@ESCTom he's quite the national hero, you probably heard that he got a reward from our government that he turned down and asked for the money to be donated to two hospitals for pediatric cancer.
Finally someone who addresses that it's weird with the Joost Klein situation that they had to mention it was a FEMALE staff member. I found it weird since I first heard it, because I think when it comes to things like equality, it shouldn't matter what gender someone was, unless it's related to the crime, which most definitely does not seem the case here. People seem to gloss over it, but I think it was also strategically mentioned just to fuel some more rumors regarding Joost Klein. the EBU just wanted to gather all the reasons possible to DQ him, since he was just a pain in their bum
yea i really cant see the relevance otherwise. it seems very tabloid gossip magazine to me. there definitely seemed to be a tone of "joost hit a woman!" when the story was first breaking, which should NOT have been allowed to happen
I have heard this mentioned on a few other reaction channels. The EBU think they can deflect from their shambolic behaviour by manipulating the narrative. So obviously misleading. f**k the EBU
Totally agree. It was trying to throw shade instead of being transparent. It doesn't even quote a rule. Animal farm comes to mind on these particular rulemakers.
Class act performance - that political juggling. Sticking with this channel from now on. Who's against war crimes is a good human to my eyes and someone I tend to trust (even with Eurovision songs :P). 👍
@@efthymiosn3381 yeah I know? I'm not saying he's innocent or guilty of whatever happened, I'm just saying the whole situation was definitely unexpected -- especially only a couple of hours out from the grand final
Joost lawyers comments today, confirms (to me at least, I speak for myself) he was DQ'ed over an incident that very much 1. He should've been protected from 2. Should have been resolved without police involvement, and a DQ could have been avoided, by either using the semi final footage or keeping the two parties from each other. A public apology which was suggested, might have also been a way for him to take accountability. Even though I was not there to see it happen, it feels like he pushed the camera away after asking multiple times to not be filmed in a heightened state of emotions (which also according to AVROTROS was agreed he would not be) and that the camera person was startled and dropped their phone. Anyway, something similar to this. I would have liked to see him achieve more of his dream, but maybe if the EBU reference group is all changed, he would consider coming back if he feels like it, maybe next year or in a couple of years.
completely agree with all this, and at this moment in time, that is also my understanding of what happened as well. I also hope that he comes back, but i also think it would require something to be different than this year
Right off the bat - I LOVE the emphasis on '*26* countries that qualified' lolll. As a Dutch person I'm still so sad and hope Joost is okay. I hope the EBU will do more to create a safe space for the artists who ultimately make the show. Stien (2022 contestant for NL) came out with a documentary, I saw some promo in which she describes how extremely overwhelming the eurovision experience was for her, especially when it came to the amount of content she was expected to participate in. Coincidentally (or not, because I think this counts for every contestant), she mentions how she really couldn't handle being filmed right after her performance. Ultimately no matter what exactly happened, if artists were allowed to set boundaries and be respected as people not products, this wouldnt have happened.
yea i commented on that excerpt from her interview on Twitter. its complete BS to me that they talk about protecting the artists from rehearsal footage and then have people harassing them as they come off the stage, and want to do X factor style eliminations
@@ESCTom It sounds like it's only about protecting the artists until not doing so benefits them more... I understand how much engagement short form content brings them, especially if they make different videos for each platform, but it's getting insane how much they expect from artists. Some Dutch media are calling Joost demanding or a diva for wanting an 'exception' to being filmed. If that is what was happening backstage all along, I'd be very surprised if he ever wants to join another big production again. So much for mental health awareness.
@@ESCTom Yes and I personally appreciated that you clarified extencively your position on Israel. While I might slightly disagree to some of it, you tried to make it both bold and respectful (much better than some other ESC fans I'd say), and especially thanks for mentioning soft power issue connected with Russia since 2014, although I believe even back in 2009 the ESC in Moscow was already used to drive attention away from their wrongdoings in Georgia, and they were building that momentum already prior 2014 (just hear to the lyrics of Russian entry in 2013, what a hypocrisy)
@@drazenbicanic3590 I see what you mean. However the big 5 and sweden still 'qualified' for the final by meeting the qualifications for entering the contest if that makes sense
RTL did a poll on if the Dutchies want to come to Eurovision next year, most voted no and others only wanted it if Joost wants to represent us again. It’s honestly beautiful how more Dutch ppl started watching Eurovision after Anouk and now the EBU has managed to make Dutch ppl so angry that they don’t even want to go next year. EBU really shot themselves in the foot 😭
The Netherlands kept the 2019 trophy for 2 years because of Covid, which had never happened before. Apparently this didn't bring them luck so far, so maybe they have to wait 7 years for the "jinx" effect to fade 😂
@@vohol6158 Oh those felt like very very different entries to me. Spain was fun but it had a message. Finland just seemed like "haha, people without pants..." to me. But then, I heard from more people that they thought it was funny. I just don't get why.
@@Snowshowslow yeah I didn't mean "funny", just... fun? Like the song and performance weren't very much jury material but instead just good vibes. But definitely not humpristic in the same way that Finland's was. However that one definitely has a real message embedded in the song, too. It's about rethinking the rules you thought you had to follow, and letting go of those that actually were not real and were just holding you back.
If the EBU doesn’t make a few important changes, I don’t want Romania back. This year was really good in terms of live performances, but all the scandals made everything look very bad.
@@ESCTom oh my! Thanks for that teaser, Tom! LOL! Wonderful round up, wonderful video as always. Thank you for adding so much to another Eurovision season!
I think the low quality of the interval acts this year is due to bigger names boycotting the event over Israels participation. Eurovision as a brand has really taken a hit this year.
Even if names like Taylor Swift, Jungkook, or Blackpink decide to boycott any Eurovision contest, Eurovision will still go on, regardless of how bad Eurovision took major setbacks.
@@gerardkhachaturyan4814 i think the point is that the interval acts seemed lower quality than expected, given that sweden looooooove ESC and have the budget to attract bigger artists - so the chances are that some names dropped out and they had to scramble a bit
Thank you for your take on the Israeli song. This is the most nuanced, mature, respectful perspective I have heard. It is refreshing to see level-headed opinion and this will be the first time I respect someone’s reasoning for not covering Israeli participation. I may personally disagree, but this is the sort of maturity we need if we’re going to stay united as Eurofans. Thank you as ever for your amazing coverage, Tom - you’re a staple of why I enjoy Eurovision so much every year.
+1 on this. Tom, you are consistently excellent in your coverage. Thanks for showing the kind of maturity that was lacking during the contest, by both the Israeli delegation but also certain acts that seemed to want to stir up backstage negativity rather than remaining professional.
If they bring a english pop song they have a shot, if they bring a song in there own language, about there own culture they have zero chances. Even the jury gives an advantage to english, italian and French songs. And if the odds say you are not top 5 your country has no chances of winning.
@@drakept7742 two of thess countries have already won Eurovision with songs in their own languages. So I disagree with your point. You're correct about the bookies but that has no relevance to this conversation.
@@tonyttt31 I m portuguese i can tell you that the reason that we won was because the singer had heart problems, and Portugal won Euro Cup the year before. Not because the song is beautiful.
@@tonyttt31 it was well know that he had heart problems, there was a possibilaty that he would not sing because of his health. And Portugal became more relevant after we won the Cup
Switzerland wasn’t my favourite, I was a Croatia girly through and through so I can’t lie, I was a bit disappointed with the results. However, I can’t really be mad, Nemo absolutely deserved the jury score they got and Baby Lasagna can’t complain about his either, the jury was absolutely fair in that regard (unlike other years *wink wink*). The Code is a very decent winner in a very strong year and i’m very happy for Nemo too, they are the sweetest person
Years like this make me wish we had separate jury and televote winners. It would be a huge change but wouldn't it be worth trying it out at least once to see how it goes? I was a fan of both of the entries but think that entries so popular with the public, like Croatia and Finland last year) should be recognized in a more formal way no matter what the juries say
@@lucaluca9704 Absolutely ❤️ To be fair, they were all amazing this year, there was no song i genuinely disliked, not even the ones that stayed in the semifinals. Some were better than others but they were all good and they should all be very proud
@@vohol6158 I like that but wouldn’t the title of jury winner and televote winner be less impactful than THE winner of Eurovision? I see your point and i agree but i still have mixed feelings on every form of choosing a winner
@@euroesc5013 I do agree. I don't know if it would work either... Just an idea. It would be a smaller and more realistic step to lessen the juries power somewhat.
Even though i find 'Liar' pretty boring, i have so much respect for Silias Kapsis, not only because of her age and been so high in the final, but because she showed she has the "it" factor to be a star and to continue to grow to become even better
Congrats to Bambie, Ireland, you and all Irish fans 🇮🇪 Even though Doomsday Blue was never one of my biggest favourites, I supported you the whole season. If RTÉ continues making progress, you might take the title for most wins back soon (hopefully with a song in Irish)
As a Frenchman seeing us get over 200 points in the televote made me very happy because going into the final I really thought are televote ceiling was 100 points, maybe 150 if we were lucky, so to see us get over 200 was really a pleasant surprise.
@@ESCTomI'm not sure about this. Slimane's fans came (and that may have helped to have him at the end of the show) but they did not like the show (I read/heard very rude comments in the french media) and they probably won't come back next year. Anyway, 7.5 millions of French watched the final, which is a record for France Télévisions.
I'm so happy for Ireland, Bambie's performance was one of the best! I'm just in awe of the staging and the stage presence of those two. I'm also super pleased about Nemo's victory, incredible staging and vocals (and as a queer person... everything about The Code is just super cathartic, it makes me cry) As a Finn, I'm not shocked about 19th place, but hey we qualified again! I think they performed it well and it still made me laugh in the grand final, so all's well. Most of the Eurovision talk here is focused on EBU's actions and Israel's participation, which makes me wonder about the next UMK and if artists still find the possible ESC representation gig appealing.
Funny you mention the Martin interval act in the final. SBS in Australia refused to even show it and ran advertisements instead. I was absolutely gobsmacked after the final to learn that they would have broadcast that, and very happy I didn't have to watch it 😭 Also, I absolutely cannot go through a season like this again. The head of the Norewigan delegation recently got a statement published on Wiwibloggs where they said that the EBU needs to stop blaming the delegations and artists, and I can't agree more. I won't come back next year unless something big happens unfortunately.
@@ESCTom I would never recover. Looking at Wiwibloggs is my morning ritual now, predicting which country will reveal their (very reasonable) complaint next 😭
I really liked the Norwegian song, but I can understand why people might not like it. I think one of the problems was that there were a lot of good songs this year + some countries always vote for each other which pumps them up a bit. Think that's why Germany got last place in 2023 as well.
The production this year definitely fell below my expectations. Interval acts (including Loreen) felt underwhelming and overall a bit too self-referential. And I love past Eurovision acts coming back usually! ABBA references without ABBA and the Martin tribute both felt in poor taste.
The thing that makes me angry the most as a dutch person, is that the EBU is treating us now like we never existed. So disrespectful! Unless there are big changes made at the top, I don't want us to come back to be honest. But I also don't want us to be the country that spoils Switzerland's party now they won after so many years. I am very curious what will happen. And I am soooo happy for Ireland! I voted for Bambie! :)
The Australian jury always impress me, this year Bambie, last year Gustaph, 2022 Chanel They have taste and always pick something different to the Nemo and Loreen's 😂😅
I noticed in your baseless predictions you said Celine might show up. I really hope so, I know she's going through a lot of health issues with "stiff person syndrome" and it has been quite the battle with intensive training. Hopefully the Eurovision community can send her some love because she has said fan support is helping motivate her. She might not be able to sing next year but hopefully she can at least attend and feel the love the community has for her ❤I smiled when Nemo's brain stopped working for a second when a reporter said their name after Celine in a list of winners for Switzerland😂The way they gushed about it was adorable.
@@ESCTom Ya that's what I'm hoping for. 🙂 I'm not getting expectations too high, would love even just having a cut to her to get some applause and love. ....and please Switzerland, no CGI Celine. 😵💫This Canadian can't handle that
I was so happy that my country’s jury (Australia) gave Ireland its 12 votes. They were absolutely fantastic the whole way through the competition, and the moment they ran excitedly up to Nemo immediately after Nemo’s win was announced….. that was my favourite moment of the final. The completely genuine smile of pride and joy melted me 😊
Also, I'm very impressed that you got at least one 12 from juries and a decent amount of jury votes on the whole. I thought the act as a whole was very impressive, with fab vocals and performance from Bambi (I don't think people get just how difficult it was), but I expected it to be too controversial
I'm Dutch so this year was dissapointing and sad for me to put it mildly so I'll focus on something positive instead: Ireland coming 6th.🎉 So happy for Bambie Thug and the Irish fans. I have watched the ESC since 1990 (i'm quite old) and I've never seen a staging concept that had me glued to the screen like that. It was amazing. I have seen many good stagings over the past decades but seeing the massive glow up from the Late late show to what they created for the stage in Malmö totally caught me off guard. I absolutely loved every little detail of it. So grateful Bambie and their team got to really share their creative vision. I'm really proud and I'm not even Irish ❤ Here's to hoping this was your Anouk moment!
I'm desperate for us to send something other than radio friendly pop from the UK. I just wish we'd send something interesting, edgy, different. We have the advantage of auto-qualifying, so use that as an opportunity to take a risk!
The BBC have a huge BBC Introducing network for new artists that starts at a local level and goes up to National Stations. I don't know why they don't link into that.
The BBC has just signed a new K-Pop-act to represent the UK next year. It consists of 6 Welsh Corgis, each with it's own, strong, personality (1 is non-binair!). They are now being trained and groomed for their ESC-participance. It's remarkable how they all honk, bark and growl in sync, and on pitch, after just days of training! Olly gave us his all, sadly it kind of backfired. But the BBC will take no more risks! Next year it will al be pretty straight forward Going to the Dogs!
@@CallistoTheWarriorQueen The Welsh Corgis that are now at bootcamp, all seem to have a preference for the likes of Sir Tom Jones and Dame Shirley Bassey. Punk Rock scared them to much.
It was a mess this year. The journalists felt pushed out, they cut out the boos Israel got and replaced them with cheers, and Joost was treated badly. Apparently none of the contestants felt at home. The presentation was very meh. I did enjoy the winner, well deserved. I loved the UK song, but the staging was all wrong. It was about the dizzy feeling that falling in love brings, and they forgot that. Bambi Thug was great.
Absolutely amazing winner: immediately after Nemo's performance in the semi, I knew Switzerland would be the winner. Fully deserved. The entire top 4 is amazing by the way: congratulations to Croatia, Ukraine and France for all giving us fabulous performances and getting great and fully deserved results. It's so sad though that this year with all the fantastic songs and performances leaves such a weird taste in the mouth. Of course because we here in the Netherlands were so hyped and then Joost's disqualification turned everything so sour. It was the weirdest experience watching the final; I knew Joost wouldn't have won, Nemo had it in the bag, but I was so cranky and disappointed. The EBU will really have to address its failure to provide a safe space for all the artists and everyone who worked so hard behind the scenes. Maybe Eurovision has become too big, and the pressure too high? And should we reconsider what organizing an apolitical event really means? Also in the fandom the atmosphere was pretty strained this year; I hope we'll be able to move on and truly strive to become, as you once put it so eloquently, that universe where we try not to be such d*cks to each other. Comments on the staging and production: it was... fine. The Swedes really know how to produce a great show, but it certainly wasn't their most inspired hosting. I must say I liked Petra a lot better especially in 2013, when she and Malmö put on a much more fresh and really fun show.
Thanks so much for your great content Tom ❤ It must have been so intense there. And to think it all could have been avoided if the right decisions were made by the EBU before the live shows even kicked off. I feel bad for Sweden as their production was fantastic and they put on a great show. Looking forward to your next analytical video. Brilliant coverage. Thanks again. ❤
Being Swedish, I want us to get another win soon to beat Ireland's record. But if Ireland want to actually put up a fight (unlike what they've been doing recently), I'm all for it. Bambie was my favourite this year, and I hope Ireland will continue sending great songs. Maybe it will inspire us to actually send something interesting as well! I also have to say something regarding Norway, who was my second favourite this year. It's so funny to me that people are always saying to send something "ethnic" and to showcase your national identity, but when you actually do they complain that it's too "weird" or "out there". The singing is an old Scandinavian style that was traditionally sung by women when herding the cows. It's meant to pierce through the ambience and echo through the mountains and forests (if you search "Kulning" on here you'll find some cool examples). So I get that it's a little grating, but I think that makes it a perfect fit to combine with metal (which of course is also very popular in Scandinavia). Being Scandinavian and having been involved a little bit with folk music, I guess I've just gotten used to it? Because I thought it sounded absolutely beautiful and combined with the more modern sounds created an amazing entry for Eurovision. Alright, that's my rant done. Go back to enjoying your day!
Everybody saying countries should send more songs with ethnic background and sung in their native language and then they get poor results and get overshadowed by generic pop songs. Spain last year and Norway this year are a perfect example. They were completely robbed. People should be more open minded and receptive to other countries culture. Also, annoucing participants so early, bookies predictions and overall all of us being so connected through social media is completely ruining eurovision. Each year there is more and more strategic voting with insane top 5 scores and other countries collecting scraps. Not to mention political voting. With all the negativity and drama this year plus things I just mentioned I'm completely losing interest in eurovision.
Joost has admitted he handled the situation wrong but he has not admitted to being violent or threatening to the cameraperson according to his Swedish lawyer. AVRO/TROS has said that Joost immediately expressed he was sorry and Joost and AVRO/TROS wanted to apologize to the camerawoman in person but she declined to meet with them. I don't know what is true and what isn't as only the persons involved will know and all which is said in the media is speculative. I do feel however that disqualifying Joost for an alleged threatening gesture made by him is disproportional and too harsh.
Bambi' semi and grand final performances approaching 12 million views . I would struggle to remember much about Eurovision in 2004, I guarantee everyone will remember Bambi in 2044. That 3 minutes of pure art wasnt a huge production or carry a huge cost, but wow, just wow.
Your commentary is always one of the most impressive. I'm appreciate your hard work and I hope more folks will support you on Patreon to be a full-time creator and eventually being part of the Irish delegation and ultimately head of the EBU!😂 Seriously, your work is fantastic. Keep it up. ❤
Thank You Tom for all the good, balanced and clever analyze of this years very caotic ESC!! And SO happy Ireland is back on track! Also support your take on the "Israeli situation". Love from Norway
Music wise, i really love this year. I think an reason why some good songs performed so badly is because there are so many good options to vote on this time
Thank your for analysis, i’ve been waiting for this😊 You‘re my favourite Eurovision RUclipsr ever! You put so much passion and work into your videos while keeping a very balanced and objective perspective! Thank you very much for your content during this Eurovision Season, especially in those tense times!
I know the head of security for eurovision 2024 and he said to me that what joost has done is not even a crime and that the disqualification of the netherlands is an embarrassing overreaction, he even said that worse things have happened backstage in relation to a "certain country" but they never got punished for that...
Tom, I'm a huge Eurovision fan (even watched all the national finals this year), and today is my birthday!! Going to enjoy this over coffee. Thanks for a great gift🥰
The UK probably got nul point from televote because the song is good but not super memorable (I don't think it ever charted) and while the staging was great, it also wasn't family friendly (actually I've seen many criticism on French TV talkshows and news etc. of how Eurovision this year was too sexual and UK is always cited). I feel like Olly went for a VMA type of performance as oppose to Eurovision performance. I've noticed this in the past too, that the public likes sexy but not sexual, for example Poland 2014 made the sexyness funny so it was ok for the general public.
Now that I think about it, Finland is also one of the country cited as too sexual, even though that was clearly humour... so maybe mainstream media are just stupid lol
Some Australians acted a bit like the British this year saying we shouldn’t bother anymore which was disappointing to me. We’ve sent some really good entries and despite not making it to the grand final, ratings were really good. (context: Australian tv ratings methodology changed compared to last year so hard to compare apples with apples)
I'm so happy for my favorite of the year, Ukraine, getting Top 3, especially out of the death slot! I wasn't crazy about it before the contest, but the song I am now listening to on repeat is Lithuania.
Same! Lithuania is my winner of the - I’ll listen to this forever on Spotify after Eurovision - award - I was so devastated when it was taken off Spotify for a whole day 😅
In your detailed results I hope you mention that 24 of Luxembourg's points came from 1 country and there's quite a clear reason why that country voted for Tali. 😅
@@gerardkhachaturyan4814Tali wasn’t booed though, was she? Which she would have been, if the boos were in fact about antisemitism. People booed Eden because they didn’t think Israel should be in the contest, not because she’s Jewish or indeed Israeli, otherwise Tali would have been booed because she is both.
@@gerardkhachaturyan4814I hope you stop questioning people's humanity. It's a necessary step in propaganda to get people to accept unspeakable things happening to those they don't consider as fully human. So please, always be really suspicious of this kind of framing. You can disagree without it.
I understand why they gave her 12 in the jury, most other artists or countries would’ve been ungrateful. Shame they voted politically, but it makes sense. And many juries also voted against Israel, so like 🤷♂️
The UK needs to stop sending radio friendly songs with no wow element. We did it in 2021, we broke it with 2022 (Sam had a wow voice and there was the wow moment with the staging and guitar). Mae Muller was radio friendly with a weaker voice and flopped, Olly had better staging but I don't think it felt as intimate as Sam Ryder just singing on the stage, and flopped. It's a live show, not a radio pop contest. Kaarija was a weaker singer than some people last years but his song was so memorable it made up for it. We're sending live singers with nice voices but they don't have much power behind them, so their jury points are so-so, then the songs are so forgettable they're forgotten by the public immediately.
I’m sad to say that the Netherlands will probably not participate next year. Some other countries won’t participate either. EBU made a mistake and it is a big one. Eurovision 2025 is in danger.
They have Dino Jelusic the JESC winner. And Baby Lasagna can be the one top 5 person to go on a revenge comeback next year, it's a great promotional strategy for his newcoming album and he will get Croatia another top 10 position even in the worst case scenario.
@@heppoloBaby Lasagna has said that he would not want to come back, which I think is a fair decision given the Dora treatment from the start. He’s done more than enough and he deserves to have a career after all this independent of Esc. I agree with the comment above, we will not see an entry like his in the future from Croatia, HRT will not change their ways.
@@komandantData which is a miss. For all the craziness, I actually think this year Dora had two other songs which could have finished left side (one was a completely insane song from the last year's act (Baby Lasagna can take notes about next year's participation), and the other one was "Dijamanti"). Damir Kedžo is an insanely great live vocalist, he can carry a power ballad to a good position, he has to find some decent songwriters.
If Osterdahl step down we need someone from Central, Easter or South Europe. Why do we have to serve West/Nord countries?! They already proved as corrupted. Switzerland is already HQ of EBU...now, decentralize it. Or is it Europe only Nord/West?!
Just an update. In the UK charts Nemo has hit number 18. Croatia is 37 and Netherlands 38. Olly is a disappointing 48. I think Bambie Thug is 60 something and Ukraine 100. Just incase you are interested.
As a German in the US for the first time i skipped watching this years show. I really loved Isaaks song and didn't want to get disappointed seeing it in last place. I am so so happy for his 12th place and very pleased with the whole outcome. Nemo was just perfect, the variations in they're voice, the song and the staging . Well done
For a girly bop to come top 3, it really needs to be elevated by lots of epic, professional dancing from the lead singer (not just good dancing, like Austria and Georgia this year, I'm talking professional level, where the lead is basically outdancing the back up dancers). Lots of sparkles/glitter also helps. And finally, the camera work needs to really emphasise the dancing with fun, creative cuts and angles, like in K-pop, for example. Because they tend to be inherently generic, girly bops have a bit of an uphill battle to stand out. Just some fun lighting and a beautiful singer just isn't enough to elevate the song the same way as, if the genre and song were more niche (eg. Armenia this year).
The way you addressed your coverage of Israel's entry this year was absolutely top class Tom. There really needs to be more tolerance within the community towards creators opinions next year. I dont feel optimistic about that happening, but here's hoping! Keep up the great work 👏
Great analysis, Tom. Top 3 looks justified to me. Can't wait for next year. Hoping my country Belgium will get a little more love. When someone is too critical of you like you can't do anything right, people jump on the bandwagon and unfortunately it got into Mustii's head. If we hire an excellent choreographer, I think we can come back stronger. Take care, looking forward to seeing your live reactions in Switzerland.
Not only was that Martin Osterdahl "tribute" tone-deaf, it was also gross. Like, no Lynda Woodruff, I don't want to think about Martin licking his lips, thank you very much. 🤢 Also, this year I made my mom watch with me all the NFs and the actual show and throughout the season, Zorra was her absolute favourite entry! She was so worried when she thought they didn't qualify in SF2...
hahaha yea i still get questions every year on whether i think the Big 5 will qualify. The Martin thing was cringe already, I dont know why he okayed it
Olly Alexander was, together with the lady from Azerbaijan, equally unable to sing, and my clear favourite for last place. A voice that hurts, doesn't find the pitch, a song Pet Shop Boys wouldn't had committed at their worst day, and the pretentious staging didn’t help as well. It's called staging, not a music video production. The points from the juries were very generous, and out of pity. Sorry to Slovenia, Norway, Estonia, which had more quality.
You don't get his Art! Olly is a certified Atonal Genius! He invented many tones that were not known to mankind before! Just wait for his new album: 'Atonal Karaoke 🎤'
I thought all your programming this year was top-notch! How you rolled up your sleeves and did all that tough number crunching, so to make even the most confusing details understandable to us all -- brilliant job! Plus it's obvious how much you love Eurovision. Thank you for getting us through this season. We LOOK FORWARD TO YOU every year!!
doomsday blue might be my favourite staging/performance package ever, it was so beautifully put together and i hope we see more like it soon side note i knew that there would be heartbreak this year because everything was so strong but man. ulveham last really hurts. i will say that the mgp performance was better but wow, i really thought it would be at least mid table :(
This is the first time ever my winner won, I'm so happy for Nemo 🇨🇭🥹 glad I voted for them! Seeing the split screen between them and Baby Lasagna was a great feeling after all the drama and I'd be so happy with either of them winning
Great analysis. Yeah I agree if Joost wasn't disqualified and the situation with Israel was different there might have been a different result but there is an Italian saying that goes 'if my grandmother had wheels she would be a bike' so no point making assumptions on the 'ifs' 😂 I also thought Israel would have got a good jury vote and a bad televote but it was the other way around. As you say many times you can't vote someone down so probably the Israeli supporters really got behind the televote and who was against just voted other songs. I am happy for Germany and Latvia, there is always talk about the importance of great staging but in some cases I think you should just go simple and in their case it worked. I don't think Norway deserved last either but it was a bit 'out there'maybe not the best for first listeners. I also agree with you the interval acts were below average in the final, the ABBA avatar thing really disappointing. ..
I have to disagree on Portugal being in the tier of countries that could win ESC in the upcoming years. The tele scores they have gotten have been awful. You tried to twist it into somewhat of a positive, but 13pts this year is just bad, and the results have essentially just gone down on the tele's end every year since 2021 when it comes to the GF. If Portugal can't muster anything that gets casuals to vote for them, they aren't ever gonna come close to winning.
a risky strategy isnt going to pay off every year. realistically only 6 countries in the entire final got decent televote points. I think that Portugal's unique perspective means that they are someone who could be in that top televote tier, whereas some other countries arent remotely close IMO
Gutted for Norway and Slovenia (won clearly won the mini-battle with Belgium). Georgia came with an Azerbaijan kind of song, while Azerbaijan came with a Georgia kind of song for the second year in a row. I am quite happy that interchangeable bops didn't really perform well, however if the contest is flooded with special songs some will lose out like Norway and Slovenia whilst others stand out such as Ireland and Croatia and Switzerland. I had this idea that Joost's televote would mostly be based on support from the North and West, while Croatia's support would mostly come from South and East. Unfortunately we couldn't quite test it in the final. Overall I am glad to see that most people are happy with their own entry in the final and are at peace with the results (except the Dutch)
About Norway... I am happy that we did send a song in Norwegian. I do think that MGP viewers need to pay less attention to the online hype though. From the start, no one talked about this song outside of the very niche bubble who like Gåte/Norwegian folk. It was to me, an indicator this was not getting those high points. I am sad I was right about it, but in the end, I have to acknowledge that I have a lot of Gåte's music, and this one just did not speak to me. I don't see the last place as something terrible, I just hope it'll be the point of change for NRK. I'd like to see us try more to figure out why the juries just don't vote much for us since now 2019. I think our copy-paste may need a little bit of tweaking. More upgrades, and more creativity if we can't afford some of the costs of other elements. If we keep going on as we have, artists are going to shy away from MGP again. This being heightened by the year 2024 has been for Eurovision. We have so many great bands and artists like Gåte who do deserve to be on that stage with their music.
Unfortunately I think serious musicians in Norway already shy away from the contest. Esc seems to have low standing when it comes to participation. Stig Karlsen, the head of the Norwegian delegation said in an interview the other day that it is already difficult to recruit people to attend to the contest. To much circus and to little focus on musical quality. Actually I was surprised when I heard that Gåte would participate in Esc. Glad they did, a lot of new fans appeared and discovered this awsome music.😊
I loved the song so much and I didn't know of them at all before Eurovision. It was a stunning performance and I'm so sad it came last. It was in my top 10 🇭🇲
Personally I wasn’t surprised by their result, I found the flinging guitars comical and not matched to the serious vibe of the vocals and didn’t know how to receive it - it looked like they weren’t taking themselves seriously? And the song for me was underwhelming. Just my personal opinion as someone completely unfamiliar with the band 🤷🏻♀️
The Israeli delegation harassing the artists and journalists and the EBU not doing anything to protect the artists was the most disgraceful thing to ever happen in Eurovision history.
So chuffed I found this channel. So measured and informative. Also, Tom, you're such a nice guy. Keep up the great work. Looking forward to ESC 2025 as long as they make clear changes as this year was too stressful 😢
As a German I can say that we are very happy with this result. But as you already mentioned, our broadcaster will probably change nothing in their system because we got one good result.
I think Ireland 🇮🇪 will do great in the following years. I mean Bambi and Ailsha were the top 2 in Eurosong this year. Many thought they would cancel each other out
It wasn't Israel's participants. It was the protesters taking it out on the participants, trying to deny them the chance to shine like any of the other artists. Ok, so they are born, and they happen to be born in Israel where they have been able to live a more secure life than their ancestors. Now this year's participants were bullied, beeing booked upon and frozen out by fans, other artists and some political activists. Being frozen out reminds me by the way of my own days in high school but that s another story. I just understand how it must have felt for them. And creds to them for having pulled through such a professional show!
One thing that is often forgotten, when people speak about the Finnish ratio 75% televote and 25% juryvote is, that there are only seven (7) songs competing in the UMK, and they have already been picked by a jury. I think, that Finland could easily go to 100% televote, because the seven entries have already been OKayed by the initial jury among several songs, that we will never hear. I think that the juries exist in the National Final only to add some drama to the end of the show. But I think all the seven entries are already songs, that YLE accepts as the Finnish representative.
@@adamtideman4953 that's what I would like t o have. And you really didn't get the point. There is a jury, the pre-jury, that has a bigger impact than the public. There is a jury by YLE, that decides, which seven songs of the hundred or two hundred submissions get to compete in the UMK. If they think, that it is not suitable to represent Finland, it doesn't even reach the UMK, and the public will never see it. Those seven, who make it, are already songs, that YLE has deemed suitable to represent Finland. Now, at this point I don't think we need even more juries, I think that public should have the say among those seven songs, that the jury has already selected. Or, why bother to have a public vote at all, the YLE jury could select the song internally, if the public isn't trusted to select even among those seven songs, that made to the UMK?
I’m a 33 year old Brit, who’s watched every Eurovision since ‘97 with my family and now I watch it as a dad with my wife and son. I feel like staging like Olly Alexander’s really narrows down the appeal for the general audience (on top of the song being a bit average). Yes, there is a big crowd from the LGBT community that makes up the Eurovision audience, but come the ESC final on a Saturday night there are a lot of families that are watching and that will make up the main audience on the night. We do want interesting staging that pushes boundaries (see Ireland), but why not aim to make your act as broadly appealing as possible? Just my opinion. Would be interested to hear any (respectful) thoughts in response.
I do agree Olly's staging/choreo had a negative impact on the result, but I think it would be a pretty boring evening if everyone aimed to be "as broadly appealing as possible"
@@vohol6158you can still have interesting, boundary-pushing staging while having a broad appeal. See Switzerland, Croatia, Ireland and The Netherlands this year.
Do you think they will keep semi finals in Dora for 2025? Also someone high up at HRT already left last year after Let 3 won Dora. After Let 3 were selected, she said they would definitely finish last yet after they qualified for the final, she said she loved their music! It is an example of hypocrisy that exists at the broadcaster certainly
I really want to understand the UK's 0 public votes. My guess is that gay is okay at Eurovision as long as it's funny, gay or campy gay, or cute gay, but not when it's dirty and gritty or sensual/sexual gay. Maybe it was the dry humping that sealed it? I loved the performance and thought it was creative and well executed overall. It was something you'd be more likely to see on Queer as Folk than on the Eurovision stage, but that's what made it stand out and I am very glad they took that risk. I really was expecting something, even five points would have made sense, but null points did leave me scratching my head, and sad.
"female member of the staff" makes it sound like Joost is accused of sexual harrassment or something, which isn't the case so it's weird they would specify the sex. I think it says a lot about how poorly they handled the PR when beloved men are being cancelled left right and center for bad behaviour, yet people still side with Joost on this issue. I can't defend him until we learn more but I find it very unfair for dutch delegation, broadcaster and fans. They could have inserted the semi-final performance (Iceland 2021 style) and then let the delegation receive his points in his place. Punish the person who commits the rule-breaking, not the whole team and country...
Ireland / Bambie Thug was an absolute standout performance not just in 2024 but in Eurovision history. Artistically, theatrically, technically (the candelabra moving up and down creating different optics from above), vocally, and the little details - when the camera focused on Bambie’s eyes through the candles - incredible and a well deserved result.
Been looking forward to this post all week! Well done Tom as always your coverage is excellent and on point. Being in Malo to cover this year in particular must have felt like running multiple marathons back to back with all the drama and somewhat toxic atmosphere to navigate 🤔 Looking forward to more insights and work towards Switzerland 🇨🇭 🇮🇪☘️
Croatia is more than proud of Baby Lasagna. Look at the homecoming they organized for him. And he sold out 3 gigs in minutes. So happy for him.
@ESCTom he's quite the national hero, you probably heard that he got a reward from our government that he turned down and asked for the money to be donated to two hospitals for pediatric cancer.
He truly is the people's winner
Finally someone who addresses that it's weird with the Joost Klein situation that they had to mention it was a FEMALE staff member. I found it weird since I first heard it, because I think when it comes to things like equality, it shouldn't matter what gender someone was, unless it's related to the crime, which most definitely does not seem the case here. People seem to gloss over it, but I think it was also strategically mentioned just to fuel some more rumors regarding Joost Klein. the EBU just wanted to gather all the reasons possible to DQ him, since he was just a pain in their bum
yea i really cant see the relevance otherwise. it seems very tabloid gossip magazine to me.
there definitely seemed to be a tone of "joost hit a woman!" when the story was first breaking, which should NOT have been allowed to happen
This is the problem with TERF feminism and the ALWAYS trust the women policy…
@@AW-EV-and-FTM omg I discovered Terf-ism recently and it's such an oxymoron! 😭
I have heard this mentioned on a few other reaction channels. The EBU think they can deflect from their shambolic behaviour by manipulating the narrative. So obviously misleading. f**k the EBU
Totally agree. It was trying to throw shade instead of being transparent. It doesn't even quote a rule. Animal farm comes to mind on these particular rulemakers.
I really appreciate your nuanced view on difficult topics
🙏🏻
Echoing that
I wonder if Nemo was wearing magnetic sneakers 👟 due to his incredible balance on his sci-fi island.
@@KevinWWSP Nemo said on the press conference that they haven't used magnets but liked the idea
Class act performance - that political juggling. Sticking with this channel from now on. Who's against war crimes is a good human to my eyes and someone I tend to trust (even with Eurovision songs :P). 👍
Joost's disqualification was the biggest plot twist of the year -- possibly the biggest of the past few years
Biggest and worst
First time it ever happened too
My opinion is that he was eliminated, because in reality his song is not at all pro Europe but a disappointment for Europe.
Yeah but he might actually be at blame. He would not be disqualified for nothing.
@@efthymiosn3381 yeah I know? I'm not saying he's innocent or guilty of whatever happened, I'm just saying the whole situation was definitely unexpected -- especially only a couple of hours out from the grand final
Joost lawyers comments today, confirms (to me at least, I speak for myself) he was DQ'ed over an incident that very much
1. He should've been protected from
2. Should have been resolved without police involvement, and a DQ could have been avoided, by either using the semi final footage or keeping the two parties from each other. A public apology which was suggested, might have also been a way for him to take accountability.
Even though I was not there to see it happen, it feels like he pushed the camera away after asking multiple times to not be filmed in a heightened state of emotions (which also according to AVROTROS was agreed he would not be) and that the camera person was startled and dropped their phone. Anyway, something similar to this.
I would have liked to see him achieve more of his dream, but maybe if the EBU reference group is all changed, he would consider coming back if he feels like it, maybe next year or in a couple of years.
completely agree with all this, and at this moment in time, that is also my understanding of what happened as well.
I also hope that he comes back, but i also think it would require something to be different than this year
Tom appreciation comment: Thank you for your work over the whole season, always waited for your content 🙏
Thank you Ben 🙏🏻
Loreen rapping in finnish would be a moment.
Anyway she invented a new English dialect 😆 🤣
such a missed opportunity honestly
Lol
Right off the bat - I LOVE the emphasis on '*26* countries that qualified' lolll. As a Dutch person I'm still so sad and hope Joost is okay.
I hope the EBU will do more to create a safe space for the artists who ultimately make the show. Stien (2022 contestant for NL) came out with a documentary, I saw some promo in which she describes how extremely overwhelming the eurovision experience was for her, especially when it came to the amount of content she was expected to participate in. Coincidentally (or not, because I think this counts for every contestant), she mentions how she really couldn't handle being filmed right after her performance. Ultimately no matter what exactly happened, if artists were allowed to set boundaries and be respected as people not products, this wouldnt have happened.
yea i commented on that excerpt from her interview on Twitter. its complete BS to me that they talk about protecting the artists from rehearsal footage and then have people harassing them as they come off the stage, and want to do X factor style eliminations
@@ESCTom It sounds like it's only about protecting the artists until not doing so benefits them more... I understand how much engagement short form content brings them, especially if they make different videos for each platform, but it's getting insane how much they expect from artists.
Some Dutch media are calling Joost demanding or a diva for wanting an 'exception' to being filmed. If that is what was happening backstage all along, I'd be very surprised if he ever wants to join another big production again. So much for mental health awareness.
@@ESCTom Yes and I personally appreciated that you clarified extencively your position on Israel. While I might slightly disagree to some of it, you tried to make it both bold and respectful (much better than some other ESC fans I'd say), and especially thanks for mentioning soft power issue connected with Russia since 2014, although I believe even back in 2009 the ESC in Moscow was already used to drive attention away from their wrongdoings in Georgia, and they were building that momentum already prior 2014 (just hear to the lyrics of Russian entry in 2013, what a hypocrisy)
You mean the 20 countries that qualified
@@drazenbicanic3590 I see what you mean. However the big 5 and sweden still 'qualified' for the final by meeting the qualifications for entering the contest if that makes sense
RTL did a poll on if the Dutchies want to come to Eurovision next year, most voted no and others only wanted it if Joost wants to represent us again. It’s honestly beautiful how more Dutch ppl started watching Eurovision after Anouk and now the EBU has managed to make Dutch ppl so angry that they don’t even want to go next year. EBU really shot themselves in the foot 😭
The Netherlands kept the 2019 trophy for 2 years because of Covid, which had never happened before. Apparently this didn't bring them luck so far, so maybe they have to wait 7 years for the "jinx" effect to fade 😂
i love zorra. spain wasn't there to compete, they were there to have fun. thank you spain for sharing such a fun and lovely entry. i enjoyed it a lot.
Absolutely agree
Same as Finland! I always look forward to the more "fun" songs at ESC
@@vohol6158 Oh those felt like very very different entries to me. Spain was fun but it had a message. Finland just seemed like "haha, people without pants..." to me. But then, I heard from more people that they thought it was funny. I just don't get why.
@@Snowshowslow yeah I didn't mean "funny", just... fun? Like the song and performance weren't very much jury material but instead just good vibes. But definitely not humpristic in the same way that Finland's was. However that one definitely has a real message embedded in the song, too. It's about rethinking the rules you thought you had to follow, and letting go of those that actually were not real and were just holding you back.
If the EBU doesn’t make a few important changes, I don’t want Romania back. This year was really good in terms of live performances, but all the scandals made everything look very bad.
yea i cant see countries who werent there this year being excited to come back
@@ESCTomYes, who is going to pay all that cash for a terrible ambiance?
Romania being so averse to a eurovision scandal...
I Think my country Portugal, should stop going, util the EBU do major changes.
Iolanda was censord, because she had the palestine flag in her nails.
@@drakept7742 and it wasn’t even a Palestinian flag! It was just the colors
Tom this is perfectly timed for me to watch while i get lunch. Thank you for your service
it's the warm up act for your bombshell video later 😂💥
@@ESCTom oh my! Thanks for that teaser, Tom! LOL! Wonderful round up, wonderful video as always. Thank you for adding so much to another Eurovision season!
Ooohhh! I can't wait for your video now Gabe ❤
@@ESCTom You are the main act!! I'm simply the basement aftershow party
@@escgabe gotta be honest, your video was brilliant but now I'm more pissed than I already was. 🙄
I think the low quality of the interval acts this year is due to bigger names boycotting the event over Israels participation. Eurovision as a brand has really taken a hit this year.
yep i still think that Zara or someone else pulled out quite last minute
That's a great point
Even if names like Taylor Swift, Jungkook, or Blackpink decide to boycott any Eurovision contest, Eurovision will still go on, regardless of how bad Eurovision took major setbacks.
@@gerardkhachaturyan4814 i think the point is that the interval acts seemed lower quality than expected, given that sweden looooooove ESC and have the budget to attract bigger artists - so the chances are that some names dropped out and they had to scramble a bit
@@ESCTomI thought it was odd having 3 grand final interval acts instead of the usual 4. It made me wonder if there was something missing or not
Thank you for your take on the Israeli song. This is the most nuanced, mature, respectful perspective I have heard. It is refreshing to see level-headed opinion and this will be the first time I respect someone’s reasoning for not covering Israeli participation. I may personally disagree, but this is the sort of maturity we need if we’re going to stay united as Eurofans. Thank you as ever for your amazing coverage, Tom - you’re a staple of why I enjoy Eurovision so much every year.
🙏🏻
+1 on this. Tom, you are consistently excellent in your coverage. Thanks for showing the kind of maturity that was lacking during the contest, by both the Israeli delegation but also certain acts that seemed to want to stir up backstage negativity rather than remaining professional.
Weirdly enough, he was involved in a campaign to boycott Israel as well.
Portugal, Serbia, Slovenia, Lithuania - there's going to be winners among this lot over the next few years.
If they bring a english pop song they have a shot, if they bring a song in there own language, about there own culture they have zero chances.
Even the jury gives an advantage to english, italian and French songs.
And if the odds say you are not top 5 your country has no chances of winning.
@@drakept7742 two of thess countries have already won Eurovision with songs in their own languages. So I disagree with your point.
You're correct about the bookies but that has no relevance to this conversation.
@@tonyttt31 I m portuguese i can tell you that the reason that we won was because the singer had heart problems, and Portugal won Euro Cup the year before. Not because the song is beautiful.
He had a considerable lead though. And was the public aware of that when they were voting? I don't understand how the football victory is relevant.
@@tonyttt31 it was well know that he had heart problems, there was a possibilaty that he would not sing because of his health.
And Portugal became more relevant after we won the Cup
Switzerland wasn’t my favourite, I was a Croatia girly through and through so I can’t lie, I was a bit disappointed with the results. However, I can’t really be mad, Nemo absolutely deserved the jury score they got and Baby Lasagna can’t complain about his either, the jury was absolutely fair in that regard (unlike other years *wink wink*). The Code is a very decent winner in a very strong year and i’m very happy for Nemo too, they are the sweetest person
But the second place is also wonderful ❤
Years like this make me wish we had separate jury and televote winners. It would be a huge change but wouldn't it be worth trying it out at least once to see how it goes? I was a fan of both of the entries but think that entries so popular with the public, like Croatia and Finland last year) should be recognized in a more formal way no matter what the juries say
@@lucaluca9704 Absolutely ❤️ To be fair, they were all amazing this year, there was no song i genuinely disliked, not even the ones that stayed in the semifinals. Some were better than others but they were all good and they should all be very proud
@@vohol6158 I like that but wouldn’t the title of jury winner and televote winner be less impactful than THE winner of Eurovision? I see your point and i agree but i still have mixed feelings on every form of choosing a winner
@@euroesc5013 I do agree. I don't know if it would work either... Just an idea. It would be a smaller and more realistic step to lessen the juries power somewhat.
the photographer being female has absolutely nothing to do with anything, they phrase it like that to make Joost appear more threatening or something
Even though i find 'Liar' pretty boring, i have so much respect for Silias Kapsis, not only because of her age and been so high in the final, but because she showed she has the "it" factor to be a star and to continue to grow to become even better
So true! Very impressive
Congrats to Bambie, Ireland, you and all Irish fans 🇮🇪
Even though Doomsday Blue was never one of my biggest favourites, I supported you the whole season.
If RTÉ continues making progress, you might take the title for most wins back soon
(hopefully with a song in Irish)
IRELAND REALY HAS LOST THE PLOT THERE RAPPELEDY BECOMEING THE UNITED RUPUBLIC OF WOKE BULLSHIT
As a Frenchman seeing us get over 200 points in the televote made me very happy because going into the final I really thought are televote ceiling was 100 points, maybe 150 if we were lucky, so to see us get over 200 was really a pleasant surprise.
yea i was happily surprised to see that as well. i hope that this helps grow Eurovision's reputation in France
@@ESCTomI'm not sure about this. Slimane's fans came (and that may have helped to have him at the end of the show) but they did not like the show (I read/heard very rude comments in the french media) and they probably won't come back next year.
Anyway, 7.5 millions of French watched the final, which is a record for France Télévisions.
Baby Lasagna
I'm so happy for Ireland, Bambie's performance was one of the best! I'm just in awe of the staging and the stage presence of those two. I'm also super pleased about Nemo's victory, incredible staging and vocals (and as a queer person... everything about The Code is just super cathartic, it makes me cry)
As a Finn, I'm not shocked about 19th place, but hey we qualified again! I think they performed it well and it still made me laugh in the grand final, so all's well. Most of the Eurovision talk here is focused on EBU's actions and Israel's participation, which makes me wonder about the next UMK and if artists still find the possible ESC representation gig appealing.
Funny you mention the Martin interval act in the final. SBS in Australia refused to even show it and ran advertisements instead. I was absolutely gobsmacked after the final to learn that they would have broadcast that, and very happy I didn't have to watch it 😭 Also, I absolutely cannot go through a season like this again. The head of the Norewigan delegation recently got a statement published on Wiwibloggs where they said that the EBU needs to stop blaming the delegations and artists, and I can't agree more. I won't come back next year unless something big happens unfortunately.
it would be truly wild if nothing changes
@@ESCTom I would never recover. Looking at Wiwibloggs is my morning ritual now, predicting which country will reveal their (very reasonable) complaint next 😭
I really liked the Norwegian song, but I can understand why people might not like it. I think one of the problems was that there were a lot of good songs this year + some countries always vote for each other which pumps them up a bit. Think that's why Germany got last place in 2023 as well.
Did you see the signed performance of Rim Tim on the bbc - the woman deserves recognition - she is amazing
Haha no I didn’t. I’ll keep an eye out for it
@@ESCTom its the semi final on I player or catch up bbc
The production this year definitely fell below my expectations. Interval acts (including Loreen) felt underwhelming and overall a bit too self-referential. And I love past Eurovision acts coming back usually! ABBA references without ABBA and the Martin tribute both felt in poor taste.
The thing that makes me angry the most as a dutch person, is that the EBU is treating us now like we never existed. So disrespectful!
Unless there are big changes made at the top, I don't want us to come back to be honest.
But I also don't want us to be the country that spoils Switzerland's party now they won after so many years. I am very curious what will happen.
And I am soooo happy for Ireland! I voted for Bambie! :)
So happy our Australian jury gave Ireland 12 points
So iconic! Danny giving the 12 to Ireland!
The Australian jury always impress me, this year Bambie, last year Gustaph, 2022 Chanel
They have taste and always pick something different to the Nemo and Loreen's 😂😅
Thank you Oz ❤️
CRRROOWN WITCH IRELAND
I noticed in your baseless predictions you said Celine might show up. I really hope so, I know she's going through a lot of health issues with "stiff person syndrome" and it has been quite the battle with intensive training. Hopefully the Eurovision community can send her some love because she has said fan support is helping motivate her. She might not be able to sing next year but hopefully she can at least attend and feel the love the community has for her ❤I smiled when Nemo's brain stopped working for a second when a reporter said their name after Celine in a list of winners for Switzerland😂The way they gushed about it was adorable.
yea performing seems out of the question, but it would be great if she could particpate in some way, even if its just a video or something
@@ESCTom Ya that's what I'm hoping for. 🙂 I'm not getting expectations too high, would love even just having a cut to her to get some applause and love.
....and please Switzerland, no CGI Celine. 😵💫This Canadian can't handle that
I was so happy that my country’s jury (Australia) gave Ireland its 12 votes. They were absolutely fantastic the whole way through the competition, and the moment they ran excitedly up to Nemo immediately after Nemo’s win was announced….. that was my favourite moment of the final. The completely genuine smile of pride and joy melted me 😊
thank you Australia 🇦🇺
In the same way I'm equally happy with my country's (the UK) jury vote this year. Portugal deserved that 12!
As an Irish/Australian (who currently lives in Ireland but grew up in Aus) I had never felt so proud of my homeland
It was precisely the right person giving the 12 points to Ireland as well! The "Crown the witch" -growl from Danny made me so happy
Also, I'm very impressed that you got at least one 12 from juries and a decent amount of jury votes on the whole. I thought the act as a whole was very impressive, with fab vocals and performance from Bambi (I don't think people get just how difficult it was), but I expected it to be too controversial
Finally! I have been waiting for this
I'm Dutch so this year was dissapointing and sad for me to put it mildly so I'll focus on something positive instead: Ireland coming 6th.🎉 So happy for Bambie Thug and the Irish fans. I have watched the ESC since 1990 (i'm quite old) and I've never seen a staging concept that had me glued to the screen like that. It was amazing. I have seen many good stagings over the past decades but seeing the massive glow up from the Late late show to what they created for the stage in Malmö totally caught me off guard. I absolutely loved every little detail of it. So grateful Bambie and their team got to really share their creative vision. I'm really proud and I'm not even Irish ❤ Here's to hoping this was your Anouk moment!
I'm desperate for us to send something other than radio friendly pop from the UK. I just wish we'd send something interesting, edgy, different. We have the advantage of auto-qualifying, so use that as an opportunity to take a risk!
The BBC have a huge BBC Introducing network for new artists that starts at a local level and goes up to National Stations. I don't know why they don't link into that.
The BBC has just signed a new K-Pop-act to represent the UK next year. It consists of 6 Welsh Corgis, each with it's own, strong, personality (1 is non-binair!). They are now being trained and groomed for their ESC-participance. It's remarkable how they all honk, bark and growl in sync, and on pitch, after just days of training!
Olly gave us his all, sadly it kind of backfired. But the BBC will take no more risks! Next year it will al be pretty straight forward Going to the Dogs!
I'd love to see them send some punk rock 💖
@@CallistoTheWarriorQueen The Welsh Corgis that are now at bootcamp, all seem to have a preference for the likes of Sir Tom Jones and Dame Shirley Bassey. Punk Rock scared them to much.
I agree
I'm so proud of Baby Lasagna ❤️❤️❤️
But also devastated, he deserved the victory so much 😭😭😭😭
It was a mess this year. The journalists felt pushed out, they cut out the boos Israel got and replaced them with cheers, and Joost was treated badly. Apparently none of the contestants felt at home. The presentation was very meh. I did enjoy the winner, well deserved. I loved the UK song, but the staging was all wrong. It was about the dizzy feeling that falling in love brings, and they forgot that. Bambi Thug was great.
Last year, Ukraine was my 1st and Norway was my 3rd favourite, this year Norway was my 1st and Ukraine was my 3rd favourite 😆
Absolutely amazing winner: immediately after Nemo's performance in the semi, I knew Switzerland would be the winner. Fully deserved. The entire top 4 is amazing by the way: congratulations to Croatia, Ukraine and France for all giving us fabulous performances and getting great and fully deserved results.
It's so sad though that this year with all the fantastic songs and performances leaves such a weird taste in the mouth. Of course because we here in the Netherlands were so hyped and then Joost's disqualification turned everything so sour. It was the weirdest experience watching the final; I knew Joost wouldn't have won, Nemo had it in the bag, but I was so cranky and disappointed.
The EBU will really have to address its failure to provide a safe space for all the artists and everyone who worked so hard behind the scenes. Maybe Eurovision has become too big, and the pressure too high? And should we reconsider what organizing an apolitical event really means? Also in the fandom the atmosphere was pretty strained this year; I hope we'll be able to move on and truly strive to become, as you once put it so eloquently, that universe where we try not to be such d*cks to each other.
Comments on the staging and production: it was... fine. The Swedes really know how to produce a great show, but it certainly wasn't their most inspired hosting. I must say I liked Petra a lot better especially in 2013, when she and Malmö put on a much more fresh and really fun show.
Thanks so much for your great content Tom ❤ It must have been so intense there. And to think it all could have been avoided if the right decisions were made by the EBU before the live shows even kicked off. I feel bad for Sweden as their production was fantastic and they put on a great show. Looking forward to your next analytical video. Brilliant coverage. Thanks again. ❤
Being Swedish, I want us to get another win soon to beat Ireland's record. But if Ireland want to actually put up a fight (unlike what they've been doing recently), I'm all for it. Bambie was my favourite this year, and I hope Ireland will continue sending great songs. Maybe it will inspire us to actually send something interesting as well!
I also have to say something regarding Norway, who was my second favourite this year. It's so funny to me that people are always saying to send something "ethnic" and to showcase your national identity, but when you actually do they complain that it's too "weird" or "out there". The singing is an old Scandinavian style that was traditionally sung by women when herding the cows. It's meant to pierce through the ambience and echo through the mountains and forests (if you search "Kulning" on here you'll find some cool examples). So I get that it's a little grating, but I think that makes it a perfect fit to combine with metal (which of course is also very popular in Scandinavia). Being Scandinavian and having been involved a little bit with folk music, I guess I've just gotten used to it? Because I thought it sounded absolutely beautiful and combined with the more modern sounds created an amazing entry for Eurovision. Alright, that's my rant done. Go back to enjoying your day!
Everybody saying countries should send more songs with ethnic background and sung in their native language and then they get poor results and get overshadowed by generic pop songs. Spain last year and Norway this year are a perfect example. They were completely robbed. People should be more open minded and receptive to other countries culture.
Also, annoucing participants so early, bookies predictions and overall all of us being so connected through social media is completely ruining eurovision. Each year there is more and more strategic voting with insane top 5 scores and other countries collecting scraps. Not to mention political voting. With all the negativity and drama this year plus things I just mentioned I'm completely losing interest in eurovision.
Joost has admitted he handled the situation wrong but he has not admitted to being violent or threatening to the cameraperson according to his Swedish lawyer. AVRO/TROS has said that Joost immediately expressed he was sorry and Joost and AVRO/TROS wanted to apologize to the camerawoman in person but she declined to meet with them. I don't know what is true and what isn't as only the persons involved will know and all which is said in the media is speculative. I do feel however that disqualifying Joost for an alleged threatening gesture made by him is disproportional and too harsh.
Bambi' semi and grand final performances approaching 12 million views . I would struggle to remember much about Eurovision in 2004, I guarantee everyone will remember Bambi in 2044. That 3 minutes of pure art wasnt a huge production or carry a huge cost, but wow, just wow.
Your commentary is always one of the most impressive. I'm appreciate your hard work and I hope more folks will support you on Patreon to be a full-time creator and eventually being part of the Irish delegation and ultimately head of the EBU!😂 Seriously, your work is fantastic. Keep it up. ❤
Haha thank you Rick ❤️
Thank You Tom for all the good, balanced and clever analyze of this years very caotic ESC!! And SO happy Ireland is back on track! Also support your take on the "Israeli situation". Love from Norway
Crown(ed by) the witch
Music wise, i really love this year. I think an reason why some good songs performed so badly is because there are so many good options to vote on this time
Thank your for analysis, i’ve been waiting for this😊 You‘re my favourite Eurovision RUclipsr ever! You put so much passion and work into your videos while keeping a very balanced and objective perspective! Thank you very much for your content during this Eurovision Season, especially in those tense times!
Thank you Amy 🙏🏻
I know the head of security for eurovision 2024 and he said to me that what joost has done is not even a crime and that the disqualification of the netherlands is an embarrassing overreaction, he even said that worse things have happened backstage in relation to a "certain country" but they never got punished for that...
Conspiracy theorists can say this DQ only happened to ensure that the worst case scenario winner isn't happening.
@@heppolopretty sure that wasn’t the reason though, I just think that the ebu is behaving really strange
@@heppolo Bruh, If Joost performed in the final, Ukraine would have won the contest.
@gerardkNo they wouldn't. Switzerland were way ahead of Ukraine in the jury votes.hachaturyan4814
Wild guessing... @@gerardkhachaturyan4814
Tom, I'm a huge Eurovision fan (even watched all the national finals this year), and today is my birthday!! Going to enjoy this over coffee. Thanks for a great gift🥰
Great explanation on Israel. I completely agree. Let’s hope next year is better and less hostile and we (Australia) are back again!
As long EBU is putting blaim on delegations and artists nothing will change.
I was particularly disappointed by the results. Spain, Norway, Slovenia were all in my top 10, just to make it blatant.
Another video of Tom, another click I'm making. What a delight to see you and hear you talking about this thing you're passionate about 😍❤️
The UK probably got nul point from televote because the song is good but not super memorable (I don't think it ever charted) and while the staging was great, it also wasn't family friendly (actually I've seen many criticism on French TV talkshows and news etc. of how Eurovision this year was too sexual and UK is always cited). I feel like Olly went for a VMA type of performance as oppose to Eurovision performance. I've noticed this in the past too, that the public likes sexy but not sexual, for example Poland 2014 made the sexyness funny so it was ok for the general public.
Now that I think about it, Finland is also one of the country cited as too sexual, even though that was clearly humour... so maybe mainstream media are just stupid lol
UK was a great thing ruined by dry humping.
@@motherofslavs8761 He did a great job dry h umping our eardrums, alright!
Some Australians acted a bit like the British this year saying we shouldn’t bother anymore which was disappointing to me. We’ve sent some really good entries and despite not making it to the grand final, ratings were really good. (context: Australian tv ratings methodology changed compared to last year so hard to compare apples with apples)
I'm so happy for my favorite of the year, Ukraine, getting Top 3, especially out of the death slot!
I wasn't crazy about it before the contest, but the song I am now listening to on repeat is Lithuania.
Same! Lithuania is my winner of the - I’ll listen to this forever on Spotify after Eurovision - award - I was so devastated when it was taken off Spotify for a whole day 😅
In your detailed results I hope you mention that 24 of Luxembourg's points came from 1 country and there's quite a clear reason why that country voted for Tali. 😅
What did you expect? Tali could have been massively booed by those "humans" as well, knowing her roots as an Israeli.
@@gerardkhachaturyan4814 I expected the juries to not be biased. Suffice to say I was disappointed.
@@gerardkhachaturyan4814Tali wasn’t booed though, was she? Which she would have been, if the boos were in fact about antisemitism. People booed Eden because they didn’t think Israel should be in the contest, not because she’s Jewish or indeed Israeli, otherwise Tali would have been booed because she is both.
@@gerardkhachaturyan4814I hope you stop questioning people's humanity. It's a necessary step in propaganda to get people to accept unspeakable things happening to those they don't consider as fully human. So please, always be really suspicious of this kind of framing. You can disagree without it.
I understand why they gave her 12 in the jury, most other artists or countries would’ve been ungrateful. Shame they voted politically, but it makes sense. And many juries also voted against Israel, so like 🤷♂️
It is interesting that the opinion of the jury was the same only when it came to Switzerland. For all the other songs, their opinion was different.
Nemo's show was pretty incredible IMO
I mean switzerland was the best vocsls with risky staging.... no wonder juries loved it
The UK needs to stop sending radio friendly songs with no wow element. We did it in 2021, we broke it with 2022 (Sam had a wow voice and there was the wow moment with the staging and guitar). Mae Muller was radio friendly with a weaker voice and flopped, Olly had better staging but I don't think it felt as intimate as Sam Ryder just singing on the stage, and flopped. It's a live show, not a radio pop contest. Kaarija was a weaker singer than some people last years but his song was so memorable it made up for it. We're sending live singers with nice voices but they don't have much power behind them, so their jury points are so-so, then the songs are so forgettable they're forgotten by the public immediately.
yea i think the songs need more risk.
Having said that though, i thought the staging this year was absolutely brilliany
I’m sad to say that the Netherlands will probably not participate next year. Some other countries won’t participate either. EBU made a mistake and it is a big one. Eurovision 2025 is in danger.
Croatia 🇭🇷 will never on future be near win and nobody can replace Marko or baby lasagna…..money is only important for Ebu
They have Dino Jelusic the JESC winner.
And Baby Lasagna can be the one top 5 person to go on a revenge comeback next year, it's a great promotional strategy for his newcoming album and he will get Croatia another top 10 position even in the worst case scenario.
@@heppoloBaby Lasagna has said that he would not want to come back, which I think is a fair decision given the Dora treatment from the start. He’s done more than enough and he deserves to have a career after all this independent of Esc. I agree with the comment above, we will not see an entry like his in the future from Croatia, HRT will not change their ways.
@@komandantData which is a miss.
For all the craziness, I actually think this year Dora had two other songs which could have finished left side (one was a completely insane song from the last year's act (Baby Lasagna can take notes about next year's participation), and the other one was "Dijamanti"). Damir Kedžo is an insanely great live vocalist, he can carry a power ballad to a good position, he has to find some decent songwriters.
If Osterdahl step down we need someone from Central, Easter or South Europe. Why do we have to serve West/Nord countries?! They already proved as corrupted. Switzerland is already HQ of EBU...now, decentralize it. Or is it Europe only Nord/West?!
Just an update. In the UK charts Nemo has hit number 18. Croatia is 37 and Netherlands 38. Olly is a disappointing 48. I think Bambie Thug is 60 something and Ukraine 100. Just incase you are interested.
yea unfortunately, it does kind of fit into "why should other Europeans like music that we dont"
I appreciate your valuable time Tom. Thanks.@@ESCTom
As a German in the US for the first time i skipped watching this years show. I really loved Isaaks song and didn't want to get disappointed seeing it in last place. I am so so happy for his 12th place and very pleased with the whole outcome. Nemo was just perfect, the variations in they're voice, the song and the staging . Well done
For a girly bop to come top 3, it really needs to be elevated by lots of epic, professional dancing from the lead singer (not just good dancing, like Austria and Georgia this year, I'm talking professional level, where the lead is basically outdancing the back up dancers). Lots of sparkles/glitter also helps. And finally, the camera work needs to really emphasise the dancing with fun, creative cuts and angles, like in K-pop, for example.
Because they tend to be inherently generic, girly bops have a bit of an uphill battle to stand out. Just some fun lighting and a beautiful singer just isn't enough to elevate the song the same way as, if the genre and song were more niche (eg. Armenia this year).
No Rules!
The way you addressed your coverage of Israel's entry this year was absolutely top class Tom. There really needs to be more tolerance within the community towards creators opinions next year. I dont feel optimistic about that happening, but here's hoping! Keep up the great work 👏
Great analysis, Tom. Top 3 looks justified to me. Can't wait for next year. Hoping my country Belgium will get a little more love. When someone is too critical of you like you can't do anything right, people jump on the bandwagon and unfortunately it got into Mustii's head. If we hire an excellent choreographer, I think we can come back stronger. Take care, looking forward to seeing your live reactions in Switzerland.
Gustaph could actually sing, that made the big difference in appreciation + that his song was way more fun + he had way more stage-presence.
Not only was that Martin Osterdahl "tribute" tone-deaf, it was also gross. Like, no Lynda Woodruff, I don't want to think about Martin licking his lips, thank you very much. 🤢 Also, this year I made my mom watch with me all the NFs and the actual show and throughout the season, Zorra was her absolute favourite entry! She was so worried when she thought they didn't qualify in SF2...
hahaha yea i still get questions every year on whether i think the Big 5 will qualify.
The Martin thing was cringe already, I dont know why he okayed it
The winner absolutely deserved. The performance,vocals-Wow!
❤️from🇷🇸
Olly Alexander was, together with the lady from Azerbaijan, equally unable to sing, and my clear favourite for last place.
A voice that hurts, doesn't find the pitch, a song Pet Shop Boys wouldn't had committed at their worst day, and the pretentious staging didn’t help as well. It's called staging, not a music video production.
The points from the juries were very generous, and out of pity. Sorry to Slovenia, Norway, Estonia, which had more quality.
azerbaijan?
You don't get his Art! Olly is a certified Atonal Genius! He invented many tones that were not known to mankind before! Just wait for his new album: 'Atonal Karaoke 🎤'
I thought all your programming this year was top-notch! How you rolled up your sleeves and did all that tough number crunching, so to make even the most confusing details understandable to us all -- brilliant job! Plus it's obvious how much you love Eurovision. Thank you for getting us through this season. We LOOK FORWARD TO YOU every year!!
Thank you so much 😊
doomsday blue might be my favourite staging/performance package ever, it was so beautifully put together and i hope we see more like it soon
side note i knew that there would be heartbreak this year because everything was so strong but man. ulveham last really hurts. i will say that the mgp performance was better but wow, i really thought it would be at least mid table :(
EBU trying to wait and pretend nothing happened is disappointing af, ngl
I don’t think they’ll get away with that. They need to address it or countries will withdraw
This is the first time ever my winner won, I'm so happy for Nemo 🇨🇭🥹 glad I voted for them! Seeing the split screen between them and Baby Lasagna was a great feeling after all the drama and I'd be so happy with either of them winning
Great analysis. Yeah I agree if Joost wasn't disqualified and the situation with Israel was different there might have been a different result but there is an Italian saying that goes 'if my grandmother had wheels she would be a bike' so no point making assumptions on the 'ifs' 😂 I also thought Israel would have got a good jury vote and a bad televote but it was the other way around. As you say many times you can't vote someone down so probably the Israeli supporters really got behind the televote and who was against just voted other songs. I am happy for Germany and Latvia, there is always talk about the importance of great staging but in some cases I think you should just go simple and in their case it worked. I don't think Norway deserved last either but it was a bit 'out there'maybe not the best for first listeners. I also agree with you the interval acts were below average in the final, the ABBA avatar thing really disappointing. ..
Agreed
For me the ABBAtars weren't only disappointing but also just weird as heck...
I have to disagree on Portugal being in the tier of countries that could win ESC in the upcoming years. The tele scores they have gotten have been awful. You tried to twist it into somewhat of a positive, but 13pts this year is just bad, and the results have essentially just gone down on the tele's end every year since 2021 when it comes to the GF. If Portugal can't muster anything that gets casuals to vote for them, they aren't ever gonna come close to winning.
Portugal won in 2017 or have u forgotten 😂
a risky strategy isnt going to pay off every year. realistically only 6 countries in the entire final got decent televote points. I think that Portugal's unique perspective means that they are someone who could be in that top televote tier, whereas some other countries arent remotely close IMO
Bambie Thug was wonderful. It was probably the best performance of the night, the most impressive, creative, original!
Gutted for Norway and Slovenia (won clearly won the mini-battle with Belgium). Georgia came with an Azerbaijan kind of song, while Azerbaijan came with a Georgia kind of song for the second year in a row. I am quite happy that interchangeable bops didn't really perform well, however if the contest is flooded with special songs some will lose out like Norway and Slovenia whilst others stand out such as Ireland and Croatia and Switzerland.
I had this idea that Joost's televote would mostly be based on support from the North and West, while Croatia's support would mostly come from South and East. Unfortunately we couldn't quite test it in the final.
Overall I am glad to see that most people are happy with their own entry in the final and are at peace with the results (except the Dutch)
2:12 are you insane kaarija cannot sing Loreen's song 😂😂😂😂 and vice versa....
About Norway... I am happy that we did send a song in Norwegian. I do think that MGP viewers need to pay less attention to the online hype though. From the start, no one talked about this song outside of the very niche bubble who like Gåte/Norwegian folk. It was to me, an indicator this was not getting those high points. I am sad I was right about it, but in the end, I have to acknowledge that I have a lot of Gåte's music, and this one just did not speak to me. I don't see the last place as something terrible, I just hope it'll be the point of change for NRK.
I'd like to see us try more to figure out why the juries just don't vote much for us since now 2019. I think our copy-paste may need a little bit of tweaking. More upgrades, and more creativity if we can't afford some of the costs of other elements. If we keep going on as we have, artists are going to shy away from MGP again. This being heightened by the year 2024 has been for Eurovision. We have so many great bands and artists like Gåte who do deserve to be on that stage with their music.
Unfortunately I think serious musicians in Norway already shy away from the contest. Esc seems to have low standing when it comes to participation. Stig Karlsen, the head of the Norwegian delegation said in an interview the other day that it is already difficult to recruit people to attend to the contest. To much circus and to little focus on musical quality. Actually I was surprised when I heard that Gåte would participate in Esc. Glad they did, a lot of new fans appeared and discovered this awsome music.😊
I loved the song so much and I didn't know of them at all before Eurovision. It was a stunning performance and I'm so sad it came last. It was in my top 10 🇭🇲
Personally I wasn’t surprised by their result, I found the flinging guitars comical and not matched to the serious vibe of the vocals and didn’t know how to receive it - it looked like they weren’t taking themselves seriously? And the song for me was underwhelming. Just my personal opinion as someone completely unfamiliar with the band 🤷🏻♀️
thanks for all the coverage this year Tom!
Thank you Sir
The Israeli delegation harassing the artists and journalists and the EBU not doing anything to protect the artists was the most disgraceful thing to ever happen in Eurovision history.
48:03 The last year that one of the Big 5 countries was not in the bottom 3 of a final was 2004!!
☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️☠️
@@ESCTom wild stat eh
"anti-booing technology"...... does the EBU still deny using this? We all know it exists, and it's bizarre that people just nod and move on.
they dont deny it, but they dont really talk about it either...
they dont deny it, but they dont really talk about it either...
So chuffed I found this channel. So measured and informative. Also, Tom, you're such a nice guy. Keep up the great work. Looking forward to ESC 2025 as long as they make clear changes as this year was too stressful 😢
Thank you so much 🙏🏻
As a German I can say that we are very happy with this result. But as you already mentioned, our broadcaster will probably change nothing in their system because we got one good result.
i just want them to change that scoring system, it's so flawed
Irish and ukrainian stagings were simply is out of this world. Bravo !
I think Ireland 🇮🇪 will do great in the following years. I mean Bambi and Ailsha were the top 2 in Eurosong this year. Many thought they would cancel each other out
I was looking forward to this video
I hate the chaos that Israel caused this year. So pissed
It wasn't Israel's participants. It was the protesters taking it out on the participants, trying to deny them the chance to shine like any of the other artists.
Ok, so they are born, and they happen to be born in Israel where they have been able to live a more secure life than their ancestors. Now this year's participants were bullied, beeing booked upon and frozen out by fans, other artists and some political activists.
Being frozen out reminds me by the way of my own days in high school but that s another story. I just understand how it must have felt for them. And creds to them for having pulled through such a professional show!
One thing that is often forgotten, when people speak about the Finnish ratio 75% televote and 25% juryvote is, that there are only seven (7) songs competing in the UMK, and they have already been picked by a jury. I think, that Finland could easily go to 100% televote, because the seven entries have already been OKayed by the initial jury among several songs, that we will never hear. I think that the juries exist in the National Final only to add some drama to the end of the show. But I think all the seven entries are already songs, that YLE accepts as the Finnish representative.
Then just go 100% televote, what is the point in having juries if they're not making an impact?
@@adamtideman4953 that's what I would like t o have. And you really didn't get the point. There is a jury, the pre-jury, that has a bigger impact than the public.
There is a jury by YLE, that decides, which seven songs of the hundred or two hundred submissions get to compete in the UMK. If they think, that it is not suitable to represent Finland, it doesn't even reach the UMK, and the public will never see it. Those seven, who make it, are already songs, that YLE has deemed suitable to represent Finland.
Now, at this point I don't think we need even more juries, I think that public should have the say among those seven songs, that the jury has already selected.
Or, why bother to have a public vote at all, the YLE jury could select the song internally, if the public isn't trusted to select even among those seven songs, that made to the UMK?
I’m a 33 year old Brit, who’s watched every Eurovision since ‘97 with my family and now I watch it as a dad with my wife and son. I feel like staging like Olly Alexander’s really narrows down the appeal for the general audience (on top of the song being a bit average). Yes, there is a big crowd from the LGBT community that makes up the Eurovision audience, but come the ESC final on a Saturday night there are a lot of families that are watching and that will make up the main audience on the night. We do want interesting staging that pushes boundaries (see Ireland), but why not aim to make your act as broadly appealing as possible?
Just my opinion. Would be interested to hear any (respectful) thoughts in response.
I do agree Olly's staging/choreo had a negative impact on the result, but I think it would be a pretty boring evening if everyone aimed to be "as broadly appealing as possible"
@@vohol6158you can still have interesting, boundary-pushing staging while having a broad appeal. See Switzerland, Croatia, Ireland and The Netherlands this year.
Also his Live-Vocals narrowed his appeal down to the Tone-Deaf voters. Only 5% of the population is actually Tone-Deaf ...
Do you think they will keep semi finals in Dora for 2025? Also someone high up at HRT already left last year after Let 3 won Dora. After Let 3 were selected, she said they would definitely finish last yet after they qualified for the final, she said she loved their music! It is an example of hypocrisy that exists at the broadcaster certainly
I really want to understand the UK's 0 public votes. My guess is that gay is okay at Eurovision as long as it's funny, gay or campy gay, or cute gay, but not when it's dirty and gritty or sensual/sexual gay. Maybe it was the dry humping that sealed it? I loved the performance and thought it was creative and well executed overall. It was something you'd be more likely to see on Queer as Folk than on the Eurovision stage, but that's what made it stand out and I am very glad they took that risk. I really was expecting something, even five points would have made sense, but null points did leave me scratching my head, and sad.
"female member of the staff" makes it sound like Joost is accused of sexual harrassment or something, which isn't the case so it's weird they would specify the sex. I think it says a lot about how poorly they handled the PR when beloved men are being cancelled left right and center for bad behaviour, yet people still side with Joost on this issue. I can't defend him until we learn more but I find it very unfair for dutch delegation, broadcaster and fans. They could have inserted the semi-final performance (Iceland 2021 style) and then let the delegation receive his points in his place. Punish the person who commits the rule-breaking, not the whole team and country...
Ireland / Bambie Thug was an absolute standout performance not just in 2024 but in Eurovision history. Artistically, theatrically, technically (the candelabra moving up and down creating different optics from above), vocally, and the little details - when the camera focused on Bambie’s eyes through the candles - incredible and a well deserved result.
With Joost out all my votes went to Ukraine. It moved me so much.
Oddly when I saw Nemo’s first rehearsal I thought they were never going to win with that staging and that they’d made a huge mistake. How wrong I was!
Well said about Israel, thank you for speaking out about it, I hope things will be much different next year
Been looking forward to this post all week! Well done Tom as always your coverage is excellent and on point. Being in Malo to cover this year in particular must have felt like running multiple marathons back to back with all the drama and somewhat toxic atmosphere to navigate 🤔 Looking forward to more insights and work towards Switzerland 🇨🇭 🇮🇪☘️