LexC

Been completely snowed under with work so my votes will be late but before sunrise!

Christ, my heart rate was still through the roof there! I'm convinced that the Chief Constable is the 4th Man and the series goes full circle back to series 1. Spoilery thoughts, don't read unless you want major spoilers!

So the next two songs are tied BUT it is actually possible to separate this tie unlike the one at the bottom of the scoreboard. Any guesses for who they are?

15. Armenia: Athena - Chains On You (116 points) 18 points - Jade 15 points - Cameron 13 points - Bre 12 points - Riser, LUKE, RobBob 9 points - Jason 8 points - Alex! 7 points - LexC 3 points - NocheLuna, nickthenoodle 1 point - Vulker, Jerick, SevenSeize, Liam XpQHGMM8c5U 16. Sweden: The Mamas - Move (111 points) 13 points - nickthenoodle, DionTheSats123 12 points - Cameron 9 points - n4yr 8 points - LexC, danG 7 points - Sergej, Jerick 6 points - gooddelta, Campbell, NocheLuna 4 points - RobBob, Riser, Jahq 2 points - Alex!, Jafet 7EpSBDPlZn4 Both of these female acts will not be on the 2021 stage for different reasons. The Mamas, despite overperforming expectations on the melfest public vote twice, were usurped into third place in Melfest 2021 and another condender for the "Poor Bitch" award, Athena has now had two appearances on the stage taken away from her for reasons beyond her control. I'd expect we're very likely to see Athena in Valetta 2022 and maybe The Mamas can unexpectedly overperform again in a future post-Covid melfest?

17. Ukraine: Go_A - Solovey (106 points) 13 points - SevenSeize 12 points - Ghosty, Oliver 11 points - dan-G, Pavel 10 points - uhsting, nickthenoodle 8 points - Iz 5 points - Campbell, Liam 4 points - AdamAloud 2 points - Bre, Jerick 1 points - DionTheSats123 zNetXPSld50 18. Latvia: Samanta Tina - Still Breathing (104 points) 18 points - Oliver 11 points - Ghosty 10 points - AdamAloud, dan-G 8 points - Pavel 7 points - Liam, Campbell, SevenSeize, Alex! 5 points - RobBob, Colm 4 points - Cameron 3 points - Iz 2 points - Jade _46gTi8Ut0U Now we have both of the marmite planned semi final closers - some people say unlistenable screeching, some people say ARTPOP *.* - you can decide which one is which. Qualifiers? Well like this year, both could go either way so the drama of envelope 10 for both semi finals remains with us for another year!

19. Malta: Destiny - All Of My Love (99 points) 18 points - Jafet 12 points - Vulker 11 points - Jahq 9 points - Liam 8 - Riser, Sergej 7 points - nickthenoodle 5 points - Cameron, DionTheSats 4 points - Colm 3 points - Ghosty, Alex!, Campbell 2 points - LexC 1 point - gooddelta CFCn_8oViRw 20. Albania: Arilena Ara - Fall From The Sky (76 points) 18 points - Colm 13 points - Iz 12 points - Bre 11 points - Jade 8 points - uhsting 5 points - WhoOdyssey, Jason 3 points - Cameron 1 point - PeteFromLeeds vXpCWFIY6YE So Albania, thanks to a handfull of big ticket voters sneaks into the top 20 by four points. It seems like an absolute eternity that the Albanian version, 'Shaj' beat 'Me Tana' in Festival i Kenges but here is our closure point for that narrative. And in a surprise move, favourites for 2021 Malta only made 19th in our 2020 ranking with one point shy of 100. I suspect a lot of us would reach the similar conclusion that while "All Of My Love" is good, it's maybe not Destiny living up to her full potential as she has this year. Although looking back at 2020's video they've obviously decided to stick to the same kind of spoken word intro for this year!

To recap 21 - 41 21 72 Cyprus 22 66 Greece 23 56 Netherlands 24 51 Moldova 25 50 Romania 26 48 North Macedonia 27 47 Georgia 28 43 Austria 29 41 Belarus 30 37 United Kingdom 31 35 Belgium 32 34 Finland 33 33 Czech Republic 34 29 Slovenia 35 21 Poland 36 14 Spain 37 13 Croatia 38 10 France 39 7 San Marino 40 4 Estonia 40 4 Portugal Meaning that our top 20 of Eurovision 2020 are Albania Armenia Australia Azerbaijan Bulgaria Denmark Germany Iceland Ireland Israel Italy Latvia Lithuania Malta Norway Russia Serbia Sweden Switzerland Ukraine What are your predictions? who's snuck into this top 20 by 4 points and who's made the top 10?

NOTED and EDITED (in my defence Jerick and Jafet look very similar when the text is small!)

21. Cyprus: Sandro - Running (72 points) 13 - LUKE 12 - dan-G 11 - Oliver 9 points - PeteFromLeeds 8 - Jason 7 - Vulker 5 - Riser 4 - Jafet 3 points - RobBob Jl_qEw_4OK0 22. Greece: Stefania - Supergirl (66 points) 18 points - Alex! 12 points - Colm, Pavel 10 points - Cameron 8 points - Jahq 4 points - n4yr 2 points - nickthenoodle dJxCINWp_j0 23. Netherlands: Jeangu Macrooy - Grow (56 points) 12 points - uhsting, LexC 11 points - NocheLuna 9 points - Jahq 6 points - Jade 3 points - Sergej, DionTheSats123 sMcxWB90TTY In at 23 is the host entry and criminally underrated ballad 'Grow' (and also the first song I voted for to fall). Netherlands are once again this year criminally underrated so come through consistency! And after the convenient pairing of Moldova and Romania in the last section, another pair of "best friends" are just outside of the top 20. Surprised to see Cyprus up as high as this but given there's more than one noted dance fan who voted in this, I guess it checks out.

24. Moldova: Natalia Gordienko - Prison (51 points) 18 points - n4yr 12 points - Jade 10 points - Oliver 5 points - Ghosty 4 points - Bre 2 points - dan-G RnD1ApDo5_k 25. Romania: Roxen - Alcohol You (50 points) 15 points - Jerick 13 points - uhsting 9 points - LUKE 6 points - Sergej 4 points - Alex! 2 points - RobBob 1 point - Cameron TmqSU3v_Mtw Next we have the two ladies from Romanian speaking countries who had planned to come to 2020 with dramatic ballads. One has definitely stayed in that lane while the other has gone in the complete opposite direction. Prison also marks our first entry to fall having received an 18 pointer!

26. North Macedonia: VASIL - You (48 points) 13 points - danG 10 points - Jade 8 points - NocheLuna 3 points - Jason, PeteFromLeeds Bre 2 points - Iz 1 point - Oliver xPZumQQExQc 27. Georgia: Tornike Kipiani - Take Me As I Am (47 points) 10 points - Jahq, Ghosty 9 points - Iz, Oliver 4 points - SevenSeize 3 points - LUKE 2 points - PeteFromLeeds LjNK4Xywjc4 At 27 and 26 we have two of our "unique characters" of 2020 and two stories of evolving and growing into 2021. Tornike's polarising guttural growling entry that could have caught enough people's imagination to get out of that theoretical semi (it not being last here is a mark of something at least!) has given way to a near guaranteed non qualifier. Vasil on the other hand has gone from some half baked cold mess tango pop to embracing the inner theatre queen within (and honey, that female dancer in the video isn't fooling anyone!).

28. Austria: Vincent Bueno - Alive (43 points) 11 points - DionTheSats123, PeteFromLeeds 7 points - WhoOdyssey 6 points - Vulker 3 points - Oliver, SevenSeize 2 points - Jason cOuiTJlBC50 29. Belarus: VAL - Da Vidna (41 points) 11 points - WhoOdyssey 9 points - nickthenoodle, Vulker 7 points - RobBob 3 points - Jafet 2 points - Jahq F0wfxz5zq04 At 29 we've got one of our countries who won't be returning for well documented reasons and in style at that with VAL joining the pro-democracy rallies earlier this year. And also there's Austria. Erm. Uhhh. He's back this year? Also we've already lost seven out of 15 of WhoOdyssey's votes - I think we have our winner for "most contrarian' votes here!

30. United Kingdom: James Newman - My Last Breath (37 points) 13 points - WhoOdyssey 8 points - gooddelta 5 points - nickthenoodle 4 points - Vulker, PeteFromLeeds 2 points - DionTheSats123 1 point - Sergej 6iS-lV909T4 And so we come to last year's UK entry - getting a post all to themselves given this forum's demographics. There were glimmers of hope with this one, the involvement of an actual record label, the song getting a release on streaming straight away and Sweden voting it into their top 10 on their Eurovision replacement programme. But by the same token, this also had all the hallmarks of an "accidental flop" style of song that the UK does so well - think Storm, You're Not Alone, Bigger Than Us for relevant examples and there's no real reason why the song's 30 seconds too short? No matter where James places this year, I'm sure much will be written about it but for now lets raise a glass to the schrodinger's eurovision entry of both painful flop avoided and surprise success snatched away from us!

So to recap from 41 to 31 31 35 Belgium 32 34 Finland 33 33 Czech Republic 34 29 Slovenia 35 21 Poland 36 14 Spain 37 13 Croatia 38 10 France 39 7 San Marino 40 4 Estonia 40 4 Portugal Thoughts on this group so far? Any that you're surprised to see so early/any you're surprised to see haven't appeared yet?

31. Belgium: Hooverphonic - Release Me (35 points) 10 points - Bre, 9 points - Jade 8 points - WhoOdyssey 7 points - LUKE 1 point - Riser lAqjksxc4iA 32. Finland: Aksel - Looking Back (34 points) 10 points - Riser 9 points - Colm 7 points - Jason 5 points - PeteFromLeeds 3 points - WhoOdyssey EgONBKFQpxE 33. Czech Republic: Benny Cristo - Kemama (33 points) 7 points - Riser 5 points - Vulker, Nocheluna 4 points - Oliver, dan-G, Pavel 3 points - Jahq 1 point - LUKE wROqCHLnbko Less of a connecting theme here but for neatness sake we're rounding up neatly before the top 30. We've got version 17 or of Kemama scoring an IMO undeservedly low score and two vocalists who won't be with us in 2021 counting replaceable Hooverphonic vocalist and Aksel from Finland. Of all the "poor x" singers from last year, Aksel's probably got the most grievances given that; - Finland was the first country to announce that they would be going back to a national final - Aksel was the first artist to - Aksel spent most of the pre-NF season briefing that he wouldn't be back - When he is back his entry doesn't get a pimp running order slot or much fanfare in the press - He ends up coming 5th in UMK 2021, the worst of any returning 2020 artist going through a national final Poor poor poor Aksel indeed!

34. Slovenia: Ana Soklic - Voda (29 points) 15 points - Bre, 7 points - Colm, NocheLuna weLeotNwexg 35. Poland: Alicja - Empire (21 points) 7 points - n4yr, Bre, Iz s_Y7mMka4SQ Inkeeping with the matriarchal instincts of Buzzjack's tastes, following three male ballads are two female ballads. Both of these had their fans and were potentially on the borderline for qualification in the alternate universe. Slovenia are very much staying in the same lane for this year whilst poor Alicja was dumped for someone with, shall we say, "connections" to the Polish president - draw your own conclusions!

36. Spain: Blas Canto - Universo (14 points) 8 points - Cameron, 3 points - dan-G, AdamAloud zuDdex1st-Y 37. Croatia: Damir Kedzo - Divlji vjetre (13 points) 7 points - AdamAloud, 6 points - WhoOdyssey 2rOwScdxjJU 38. France: Tom Leeb - Mon Alliée (The Best In Me) (10 points) 6 points - LUKE, 2 points - WhoOdyssey, 1 point - Jason, Jahq J5SOdhXjYko Filling in the next few fodder slots we have that classic Buzzjack catnip, low to midtempo male ballads! Spain and France have wound up likely where they were going to end up had the contest gone ahead (unless the 40+ heterosexual women demographic went wild for Tom Leeb) and Croatia...could have been the surprise 10th placer in the semis? maybe? France and Croatia at least look like they're more primed for a glow up in 2021 and Spain...are just happy to be here!

39. San Marino: Senhit - Freaky (7 points) 4 points - Jason, 1 point - jafet, n4yr, nickthenoodle c6ZNo_hVA6E In at 39 is the leading contender for glow up of the year - part pop-star, part money laundering scheme Senhit's Freaky which may or may not have been hastily clambered together after a certain other song from higher up in this countdown was snatched from San Marino's desperate hands! For all this would have sunk without trace in the before time semi finals, there's no denying that Senhit's the good time gal of both 2020 AND 2021. And hey, whatever they saved on particpation costs for 2020 they obviously put to good use!

So lets begin with our wooden spoon, or should I say spoons? =40 Estonia: Uku Suviste - What Love Is? (4 points) =40 Portugal: Elisa - Medo De Sentir (4 points) z4I3vvQzQ-E eIZ48w4epng Getting the joint last place of 2020 are two of the basic ballads that are statistically tied with both of them exactly one set of 4 points (Campbell and uhsting to blame for each respectively). Obviously Uku would go on to win Eesti Laul again in 2021 for another shot but poor Elisa suffers the indignity of a wooden spoon followed by not even being invited back to compete in FdC so for our purposes at least makes her the biggest loser of this bunch. Obviously neither of these are really what you'd consider typical Buzzjack faves so I can't say I'm surprised to see them down this low.

And y'all thought I'd never get round to this! So as a little pre-game to Buzzvision 2021 which will be coming...at some point, we're going to reveal what we actually picked as our winner of Eurovision 2020. This way it'll be a nice way to wrap up and round off what in many ways is the first chapter in a two chapter story (and I'd argue that without 2020 being cancelled, we wouldn't have as good a contest as we're going to have this May). As we did away with the semi finals for circumstantial reasons we're going to be recapping the 2020 songs in the form of a countdown with commentary from yours truly until we reach BuzzJack's favourite! If you need a refresher of what could have been, here's a recap of the contest that never was; HU6TOk_bU14 So lets begin an eleven month late results reveal and style it out like this was all planned from the beginning *.*

Yasss chaos queen!

I would like my preview to be from 0:24 to 0:54 please Jafet x

Still recovering from that episode! Thoughts on that ending This series is definitely gaining momentum now, can't wait to see it all play out!

Who hasn't?

OR YOU COULD HAVE JUST NOT! In case anyone hadn't picked up on it up until now, yes Mette - Petrified was me and I would have got a good result last month if Rich hadn't decided to try and switch to it out of the blue and yes I am still salty about it! The only other time since 2014 that I remember being vetoed was when I was completely unaware that Kehlani was actually a known name and got blindsided with a veto for Undercover (and the Akon sample didn't help either!)