw your own conclusions!
31. Belgium: Hooverphonic - Release Me (35 points)
10 points - Bre, 9 points - Jade 8 points - WhoOdyssey 7 points - LUKE 1 point - Riser
32. Finland: Aksel - Looking Back (34 points)
10 points - Riser 9 points - Colm 7 points - Jason 5 points - PeteFromLeeds 3 points - WhoOdyssey
33. Czech Republic: Benny Cristo - Kemama (33 points)
7 points - Riser 5 points - Vulker, Nocheluna 4 points - Oliver, dan-G, Pavel 3 points - Jahq 1 point - LUKE
Less of a connecting theme here but for neatness sake we're rounding up neatly before the top 30. We've got version 17 or of Kemama scoring an IMO undeservedly low score and two vocalists who won't be with us in 2021 counting replaceable Hooverphonic vocalist and Aksel from Finland. Of all the "poor x" singers from last year, Aksel's probably got the most grievances given that;
- Finland was the first country to announce that they would be going back to a national final
- Aksel was the first artist to
- Aksel spent most of the pre-NF season briefing that he wouldn't be back
- When he is back his entry doesn't get a pimp running order slot or much fanfare in the press
- He ends up coming 5th in UMK 2021, the worst of any returning 2020 artist going through a national final
Poor poor poor Aksel indeed!
So to recap from 41 to 31
31 35 Belgium
32 34 Finland
33 33 Czech Republic
34 29 Slovenia
35 21 Poland
36 14 Spain
37 13 Croatia
38 10 France
39 7 San Marino
40 4 Estonia
40 4 Portugal
Thoughts on this group so far? Any that you're surprised to see so early/any you're surprised to see haven't appeared yet?
Seriously side-eyeing some of Bré's choices here - Empire, eh ok I can understand, but Voda and Release Me?!
No real surprises so far but I'm sad that Benny is so low, I hope he rightly gets a top 15 placing MINIMUM in Buzzvision 2021.
Portugal is criminally underrated but other than that I expect these countries to be near the bottom, maybe not San Marino.
Voda is amazing. As is Looking Back. ❤️
30. United Kingdom: James Newman - My Last Breath (37 points)
13 points - WhoOdyssey 8 points - gooddelta 5 points - nickthenoodle 4 points - Vulker, PeteFromLeeds 2 points - DionTheSats123 1 point - Sergej
And so we come to last year's UK entry - getting a post all to themselves given this forum's demographics. There were glimmers of hope with this one, the involvement of an actual record label, the song getting a release on streaming straight away and Sweden voting it into their top 10 on their Eurovision replacement programme. But by the same token, this also had all the hallmarks of an "accidental flop" style of song that the UK does so well - think Storm, You're Not Alone, Bigger Than Us for relevant examples and there's no real reason why the song's 30 seconds too short?
No matter where James places this year, I'm sure much will be written about it but for now lets raise a glass to the schrodinger's eurovision entry of both painful flop avoided and surprise success snatched away from us!
Medo de Sentir definitely didn't deserve last! Really grew on me afer a few listens, a beautiful song.
28. Austria: Vincent Bueno - Alive (43 points)
11 points - DionTheSats123, PeteFromLeeds 7 points - WhoOdyssey 6 points - Vulker 3 points - Oliver, SevenSeize 2 points - Jason
29. Belarus: VAL - Da Vidna (41 points)
11 points - WhoOdyssey 9 points - nickthenoodle, Vulker 7 points - RobBob 3 points - Jafet 2 points - Jahq
At 29 we've got one of our countries who won't be returning for well documented reasons and in style at that with VAL joining the pro-democracy rallies earlier this year. And also there's Austria. Erm. Uhhh. He's back this year?
Also we've already lost seven out of 15 of WhoOdyssey's votes - I think we have our winner for "most contrarian' votes here!
26. North Macedonia: VASIL - You (48 points)
13 points - danG 10 points - Jade 8 points - NocheLuna 3 points - Jason, PeteFromLeeds Bre 2 points - Iz 1 point - Oliver
27. Georgia: Tornike Kipiani - Take Me As I Am (47 points)
10 points - Jahq, Ghosty 9 points - Iz, Oliver 4 points - SevenSeize 3 points - LUKE 2 points - PeteFromLeeds
At 27 and 26 we have two of our "unique characters" of 2020 and two stories of evolving and growing into 2021. Tornike's polarising guttural growling entry that could have caught enough people's imagination to get out of that theoretical semi (it not being last here is a mark of something at least!) has given way to a near guaranteed non qualifier. Vasil on the other hand has gone from some half baked cold mess tango pop to embracing the inner theatre queen within (and honey, that female dancer in the video isn't fooling anyone!).
This is fun as I've forgotten most of these songs by now and get to re-listen to them. I should've given more points to Benny Cristo (and possibly fewer points to Aksel!)
North Macedonia getting into a theoretical final position (based on it being 26th - but quite likely that there are still at least 10 semi 1 tracks to come, not keeping track) is the most surprising result so far for me - it's so incredibly average, one of the worst of 2020! Flush.
Happy to see a few more "Take Me As I Am" stans and looking forward to James Newman's glow-up in the 2021 results (potentially - maybe him having a better song will be cancelled out by the general higher quality of the year)
I don't remember my votes at all. Quite surprised I gave 3 points to Belarus and none to the UK or Stan Marino
But at least I didn't give any to Georgia
24. Moldova: Natalia Gordienko - Prison (51 points)
18 points - n4yr 12 points - Jade 10 points - Oliver 5 points - Ghosty 4 points - Bre 2 points - dan-G
25. Romania: Roxen - Alcohol You (50 points)
15 points - Jerick 13 points - uhsting 9 points - LUKE 6 points - Sergej 4 points - Alex! 2 points - RobBob 1 point - Cameron
Next we have the two ladies from Romanian speaking countries who had planned to come to 2020 with dramatic ballads. One has definitely stayed in that lane while the other has gone in the complete opposite direction. Prison also marks our first entry to fall having received an 18 pointer!
I wasn't expecting to see UK flopping here this way.
5 of my 12 choices already revealed!
I just hope the country that received 12 points from me is in the top 3!
21. Cyprus: Sandro - Running (72 points)
13 - LUKE 12 - dan-G 11 - Oliver 9 points - PeteFromLeeds 8 - Jason 7 - Vulker 5 - Riser 4 - Jafet 3 points - RobBob
22. Greece: Stefania - Supergirl (66 points)
18 points - Alex! 12 points - Colm, Pavel 10 points - Cameron 8 points - Jahq 4 points - n4yr 2 points - nickthenoodle
23. Netherlands: Jeangu Macrooy - Grow (56 points)
12 points - uhsting, LexC 11 points - NocheLuna 9 points - Jahq 6 points - Jade 3 points - Sergej, DionTheSats123
In at 23 is the host entry and criminally underrated ballad 'Grow' (and also the first song I voted for to fall). Netherlands are once again this year criminally underrated so come through consistency! And after the convenient pairing of Moldova and Romania in the last section, another pair of "best friends" are just outside of the top 20. Surprised to see Cyprus up as high as this but given there's more than one noted dance fan who voted in this, I guess it checks out.
To recap 21 - 41
21 72 Cyprus
22 66 Greece
23 56 Netherlands
24 51 Moldova
25 50 Romania
26 48 North Macedonia
27 47 Georgia
28 43 Austria
29 41 Belarus
30 37 United Kingdom
31 35 Belgium
32 34 Finland
33 33 Czech Republic
34 29 Slovenia
35 21 Poland
36 14 Spain
37 13 Croatia
38 10 France
39 7 San Marino
40 4 Estonia
40 4 Portugal
Meaning that our top 20 of Eurovision 2020 are
Albania
Armenia
Australia
Azerbaijan
Bulgaria
Denmark
Germany
Iceland
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Latvia
Lithuania
Malta
Norway
Russia
Serbia
Sweden
Switzerland
Ukraine
What are your predictions? who's snuck into this top 20 by 4 points and who's made the top 10?
Oops Alcohol You was done dirty and surprisingly Grow is at a great position despite not many people rated it high in the first place.
A bit surprised (but not necessarily complaining - I do like both songs) at just how well Moldova and Cyprus have done. Greece were so underrated last year!
The Latvian racket needs to be out asap now.
Reckon the top 10 will consist of
Azerbaijan
Bulgaria
Germany
Iceland
Italy
Lithuania
Malta
Norway
Russia
Sweden
Latvia to win
(no but seriously it has to be Bulgaria)
19. Malta: Destiny - All Of My Love (99 points)
18 points - Jafet 12 points - Vulker 11 points - Jahq 9 points - Liam 8 - Riser, Sergej 7 points - nickthenoodle 5 points - Cameron, DionTheSats 4 points - Colm 3 points - Ghosty, Alex!, Campbell 2 points - LexC 1 point - gooddelta
20. Albania: Arilena Ara - Fall From The Sky (76 points)
18 points - Colm 13 points - Iz 12 points - Bre 11 points - Jade 8 points - uhsting 5 points - WhoOdyssey, Jason 3 points - Cameron 1 point - PeteFromLeeds
So Albania, thanks to a handfull of big ticket voters sneaks into the top 20 by four points. It seems like an absolute eternity that the Albanian version, 'Shaj' beat 'Me Tana' in Festival i Kenges but here is our closure point for that narrative.
And in a surprise move, favourites for 2021 Malta only made 19th in our 2020 ranking with one point shy of 100. I suspect a lot of us would reach the similar conclusion that while "All Of My Love" is good, it's maybe not Destiny living up to her full potential as she has this year. Although looking back at 2020's video they've obviously decided to stick to the same kind of spoken word intro for this year!
Malta
I thought it would be a sure contender for the win here!
17. Ukraine: Go_A - Solovey (106 points)
13 points - SevenSeize 12 points - Ghosty, Oliver 11 points - dan-G, Pavel 10 points - uhsting, nickthenoodle 8 points - Iz 5 points - Campbell, Liam 4 points - AdamAloud 2 points - Bre, Jerick 1 points - DionTheSats123
18. Latvia: Samanta Tina - Still Breathing (104 points)
18 points - Oliver 11 points - Ghosty 10 points - AdamAloud, dan-G 8 points - Pavel 7 points - Liam, Campbell, SevenSeize, Alex! 5 points - RobBob, Colm 4 points - Cameron 3 points - Iz 2 points - Jade
Now we have both of the marmite planned semi final closers - some people say unlistenable screeching, some people say ARTPOP *.* - you can decide which one is which. Qualifiers? Well like this year, both could go either way so the drama of envelope 10 for both semi finals remains with us for another year!
15. Armenia: Athena - Chains On You (116 points)
18 points - Jade 15 points - Cameron 13 points - Bre 12 points - Riser, LUKE, RobBob 9 points - Jason 8 points - Alex! 7 points - LexC 3 points - NocheLuna, nickthenoodle 1 point - Vulker, Jerick, SevenSeize, Liam
16. Sweden: The Mamas - Move (111 points)
13 points - nickthenoodle, DionTheSats123 12 points - Cameron 9 points - n4yr 8 points - LexC, danG 7 points - Sergej, Jerick 6 points - gooddelta, Campbell, NocheLuna 4 points - RobBob, Riser, Jahq 2 points - Alex!, Jafet
Both of these female acts will not be on the 2021 stage for different reasons. The Mamas, despite overperforming expectations on the melfest public vote twice, were usurped into third place in Melfest 2021 and another condender for the "Poor Bitch" award, Athena has now had two appearances on the stage taken away from her for reasons beyond her control. I'd expect we're very likely to see Athena in Valetta 2022 and maybe The Mamas can unexpectedly overperform again in a future post-Covid melfest?
So the next two songs are tied BUT it is actually possible to separate this tie unlike the one at the bottom of the scoreboard. Any guesses for who they are?
Still Breathing, what a moment that was *.*
Albania falling where they have is no great surprise but WTF at both Malta and Sweden, expected them both to be locks for the lower end of the top 10.
I'm with Iz, hopefully Bulgaria is the one with broad enough appeal to secure the win but who knows anymore.
I think the next to drop out will be between Australia, Ireland and Serbia.
Listening to some of these really brought to my attention how much better some of them are than this year's crop.
It's funny seeing my ranks from a year ago, since they've shifted around since then. Prison is definitely not my #1 anymore. I'm hoping for a Bulgaria/Lithuania/Iceland top 3.
Anyone who voted for 'Alcohol You' should consider re-evaluating their life xx
Love that the only other person who joined me and Cameron in putting Armenia in the top 3 was Cameron of all people
Yeah I'm more surprised at Brade being the biggest fans of Chains On You!
I mean it works both ways xx (but Jade matching Cameron's taste on something is less surprising than me)
No more results?
Yaboi's a keyworker you get results when you get them!
13. Ireland: Lesley Roy - Story Of My Life (117 points inc. one 18)
18 points - RiseR 15 points - DionTheSats123, LexC 12 points - WhoOdyssey 11 points - Jason 10 points - Colm, PeteFromLeeds 7 points - Jahq 6 points - Jafet, SevenSeize 4 points - gooddelta 1 point - Alex!, AdamAloud, RobBot
14. Australia: Montaigne - Don't Break Me (117 points inc. no 18s)
15 points - NocheLuna 13 points - Alex! 12 points - Liam 11 points - Jerick 10 points - gooddelta, Jason 8 points - Jafet 7 points - Pavel, uhsting 6 points - PeteFromLeeds, Colm 4 points - LUKE, WhoOdyssey, Ghosty
So our second but this time actually separable tie are the saphic duo of Ireland and Australia with Riser's 18 being the lone point of differentiation for Ireland to pip them for 13th place. Other than the queer connection there's also a strong theme of bold artistic choices that may or may not have paid off, be that Mr Mime realness or Dublin Pride 2010 throwback realness.
Up next are the two unlucky entries who fell just short of Buzzjack's top 10...
I ended up loving Ireland after I sent my votes in
Ireland was definitely a post-cancellation Lockdown 1 nostalgia fuelled staple for me!
11. Italy: Diodato - Fai Rumore (134 points)
18 points - Jason 15 points - uhsting, Liam, gooddelta 13 points - Sergej 11 points - Bre, LUKE 10 points - Iz 9 points - Jerick 5 points - Jahq 4 points - NocheLuna, Jade 2 points - n4yr, SevenSeize
12. Serbia: Hurricane - Hasta La Vista (118 points)
18 points - AdamAloud 13 points - Cameron 11 points - nickthenoodle, Iz 10 points - RobBob, Alex! 9 points - Bre 8 points - Vulker 5 points - Pave, dan-G, Jade 4 points - LexC, Liam 3 points - n4yr 2 points - Oliver
Two foreign language songs just fall short of the top 10 with both of them representing the two ends of the non-English song spectrum with Italy's poetic ballad and Serbia's balkan trashpop. For me, I know which side of the bread I'd butter but your own taste may vary. Interestingly enough there's only a few people who voted for both of these songs and only Bre and Iz who gave them both high points.
I decided to include the live version of Italy because even if you're not a huge fan of that song, the symbolism of the empty arena is truly iconic.
RECAP
11 134 Italy
12 118 Serbia
13 117 Ireland (one 18)
14 117 Australia (no 18s)
15 116 Armenia
16 111 Sweden
17 106 Ukraine
18 104 Latvia
19 99 Malta
20 76 Albania
21 72 Cyprus
22 66 Greece
23 56 Netherlands
24 51 Moldova
25 50 Romania
26 48 North Macedonia
27 47 Georgia
28 43 Austria
29 41 Belarus
30 37 United Kingdom
31 35 Belgium
32 34 Finland
33 33 Czech Republic
34 29 Slovenia
35 21 Poland
36 14 Spain
37 13 Croatia
38 10 France
39 7 San Marino
40 4 Estonia
40 4 Portugal
So your top 10 of 2020 are/were:
Azerbaijan: Efendi - Cleopatra
Bulgaria: Victoria - Tears Getting Sober
Denmark: Ben & Tan - YES
Germany: Ben Dolic - Violent Thing
Iceland: Dadi Freyr - Think About Things
Israel: Eden Alene - Feker Libi
Lithuania: The Roop - On Fire
Norway: Ulrikke - Attention
Russia: Little Big - Uno
Switzerland: Gjon's Tears - Repondez Moi
So who do we think has made top 5? And have we given a dose of the buzzvision curse to somebody who'll be back this year or have we safely given it to a non-returner?
Italy being robbed on here, just missing out on top 10.
I'm still pretty sure Diodato would have done a 'Salvador Cabral' and would have won the real competition if it had happened especially with the juries votes.
Israel top 10 really?
Russia, Germany, Lithuania, Iceland and Azerbaijan to be top 5 now please but I don't need to be a psychic to see Bulgaria winning this!
Unpopular opinion. Story if My Life is better than Maps. Both are good.
Just bumping this before it goes any further down the page
Ooh never saw that results started for this! Good to see Bulgaria + Switzerland top 10
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