God, I hated Fade To Black. And it should never have been anywhere near the final with quite literally ZERO televote points from the public in its semi. That and Boys Do Cry are two of my least favourite songs of the decade, I’d say, both dragging down 2022 significantly.

57 minutes ago, RobBot said:

God, I hated Fade To Black. And it should never have been anywhere near the final with quite literally ZERO televote points from the public in its semi. That and Boys Do Cry are two of my least favourite songs of the decade, I’d say, both dragging down 2022 significantly.

I can understand why you would hate those 😄

Boys Do Cry is one of my favourites of 2022.

What I hated was Not the Same

Edited June 29Jun 29 by Colm

5 Fahree featuring Ilkin Dovlatov - ÖzünlƏ

Apar (2024, DNQ)

I can see why this wasn’t competitive and wouldn’t grab viewers only listening once in a televote only semi. Howeber it has a very beautiful, gentle and authentic atmosphere to it, and I love the backing vocals that seem almost like a call to prayer.

4 Chingiz - Truth (2019, 8th)

Outside their 5 year golden period this is their only top 10 finish to date. It’s a very slick and well put together pop song with a really strong falsetto chorus, with shades of Jacko and Timberlake.

3 Efendi - Cleopatra (2020)

Like other 2020 entries this possibly suffers from the lack of a competition performance to really make it pop. I do prefer her other song overall, but this is a really great, dynamic and very ethnically authentic track.

2 Efendi - Mata Hari (2021, 20th)

Some of the returning artists in 2021 struggled to produce a song as good as their 2020 one,

but I think this is even slightly sharper than the already really good previous effort. The backing “ma ma ma ma” in the chorus reminds me of “Poker Face” and the “Mata Hari” cry is really effective. The song uses a traditional wind instrument called a zurna and a folk drum called a naghara. I’m not sure why it didn’t do better in the contest but it’s another one that still gets played and appreciated far more than its placing would suggest.

1 Sabina Babayeva - When The Music Dies (2012, 4th)

This is already the 2nd, and quite likely not the last, winner from 2012. It’s quite ironic that between their two top 2 finishes in 2011 and 2013, one of which wasn’t deserved by the song and the other of which was highly suspicious, there sits this gem that if anything is under appreciated. There’s a strong Azerbaijani folk element in the backing which adds to the intensity. It’s a very emotive and excellently performed ballad that builds to a beautiful climax.

Heard Mata Hari (after Dooset Daram and Mambo by Helena Paparizou, no less, what a trio) in a gay bar in Benidorm the other week and ascended.

The last 20 seconds of that song are so good, glad to see you rank it this highly. 2021 was just such a strong year and there was so much female led pop that a lot of it seemed to cancel each other out - El Diablo, Adrenalina, Mata Hari, Je Me Casse all doing poorer than expected.

Not really keen enough on any of these entries to get too excited about them but Efendi's entries were definitely catchy and Mata Hari deserved higher than 20th. On balance though seeing the rest of the rank is confirmation that Drip Drop and Always are the only two entries of theirs I ever play these days.

Country 7: Belarus

Belarus joined the contest in 2004 and participated every year until the cancelled contest in 2020. Their 2021 entries were twice rejected for including aggressively pro government lyrics before they were suspended from the EBU.

I thought I might struggle to find 10 songs to rank here. Actually while there’s nothing that’s likely to make my all time ranking the 10 are all pretty decent I think. There isn’t an obvious style to Belarusian entries: they’ve gone down standard poppy, folky and slightly more rocky avenues.

Notable songs

My notes:

Year	Artist	Song	Language	Final	Points	Semi	Points	Notes
2004	Aleksandra and Konstantin	"My Galileo"	English	Failed to qualify		19	10	An odd twang to her vocals but it's a pleasant enough country style song
2005	Angelica Agurbash	"Love Me Tonight"	English			13	67	Top 10
2006	Polina Smolova	"Mum"	English			22	10	A rocky song but find it a little jarring and stompy
2007	Koldun	"Work Your Magic"	English	6	145	4	176	Top 10
2008	Ruslan Alehno	"Hasta la vista"	English	Failed to qualify		17	27	This one is trying to be punchy but somehow falls a little flat
2009	Petr Elfimov	"Eyes That Never Lie"	English			13	25	Top 10
2010	3+2 feat. Robert Wells	"Butterflies"	English	24	18	9	59	A "Whole New World" style syrupy duet that isn't for me
2011	Anastasia Vinnikova	"I Love Belarus"	English	Failed to qualify		14	45	Top 10
2012	Litesound	"We Are the Heroes"	English			16	35	Top 10
2013	Alyona Lanskaya	"Solayoh"	English	16	48	7	64	I really dislike this - it has a budget summer holiday feel to it
2014	Teo	"Cheesecake"	English	16	43	5	87	Top 10
2015	Uzari and Maimuna	"Time"	English	Failed to qualify		12	39	Top 10
2016	Ivan	"Help You Fly"	English			12	84	Top 10
2017	Naviband	"Story of My Life"	Belarusian	17	83	9	110	Quite an odd duet by a married couple: it has a nice folky feel but feels a little limp overall
2018	Alekseev	"Forever"	English	Failed to qualify		16	65	Top 10
2019	Zena	"Like It"	English	24	31	10	122	Top 10
2020	VAL	"Da vidna" (Да відна)	Belarusian	Contest cancelled				This isn't too bad but the production has something of the tropical house about it

10 Angelica Agurbash (2005, DNQ)

A bit of old school Eurovision kitsch here, but it’s quite an enjoyable tune.

9 Litesound - We Are The Heroes (2012, DNQ)

This has a really nice atmospheric opening, although it ends up being a little generic.

8th Ivan - Help You Fly (2016, DNQ)

This has a really strong refrain and I like the rocky track, although the rest of the song doesn’t quite live up to it.

7 Zena - Like It (2019, 24th)

Very much an earworm here and I enjoy it, though it’s perhaps a little one dimensional.

6 Teo - Cheesecake (2014, 16th)

This is catchy with good production and I can see why it was one of their strongest results, even if it’s lyrically a little naff.

5 Uzari and Maimuna - Time (2015, DNQ)

This reminds me a bit of the 2026 Finnish entry with the female violinist and male vocalist. It’s a catchy and compelling number that feels like it should have qualified.

4 Alekseev - Forever (2018, DNQ)

Unfortunately I think the studio version of this works better - both the low pitched vocals at the beginning and the falsetto chorus don’t come over as well live. But it’s nonetheless a lovely haunting song that deserved better.

3 Koldun - Work Your Magic (2007, 6th)

By far their best result, in fact their only top 15 finish in a final. You can absolutely see why as it’s a very accomplished performance and well crafted song with good energy and dramatic violins. But there are a couple I personally enjoy more.

Work Your Magic is easily my favourite entry from Belarus, and one of my top three from that year along with Russia and Bulgaria (great year for the east). The production is very Bond, it has a big chorus, and he had a striking look (at the time people said he looked like Princess Diana's long lost son).

I wouldn't say I ever really enjoyed a single one of their other entries to the point I still play it today. Maybe only My Galileo for the novelty of it being their first entry and being such a strange song straight out of the gate (in terms of that vocal anyway).

2 Anastasia Vinnikova - I Love Belarus (2011, DNQ)

Disclaimer: I don’t love Belarus. But this is a huge guilty pleasure: a hugely catchy track with delightful guitar parts and big rocky production. And if you are going to sing the praises of a country with a dodgy human rights record you might as well go all out with it.

1 Pete Elfimov - Eyes That Never Lie (2009, DNQ)

This didn’t miss out on qualifying by much, but still how on Earth did it miss. It’s a marvellous and classily done rock track with a big and thrilling chorus. The live performance is wonderful, and also has the most amazing piece of camerawork from 2:00 to 2:10. This hasn’t really aged and still feels fresh and exciting.

I don't think I've thought much about Belarusian entries since they left but I think 'Story Of My Life' is my favourite, followed by 'Butterflies', I think they did that folky, somewhat sincere, stuff really well, and many of their other entries were completely forgettable generic attempts at whatever they were trying, with 'Work Your Magic' the exception, except I just don't like how he sings very much so it doesn't land as much as I'd like.

'I Love Belarus' and 'Eyes That Never Lie' are two other moments where they stood out a bit more though in a good way, good top 2!

I still remember Butterflies and the pretty much identical Irish song being drawn next to each other in the final and boring everyone to sleep. Which iirc pushed for running order being decided by the producers starting from 2011.

2 hours ago, pavi said:

I still remember Butterflies and the pretty much identical Irish song being drawn next to each other in the final and boring everyone to sleep. Which iirc pushed for running order being decided by the producers starting from 2011.

I don’t actually think it was until 2013 they changed it but I do imagine it was things like what you said that caused that change.