AMERICAN REACTS to What is EUROVISION?? (EUROVISION EXPLAINED)

[@Julia-ez6ij]

It might seem annoying that the big five qualify automatically but honestly it's just a big disadvantage cause their songs are only heard in the finale. It's got to be very good to stick and actually perform well. That's why they often come either last or end very high. Also without them a lot of countries would have to quit due to costs and then there would be no eurovision at all. So really I don't feel like most europeans mind them quallifying automatically

[@Nikki-rx8ri]

Besides that it also makes sure that countries who can't contribute a lot still get to be in there

[@PalpatinesPlumber]

Well how is Italy there though? A lot of countries are sending billions to them because they''re doing poor economically, the farrik is that then..

[@hurlemoi]

@@PalpatinesPlumber what countires are sending "billions" to Italy? Italy has quite some debts, yes, but it still is a G7 country and a net contributor to the EU

[@Spike-xv1ts]

@@PalpatinesPlumber u sure ur not mixing up italy and greece here?

[@kekkewezel4615]

@@Spike-xv1ts no, they’re in a lot of debt and for all I know the politics are a bit of a mess

[@skyb4297]

Hi! I mean, he explained basic things right, but he got a few things wrong: - no one really wants to deliberately suck to lose, everyone wants to present their song to the best of their abilities. Many artist have also said that it’s an honor to represent their country. You don’t really want to make a fool of yourself on purpose in front of 180+ million viewers and potentially ruin your career. - “troll” acts were mostly popular in the 2000s or early 2010s (most of the examples he mentioned are from that era), nowadays you don’t see them that much and music is much more diverse. - it is not an obligation to host, if you win, but you get the first choice. Usually the winner is the host, but, in case a country could not afford to host, then most likely they would either co-host with another country or one of the big 5 would step in. This also applies, if Australia won (it almost happened in 2016, they came 2nd). The contest would stay in the Europe, but Australia would co-host with one of the big 5 countries (so even, if hypothetically US would enter and win, the contest would not move to US. But that will not happen, since Americans are getting your own Eurovision next year :) - It's not true that jury came back in 2016. Jury was (almost) always around to vote, the votes were just combined with televote, but in 2016 the votes started to get split, so now every country gets 2 sets of points, one from viewers and one from jury; it makes for a reallllly interesting and intense voting process, this year was nuts LOL. - yes, neighbouring countries tend to vote for each other, but in my opinion that might be more because they have similar culture, share a language or artist is already established musician in that area. In the end, you can only win, if you manage to get most of the Europe on board, not just a few "politically aligned" countries.

[@Julia-ez6ij]

Yes I also feel like even tho countries do vote for friends and neighbours the good songs will get votes anyways fro mn all over europe. Like this year even tho countries voted as politically as always France and Switzerlanf were clearly the ones who got the most jury votes

[@ChrisEchoes]

Yep, the whole “political” voting issue is really only bandied about by those whom I think don’t really grasp the way the general public thinks or how the jury voting works. The only real political vote you see is the Greece / Cyprus thing where they give each other 12 points. They are the laughing stock of Eurovision but basically their votes cancel each other out and all other countries know that the maximum points they get from these countries is possibly 10. The fact certain countries vote for each other is by and large based on cultural background. And a winning song can only really win these days when it has resonated beyond its own cultural “bubble” and has gathered major points all across Europe (like Italy did this year).

[@evakmohns5363]

yes to all of this, I eally hate when people complain it's too political... like come on, use your brain a little bit...

[@nachocura]

The only real political vote issue is between Armenia and Azerbaijan. They never ever vote for each other due to the continuing conflict between the two countries over the region of Nagorno-Karabakh.

[@alftuvik3820]

If the winner can't or doesn't want to host, it wouldn't necessarily be one of the big 5 who steps in to host, the last time it happened when Israel won in 1979, they offered it to the runner up and then the third place but they declined too and Netherlands ended up hosting. What would most likely happen if the winner declines in the future unless they offer it to the runner up and go down the list is that they would open a bidding process similar to how they pick hosts for international sports tournaments.

[@henriettethoresenbreen4421]

Multiple of the "troll" entries he listed were not trolls. Hard rock hallelujah is still insanely popular. That one with difficult singing was divisive, but that doesn’t matter with televotes were everyone votes for their favourites. The jury however rate the songs. Saying the jury votes are the less political ones is actually kind of weird yes they care more about vocal ability, but they’re also more likely to rate a song they like lower because their names and individual voting is public. Everyone loved the Russian grandmas. They were cute and I don’t remember the backstory, but it was great.

[@chiaravadala896]

Exactly

[@sabinafiorentini3298]

I voted russian grandmaaaa

[@domiiinik99]

Russian grandmas thanks to this 2nd place raised enough money to renovate old church in their village, so it was really cool

[@EmVee.]

The Russian grandmas were cute but for a 2nd place? no way. Thank god we had queen Loreen haha

[@domiiinik99]

@@EmVee. Well, 2012 for me was one of the weakest years lately, in my private ranking they were 3rd, after Loreen and Anggun, so I think that tells everything

[@hfjvilu962]

About Norway having a song in Swahili 1. It was in English with parts in Swahili 2. The singer is Kenyan-Norwegian and wanted to honor her heritage

[@head_inthestars]

Like Netherlands this year, the song was cool and has a great message to it but they finished so low, I still can't understand why.

[@the11382]

@@head_inthestars To me, it sounded like the public judged "Yu no man broko mi" to be bad english instead of a different language. Although sometimes language is more of a political decision.

[@alftuvik3820]

@@the11382 I get the impression that most people got the message thanks to the translation being on the screen behind them, but when you first hear "broccoli" you can't unhear it, which is unfortunate.

[@onomatopoetisk]

…and definitely not a troll song.

[@linn5553]

You should watch "Peace Peace Love Love" It's a song where they jokingly "explain" Eurovision!!

[@hfjvilu962]

YES

[@vernickicrafts]

Definitely yes!

[@SailorYuki]

The opening number is better att explaining that. Love love, peace peace is more what a winning song is.

[@mel_ooo]

i don't think people vote for bad entries to maximise the chances of their own country winning, people vote for the performances they enjoyed the most. for example in germany it costs money to vote (idk about other countries) so i'm not gonna waste that on someone i didn't like. the act that ends up winning is always well beloved by a lot of people. just look at this year's winner maneskin, they got over 300 points, i think that's like 8 per country or something, and everyone is still absolutely obsessed with them and their music. and i definitely loved the russian grandmas haha

[@han-oq6bo]

The two countries I've watched Eurovision in charge. Spain is really expensive, however the uk is super cheap. I guess because the bbc is not allowed to profit.

[@hfjvilu962]

It costs money in my country as well, and I know it costs money in the UK too, so I think it does all over

[@han-oq6bo]

@@hfjvilu962 oh it costs money in the uk, but compared to Spain it is nothing. 20 votes in Spain = €20+. In uk less than £5. One is not like the other. It's why i never pity vote for my dad's country, but when I was in his country i pity voted for my home country.

[@TobiasMohr91]

In germany it costs to... 20 cent's for Text Vote via SMS and 14 cents I think if you call via landline.

[@auqua6477]

It cost to vote in Sweden as well, but the profit goes to charity if I remember right.

[@annashevchenko6416]

I feel a bit offended for russia's entry "Buranovskie babushki", I mean those grandmothers baking bread on stage. It wasn't bad at all! they were brilliant! just wach and see Eurovision is a lot to watch but you can start with this year's favourites, like switzerland, france, ukraine, iceland and more

[@han-oq6bo]

The big 5 make it possible for smaller and poorer countries can enter. They also have the most viewers. One year before the big 5 Germany failed to qualify and Eurovision lost millions of viewers. It is a tv show after all.

[@PalpatinesPlumber]

Well how is Italy there though? A lot of countries are sending billions to them because they''re doing poor economically, the farrik is that then..

[@ivanmase99]

​@@PalpatinesPlumber what the hell are you talking about? Italy pays their share just like the other Big 4, much more than other smaller countries which is why it's included in the Big 5. "A lot of countries are sending billions to them because they''re doing poor economically"... dafuq? Who is sending money to Italy? What are you even tlaking about XD Moreover, RAI is a public-private company, it's not the Republic of Italy who pays directly.

[@sexysadie2901]

@@PalpatinesPlumber You know it's not the countries competing, but the public broadcasters, right?

[@EmVee.]

so 2 things Geography Now is really wrong about are - Countries do want to win, yes it cost a lot of money to host but it also brings thousands of tourists to the country which is very beneficial for hotels, restaurants and etc. + you pay money to even join the contest so it would be kinda werid to send bad songs on purpose. - The big 5 doesn't send bad songs to make up for being pre-qualified. The thing that because they are already in the final it causes them to have a different vision of what entry they want to send. as semi finalist they also need to make sure if they can qualify with the entry want to send. the big 5 also has disadvantage. the audience will hear their entry 1 time while the others are being performed twice (if they qualify). They pay the most so smaller countries can also compete with a lower participation money. - The clip of the UK entry that nobody voted for was btw not during the semi final system Sorry if my English sucks but I am Dutch so lol haha

[@sexysadie2901]

Some countries DON'T want to win.

[@k.v.7681]

Middling countries benefit from tourism influx. For bigger countries it's a net loss. France or the UK don't care about bringing in more tourists, they're full at all times. It would just be spending money to change the tourists, not bring more in. Small countries can't host because they don't have the capital or infrastructure to gain anything. Middling countries tend to have that, but a lack of tourism and can gain a bit. But that's it.

[@chezzlefy3273]

First things first, as a Finn I can say Lordi was an ICON. Second, I don't understand how this jury vote bullcrap has started, since this year clearly showed how political JURY VOTE is. And they usually go for the most polished and generic acts. Europeans hate jury votes with passion and that is the only time during voting that we are NOT at war /j. This was pretty cynic take on Eurovision but got the basics right. Also I don't know if it was the quorantine or what but this year was really hard! There were so many amazing acts!

[@im.joeyb.]

Without juries we'd have the 2000s all over again. We don't need it.

[@SK-nw4ig]

Also "political" means different in Europe than in the U.S.

[@Sophie-iq2tw]

WATCH "LOVE LOVE PEACE PEACE" it's the best interval act ever. it's a song that explains how to make a successful eurovision song

[@albamateosromero4058]

The "pink girl" who falls while dancing at 10:35 ... It was choreographed, it wasn't a mistake. Spain was A COMPLETE TROLL that year and we are so proud of that. Every Spaniard know that song (el chiquichiqui) because it's so much fun

[@ErikDaVinci]

Most troll acts are for real big famous and popular comedians in their own countries. Same for Spain that year, right? It is either that or being a host for the event for comedians to have a chance to use ESC as an international platform. Like Petra Mede or Filomena Cautela. :-)

[@albamateosromero4058]

@@ErikDaVinci yeah, something like that. A famous comedian here (Buenafuente) said that he would get a totally bizarre song brought to eurovision that year... And he made it HAHAHAHA The singer is a good friend of that comedian. At the beginning, the song made fun about politicians and famous people from Spain but they changed it because of the Eurovision's rules

[@sexysadie2901]

And no Spanish artist finished in a better position since then.

[@albamateosromero4058]

@@sexysadie2901 so sad, so true HAHAHAHA

[@luciar4167]

Just to clarify in minute 10:37 Spanish enter was a comedian not even a singer , the dancer who "falls" didn`t really fall , it was staged , she´s a really famous comedian too.

[@pearlascent9981]

You should react to all Eurovision winners each year. That would be cool.

[@chiaravadala896]

Yes

[@yovelzim]

He already did

[@katrinemyra2678]

Just here to say that Norway did NOT submit a song in Swahili, as like a joke; the song is about the grandmother of the artist (Stella Mwangi), who speaks Swahili. It's just the refrain, where she quotes her. African-Norwegian people are a thing. Nothing against you, to be clear, you've done nothing wrong, just putting it out there. :) Love the video!

[@logi-a]

Russia has sent in a few “trolls” but the thing is most of the time they aren’t trolling. Ike Russia 2012 (the grandmas), I’m pretty sure Russia took that song seriously.

[@onomatopoetisk]

Yes, I think so too!

[@solianis]

we did haha. I mean, for the public, of course, it was pure fun and pride in these cuties, but our producers who choose singers to send to ESC took grannies entry 100% serious

[@MyNameHandle]

The trolling songs aren't as usual anymore, it was more of a 2000s thing. Most countries take it kinda serious nowadays thou you still have those troll moments from time to time.

[@isladeldramatrent]

Eurovision in the last years have become a really good contest, everyone take it seriously right now, this year for example was a really good year

[@t.sebastiao9824]

The "voting for the worst to try and win" usually doesn't happen. The juries want to vote for songs they think are objectively good because their voting kinda follows them around (they have a reputation to upkeep). Televoters just vote for who they like best. However it does happen sometimes (ex. Bulgarian juries in 2017 voted for countries with no chance of winning because they knew Bulgaria could win, so they didn't even vote for any of the top 5 iirc. Didn't work because Portugal won and they came second)

[@chiaravadala896]

I don’t think that the countries participating in the Eurovision Song Contest are still sending bad entries, I think that the entries of the past couple of years have all been great songs, not everyone that deserved to be in the top 10, but still not garbage trying purposely not to win. At least this is my opinion

[@andrepersson8265]

Germany 2021 were not trying to win 😅

[@LB-ih7hn]

I agree

[@mitchietorres_stan]

spain sends halfprepared songs and performances to avoid having to host the contest the next year

[@sexysadie2901]

Spain does send crap.

[@jacklovejoy5290]

Spain, Germany and The UK still send shit

[@mihaifogoros1783]

Flo Rida singing for Macadonia it's the best thing I've heard in a week.

[@thelocaldiva]

He sang for San Marino, not Macedonia

[@head_inthestars]

Fr

[@BB-vj1ne]

The politic part is not entirelly truth. Yes Greece gives Cyprus a lot of times 12 and Sweden to Norway and so on ...but...that is not enough to win the contest because you need the other 38 countries to vote for you.That point changing sometimes its not enough to make it out of the semi finals and the jury sistem which was brouth back is balancing the contest well. Also if a song is just good, the performance, the vocals are good, the package works then people will vote for you no matter from where you are...Think about it, Conchita Wurst the drague queen who won the contest recieved 8 points from Ukraine...you heard it right Ukraine. That means the 3rd most voted song in Ukraine was the drag queen song. So eastern Europe is not that old fashioned minded after all. Or lets see Russia...he has a lot of friends still they won just one time till now. And when im saying he has a lot of countries where people are friendly to Russia im saying more than 20 countries. But Eurovision doesnt work like that. In recent years people are voting for the song, the performance and not the country. This is how Portugal, The Netherlands or even Israel won. These 3 countries had many bad results and still when they had the right song they won. O yes and trolls are much less nowdays because artists and countries understood that Eurovision is a huge oportunity to make it worldwide to promote an artist, a country. So that is why that even big names like Bonnie Tyler, Cascada and this year Flo Rida was on it. If you are ,,just'' the invited artist who performs when the voting are taking place is also a huge deal. That is why Justin Timberlake, Madonna came to Eurovision. They understood that they should take part on a event where 200 million people tun in from over 50 countries...So this explaining is a little bit of and it shows that the explainer himself does not understand fully the competition. But it is an ok start.

[@eternitygrey4532]

PLS react to the televoting results from eurovision 2021 grand final

[@argiromarioli4917]

i think people like the grandmas because it reminded them of their grandmas. especially the balkanic countries and turkey and greece the look was very similar to folk atire and grandmas make bread type sweets all over those places. it felt sweet and familiar i guess. also look at them they are adorable.

[@Julia-ez6ij]

Awesome video. Could you react to Duncan Laurence, Arcade. He won esc in 2019

[@engblake]

you should check eurovision more, it' really enjoyable

[@dandelan]

It's true there are truly terrible entries (of which some became winners), but there are also many, many, many magnificent entries (of which some became winners). There are classics in both categories and a lot of Eurovision fans can love both equally in different ways... And I guess that's exactly the point of the whole thing.

[@forslinthegamer]

I am so happy that i found an american reacting to eurovision who is open to other kinds of culture than its own and does not think something is weird or bad just because its not what they are normaly used to.

[@melindamuller4466]

So the grandmas went in to get enough money to renovate their towns church, that's one reason everyone voted for them.

[@billybscotland7246]

Worth noting that there’s talks for Eurovision to do an American song contest next year, NBC apparently have now been awarded the broadcasting rights.

[@JenniTaalikka]

Please react to Hard Rock Hallelujah by Lordi and preferably Eurovision stage/live performance NOT music video

[@anjalazic9377]

12:43 that was best performance on Eurovision ever and you can't change my mind

[@ElainaArcher4]

Hehehe Wait until you hear the wining song.

[@a_l_b_a]

10:37 "awww poor girl" that was kinda funny to me cause as a spaniard i know that she's a popular comedian and that she fell on purpose 😅

[@sussie5463]

YES! The trolls aren't always trolls but just a fun contribution and they legit won in their country because people just wanted fun. I see no wrong in that. Usually the more serious ones wins though. There aren't that many fun contributions any more tbh. This year maybe.... Germany? People seemed to hate it but I actually thought it was kind of funny. I wouldn't vote for it but you need songs like that too IMO.

[@alftuvik3820]

I miss the trolls too, but at the same time I'm really glad the music is getting better and countries seem to take it more serious each year.

[@mytunared8951]

Funny he mentioned America getting involved, there is actually going to be an American version of eurovision. The contract is already signed with NBC and I'm excited to see how it will turn out! 😀

[@emeraldsroses0524]

The Big 5 are the five biggest financial contributors to the Eurovision Song Contest. If the EBU/ESC were to drop that, who would contribute financially? Part of the funding does come from the EBU so the contest can take place. The rest is for the hosting nation, host city and ticket sales. Some countries fund it heavily so ticket prices aren’t too bad while others give little funding and then the prices are quite high. From the Big 5, usually Italy does the best and ends in the top 10 with the exception of 2014 and 2016. The other countries are a bit hit and miss. Until this year, only Germany managed a win in 2010. Thankfully, Italy finally won after years of being given low votes fro the juries for many years. Italy have almost always been a fan favourite, so they generally get quite a good number of high votes in the televote. One other thing to note: if Australia were to ever win, they cannot host the contest in Australia. They can co-host with another ESC nation of their choice. Finally, the troll entries are the best thing about the ESC. You cannot have a serious contest these days without a troll entry. And they usually end up the entries fans love most, but will hardly ever win. They’ve been there in every decade for the fun factor, but became more iconic from the early 2000s. We need them 😂

[@chiaravadala896]

HOW THE EUROVISION WORKS: Each country has its own contest or something to choose which singer/band will represent their country at the Eurovision. Every singer is already famous in their own country and has also a label(I think). The song chosen to represent the country must be an original. Each year the Eurovision is hosted by the country that won the year before. There are two semifinals where all the countries perform: in each one 10 countries out of 16-17 get to the final. The 20 countries that goes to the final were chosen by a televoting system. Apart from those 20 countries, there are 6 countries that each year go straight to the final without having to perform at the semifinals. These countries are the Big5 (France, Spain, Italy, UK, Germany) which are the countries that help more financially and the last one is the country that won the year before. At the final 26 countries perform on stage. At the end of the performances, there is voting system. Every country has its own jury made especially for the Eurovision (or at least I think so, I’m not sure how the juries work). The juries’ vote is only 50% of the final voting. Each country’s jury has a certain number of votes to give: they choose the top ten countries they want to give points to and the first one gets 12 points following by the others that each get 10, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. The public vote holds the other 50% of the voting. People can’t vote for their own country. In the semifinals only the public could vote, except from the people from the Big5 or the country that won the year before. People can televote sending a message, with the number of the country they want to give their vote to, from their phone to the Eurovision number or using the Eurovision app. In the final every country that participates in the contest votes, even the ones that didn’t pass the semifinal. In total there are 39 juries (or so) that give their votes in the final. People from all 39 countries can vote more the once (I don’t really know how many times they can vote) in the final but can not vote for their own country. Before the final voting announcement, they give the public and the juries some time to establish their votes. At the end they announce the final votes. They announce the juries’ votes first and then they go to the public voting. (I’m not sure but I think that each country’s population has a top 10 countries voted the most between people and those 10 countries get the same points as the juries give: from 12 to 1) The country that wins the Eurovision is the one with the most points. P.S. I hope that you can understand what I wrote and I don’t know if what I wrote is a 100% right.

[@ChrisEchoes]

Not every singer / act is famous in their own country. In case of the Netherlands 2019 winner Duncan Laurence was only known because he took part in The Voice a few years earlier but then he “disappeared” to hone is craft more. He did however keep in touch with his Voice coach (who is a big star here and who was the leading force behind The Common Linnets who came second at the ESC a few years earlier) and with whom he shared a Dropbox account to get feedback from her on stuff he was working on. One day he posted the song Arcade and she immediately responded with her asking if she could sent it the Dutch ESC committee. When eventually he was announced as our entry (the song would be unveiled months later) there was quite a bit of “noise” about him being a total unknown but she saw it right. Also this years entry wasn’t an established artist although a bit more known then Duncan. So the process is different from country to country. I am glad we don’t have national finals because we had those for years and we sent dismal acts. Our general public’s taste isn’t that great to be honest.

[@chiaravadala896]

@@ChrisEchoes oh my bad, I don't really know how it works in other countries that are not Italy, so thank you for clarifying!

[@FuryWings27]

Actually, America is getting their own Eurovision. NBC has bought the rights from EBU (European broadcasting union) and hired the guy who has been running the Swedish contest that serves as a qualification for Eurovision. It’s going to be like the mix of the Swedish qualification and Eurovision. All the states, plus five territories and DC are going to enter. They’re hoping it will serve as a uniting event, just like it did in Europe post-WW2.

[@melindamuller4466]

I would deny it being "just" politics, but it's at least much more likely that "allied" countries give each other some of the lower points, or if given the choice between multiple great entries, the ones "allied" will be preferred for the twelve points.

[@usernamemaybe]

Rona Nishliu from Albania💖a freaking great singer, a killer performance

[@biancawichard2421]

the fun thing only competing in the final is a big disadvantage cause the audience only hear your song once and other songs are already known, in 2021 4 of the 6 countries straight to the final got 0 points from the public televoting

[@SK-nw4ig]

Good point.

[@eric6439]

Now you should totally react to "Peace Peace Love Love" by Petra Mede and Mans Zemerlow during hosting Eurovision in Sweden few years ago, to explain the winning formula of Eurovision haha

[@mikmak5551]

I think every European kid has a few years of thinking "how the heck can you not know what Eurovision is? IT'S EVERY SINGLE YEAR!"

[@jezaleon3719]

nah nah russian grammas were 2nd bc even if it was weird af it was amazing and memorable. I remember that year fucking iconic xD

[@ElainaArcher4]

Yeah and the winning song Euphoria was Legendary.

[@Jacyl]

Ok, the girl who fell in the Spanish act was on purpose. I'm going to tell you the story of how they decided to never let the people in Spain vote to choose who goes to Eurovision. One year they thought it was a good idea to open it to everyone, people in their homes could send a song and vote online and the winner would go to Eurovision. The thing is... this is Spain and we love to laugh. Anyway a group of comedians decided to make a joke entry 100% believing they wouldn't win (they also forgot this is Spain), so obviously everyone voted for them. The professional jury was furious because this was supposed to be serious! But they couldn't change the rules now so the comedians went to Eurovision. And that was the one and only time they let us vote for our entry

[@erics607]

I love how Davina Michelle was the best act at Eurovision one year, and she wasn't even part of the contest. Her song/video Sweet Water was just a part of intermission, and it was literally one of the coolest videos I've ever seen.

[@hfjvilu962]

You should react to all winners or like Iconic moments/songs

[@thejoeyjason]

More Eurovision reacts and you might suddenly be become a Eurofan.

[@espnoberg6130]

I would recommend reacting to “what is Eurovision” that has one man and one woman standing on a stage in the beginning and is created by Eurovision. It has dancers dressed in black on the thumbnail.

[@emkayjee]

Still waiting for the "Reacting to all winners of Eurovision" Video :))

[@hidudidu]

I so wish you would have a link for the original video... :(

[@miv3518]

Please react to Alexander Rybak- fairytale, he won in 2009

[@raffaelae1020]

Flo Rida was there for San Marino. But Celine Dion got her big break thanks to Eurovision.

[@Elanchana]

Lemme clear something up about political voting real quick: Politics mostly causes countries NOT to vote for each other. For example, it's the reason Armenia and Azerbaijan have never given each other any points. Voting partnerships like Greece-Cyprus, Russia-Belarus, etc. *can* be caused by politics, but most of the time they're from shared culture. Artists and music styles tend to get popular in broader geographic areas, so if a lot of Russians know a Belarusian singer (I love you Dima Koldun), they're likely to send over a lot of points.

[@happyelg]

please react to Love Love Peace Peace, which was a performance by Måns Zelmerlöw and Petra Mede when Sweden hosted Eurovision a few years ago!! It's so funny. It's a big parody of Eurovision songs

[@СоняИванова-о5и]

He forgot to say that the country that won the previous edition of Eurovision will automatically qualify for the next edition.

[@evakmohns5363]

Eurovision is for sure political, but I think it's more of a regional thing that actually straight up voting for your neighbours. Am I rolling my eyes everytime Greece and Cyprus give each other 12 points? Of course... But do the Balkans have culturally rooted liking for the same kind of melody, beat and patos? Also yes. It's more complex than that. Just watch the televoting reactions from different countries across Europe on youtube and you can see how different their POV are. And to be honest national juries tend to be more political than televotes troughout the years which is why televote results are sooo different from the jury votes and the controversy of that is always one of the most intense and fun thing! I personally love Eurovision, always watched it apart from those couple of years (late teens/early 20's) when I thought I was too cool for it. And I love the way Eurovision has been evolving throught the years; from serious to playful, to complete and utter garbage (sorry not sorry '00s Eurovision) to EuroPop and this year it also evolved to something completely different! But political or not, the best songs/favourites are always at the top, the political/mediocre usually in the middle and the bottom is usully not questionable as well by the majority. At the end of the day it's pure entertainment and I hope it will last as long as it can!

[@sannev8407]

It's defenitely not only politics. As a European Eurovision fan it makes me sad so many people think that. Politics does play just a very small role in the actual results. He's focusing WAY too much on politics. The video of that guy is just making fun of Eurovision cliché"s. As a fan I can tell big 5 mostly sucks yeah but they don't send their 'worst' artist, sometimes they just get ignored by Europe or they actually get great results. The song at 6:41 actually got 5th place And the 50/50 jury-televote system was introduced in 2009 (final) and 2010 (also Semi final) not in 2016 And the competing countries DO want to win

[@RuiPSGoncalves]

About hosting and costs: Portugal spend about 25 million euros to host (others spent more), but we had a revenue calculated of 100 million euros. Our public broadcaster looked for sponsors: it got some "help" from our government, tourism sector and the city hosting used taxes from tourists to help to fund. At the end it's a good deal to host Eurovision financially, for tourism and showing your country (because everyone in the world can watch it).

[@RuiPSGoncalves]

Nowadays almost nobody does the effort to participate to lose (cause it can be very lucrative if you do it cost efficient). If you are going that way you are spending public funds! If a country isn't interested in participate they simply withdraw! Others have the interest, but don't have the funds to do it.

[@user-bg3rp2qj5b]

I wouldn’t put too much pressure on yourself for your first couple of years of watching Eurovision. But I wanted to point out that EVEN American media got it wrong with calling Eurovision a singing competition. You’d think they get their facts straight before spewing it to the American public too. Saw this clip from ABC news kzbin.info/www/bejne/oaO9m3mIqd-XprM

[@nevs4181]

Hi Ed!

[@henriettethoresenbreen4421]

The jury was never out the points were just combined into one list for each country, now both have two meaning you can get twice the amount of points. 🤦‍♀️ You are also way less likely to get zero points overall.

[@ioana_raducea-marin]

but the UK still managed it this year XD

[@henriettethoresenbreen4421]

@@ioana_raducea-marin I know, to be honest I think the giant trumpets and running order worked against them. You have to be peoples favourites or in the judges top ten so... It’s still a good song though

[@flowerflowerflower4438]

Please react to all Eurovision winning songs!!

[@jovita9323]

Sadly, the video that you reacted to is not a very accurate representation of Eurovision :)... I mean, this american tried to to grasp upon a cultural phenomenon that is Eurovision to his best ability, but I guess it's hard to when you haven't watched it year to year for your whole life :D. Troll acts are very very rare these days. The music is contemporary and often features in top charts. Also, nobody is trying to lose on purpose. Actually, most of the countries are doing their best - that's why it's so interesting to watch! KZbin channel "Overthinking it" recently did a very cool and accurate video about why Americans should watch Eurovision, take a look ;) kzbin.info/www/bejne/iX6thnZ-qttqpqc

[@terjemullerkarlsen3028]

EUROVISON is a VERY expencive show. Without the big five there would never be an Eurovision... It is like a tv version of the Olympics...

[@simonbruijns]

This is focusing really on one (true) side of the show. There are enough good song throughout the years.

[@LasseKroner]

You should have just seen the opening act of Måns Zelmerlöw & Petra Mede explaining it with a musical opening for eurovision (meta)

[@emeraldsroses0524]

2016 was a great year for interval acts. Both the history of the Eurovision Song Contest and Love Love Peace Peace are so difficult to surpass.

[@sabinafiorentini3298]

Fun fact. Actually a NUN, a real nun...won The Voice Italia....so.... Big5 pay a lot of money to EBU, so other not so rich caountries can participate, it is not about paying more, it is for have the money to do the thing at all..sad thing..we continue even if, for example, UK ends up with a zero points multiple times. The host country too can get straight to the final, and it makes sense, since it costs so much and well...it is their country, they need to watch it on final 😅

[@marionicolasmartin]

it is a song contest, not a singing contest

[@johannesnielsenjohnbates8889]

All the televotes are recalculated into points. In this way no country with higher population can win due to more televoters. Instead each country has the exact same amount of points to share. As been said it’s not a singing competition, but a song competition. Most of the countries holds national competition(s) to find the winner to represent their country. In Belarus it’s mostly the president/dictator who chooses the entry. Trust me, if you saw/heard all the songs competing in each country, you most likely will find the winning song the best entry of the year, no matter how much troll you find them. Eurovision Song Contest is blood serious business in Europe. In Denmark, where I live, more than 1,000 songs are sent in in hope of being selected. A board of professional musicians etc reduce the number to 10, which then compete in the National competition to have the honor of representing the country at ESC.

[@ShenLong991]

Besides the eurovision there was also this whole concept of the coal and steel alliances to not only bound europe cultural but also economical, but that's for another video.

[@ronnopotter]

Eurovision is such a trip, but I think mostly Americans are interested in the troll acts. Real fans are more interested in the serious entries, and are suckers of some ethnic flavors, traditional music and native languages.

[@mia-vv1nk]

please check out duncan laurence - arcade he won in 2019.

[@alftuvik3820]

Politics can have a small impact, but it doesn't really impact who wins. Anything from countries with good relationships with everyone like Netherlands and the Scandinavian countries to more controversial countries like Russia, Israel and Turkey will win if their song is liked enough, even UK can win if they actually try.

[@esc.castelosca]

10:38 Ohh poor girl!! XD she did on purpose is a very famous comedian here in Spain!!

[@brie1658]

Tbh... you shouldn’t have looked at someone explaining it and they’re american. Yes, Eurovision has funny moments, but if you look at the winners and ALL OF THE PERFORMANCES it’s a beautiful thing where everyone is united by music. It’s a giant music festival! And yes... I did feel offended with stuff that you said. Eurovision is not a joke.

[@JamesNewham]

“Because the World Cup is with like, the whole world.” Sorry what is your baseball competition called again?

[@jeremyroenick2202]

Copa América

[@JamesNewham]

@@jeremyroenick2202 I now realise I have created perfect source material for r/confidentlyincorrect, but it's fixed now.

[@hendrikusscherphof7348]

Idea for Eurovision: Each year 1 or 2 non-european countries are selected to perform

[@ChrisEchoes]

The Big Five aren’t deliberately sending bad acts, the only one doing that I feel is the U.K. who haven’t been taking the ESC serious for years. And then they complain that Europe doesn’t like them which in fact also isn’t true. Especially when it comes the vote of the general public that really doesn’t come into play, just like the idea that all voting on ESC is political. The public doesn’t care about that, they vote for songs they like. What they like though is in large part determined by cultural background. There are few distinct cultural influence zones in Europe roughly divided by a East and West line and a North and South line. But we see that basically with every year’s winner that particular act has resonated across all those lines and acts have scored massive points from all over Europe. If it really had been political then you would not see such things.

[@Sophie-iq2tw]

please react to eurovision 2021 finale in a nutshell!!!

[@navyt9862]

I'm really interested in American version of Eurovision though😆 If they can find the balance between being good and not being too serious about it (like sending some well established world-known artists), there's a chance.

[@johannesofie777]

Actually it is coming on March 21 this year. Will watch it!

[@Umla80]

I think something missed out when people say its political is that many of the countries that vote on eachother share a similar cultural backgrounds and hence tend to like similar sounds... And you cant win with just gettin 12s from your clique you need most of Europe to vote on you (that said there is alot of politics too ;) ). I found this years final really strong with many good songs. I enjoy Eurovision most when i see/hear songs from cultures i dont know well and hence get to hear something new and different like Ukraines song this year and i love when people actually sing in their native language like i didnt know Italian could be such a badass rock/rap language! Radio tend to be very US/UK centric in my country so i really enjoy that once a year music from all over Europe gets celebrated. Did you know they are making a "Americavision" (ofc just with the US :P) where the different states compete against eachother. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Song_Contest

[@irenap110]

Hello from russia) so me and my mom watch euro every year sins i was born (about 20 years) and its really funny and unexpected experience every time)

[@bleukreuz]

Although UK, Germany, Spain, Italy, and France automatically qualify for final, it is also a curse cause they will generally ended up last or with zero points!

[@emeraldsroses0524]

Except Italy who usually ends in the top 10, even with a dancing gorilla 😂 If any of the four other countries did that, they would be last or close to last.

[@Lyrazel]

He's wrong, you're right, it's a song contest. Not a singing contest

[@suzettebakelaar]

I love Barbs.....but I dont fully agree with his video let's leave it at that...😟

[@Jacobspi16]

It was called The Super league and BTW it was San marino

[@SimTailsOG]

Awh dang. Those comments really did a number on this guy. So afraid to offend people xD im sorry, some europeans get really defensive when its something about our culture(s). Wish we could calm down and not hate on american people so much. Instead of bashing them, we should just kindlt explain our side. You seem really nice though ans thank you for taking an interest in eurovision !

[@tarabaumgarten3827]

I'm a big eurovision fan from a small country, but I don't mind the big 5 skipping to the finals at all. I mean they financially contribute a lot to eurovision (the budget for which is between 20 to 30 million € btw). And skipping the semi finals doesn't guarantee success at all. It's not like they automatically start with 100 points during voting or something. THAT would have been unfair. And if they send a mid song they can still get last place or 0 points, which I'd say is more embarrassing than not qualifying at all. No offence UK

[@terraformingmars6607]

ow and its an old movie the netherlands now have 5 wins ....they bring quality

[@EmoBearRights]

The Maltese didn't vote for their closest neighbours Italy this year and I'm not convinced that wasn't to nobble the opposition.

[@emeraldsroses0524]

There was this big dirty tricks campaign from Malta this year. They literally bombarded the media with “don’t vote for country X, Y, Z” because they are our biggest competitor. Well, it backfired because the public vote gave the song only 47 points 😂 Karma!

[@EmoBearRights]

When it came to Italy even their own televoters ignored it and blithely voted for them anyway.

[@Kunoichi4ever4]

Honestly with Russia they could literally send in nothing and d probably still rank high due to how many friends"they have in Europe. So if they actually send in sth that strikes a chord with sb (which in this case , the old ladies rly had the support of the older viewers) they immediately are at least top 10. Also I dunno what it is with us Europeans but we sometimes really enjoy weird songs(like Lithuania this year, I actually rly liked it), I guess its probably coz you get around 40+ songs in May, and sometimes weird things stand out a lot more than good things. I think many troll acts that did well dont make sense loooking back, but at the time they were competing, they did well coz they stood out. Like this year Malta, great song, but people who only watched Eurovision live and a lot of songs was crammed into their heads at once d have not remembered it in the midsts of so many good pop songs.

[@kristianjanse182]

Geography now haven’t got a clue about Eurovision. The problem is that USA don’t have a culture. In Europe we have. It’s not true that country ‘s want to loose. Everybody is proud to represent their country. Geography now is only showing the worst performance from 10-20 years ago. The quality standard is really high now.

[@syndrom4193]

The big five rule was introduced when eurovision was in danger of ending, so they had to do something that the biggest money giving nations don't leave the contest by giving them a safe place in the final. And the fact that they usually send in songs that suck is wrong. Yes, germany and the UK are really bad at eurovision, but in this video it sounded like they do it on purpose, and that's not th3 reason

[@pmparda]

Alcohol is free is NOT A TROLL!

[@WoWBookOfEli]

Russia sending bunch of grandmas to stage to troll and to deliberately lose, but then wins suprised pikachu face

[@ElainaArcher4]

Actually the winning song was Euphoria from Sweden that year

[@kir250305]

Perfect!!!

[@tabgima4652]

The Countryˋs who qualify automatically are also the founders of Eurovision 🤫

[@tabgima4652]

Next to Switzerland of course

[@im.joeyb.]

The UK isn't.

[@mickeypole4912]

So a couple of things: Countries do not just send troll entries because they can’t host. For example Bulgaria keeps on trying to win it and came close a couple of times but in no way are able to financially host the contest. It also happened in the past that a country could not or did not want to host and another country then said yep we would love to! Because obviously it will attract tourism as well since it is a big show. Besides that it sometimes could be political and I heard you say Europeans would never vote for the US if they’d compete but no the US also would be able to win with a good song. Otherwise Israel wouldn’t have won it 4 times. It seems a whole lot of circus and trolly entries sometimes but a lot of it is just different cultures that come together. It’s gotten way more serious though I’d say since 2013

[@emeraldsroses0524]

You’re wrong about the terrible/troll entries. There are countries who know they cannot host it because eod the financial burden, so they do send a troll entry so they won’t win. One day it may become a problem because those entries are rather loved and what will happen if ESC fans do rally behind the and they do win? The winning nation is not obliged to host. Several times in history a winning nation couldn’t host and another one took over, for example Israel couldn’t host in 1980 so The Netherlands took over.

[@thomasharteveld9614]

There will be an American song Contest in 2022