Love Eurovision Advent Calendar: 25th - Merry Christmas! Christmas songs by Eurovision artists

Merry Christmas! Here's some Eurovision stars singing Christmas songs.



Charlotte Perrelli - All I Want For Christmas - Live Stortorget, Örebro 2009



Johnny Logan - Happy X-mas



Alexander Rybak - The Christmas Song

Love Eurovision Advent Calendar: 24th - 1,2,7,4 down the Rockefeller Street

Now a LOT of people seemed to think this was a dead cert to win Eurovision this year. Estonia only qualified thanks to the votes of the juries (they came 13th in the second semi final televote). In a strange quirk of the mixed jury and televote system despite coming 23rd in the televote and 18th in the jury vote, once the points were added up they finished second to last in the combined vote - 24th place.

Estonia 2011: Getter Jaani - Rockefeller Street (24th in Düsseldorf with 44 points)

Love Eurovision Advent Calendar: 23rd - It's for you Niamh Kavanagh

Now anyone who's met Niamh will tell you she's an absolutely lovely person. As one of Ireland's 7 winners she should be Eurovision royalty but her legacy was tainted when she received Ireland's second-worst ever result in Oslo with 'It's For You'. I rather liked the song myself but I admit the performance wasn't perfect.

Ireland 2010: Niamh Kavanagh - It's For You (23rd in Oslo with 25 points)

Love Eurovision Advent Calendar: 22nd - What about Kati Wolf's dreams?!

Favourite of British politician Ed Balls and all my gay friends Kati Wolf had a lot of fans at Eurovision 2011. They obviously forgot to vote though as Hungary finished one place below Paradise Oskar 22nd place after a shaky vocal performance.

Hungary 2011: Kati Wolf - What About My Dreams (22nd in Düsseldorf with 53 points)

Love Eurovision Advent Calendar: 21st - Da Da Dam - it's Paradise Oskar!

Aww it's the lovely Paradise Oskar (real name Axel Ehnström). Perhaps trying to emulate Tom Dice's success in 2010 it was just him and his guitar against a backdrop of the Earth. The song was very popular in the arena. If you listen carefully you can hear everyone singing along to the 'da da dam' bit. It proved popular in the semi final too, where it finished 3rd with 103 points. Possibly due to his early slot (he performed first) it proved much less successful in the final, finishing in 21st place with just 57 points.

Finland 2011: Paradise Oskar - Da Da Dam (21st in Düsseldorf with 57 points)

Love Eurovision Advent Calendar: 20th - Greece's worst result - Thalassa - Mia Krifi Evesthisia

Greece have very well at Eurovision recently, finishing in the top ten for the last 8 years in a row. However, performing in Eurovision's unlucky 2nd spot Thalassa received just 12 points in 1998, all of which came (surprise surprise) from Cyprus!

Greece 1998: Thalassa - Mia Krifi Evesthisia (20th in Birmingham with 12 points)

Love Eurovision Advent Calendar: 19th - Hera Björk's Je Ne Sais Quoi

Hera Björk came a strong 3rd in the 1st semi final of the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest. Despite a great perfomance in the final Iceland finished 19th.

Iceland 2010: Hera Björk - Je Ne Sais Quoi (19th in Oslo with 41 points)



A cynic would say Iceland suffered for their volcano throwing Eurovision into doubt that year when it erupted shortly before the contest, bringing chaos to Europe's airspace.

Love Eurovision Advent Calendar: 18th - Malta get off to a bad start

Malta have had some great results at Eurovision but it hasn't always been so. In 1971, their debut year, they came last in 18th place. They came 18th again the next year and after a slightly better 12th in 1975 withdrew from the contest.

Malta returned again in 1991 and had much better luck including a 2nd and 3rd place for Chiara. Since the introduction of the semi final Malta have only qualified once, when Chiara once again rode to the rescue. Her song 'What If We' bombed out in the final though, finishing in a disappointing 22nd place.

Malta 1971: Joe Grech - Marija l-Maltija (18th in Dublin with 52 points)



Malta 1972: Helen and Joseph - L-imħabba (18th in Edinburgh with 48 points)

Love Eurovision Advent Calendar: 17th - Marty Brem - Wenn du da bist

In the year that Bucks Fizz won with their memorable skirt-ripping performance Austria could only manage 17th place. The rather odd performance included a backing dancer who danced around in a gold American football helmet and a swimsuit with a number 7 on it.

Austria 1981: Marty Brem - Wenn du da bist (17th in Dublin with 20 points)

Love Eurovision Advent Calendar: 16th - Juliana Pasha - It's All About You

Sometimes a song you think will do well doesn't do that well and such was the case for Juliana Pasha in 2010 (for me anyway). Albania finished 6th in the first semi final but could only manage 16th in the final.

2010 Albania: Juliana Pasha - It's All About You (16th in Oslo with 62 points)

Love Eurovision Advent Calendar: 15th - Bookies favourite France come 15th in 2011!

The bookies are normally good at predicting Eurovision winners but they failed spectacularly this year. Favourites France only managed 15th place.

France 2011: Amaury Vassili - Sognus (15th in Düsseldorf with 82 points)

Melodifestivalen - Deltävling (Heat) 1

The artists and songs for Sweden's massive national final show 'Melodifestivalen' were revealed recently. Deltävling 1 takes place on 11th February 2012 at Scandinavium in Gothenburg.

1. Loreen - Euphoria (Thomas G:son/Peter Boström)
2. The Moniker - I Want To Be Chris Isaak (This Is Just The Beginning) (The Moniker)
3. Thorsten Flinck och Revolutionsorkestern - Jag Reser Mig Igen (Thomas G:son/Ted Ström)
4. Dead by April - Mystery (Pontus Hjelm)
5. Abalone Dots - På Väg (Rebecka Hjukström/Sophia Hogman/Louise Holmer/Viktor Källgren)
6. Marie Serneholt - Salt & Pepper (Lina Eriksson/Mårten Eriksson/Figge Boström)
7. Sean Banan - Den Förste Banan (Sean Banan/Joakim Larsson/Hans Blomberg/Mårten Andersson)
8. Afrodite - The Boy Can Dance (Figge Boström/Catrine Loqvist/Johan Lindman)

We won't get to hear the final songs until the week of each heat (Deltävling) but here is a little info about each of the artists and their previous songs.

Loreen

Loreen's career started on Swedish Idol 2004 where she came 4th. You may remember Loreen from last year's MF where she competed with 'My Heart Is Refusing Me'. Despite becoming a big hit in the Swedish charts she only managed 4th in her heat and lost out to Sara Varga in their head-to-head in the second chance round 'Andra Chansen'.



The Moniker

The Moniker is another artist returning for a second year AND another artist from Swedish Idol. Competing under his real name Daniel Karlsson he came 4th in 2007. 'Oh My God' came 3rd in the same heat as Loreen, therefore also going through to Andra Chansen. Showing that the second chance round really does work The Moniker finished 3rd in the MF 2011 final.



Thorsten Flinck

Thorsten Flinck is a Swedish, actor and musician who released his first solo album in 2005. Here's the opening track from his new album with the Revolutionsorkestern to give you some idea what we're going to get at Melodifestivalen.



Dead by April

Dead by April are a Swedish metal band from Gothenburg. They released their debut album in 2009 and now in 2012 they are going to try for Eurovision.



Abalone Dots

From metal to country, Abalone Dots released this song in 2008.



Marie Serneholt

Back to a previous MF contestant. In 2009 Marie Serneholt came 6th in Deltävling 1 with this song, 'Disconnect Me'.



Sean Banan

Since it's nearly Christmas here's Sean Banan's Christmas song from 2010.



Afrodite

Not only have Afrodite competed in Melodifestivalen before - they won - and went on to represent Sweden at Eurovision 2002.

2002 Sweden: Afrodite - Never Let It Go (8th in Tallinn, Estonia with 72 points)

Love Eurovision Advent Calendar: 14th - Ell & Nikki won 7 months ago today

It's hard to believe but it's been a whole 7 months since Ell and Nikki took the Eurovison crown for Azerbaijan in Düsseldorf.


That means it's only 5 months, 8 days until the 1st semi final and 5 months, 12 days until the final of Eurovision 2012 in Baku!!


For now, let's relive their winning performance.


2011 Azerbaijan: Ell and Nikki - Running Scared (Winner in Düsseldorf with 221 points)

Love Eurovision Advent Calendar: 13th - Unlucky for some but not Sandra Kim and Bobbysocks!

The number 13 may be regarded as unlucky for some but Sandra Kim won Eurovision in 1986 after performing 13th and at just 13 years of age. She was the youngest ever winner. That record will probably never be broken as the rules were subsequently changed so that the minimum age for a performer is now 16 (however there is now a separate Junior Eurovision Song Contest for younger artists).

1986 Belgium: Sandra Kim - J'aime la vie (Winner in Bergen, Norway with 176 points)



This was the second year in a row that a song won from the 13th spot. In 1985 Norway's Bobbysocks! won with 'La det swinge' (Let it Swing).

1985 Norway: Bobbysocks! - La det Swinge (Winner in Gothenburg with 123 points)



It wasn't until 1999 that another country came close to winning after performing 13th. Selma was pipped to the post by Sweden's Charlotte Nilsson with 'Take Me To Your Heaven'.

1999 Iceland: Selma - All Out Of Luck (2nd in Jerusalem with 146 points)

Love Eurovision Advent Calendar: 12th - Douze Points!

From 1956 until 1974 various scoring systems were used for Eurovision. It was only 1975 that the scoring system in use today was introduced - scores from 1 to 8, then 10 and finally douze points! However, the points were not given in numerical order but in order the songs were performed, as you can see from this video.



1976 was of course the year the UK's Brotherhood Of Man won with 'Save Your Kisses For Me'.



This changed in 1980 and we finally had the voting system we're used to. This was also the year of Jonny Logan's first win with 'What's Another Year'.



In 2009 Norway's Alexander Rybak received a record 16 douze points (from Belarus, Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Israel, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Ukraine) out of a possible 42.

Norway 2009: Alexander Rybak - Fairytale - Winner in Moscow with a record 387 points!



Sixteen douze points out of 42 may not sound like much but compare this to 2011 when Azerbaijan won with just 3 douze points (from Malta, Russia, Turkey), the same number as Denmark, Georgia, Ireland and Ukraine - one less than Italy and two less than Bosnia who got 5 douze points from Austria, Macedonia, Serbia, Slovenia and Switzerland. In total 20 countries received at least one douze points in the 2011 final.

Love Eurovision Advent Calendar: 11th - Low jury score push Blue into 11th place in Düsseldorf

Blue were a big hit with the public this year, coming 5th in the televote. However a low score from the juries (22nd out of 25 countries) pushed the UK down into 11th place. The disparity between the televote and the jury vote for the UK was only slightly better than Russia who came 7th in the televote and last in the jury vote, finishing 16th overall.





Of course the juries cast their votes the night before at the final dress rehearsal (Jury Final). Judge for yourself whether they were any better or worse the night before.

Eurovision 2012: Switzerland Decides - Sinplus to Baku

The Swiss public last night chose Sinplus to represent them in Baku, winning 17.87% of the vote.





Pre-contest favourite Lyss Assia came 8th with just 5.46% of the televote.



Full results:

1. Sinplus - Unbreakable - 17.87%
2. IVO - Peace & freedom - 16.02%
3. Chiara Dubey - Anima nuova - 13.82%
4. I Quattro - Fragile - 10.56%
5. Katherine St-Laurent - Wrong to let you go - 9.91%
6. Patric Scott feat. Fabienne Louves - Real love - 9.81%
7. Raphael Jeger - The song in my head - 5.96%
8. Lys Assia - C’était ma vie - 5.46%
9. Macy - Shining - 3.49%
10. Atomic-Angels - Black symphony - 2.36%
11. Emel - She - 1.30%
12. Guillermo Sorya - Baby baby baby - 1.19%
13. Ze Flying Zezettes Orchestra - L’autre - 1.17%
14. Sosofluo - Quand je ferme les yeux - 1.08%

Love Eurovision Advent Calendar: 10th - Switzerland decides tonight

Tonight the first entry for Eurovision 2012 will be chosen as Switzerland's Die Grosse Entscheidungsshow takes place. Unfortunately the UK's X Factor duo Same Difference and American act Ultra Nate didn't make the final but 14 other acts did:


Patric Scott feat. Fabienne Louves - Real love
Emel - She
Chiara Dubey - Anima nuova
Guillermo Sorya - Baby baby baby
Macy - Shining
Sosofluo - Quand je ferme les yeux
Atomic Angels - Black Symphony
Ivo - Peace & freedom
Ze Flying Zézettes Orchestra - L'autre
Raphael Jeger - The song in my head
I Quattro - Fragile
Sinplus - Unbreakable
Lys Assia - C'était ma vie
Katherine St-Laurent - Wrong to let you go


The hot favourite to win is Lys Assia, who won the first ever Eurovision Song Contest in 1956.





If she wins tonight she will go on to represent Switzerland for the 4th time in Baku next year. It's a rather old-fashioned song but the message behind the tile 'C'etait Ma Vie' (It Was My Life) combined with her Eurovision royalty status should ensure Switzerland have their best chance of qualifying in years. That said, returning winners haven't fared too well in recent years - just look at Dana International and Niamh Kavanagh.

Love Eurovision Advent Calendar: 9th - Linda Martin's 9 attempts at Eurovision

Linda Martin is best known for winning Eurovision in 1992 with the Johnny Logan-penned ballad 'Why Me'. However she also represented Ireland in 1984 with another Johnny Logan song 'Terminal 3' and competed in the Irish national final a total of 9 times, 4 times with the band 'Chips', once as 'Linda Martin and Friends' and 4 times as a solo artist. Out of 9 attempts she's represented Ireland twice and won once.

Ireland 1984: Linda Martin - Terminal 3 - 2nd in Luxembourg with 137 points



We covered Why Me on the 3rd so here are six of Linda Martin's other attempts to represent Ireland at Eurovision (I couldn't find a video of Happy Days sorry).

National Song Contest 1976: Chips - We Can Fly (2nd place)



National Song Contest 1977: Chips - Goodbye Goodbye (4th place)



1978: Chips - Happy Days (4th place) - NO VIDEO AVAILABLE

1982: Chips - Tissue of Lies (8th place)



National Song Contest 1986: Linda Martin - If I Can Change Your Mind (4th place)



Euro Song '89: Linda Martin - Here We Go (6th place)




Euro Song '90: Linda Martin and Friends - All the People in the World (2nd place)



And since we covered the 1992 winning performance on the 3rd here's Linda Martin's guest performance at the 2006 Irish national final on the Late Late Show.



*Thanks to Youtube User senzate81 for uploading most of these videos.

Love Eurovision Advent Calendar: 8th - Qele Qele

Ok so how did I link the number 8 to a song with came 4th in 2008?

Despite finishing behind Russia, Ukraine and Greece, Armenia actually received the most 12 point scores - from Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Georgia, Greece, Netherlands, Poland and Russia - a total of 8 douze points!

Winners Russia only managed 7 (Armenia, Belarus, Estonia, Israel, Latvia, Lithuania, Ukraine), 3rd place Greece received 6 (Albania, Cyprus, Germany, Romania, San Marino, United Kingdom) and 2nd place Ukraine only got 1 douze points (from Portugal)!

Armenia: Sirusho - Qele Qele - 4th place in Belgrade with 199 points



Sirusho returned to the Eurovision stage this year, performing a remixed version of Qele Qele at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest held in Yerevan, Armenia.

Love Eurovision Advent Calendar: 7th - 7 times winner Ireland

Ireland have won the contest more times than any other country. We've already covered three three of them on the 3rd (the 3 in a row from 1992-1994). Here are the rest of them.

1970: Dana - All Kinds Of Everything - winner in Amsterdam with 32 votes

This was Ireland's first win but would go down in history as one of the most popular Eurovision entries ever. It sold an estimated two million copies worldwide.

Dana later moved into politics, running for Irish President.



1980: Jonny Logan - What's Another Year - Winner with 143 in The Hague

1980 was the last time we would see Monaco perform until their return in 2004. Morocco performed for the first (and so far only) time.




1987: Jonny Logan - Hold Me Now - Winner with 172 points in Brussels

This was Jonny Logan's second win for Ireland. He also wrote Terminal 3 for Linda Martin, which came 2nd in 1984, and would go on to write Linda Martin's winning song 'Why Me' in 1992.



1996: Eimear Quinn - The Voice - Winner in Oslo with 162 points

Love Eurovision Advent Calendar: 6th - The 6 performers rule

Initially the rules of the contest stated that a song could only be performed by a solo artist or duo. In 1971 this rule was relaxed to allow up to 6 performers on stage for each song.

DJ Bobo pushed this rule slightly in 2007 when he performed with the maximum six performers on stage, as well as a number of inanimate mannequins. It didn't help though and the bookie's contest favourite only managed 20th place, therefore not qualifying for the final.

Love Eurovision Advent Calendar: 5th - The Big Five

The Big Four has been a contentious issue in Eurovision. As the biggest contributors to the EBU budget none of these countries have to qualify through the semi finals and instead get an automatic place in the final.

Rather than reform the concept, with the return of Italy the Big Four became the Big Five. Judging by the result Italy would have sailed through to the final even if they had had to compete in the semis. Runaway winner with the juries, 11th in the televoting and 2nd overall, it was a triumphant return for Italy after a break of 13 years.

Raphael Gualazzi - Madness Of Love - 2nd place in Düsseldorf with 189 points.

Love Eurovision Advent Calendar: 4th

At the 4th Eurovision Song Contest in Cannes, The Netherlands became the first country to win the contest twice. Just 11 countries competed in 1959, less than now compete in Junior Eurovision.

Georgia Win Junior Eurovision 2011

The Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2011 just took place in Yerevan, Armenia. It's not even broadcast in the UK so we had to take to the internet to watch it. Georgia won with a catchy little number Candy Music, beating The Netherlands by 5 points.




Unfortunately our favourite Sweden only managed 9th place out of thirteen countries.



1st: Georgia - CANDY - Candy Music - 108 points
2nd: Netherlands - Rachel - Ik ben een teenager - 103 points
3rd: Belarus - Lidiya Zabolotskaya - Angely dobra (Ангелы добра) - 99 points
4th: Russia - Katya Ryabova - Kak Romeo i Dzhulyetta (Как Ромео и Джульетта) - 99 points
5th: Armenia - Dalita - Welcome To Armenia - 85 points
6th: Moldova - Lerica - No, No
7th: Belgium - Femke - Een kusje meer - 64 points
8th: Bulgaria - Ivan Ivanov - Supergeroy (Супергерой) - 60 points
9th: Sweden - Erik Rapp - Faller - 57 points
10th: Lithuania - Paulina Skrabytė - Debesys - 53 points
11th: Ukraine - Kristall - Evropa (Европа)
12th: Latvia - Amanda Bašmakova - Mēness suns - 31 points
13th: Macedonia - Dorijan Dlaka - Žimi ovoj frak (Жими овој фрак) - 31 points

Love Eurovision Advent Calendar: 3rd

The 3rd is dedicated to Ireland who won the competition 3 times in a row between 1992 and 1994.


1992: Linda Martin - Why Me - 1st place in Malmö, Sweden with 155 points




1993: Niamh Kavanagh - In Your Eyes - 1st place in Millstreet, Ireland with 187 points



1994: Paul Harrington & Charlie McGettigan - Rock 'n' Roll Kids - 1st place in Dublin with 226 points

Love Eurovision Advent Calendar: 2nd

The 2nd in dedicated to the United Kingdom. Despite some horrendous results over the last decade the UK still ranks joint second in victories and has come 2nd more than any other country - 15 times!


1967: Cliff Richard - Congratulations - 2nd at the Royal Albert Hall in London, UK



1968 was the first time that the Eurovision Song Contest was broadcast in colour. The countries that broadcast it in colour were France, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Sweden and the United Kingdom as an encore presentation on BBC2 the next day.


1988: Scott Fitzgerald - Go - 2nd in Dublin



Written by Jule Forsyth, daughter of British TV legend Bruce Forsyth, 'Go' finished just one point behind Switzerland represented by Celine Dion. The final voting country didn't give a single point to either the UK or Switzerland, making for a nail-biting cliff-hanger of a finish.


1993: Sonia - Better The Devil You Know - 2nd in Millstreet, Ireland



After Michael Ball's 2nd place finish in 1992 the UK had high hopes for Sonia. It was another nail-biting finish with the UK needing 12 points from the final jury to win. In the event the UK received nil points and Ireland the 12, ensuring a clear victory for Niamh Kavanagh.

Love Eurovision Advent Calendar: 1st

After a long break Love Eurovision is back! We'll shortly be launching our new website Loveeurovision.com but in the meantime it's time for the return of the Love Eurovision Advent Calendar!


Who else could we choose for the 1st but Helena Paprizou and her 1st place winning song My Number One. Good tidings Loveeurovisioners!

Eurovision 2011 - Germany: Lena - Taken By A Stranger (Live at the Jury Final)

I forgot I'd filmed the whole of this performance on my camera, so here it is for your enjoyment. Naturally the home crowd went wild for Lena!

Eurovision DVD/Blu-Ray to be released 6th June

If you're suffering from Eurovision withdrawal fear not, the DVD will be released on 6th June! Pre-order it now from Amazon.

Azerbaijan's win was lowest average score for at least 20 years

Azerbaijan's 221 points was the lowest Eurovision winning score since the semi final was introduced in 2004. In 2003 only 26 countries took part and Turkey won with just 167 points (2 points away from Belgium and 3 points behind third-placed Russia).

Bosnia received the full 12 points from 5 countries, Italy 4, but Azerbaijan got top marks from just 3 countries, along with Denmark, Georgia, Ireland and Ukraine (compare this to 16 countries that gave their 12 points to Norway in 2009).

The points were more evenly spread between countries this year. Spain ended in 23rd place with 50 points, the same place they finished in 2009 with just 23 points.

Azerbaijan's average score of 5.14 points per country was the lowest for over 20 years, in stark contrast to Alexander Rybak's average of 9.21 points just two years ago.



AVERAGE SCORES IN THE EUROVISION SONG CONTEST SINCE 1991


2009: Norway - 9.21 (387 points/42 countries voting)

1997: United Kingdom - 9.08 (227/25)
1994: Ireland - 9.04 (226/25)
2001: Estonia - 8.61 (198/23)
2000: Denmark - 8.12 (195/24)
2004: Ukraine - 7.78 (280/36)
2006: Finland - 7.68 (292/38)
1993: Ireland - 7.48 (187/25)
2002: Latvia - 7.33 (176/24)
1999: Sweden - 7.09 (163/23)
1996: Ireland - 7.04 (162/23)
1998: Israel - 6.88 (172/25)
1992: Ireland - 6.74 (155/23)
1991: Sweden - 6.64 (146/22)
1995: Norway - 6.43 (148/23)
2003: Turkey - 6.42 (167/26)
2008: Russia - 6.32 (272/43)
2010: Germany - 6.31 (246/39)
2007: Serbia - 6.31 (268/42)
2005: Greece - 5.9 (230/39)

*2009: Iceland (2nd place) - 5.19 (218/42)

2011: Azerbaijan - 5.14 (221 points/43 countries voting)

Sweden Won The Western Vote - analysis of East/West voting differences

After a break of two years (in which Norway and Germany won) an Eastern European country has again won the Eurovision Song Contest and again people have been quick to blame the 'block vote'. To test this I've removed all the east-European countries from the voting(except Turkey and Israel who've taken part since 1975). These are the results:

1. Sweden 113
2. Italy 100
3. Azerbaijan 99
4. Ireland 95
5. Denmark 86
6. Germany 74
7. Bosnia and Herzegovina 73
8. France 52
9. Romania 51
10. United Kingdom 48
11. Iceland 48
12. Ukraine 46
13. Finland 44
14. Moldova 43
15. Greece 42
16. Serbia 36
17. Hungary 32
18. Austria 31
19. Slovenia 31
20. Spain 28
21. Estonia 25
22. Georgia 25
23. Lithuania 20
24. Russia 17
25. Switzerland 10

So we can see from these results that although Sweden topped the western vote Azerbaijan weren't far behind in 3rd place. We see much higher results for Ireland, Germany and France in the west European voting and much lower placings for Ukraine, Greece, Georgia and Russia. The full west European voting results are available here.

EASTERN EUROPE RESULTS

In the east European voting we see Ukraine, Georgia, Greece, Slovenia and Russia doing much better than in west European, whilst Sweden, Germany, France and Ireland fare much worse.

1. Azerbaijan 122
2. Ukraine 113
3. Italy 89
4. Georgia 85
5. Greece 78
6. Sweden 72
7. Slovenia 65
8. Russia 60
9. Moldova 54
10. Bosnia and Herzegovina 52
11. United Kingdom 52
12. Serbia 49
13. Lithuania 43
14. Denmark 41
15. Germany 33
16. Austria 33
17. France 30
18. Romania 26
19. Ireland 24
20. Spain 22
21. Hungary 21
22. Estonia 19
23. Finland 13
24. Iceland 13
25. Switzerland 9

Full voting here.

So here are the overall results with the placings for East and West in brackets.

1. Azerbaijan 221 (3rd West/1st East)
2. Italy 189 (2nd West/3rd East)
3. Sweden 185 (1st West/7th East)
4. Ukraine 159 (12th West/2nd East)
5. Denmark 134 (5th West/14th East)
6. Bosnia and Herzegovina 125 (7th West/10th East)
7. Greece 120 (15th West/5th East)
8. Ireland 119 (4th West/19th East)
9. Georgia 110 (22nd West/4th East)
10. Germany 107 (6th West/15th East)
11. United Kingdom 100 (10th West/11th East)
12. Moldova 97 (14th West/9th East)
13. Slovenia 96 (19th West/7th East)
14. Serbia 85 (16th West/12th East)
15. France 82 (8th West/17th East)
16. Russia 77 (24th West/8th East)
17. Romania 77 (9th West/18th East)
18. Austria 64 (18th West/16th East)
19. Lithuania 63 (23rd West/13th East)
20. Iceland 61 (11th West/24th East)
21. Finland 57 (13th West/23rd East)
22. Hungary 53 (17th West/21st East)
23. Spain 50 (20th West/20th East)
24. Estonia 44 (21st West/22nd East)
25. Switzerland 19 (25th West/25h East)

Azerbaijan Wins Eurovision 2011

The win as seen on the big screen in Düsseldorf.

Azerbaijan last night became the 11th winner in a row to win Eurovision after performing in the last 8 songs. Despite the re-introduction of the juries and opening the voting lines at the beginning of the show it still seems a song can't win if it's performed in the first two thirds of the show. Whatever the influence of their place in the running order Azerbaijan were deserving winners, pulling off a confident performance with simple, quite beautiful staging and choreography. El and Nikki's on-stage chemistry was a million times better than last year's 4th-placed Chanee and N'Evergreen of Denmark.
The bookies' favourite France bombed out in 15th place whilst the UK finished 11th, one place behind hosts Germany and also behind Ireland's Jedward. OGAE fan poll winner Hungary finished in 22nd place while one-time favourite Estonia finished second to last.
Italy made an amazing comeback to the contest finishing in 2nd place. Where Europe obviously didn't 'get' France's Corsican opera they lapped up this piece of Italian jazz. We laughed when Italy 'won' the fake test vote in the Jury Final, thinking it one of the most unlikely results, but on the night they weren't far off!
Sweden proved extremely popular, finishing in 3rd place after a smashing performance by Eric Saade, whilst Ukraine completed the top 4, helped no doubt by the 'sand lady'. Greece finished a strong 7th with what many regarded as their weakest entry for years. Even if the song itself wasn't great it was a good performance with some great choreography.
Azerbaijan's 221 points was the lowest winning score since the semi finals were introduced in 2004. Votes were spread out across the scoreboard meaning even last place Switzerland avoided the dreaded nil points (10 of their 19 points came from the UK).
Düsseldorf put on an amazing show. The only thing I felt it was lacking was a proper interval act. It felt like they had offered the spot to the highest-bidding record company.



FINAL RESULTS
1. Azerbaijan 221 points
2. Italy 189
3. Sweden 185
4. Ukraine 159
5. Denmark 134
6. Bosnia & Herzegovina 125
7. Greece 120
8. Ireland 119
9. Georgia 110
10. Germany 107
11. United Kingdom 100
12. Moldova 97
13. Slovenia 96
14. Serbia 85
15. France 82
16. Russia 77
17. Romania 77
18. Austria 64
19. Lithuania 63
20. Iceland 61
21. Finland 57
22. Hungary 53
23. Spain 50
24. Estonia 44
25. Switzerland 19

SEMI FINAL SCORES REVEALED
In a surprise result Greece won the first semi final, ahead of Azerbaijan. Sweden won the second semi with Denmark coming second.
Poor Stella Mwangi of Norway finished in 17th place behind San Marino. To think she was once 4/1 favourite. Belgium and Malta were also surprise 11th place finishers in their respective semi finals.
I think I have learnt my lesson this year about waiting until the day before the final to place my bets. I made a nice return on Azerbaijan but my profit was dented from losses on France and UK and earlier lost bets on Norway and Turkey.
I don't think anyone knows what to expect from an Azeri final next year in Backu. Suffice to say I think they'll manage to pull it off and won't be afraid to try to win again.
If I had to tip a winner for next year already I'd suggest a re-invigorated Sweden, Ukraine, Turkey (who now have something to prove), Russia, one better for Italy or a second win for Azerbaijan.

Tonight's The Night! Eurovision 2011 Grand Final

For some people it's one evening's TV entertainment. But for some of us tonight is the culmination of 6 months following national finals, attending Eurovision preview parties, casting our votes in fan polls, watching rehearsal videos, analysing betting odds and the running order and finally predicting who we think will win the final.

Last night I attended the final dress rehearsal, now renamed the jury final. I can tell you you're in for a treat. The biggest surprise will come in the way Germany has decided to position the green room and announce the votes. Let's just say the audience won't have to be watching the big screens to see the green room action.

Some of the guests delivering points will include Danny Saucedo for Sweden, Safura for Azerbaijan and Ruslana for Ukraine.

The interval act will consist of 2 songs performed by a notable German performer whose name I'm afraid I've forgotten.

PREDICTION TIME

Still the big favourite with the bookies at less than 2/1 my money (literally) is on France to win. The winner is usually something different from the rest and Sognu really does stand out.

France's middle position in the running order could work against them though. For the last 10 years the winner has come from the last 8 songs to perform. The only contender I can see here is Azerbaijan. They seem dead-cert to finish top 4 and a win is not out of the question.

Other countries I expect to place highly are UK, Ireland, Sweden and after a long-held resistance maybe even Hungary and Greece!

It remains to be seen if Ukraine's sand lady will wow audiences enough to give them a top 10 finish and although the crowd will be deafening for Lena's performance it's debatable whether the audience will get it after just one listen.

One thing's for sure, tonight promises to be 3 hours of great entertainment and tomorrow it will all be over for another year  :-(

Results of the 2011 Second Semi Final and draw allocation

Eric Saade made a huge impact in the first half of the show. Twitter went crazy for Eric Saade and he breezed through to the final, restoring Sweden's pride after a year out of the final.

Jedward wowed Europe with a great energetic performance to end the show. They had the best big screen graphics and the glitter explosion at the end was better than the slightly tired pyros everyone else is using.

The 10 countries that qualified for the final and their draw in the final are:

2. Bosnia & Herzegovina
18. Austria
23. Ukraine
15. Moldova
7. Sweden
20. Slovenia
17. Romania
8. Estonia
3. Denmark
6. Ireland

France are still the big favourites with the bookies with odds of less than 2/1 but Jedward are close behind and their odds could shorten further over the next 2 days.

Azerbaijan and the UK make up the top 4 with the bookies. Azerbaijan are in a particularly strong position as the only one of these 4 performing in the 17th-24th position that has provided the winner for the last 10 years. The last winner from Blue's 14th position was 2001.

Bosnia, Estonia and Denmark riding high in the Love Eurovision Twitter poll

The first semi final poll correctly predicted 8/10 qualifiers based on 10 voters. Fifteen people have currently cast their votes in the second semi final poll and Bosnia & Herzegovina, Estonia and Denmark have broken away and are leading the pack by a margin of nearly 20 points.

Here are the current results.

QUALIFIERS

Bosnia 96
Estonia 94
Denmark 92
Ireland 74
Sweden 69
Austria 55
Bulgaria 53
Slovenia 50
The Netherlands 48
Latvia 40

NON-QUALIFIERS

Romania 38
Israel 36
Ukraine 34
Slovakia 32
Belarus 32
Cyprus 19
Moldova 8
FYROM 0
Belgium 0


You can see a full list of the up-to-date voting here.

If you'd like to vote please tweet your votes (12,10,8,7 etc.) @Loveeurovision

Blue in Düsseldorf

Blue have been in Düsseldorf a few days now and as well as rehearsing they've been doing interviews and performing around the city. I've tried to pull together some of the videos that have been popping up on the internet.

Blue performing at the Israeli party at the Euroclub.



Blue performing at the 'Big 5' party.



And here they join the rest of the Big 5 performing Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life.



Here's a video of Blue jamming with Nadine Beiler of Austria and her backing singers. It's a great version of 'I Can' and then moves into a number of other songs. Great video.



Blue interviewed for eurosong.be




Judging by this latest video on the official Eurovision Youtube channel Blue have a lot of support to win!



And judging by this rehearsal footage they might be right!

After Norway crashes out we ask - Is Eurovision Racist?

Even before Norway crashed out of this year's Eurovision Song Contest a few people had said to me, 'they'll never vote for her because she's black'. Now I don't think there is discernible racism in the Eurovision voting but lets have a look at the evidence.

Glennis Grace: The Netherlands 2005: 14th in the semi final - did not qualify.

She was one of the bookies' favourites to qualify and gave an amazing performance but was it racism that led to Glennis not qualifying, or was it simply that big ballads have mixed success at Eurovision?



Glennis has just achieved her first number 1 in the Dutch charts with 'Afscheid'.



Edsilia Rombley: Netherlands 2007: 21st in the semi final - did not qualify

Some people felt this should have qualified but Edsilia finished just one place below pre-contest favourites Switzerland who crashed out in 20th place. She did however come 4th in her previous attempt at Eurovision 1998, so it's hard to level any accusations of racism at that!






Javine: UK 2005: 22nd place

After Turkey's success in the previous year I think many in the UK thought this would do well. But after performing the cursed 2nd spot it seemed even Turkey only slightly agreed (1 point) and Javine finished near the bottom of the scoreboard. This wasn't anything unusual though as the UK had some of its worst results in this period.



Andy Abraham: UK 2008: 25th (last) place

This was the year that Terry Wogan quit claiming eastern Europe had voted for the 'Russian Bear' so that they'd keep their gas supply running! However, 'political voting' aside, it wasn't a great song and again the UK performed in the dreaded 2nd position, meaning a last place finish wasn't really all that surprising.



Enough of these bad results, let's focus now on some successes!

Jessy Matador: France 2010: 12th place

Having not even considered this song before the final I was blown away by this energetic performance. The juries placed Jessy 18th but he came 8th in the public televote, making his overall finishing place 12th.





Jade Ewen: UK 2009: 5th place

After the embarrassment of Andy Abraham's last place in 2008 the BBC decided enough was enough and it was decided to bring in a big name to write the UK entry. Andrew Lloyd Webber and Diane Warren penned 'My Time' and Jade's fantastic performance gained the UK our best result in years. No accusations of racism here.




Imaani: UK 1998: 2nd place!

Coming a year after Katrina & The Waves win Imaani was beaten by just 6 points by Dana International. This in the same year that Edsilia Rombley came 4th for The Netherlands.



Dave Benton: Estonia 2001: 1st place winner!

Now when most people mention racism in Eurovision they point their fingers east. Estonia chose an entry sung by a white guy AND a black guy and guess what, it won!




In summary the influence of race in Eurovision voting seems as subjective as 'political voting'. The evidence seems to suggest just what it does about political/bloc/neighbourly voting - if the song is good enough it will do well regardless.

Results and analysis of Final draw for first semi final qualifiers - Good news for Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan to perform 19th in the final.


Last night the draw took place to decide where the qualifiers from the first semi final will perform in the Eurovision Final on Saturday. This is how the final running order currently looks:

1. Finland
2.
3.
4. Lithuania
5. Hungary
6.
7.
8.
9. Greece
10. Russia
11. France
12. Italy
13. Switzerland
14. United Kingdom
15.
16. Germany
17.
18.
19. Azerbaijan
20.
21. Iceland
22. Spain
23.
24. Serbia
25. Georgia

A country's place in the performance order can have a dramatic impact on their chances. The second spot is notorious for producing bad results while entries performed nearer the end tend to have an advantage. Let's have a look at which spot previous winners performed in:

2010: 22nd - Germany
2009: 20th - Norway
2008: 24th - Russia
2007: 17th - Serbia
2006: 17th - Finland
2005: 19th - Greece
2004: 10th - Ukraine
2003: 4th - Turkey
2002: 23rd - Latvia
2001: 20th - Estonia

So we can see that performing in the last 4 to 7 songs does appear to provide an advantage. Even the introduction of the juries hasn't affected this phenomenon. The strongest country in this pot at the moment is Azerbaijan. They pulled off a confident and, as the UK commentator said, 'beautiful' performance on Tuesday and it now looks a strong contender to win.




Azerbaijan (performing 18th) in the First Semi Final


Other favourites France and UK languish behind in 11th and 14th respectively. Will this damage their chances?

Places 17, 18, 20 and 23 will be filled by qualifiers from semi final 2 so maybe Ireland, Estonia, Sweden, Denmark or Bosnia will provide the winner.

Shock results in the Eurovision 2011 First Semi Final - Norway and Turkey are out!

Well well well, that'll teach me to predict the qualifiers. The final will be missing Norway, Turkey and Armenia. Their places were taken by outsiders Lithuania and Switzerland as well as Serbia. Fan favourite Hungary made it through.

Star of the night has to go to Paradise Oskar who breezed through to the final. His performance drew one of the biggest cheers of the night and Finland's odds with the bookies have rapidly shortened to 5th favourite! Maybe he is this year's Tom Dice after all.

The results (in performance order - full voting will be revealed after the final):

1. Poland
2. Norway
3. Albania
4. Armenia
5. Turkey
6. Serbia - Qualified!
7. Russia - Qualified!
8. Switzerland - Qualified!
9. Georgia - Qualified!
10. Finland - Qualified!
11. Malta
12. San Marino
13. Croatia
14. Iceland - Qualified!
15. Hungary - Qualified!
16. Portugal
17. Lithuania - Qualified!
18. Azerbaijan - Qualified!
19. Greece - Qualified!

The finalists are revealed:



Paradise Oskar's semi final performance:

Norway wins Loveeurovision 1st Semi Final Twitter poll

Earlier today I made a plea on Twitter for your 1st Semi Final votes and you responded in your thousands! Ok, so it was only 10 of you, but here are the results anyway:

Norway 79
Azerbaijan 64
Russia 60
Hungary 55
Switzerland 43
Iceland 42
Turkey 36
Poland 27
Serbia 27
Finland 26

That's our 10 qualifiers - and then:

Georgia 25
San Marino 24
Greece 20
Albania 15
Armenia 15
Malta 8
Croatia 4
Portugal 4
Lithuania 2

You can see the full voting here here.

Eurovision 2011 Semi Final 1 Predictions

Tonight 19 songs will become 10. I've had mixed fortunes at predicting the qualifiers in the past but this is how I currently think things will go.


Definite Qualifiers

Greece - I thought this was a dreadful song when first selected but it's a powerful and confident performance and should breeze through. Eurovision without Greece is about as unthinkable as Eurovision without Sweden but then we all know what happened there last year!

Azerbaijan - Great vocals, good use of backing singers and simple, classy choreography. Holding back on last year's slightly over-the-top staging has actually worked well for them.

Norway - I just can't help smiling when I see Stella Mwangi perform this. My initial contest favourite, Haba Haba fell back in my ratings, which I think was mainly due to its early selection. I'm sure viewers hearing this for the first time will love it. The only problem is Stella performing in the dreaded/doomed 2nd position.

Russia - Bland, generic, arrogant - just a few of the comments I've heard against this song. It's one of my personal favourites this year and I really want a pair of those light-up shoes! Someone let me know where I can get them!

Armenia - Boom Boom, Ding Dong, Haba Haba, Da Da Dum - this really is the year of catchy nonsense titles. This little number seems catchy enough to see Armenia progress once again.

Turkey - Eurovision without Turkey would be like Christmas without turkey; although many countries seem to get on perfectly well without it and most people end up complaining it's a little dry. Anyway, I like this little rock number, even if it IS a litte repetitive and lacking in the true stadium rock feel. Hard Rock Hallelujah this is not!



Probable Qualifiers

Finland - It's difficult to write a song about the environment without sounding cheesy (even Michael Jackson was guilty of this) but this is a nice simple, sweet song that I think the voters of Europe will like. Not quite Tom Dice but shouldn't have too much trouble making the final.

Albania - 12 points for effort, you couldn't ask her to try any harder in this performance. At the bottom of the pile for me until the rehearsals Albania has been a pleasant surprise! I just hope they don't use up all Germany's gas with all that fire!

Iceland - I think this song actually sounded better in Icelandic but it's a nice, enjoyable performance nonetheless.

Georgia - Verging on screeching this is a loud, brash song but has something that makes me think it will go through.



Possible Qualifiers

Hungary - A whole line of previous fan favourite non-qualifiers (Kate Ryan, Paulo Meneguzzi, DJ Bobo) makes me think Hungary will struggle to qualify. The staging doesn't do the song justice and her vocals struggle at times.

Serbia - Never thought I'd see Serbia sending a song like this. It's nice enough but I can't stand the background and I find it hard to remember once I've heard all the other songs.


Outside Chance - Switzerland, Poland


No Chance! - Croatia, Lithuania, Malta, Portugal, San Marino



Video recap of semi final 1 rehearsals.



So in summary, here are the countries I reckon will qualify tonight:

Greece, Azerbaijan, Norway, Russia, Armenia, Turkey, Finland, Albania, Iceland, Georgia.

Google Eurovision 'Predictor' is back

The Google Predictor analyses Google search data and translates that into a score for each country based on search popularity. It correctly predicted Norway's 2009 win and Lena's win last year. Worryingly Jedward are currently topping the chart! Dublin next year?

Blue songs in Eurovision

Desperately searching Youtube for a leak of Blue's Eurovision song I came across a number of Eurovision entries with Blue in the title or artist. Since we have to wait a whole day to hear the real Blue song I thought I'd share these with you.

Luxembourg: Vicky - L'amour Est Bleu (Love Is Blue) - 4th in 1967



Austria: Blue Danube - Du Bist Musik - 8th in 1980



Germany: Lena Valaitis - Johnny Blue - 2nd in 1981



Austria: Systems In Blue & Thomas Forstner - Nur Ein Lied (Only A Song) - 5th in 1989




Iceland: Jónsi - Heaven - 19th in 2004

Ok I'm struggling a little now but when I think of 'blue' songs in Eurovision this is the first that comes into my mind with the lyric in the chorus 'blend your colours with my blue'. Watch him sing his little heart out and come 19th in 2004.



p.s. It's not the Jónsi of Sigur Ros fame.


And finally, vaguely related, the Blue Man Group's performance at last year's Melodifestivalen final in Sweden. Maybe Blue should dress like this for their performance!

Melodifestivalen 2011 Final

So after a rather surprising Andra Chansen result Sara Varga and The Moniker complete the lineup for the Melodifestivalen final at the Globe Arena in Stockholm on Saturday. This is the order they will perform.

Eric Saade is the favourite to win, having been top of the Swedish iTunes chart and favourite with the bookies. However as we've seen with previous years anything can happen.

1. Danny Saucedo - In the club (Figge Boström, Peter Boström, Danny Saucedo)
2. Sara Varga - Spring för livet (Sara Varga, Fredrik Boström)
3. The Moniker - Oh my God! (Daniel Karlsson)
4. Brolle - 7 days and 7 nights (Brolle)
5. Linda Bengtzing - E del fet på mej (Pontus Assarsson, Thomas G:son, Jörgen Ringqvist, Daniel Barkman)
6. Nicke Borg - Leaving home (Jojo Borg Larsson, Nicke Borg, Fredrik Thomander, Anders Wikström)
7. Swingfly - Me and my drum (Teron Beal, Patrik Magnusson, Johan Ramström, Swingfly)
8. Sanna Nielsen - I'm in love (Irini Michas, Peter Boström, Thomas G:son, Bobby Ljunggren)
9. The Playtones - The King (Fredrik Kempe, Peter Kvint)
10. Eric Saade - Popular (Fredrik Kempe)

Youtube playlist of the 10 songs:

Beginner's guide to Andra Chansen

As Sweden's journey to choose its 2011 Eurovision representative reaches its penultimate phase I thought it worth explaining how the second chance round works. You've probably worked out by now that in each semi final 2 songs go direct to the final and 2 songs go to Andra Chansen.

In Andra Chansen rather than the 2 songs with the most votes going to the final, the songs compete against each other in a series of duels.

So, first thing to note about Andra Chansen - because of the duels only one from each of these 'pots' can go to through to the final:

One of these to the final:
Jenny Silver
Love Generation
Loreen
Sara Varga

One of these to the final:
The Moniker
Linda Pritchard
Shirley’s Angels
Pernilla Andersson


This is how it will work on the night:


Duel 1
Jenny Silver – Something In Your Eyes
vs
Love Generation – Dance Alone





Duel 2
Loreen – My Heart Is Refusing Me
vs
Sara Varga – Spring för livet





So the second round will be Jenny or Love Generation vs Loreen or Sara and the winner will go to the final.


Duel 3
The Moniker – Oh My God!
vs
Linda Pritchard – I’m Alive





Duel 4
Shirley’s Angels – I Thought It Was Forever
vs
Pernilla Andersson - Desperados





So the second round will be The Moniker or Linda vs Shirley’s Angels or Pernilla and the winner will go to the final.

So just to reiterate

One of these to the final:
Jenny Silver
Love Generation
Loreen
Sara Varga

One of these to the final:
The Moniker
Linda Pritchard
Shirley’s Angels
Pernilla Andersson

I really hope Sweden choose Loreen and Linda Pritchard to the final.