Tag Archives: 2012 Eurovision Song Contest

Australian Voters Agree With Eurovision Winner

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Australia 300x246 Australian Voters Agree With Eurovision WinnerEach year, Australian television viewers of the Eurovision Song Contest are given the chance to vote on the final songs in an unofficial televote. As can be seen from the table below, the Australians agreed with the European top two placings, but there are some distinct differences further down the list:

Sweden 72,186
Russia 55,270
Ireland 50,314
Italy 36,130
Denmark 33,638
Cyprus 27,538
Germany 24,958
Greece 22,328
Ukraine 22,172
Iceland 21,430
Moldova 21,220
Malta 20,878
Turkey 20,402
FYR Macedonia 18,842
Norway 17,694
Serbia 17,160
Lithuania 15,472
Spain 14,164
Romania 13,424
United Kingdom 12,862
France 12,150
Estonia 11,824
Albania 10,902
Azerbaijan 9,400
Bosnia & Herzegovina 8,776
Hungary 7,336

The rest of the official Top 5 were Serbia, Azerbaijan and Albania. The Australians placed these songs 16th, 24th and 23rd respectively, which in most respects, highlights the neighbourly voting that actually took place in the official scoring. By contrast, Ireland, Italy and Denmark replaced those former Eastern Bloc nations, which in the official table fared much worse.

While the majority of countries agreed that Sweden was its favourite on the night, many of the results from the middle of the actual final table sank closer to the bottom in the Australian version. So, does this mean that without the benefit of political/neighbourly alliances, the Australian final table better reflects the final placings of the songs?

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Loreen’s Euphoria Set to Chart in the UK

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Loreen 2010 2 Loreens Euphoria Set to Chart in the UK
Following Sweden’s win at the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest, it appears that the victorious song by Loreen called Euphoria will be charting in the UK come this Sunday.

Euphoria received the full twelve points from the UK in the voting on Saturday, ahead of Ireland’s entry from Jedward called Waterline.

The UK iTunes download chart gives some indication of the popularity of the Swedish song, by currently showing up at Number 10. How this will translate to a placing in the UK midweek chart and Sunday’s full Top 40 rundown is anyone’s guess at the moment. However, things look good for a reasonable placing, once the chart is announced.

Last year’s winner for Azerbaijan, Running Scared, could only manage a peak position of No.61, while the 2010 winning song, Satellite by Lena did not do much better, peaking at a lowly No.30.

Alexander Rybak was the last winner to see some reasonable chart action in the UK, when Fairytale peaked at No.10 following his victory for Norway.

So, what can we expect from Loreen’s song? A Top 10 entry or just another also ran?

Image: By possan (Flickr: DSC_0357) [CC-BY-2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

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Eurovision 2012: Semi-Final 1 Results

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After two hours and the presentation of the eighteen entrants in the first Eurovision semi-final for 2012, here are how the songs fared.

Going to the final are:

The eight countries that did not qualify for Saturday’s final are:

  • Montenegro
  • Latvia
  • Switzerland
  • Belgium
  • Finland
  • Israel
  • San Marino
  • Austria

No real surprises here, although the progression of both Albania and Hungary was something of a turn up for the books. Given the choice, I would have swapped these two for Israel and/or Switzerland and Austria.

Now one set of finalists has been decided and this is the position in which those countries will participate in the final:

  • Hungary (2)
  • Albania (3)
  • Russia (6)
  • Iceland (7)
  • Cyprus (8)
  • Romania (14)
  • Denmark (15)
  • Greece (16)
  • Ireland (23)
  • Moldova (26)

The draw looks good for Moldova, but even more so for twins Jedward, who will be singing the Irish entry at position 23. Having finished eighth last year, could 2012 be their year?

The second semi-final takes place on Thursday, May 24 at 8pm (BST) and will again be broadcast by BBC3 in the UK.

 

 

 

Eurovision 2012 Song Selections Completed

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The final song in the Eurovision national selections was unveiled today as interested observers heard the entry for the United Kingdom for the first time. As many already knew, Engelbert Humperdinck had been selected as the participant, but the song had been kept undercover creating one of the biggest cliffhangers in Eurovision history.

The reveal showed that The Hump will be singing Love Will Set You Free, a song composed by Martin Terefe and Sacha Skarbek, who have been involved with many of today’s major recording artists. Here’s my review of the UK song.

In other news, the San Marino song Facebook Uh Oh Oh has run into trouble with the authorities at the EBU. Product placement in a song is a big no-no, so the small principality will either have to change the lyrics, the song or withdraw by Friday, March 23. Hopefully, we’ll see San Marino in its semi-final in May.

Talking of which, tickets have now gone on sale for Eurovision week beginning May 21. Details of the cost and availability of tickets for each event can be found at the official Eurovision site.

The Head of Delegations are already there as today an official presentation of songs by each was made to the EBU. The delegation leaders also received an update on the preparations for the upcoming Contest, including the arena, the stage, the production, and the hotels. In fact, surprises are promised with the presentation of the stage as it will be like nothing ever seen before.

In the meantime, the Running Order Draw is to take place on March 20 and I’ll have the details here once they become available.

 

 

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Eurovision 2012: The Netherlands and Slovenia Decide

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This evening both The Netherlands and Slovenia chose their representatives for Eurovision 2012.

In The Netherlands, the country’s Song Festival was a pick from six songs, which was eventually whittled down to three for a super final. To be honest, all three songs were not anything special, but leading the way by a small margin after the jury vote was Ivan with the song Take Me As I Am.

However, once the public vote was announced, the Dutch had decided upon a country-style song called You And Me sung by Joan who was wearing a ridiculous Native American outfit topped off with a traditional feathery headdress.


Meanwhile, over in Slovenia, the insanity of its national final was somewhat corrected by the winning song by Eva Boto called Verjamem (I Believe). Ms. Boto was up against just one song in Slovenia’s super final, Konichiwa sung by Nika & Eva Prusnik, who resembled inane Ronald McDonald lookalikes in red clown wigs. If that wasn’t bad enough, the lyrics to this Japanese parody left a lot to be desired.

Thankfully, the Slovenian public saw sense and sent Verjamem to the Final in May, a strong ballad that may do surprisingly well.


Eurovision 2012: Pernilla Karlsson Secures the Finland Ticket

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Tonight Finland chose the country’s representative for Eurovision 2012 in Baku. The final of the Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu UMK (Contest for New Music) took place in the Helsinki Ice Hall and once the votes were counted Pernilla Karlsson singing När jag blundar (When I Close My Eyes) was its song choice.

Six acts qualified from the semi-final with two English language songs, three Finnish language songs and the winner, a Swedish language song. Expect some votes from Sweden to go the way of Finland should the latter qualify for the final.

Finland will present their song in the first half of the first semi-final.


Eurovision: Jeward For Ireland; Austria Decides

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Both Ireland and Austria have now chosen their songs for Eurovision 2012.

In what seemed like a foregone conclusion, Jedward ran away with the voting in Ireland and will represent the country for the second year in a row. This time the twin duo will be singing Waterline, an uptempo pop tune that’s not quite so frantic as Lipstick from last year. With the boys in place to sing in the second half of the first semi-final, bookies are looking to Ireland as one of the favourites to win the competition outright this year.

Jedward Eurovision: Jeward For Ireland; Austria Decides

See the video to Waterline here.

On the other hand, Austria’s choice has polarized the opinions of Eurovision fans. Some love it and some hate it. There’s no grey area here. The country has decided upon the quaintly named duo Trackshittaz and the song Woki mit deim Popo, which loosely translates to Shake Your Ass. If I had to describe the track, it sounds like something the Beastie Boys may have released some years ago: kind of hip-hop, power punk party music. And it looks like they’ll be bringing along some pole dancers to Baku to liven up the party atmosphere. Even with them shaking their collective booties, I don’t see Austria progressing from its semi-final.

See the video to Woki mit deim Popo here.

Next Finland, The Netherlands, Slovenia and Bulgaria decide their songs over the next few days.

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Eurovision 2012: Litesound to Represent Belarus

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In what has become something of a tradition with some ex-Soviet countries, Belarus has pushed aside previous winner Alena Lanskaya in favour of boy band Litesound and the song We Are the Heroes.

This is the second year in a row that Belarus has changed its song. Last year, if memory serves correctly, it was because their song sounded like another. This year, who knows? Could it be that Ms Lanskaya’s English was, how should we put it, sub par and that the song was not that great?

I’m sure that the country’s voting public and jury must feel that this year’s whole voting process was a complete waste of time and money.

Here’s the latest Eurovision entry from Belarus:


Time: Izabo: Is This the Final Version?

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A lot of buzz this week about the leak of the 2012 Eurovision song for Israel called Time by the group Izabo.

While the song was not officially due to be presented until early March, a version landed on YouTube earlier in the week much to the chagrin of the Israeli authorities and the group itself. That video has quickly been withdrawn, but another one has popped up in its place. However, this may not be the official arrangement, although it gives a good idea of what can be expected from the Israeli entry.

Here’s the video that’s presently available, but for how long is obviously unclear. Expect to hear the actual arrangement on March 1st.


Eurovision 2012: Five Nations Choose Songs

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This weekend Europe was busy with eight national Eurovision selection shows. Croatia decided on the song for Nina Badric, while Italy, Latvia and Ukraine chose their respective representative artists and songs. The semi-finals for both Sweden and Estonia also took place. Last, but not least, Georgia will decide upon its song on Sunday the19th.

UKRAINE 2012 FINAL

21 acts competed in the Ukrainian final, which again had its fair share of controversy this year. In the end, the song chosen is Be My Guest sung by Gaitana.

CROATIA 2012 SONG PRESENTATION

The 2012 Dora show celebrated the 20th anniversary of independence for Croatia and featured performances by previous Croatian representatives from the contest. The country’s decision was to send Nina Badric and the song Nebo (Heaven) to Baku in May.

LATVIA 2012 FINAL

Latvia finally decided upon its song for the Baku 2012 Eurovision Song Contest from 10 acts. Its presentation featured various special guests as Latvia is celebrating 10 years since their first and only victory in the ESC. Maria Naumova (Latvia 2002), Musiqq (Latvia 2011), Sinplus (Switzerland 2012), Olga Rajecka and cello trio Da Gamba performed as the votes came in proclaiming Anmary the winner with the song, Beautiful Song.

ITALY 2012 FINAL

The San Remo Festival 2012 once again played host to the selection process for Italy’s representative for Baku 2012. Ell & Nikki had the honour of announcing the Eurovision representative for Italy 2012: Nina Zilli with the song Per Sempre (Forever).

LITHUANIA 2012 SEMIFINAL 3

The third semifinal took place in Lithuania and featured nine acts from which three (2 by jury and 1 by televoting)  proceeded to the final. VIG Roses with Come Back Home, Bekešo Vilkai with Letter By Letter and Monika with Happy joined six other finalists, while a further three acts will be chosen on February 25th to make up the final twelve.

SWEDEN 2012 SEMIFINAL 3

Swedish Television broadcast the third semi-final of Melodifestivalen 2012, one of the leading national selections for Eurovision across Europe. Eight acts fought for a place in the final (Molly Sandén with Why Am I Crying and Björn Ranelid feat. Sara Li with Mirakel (Miracle) winning through) and for a second chance (Youngblood with Youngblood and Andreas Johnson with Lovelight winning the spots).

ESTONIA 2012 SEMIFINAL 1

The Estonian national semi-final kicked off the selection with the first semifinal of Eesti Laul 2012.  Ten acts performed with Pop Maniacs – I Don’t Know, Ott Lepland – Kuula, August Hunt – Tantsulõvi, Liis Lemsalu – Made Up My Mind and Loss Paranoias – Valedetektor making it to the Final.

GEORGIA 2012 FINAL

February 19th sees the Georgian national broadcaster holding the nation’s Eurovision 2012 National Final. It features nine acts and will present guest performances by Eldrine from 2011 and the Junior Eurovision 2011 winner, Candy Group, also from Georgia. You can watch the show here.

Another busy weekend of Eurovision action is about to end with a lot more in the pipeline.