Californian Reacts | Eurovision 2023 Weird & Wonderful Moments from the Finals

[@lucjanpetroniusz4970]

This is interesting how Americans discover in Europe we have at least 50 more unique nations every each with its own art least 1000 and more years history and culture! The mix of culture,language and diversity may be something new for Americans

[@harperwiccan475]

Dude, it’s pretty obvious Americans can’t even get over any of the fractured 200 years of BULL shish it’s had let alone swallow any additional information about other countries. Americans pride themselves over a constitution that compared to many other nations, have rewritten theirs from the ground up to better suit the needs of the country and not just whoever was alive 200 or 500 years ago.

[@pinzoloo]

And the most funny thing is that Europe kinda created modern day US and still they know nothing about their creators.

[@anti-emo4721]

That can be a good thing! When European goes to the US there are no xenophobia, you are a clean sheet.

[@singingcat02]

Yes, she was actually speaking french. She asked him "What's your favorite movie in french ?" He answered "yes" 😂

[@Hosigie]

I'm Croatian but I really wanted Kaarija to win, he won all of our hearts with his music and personality. But hey, at least I discovered a new artist to follow. Hopefully his career takes off. In Croatia we have a song contest called Dora in February, and who wins that represents us in Eurovision that year.

[@bubee8123]

I am Croatian as well and I think range of Kaarija voice and his technique are not even close to be 2nd place. Tato deserved to win. He was funny, lovable and song was hype but if you take competition seriously he does not deserve top 5.

[@venk8009]

Yeah.. Kaarija was the real winner. Loreen should have never technically been allowed to represent Sweden again given that the song was absolutely subpar and awful and if it weren't for how corrupt the vote is, the real winner's Kaarija! Loreen sucks so much!!!

[@russetmantle1]

I expected Sweden to win but was rooting for Finland to win (I'm in the UK, for context). There were a couple of reasons. First, Loreen has won before, so it would have been great for someone else to get a go. But mostly because I just preferred the Finland song. It had everything required to be a classic Eurovision winner: a really great concept (a song split into two parts, with two different styles, to represent the two different emotional states of the character); a powerful hook (cha cha cha, cha cha cha cha!); a really brilliant performance (he bursts out of a box and there's the beautiful sight of ballroom dancers doing the cha cha cha to a metal song, before they all get together to join in his dorky dance for the dancefloor bit). The other thing is that the Finland song was in Finnish and the Sweden song was in English. There's a whole history of controversy in Eurovision about which languages countries should choose for their songs. There used to be a rule that countries had to send a song in one of their native languages, but that was abandoned after it became clear that this gave too much of an advantage to countries that have English as a native language, since voters were more likely to be able to understand the lyrics of their songs, and therefore feel more connected to them. Although that rule doesn't apply any more, it's still true that if a song is sent in a less broadly known language, it's at an automatic disadvantage in the voting. Which is another reason why it would have been wonderful to see Finland win. It got very close.

[@Tingletonttu]

In Finland and Estonia the songs get subtitled so everyone understands the meaning.

[@ygorsimons7373]

However he didn't have a voice. 😅😅😅😅 Loreen had.... You gorgot that one...

[@margit6521]

​@@ygorsimons7373 Yes, but he had better show. After all ESC is not singing competition. It's song competition. When I was young meaning of ESC was to get more diversity to pop music and many of the songs were spreading with translated lyrics to profit both record companies and artists. Cha cha cha has been translated already in spanish, english and Estonian wich is nice. Loreen is amazing singer, but her song was bit generic, Loreen's voice saved it. And it was enough for the win. I guess we will hear this song many times in the becoming years sung by Loreen but ChaChaCha might be sung different artists in different languages, and in different genres wich is nice too.

[@samimurtomaki5534]

However she did not atted to a singing contest.

[@russetmantle1]

@@ygorsimons7373 Well, I think it really depends what you're looking for in a voice. There's a huge number of different styles of vocals that are right for different types of music, and all of them should be welcome at Eurovision. There's no doubt whatsoever that Loreen was one of the best singers in the competition. However, to say that Kaarija didn't have a voice at all is to do him an injustice, I think. I agree that the vocals were a bit weak in places in the second half, but in the first half, they were perfection. He had the kind of very powerful rock delivery that grabs people's attention. (People wouldn't have loved the song otherwise, after all.) It's also relatively rare for a singer to attempt two different vocal styles in one song. I feel as if that should be appreciated, even if it's not technically a judging criterion.

[@Saturinus]

They cut out Graham Norton's joke after Iceland's points announcement: "It's the world's slowest stripper".

[@BritInvLvr]

I wanted Finland to win. I loved that song as soon as I heard it. Tattoo did nothing for me.

[@Babesinthewood97]

Same

[@Okslut]

no one cares

[@samimurtomaki5534]

​@@Okslut This omnipersonality disorder is so fashinating. How even can this kind of thing happen in human brain, im just speechless once again.

[@Okslut]

@@samimurtomaki5534 what are you on?

[@palexa188]

Every country has a different way of choosing a song. In Portugal for example, we have a whole competition (not unlike Eurovision: with 2 semifinals and a final) called Festival da Canção (Song Festival). It's hosted by one of the main TV stations of the country (RTP - Rádio e Televisão de Portugal: Radio and Television of Portugal) and they invite known songwriters to write a song and choose a performer and all of that. There are also some artists that are independent that can apply and then get selected to perform after some screening or something like that. The voting is done completely by the public...so basically the public chooses who to send to Eurovision to represent Portugal. Also...I think there is no rule that says you can't participate more than once. This year's winner is an example. Loreen participated twice and won both times. Another good example is Alexander Rybak: he represented Norway twice, winning once in 2009. Simone de Oliveira from Portugal also participated twice back in 1965 and 1969 I believe. The most well know (I think) is Johnny Logan from Ireland (he won twice as the performer in 1980 and 1987 and wrote the winning song in 1992 and wrote the runner-up song in 1984)

[@KyrieFortune]

Zdob si Zdub, Moldova's most recognisable band, participated three times, multiple Italian artists (Domenico Modugno, Massimo Ranieri, Albano and Romina) participated more than once, one particular artist I don't remember from which country participated no less than 5 times...

[@hypatian9093]

I loved the Portuguese act - it's like a modern take on classical chansons from the time it was still the "grandprix" :)

[@ssanti66]

About the selection process, each country differs. Italy sends the winner of Festival di Sanremo, which is the biggest music event of the year. It lasts 5 nights and many popular singers compete. Italy has always made it in the top 6 in the past 6 editions of Eurovision, and won in 2021.

[@Babesinthewood97]

Oh wow, I didn’t know that. The rest of us have a Melody Festival and the winner is sent to Eurovision. :)

[@JohanKnollema]

Historically both french and english were spoken during the ESC. French is gradually disappearing but still some french is spoken. The jury’s are allowed to give the results in either french or english. That is why the 12 points are still referred to as the ‘douze points’. I think this is the first year that even the french juror spoke english.

[@florenna]

Yes, and historically, most of the early winners sung in French too, the 10-15 first winners, most in French. Now the last time a French language song won is 1983, I think..?

[@mnjk1558]

I hate to see how sad Käärijä was. He is the real winner. He won the Semi-final, he received 376 televoting points, which was over 130 points more than Loreen. Loreen won because around 100 people in the jury wanted her to win 🙄

[@ronnopotter]

But the jury votes is the 50% so it is ok. Remember when Jamala won without winning neither the jury nor the televote? That was waaaay wilder

[@aekelly]

It was sad to see Kaarjia sad. But Loreen won fair and square between televote and jury which are both 50%. I felt the same way for Kristian Kostov when Salvador won. I actually saw that he left a supportive message for him on the video where Kaarjia apologized to his country, much like Kristian did when he lost. 💕💕

[@marsukarhu9477]

@@ronnopotter Yeah, but normally the difference between the countries is not that big in the TOP3 or TOP5. This time Loreen was up like 200 (!!!!) points after the the jury vote! It's quite a result, specially with such a lukewarm pop song. You'd think there should be a masterpiece behind a result like that, so kinda leaves a sour taste in the mouth

[@marsukarhu9477]

@@aekelly Well, at least Salvador won both jury and the televote, so it kinda felt more justified. Even if it wasn't the one you supported...

[@Dds123-l3z]

Why are you guys trying to fool newcomers to Eurovision? 😂 Loreen won accourdingly to the rules and is the only REAL winner . She actually charts more and gets streamed more (Double streams) then Kärijää so she might be a fan favorite also 😊

[@tombroderick7206]

The funny thing is that all over the world it seemed like there were people singing Finland's entry to the song contest IN THE FINNISH LANGUAGE. Insane! And also very impressive. Pidän kaksin käsin kiini juomista, niinku (holding on to my drink with two hands, like)

[@onomatopoetisk]

I’m from Sweden and my favourites this year were Australia, Germany, Finland and Slovienia. Uhm… the more rock and/or industrial songs I guess 😂

[@Craigy2818]

Käärijä won the televoting with a 71.48% majority - he got 12 points from 18 countries. He is hitting the top spot in global spotify charts, getting into the Top 40 (he's currently #7 in the UK) and he is a major obsession. Never heard any crowd cheer for an act so much, in the history of the competition.

[@ygorsimons7373]

Meanwhile Loreen is number 1 .....😅😅😅.

[@ageynorawillow2360]

something similar happend in polish preselection with Jann, who also was loved by the public, but got 2nd place 😢

[@tomekgulash]

i mean artist spotify shows that loreen song has almost 2 times more listens. On official eurovision youtube page it has more views too (both final and semi and over 2 times more views official video). Also she was second in popular vote. Dunno why people cannot understand that wasn't even controversial winner.

[@daintydalmatian]

He got 18 percent of the votes

[@Mickaw90]

+He’s the first artist with a song 100% in Finnish to enter the U.K. singles chart.

[@inrivaalfosso3663]

I wanted Germany to win. Damn, we were so close... My favorites beside Germany were Croatia, Finland, Norway and Moldova.

[@peterrabbitn787]

Germany won if you turn the results upside down

[@inrivaalfosso3663]

@@peterrabbitn787 Yeah, and we will try that again next year.

[@stefanmellstrom9096]

haha love from Sweden

[@florenna]

You have good taste! :)

[@rinl.6924]

I loved the German song!

[@tuijakantola6550]

I voted for Finland 5 times 😀

[@californianreacts]

It's a fun song, that's for sure!

[@jute3912]

Also kind of touching, when you reflect on the lyrics

[@MrZeuz666]

@@jute3912 no

[@nocturne7371]

Some countries chose the song internally (the TV company does), and some countries has a mini Eurovision as a National Final, Some with just a final, some with qualifying rounds or semi finals. Just to get to Eurovision is often a HUGE process in many countries.

[@wm7195]

My favorite was Italy, Marco Mengoni. I liked Finland also, mch fun. estonia was very good too

[@malingrundstrom2645]

Every country has its own process to pick their contestant. In Sweden we have Melodifestivalen which is 6 competitions in different cities of the country where the public vote. Some countries don't have public voting, some sent their like Idol winner, some have like a jury that pick their contestant and some have competitions.

[@ImStevan]

Watching this video only works if you've watched the actual final. Without that context, it's just a bunch of random clips

[@Niki91-HR]

We in Croatia submit song and something like a jury decides which songs get to the national final and then we choose our representative with the voting Eurovision voting system - jury and public vote. This year I think we had 18 acts to choose from. We also had a period were our national broadcast chose/asked an artist if he or she (our a group) would like to represent us and if they said yes they would work on a song and showcase it on Eurovision. It differs from country to country but most countries as far as I know do have some kind of festival or national final where they choose from. I would recommend you to watch the compilation videos of winners, last place, runners up from the very beginning from 1956 till today. It is quite interesting. Also you can kinda see the evoultion of the ESC as well.

[@richt71]

Countries have different ways of choosing who will represent them at eurovision. Laterly the UK has had a vote for the singer and song prior to the start of eurovision.

[@Widdekuu91]

Yeah, the Netherlands usually has no say in it and then we either cheer and are happy ór we are very very upset. We were happy with Ilse and Waylon, we were happy with Duncan, we were happy with Stien, Douwe Bob was also okay. We were unhappy with Sientje, the last two (forgot their names, offkey singers) and Waylons single attempt.

[@vuivraalbastra]

I wanted anyone to win except Sweden and Poland. Most countries this year dared to bring something that you don't usually see on the Eurovision stage and did it very well. This has been my favorite final so far with the usual quality ballads and pop songs mixed with great rock, electronic music, flamenco, whatever Croatia had etc. and lots of cultural flavor. The results were beyond disappointing for me because, before the semifinals even started, it was obvious online that it would be a competition between Finland and Sweden thanks to the jury voting patterns and the Loreen stans. That left every other song in the dust because there was no point voting for anyone else, which is against the purpose of a contest between 26 countries in the final alone. I'm afraid that the voting this year, and especially the winner, will set us back with the progress made in the past years to make Eurovision more diverse and fun. I mean what's the point of countries trying to send something new and refreshing if what wins is a returning winner with something in the same style as her winning song, with nothing original or risky or cultural. Just to be clear, I don't think Tattoo is a bad song, just a perfectly executed average pop song about love that did nothing for me and if it won in another year I would probably be fine with it. But with the timing, the great competition and the general love for Finland's entry this year, I have never been more disappointed with an Eurovision winner (maybe except 2010, but that was for more subjective reasons).

[@allitus]

preach! 🙏

[@taijat]

It was so awkward when Loreen was announced to be the winner😅💀 The audience was hardly reacting. There was Cha cha cha yells louder than the clapping for Sweden😅 If Käärijä would have won the whole arena would have exploded🔥💣💥

[@ygorsimons7373]

Loreen came 2nd in televote mate. It means millions of people had voted for it too.. 😅😅 and she was weigh better than the finn.. he didnt even sing just yell al the time.. he was popular cause he was funny.

[@taijat]

@@ygorsimons7373 Käärijä won the televoting over 70% majority. 18 countries gave him 12 points. The audience in the arena was chanting Cha cha cha during the points counting so loudly - even when Loreen was announced to have points. That speaks volumes who was the one people loved💚 And talking about his song. Käärijä is close the top on the global Spotify chart. Many people have better music taste than you🤷‍♀️

[@stellakr75]

You do know the arena doesnt represent the world right? 😂😂

[@Grarnir]

@@taijat yeah it really shows how many people have shit taste

[@evanm1815]

Taija. Loreen is number 20 on the global Spotify list and Käärijä is number 33 so yeah, people actually like Tattoo.

[@florenna]

That was a heartbreakingly disappointing moment, when Sweden's televote points were announced, I really don't want to re-watch it😣 (Yes, I'm a Finn.) Not because of their amount of televotes per se, 243, which ordinarily would not have been enough for them to win, against Finland's 376 (!) points, but because the juries had already given Sweden such an unbeatable lead in jury points, over 100 compared to 2nd in jury, that even a record amount of televotes wasn't enough to win! (Didn't of course realize that at the time, I doubt anyone did maths at that time 😅, but now it's clearer than clear.) Juries don't normally award such a pile of points to one entry alone, so it's very suspicious that they did so now... All the more as Sweden's entry really was nothing special.

[@Niki91-HR]

The juries were a complete joke this year....not just because of giving almost all 12 points to them, but generally in regards of other artists. They totally ignored my country Croatia...we just got 11 points in total from 2 countries. I mean ..I guess our song isnt for everybody BUT since they were reintroduced they ignore every year some countries. I always remember 2021 and how unfairly they voted for Finland and Ukraine....the public was totally the opposite opinion. The gap between juries and the publice is always noticeable but this year it was wild in that regard. Finlan deserved to win. Cha Cha Cha is awesome.

[@Widdekuu91]

I really didn't like seing Loreen excited-but-not-really-desperate-for-the-win and Kaarija who had put his soul on the line and was shaking and shivering (I'm assuming not because of the topless look, he's Finnish, he can probably handle that) and seeing him upset afterwards was heartbreaking. Especially because this is not some sortof 'oh well, you were just not good enough' or 'you did make a lot of mistakes, better luck next time' but this was unfair.

[@annaollila1061]

I wanted finland to win! 💚💚

[@annaollila1061]

You should react to the whole Käärijä's final performance 😊

[@Neabeaboo]

we have contests in respective countries which only citizens are allowed to vote in. i think its like that for many countries at least in finland (the name of the contest is Uuden musiikin kilpailu or UMK for short) and in sweden (swedens name of their contest is melodi festivalen) the winner of the competision goes to eurovision.

[@cynic7049]

Well, the juries in the Melodifestivalen Final (Swedish qualification) have as in Eurovison half the points and are international from some of that years participating countries.

[@mustikka5]

Some countries choose their performers directly (I'm not sure who in that country makes the final choice). Some countries have "singing competitions" (some countries have 1 and 2 semi-finals and a final like Sweden, if I don't remember wrong) or like Finland there is UMK (New Music Competition) where singers compete to see who will represent us. (In Finland, the final winner is chosen by a jury giving 25% and the audience 75% if i remember right.) There are certain problems with both ways too. Sometimes the country directly elects a representative that the countrys people doesn't necessarily like and then in those (races) you have the people and then you have politics and so on. Votes vary (some juries have much more power etc.)

[@pia8030]

Käärijä KÄÄRIJÄ KÄÄRIJÄ, our winner 🇫🇮🤘🖤

[@UtamagUta]

4 things americans don't seem to understand about Eurovision: 1. It's a SONG competition. Not singer, not performance,- SONG. I've seen a few americans complaining that they are bored watching same performance 3 times - that is the whole point, entries are legally forbidden to change anything. Even ESC movie managed to fail on this part.. let alone American song contest that happened last time. 2. you only care about winning. We don't - it's a party. Expensive party, but winning is a very nice bonus. 3. you don't have to be european to participate. Broadcaster needs a licence with the EBU and treaties later, lots of greasing the wheels - you can join. We, Europeans aren't that anti-american. But due to You'd only send formulaic songs, competition would become even more corporate than it is right now. We need only 1 sweden, tyvm. 4. only top 10 songs get any points. So even with tiny bit of points mean that viewers from a select country has considered You a top 10 entry. It's an achievement!

[@Niki91-HR]

We may not be as anti-american as some people may think but it is actually nice to not have them meddling in literally everything. 😅 And in this case number 2 is one of the best explanations why its better without them.

[@Fedal976]

I had so many favs this year minus my own country ofc 😅, but Kaarija (Finland) really was my ultimate fav. He was amazing and the televote winner. The thing is when I saw the amount of points the jury gave Loreen (Sweden) I knew there would be no way to beat her. Because there was many favorites this year and inevitably the points would have been divided between them. (although there was some surprises). As for the US coming to ESC, no. Like not because I dislike the US or something, just no. The vibe won't be the same. Speaking of that the US had launched their own ESC the American song contest approved by the Ebu, the ones behind ESC. As for the way of choosing a representative for Eurovision, it's at the country participating broadcaster discretion. It can be an internal selection like France did this year. The broadcaster choosed La Zarra a french Canadian for this year. It can be a national selection like Portugal, where it's like a mini Eurovision with participants letting a jury and the public vote for their song to represent the country. You are not obligated to be from the country to represent it. And the number of country participating can vary. For exemple Australia was a guest in 2015 because they had been, broadcasting ESC for 30 years now. And they loved it so much, the fans loved them so much (they end up 5th), that they were allowed to participate regularly. This year was actually their last year, but I doubt that they will stop. I hope to see them next year. There is also returning countries. Next year Luxembourg will come back to ESC after 40years (correct me if I'm wrong). So yeah ESC is great and amazing but the winners aren't always the ones remembered. Some losers are also well liked and fans favorites.

[@KyrilPG]

The EBU/UER is a union of public broadcast companies / institutions and Luxemburg no longer had a public broadcast company, only private ones. Next year they'll be back in ESC and RTL, a private TV network, will organize and broadcast it locally on a "delegation of public service" by the Luxemburg government. It was the solution found for them joining back the contest.

[@markwolstenholme3354]

Australia and Israel broadcasters are members of the European Broadcasting Union. That's why they want and are allowed to enter the Eurovision Song Contest. I'm guessing that with so many European people (or ex) living in Australia and many Jewish people living in Europe it makes sense . China applied to join but were refused. Russia and Belarus have been kicked out. USA participation would be to complex because of money, advertising, sponsors etc and would want to make to many changes .

[@JadawinL]

Also Australia broadcast the Eurovision song contest for 30 years before they were invited to participate.

[@florenna]

As for Israel, I think it has nothing to do with Jewish people in Europe, but because Israel is a long-standing EBU member.

[@streips]

I think I speak for a majority of Europeans when I say that we don't want Americans to take part.

[@Mythraelis]

I would find it interessting if the whole world join in a peaceful song-contest.

[@Niki91-HR]

@@Mythraelis that wont ever happen.... but even we here in Europe may party together once a year which is awesome but we still have our problems during the rest of the year and it isnt always as peaceful (not war related but still here and there are some tensions)

[@itsgoodiewoodie]

I would like that Eurovision would invite Canada to Eurovision to piss off US. :D

[@californianreacts]

Honestly, that would be pretty funny. Plus Id be curious on how Canada could do point-wise. Assuming poorly! Although, does Australia typically get low points? Same kind on scenario

[@onomatopoetisk]

@@californianreacts Australia tend to do quite well actually. And they send quite good songs too! I really liked this year’s. they’ve been up there a few times. This time the got a 9th place.

[@Sammy_The_Umbreon]

I honestly didnt care who won in the end. Both Finland and Sweden had songs i didnt care for much (don't get me wrong, i like them, but i wasnt really hung up over who won). I was more mad about the point distribution for other countries. Some really good songs were screwed over by the jury _and_ audience, because all the focus was on 2-3 songs.

[@Pucky71]

Actually, the two languages of the ESC are traditionally English and French. But French is becoming less and less important (too bad, bilingualism is part of the ESC). In 2023 it was the first time that I didn't have a favorite to win. I didn't find any piece of music convincing. When choosing between Sweden and Finland, I was clearly in favor of Finland.

[@Kotten84]

I expected it to be close between Sweden and Finland and even though I love both songs, I was rooting for Sweden, partially because I'm a swede. I thought that Sweden would take home the jury vote, but that Finland would win the televote, which was exactly what happened.

[@krunoslavkovacec1842]

If you've never watched Eurovision, three words that would best describe it: glitter, camp, spectacle.

[@Aurinkohelmi]

Kinda surprised there wasn´t added on the list how the crowd kept shouting cha cha cha when they announced the points 😉 It was pretty funny when hosts kept asking them to shut up 😄

[@isabelxavier6890]

Céline Dion won a Eurovision Festival in 1988, for Switzerland...🤭

[@k.u9275]

My favorites were Moldavia, Tchequie, Spain and Germany (I'm french).

[@user-dl5zl5ph6q]

You should probably say at the start of the video if you've seen the final or not. Now it's a bit confusing, is this really a reaction if you've seen these moments already?

[@AZJuno]

I always have 2 kind of favourites - memable and loveable. This year the memable was Poland (bejba - her nickname was and performance was good kind of cringe😅). And loveable with good portion of meme - Finland. The Sweden made me feel like respect and appreciation of the song and preformance but Finland is in my heart.

[@cococovers1333]

you can have the same person enter multiple times but that is only if the people of that country wants it since there are national selection competitions held in each country. For example Melodifestivalen in sweden and MGP in norway. These selections work like mini eurovisions where the public and a jury vote for their favorites and the one with the most points gets to represent that country at eurovision.

[@allenjohnson7686]

id honestly hate America to join... in Europe we have our type of music... its weird its quirky its bouncy... its random... and we are fine with that.. America would steamroll us and force their style on us.... Australia doesn't count.... coz they are chill and get the weird....

[@pinzoloo]

French is the official language of Eurovision, even though its sparesly used these days. But the host will always speak some french every year. Almost all nation got a pre-selection contest selecting a winner every year. Sweden got for example a 6 week running show with 4 Semifinals 1 second chance semi final and 1 big final. San Marino has sent the same singer like 4 times :) You can write a 10000 paged bible about eurovision and still miss out on facts :)

[@ehmzed]

Each country's broadcasting company has a different way of selecting their representative. Some hold their own contest whose winner goes to Eurovision, whether it's a one night contest or a week or months long contest. Some choose a song and representative internally. The only requirement is that the songs sent to Eurovision need to be original and not have been performed or commercialised before a certain date of the previous year. They also need to be of a maximum of 3 minutes long and not contain political propaganda, although the latter rule seems to be very broad.

[@birchleaf]

Most countries have a national competition more or less in the style of the main ESC event, but it varies. In some countries the song is just picked by the participating TV network.

[@edonveil9887]

In Poland they had a combo...

[@Hana9916]

@@edonveil9887 Uff, too soon 😂

[@FinBoyXD]

I was guessing that Loreen would probably win. But even though I wanted Käärijä to win, it doesn't change the fact that he definitely should've won with that crazy televote landslide win. Juries were too one-sided.

[@nenadf124]

Loreen won with even bigger landslide after the jury vote so no he didnt deserve to win

[@FinBoyXD]

​@@nenadf124Nah, there's million times more people voting in the televote than in the jury, it should be worth more. It's crazy to get that many people to agree on who to vote for, and very rarely someone will get over 100 points more in a televote than the second place. Only one was ukraine because of the war. And it's even crazier when that happens and it's not enough for a win because the 5 people per country voted completely differently. Nah, it's dumb.

[@nenadf124]

@@FinBoyXD nah its not dumb, they are professionals that are there to grade the song to what the point of Eurovision is not what people with bad taste like. There should have never happened to start with the damn public vote

[@seanbarker4610]

Katrina and the waves won for the U.K in the 1990's, i believe Katrina was either American or Canadian!

[@saintofspades567]

Watch the new show live next week!! 🎉🥳

[@vayu3917]

There was strong public complaint and protest in the following months, as people accused the juries of having awarded victory to Sweden merely because the following year marked the 50th anniversary of ABBA’s win. In theory, the EBU (the organization of European broadcasters, including countries like Australia) had stated that it would review the jury voting system to give more weight to the public vote (which is both cast and paid for by the public), but this did not happen. This year too, there have been controversies regarding certain events and decisions made by the EBU, prompting some countries to call for a review of the rules and greater transparency. There were numerous boos from the audience directed both at the EBU representative and Israel, and some accused certain broadcasters of covering up the boos with prerecorded applause. Due to these incidents, several countries initially expressed uncertainty about participating, though they eventually confirmed their presence. Nevertheless, it is clear that the EBU will need to make changes to prevent a decline in participation and public interest.

[@RevolutionaryUsername]

4:22 Yes. San Marino (a tiny country) once resorted to sending the same woman 4 times in a row because their population is tiny. It’s frowned upon by the fans, but it’s perfectly fine.

[@DulcisAbsentia]

Please I need more Eurovision reactions

[@johncrwarner]

You have to remember that Sweden was until 1809 the colonial power in Finland and all Finns still learn Swedish in school though a lot hate it. My Finnish friends although they speak Swedish won't speak it to Swedes as the dialect in Finland is "flat" and Swedes make fun of it. Like the French make fun of the Quebecois.

[@bjonndrogg6612]

Had no idea we made fun of Finns speaking swedish, I think most find it endearing

[@lovisalindstrom7920]

@@bjonndrogg6612 yes i say the same. Have studied with both natural swedish speaking people from the island of Åland and people from the mainland who learned it in school. I did not find there axcent funny at all. They seem to be a very pleasant people, their nation is just a bit younger than Sweden.

[@Babesinthewood97]

I love the dialect Finlandssvenska. Yes I believe swedes used to bully Finns back in the day but those days are over. Finland is fantastic.

[@johncrwarner]

@@bjonndrogg6612 I can only go on the small sample of Finns I know plus a British friend who studied Swedish at Helsinki University, because it is bilingual, and they all have reported that a Finnish Swedish accent is looked down on.

[@Tingletonttu]

We used to be the same country not a colony. Not different from how medieval European kingdoms worked.

[@rickjr37]

The US should definitely try in Eurovision on a one time invited basis. If only to try it once. And if we lost,who cares? At least we gave it a go and would gracefully thank the EBU for the opportunity. Our greatest mistake is if we sent someone popular to perform. That would be a nightmare and we’d get roasted by the public.

[@rinl.6924]

This years Eurovision already had a set winner. Next year marks the 50th anniversary of the contests most popular winner, ABBA. I know it dosent sound great to say... but i am sure there was a but of Jury work to make next years host country Sweden. I think Loreen's song was great [also Ireland's Johnny Logan has one twice as singer and once as composer --- so they won 3x (and i think twice in a row?)]. But it was clear that Finland had hit on something the contest did not expect. It was a party song, sung not in English, and with a bit of a silly performance ... not the usual traits of a winner. However, the public loved it. More than double the votes of Sweden.

[@onomatopoetisk]

To me, that the winner was a setup is a lame conspiracy theory rolling around in commentary sections. What would for instance Moldova gain from having Sweden hosting next year? Their jury gave Sweden 12 points. Why would the juries care about making such a thing like an Abba tribute/anniversary thing happen? They can’t possibly like Abba that much. And, Abba was mentioned already this year as a part of showing off previous winners.

[@cynic7049]

Lies rarely sound great to say. Please provided any proof for you vile accusation.

[@PtolemyJones]

Ber nice if you took your image away during the clips, you block the captions.

[@sachmetmuller1298]

I'm from Germany and my personal favorite was the Czech entry, but as for Loreen or Käärijä, I would have liked to see Käärijä in 1st place. And that's how the audience saw it, too. While the juries awarded more and more points for Sweden, the audience loudly chanted "Cha Cha Cha" for Finland. Fun fact: In the week after the Eurovision Song Contest, Käärijä's "Cha Cha Cha" was number 1 in the Swedish singles charts, and Loreen was only number 3.

[@Sammy_The_Umbreon]

I feel like being second place did more for Käärijä than actually winning. It stirred up way more drama and brought more attention to his song. Something that will be remembered for a while because 'he should've won'.

[@Pilutta100]

He would have won in my opinion, if Loreen wasn't there. ❤I actually see Finland as the winner because it got everyone going . But Loreen rules and did that too. tattoo

[@AlexCusdin]

I desperately wanted Cyprus to win. Their song was amazing along with the performance and the singer's voice was incredible. And, answering your question on how people end up representing their country; there is a previous, non public, contest where you'd send in your song with a performance and the best will get to join the Eurovision. Coming from a 17yo Irishman who's been watching the Eurovision every year with my mom

[@stewthorne]

does the NAME give you a clue ????????????

[@niallrussell7184]

Australia???

[@susanashcroft2674]

@@niallrussell7184 Israel?

[@stewthorne]

@@niallrussell7184 NO Euro means EUROPE

[@andreasg.9997]

I did think Finland would win. But i was rooting for Austria.

[@lolalo6344]

Finland got the most votes from the crowd and I agreed with them. Sweden got a lot of jury votes though.

[@andrewburns743]

I’m Australian and love that we get to compete, but understand that Europeans might find that annoying. I think there should be an Asia Pacific Song contest then the nations around the Pacific Ocean and East Asia could compete. That would take Australia out of Eurovision and we’d get to compete against the likes of South Korea, Malaysia, Canada, Chile, US, Indonesia, Japan etc. Wouldn’t be the same as Eurovision but bound to be as entertaining. PS - My fav was Sweden, but also loved Czechia, Belgium, Spain and Australia (ofcourse)

[@mimine101]

As a European I love what you guys bring to Eurovision and hope you stay. You were in my top 5 this year

[@susanashcroft2674]

I voted for Australia, loved the song.

[@Niki91-HR]

I personally dont mind you guys in Eurovision. I mean you guys understand us hahahhha also werent you invited due to the fact that your country was watching it for decades? But I think after Australia joining we dont have to expand it anymore. If we take into account the countries which withdrew and maybe return one day it will be too much then. Eurovision Asia was planned years ago and idk why the plan failed at the end. Americavision seems to have flopped. Which was expected. Idk how good of an idea is to make it into a franchise anyway. Its ok if you stay with us ;)

[@sachmetmuller1298]

Hey, this is the one week when Australia is part of Europe. 🥰 I think that's wonderful. In addition, it's not called "European Song Contest" but "Eurovision Song Contest", and Eurovision is an association of broadcasters, which also includes broadcasters outside Europe, such as Israel. And Australia is an associated member, too. Therefore: Everything is fine. 🙂

[@Niki91-HR]

@@sachmetmuller1298 You are right with the Eurovision part. I guess some people dont know that or act like they act to non european contestants due to the reason why the Song contest was created in the first place. Idk if this is true but one Australian told me once that Australia is sometimes seen as little Europe...idk if he made that up or if there is some truth to it but either way you guys are dope people and to be honest I kinda feel like we do feel closer to you guys, especially the people of european descent than we do with the american counterpart.😅😁

[@sussie5463]

Every country have their own national competition first. Well. Or they just choose a song? It really is up to each country to decide how they choose their representative. As I'm from Sweden I can say we have our own competiton that first starts with 3-4 different heats (1 heat per week so it takes like a month before we are finished) where we select 4 songs from each heat to go to the final and the winner of the final will be our representative in Eurovision. We have the televoters and a jury just like in Eurovision, but we also get an international jury that gives points so it actually isn't just the Swedish people voting. I never vote myself but if I had been I would have voted for "Six feet under". If you are interested here's a link of a recap to the Swedish finalists 2023: kzbin.info/www/bejne/jpSkm5ysqtmEi8U

[@jinz0]

finland was better

[@mtav30]

Yes, she was speaking French. She said "I am totally pleased that you too speak French, Graham! Tell me, which is your favorite French film?"

[@lassam333]

I don't want the USA to participate at the Eurovision Song Contest. You can be either chosen internally or there is a national selection process. Artists can participate how often they want to or are chosen to. There a a few artists that have participated a few times for their own countries or even for different countries: Valentina Monetta 4x for San Marino Udo Jürgens 3x for Austria Anna Vissi 2x for Greece, 1x for Cyprus Elisabeth Andreassen 2x for Norway, 1x for Sweden There are, however, 2 singers who won twice: Johnny Logan for Ireland (1980 and 1987) and now Loreen for Sweden (2012 and 2023). Johnny Logan won also as a composer for Linda Martin (Ireland 1992). Loreen was favourite to win from the beginning and I definitely preferred her over Käärije. My personal favourites were Italy, Israel and Croatia.

[@cococovers1333]

actually finland was part of sweden for a very long time a couple of hundred years ago which makes this situation even more complicated lol

[@CarinaSchwartz-zk2to]

We have A contest during 6 weeks and votes every weekend for our favorites. Loreen was worthy winner. I love Kärijää as well. Wonderful performance from them both. (My Mother is Swedish and my after is Finnish 😊. ) .

[@CarinaSchwartz-zk2to]

Father

[@Plaftifum]

Germany here! My favorite this year was Lithuania... Out of these two I would have chosen Sweden but apart from Eurovision I am also a big fan of the Country itself so I might be biased. :D

[@californianreacts]

Good picks!

[@Plaftifum]

@@californianreacts SO! Did you keep following the ESC? Do you have a favorite this year?

[@sarkastin2783]

In Sweden we have "Melodifestivalen" where artists perform, and the people watching and a jury votes for the winner to send to Eurovision. Look it up. It's a whooooole a** thing here. 😂 We are a bit obsessed with this. 😅 We're competing for about six weeks here from february to march. *cough 😝

[@woz_in_oz]

Finland!! Sorry but think US would take it too seriously

[@californianreacts]

No need to be sorry, knowing how competitive my country is I don't disagree one bit!

[@azzagirl]

The first second I heard her voice , for me was Sweeden the winner ( overall very high quality production ) 👍🏼

[@user-vj4dp4xr8k]

i was like who are those idiots who said yes about USA joining the eurovision. Thank God you were just joking.

[@californianreacts]

I couldn't keep a straight face for more than a few seconds after I said that haha, was fun!

[@20100520able]

💚🇫🇮🎶Käärijä 💚

[@mumblic]

Public vote: Sweden gave Finland 12 points, Sweden got points from every country except from one (Finland)!! ;-)) Forget the politics argument, it's about emotions (and strategy) The Finish people knew they that Sweden was a direct competitor

[@cecilialeitet2794]

It is a bit funny isn’t it. Finland yelling about fixed votes, meanwhile they are ”fixing” their own televote. Im fine with them awarding 12p to Norway, she deserved it. But being sooo scared of Loreen that they gave her 0! Makes Swedens victory even better. (And don’t tell me it’s because finns don’t like Tatoo, it is charting over there as well).

[@mumblic]

@@cecilialeitet2794 I was afraid to say this loudly, because I can't image that the broadcaster would fix televoting. Sometimes the commentator of the national broadcaster is able to manipulate the viewers a lot, but I also can't image that the Finnish people would not vote for Loreen. Clearly something happened here, Some clarity and transparently would be nice here.

[@iirishele5787]

the finnish audience didn't like the tattoo enough to get points, so what?

[@intros3]

I believe that many people say that the USA should not be at Eurovision, but can anyone tell why? Do they just repeat this "no" one after another? I don't think there would be anything wrong if the USA was also at Eurovision, just like Australia? But probably until the time when the USA would have realized that it is equal among equals. Because the fact that American music production is the strongest in the world would be difficult for Americans to admit that this does not mean that they automatically have to win. I think even the Australians have a problem with it because they haven't won in the years they've been participating. And that's the point of Eurovision. around 40 countries compete every year, only one always wins, and the majority of European countries have long understood that winning Eurovision is very difficult. This has been known in Europe for 50 years, which Australia still has to learn, but as they say, they won't go to Eurovision anymore. Because they saw that victory is too far for them too. However, the USA will never be at Eurovision anyway, as said, the principle of the competition is still too equal for it.

[@Galantus1964]

as a Dane ( yes don't mention our song urghh )none of the 2 .... Norway,Alessandra with Queen of the Kings got robbed i liked Loreens song alot but .. Alessandra did it for me

[@lolilololhi4098]

If it was up to me, i wanted Latvia to win but they didn't even make it to the final so I was rooting for Sweden during the final. I did kind of expect Sweden to win anyways so

[@john26874]

I always limit myself to 10 votes a year. This year i gave - Portugal 4, Slovenia 3, Belgium 2 & Italy 1.

[@harperwiccan475]

Well, America’s Song Contest was a HUGE flop last year so womp womp 😂

[@yascaoimhin]

Just to remind all that it is a SONG contest. Who you send to perform that song has never mattered. The only rules are that it has to be less than three 3 minutes and no released commercially before September the previous year. That is it. If America joined and sent Beyonce, they could. But they wouldn't because America would never join, because we wouldn't let them :)

[@newelbon]

I wanted Finland to win, but the half of points are from a professional jury of every country, and Loreen have better voice and singing.

[@thomaslowdon5510]

A panel of judges vote one set of votes.. Then the public do phone voting to give another set of votes Theyre all added to get the winner...each countries capital gets a live on air call video to tell their public vote

[@thomaslowdon5510]

Each country has song contests of their own weeks prior to the main event...choose who theyre sending for the actual main event...

[@florenna]

Not weeks, but months prior, actually. Acts would have *very* little time to prepare if it was weeks ;)

[@thomaslowdon5510]

@@florenna ok thanks for correcting me l didnt say how many weeks...i was just telling an american what goes on. 6 months would be 20 weeks is that better ?????

[@conn7125]

My favourite was Sweden but I would have been happy if Finland had won too cause it’s a brilliant song. I did however think it would be Finland that would win.

[@chanelrosatitv7906]

you: "is this normal?" answer: "yes for the eurovision and for us european. No for the other months of the year and for who is not European or don't live in europe" trust me, who watch eurovision every year have seen things more weird and crazy than this.

[@loevet2]

I voted for Italy. I was actually surprised by Finland´s high score. Sure, their clothes were flashy and funny, but the song wasn´t that good. It wasn´t even in my top 10 list. Tatoo was much better, but I wouldn´t have picked it as a winner. Third or fourth maybe.

[@josniikseen6405]

They did know it all the time. Thats why she did wear mic . Eurovision is so corrupted by Swedes.

[@johamlett27]

I’m in the UK. I preferred Sweden’s song to Finland’s but I wanted Australia to win 🤟

[@susanashcroft2674]

Same here.

[@Solsortemor]

I wanted Finland to win and my neighbour country is also Sweden (Denmark)... but I love Käärijä

[@ronnopotter]

Those people making silly questions in the comments like why Australia and Israel are allowed... Don't you have Google? The answer is two cliks away 😅

[@robertburr2212]

I thought Cyprus would win....nothing to do with his singing tho! Lol 😂

[@rosaliegolding5549]

I cant understand it it’s a European contest for the European’s why other not Europe countries are in it eg Australia . I live in Australia and even I am scratching my head , and the Contest is getting more WEIRD as the years go by it never used to be like that all very Puzzling 🤷‍♀️

[@ESC_ChrisM]

I thought Finland would win, I wanted Serbia's Luke Black to win (Spaaaavaaaa, Game over bitch). But that was never going to happen :) I did win money by betting on an Israel top 5 finish though, so there's that :) I'm absolutely delighted with Belgium's result. Yes, she was speaking very good French - not native level, but pretty proficient.

[@LunaTheNintendog]

I was team Game Over Bitch too!!

[@onomatopoetisk]

I liked Serbia’s vibe seeing his national performance but I didn’t quite feel it coming through the screen at ESC, unfortunately. 😕

[@aljaklapsicmonroe]

The contry do the contry Song competitions , and the winner of the country is send on the Eurovision Song contest 💝💝💝so every contry first have there Little inside the country cinperition.. It is a real Big deal , and everybody is watching it. I remember as kids with the familiy 💝💝💝💝

[@sofiaortega4199]

Why not?

[@tombroderick7206]

We are still getting used to the variety of languages and music and customs across Europe... the variety really is amazing. USA by contrast is basically a mono culture. Sorry, but it is not a good fit.

[@YukiTheOkami]

I felt like finlNd was to adhd to be the winner im actually suprized they got second plsce evdn xD