Final Discussion

Well, it was great show I must say. I'm glad Azerbaijan won, I would have liked Hungary to have done a lot better. I think the juries have been a deciding factor this year in the voting, not just in the final but also through their semi final voting. Take for instance, if Norway had have passed, Sweden, Estonia, Iceland, Finland & Denmark would have voted for them when the fact is it's not a very good song. Turkey would have been given some votes based on where it lies geographically. I think this year has been less political in regards to block voting, I mean there is still the whole Balkan block voting for each other. I love how Armenia still gave no points to Azerbaijan, I can't believe this war still goes on. I found myself sating who was getting the votes as they were coming with some countries. I knew Cyprus would give Greece 12 points but this is understandable as the song is the same language and culture. I knew Moldova would give Romania 12 points and vice versa. I'm glad Italy did so well, this will mark a turning point for them and Austria did quite well too so I hope they both stay in the competition for next year in The Land of Fire.

zore_riot wrote:
I really want to see the difference between jury vote and televote now...

Me to, would be interesting to see what country that would have won if it was only televoting!

Swedish wrote:

zore_riot wrote:I'd hate to be in sweden back in 2008

It was worse in 2009 and 2010.
2008 = 18th (Charlotte Perelli - Hero)
2009 = 21th (Malena Ernman - La voix)
2010 = Not in the final (Anna Bergendahl - This is my life)
2011 = 3rd (Eric Saade - Popular)

I was talking about having to listen to Diva Bilan all the time :O
Loved Anna song

I voted for Sweden Azerbaijan were bland...

zore_riot wrote:

Swedish wrote:

zore_riot wrote:I'd hate to be in sweden back in 2008

It was worse in 2009 and 2010.
2008 = 18th (Charlotte Perelli - Hero)
2009 = 21th (Malena Ernman - La voix)
2010 = Not in the final (Anna Bergendahl - This is my life)
2011 = 3rd (Eric Saade - Popular)

I was talking about having to listen to Diva Bilan all the time :O
Loved Anna song

Aha, lol. Dima Bilan was better then Azerbaijan this year.
Azerbaijan was not fair at all. :(

Swedish wrote:

zore_riot wrote:

Swedish wrote:

zore_riot wrote:I'd hate to be in sweden back in 2008

It was worse in 2009 and 2010.
2008 = 18th (Charlotte Perelli - Hero)
2009 = 21th (Malena Ernman - La voix)
2010 = Not in the final (Anna Bergendahl - This is my life)
2011 = 3rd (Eric Saade - Popular)

I was talking about having to listen to Diva Bilan all the time :O
Loved Anna song

Aha, lol. Dima Bilan was better then Azerbaijan this year.
Azerbaijan was not fair at all. :(

But.. that song wasn't the winner, was it?

What?? :o The song by Dima Bilan is the worst winner song ever. he only truly won 'cause of mother Russia neighbours

Swedish wrote:

zore_riot wrote:I'd hate to be in sweden back in 2008

It was worse in 2009 and 2010.
2008 = 18th (Charlotte Perelli - Hero)
2009 = 21th (Malena Ernman - La voix)
2010 = Not in the final (Anna Bergendahl - This is my life)
2011 = 3rd (Eric Saade - Popular)

2009 = Mans Zelmerlow should have won Melodifestivalen.
2010 = Darin should have won Melodifestivalen.
2011 = Danny Saucedo shhould have won Melodifestivalen. [Would have got 12 points from Poland.]

zore_riot wrote:

Swedish wrote:

zore_riot wrote:

Swedish wrote:

zore_riot wrote:I'd hate to be in sweden back in 2008

It was worse in 2009 and 2010.
2008 = 18th (Charlotte Perelli - Hero)
2009 = 21th (Malena Ernman - La voix)
2010 = Not in the final (Anna Bergendahl - This is my life)
2011 = 3rd (Eric Saade - Popular)

I was talking about having to listen to Diva Bilan all the time :O
Loved Anna song

Aha, lol. Dima Bilan was better then Azerbaijan this year.
Azerbaijan was not fair at all. :(

But.. that song wasn't the winner, was it?

What?? :o The song by Dima Bilan is the worst winner song ever. he only truly won 'cause of mother Russia neighbours

I didn't know what I was saying. Ofcourse he was the winner.

I have forget already, what country did come on the last place?

Swedish wrote:

zore_riot wrote:

Swedish wrote:

zore_riot wrote:

Swedish wrote:

zore_riot wrote:I'd hate to be in sweden back in 2008

It was worse in 2009 and 2010.
2008 = 18th (Charlotte Perelli - Hero)
2009 = 21th (Malena Ernman - La voix)
2010 = Not in the final (Anna Bergendahl - This is my life)
2011 = 3rd (Eric Saade - Popular)

I was talking about having to listen to Diva Bilan all the time :O
Loved Anna song

Aha, lol. Dima Bilan was better then Azerbaijan this year.
Azerbaijan was not fair at all. :(

But.. that song wasn't the winner, was it?

What?? :o The song by Dima Bilan is the worst winner song ever. he only truly won 'cause of mother Russia neighbours

I didn't know what I was saying. Ofcourse he was the winner.

I have forget already, what country did come on the last place?

Switzerland I think

Switzerland came last. 8 Countries have already confirmed to take part in Eurovision 2012 in Azerbaijan.
Azaerbaijan, Austria, Belgium, Finland, Germany, The Netherlands, Switzerland & Ukraine. As predicted, Armenia have withdrawn from next years contest as it's being held in Azerbaijan.

Pandora wrote:I voted for Sweden Azerbaijan were bland...

Good done!
This was Swedens best placing since 1999!

Btw.. All votes in the semis, information about who voted at who..
result in semi 1: http://ss11i01.stream.ip-only.net/images/blog/images/entries/89/74/22/872/1882434239792ee8
result in semi 2: http://ss11i01.stream.ip-only.net/images/blog/images/entries/89/74/22/872/fefa1b01fc08a770

esc was such a disappointment for me this year... ok I don't think Azerbaijan had a bad song but they still didn't deserve to win. My faves were Hungary, Ireland , the U.K, and then I also loved Estonia and Spain but they got such bad places
Eric from Sweden was pretty cute but I hated the song...really bad lyrics in my opinion...

Spain always places quite bad actually. Never really understood why because their songs are quite good.

jantzen wrote:Switzerland came last. 8 Countries have already confirmed to take part in Eurovision 2012 in Azerbaijan.
Azaerbaijan, Austria, Belgium, Finland, Germany, The Netherlands, Switzerland & Ukraine. As predicted, Armenia have withdrawn from next years contest as it's being held in Azerbaijan.

99,9% sure that Sweden is going to be in ESC next year to.

From my point of view the best performances were Sweden, Germany and Estonia. These were better than Azerbaijan's song/performance.

Isn't there any publiced "only phonevotes", yet?

Just been looking back over the results .. How the hell did Ukraine manage 4th place? She could barely speak English, maybe it was the sand art.

jantzen wrote:Just been looking back over the results .. How the hell did Ukraine manage 4th place? She could barely speak English, maybe it was the sand art.

Well, you can still win if you aren't so good at english. Also it isn't her native language. But I wonder if that song got points because of the sand art to, wasn't the best song. xD

Azerbaijan - Sings after they won:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7px2vs-HyRQ&feature=player_detailpage#t=245s

Sounds even more horrible there. Maybe understandable.. funny anyhow.

Nikki was terrible in the winners performance. I forgot to mention last night, when Netherlands gave Denmark 12 points, the singer from A Friend in London swore.

jantzen wrote:Nikki was terrible in the winners performance. I forgot to mention last night, when Netherlands gave Denmark 12 points, the singer from A Friend in London swore.

Lol.. got me thinking about a thing.


Was it Poland that had a "votepresenter" that just waited a long time between the points they gave. And even asked the presenters if they could guess what country they would give 12 points to?

Yeah, she was like can you guess who it is, I can't hear you, tell me who you think .... and then said Lithuania!

Was pretty funny.

"JUST SAY WHO GETS THE POINT, AHH" That was what everyone else thinked about her.

TinaCZ wrote:Spain always places quite bad actually. Never really understood why because their songs are quite good.

Lucía didn't do any promo for the song, I mean neither did Raphael for Italy but his song was better. Last year the song wasn't so good plus Daniel did no promo for it. Soraya's song was good and she did promo so I don't know why that didn't do so well.

Georgias song was good, maybe not winning-material but the girl had an great voice.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJ7SGWZt9Zo

Swedish wrote:Georgias song was good, maybe not winning-material but the girl had an great voice.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJ7SGWZt9Zo

Yes I adore Georgia

I think I'm in denial about this victory by Azerbaijan. I mean last year, I didn't like Lena, but everyone else did, So I said "Just let people be happy."

But I'm questioning how Azerbaijan won this year because it seems no one liked them!

Brian Phillip wrote:I think I'm in denial about this victory by Azerbaijan. I mean last year, I didn't like Lena, but everyone else did, So I said "Just let people be happy."

But I'm questioning how Azerbaijan won this year because it seems no one liked them!

I think that Lenas song this year was better then 2010.

We all have different options. ;)

Swedish wrote:

Brian Phillip wrote:I think I'm in denial about this victory by Azerbaijan. I mean last year, I didn't like Lena, but everyone else did, So I said "Just let people be happy."

But I'm questioning how Azerbaijan won this year because it seems no one liked them!

I think that Lenas song this year was better then 2010.

We all have different options. ;)

opinions
I didn't like either of her songs at all

I think her song was better then azerbaijan.

I really want to have the only phonevotes published now. Was that published the last year?

Brian Phillip wrote:I think I'm in denial about this victory by Azerbaijan. I mean last year, I didn't like Lena, but everyone else did, So I said "Just let people be happy."

But I'm questioning how Azerbaijan won this year because it seems no one liked them!

I like surprises it's more funny last year everybody said Lena is favorite and she won, it was so boring

Swedish wrote:I think her song was better then azerbaijan.

I really want to have the only phonevotes published now. Was that published the last year?

So did I, this year I hated Azerbaijan.

Lara wrote:

Brian Phillip wrote:I think I'm in denial about this victory by Azerbaijan. I mean last year, I didn't like Lena, but everyone else did, So I said "Just let people be happy."

But I'm questioning how Azerbaijan won this year because it seems no one liked them!

I like surprises it's more funny last year everybody said Lena is favorite and she won, it was so boring

I agree, regardless of my feelings towards the actual song, but to me this seemed quite that, not fun, but rather funny, because the song, in my opinion, was terrible.

It was a great show (in terms of production) because just like every year there are great entries, OK entries and bad ones! However I was very surprised by the results once again and just like most of you I would not place Azerbaijan in the 1st spot. In my opinion it was a good entry but certainly not a winning entry.

My Top-10 entries/performances in the final would contain (the TOP-2 in no order of preference):

1. Sweden (Great dance song, cool choreography and special effects. Not a fan of Eric Saade but he did a great job and so did the dancers.)
2.Greece (Fantastic song -especially the chorus and the bridge- and an amazing performance by Loucas. This song was so underestimated before. Well done to the Greek delegation. Everyone did their part just perfect, so proud of them!)
3.France (Excellent song, great voice. Deserved so much better but somehow he looked nervous on stage, still that doesn't explain his disappointing 15th place.)
4.Spain (OK I know a lot of people might think of this entry as weak, old-fashioned or whatever but I actually found this girl super cute and beautiful -not to mention she sang and dance very well- plus the whole vibe of this song was so positive, uplifting and summery that I couldn't resist to put it in my top-5. Deserved much better than a near-the-bottom place for sure.)
5.Russia (Cool song and performance + the singer sang very well despite the fact that he had to dance at the same time. Deserved a better place.)
6.Hungary (Kati Wolf's vocals again weren't the best even though she sang better than in the semi-final. Still the performance was rather disappointing. She looked very "separated" from the dancers and the backing vocalists, her english accent was bad -especially in the choruses- and the stage looked very empty. It obviously explains why her position in the scoreboard was so low. I didn't vote for this entry either -even though I was planning to- since I had much better expectations. However it deserved much better than 22nd place. It's a shame.)
7. Austria (Very good song and she gave a great vocal performance but I dont like her hairstyle and the fact that she wasn't as expressive.)
8. Bosnia & Herzegovina (Very cool and refreshing song with an ethnic touch to it.)
9. Azerbaijan (Perhaps that's the place it deserved. Very melodious song and beautiful stage presentation -due to the effects mostly- but seriously not a winner...)
10.Ukraine ( This one also scored much higher than it deserved but one reason for this could be that the whole atmosphere of this song was very moving and the singer was very expressive -unlike the Austrian one-.)

I also liked Estonia, UK, Lithuania and Germany (mostly the performance which was great). As for Slovenia, the girl had a great voice and the song was good but I despised her expressions and the choreography. She was too young to act like a Diva or something.)
As for the rest of the entries they were bearable for the most part except for a couple of them which were unbearable.

Notes:

- UK (with Blue) was kinda disappointing. Their performance was not that special, they didn't seem 100% ready + their screen projections were among the worst of the night. I think 11th place is what they deserved but not with entries such as Georgia's, Ireland's or Italy's above them.
- Italy was so boring compared to most of the entries. It did not deserve such a good place. I would place it somewhere between 18th and 23th place in the final. I guess most people were excited because of Italy's comeback and voted for them because of that, plus the juries must have given them very high points, can't explain it differently. The song was nothing special.
- Germany like I pointed out had a very impressive performance, but the song was so not right for Eurovision. 10th-15th place for Germany.
- Azerbaijan, Italy, Denmark, Ireland, Ukraine and Moldova should have scored much lower than they did whereas France, Hungary, Russia, Estonia, Spain, Austria and Greece should have scored much higher IMO. Additionally Switzerland didn't deserve the last place, Ireland did.

Yes, you have the most right.
Especially Switzerland and Ireland.
Ireland wasn't great at all. (But I was scared because I thought they would win, lucky that didn't happen..)
Switzerland wasn't the best. But absolutely not the last place. I would say something around 5-15th place!

Eurovision is just geopolitical and many countries don't deserve for their positions. That's why I like surprises, cause surprises aren't political. I need to say this year is better than others cause it wasn't really political like before. Many countries break routine and vote for their favourites

Now it's the time to give my full opinion. About the show, I loved it. as I've said lots of times the stage possibilities were enourmous and the screens were amazing.
About the winner, it wasn't my favourite but no one can deny that they deserved it. A nice song helped by a strong, charismatic and very well done performance played late in the show(which is extremely helpful to get points in countries where the contest starts at 20:00). Here's my top, considering last night performance:

12 points - Germany - What can I tell about the song? I love it and it's so nice to see different songs in Eurovision. About the performance: for me, it's the 2nd best performance ever (the 1st is Elena back in 2005). She was sexy, sang quite well, had awesome stage lights and she was the most telegenic singer. The winner for me.

10 points - Georgia - Very good song, very good performance and very good vocals. Only her dress was strange but I really don't care on the performers outfits.

8 points - Estonia - Another good song, with a good performance but not so good vocals. Can't understand how she flopped so hart, I really can't.

7 points - Ireland - Before many people kill me I like the song and I loved the performance. They were electric! There was a moment, when they were in 3rd place, that I was wishing they win.

6 points - Azerbeijan - I've said it all before.

5 points - Sweden - The guy sang, the guy danced and the song is very good. If he had another voice, this would win.

4 points - Greece - This song without the rap would be my choosen winner. I don't know how I haven't noticed this song before. Maybe I was still in the "Nikki should have won!" mode but the greek team did a very good job (they always do).

3 points - Denmark - If this was a ranking based in the mp3 of the song, this would be much higher. The performance was kind of a letdown. Anyway, it deserves to be in my top 10

2 points - Austria - The stage looked lovely and her singing was the best of the night.

1 point - Spain - It was funny and well delivered. Did not deserve that awful place

No Eurovision Fast Lap Over The Nordschleife Contest in 2012.

At least if Azerbaijan don't make a miracle and bring the whole Nürburgring as scenery

Nick Markakis wrote:No Eurovision Fast Lap Over The Nordschleife Contest in 2012.

At least if Azerbaijan don't make a miracle and bring the whole Nürburgring as scenery

Germany did really good with the scene. And all the things around.
If you watched it in HD = Amazing!

Swedish wrote:Yes, you have the most right.
Especially Switzerland and Ireland.
Ireland wasn't great at all. (But I was scared because I thought they would win, lucky that didn't happen..)
Switzerland wasn't the best. But absolutely not the last place. I would say something around 5-15th place!

Well said. Well 5th place is a little too high for a song that goes "nana nana nana" all the time but around 15th place would be fair because the tune was nice and the singer was beautiful. I was also scared of Ireland winning but thankfully they didn't make it in the top-5!!

@ Tiago: Good review! In the end of the day its person has his/her own favourites so no matter how the scoreboard will end up looking like, no person will be 100% satisfied by it. But for the most part your favourite entries (apart from Ireland) were all very refreshing with some modern and up-to-date tunes though not necessarily my favourite ones!
I very much agree on your review on Lena's performance. It was fantastic indeed though I found the song so unsuitable for a Eurovision competition.

I think Iceland's song was pretty decent. I love the story behind the whole song and the lyrics are so apt, it was very touching seeing it being performed.

jantzen wrote:I think Iceland's song was pretty decent. I love the story behind the whole song and the lyrics are so apt, it was very touching seeing it being performed.

I agree. My grandma voted for Iceland

Swedish wrote:

Germany did really good with the scene. And all the things around.
If you watched it in HD = Amazing!

i was so impressed by the show. i was just sitting there and couldn't believe what they have created. i LOVED the HUGE stage, the LED!!! GREAT! I hope we will see more shows like this in the future, although i guess it costs a hell... and I loved stefan raab's satellite performance. so cool! that guy starts to become a legend.

Derek wrote:
I very much agree on your review on Lena's performance. It was fantastic indeed though I found the song so unsuitable for a Eurovision competition.

that's what I loved about it! I'm sick of these entries who are suitable for eurovision, to be honest! lena's song and performance made this years contest really a bit more international/professional. the whole show felt more like a grammy show or vma show etc than eurovision to me! that's what i always have been waiting for, that eurovision gets out of the pop-trash-scene into a more serious music business, which is cool to watch and no one feels ashamed of to watch! I mean, how many people from western countries you wanna talk to about eurovision to, will stare at you like at an alien, sayin "i don't watch that crap! do you seriously think i would watch this?"

and I really can't stand lena, but this song was just very modern and to me an amazing entry to eurovision. to me, the music video for taken by a stranger is the best music video i have ever seen.

for the same reason as mentioned above i didn't want Azerbaijan to win - it was a step back into the typical-esc thing, and next years contest will for sure be full again of songs like this - light pop songs, which will make many people turn their backs to esc again. I'm especially sad as Azerbaijan had so many fabulous entries in the last years - it was their 4th year,: after 3 amazing entries, which all could have won and would have been deserved winners, this song was nothing and they won with this one. it's also such a pity, i don't even wanna think of AySel and Arash with "always", which would have been such a deserved winner! "always" was quite "eurovision", but still something more serious to me and something which a lot of people would have loved to be played on the radio.

Aysel and Arash and a small huge problem called Fairytale

And I agree about the ESC image in western countries, although it's usually the most seen show that night.

Kypris Athina wrote:

Derek wrote:
I very much agree on your review on Lena's performance. It was fantastic indeed though I found the song so unsuitable for a Eurovision competition.

that's what I loved about it! I'm sick of these entries who are suitable for eurovision, to be honest! lena's song and performance made this years contest really a bit more international/professional. the whole show felt more like a grammy show or vma show etc than eurovision to me! that's what i always have been waiting for, that eurovision gets out of the pop-trash-scene into a more serious music business, which is cool to watch and no one feels ashamed of to watch! I mean, how many people from western countries you wanna talk to about eurovision to, will stare at you like at an alien, sayin "i don't watch that crap! do you seriously think i would watch this?"

and I really can't stand lena, but this song was just very modern and to me an amazing entry to eurovision. to me, the music video for taken by a stranger is the best music video i have ever seen.

for the same reason as mentioned above i didn't want Azerbaijan to win - it was a step back into the typical-esc thing, and next years contest will for sure be full again of songs like this - light pop songs, which will make many people turn their backs to esc again. I'm especially sad as Azerbaijan had so many fabulous entries in the last years - it was their 4th year,: after 3 amazing entries, which all could have won and would have been deserved winners, this song was nothing and they won with this one. it's also such a pity, i don't even wanna think of AySel and Arash with "always", which would have been such a deserved winner! "always" was quite "eurovision", but still something more serious to me and something which a lot of people would have loved to be played on the radio.

Good points there Reb (especially concerning Eurovision's lack of popularity in the Western countries, the mediocre quality of a lot of songs/entries, the un-professionalist approach of some countries, etc...)
But as for Germany's song I wasn't saying that since it's a stand out song and not common for Eurovision it should fail but the fact that it's so uncommon and different for Eurovision, -in my ears at least- it sounded very strange and almost like a dull moment in that 3+ hours-show. The performance was fantastic but music-wise I like to listen to stronger entries in Eurovision even when they are different (e.g. France).

Poland voting ESC 2011:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=Ohbyv3p_yeY#t=193s

Kypris Athina wrote:

Derek wrote:
I very much agree on your review on Lena's performance. It was fantastic indeed though I found the song so unsuitable for a Eurovision competition.

that's what I loved about it! I'm sick of these entries who are suitable for eurovision, to be honest! lena's song and performance made this years contest really a bit more international/professional. the whole show felt more like a grammy show or vma show etc than eurovision to me! that's what i always have been waiting for, that eurovision gets out of the pop-trash-scene into a more serious music business, which is cool to watch and no one feels ashamed of to watch! I mean, how many people from western countries you wanna talk to about eurovision to, will stare at you like at an alien, sayin "i don't watch that crap! do you seriously think i would watch this?"

and I really can't stand lena, but this song was just very modern and to me an amazing entry to eurovision. to me, the music video for taken by a stranger is the best music video i have ever seen.

I agree with every single word and it isn't only "west" opinion, we and many others countries think the same

Swedish wrote:Poland voting ESC 2011:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=Ohbyv3p_yeY#t=193s

Is really important to you?

Kypris Athina wrote:

Swedish wrote:

Germany did really good with the scene. And all the things around.
If you watched it in HD = Amazing!

i was so impressed by the show. i was just sitting there and couldn't believe what they have created. i LOVED the HUGE stage, the LED!!! GREAT! I hope we will see more shows like this in the future, although i guess it costs a hell... and I loved stefan raab's satellite performance. so cool! that guy starts to become a legend.

Derek wrote:
I very much agree on your review on Lena's performance. It was fantastic indeed though I found the song so unsuitable for a Eurovision competition.

that's what I loved about it! I'm sick of these entries who are suitable for eurovision, to be honest! lena's song and performance made this years contest really a bit more international/professional. the whole show felt more like a grammy show or vma show etc than eurovision to me! that's what i always have been waiting for, that eurovision gets out of the pop-trash-scene into a more serious music business, which is cool to watch and no one feels ashamed of to watch! I mean, how many people from western countries you wanna talk to about eurovision to, will stare at you like at an alien, sayin "i don't watch that crap! do you seriously think i would watch this?"

and I really can't stand lena, but this song was just very modern and to me an amazing entry to eurovision. to me, the music video for taken by a stranger is the best music video i have ever seen.

for the same reason as mentioned above i didn't want Azerbaijan to win - it was a step back into the typical-esc thing, and next years contest will for sure be full again of songs like this - light pop songs, which will make many people turn their backs to esc again. I'm especially sad as Azerbaijan had so many fabulous entries in the last years - it was their 4th year,: after 3 amazing entries, which all could have won and would have been deserved winners, this song was nothing and they won with this one. it's also such a pity, i don't even wanna think of AySel and Arash with "always", which would have been such a deserved winner! "always" was quite "eurovision", but still something more serious to me and something which a lot of people would have loved to be played on the radio.

Absolutely! I loved Takn By A Stranger (it made me a fan of Lena)

I saw nothing special in that performance of her. Don't know what did you see that it should be soooo great
She was damn hot but that's all.

Akos Kirsch wrote:I saw nothing special in that performance of her. Don't know what did you see that it should be soooo great
She was damn hot but that's all.

For me, this is going to sound REALLY stupid, but I'll say it anyway.

I always associate Satellite was the 2010 series of Doctor Who, because I heard it around the time DW was on and the lyrics kind of fit. When I first heard TBAS, it seemed to fit with the current series which is a lot darker, so I immediately liked it. Obviously that isn't the only reason for me liking it (it's very to my taste), but it certainly increase my interest

And yes, she was gorgeous in the performance, and the video is amazing too.