Eurovision 2023 Retrospective

Captions are automatically on because I talk fast sometimes. I gloss over things often so if you want to add anything or correct anything, let me know and I'll put in a pinned comment :)
Here are the other cool people whose videos you should watch like right now:
/ @overthinkingit
/ @eurovisionhistories
/ @esctom
/ @thepeacearound (specifically this video:)
• EUROVISION 2023 - LET'...
/ @eleanornightwalker (specifically this video:)
• Eurovision 2023: The e...
I also took a lot of inspiration from Wiwibloggs' reviews for each performance. You check those out here: wiwibloggs.com/2023/04/09/eur...
0:00:00 Introduction
0:03:56 Allocation
0:07:23 First semi-final
0:21:12 Second semi-final
0:33:45 Grand final
0:40:18 Semi-final voting
0:49:39 Grand final voting
0:58:26 Outro(duction)
All rights of the footage of the Eurovision Song Contest belong to the EBU, the ESC, and national public broadcasters. All rights are reserved to their perspective owners.
"Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use."

[@ExtraInExile]

Corrections/Addendums: 48:17 Albania also received a lot of votes from the ROW because Kosovo was one of the most active countries in it! 48:40 Lithuania received a lot of votes from the UK and Ireland because of diaspora. I checked up on that before making the script but I didn't think the diaspora was significant enough to make a change, but I was probably wrong there.

[@Frokkdot0]

Also at 3:32 you made a statement that says that Belarus isnt allowed to participate because of the war,but they only got a suspension until July 2024 after trying to send a political song to Rotterdam

[@simplesushichef]

Tbf from.what I've seen in lived experience, there's a large Lithuanian community in the UK, and through talking with friends of this diaspora, Eurovision is pretty popular - maybe more were watching than anticipated?

[@arthurjohnson9982]

This also explains high votes for Poland, too.

[@Kichine]

As a Finnish I'm super bitter about this year but I have to admit its kinda funny that out of all countries to win over Finland like this it was Sweden. The country we most hate losing to and the one we are the most bitterly jealous of as a country. There is this old saying in Finland that goes "It doesn't matter who wins as long as Sweden loses" and yeah... The winner being Sweden was like extra salt in the wound.

[@o5-1-formerlycalvinlucien60]

Sweden really stole that win from us, yeah...

[@ymnok9408]

so Finns are simillar to Poles Finns are salty bout Swedes Poles are salty bout Germans

[@bodan1196]

@@ymnok9408 The "being salty" might claim some merrit, but there is a difference between Salmiakki and NaCl. (And yes, my comment is... a very far fetched jest, best left un-explained. Sorry. "But it is funny to me!" ;-)

[@wildcardbitchesyeehaw8320]

@@ymnok9408 And both are bit more than salty about Russia

[@Pleasegivemeschoki]

yeah similar saying in Austria when it comes to eurovision at least "it doesn't matter where we place as long as Germany is last"

[@hlibushok]

"Poland's song was so generic it overflowed the meter" finally I found someone who thinks the same.

[@jasastopar]

I unironically (kinda😅) listen to it. I mean, its a summer bop and no matter what, i think it performed better on the chart then jann's song would

[@naam230]

@@jasastopar I don't think Gladiator would do well on the charts, but unlike Solo, it's actually a (really) good song

[@EmoBearRights]

I hate Solo partly because of that, partly because of the circumstances in which it was selected and the garbage culture of anti LGBTQ+ which afflicts the Polish government whom their TV company are puppets of and Edyta Gorniak who was one of the jurors on their national final is a conspiracy theorist and all round arse and partly it infuriates me that people including some in the LGBTQ+ community whistle past it because it's a bop with memeabilty. Poland did a very bad thing and submitted trash and they've been rewarded for it - yes worse things happen in the real world but that if anything makes it worse because I want some respite from that in sparkly rainbow land.

[@yaelmeyer348]

​@@naam230he's doing well in the charts already without going to Eurovision

[@_blank-_]

BEJBA

[@lukeonrails]

Something to remember with Australia’s televotes is that only viewers waking up at 5am/3am to watch the show live are voting - so a lot of eurofans who have been following the hype of the entries for weeks, and not quite as many casual viewers

[@barrytschirpig9328]

Weirdly as an casual Australian fan, I agree. I have only seen 4 or so Eurorvisions live since I'm someone who usually watches only the grand final at 7pm on SBS (and two of those were while being in Europe). Still, between being in Perth for work, finding a work mate went to uni with the lead singer and potentially being our last contestants for a while, I woke up at 3am to watch and vote in an amazing show! Also yes, I saw Voyager live at WA day and it was a shame the thunderstorms cancelled their show.

[@ericktellez7632]

Why is even Australia in a European competition to begin with

[@barrytschirpig9328]

@@ericktellez7632 Did you wake up at 3am to this?

[@katerrinah5442]

I'm a huge Australian fan and I've never managed to get myself up that early for Eurovision 😂

[@barrytschirpig9328]

​@@katerrinah5442 Back on the east coast I would do more 6am starts and you can catch up anything you missed in the breaks. I was keen to get up this early since it might be Australia's last time in for a while plus, I think I saw my office in the Australian starting card.

[@FORGOTTENMINDFREAK23]

The biggest issue for a lot of these songs was just the level of competition. Too many great songs, that could have won in previous years.

[@aliegg4790]

i’m like 90% convinced that “Who The Hell is Edgar?” woulda won in 2016-2019 if they aren’t murdered by running order

[@garydosgdg7969]

​@@aliegg4790 No way it would've won in 2016 or 2019, 2017 or 2018 maybe...

[@saturnsandjupiters358]

@@aliegg4790wtf are you talking about that was the worst shit I've ever heard

[@rofa6086]

We will keep chanting cha cha cha at every eurovision from now on

[@elli705]

YUPPPPPP

[@wild_rose]

Just shows how much you deserved to get humbled that night. And no matter how much you keep doing that, you will never get the 2023 trophy back 💀

[@marsukarhu9477]

Finland, Armenia, Moldova were my TOP3. P.S. There were at least 3 barefoot contestants: Moldova, Cyprus & Sweden P.P.S. Finland's song isn't about drinking. It's about being an introvert and afraid of showing feelings and letting loose. It's actually criticizing that culture where you have to drink in order to dance and have fun.

[@Noeyc26]

I mean you have to admit La Zarra flipping us off was so iconic

[@tanjanikola9489]

Finnish public voted Sweden to 13th place out of 26, so outside of the points, BUT Finland is also the promised land of metal heads, rewarding rock and ethnic songs in favour of pop songs as well.

[@Sundain]

Sweden usually recieves points from the televote in Finland so it's wierd that Sweden got none this year

[@berlineczka]

@@Sundain It's actually quite logical. The Finns really wanted Käärijä to win, and Loreen was his greatest competition so they all refrained from giving her points. Swedes did not care that much (Loreen already won once, and Sweden in total several times already, and the song was a high quality generic pop and no Euphoria) so they gave points to Finland.

[@Ruinwyn]

​@@Sundain Finland is pretty tired of that specific type of Swedish pop. It's well sung, well produced, polished to perfection pop song. Not as good as Euphoria, and nothing interesting. It's not bad, but also absolutely not interesting or in any way relevant to Finnish music scene. When there were so many more interesting acts, voting for competent "sequel" was unlikely. Finland also left Sweden without televotes in 2018.

[@Sundain]

@@berlineczka This was what I was thinking too, I might not have been clear on that in my comment.

[@Sundain]

@@Ruinwyn in 2018 Sweden didn't recieve points from every other country though...

[@scattypetty]

I (German) was Team Finland all the way and I maintain it should have won. Literally brought Europe together with music.

[@julialosttheaccwith500subs3]

…

[@aburrki6732]

if you're gonna do another one of these next year you should also watch the national selections and pre parties, because the drama from those is like half the fun of eurovision season lul

[@najrenchelf2751]

Or pick a national final each week - at some point there were 5 on the same night!

[@lil_damascena]

About the 12 points from Spain to Slovenia in the second semifinal: Apart from the Spain-Portugal relationship, that it's mention as a factor in the video, the reason why they got a 12 is fans. Joker Out has a huge spanish fanbase that resulted in the televoters giving them the most support. Also, Bojan, the singer, being kinda fluent in spanish (RTVE, the spanish broadcaster, has a few videos in which you can hear him speaking in spanish) had something to do with it. Joker Out was also really supportive with Blanca Paloma and viceversa, so the voting was not because of politics or lenguage, but more because of the own spanish Eurovision community and they're ties

[@oddda5956]

“A wake up call to legalise same-sex marriage” Me, looking at our current government: *cries in Italian*

[@_blank-_]

RIP Berlusconi 😞

[@Zyguliukas]

I'm not sure if this is the reason, but Lithuania getting a lot of points from The UK and Ireland might be because emigration is very popular here, and those countries are the ones that Lithuanians emigrate to the most. Also, great vid!

[@Azurethewolf168]

I mean the judges are going to be biased towards a country no matter what, it just feels like a lot of the time it’s not who does best

[@TheManInBlueFlames]

We have also given Lithuania our 8 10 and 12 points a lot in the past. We famously gave Donny Montell in 2016 our 12 points!

[@tonyttt31]

Huge Lithuanian diaspora in Ireland and the UK

[@YourGayOverlord]

There's also a lot of Poles, who might also vote for Lithuania as well. Not sure why they wouldn't vote for Poland, but hey ho

[@joujou264]

Definitely not enough people to sway the votes like that, unless the Lithuanians in the UK are absolute superfans of Eurovision. Besides that, UK and Ireland are also the biggest emigration targets for Latvians and we don't seem to get that sort of special treatment. It seems Lithuania's entries just happen to gel well with British tastes.

[@kin1332]

I still haven't recovered from EAEA flopping, she was my top pick, it's such a good song with great vocals, lyrics and staging.

[@alvarovonriegan3533]

I'm Spanish and like whenever I see, listen, or read the number 5 I have a PTSD flashback of the exact moment they announced the five points to Blanca Paloma me and my mother and sister were DEVASTATED like as a family member just died or something, totally speechless

[@shlomomarkman6374]

When i listened to it during the show there was something wrong. It felt like the sound was transmitted badly with dissonances enough to actually be painful. Maybe in some broadcasts there was such issue, enough to degrade the televote.

[@Theslowishdiaries]

I agree. Such a shame as it seemed so fresh and new while coming from a tradition we don’t normally see on Eurovision. My thinking is for those viewers who just tune in for the final and don’t watch any build up at all it may have sounded too different and unfamiliar to like it. Like the video said, it was almost too clever.

[@anonimni1288]

As a Bosnian and Herzegovian i have been forced to listen to the Croatian song over and over again! I can literly sing it right now. Here let me show you : Mama kupila traktora, ŠČ!

[@josephaugustinerhodenhiser1353]

Trajna-nina, armagedon, nona. ŠČ🇭🇷🚜

[@anonimni1288]

@@user-ht7fr9kl1d let me translate the song for you : Mama kupila traktora ŠČ! (mother buys a tracktor ŠČ!) Mama ljubila morona ŠČ! (mother kisses a moron) Trajna nina armagedon nona! ŠČ! (i don't know how to translate this part its just random words) Mama idem u rat! (mother im going to war) Onaj mali psihopat! (that little psychopat) Onaj krokodilski psihopat! (that crocodile psychopat)

[@saturated3821]

52:15 this isn't nearly as bad as if they had booed Loreen getting points. When there's a clear crowd favourite, what do you think is going to happen? I think it glaringly underlined the issue and that's fine.

[@wild_rose]

There wasn’t a “clear crowd favorite” until the grand final night. Loreen was leading the esc scoreboard by 40 000 points until the final week and won the eurovisionworld poll which was voted on by 200 000 people

[@VexSG]

Here to comment on the 12 points given to Lithuania from the UK, I know you commented on diaspora which is partly true but likely not enough to warrant 12 points, i do think it did well because the style of the song itself is quite in line with British pop music or x-factor winners which is why I think it did well with our votes. Great video!

[@rexglucksburg]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who like Azerbaijan song. It may not be the flashiest song, but it's a nice mid tempo soft rock. It's kinda nostalgic but also modern

[@najrenchelf2751]

I think Eurovision was simply not the right medium for it to shine.

[@czajnik7060]

2:12 there's actually a eurovision's tradition that show is hosted in both english and french so they usually have one host that is fluent in french

[@user-gr9fq9gt9w]

Australians voting for Austria is 100% not a coincidence. Whether they voted because of the joke, or by mistake. I bet if you explore the Australian social websites during the contest, you would notice that.

[@FORGOTTENMINDFREAK23]

Nah we just got the song and thought it was a banger

[@user-gr9fq9gt9w]

@@FORGOTTENMINDFREAK23 Of course that most of it is because of the song itself. But that contributed as well.

[@aliegg4790]

the voting australians tend to be diehard eurovision fans who wake up early enough to vote

[@FORGOTTENMINDFREAK23]

@@user-gr9fq9gt9w No, no it didn't. We're not stupid. We know contries cannot vote for themselves. We've only been watching for decades too. We thought the song was great.

[@user-gr9fq9gt9w]

@@FORGOTTENMINDFREAK23 It would be the opposite of being stupid. It's for the memes!

[@catherineburow2813]

Solidarity for my metal friends in Eurovision... You know you're a metal fan when metal music is your synonym for 'calming meditation and sleep music'.

[@mayomayu1242]

If you have half an hour to spare some day you should watch the recap of San Marino's national selection, they had a total of 106 (?) songs Promise, you won't regret it

[@ExtraInExile]

so nice of them to include literally every performer in San Marino!

[@Vhmvd]

@@ExtraInExile they barely had anyone from san marino, and the only two Sammarinese got a wild card prequalification, the rest were mostly Italians.

[@user-ry9ki3ts2c]

Haven’t watched the whole video yet but I think also a reason “cha cha cha” didn’t win is because older people, probably a majority of the jury AND within the public vote just don’t vibe with it. I also had friends who just found the song too weird. Personally I loved it, but Loren was very good too. Winning isn’t everything, something memorable is- which both succeeded at.

[@ShadowSkryba]

You might actually get me into Eurovision. Wouldn't mind an annual summary.

[@najrenchelf2751]

It's live streamed on KZbin without commentary. :)

[@melindamuller4466]

I was surprised to see Duje go through to the final, something about her family just makes me laugh in the wrong way; she completely slays the vocals, but then the brother(?) sings his first line and I can't help but chuckle.

[@_dont_mind_me]

Her parents slay tho 😂

[@ferrugemalemao]

I am surprised that you didn't mention Germany in the flag section because they didn't carry any flag. It was a big issue here among (right-wing) Germans

[@garcsstuff6734]

Very interesting watch- about Latvia’s 8 points in the rest of the world vote that’s definitely because most people who participated in that vote were fans and Latvia was very much a fan favourite before the contest- it got a very strong fan push since most of us didn’t expect it to qualify due to the fact most of us disliked it at first (I was the same, it’s my second place now)

[@euroesc5013]

Are we… are we the same person? I also disliked Latvia at first and now it’s my 2nd

[@aliegg4790]

@@euroesc5013 i think we triplets because i did not like Aijā at all but the week of the contest it was my number one, but it fell because Austria took back over as my favorite

[@Matoelukka]

​@@aliegg4790 make that quadruplets, I hated it at first, now it's in my top 5

[@euroesc5013]

@@aliegg4790 I think we were expecting something more fun so it was easy to feel disappointed and forget it among so many songs, but when we listen it again knowing that it’s a slow song we are like “oh, it’s a GOOD slow song”.

[@vincenzofromwiisports3993]

As a ukrainian, Switzerland’s song feels more offensive than anything. They’ve barely been supportive and considering their entire history has been avoiding conflict it feels very tone deaf for him to be worrying about dying in a war when their country has infamously not taken stances during dire conflicts such as ww2

[@_blank-_]

What were they supposed to do in WW2? Collaborate with nazis like Bandera and the UPA?

[@hlibushok]

I had exactly the same Eurovision experience as you this year: I barely watched it last year and only cared about my own country's performance in the previous years, but when I first saw the contest in full I became a huge fan.

[@Azurethewolf168]

You should change your handle it’s just the default one

[@dandelionhood4508]

I really loved the songs this year, one of the strongest years music-wise in my opinion, since I've started watching Eurovision in 2015. I liked most songs in the finale (except for Poland, I was convinced they wouldn't qualify) and was so sad that Malta, Latvia and Georgia didn't qualify. While I was neither on team Sweden nor team Finland initially (my heart went out to Serbia and Norway), I did end up rooting for Käärija, just because I rooted for anyone who had a slight chance against Sweden. I didn't even like Noa Kirel's song that much, but I remember thinking that there was no way she was only half as good as Loreen. I love Loreen and her song was good but come on? Double the points of Israel? Was Sweden really 100 times better than Germany, who got three points? I really wouldn't have minded if Sweden had won, but the massive lead Loreen built up made it look like nobody else even had a chance. The jury didn't even care to give many points to songs that were underappreciated by the public, such as Spain, Germany, Serbia or Portugal. Even if the results weren't rigged, it sure felt as if they had been and that's a large part why I and so many others are so salty about them. So yeah, had to rant a little. Hope everything made sense

[@Dragonseer666]

I was watching a minute long video and another video came out! Good to see you btw.

[@Mickelraven]

52:37 Hearing this reminded me of something. There's this saying that you might've heard of that I'm gonna use as a metaphor. _"You either die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become the villain"_ This is what Loreen should've done. Have her legacy in tact by being the 2012 winner and not competing in the 2023 contest. It's sad that because Loreen won, people have turned against her. Tattoo is not a bad song, and Loreen is not a bad singer. Hating on Loreen personally because she won is undeserving, but I see why people do it.

[@janmamu8721]

thanks for adding subtitles to an HOUR LONG VIDEO! like holy sh

[@stekra3159]

Thank you for sharing my fealings on Poe and Austria.

[@raphaelhamilton3526]

As a Brit, I think our placement was fully deserved.

[@rottenchamipignon]

I actually liked the song, and I only listen to hiphop and punk, so I guess Uk suprised me! Felt sad by their placement, its was fun!

[@joaovitormatos8147]

As a non-European Eurofan who have watched every single festival, it's nice to see someone from outside the fandom giving input

[@brobb00]

Great video! I'd love to see you make one about Eurovision 2024 next year :D Also you'll love the Eurovisions of years past. I'm an American who has been watching Eurovision since 2018 and I did just that (and now I'm kind of obsessed).

[@balticthegrapher]

48:40 probably because like 200K+ of lithuanians live in the UK

[@nick3805]

As A German: If I ever get to write a German ESC entry, it'll be something like a Mash-Up of NMIXX' O.O and NCT 127's Sticker.

[@annisaurus]

Watch it Baila Baila Baila Baila Watch it how nice how nice O.O

[@melindamuller4466]

Mimicat was really one of my favourites this year.

[@sickangelproductions]

This was a very informative video. Thank you for debunking the jury debate btw

[@FORGOTTENMINDFREAK23]

Correction. Voyager was eating Vegemite sandwiches. Hopefully with cheese.

[@Sipu97]

I honestly don't get why people defend the juries by saying that they are needed. Why are they needed? They aren't even professionals or music experts only, they care about radio bops and money. More power to the people if not all of it. Finland is the winner ♥

[@balticthegrapher]

yeah sure, put poland at 8th place, what a great idea..

[@davidmorris8319]

So you say that Spain deserved dead last?

[@balticthegrapher]

@@davidmorris8319 fr these people need to think for more than 5 seconds to actually realize how bad it would be

[@jijitters]

I think the jury is more important now that voting has been opened up to the whole world. Mobilizing a fanbase to mass-vote for someone based on the word of a celebrity or something is a major possibility that should be prevented. Being unable to vote for your own country is one way they do that, and the jury is another.

[@wild_rose]

Finland is the winner?? 💀 so where is their trophy

[@santa5403]

this was such a good video

[@Pippis78]

These were my absolute most favourite Eurovision contest ever! So many good songs and such good vibes. I think what actually won people over with Käärijä was - well, Käärijä. He's genuinely a really nice person, always giggling and being silly, and just authentic and not at all pretentious (except ironically). I have never EVER seen anyone be so loved and cheered on like him. Even a lot of the other contestants seemed to be more interested in Käärijä winning than their own scores! And the people who were *working* at the contest went completely fan mode when he performed. I saw footage from the pressroom/backstage, and when he came on everyone stood up and jumped and sang along as loud as they could. And the audience almost starting a RIOT when all the jury votes were going to Loreen. There has never been a contestant like that. Honestly Estonia was my most favourite, but I would have preferred Käärijä over Loreen. Obviously she is a power house and an incredible singer and performer ...but the song honestly isn't very good. She got A LOT of "legendary points". While Cha Cha Cha is _actually_ a really good song! I think that was kinda lost under all the theatrics and silliness (which was fun too!) The dorky part in the middle could have been something better though. But I'd be sad if it was only renembered as a "joke song". I think it's actually an ironic take on the drinking and the message is that you shouldn't need to get drunk to let go ...But yeah, people have adopted it as a party anthem. One funny/great thing is that Käärijä was completely treated as though he had won when he returned to Finland. Everybody is so proud of him and just think he won, he won everyone's hearts. Apparently the swedes weren't all that excited about Loreen's win 😅 But maybe they are so used to winning. I think social media and overall the media circus surrounding the contest creates a huge buzz over the favourites to win. This leads to the votes piling on a few contestants who are expected to fight for the win. A lot of people will give their votes to their favourite of the expected top - and not their actual favourite. If they have even had time to pick one before getting swept away by the buzz and excitement over the most talked about tops. Imo the jurys need to have better quality, professionals not celebrities or big bosses, and more diversity in genres, age, gender. I don't think they should be taken out completely but maybe their vote could be 40% instead of 50.

[@ElainaArcher4]

I think a similar reaction happened with Keiino Just Not as Extreme

[@KyrieFortune]

"Estonia didn't suffer from running placement" it was right before FINLAND in the grand final, it was DESTROYED by the placement, what are you talking about

[@rhjubarb]

i loved this video!! love from estonia what a trainwreck this silly little competition is ^_^

[@LucasMartins-mv1eq]

Portugal getting points from France and Switzerland is because of the Portuguese diasporas in both countries, lots of portuguese people and descendants of them in France and Switzerland

[@martaooooo1909]

excellent analysis!! I just wanted to point out that Estonia receiving televote points from the Netherlands might have been due to the song having a Dutch songwriter (who also worked on Arcade in 2019 and Tout l'univers in 2021 by the way!) And I want to believe that Slovenia's 7 points from Finland were helped by their representatives developing a really sweet friendship over the course of the contest, but I'm not sure how much water that theory actually holds hahaha

[@aliyai4000]

Well Eurovision is truly something to be enjoyed in full, so welcome aboard! A handful of things however: - Some countries heavily benefit from either the jury/televote being maximized over the other (televoting in this case... diaspora) so smaller nations such as Malta (me and you both, i was equally as shocked when i saw that result) and Latvia (my fav that year... sigh) truly did not have a chance. The margin between Latvia and Serbia was tiny too, 3 mere points, and Luke didn't have the best reception at home either. - If you go to Eurovision in depth, it's a lot more complicated since you get into the national selections territory & where things often start to bubble in the wrong way. We earned that 0 points, coming from a Romanian. Theodor did his best with what he could, but our broadcaster is nothing but straight-up trash. Theodor had made an interview just very recently about his experience with TVR and let's just say that he's not over with it just yet - since his contract isn't over. I can link his interview if needed, but he was treated like shit by TVR and his mother almost got sued because, well... the MV for D.G.T was made of his own funds and resources, TVR practically jumped ship but still wanted to blame him for trying. It's a disastrous result but one that was extremely expected knowing the broadcaster's dysfunctionality and tendency to stir their mistakes under a rug and blame the contestants for their mistakes. I feel for this kid though, he could've done so much more if he had a better team. - Poland's the prime example as of how casual voters are severely undermined in this competition. Probably the one having the drama of the year coming from its NS onwards, poles rallied hard to get her disqualified or to make her fail in the semi, them memes started catching up to her, Blanka herself embracing the BEJBA, and being literally a mid summer song in a sea of pretty polarizing songs in SF2, she was sliding through so easily. Many said that Poland may have had failed if juries were still around. I guess we'll never know. - A little joke inside the fandom, some say Poe's ghost played the piano for Estonia and the girls from Austria were nice to give him a solo moment outside their own song lmao. - Also fuck the televoting for dragging Spain and Austria like that, my god. Also Germany didn't deserve last in my opinion, but oh well. - As for the voting section, I think a thing where the fandom unanimously agree upon is that the jury needs some sort of revamp, it's been considered to be favorizing some countries since a while and I feel like this was more or less the cherry on top. It's not Loreen's fault, obviously, she did great with what she had. But it's obvious as clear water that if you look at the televoting alone, no 12's were given to her. It's not the first time Sweden was caught in this whole voting debacle, since allegedly Turkey withdrew because (outside the "it's very very gay" excuse which felt more like an escape goat) Sweden was blatantly favorized throughout the voting system and said voting system was changed to make them place better. The 2013 split results were never shown to the public even to this day, and besides the buying votes thing that got Azerbaijan under fire, this probably was another reason, at least in my own opinion. To sum things up, there's never gonna be a perfect voting format and imminently one or two songs will slip through because well, it happens unfortunately. I still think 50/50 is the perfect ratio, as long as the jury section gets a proper revamp. 100% televote is mostly influenced and just as equally biased since diaspora comes into place and diaspora does what diaspora knows best - vote for their home country or those similar to their home country. But oh well, a me thing I suppose.

[@EmoBearRights]

I legit love that you're a chap in Belgium calling us Blighty and describing Loreen as a mad lass. 😂 Your British friends taught you well. Love from the UK.

[@blitszina2570]

Honestly it's such a shame people were forced to vote strategically this year causing songs like carpe diem and blood and glitter to suffer. I Get it though, people knew how the jury was going to vote and since you gotta pay to vote (shit decision honestly) you end up with people voting strategically. I will admit that I am on the karjaa should've won side but mostly because tattoo feels like a worse euphoria to me (Plus I got sick from hearing it on the radio so many times, same happened to arcade). Might edit this comment later to add stuff since I'm only halfway through the video XD Addition 1: SPAIN I loved it so much, granted I'm biased because I grew up in Spain, specifically in Andalusia which is where flamenco is performed the most. I have to mention that this is specifically a lullaby flamenco song called a buleria. It's likely it didn't do well cause it lacks most if not any things that could tie it to something more western or maybe it was just as simple as people preferring the more traditionally western folk feeling Moldova had (which I loved too cause oh my gosh Moldova was amazing). Still I'll admit the 5 televises saddened me to no end addition 2: for the semis I feel like block voting is less of an issue (or at least less prevalent) cause less people watch them, it's a lot of Eurovision fans or people who just watch it casually who are probably more likely to vote based on preference or at least doesn't vote that much based on "Hey that country is a neighbour or history" at least I'm guessing that's the case

[@andreag-punkt9319]

Nice video. You have a good eye for details and a very nice way to narrate

[@melindamuller4466]

I don't know why, but in the Semis, Australia really slayed for me, but something just felt off in the final, I don't know why.

[@efi3825]

If you want to see a show from a previous year, I'd recommend 2016. At the very least, Australia was a powerhouse that year. But it had a bunch of other memorable ones, too.

[@realhawaii5o]

I'm from one Eurovision obsessed country (Portugal) but I live in another (Estonia). Honestly, the two countries' performance were amazing. It's sad that Portugal did so bad.

[@realhawaii5o]

Not that anyone wants to know, but my favourite songs were: Australia Norway Czechia Estonia Moldova Portugal Croatia

[@alvarovonriegan3533]

Hi Portuguese brother/sister, I'm Spanish and I wanted to know if you liked our entry this year with Blanca Paloma and EAEA, love Portugal 🇵🇹❤️🇪🇸

[@realhawaii5o]

@@alvarovonriegan3533 I think she had really good vocals and as you'd expect her staging was not bad. But again, being one of the 5 big countries always puts you at a disadvantage in the light of every other country in Eurovision 😔

[@alvarovonriegan3533]

@@realhawaii5o for real, like the only country that gets an advantage is Italy for like, BEING ITALY, I think that we should get rid of the Big Five not only because it's a disadvantage for most of the countries that take part in but also because it would be more "meritocratic" that this 5 countries arrive to the final by sending good songs instead of "I pay more money than the rest" you know what I mean. But like for real the televote is so stupid some times, LIKE, HOW DID EAEA RECEIVE THE SAME TELEVOTE POINTS AS DO IT FOR YOUR LOVER!?!?

[@alvarovonriegan3533]

@@realhawaii5o also thanks for the kind words to Blanca Paloma, here in Spain people were very divided about sending flamenco and even though we ended in 17 with 100 points I still think we should send more modern flamenco like EAEA, is just that, this year had amazing level like everyone was perfect and diverse this year

[@lauragyroid3989]

excellent video! I will point out that Estonia has been included in the same voting pot as the nordics all but twice and La Zarra was a semitone sharp during her long note but all in all an excellent and well thought out video :)

[@spazinmonkey]

I'd be happy to see a yearly repeat of a Eurovision explanation. As an American we don't see much news on Eurovision, so to me it's always been this mysterious, arcane thing that happens every year.

[@Theslowishdiaries]

Heeeeyyyy who are you calling elderly?! 😂😂😂 feeling very old seeing the 90s as nostalgic. Love this retro- it’s such a good idea to give it a little bit of time to dissect it, now all my emotions are calm I can be a lot more objective about the show so thanks for sharing your thoughts!

[@LlamasAtMidnight]

I 100% agree with your opinions on Malta

[@felixgonzalezyaelantonio6395]

omgg you voted for the same ones as me,their my 2 favs(portugal and albania)

[@saturated3821]

55:00 I'm not surprised at the Finnish televote and don't think there was a lot of bias, except for people who had multiple favourites that included Sweden who would have chosen to vote for one of their other favourites. Only the bigger ESC stans watch and vote in the semifinals, so it's expected Tattoo would get more votes there. In the grand final it placed 13th in the Finnish televote, and the songs placing above it are all songs I would expect to do well when considering the Finnish music taste. I mean Finland gave Germany 5 points, one of only 3 countries to give them anything in the televote, and that's definitely due to music taste. I LOVED Norway and Czechia myself, and idk for me those women were more interesting and attention grabbing than Loreen, who did so much of the same kind of thing as with Euphoria that it felt kind of boring. I've heard that from many Finns, because we love Euphoria and Tattoo just doesn't stand up to it. But hey, there's sure some saltiness :D You may be interested to hear Finnish radio stations almost completely stopped playing Tattoo after ESC, idk must be complaints from listeners or something.

[@user-kn1de8ww6n]

There's a big reason why Israel is grouped with Eastern europe - a huge portion of Israel's population are immigrants from the ex-USSR, specifically Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova - that's why Israel used to regularly give 12 points to russia, and why Israeli songs do so well with Eastern Europeans

[@frannnie]

AN HOUR VIDEO WOWOWOWOWOOWOWOW

[@LenaWall-ue5pn]

Omg, you are the FIRST person I have seen who also has Portugal ad their favorite.

[@tunahan4418]

OMG you called the belgium netherlands relationship bipolar HELP WAKJHJKDNS. cause youre so right and ive never heard someone describe it so well, we hate each other so much sometimes but other times we will stick up for each other, to the point of wanting to form one united nation again 😭😭😭 edit: ohhhh you're also belgian, that makes sense now

[@Theslowishdiaries]

UK euro fan here: my theory on why we typically vote for Lithuania (or at least the last 3 years anyway) is the music they send is very radio friendly. All the songs sound like things that would do well over here in our charts, so especially for viewers tuning in just for the final, their songs sound familiar enough that we sort of “get” them. They sound generally perfect for radio 2 which I imagine is the main demographic of UK Eurovision viewers. I really like Lithuanian entries generally and that’s my theory as to why!

[@AnArtistInAVoid]

My Finnish perspective on this year’s Eurovision is that I personally didn’t care about Loreen. That might partly because I haven’t watched other Eurovisions in the past, but it’s mostly just the fact that I didn’t like Tattoo as a song that much. It just felt kinda repetitive in a boring way, where it just was repeating stuff about missing someone(I think?) and also a tattoo metaphor. I don’t know about how other people like their music, but I prefer it when it isn’t just sentimentality, and has more energy to it. Which is one of the reasons why I think Blood and Glitter was absolutely robbed of the votes it deserved. That performance was phenomenal in my opinion. I also think that it is kinda dumb to hate on Loreen for winning, and instead hate the jury for its (in my opinion) biased voting towards Loreen. Does that sound salty coming from a Finnish person? Yes, absolutely, but I do believe that the jury should be diversified to multiple genres. Maybe one judge for each genre at least.

[@myri_the_weirdo]

I dunno if it's just a frenchy thing but we got a whole controversy over the fact that LaZarra made a middle finger at the camera when she saw the public vote

[@Azurethewolf168]

I think it is because everywhere else people laugh at it

[@veebehamfil]

Yeah French media had been on FIRE because of that, like I understand that it looked so out of context, but no need to attack the woman because she eventually apologise about it and said it was just a Morrocan gesture. Not to mention, she was accused of "storming" out of the green room during the Sweden-Finland split screen (if you look closely at Finland's screen at some point, you can see her walking by), but she actually went to the bathroom.

[@Vhmvd]

@@veebehamfil An offensive gesture nonetheless, I'm an Arab so believe me if someone did that gesture his finger will be broken within seconds. as for the claim she went to the bathroom is farfetched how coincidental it will be if it was the truth, but no, she simply stormed out since her inflated ego did not handle the reality.

[@TheManInBlueFlames]

The crowd during Eurovision WASN'T British. There were flags of ALL countries by waved around, so it's not fair to say only British people cheered for Mae at the end. Plus, the song became a big hit around the world and made the achievement of getting to the British top 10, which is historically a difficult place to get to. The song charting before Eurovision even began gave the impressions that the song wasn't bad, nor was the staging (apart from that staircase that ruined Mae's vocals). At the end of the day it was Mae's performance itself that let the song down and it could easily have gotten in the top ten in the right year as the odds once said.

[@EmoBearRights]

It was mostly British although from the account of one You Tuber who went to the Eurovision village for the final there were quite a few Germans too.

[@lexezlao]

there are a lot of international flags but most of the people are going to be from the host country (except in maybe Baku 2012)

[@_blank-_]

The performance in the arena wasn't as bad as on TV, since the singing is drown by the music.

[@resolvanlemmy]

I would've loved Liechtenstein to win despite them never being in the show in the first place.

[@morbiusv5857]

I would say that the 12 poits by switzerland and france to Portugal are also due to a sizeable portuguese Diaspora living there,and there is an ukrainian diaspora in Portugal. Signed a portuguese dude in France.

[@ic5889]

Most years I go into eurovision rooting for a song, but this year I was rooting against one. And then it won :( and in a year with so many good songs too. Like if Sweden had done this during the year arcade won I wouldn't have minded so much. But then Sweden wouldn't have had the anniversary year so they can do their ABBA thing which I'm sure did not influence the jury at all :)

[@blitszina2570]

If ya liked that I suggest watching the 2021 grand final, that year was easily one of the best and all of the top 6 could've won in my opinion cause they were amazing

[@laurat9105]

ESC does not have a problem of juries vs. televoting. It has a problem of social media and audience that cannot be controlled. The stans invest not only money for voting but also the time and commitment of following their favourites weeks before the contest. The possibility of chanting or booing the result was quite obvious if one followed about any of the social media platforms before and during the ESC week. The audience is becoming louder as there will be more of those who have grown up with social media at hand first thing in the morning and last thing in the evening.

[@LoboBrasileiro1]

I was SHOCKED when Iceland failed to qualify. It was my favorite this year. T_T

[@janinebedfordl]

I agree pretty totally with your analysis. I think the fact that people had this down as two-horse race from the start of the year distorted all the votes (but most particularly the juries). I agree that Kaarija wasn't personally "robbed" by the juries, I think that in an effort to appear even handed while actually leaning all the way towards Sweden, they did maybe chuck him a few more than they would otherwise but I think that if they'd truly adhered impartially to their criteria, acts like Spain, and France etc would've been scored more fairly and Finland would've come out on top of the total vote with Sweden, I dunno, 3rd, 4th, 5th? I think the public vote was much less affected because I'm sure most voters weren't following that closely but I do suspect that some of the non pop acts (like poor Germany!) lost some public votes to people "in the know" trying to bolster the Finnish vote - I also think Loreen would surely have done far better from the public vote of Finland were it not for the situation... I too feel kind of sad that this sort of tarnishes Loreen's legacy, I'm glad Tattoo is shifting big units around the world because that's some kind of recompense (along with the actual win) . She along with Kaarija and the public who spent money voting, only to get over-ridden by inscrutable juries was not served well by the way things played out this year but if they do adjust the system then maybe it was worthwhile

[@jamesbernadette6216]

Guess I'll check out next year if there's another summary. Hour went by so fast.

[@nicholasdiezmckenna9972]

Will you do a video for this year?

[@Silveirias]

It’s really unfair to imply the Finnish audiences didn’t give points to Loreen because people wanted her to lose. She was 13th in the televotes, so just below getting points. The points the Finnish audience gave reflect Finnish people’s general Eurovision music taste pretty well. Rock and interesting performances appeal to Finns. And the Swedes have already been absolutely disgusting towards Finland, the Finns, the Finnish language, and Käärijä because of this, acting like Sweden is entitled to Finland’s point (while Sweden rarely gives Finland good if any points and nobody here throws a hissy fit about it), resorting to colonialist and xenophobic talking points. For those unaware: Finland has been independent only since 1917. Before that it was part of Russia, before that Sweden. Sweden began colonising Finland in the early 1300s.

[@petrograd4068]

The top 10 countries get points, so Sweden being Finland's #13 was a few spots outside getting any points. One can compare Finland's televoting in the final with their televoting in the semi-final. They had Sweden ranked ahead of Serbia in the semi, but behind them in the final. They also had a few other changes for how they ranked the songs from the first semi-final: Czechia #1, Norway #2 -> Norway #1, Czechia #2 Switzerland #3, Moldova #4, Croatia #5 -> Croatia #3, Moldova #4, Switzerland #5 Those changes make a lot sense given the changes in the starting positions (Norway had a crap starting position in SF1, while Switzerland got a horrible one in the final and Croatia got a great one in the final). That doesn't explain why Sweden was ranked quite that low in the final, but even if they had stayed ahead of Serbia they probably wouldn't have gotten points anyway. There are Finnish people who have straight up said they didn't vote for Sweden because they wanted Finland to win. I don't think it had a massive effect on how many points Sweden got from Finland, but I do think it affected how Finland ranked them. Anyways, I'm sorry to hear you guys have encountered so many xenophobic and probably also conceited comments from Swedes. On the whole, I think any Swedish commentator is more likely to see obnoxious comments from Käärijä fans while Finnish commentators are more likely to see obnoxious comments from Loreen fans. I think it's really sad. I thought Sweden and Finland had the best songs and I would've been happy with either song winning. Loreen won the contest, Kääriijä won the televote. People will remember both of them.

[@petrograd4068]

I looked into the statement that "Sweden rarely gives Finland good if any points". Between 1975 and 2002, the 1-12 points system was used, but only countries in the final were allowed to vote. Sweden and Finland both competed 23 of those years with these results: Finland gave Sweden 92 points. The average country gave Sweden 77,78. So Finland gave 14,22 points more than average in total (0,62 points per contest). Sweden gave Finland 57 points. The average country gave Finland 30,68. So Sweden gave 26,32 points more than average in total (1,14 points per contest). Between 2004 and 2023, the 1-12 points system was used, but countries eliminated in the semis could vote in the final too. So Finland has been able to vote on Sweden in the final more often than vice versa. Finland gave Sweden 196 points across 18 contests. The average country gave 103,41 points. So Finland gave 92,59 points more than average or 5,1 points above average per contest. Sweden gave Finland 100 points across 11 contests. The average country gave 38,46 points. So Sweden gave 61,54 points more than average or 5,6 points above average per contest. The countries have also given each other high points in the semifinals too but I didn't look into those. The last times Sweden didn't give Finland any points were 2013 and 1996. The last time Finland didn't give Sweden any points was in 1994. But yeah, definitely "Viking Alliance" countries, as in both countries give each other a lot above the average on the whole.

[@AnnaKaunitz]

⁠@@petrograd4068​​⁠​⁠ Be very critical with posts like this claiming Swedes bla bla bla against Finland. It’s either a troll or a nutcase. Those are the only ones who claim such bullshit, colonialism, xenophobia and the Finnish language (!) and drag history into Eurovision. Like seriously? This post is everything it claims Swedes to be. Hateful, lying, racist, xenophobic, obsessed. While Sweden and Finland was the same country until 1809. That was a long time ago. Swedes get old but not even Sweden have people who still remember the 18th century. Finnish media is obsessed with Sweden with daily news from Sweden. They cover the big stuff and also a lot of nonsense and irrelevant interviews as “news”. Swedish media cover the big stuff like last years nato applications. Over 700.000 people in Sweden have Finnish roots, Finnish is a recognised minority language. People move between the countries every day. Swedish music is extremely popular in Finland. After all, Sweden is nr 3 in the world per capita in music. Swedes have a diverse music taste and is also much more diverse than Finland. This type of hate is fake or by someone who don’t speak Swedish, is very insecure and obsessed over Swedes/Sweden and they don’t represent normal Finns. I have talked to normal Finns about our countries and they say this sort of rhetoric is embarrassing bullshit. I’ve only seen “Finns” behave like this against Swedes on social media not the other way around. It takes a whooole lot more for Swedes to be upset than a song in the ESC. Like Russia invading Ukraine. That’s truly upsetting.

[@_blank-_]

@@petrograd4068 🤓

[@Silveirias]

@@petrograd4068 There's no Viking Alliance between Finns and Swedes. Finns weren't Vikings. I'm sure there are Finns who didn't vote for Loreen because they didn't want her to win, but I still think it is far more likely that most people just had other favourites, too, and they liked one or two of them more. Most people don't vote multiple times, so they pick just one favourite. I don't know anyone in real life who said Loreen was their favourite, even if they liked her. Anyway, good for checking! Finland is more likely to give higher points to Sweden than Sweden is to Finland. But only Swedes throw a hissy fit and think they are entitled to Finnish point or otherwise we're "a dumb nation" and only "the former Eastern part of the Kindgom" as one of their biggest publications so eloquently put it. And again, Swedes online in Swedish spaces especially have been otherwise disgusting. Käärijä's foreign fans have imho been rightfully upset they spent money on voting for him and then jury completely overrules the public. I think it's normal that countries with similar cultures have similar music taste and would therefore give each other more points on average. I don't think there's any nefarious favouritism going on were it the Nordics or the Balkans.

[@ptcarbonproductions2013]

48:20 The reason is Kosovo. Kosovo was the third most active country in the ROW block.

[@mxshxiee]

hahah, back when eurovision happened bejba was a huge meme here, everyone repeating it over and over again. don’t know 1 person that liked the song and didn’t think gladiator was better

[@MrMinebase]

I welcome you to the eurovision community

[@mogo58]

France and Switzerland have pretty big Portuguese diaspora. The UK has a big Lithuanian diaspora And Portugal, Spain and Italy have big Romanian disporas (which might be an advantage for Moldova)

[@clairelyonss]

From Ireland and i think the reason we give Lithuania points is cos their songs always slap 😂

[@riahlexington]

I know the lyrics are bad but I love Echo so much.

[@Gabowsk]

Eurovision is kinda a World Cup where the English can actually win

[@teysa.k]

the order for the final is decided by a raffle in which each artist grabbed the thingy to decide their order

[@erinnadia0409]

Voyager carrying the Aboriginal and Torres Strait honestly made me so happy as an Australian 🇦🇺🖤💛❤ 💚🤍💙

[@MarikeAce]

5:01 Me: wait a damm minute, that was my birthday 😮

[@nitzan3782]

Honestly 2023 is one of the stronger Eurovision years. Maybe even stronger than '21. Last year wasn't too impressive, with some notable exceptions such as Ukraine's Stefania. Samo mi Se Spava is a fantastic song, but not a Eurovision song. Then again, Serbia is well-known for being the experimental country who doesn't usually get the credit they deserve for that. Mama SC is an anti-war song, first, anti-war-against-Ukraine second. It also falls into the "too deep to belong on Eurovision" category. My Sister's Crown is flat out a callout song, and should have either been placed higher or been disqualified due to the "no politics" policy. Noa Kirel is also an established professional, but she got HALF the points of Loreen and wasn't far ahead of Finland(2pts difference). There was DEFINITELY Loreen-specific favoritism at play.

[@DaRealKakarroto]

As an Austrian, I think it was all a ploy of us anyway to place "Who the hell is Edgar" first in the finals since no higher ups want us to win ever again so to not pay for the hosting of the event. That's also why Australia is now part of the ESC (since 2015 where we hosted last) so people might get confused and send any points for Austria to Australia 😂

[@kenos911]

I think I’m the first person to fully watch the video Also oh my god how did you subtitle all of it Jesus crhist

[@Erik_Emer]

As a fan of Breaking My Heart, I do think the stage could've been even more elevated if they didn't focus on his face for long period using a sing camera. For example, during the national selection, during the first "on and off," the camera pans out. That would've been a smart choice if the first camera on him did that. Also during the national selection, the camera changes with the lines "if we could go back from the start / bet we'd still be falling apart ; etc." That's also be beneficial.

[@deronnamadeuspanti-tk3sm]

I feel you, extra. I also liked Malta.

[@om0206]

i LOVE THIS POKEMON BACKRGROUND MUSIC SO MUCH

[@atlasfrog5730]

Understanding the presenter's French made me feel like learning French in school was finally worthwhile lol

[@slyar]

A few months ago when I had Tumblr, I had a mutual who was watching Eurovision and he went insane over Kaarija it was great

[@Azurethewolf168]

Why did you quit tumblr?

[@slyar]

@@Azurethewolf168 Felt like the content on my dash wasn't interesting anymore. I prefer Twitter's way of doing things anyway [in terms of serving content and the content itself]

[@Azurethewolf168]

@@slyar oh

[@ClodsireBeans]

ah yes, F Ä Ä RI J Ä.

[@Silveirias]

@@slyar You do realise that on tumblr in order for there to be anything on your dash, you need to follow people? If your dash is boring, that’s on you. Tumblr doesn’t have an algorithm that endlessly feeds you content, you need to make your own space.

[@JokubasVas]

51:41 THat positively surprised me, I am lithuanian and that song is just so fun. Also, it is still our best placement.