Review of results of Eurovision Song Contest 2024 Grand Final

[@furifurijs]

Hi. I get your point about televote that may be superior compared to juries votes, but there are also a lot of arguments, why juries opinion also matters. And jury has always been involved in Eurovision (at early Eurovision stage there were jury votes only). And it is part of the competition to find out the formula for the song which sympathizes with both the jury and the audience. This time Switzerland had really jury friendly song, but the performance was also impactful for audience. In my opinion, it is deserved win. And thanks to jury, such songs from Portugal and France (unfortunately, his voice cracked in jury show) can get higher because of jury votes. I agree with your comment regarding UK, I guess it is exception in this case. :D And finally, jury also helps to avoid political voting (for example, Balkan bloc, Viking empire etc), but, of course, there also could be quite strategical play involved in jury voting. This year it was Croatia's jury, who was the only country that did not give any point for the winner (0 points in jury, 1 point from audience), while other juries gave at least 5 points for Switzerland. It cannot be coincidence that Croatia (as potential winner) was the only country with jury that did not have Switzerland in their Top 10. For me it seems as fear of competition...

[@DeathLV123]

Hi! Thanks for watching the video and for the comment! You are partially correct - there was a period when jury was used only as backup (I believe 2004-2008?). And they are supposed to be politically neutral, but they are not (at least in some situations - see 2022 where, I am sorry, there is no way pretty much any jury should have given Ukraine 12 points). I think it goes back to the point I was trying to make - what is the point of the competition? What defines a "good song"? It can be the top song for jury, but if people were to never listen to it (not gonna happen, but saying this as an example), should it truely be able to be the winner of the competition? That is more my point. But that is why I also say that maybe the idea of different proportions of points between jury and public might be an option.

[@furifurijs]

I think public is more politically impacted than jury. In 2022 Ukraine won because of the televote. And this year there was quite similar situation with Israel if we are looking at televote results, but jury was quite silenced about it. I think 50/50 works well. Yes, last two years jury vote determined the winner, but it is not always like that, because if artist is convincing public favorite then televote can determine the winner. And, of course, sometimes both. And if we compare previous year winner and runner up streaming data, then Loreen (jury winner) beats Kaarija (public winner), so also jury friendly song is likeable for audience.

[@DeathLV123]

@@furifurijs True, public is more politically impacted than jury, but that does not mean jury is not, that's my point. Yes, and with Israel, while I do believe it was a fairly jury-friendly song, I would not call it a winner either (even though I enjoyed it). Regarding 2023, Sweden from public got exactly 0 "12 points". Shuffling points for adjustments to count the maximum amount of points Finland could have got if all public gave it 12 points and putting Sweden lower by one place in cases where then Finland would overtake sweden, Finland would then get 594 points, while Sweden would get 573 points. This in effect means that in order to win, Finland could have lost to Sweden only 10 points from public (that would make Finland have 584, while Sweden would have 583). It is understandable, how ridiculous it is to believe that in normal case scenario pretty much all country public give 12 points to the same country, right? That is kind of my point. Juries voted for Sweden so freakin' hard to the point it made it nearly impossible for Finland to win.

[@furifurijs]

@@DeathLV123 I agree that Sweden's win felt too forced by the jury based on 4 main criteria for jury to follow to rank all songs: - composition and originality of the song; - quality of the performance on stage; - vocal capacity of the performer(s); - overall impression of the act. Comparing both songs I can say that "Tattoo" wins over "Cha Cha Cha" with vocal capacity, but speaking about another three criteria "Cha Cha Cha" is better in my opinion (I am not fan of the song). So yes, I understand why previous year winner felt undeserved, but I am not complaining, because professional jury may refer to vocal capability more than other aspects (for example, Switzerland 2021 - great vocalist, but poorly done staging (to be honest for me staging concept was awkward, but I really loved the song and vocal)). Regarding this year I fully understand why Switzerland was jury favorite, because the song confidently meets all the criteria mentioned above. Another strong entries did not fully met all criteria or not that confidently as Switzerland. And I agree with your comment regarding Israel. I believe it should have been at top 3 (or at least top 5) entry for juries, but I guess juries were afraid of backlash. P.S. Speaking about televote I would love to see the outcome if the Netherlands was still a participant in the final, because it will absolutely stole significant points from some top entries (especially, from Croatia?). I doubt about the Netherlands getting the 1st place because of the jury, but I think it could have end up in top 3.

[@DeathLV123]

@@furifurijs I agree, if Netherlands were in the finals, that would have been if not an easy win for Switzerland than much easier and much more understandable one for sure as the West would vote for Netherlands and the East - for Croatia. Regarding criteria and Croatia, I would think that yes, it's a clear victory on vocal capability, as that was not even a challenge for Croatia, but regarding quality of performance I'd say they'd tie for me and the other two would be really based on preference. I'm not sure I could say that the Swiss song is too original, but Croatia would not be hte most original song I've ever heard either. And then it is between what sounds good versus what feels good, if that makes sense.