I realized I have scratched a massive itch that not following 2026 left for me. So I’ve decided to revisit some of my favourite years. I started with 2006 and now going through 2007 which is less of a mess x

Edited Monday at 09:004 days by pavi

First of all, I forgot about how absolutely brutal the semifinals were in this era. Only 10 qualifiers out of 28 songs. And don’t even get me started on the whole top 10 auto qualifies the next year rule. No wonder there was only one winner that didn’t come out of the semifinal the entire time that the format was on until they switched in 2008.

I forgot how insane the crowd is with the flags and how masculine and shouty the energy is - 90% of the audience seem to be (gay) men.

Starting with the Semifinal. We finally got some competent hosts and not just previous entrants with A1 French knowledge who have zero chemistry together. Also, the postcards are very cute and not repetitive at all. In comparison to Athens, it’s night and day.

Bulgaria: Elitsa Todorova & Stoyan Yankulov – "Water" 10/10

What a song. This was my favourite Bulgarian entry until Dara happened. I still remember listening to it back in 2007 and being in awe. This aged extremely well and continues to be one of Bulgaria’s proudest moments. Scandinavia and The Baltics completely ignored this in the televoting, I don’t understand why. Such a shame that Elitsa and Stoyan’s follow up entry did not qualify, although it was objectively not as good as this.

Israel: Teapacks – "Push the Button" 0/10

Now this has aged soooo poorly. I don’t even need to write any jokes, the lyrics for this provide all the humour. I completely forgot that this was also sung in French. This also got a point from Russia. How appropriate!

Let me wipe it quickly out of my memory before I move on.

Cyprus: Evridiki – "Comme ci, comme ça" 2/10

Terrible fashion (I mean it’s 2000s so I’ll take it easy), one-note angry delivery throughout the whole song in a language that has nothing to do with Cyprus. It’s not like French has been slaying in the contest - France just finished 22nd the year before. Deserved DNQ. UK gave this 10 points LOL

Belarus: Dmitry Koldun – "Work Your Magic" 8/10

Not Kirkorov being involved here too! :’) The song slaps and continues to be Belarus’ best entry to date which is also their best result ever.

Iceland: Eiríkur Hauksson – "Valentine Lost" 5/10

This was okay but a bit too MOR for me. I don’t remember anything about this song and I rewatched the performance like 30 minutes ago x Fun fact: this received 12 points from Finland, Sweden and Norway as well as getting 10 from Hungary and Denmark. Practically nothing outside of that :’)

Georgia: Sopho Khalvashi – "Visionary Dream" 9/10

Oh yes!! This was my favourite back in the day. What a debut entry, so energetic, incredible staging, amazing vocalist. Caucasus, Slavic and Balkan countries really came through this year because they pushed everyone else out of the semis.

Montenegro: Stevan Faddy – "Ajde, kroči" 2/10

Some Slavic twink jumping on stage singing quite a forgettable song. This is just the beginning of bad Montenegrin choices, but that’s a spoiler x

Switzerland: DJ Bobo – "Vampires Are Alive" 5/10

Poor thing. Wasn't he hyped prior to the contest and expected to at least qualify? Right after Kate Ryan’s flop too! The song was nothing to write home about so I was not surprised. The staging was kitsch and too cringe

Moldova: Natalia Barbu – "Fight" 6/10

I remember I liked it back in the day but now it just sounds a bit cringe and dated. Unsurprisingly this was pushed through solely by the Russian speaking population elsewhere.

The Netherlands: Edsilia Rombley – "On Top of the World" 4/10

Edsilia was competent and with great stage presence but the identically dressed backing singers/dancers were extremely distracting with their OTT expressions and very bad “choreo”.

Albania: Frederik Ndoci – "Hear My Plea" 6/10

This could’ve easily been a Q if they pushed it a bit further (but they learned later at least) with the song production and slightly more captivating staging. The balkans didn't provide the needed support here.

Denmark: DQ – "Drama Queen" 3/10

Oh no, this already sounded dated in 2007. So sad that this has set such a bad precedent for drag queens to appear in the contest until the eventual win in 2014 of course. This received a 7 from UK lol

Croatia: Dragonfly feat. Dado Topić – "Vjerujem u ljubav" 1/10

As a country that massively slayed ever since they debuted in 1993, this song just was not it. I mean they had 6 top 10s in 7 contests at one point. Maria Magdalena and Moja štikla still remain as some of my favourite Eurovision songs ever. Although the latter got swallowed by the Semi giants and Hari Mata Hari’s Balkan vote domination.

Poland: The Jet Set – "Time to Party" 0/10

Wait, I take back my 2006 is messy comment. This is single handedly fulfilling the quota. Blonde women in cages, chains projected in the background, sexually overcharged sighing, nothing behind the eyes, sunglasses on, ridiculous choreo and lyrics made by a 12 year old. At least they went back to cages afterwards.

(Not so) fun fact: Andorra had a jury vote that year and they gave this garbage 10 points over a ZERO for Molitva. I would like to try the drugs they were clearly on. Perhaps they were already over the contest and tried sabotaging it given this was their 4th attempt to even qualify. Regardless, I hope those people have long since retired from the music industry because they have no place being there.

Serbia: Marija Šerifović – "Molitva" 10/10

Still having goosebumps watching the performance. This was such a gamechanger, first winner in the country’s native language in like 10 years! Estonia, Türkiye and Andorra remain on the wrong side of history having not voted for it in the semifinal. Flops.

Speaking of flops, spoiler alert - UK will not vote for Molitva in the Final, they are too busy flying the flag for the terrible taste.

Czech Republic: Kabát – "Malá dáma" 2/10 (live) ; 7/10 (studio)

Unpopular opinion but I liked this song back in the day. To be honest, the chorus of the studio version is very catchy. I don’t know what happened but the people who made mics did not match at all and the main vocalist was just shouting - this was such a mess live. Not the best debut entry for sure but at least it was iconic.

Portugal: Sabrina – "Dança comigo" 2/10

Ok, Penelope Cruz impersonator, work it girl. A bit funny how given the title, the male dancer massively struggled sometimes especially when it came to more physically challenging moves. I am dying over the huge fans and how they bring nothing to the staging. This came way too close to qualifying. I didn’t remember it had French either, what’s with random countries inserting French into their songs all of a sudden?!

Macedonia: Karolina Gočeva – "Mojot svet" 8/10

Second iconic North Macedonian entry in a row, truly their best period in the contest. Both contained the genius ‘nanajna’ word in the lyrics, I think they cracked the code. That lipstick shade does not suit you at all though honey, use warmer tones!

Norway: Guri Schanke – "Ven a bailar conmigo" 4/10

The nordics clearly decided to take a break this year. What a weird direction for Norway after the incredible Alvedansen the year before (which didn’t deserve to flop at all and I’m still very angry about it). Quite surprisingly, I still remember how this song goes even after all those years. :’)

Malta: Olivia Lewis – "Vertigo" 2/10

Come on inherently Asian elements in the staging despite being no Asian person in sight :’) This is still doing nothing for me. Apparently she landslides her selection process but then again the same happened with Lithuania 2026 so it’s not a good sign all the time.

Andorra: Anonymous – "Salvem el món" 2/10

Andorra getting their best ever result finishing 12th in the semifinal. I wouldn’t call this song as their best personally (La Mirada Interior is their best). I wouldn’t even listen to it at all x

Hungary: Magdi Rúzsa – "Unsubstantial Blues" 8/10

I was a bit surprised this did so well in the semi. But it stood out a lot, I still remembered many details of the staging to this day (except the “thank god I’m the VIP” t-shirt lmao!!!). Love this but I’m a bit confused why it finished only 9th in the final.

Estonia: Gerli Padar – "Partners in Crime" 3/10

Not much can be said about this song, I don’t remember much about it from 2007, it finished bottom 10 in the semifinal. Pretty much only received points from the neighbours including a 12 from Latvia lol

Belgium: The KMG's – "Love Power" 2/10

I will never understand the decision to wear sunglasses on stage during a performance/song competition. The song is very inoffensive, dated and repetitive. This did receive an unexpected 12 from Georgia though lol. Even Netherlands only gave it a 2.

Slovenia: Alenka Gotar – "Cvet z juga" 8/10

One of the OG opera divas with LED lights in her palms single-handedly fed the entire Europe. This deserved to finish top 10. At least Slovenia qualified for the first time in 4 years!

Turkey: Kenan Doğulu – "Shake It Up Şekerim" 7/10

This has confirmed the beginning of the golden era (which will ultimately be their last) for Türkiye. Snatched six 12s in the semifinal too. I’m such a sucker for them in Eurovision and this song is no exception.

Austria: Eric Papilaya – "Get a Life - Get Alive" 2/10

What a terrible year for people of colour in Eurovision, everyone left at the semifinal stage :’) The song was not memorable and should’ve been left in the drafts.

Latvia: Bonaparti.lv – "Questa notte" 4/10

Latvia cashing in on the now-infamous Italian language Eurovision bait while Italy is taking a rest. This does nothing for me unfortunately.

My qualifiers:

Bulgaria

Serbia

Georgia

Slovenia

Belarus

Hungary

Macedonia

Türkiye

Moldova

Albania

I would’ve preferred Albania over Latvia so those were really good results.

The announcement was so much smoother too compared to Sakis and Maria, especially the former who was absolutely useless - stick to singing instead Mr Rouvas). And of course the losers in the crowd were booing because all of their shitty home country songs didn't qualify and we didn’t get any ‘Western’ Europe through lol

This Semifinal had lots of unnecessary junk, the final should be much more enjoyable. Auto qualifiers have also brought it hard this month (except the “””Big””” Four, this year aka, spoiler alert, Bottom Four in the Final).

"Water" and "Cvet z Juga" are my ultimate faves that have persisted from the semi-final in 2007 - really interesting write-ups for the whole field though, I haven't listened to many of these for years but god some of it was so ropey and no quality control, I miss that in some ways.

Oh, I need to revisit this era. I gave up on Eurovision in 2003 because it was so poor, quality wise,

2007 was an interesting contest, lots of rock or guitar entries as a response to Lordi I guess. It's well worth a watch.

It was very Eastern heavy results wise, but deservedly so for the most part. My favourite entries were Russia (great girlband pop), Belarus (a ridiculous Bond theme pastiche sung by a guy that looked like Princess Diana's son, what's not to love) and Bulgaria (incredible production and vocals - up there with If Love Was A Crime and Bangaranga as an all-timer).

I did love Scooch though, sorry. Ridiculous song and entry, but I voted for it in the national final, so maybe I'm the problem. It works as a ridiculous British song with tacky sexual innuendo in a Carry On fashion, but I completely see why it didn't work at all out in Europe. Receiving the 12 points from Malta and almost nothing else was hilarious, and the fact it went top five in the UK charts. I'm not so sure Cyndi would have done as well as some people think, maybe mid to low table - the Norway 2010 entry was practically identical and did really badly.

The Macedonian entry was great indeed, it's still in my head a lot now. Finland's host entry was also really solid rock.

My sister was into pop punk a lot around this time so loved Andorra and was gutted it narrowly missed out in the semis. She also correctly predicted Serbia would win from the first listen, just as she had predicted Lordi the year before (when it was low top ten in the odds).

DJ Bobo was actually the overall favourite to win early on, which was ridiculous, but I guess people assumed that another spectacle entry with big staging would win following Lordi. People just hedged their bets on the wrong entry.

This was the start of Sweden's four year flop era, although I really enjoyed The Worrying Kind, as much as it was a copy of Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes). It was nice to see them steer away from schlager for once (not counting the terrible Las Vegas in 2005).

Edited Tuesday at 11:223 days by gooddelta