Agree with Popchartfreak. I was actually disappointed with James Newman’s live performance and I thought he sounded slightly out of breath the whole time. I know they said they’d done work on his fitness so I’m guessing they were starting from a low base. It still deserved to beat Germany but not much more than that.

Anyone know where to find how each jury member voted and country’s top 26 viewers votes etc. always enjoyed reading them

Also looking at semi results, Malta came second in televote, just behind Ukraine but they won the semi. Seems the producers really did screw them with the running order.

 

Also Denmark, finished 7th with public but juries absolutely destroyed them.

 

And Ireland dead last in the semi for the second time in a row

It was, generally speaking, a fantastic evening and event. The organisation did such a good job, especially considering the time we are living in, and most the acts were actually good. Certainly one of the bests I have ever seen.

 

I did like Italy, but I am quite disappointed most of my favourites underperformed. Especially Jeangu. He did SO well and had such an important message to give, maybe it was a bit 'too local' and European viewers didn't get it? Because he was clearly one of the best of the night (I'm not saying this as biased, as I usually don't like our entries).

Croatia managing to come top 10 in both the jury and televote and STILL didn't qualify, poor Albina.

i thought the show was fabulous! italy weren’t my winners but i can forgive it because i enjoyed seeing the lead singer for a second time :kink:

 

we deserved to come last, there’s no other way about it. our staging was horrendous, james was styled terribly, he was unfortunately very out of breath, the song sounded empty + there was just no atmosphere on stage. it’s so british to send something like that, in comparison to the other entries songs + staging, then expect to do well just because james he’s from the uk.

 

being a non-event is worse than being bad because at least germany got off zero - you just have to evoke some emotion somewhere to get the points. if you’re forgettable then forget it! if we’d sent frock destroyers, as rumoured, they would have become a talking point (for worse or better) and they’re actually famous in europe!

Azerbaijan were absolutely robbed of a higher place. What a banger?!? How did Moldova manage to come 13th and get 12 points from juries?!? Serbia was a smash and Cyprus a fav as ever.

 

Poor San Marino!!!

Pretty good contest! I missed the winner's performance though because by that point everyone was talking over it >_<

 

In retrospect I thought Destiny did a lot better at rehearsal and it didn't pop enough on the Eurovision stage - similar to Occidentali's Karma from a few years ago. Shame that Ukraine didn't do a bit better. I didn't rate France and think Iceland got a lot of sympathy points from being last year's presumed winner.

 

E: And the UK was dreadful, the costume, the staging, and the single just sounded like a studio B-side. No hate to the singer ofc.

Spectacular show - one of the best in recent years and the caliber of songs in the final was really high.

 

Loved Italy and a deserved winner, the result of the Italians believing in a current sound and hugely successful multi platinum act.

 

I thought the staging for the UK was dreadful and James is not a natural lead IMO, he done well but considering they’ve had 2 years to get ready for this moment it wasn’t great, I’ve said it for years but other countries have really upped their game with the quality, and selection process due to the majority of them having to fight it out in the semis - I’m sure most of what we’ve sent recently wouldn’t have touched the finals tbh.

 

The question now is - who actually wants to represent the UK? It’s not even guaranteed you get a hit single in the UK out of it.

I think the first problem with the UK is expectation management. Yes we may have been near the top more often than not until 25 years ago but the world has changed. Now you have 40 countries all able to produce good quality entries and trying hard. That means that you can expect to win around once every 40 years if you try as hard as everyone else. If you don’t try as hard you can forget it.

 

Secondly, having a victim complex about it won’t help, nor will blaming “political voting” which mostly is really just cultural voting anyway. We give Ireland more points than average and vice versa because we share more culture. The same happens in the rest of the continent; calling it “political” all the time is just arrogant / misinformed.

 

Finally not having to go through a semi is a double edged sword because it means every time your entry is less than very good your result will be embarrassing, as it will be ranked behind everything that has survived a semi. Most casual viewers probably don’t quite appreciate that.

 

So I think there are some perception issues before we even start on the song and artist choice.

As I am not from the UK I would like to know, does the discussion around UK doing badly each year ever go anywhere? It seems like the songs are always empty and pure filler.

 

What about sending Scottish traditional music, Welsh harp music, or even a rock band, can you imagine? :lol: No one cares for this "might chart at #56 in the UK if sung by Becky Hill" kind of stuff.

Edited May 23, 20214 yr by Sour Candy

I'd love to see an indie/rock act go for us, but I think there are very few that would! It's an easy way to loose any credibility with the perception of the contest for many here.

 

I could see someone like who don't already take themselves too seriously like Alestorm going for it though.

I do have to say I admire James for his reaction after getting zero points, I am sure he was disappointment, but he reacted very well (especially compared to Flo-Rida who looked pissed off). It was definitely my least favourite of the evening, but getting zero points from both the jury and public seemed quite harsh.

Agree with Popchartfreak. I was actually disappointed with James Newman’s live performance and I thought he sounded slightly out of breath the whole time. I know they said they’d done work on his fitness so I’m guessing they were starting from a low base. It still deserved to beat Germany but not much more than that.

 

I agree. Even standing still he was struggling. I often think the same with Lesley Roy... she and James have good voices, but ones that need tweaking in a studio. Both were poor live.

 

why don't they send someone like Steps? I seriously think it would work

As I am not from the UK I would like to know, does the discussion around UK doing badly each year ever go anywhere? It seems like the songs are always empty and pure filler.

 

What about sending Scottish traditional music, Welsh harp music, or even a rock band, can you imagine? :lol: No one cares for this "might chart at #56 in the UK if sung by Becky Hill" kind of stuff.

It seems like we've just accepted failure until the end of time, which is a shame!

Tbh we should stop choosing songs the UK public will like, because we can't vote for ourselves and clearly we don't know what makes a good entry. Stop trying to 'fit in' because fitting in isn't gonna get us any votes. I've seen a lot of people on Twitter saying we should send a Welsh-language (or any of our other languages - Scots/Irish/Cornish) song and honestly that sounds like a smart idea, it'd definitely get some attention and challenge the way I assume the rest of Europe sees us (Amanda Holden didn't exactly help last night with her 'I don't know any of your languages!' thing).

Embers was not the worst song, however it was probably the most forgettable or among them, especially having a meh slot. People may have liked it well enough, but it's just not impactful enough for anyone to bother picking up the phone and voting for it. We are sending the most bog standard safe songs, I mean look what just won - an Italian glam rock adrogynous group. In the top 5 was Ukrainian techno-folk :lol: Why do they think Europe would be into a Sigala B-Side.

 

However, he also was just not a good performer or really a good singer, they keep going on about how he's a Grammy nominated songwriter etc etc, but maybe there's a reason he's just a songwriter! He is not good enough to carry a song on his own, this was clear last year, so really we had a chance to sort that, probably getting someone else! The problem is, the BBC's attitude towards the contest has been so bad for so long, who will want to do it? Honestly getting James again I doubt was even out of obligation to him or because it was fair or whatever, I expect they were just ecstatic they didn't have to put effort in and select someone else :lol: They've made it such a joke, even though it is a huge opportunity.

 

But I agree we do need to manage our expectations, I can't stand the entitled attitude from locals thinking that we should win every time just because we're the UK. Locals love to whinge that it's political but like... if it was why would Israel be top 20 with what's going on rn? :lol: It only takes one song to reverse fortunes, look at Portugal for example getting the most points ever after years of flopping.

The final was GIGANTIC success in Finland with 2.5 million viewers. That's 45% of the population :cheer:

As I am not from the UK I would like to know, does the discussion around UK doing badly each year ever go anywhere? It seems like the songs are always empty and pure filler.

 

What about sending Scottish traditional music, Welsh harp music, or even a rock band, can you imagine? :lol: No one cares for this "might chart at #56 in the UK if sung by Becky Hill" kind of stuff.

 

Ultimately, it comes down to BBC not caring about winning. They could flash the cash for ANY artist if they wanted to do well, but they don't.

Think about it, they pay a few hundred grand a year for a 4 hour Saturday night ratings winner. All they need to do is be in the final. What other 4 hour show could you make for that money??

So why risk winning and having to spend millions? UK tourism doesn't need it, its music industry doesn't need it. Call me cynical.... but strangely Germany, Spain and (normally) France do exactly the same.

7.5m last night in the UK, most watched final here since 2014!