So, the show two years in the making has come and gone in a blaze of glory, and now that the dust has settled we can look back at what the repercussions will be for the various countries.

 

Obviously we'll be spending a lot of time going over what this result means for the UK but which other countries need to head back to the drawing board and have a rethink?

 

What National Final results have/have not been vindicated from these results?

 

Which countries do we see making a comeback/skipping the next contest?

 

What changes, if any, need to made to the format of the show for 2022?

 

How much of a hot mess will an Italian Eurovision hosting be?

 

(I'll answer that last one for you - prepare yourself for the first ever 5 hour eurovision final in May 2022!)

My first contribution is going to be that I don't want to see this public vote reveal system again. And that's not me being butthurt about the UK only being the fourth country to receive their 0 points but having a close up reaction of all the nil pointers (and Malta with their lower than expected score as well) felt like it crossed the line from friendly competition into cruelty which leaves a sour taste in the mouth.

We'll definitely be seeing a lot more native language entries next year which will be brilliant.

 

It's hard to see what Malta can do to finally get that elusive victory, 14th on the televote for them is absolutely devastating.

 

And I agree Lex, the 2016-2018 way of revealing the televotes was FAR kinder to the acts and still gave a thrilling ending. But I doubt they will change back.

So you want to go back to a jury only vote? I don't get it.

 

The BBC REALLY doesn't care about coming last. In fact, the Tory bot in charge probably likes it, as it fuels the Brexit narrative of, ThEy HaTe Us. Expect more of the same.

I think the social media highlights the cruelty a bit, personally I don't think it's a problem - it builds up the suspense. But it's a thing to consider, just can't really think of how they could improve it and maintain the suspense factor.

 

I wasn't surprised at GER, ESP and UK getting 0 points on televote, but NED a bit - the song was pretty well crafted. But ITA and FRA (and GER also in 2018) showed that Big 5 can come and go home with a triumph. Only one can win of course, but being a Big 5 country isn't an obstacle.

 

I'm concerned of how second half heavy the televote was this year. Only Russia could overcome that and be top ten in televotes.

Edited May 23, 20214 yr by Sour Candy

I think down the lower end, I'd argue it's kind of less cruel to them to be given 0 right away, it kind of rips the band-aid off. There's really no way to sugar coat us getting 0 on juries and televote, and getting 0 overall, but at least when you've already got 0 from the jury, just get it over with :lol: I guess either way, you have to sit through 39 juries giving you 0 though.

 

But I think it was horrible for Destiny to be riding high from the jury, and then be singled out with what felt like a real televote bomb. I guess it doesn't matter, she still came 7th, but to be like "oh you're doing well but anyway you bombed the televote" was kinda sad.

It will be a huge uphill struggle for Malta to ever win. They seem to underperform on the televote every year so will need a whopping big jury favourite that can also snag at least 150 televote points.

 

It sucks because they are trying and giving it their all with the very best that their tiny music industry has to offer, and it’s not being rewarded by the public. The other issue is that their industry is very traditional happy pop - or local folk/indie that wouldn’t translate on stage - it would be completely unexpected for them to go really leftfield like Iceland for example and smash. I doubt there are even that many known leftfield music acts in Malta, their national finals are always so incredibly safe pop sounding.

I think down the lower end, I'd argue it's kind of less cruel to them to be given 0 right away, it kind of rips the band-aid off. There's really no way to sugar coat us getting 0 on juries and televote, and getting 0 overall, but at least when you've already got 0 from the jury, just get it over with :lol: I guess either way, you have to sit through 39 juries giving you 0 though.

 

But revealing the televotes in their order rather than the juries' would've still meant the zeroes being announced first. And then at least the likes of Destiny wouldn't have been kept waiting to be humiliated on the televote, much more so than the UK imo as she had done so well with the juries.

I hope Andorra come through on their promise to return in 2022 but I'm slightly worried given that San Marino underperformed expectaions.

 

I don't think there are any real withdrawal risks, at least I hope not...I've heard that interest has dropped a lot in Romania but ffs, a lot of countries have suffered through much worse NQ streaks than three in a row and it's not like any of those NQs were undeserved!

 

Hoping that this year gives Sweden a bit of a kick, not that 14th is bad in such a strong year and I actually find it impressive that they did better in the televote than the jury, but it's still an end to a six contest top 10 streak and now it's been shown that they can't fully rely on the jury to keep propping them up...

 

My first contribution is going to be that I don't want to see this public vote reveal system again. And that's not me being butthurt about the UK only being the fourth country to receive their 0 points but having a close up reaction of all the nil pointers (and Malta with their lower than expected score as well) felt like it crossed the line from friendly competition into cruelty which leaves a sour taste in the mouth.

 

I actually didn't mind it so much this year compared to 2019 where the disappointed reactions of Michela and Lake Malawi still haunt me. It seemed like there was a close up reaction of most of the acts no matter what televote score they received and everyone with a low score appeared to take it really well (with the exception of Senhit, her face was a picture), I guess they come to expect it as a possibility.

 

The order of the reveal doesn't bother me too much but I would prefer 30+ minutes to be spent on the televote and 10 minutes on the jury vote rather than the current set-up, but I guess the current way is the easiest for covering up a televote winner that doesn't win overall. Such time dedicated to what 200-ish people think doesn't sit right.

 

I'm concerned of how second half heavy the televote was this year. Only Russia could overcome that and be top ten in televotes.

 

The top 4 on the televote all came from the second half but the top 10 of the televote was actually a 50/50 split between first and second half

With Christer now gone and Sweden missing the top ten on both metrics and overall, I think the Melodifestivalen line-up could look very different next year. Less generic, high sheen pop and maybe a few more risks from different corners of the Swedish music industry - maybe even a few more Swedish language songs!

 

I still keep thinking ‘what if’ about Clara Klingenstrom but it could’ve gone either way and I suspect she would have qualified and then come 21st or something and I’m not sure I could have bared it.

 

I’m not convinced that Eric Saade would have done much better than Tusse either - many people see that as their missed chance at a winner contender this year but in this field I expect the best they could have hoped for was low top ten. They need to think outside the box to smash the televote again. They certainly can do it, but not by following their tried and tested formula any longer.

I'd say the jury vote was less worse this year in that it did provide some of the balance that it should have - not being so much of a damper on popular entries as much as a vehicle to stop the entire contest just being a oneupmanship exercise in craziness. Always good to have some of it, less so when it's all of it as as well as the interesting stuff that stands out you'll also get really really naff entries, LT United and Dustin The Turkey level and it's a good thing the contest has moved on from that.

 

I need risks from Sweden, it's been the case that Melodifestivalen has often had a good option, but the Swedes have never selected it in favour of polished pop entries. Maybe, even, they'll note this year's top 4 and angle for an actual Swedish-language entry again. We can only hope.

 

As well as hopefully more foreign language entries, I am looking forward to seeing if the huge and notable success that this year's rock entries had on the public vote (Italy winning and Finland 4th) translates at all into a set of rock entries next year the same way that 2007 had a fair number of them. Hopefully with a bit more quality control. But a band winning is probably a good signal for bands across the continent who might otherwise turn their nose up at giving it a go.

The top 4 on the televote all came from the second half but the top 10 of the televote was actually a 50/50 split between first and second half

I guess I was more thinking about the first 8 songs which have always faced an uphill battle since the televote started, because people might just not be in the mood of the full ESC craziness yet and if most of the faves are among the last ten, they will always overshadow what have been performed earlier in the evening.

Malta replicated what happened sweden in the last contest and bomber in the televote. I do like the voting reveal for the televotes as I find it real edge of your seat, I was hoping beyond hope Switzerland would get enough to overtake Italy and while I was disappointed it was a thrilling finish.

I really think next year and going forward they need to reduce the intervel time as it's nearly an hour. The jury votes are cast the night before so let juries announce 8 10 and 12 points to stretch voting time to allow televotes to be tallied.

I'm excited and nervous to see how Italy will host,, the Irish commentator here mentioned Italys disastrous 91 show as soon as Italy won saying many people remember how bad it was so I think Italy will pull out all the stops to show the world they can host well.

I'm sure the EBU run a much tighter ship these days and the contest has moved on a lot so I'm not too nervous about Italy hosting, I doubt the final will clock in any longer than last night tbh (helps that barring a special invite to Kazakhstan happening, there will be one less performance and one less televote score to reveal :heehee:)

 

With Christer now gone and Sweden missing the top ten on both metrics and overall, I think the Melodifestivalen line-up could look very different next year. Less generic, high sheen pop and maybe a few more risks from different corners of the Swedish music industry - maybe even a few more Swedish language songs!

 

I still keep thinking ‘what if’ about Clara Klingenstrom but it could’ve gone either way and I suspect she would have qualified and then come 21st or something and I’m not sure I could have bared it.

 

I’m not convinced that Eric Saade would have done much better than Tusse either - many people see that as their missed chance at a winner contender this year but in this field I expect the best they could have hoped for was low top ten. They need to think outside the box to smash the televote again. They certainly can do it, but not by following their tried and tested formula any longer.

 

I think "Every Minute" may have stood out slightly more and got a better jury score, but I feel like the performance as it was in Melfest suffered a bit in the same way that Benjamin did in looking too much like a music video? Idk, I'm not convinced it was a missed opportunity either. I think The Mamas could've got the best result, they just radiate such joy but who knows if the casual viewer would've felt that.

 

I think what last night showed is that we need a return from Pagan Fury.

I didn't get cruelty. The result is what it is. It was great tv. Obviously disappointing for the ones that didn't do so well in the second vote, but that's the name of the game.

 

Eurovision 2022 I expect a lot of rock entries except the UK who will no doubt go for the same old method they've been using for the last 10 contests of 'let's pick something that sounded like an album track from a British artist who was popular 7 to 8 years ago and that'll do'.

 

So I'd expect, say... something that sounds like budget Ella Eyre or Emeli Sande.

I really want to see the UK just try and send something that stands out and has a bit of an 'edge' for once. Whether it's something like Frock Destroyers or going for a more niche style like metal/punk or even drill/grime (just imagine xx) - even if it ended up doing just as badly as all our bland pop entries they might at least be a bit more interesting to get behind. I haven't hated the UK's recent entries but legit the only one that I have been interested in was Electro Velvet just for it being a bit leftfield even if it didn't pay off.

 

It won't happen tho obvz.

A little bit random but Croatia, Slovenia and North Macedonia failing to qualify while Albania and Serbia underperform in the final has got me thinking about the health of western balkan participation in the contest at this point, and the participation of small + poor countries in general. Montenegro and Bosnia & Herzegovina pulling out has seriously hurt that bloc and Croat and Slovene participation must be at least somewhat precarious at this point. Lose those countries and even Serbia would likely start to reconsider their options, which I think would be a seriously bad indictment of the contest's infrastructure.

 

I'd really like a conversation to be had about the EBU supporting the smaller and poorer countries of the contest more, because I don't think it's a good look for broadcasters to pull out because they can't justify the expenditure. Eurovision feels like it's shrinking and it's consistently the smaller and poorer members leaving. These are often the countries that would most benefit from having Eurovision on their calendar, as they often struggle in sporting events, and those countries feeling pushed out by the price of entry feels rather harmful to the contest's goal of fostering friendly competition and cultural exchange on the continent.

 

Of course, I'm sure Montenegro for example would still be here if they were consistently landing top 5s, but there will always be flop countries and I hate that a poor country going on a bad run instantly raises questions of whether or not they're going to keep competing. I really hope that changing this lands on the EBU's agenda someday.

I'd love for them to ditch the "first half, second half" draw and instead have them draw the place they'll perform at

A little bit random but Croatia, Slovenia and North Macedonia failing to qualify while Albania and Serbia underperform in the final has got me thinking about the health of western balkan participation in the contest at this point, and the participation of small + poor countries in general. Montenegro and Bosnia & Herzegovina pulling out has seriously hurt that bloc and Croat and Slovene participation must be at least somewhat precarious at this point. Lose those countries and even Serbia would likely start to reconsider their options, which I think would be a seriously bad indictment of the contest's infrastructure.

 

I'd really like a conversation to be had about the EBU supporting the smaller and poorer countries of the contest more, because I don't think it's a good look for broadcasters to pull out because they can't justify the expenditure. Eurovision feels like it's shrinking and it's consistently the smaller and poorer members leaving. These are often the countries that would most benefit from having Eurovision on their calendar, as they often struggle in sporting events, and those countries feeling pushed out by the price of entry feels rather harmful to the contest's goal of fostering friendly competition and cultural exchange on the continent.

 

Of course, I'm sure Montenegro for example would still be here if they were consistently landing top 5s, but there will always be flop countries and I hate that a poor country going on a bad run instantly raises questions of whether or not they're going to keep competing. I really hope that changing this lands on the EBU's agenda someday.

 

Good post!

 

15th place was Serbia's best result since 2015 though, but Croatia has been in such a bad state success-wise that they might consider leaving the contest. On the other hand, Albania has done ok recently, and Bulgaria has 4 top 15 placements in row after mighty SIX DQs.

 

 

 

 

A little bit random but Croatia, Slovenia and North Macedonia failing to qualify while Albania and Serbia underperform in the final has got me thinking about the health of western balkan participation in the contest at this point, and the participation of small + poor countries in general. Montenegro and Bosnia & Herzegovina pulling out has seriously hurt that bloc and Croat and Slovene participation must be at least somewhat precarious at this point. Lose those countries and even Serbia would likely start to reconsider their options, which I think would be a seriously bad indictment of the contest's infrastructure.

 

I'd really like a conversation to be had about the EBU supporting the smaller and poorer countries of the contest more, because I don't think it's a good look for broadcasters to pull out because they can't justify the expenditure. Eurovision feels like it's shrinking and it's consistently the smaller and poorer members leaving. These are often the countries that would most benefit from having Eurovision on their calendar, as they often struggle in sporting events, and those countries feeling pushed out by the price of entry feels rather harmful to the contest's goal of fostering friendly competition and cultural exchange on the continent.

 

Of course, I'm sure Montenegro for example would still be here if they were consistently landing top 5s, but there will always be flop countries and I hate that a poor country going on a bad run instantly raises questions of whether or not they're going to keep competing. I really hope that changing this lands on the EBU's agenda someday.

I think this is a fair and good point. Maybe we need to see Council of Europe/EU putting some cash into the EBU to support the running costs and allowing the Microstates and poorer nations to compete at a much lower/no cost (beyond their own Delegation costs)

 

There is a lot to be said for the soft power of Eurovision and it is such an integral Part of our culture as Europeans at this point some form of support would be welcome. Anything that benefits culture and the Arts across the continent is welcome