Iz様 🌟

BUT, thank you to the (rest of) the judging team for DECIDING RIGHT

oh that is criminal for Delta to go out with Last Night On Earth, that's one of my absolute favourites of hers, even as someone who isn't on board with everything she does, I thought she'd be quite safe with that. ABBA fighting for their lives with The Day Before You Came as well? Sort your life out Buzzjack.

I really am in love with what ABBA's mentor has done with them - obviously you have so much to play with (and I guess with huge acts like that there really are multiple valid strategies), but finding the time for a few album tracks in the beginning, a good smattering of their best hits throughout most of the rounds, still plenty left, and using underrated glorious songs like One Of Us, Eagle and The Day Before You Came, exquisite taste in ABBA tracks. Using the latter in this round is excellent theming work. not too far off what I'd do myself if I were handling them. That said, good round for all the remaining acts, again, not sure I would have called every one of these to be getting this far at the beginning but they don't look out of place here either.

the one I would LOVE to see do better but I am expecting nothing from is Latvia, still in a glorious indie streak from them. I don't see Vanilla Ninja going anywhere, I cringed upon listening to it sadly, a far cry from their first entry. France feels like it'll do their standard thing of coming close but ultimately missing.

Greece could connect, but the clearly AI video has soured me on it and I don't know how well it will really go down as a crowd pleaser, I feel there are stronger possibles for rowdy nonsense this time? Moldova, even the UK. I feel the Israel effect will be lesser this year if only because those people have been quieter since Iran. But it's a better song on paper than the last two years so could easily be in there, that's what they're hoping for at least. Also that many of the rest don't sound like huge hits, or at least have something about them that might penalise them. if I were betting, Israel is probably the smart bettor's choice but idk if I want to do that.

I can see Finland absolutely cleaning up, the reason it's stayed as strong favourite is its potential to appeal highly on the televote while absolutely getting a good jury score, it is a very very good package of drama that will undoubtedly be a highlight wherever it is placed. has very quickly become one of my favourites despite listening far less than usual this year so I'm slightly biased but they would be a great winner.

Aww I really thought Florence had a good chance to come close to the win, such a quality act. This round was a good choice too, unfortunate. Still, Kelly has some great moments (and some not so great moments, People Like Us is definitely towards the not so great for me but she can very easily pull it back so hope she makes good on this chance)

I admire our judging team for our decisiveness and unity

oh it WOULD be the pairing I agonised close to the most over choosing for the second week in a row (though I do stand behind my choice)

outrageous! bowie robbed of his rightful victory!

Big blow for illiberal populism everywhere but most importantly congratulations to Hungary for the chance to reclaim your country from a succession of wannabe dictators. Hope all the pro-European de-Orbanisation goes well.

hell yes! Not that Magyar is a new dawn or anything, he's still a conservative politician but at least seems to be pro-Europe and democracy and it's possible when a country has done as much democratic backsliding as Hungary has, that's what's needed just to wrest it out of their control. Still a lot of work ahead of them to bring Hungary's political culture back in line to a normal European country's but a crucial first step and a great result to see.

good luck in getting rid of Orbán this time Hungary also good luck in not getting the americans interfering in foreign elections again

*. two I'z I had done a bit of cursory reading about the runners and had actually already placed a bet on Iroko as a decent shot, will have to see if it pays off.

Sure, give me one x

feel this, I will go on a searching spree later

Was hoping to see 'Invisible Light' at some point, the Scissors Sisters mentor has been doing very well with them and ideally this keeps them in this round. Couldn't call this round though. In the slightest.

Gah, that is awful to see Rosalía out with the wonderful Saoko, I did all I could! That was a tough one to choose though so a deadlock result is relieving, even though it is funny we keep getting them. But very strong round so would have been tough whoever went, I think Chappell's done amazing in this competition given how little material she has compared to the rest of the field and Rosalía had an incredible run of surviving what felt like many of the rounds, good game from both mentors.

I do have 2009 down, stereotypically, as a more interesting but trashier year in comparison to 2008's background noise - though of course many good and interesting songs were released in both, I think that's partly because of the relative character of many of their #1s. Bottom lot I completely agree with, talent show nonsense covers with few interesting qualities. I would certainly have 'Never Leave You' a lot higher, I can recognise that it's not exactly a critic's darling of a song but it fits in alongside 00s eurodance in the nostalgia for the 00s lane well to be a decent example of what is now nostalgic pop-grime. Couldn't hate it, it's very pleasant. On the contrary, very pleased to see Boys And Girls out this early; though Pixie Lott managed to have a few decent moments throughout her career, this wasn't one of them, the sort of song that would show up on a club playlist and you'd have to nod along to it while finding it excruciating in its lack of ideas or excitement.

There still needs to be consequences for this rhetoric and the blatant market-playing, I hope to see more talk about impeachment, plus this isn't over yet, very easy to see this breaking down when Israel doesn't stop bombing Lebanon or Trump feels Iran's humiliating him a bit too much.

Congratulations Fljótavík, an incredible song that will be one of the main takeaways from this contest, and thank you for the stylish hosting John, very fun contest. assuming scoreboard all good I am very happy with 19th, that's enough for me to class as a hit, we improved on The Warning's last placement and I got a good set of votes from that corner, very pleased. (greenfroze top 5, or nearly there pending result adjudications, what a result also!)

3 18s! Love to be in this sort of territory again, thank you so much Juranabaijan, Aelandor and Ennea - a 13 from Taahino and 12 from Askorza is awesome too plus several more in votes I'm not normally in, great to still be doing quite okay here, thank you x honestly gobsmacked Frostline and Steel Ball Run have done so well tonight, I know I have been vocally stanning them a bit but I thought I'd be alone, yay to see them still going strong.

inject every greenfroze and a-konohagakure set of high points into my VEINS

oh wow Flj is running away with it indeed ;o thank you to those of you who have pointed me so far~

I love Vivi, so I'm glad the show is at least getting this far. Still not seen any yet, but I did see a couple of clips with Luffy and Vivi and it looks great, plus I've heard enough chatter to think this may have escaped some of the curse of anime adaptations.