ScottyEm

I hope the other 3 draw first half.

The press poll is a good barometer at seeing who has far exceeded expectations, but it’s by no means the holy grail. I remember Donny Montell getting a slating in 2016, but still got a top ten placing as his song was strong and staging was to the point (and it was Lithuania). They have a tendency to overthink in that press centre.

If Netherlands doesn’t nail that emotional connection (which from what I gather, it hasn’t managed to yet) I think we’re going back to Sweden next year. I’m happy with either outcome tbh.

Cyprus remains a safe qualifier. But I do agree, this will come worse off in the battle of the bangers ie Chameleon and She Got Me (although I think personally this is far better than She Got Me).

A fair point. The odds have remained about the same for most acts, the only notable winners appear to be Czech Republic and Serbia. Montenegro and Finland appear to have suffered.

Cyprus aside, they got it unbelievably wrong last year. Slovenia only 19 points? Jog on...

Winner: Netherlands Surprise Top 5: Malta Surprise Qualifier: Estonia (don’t even think this is a surprise, but the closest I consider to be). Otherwise, Austria. Surprise Non-Qualifier: Armenia Fan favourite flop: Norway... obviously The "Anna Rosinelli" Award for qualifying and no more: Estonia

This. I’m equally perplexed as to why an operatic, theatrical banger is getting complete shade from the fans. It’s not exactly the sort of thing I’d go for but it’s my second favourite this year. Oh well, this isn’t the first time OGAE have got it completely wrong. Didn’t “Love Injected” finish on a big fat zero also? It came second with the juries.

With those vocals I think she’s got the jury winner in the bag.

Wikipedia - check the scoreboards for each year. Walk On Water won the jury vote in its semi final.

Malta have comfortably scored a top ten place with the jury in every semi final since 2009 when the jury panel was reintroduced.

This is easily my favourite this year. That drop is absolute dynamite! The response from the fans is lukewarm, but I put down to that the fact that those over 40 are not getting the liking the drop. As long as staging compliments the song, this is gonna eat up the youth vote and juries will vote for it because it’s bloody Malta.

This is absolutely on point. The UK are the worst losers at this game. Failing to accept defeat despite sending broadly uncompetitive songs. My favourite British excuse is by Nicki French blaming the beef crisis for her, at the time, worst ever UK result (weird to think a lot of us would be satisfied with that result). A hilarious excuse anyway but particularly desperate considering it was five years ago by that point and we secured a victory in that time scale.

Switzerland are a dead cert. Slovenia could also do extremely well and cut through with a mesmerising performance. I don’t any of the others causing any real bother. The UK will need to exceed expectations to get out of the bottom five IMO. I’m also in isolation that Iceland are a borderline qualifier? I genuinely think juries will hate it and televotes will really need to prop this up to get it over the line. I think the fan base is being extremely over zealous with Iceland this year. That said, I’d like them to get a spot because it’s Iceland and also for the sake of “contrast”.

I second that! Stockholm behaved like it was the last night on Earth. A GLORIOUS year spearheaded by the greatest Eurovision song of all time.

Nice idea! 2010 (terrible, terrible year I can barely rustle up a top five) 01 Iceland - Je Ne Sais Quai 02 Albania - Its All About You 03 Germany - Satellite 04 Azerbaijan- Drip Drop 05 Romania - Playing With Fire 2011 01 Sweden - Popular 02 Germany - Taken By A Stranger 03 Hungary - What About My Dreams 04 Slovenia - No One 05 Ireland - Lipstick 2012 01 Sweden - Euphoria 02 Cyprus - La La Love 03 Italy - Out Of Love 04 Norway - Stay 05 Ukraine - Be My Guest 2013 01 Norway - I Feed You My Love 02 Germany - Glorious 03 San Marino - Vola 04 Belarus - Solayah 05 Sweden - You 2014 01 UK - Children of the Universe 02 Israel - Same Heart 03 Sweden - Undo 04 Slovenia - Round & Round 05 Estonia - Amazing 2015 01 Latvia - Love Injected 02 Slovenia - Here For You 03 Sweden - Heroes 04 Georgia - Warrior 05 Serbia - Beauty Never Lies 2016 01 Bulgaria - If Love Was A Crime 02 Spain - Say Yay 03 Ukraine - 1944 04 Malta - Walk On Water 05 Latvia - Heartbeat 2017 01 Belgium - City Lights 02 Macedonia - Dance Alone 03 Sweden - I Can’t Go On 04 Estonia - Verona 05 Bulgaria - Beautiful Mess 2018 01 Finland - Monsters 02 Sweden - Dance You Off 03 Israel - Toy 04 Cyprus - Fuego 05 Bulgaria - Bones 2019 01 Malta - Chameleon 02 Australia - Zero Gravity 03 Slovenia - Sebi 04 Italy - Soldi 05 Sweden - Too Late For Love

OK, some consensus here. Leave won by a very thin margin. There is only one way to remain in the EU. There is however many, many ways to leave the EU. Please stop the “betrayal of the people” cliche rhetoric. The reason people voted to leave vary considerably. No Deal is treating the result like it was a 100% win. The real betrayers are these overly privileged right wing ERG members who support Brexit so it means things become less regulated and they can basically do all the fiddling they wish. Norway had a referendum in 1994 and the result to join was similar to ours. They understood, whilst it didn’t win, they’re was clearly a desire to join so they compromised by creating the Norway model. That is how you exercise democracy, not this cliff edge BS you seem to support.

It would've done very well but juries often take a very dim view of over sexualised women in Eurovision. A gender split of Fuego shows a strong gender divide on points, apparently. It goes without saying, Siren Song would've been that 11/10 moment I need at Eurovision which, ugh, is not to be.

She was indeed shocking. Just watched her performance, it’s not even iffy - it’s dire. But, apparently she’s ill. It would make sense, why would they throw so much money and production at someone who can’t sing live? I’m sure she can nail it on a regular day.

Agreed. Show openers are supposed to gently tap you in, not a noisy statement track. Given it hasn’t got a massive hook, I no longer consider Armenia as a lock-in qualifier.

I’ve also said No Brexit was a more likely outcome than No Deal. Anyone who suggests No Deal is fine seriously needs their head examining. Revoke the whole bloody lot - it’s a sham, a false utopia created by nasty right wingers that partly succeeded in pinning the working mans problems on globalisation and migrants. They are not the problems - it’s past UK governments failing to put in the necessary infrastructure in place and not handling immigration in a pragmatic way. Our media is poorly managed, allowing Murdoch to put his agenda in many media channels.

It’s the only NF song I’ve heard that made me think “winner”. On reflection, perhaps not so now but it’s high impact and on the right side of crazy. I think this is getting a lot of underserved and unexpected shade from the Euro community. I also think the bookies have got this wrong. This is surely SAILING through?

OK...worth a stab Semi 1 01 Greece 02 Cyprus 03 Australia 04 Slovenia 05 Hungary 06 Portugal 07 Belgium 08 Estonia 09 Iceland 10 Finland 11 Serbia 12 Czech Republic 13 Poland 14 Belarus 15 San Marino 16 Montenegro 17 Georgia Semi 2 01 Netherlands 02 Switzerland 03 Russia 04 Sweden 05 Armenia 06 Malta 07 Azerbaijan 08 Albania 09 Denmark 10 Norway 11 Lithuania 12 Romania 13 Austria 14 Ireland 15 North Macedonia 16 Croatia 17 Moldova 18 Latvia I written off Finland but I think there is just enough impact for it to squeak through. Greece will, I think, be absolutely eaten up by the jury as it ticks every conceivable box. Slovenia could potentially have their best result on their hands. Iceland will also sneak in, partly thanks to semi final fans being less made up of young families and grannies. I think Netherlands and Switzerland will be the top two of the final. Russia will come around 6th in the final. It’s a bit too “theatre” to win I think and I do think there is a sentiment of anti-Russia that will hinder the jury vote. I don’t even think UK and Ireland televoting will get Lithuania over the line this year either.

It’s got a lot of oomph but feels like too much thought has gone into the production and not the song? So, a very typical Armenain entry. I reckon this is very much for the live stage.

Well slap me across the face and call me Derek! Malta take all my points! Move along Tamta, mooovvvve along.