Ranking Songs like a Eurovision Juror ... sort of

[@101mosquitos]

Thanks for a great analysis. I think you missed a point in Finland's staging: they thought about the song, but not about the singer. There was too much going on in the rapping part: coming out the box, going down the stairs and running around the box left Kaarija exhausted and that was reflected in his singing part.

[@rafismusic]

Finland's performance started good, but it turned into a parody and/or a JESC one with those childish moves.

[@ZakhadWOW]

@@rafismusic YLE deputation worried about it from a popularity contest angle, and not optimizing the technical part of his performance - they only worried about the staging. We saw before 2009 what sort of abominations made it into the final because of the popularity contest of 100% televoting.

[@TheManInBlueFlames]

I think that's the point though. It was about united people, united by music, instead of doing some avant-guard shit.

[@jayjayarray]

​@@rafismusici totally agree

[@Scheherasad]

I prefere his UMK performance

[@garcsstuff6734]

I have to say when you said about Sweden “I felt it and I’m sorry if you didn’t” idk I think I just feel much more at peace with Tattoo winning. I didn’t feel the song at all and felt pretty empty after the GF performance but then especially when we go to Albania I realised how much of an emotional impact that had on me and how for others like you it may not have resonated as much. With all the passion surrounding Eurovision you really do sometimes forget that music is objective and we should all be happy if we take away just a few songs from Eurovision every year that we love

[@garcsstuff6734]

*music is subjective sorry

[@muffin_chips]

Thanks for the vid! Really appreciate the insight as always. The different set of scores really got me thinking about whether execution should override intention or vice versa. For example, the camera work on the night messed up Spain's most impactful staging moment, which from a production standpoint would bring my score down, but that moment as a concept unto itself was still part of that performance and its uniqueness, which would help it retain a higher score. Croatia had the most musically complex song of the bunch in terms of composition, but I can also recognize that it came off as strident to a lot of people. In short I would be a terrible juror i guess

[@stu_makes_vids]

It's worth noting that in some years, the EBU sent out a notice to the jurors reminding them not to rank songs down based on technical faults and focus on the music and performance. Especially because many production errors are on the host broadcaster rather than the performers. Also none of the actual criteria addresses staging and visuals in a concrete way. I just included it in my assessment because it's an area that I think I can shed light on confidently. Glad you enjoyed the video! 😊

[@_dont_mind_me]

For me Israel’s song sounds like the wrote the music for the dance break first. Then they remembered juries would judge the vocals, so they added in a chorus full of belting. Then they remembered it had to be upbeat and catchy, and added in the phenomenal lines (with the added bonus of a potential tiktok dance). It didn’t matter what song was actually tacked on to the front of the dance break, clearly that was the only thing that mattered.

[@garymaclean6903]

Hi Stuart, Great summary - Thanks! I like your take and analysis of each performance. You've clearly put a lot of work and thought into it. One aspect of each performance that you have to keep in mind is how the show's production and director have a significant impact on how each song is presented. Each country does not have total control over how their song is shot, and how it may come across to the audience, and even perhaps the judges. For example how the camera seemed to linger too long on Estonia's self-playing piano, as just one example. The real challenge with such Artistic Competitions, is how evaluations can be so subjective, and clearly influenced by bias and political influences. It's almost impossible to be purely objective with something that is so interpretive. That being said, the competitive tensions, with much national pride on the line, bring so much excitement to the competition.

[@ZakhadWOW]

the issue Portugal faced, with not being given the LED work they asked for, is a major black mark on the BBC and Liverpool organizers. Delegations are supposed to have been told yes or no, and how things will go down.. Not get to the city and find out "we're screwed.. thanks broadcaster".

[@matic.m]

Thank you for this! 🎉

[@Georgie-M]

ok i can't believe i took so long to watch this video but i really enjoyed it! one thing i really disagree with though is the idea of Czechia's multi-lingualism feeling forced. Now this is of course coming from someone who loves Eurovision partly because of the language variety, though of course I can understand why appealing to that aspect of the contest can feel gimmicky. In this case however, the use of languages is vital to how the song conveys its message. The use of Czech at the start of the song before transitioning into Ukrainian for the main hook establishes the theme of Czech solidarity with Ukraine, while introducing Bulgarian widens that message to pan-slavic solidarity as a whole. The three languages chosen in particular represent all three subdivisions of the Slavic language group (Czech for Western, Ukrainian for Eastern and Bulgarian for Southern), meaning that the entire region and its language variety gets showcased and represented without having to include every single language. Then add English, the most widely used language in the contest, to also make this a statement and call to arms for the Western countries in the contest to help stand against Russia's aggression. Overall, it's a very cleverly written song, and I think the way it uses language as a storytelling method is genius and a reason to commend the song rather than mark it down.

[@stu_makes_vids]

Fair points. That also helps illustrate why various cultural viewpoints are needed 😊

[@efi3825]

This was definitely insightful. You pointed out a few interesting things that I didn't really notice. And I feel like you gave every song a very fair and well explained rating. Greetings from the eternal number 26 country.

[@stu_makes_vids]

Thank you! Trust me you won't be down there forever 😁

[@RevolutionaryUsername]

For reference, if 10 jurors voted just like you did (and if you arbitrarily assigned your 12 points to Sweden rather than Spain) then Sweden would’ve gotten 120 points while Finland got 60. This is similar to the gap that the actual juries had between the two songs, so I strongly disagree with the tinfoil theory that the jury was rigged. This is the type of gap you would get from juries who value slickness and execution over novelty/the song alone. That’s why genre diversity in juries is important.

[@yodenman]

Thanks for the great content and the time and effort you put into this post. Just a little clarification about the UK entry and its performance in the UK singles charts. While it is certainly true that it peaked at number 9, after a couple of weeks it crashed out of the top 50 and now is out of the top 100. So it had initial interest from the Eurovision faithful but no back up from fans outside the so called bubble, therefore no longevity. Likewise with Finland and Norway. However not so with Loreen, who after 6 weeks is still at number 11, which is pretty amazing. So much for televote support backing Finland more than Sweden. It's fairly evident that the hate and vitriol was mainly from within the hardcore Eurovision fans and not so much from the general music streaming British public. One very disappointing thing I have noticed is that apart from the BBC, no other radio stations have played any of the charting songs. Even Mae Muller's song, which occasionally got played by some commercial radio stations leading up to the final, have now appeared to forget its existence. I regret to report that the UK media have now gone into pre Sam Ryder mode again, and normal service has now been resumed......unfortunately.

[@polytechnika]

We need to finally get full subtitling on the show + translated lyrics so everyone can understand the non english entries. Omitting them really benefits mass produced assembly line pop songs.

[@alejandropradalozano6525]

Great video and good that you are being honest with your own criteria, I have the same opinion with Israel, congrats for 3rd place but I find the song to be so bad and lyrically questionable, its a frankenstein of a pop song, the performance did not inspire anything in me, just feel like a random MTV Awards act and the lack of singing after the breakdance make it look subpar compared to Slomo last year. On the other side Spain this year was so underrated it makes me so sad, you dont see acts like that on Eurovision every year, so memorable and basically perfect in the way they made staging, song and vocals work together for an incredible number so culturally chargued, so out of the box, authentic and impressive. I can see the performance 15 times in a row and dont get tired.

[@hughson9229]

This video was a Great analysis! Could you do one on songs that didnt Qualify?

[@stu_makes_vids]

😏😏

[@markus_ch]

Great analysis! I appreciate if people really go into details and are not just talking about what ever comes to their mind. All I can say is, that although I also wanted Finland to win, I was (once) again more irritated by public vote than by jury vote. Putting Spain last in the public vote and lower than Poland was just embarrassing. So for me, the juries are still absolutely needed to value - hopefully - quality also in the future.

[@stu_makes_vids]

Thank you Markus! 😊

[@senyvanorion1083]

Now that I really think about it if all juries were completely unbiased then technically only 10 songs would get points because they are the unbiased top songs, everyone’s lists are different because of personal preferences and biases, regardless of how much the person actually regards them while scoring. Although I don’t agree with every aspect the ranks you gave out, that’s the beauty of juries, we’re not supposed to agree completely with each other, we’re supposed to individually recognize what we think deserves points

[@stu_makes_vids]

If we wanted to be 100% objective we could leave it up to an algorithm. But who would want that? 😆

[@ZakhadWOW]

the most glaring problem with the juries for a decade has been the overwhelming dominance of music industry professionals, and a very small amount of ACTIVE musicians, either composers/lyricists or vocalists. That has led to much abuse and downright malfeasance in certain nations - going back to 2011 it also allowed for the Azeri dictator to get away with surreptitiously paying off the professionals in multiple small nation juries in order to swing that element of voting and allow an arguably TERRIBLE song to "win", over the brilliant composition of Italy that year. I doubt as many active musicians would have been that corrupt. Always safe to assume the "industry professionals" are *not* going to be on the up and up.. they arent successful in that cutthroat business by engaging in ethical and upright dealings. There need to be more like 11-15 jurors ( can't have 10 - would allow for ties), and at least 2/3 need to be MUSICIANS, not industry types. That sort of change would make it far far more difficult for them to violate the rules (that the EBU doesnt exactly verify) and allow for mass collusion in agreeing on group voting (see Polish national Jury this year for perfect example of how corrupt things can get). The jurors must NOT BE ALLOWED under any circumstances, to be physical present together for viewing the Jury show - also a way to prevent simple/easy collusion.. they can still call/text to do it, but there would be some sort of log of that at least. The televote needs to eliminate the conversion of overall points in a given nation's results into the 12/10/8 business. No nation receiving televotes in a given nation's results deserves to hear a ZERO - because it is nearly inconceivable that a song got NO support at all. There has to be a better way to do that.. allow all 26 (25) nations in the final to get at least 1 point - sure the total will double (26 down to 1) but it will definitely demonstrate far better accurate totals/distributions. Frankly, it is a bit infuriating to think that people can cast their votes for an act, only to have everything below the top 10 get zeroed out as if it didnt exist - we have that exact problem with the "Winner Take All" situation with the electoral college in USA presidential elections - everyone voting for a candidate who lost by even less than 1 percent has their vote erased in such situation -- and that aint f***ing democracy to do that. The only nationwide election, and so insanely easy to abuse because the actual total vote percentage isnt what decides the victor. And after the gross abuse of the issue in 2022 [no disrespect to UKR, but people voting not on the performance, but instead on a massively swayed emotional issue does NOT reflect the true best performance], somehow EBU discussion group must analyze for a way to prevent that ever happening again. ++++++++ PERSONALLY, I am still outraged that people could have taken the money they spent on voting "in support for Ukraine" and actually SENT IT TO UKR, through some reputable channel , where it would have bought food, provided shelter or medical care, allowed for refugee resettlement... ANYTHING, rather than spending it on televoting... because god knows it does fu**all good for ANYONE in need, to give that money to the telecom provider and/or broadcaster.+++++++++

[@Eum67]

Great job, but ESC fans are always pissed off with the results. I’m from Armenia 🇦🇲 thx for ranking us so high, but I’m kinda used to be overlooked as a country, so was ready for worse results. People almost never vote us…

[@stu_makes_vids]

There's definitely something exciting happening with Armenia these days and I wouldn't be surprised if we see better results in the next few editions 😉

[@tulazozaur]

I voted for Armenia 8 times! It's one of my favorite ESC songs of all time

[@Eum67]

@@tulazozaur love you xx

[@marsonia2258]

I love your analysis! Ever since the final, I was also thinking how to objectively rank such a large number of songs and concluded that it is impossible unless you have clear, fair and diverse criteria. Now, I have professional experience in article writing and marketing, but I listen and follow a diverse set of musical genres and understand some key concepts. I devised a complex model to minimise my preferences. I ranked all songs by 6 cathegories: music, lyrics, originality, vocal, stage and overall. In "stage" I focused on the performance of the lead singer(s) and in "overall" I went for visuals, staging and overall singer-dancers interactions. However, I doubled the points for music and lyrics and deducted the points where each song ranked the lowest. I got the following results and, well, thank you for reading this long and, please, don't hate on me too much: 1 - Spain 2 - Moldova 3 - Portugal 4 - Finland 5 - Armenia 6 - France 7 - Sweden 8 - Switzerland 9 - Slovenia 10 - Albania

[@stu_makes_vids]

Love it! Way more of a complex approach than mine, but nice to see the difference in thinking 😊

[@UnC23]

I don't agree that the climax of a live performance has to be sung. Dancing live is also a live performance, and eurovision is a song competition not a singing competition. Eurovision is about fusion of cultures and that means dancing is no less valuable.

[@ZakhadWOW]

no less valuable is NOT THE SAME THING as singign is only present as second fiddle. Noa's entire song concept was a buildup to her showing off.. and frankly I have far more respect for Chanel 2022 actuallsinging AND dancing at the same time.. witha very very short superflair phase. And I wasnt actually impressed with Noa's choreo in that dance break.,. she was just flailing around on the floor.

[@UnC23]

@@ZakhadWOW LOL you couldn't do it if you tried. Stay bitter 😂

[@Dungenungen]

I'm coming back here a year later to ask if you would like to do this now with 2024 as well, I find it really fun to watch

[@stu_makes_vids]

Thinking about it. Traveling at the moment and gonna do a recap of 2024 first

[@ZakhadWOW]

Regarding Spain - it and several other nations (Sweden notably) suffered terribly for incredibly poor camera work from the BBC. SVT are brilliant masters at that, and probably should have been very seriously consulted. I also feel Spain is a prime example of how the "industry professionals" in Juries would NOT see any commercial potential in Eaea, and therefore fail to give it much respect. Musicians on the other hand, would have been very very enthusiastic about it. See my other comment;s about jury reformation.

[@thedistracteddoctor]

Hi Stu. Congratulations on another outstanding video. One of the reasons I love watching your videos is that you bring a level of careful thought and insight into your analysis of Eurovision that’s almost academic. I would love to sit down with you over a coffee and get deep and meaningful about this stuff. At the end of the day it is just a singing competition but the stuff fascinates me. Anyway, some comments about the points you raise: Spain: I totally agree with you, that there was something missing in Blanca’s performance in the grand final. It just didn’t come across like it did in Benidorm Fest and I like you can’t put my finger on why. I wonder if it is something about the different venues. The Benidorm Fest arena & stage were significantly smaller and it did feel more intimate compared to Liverpool. Would a comparison between a group performing at a largish concert venue and then putting on the same concert in a stadium be a good comparison perhaps? The other factor that skews our view is the fact that we are both hispanophiles and understand the meaning more easily and just get it in the way that other people who aren’t so switched on to Spanish culture can’t. Sweden: I agree with pretty much everything you say, but I am bothered because, while it is still a masterpiece, it doesn’t feel original like Euphoria did in 2012. My heart says it’s amazing, but my head doesn’t, if that makes sense. Croatia: to me, this felt like a migraine brought to life in a three minutes song. I do take your point about listening to the instrumental track and may well do so and get back to you. Israel: agreed. The focus too much on the dance break and not on the song. Plus if you’re keen to try and imitate Chanel. You could at least try and carry a tune afterwards. United Kingdom: it’s difficult to comment about this song without being biased. It’s a very British song and I love it but needed her to come out and own the stage, and she didn’t. It felt like she was lost on the stage. I wonder if part of us was her dress: it seemed odd for her to be in a black dress when everything around her worse kaleidoscopically colourful. One of the things I really picked up this year was the difference between how something looked in the auditorium compare to on TV. Luke Black’s graphics didn’t translate well down the television llens. Italy staging seemed almost incidental, whereas in the auditorium it drew the eye and made for emotional counterpoint. But finally overall (a point you make really well here) 2023 was an outstanding year. Most countries brought their A game and how do you choose between songs when all are good and worthy of the title? In that situation it’s always go to come down to a matter of personal preference, whether you are on a jury or watching at home.

[@stu_makes_vids]

Thank you Robbie! I really appreciate your compliments and I'm grateful to be so highly regarded by you 😄

[@oxthcar]

I reckon the stages need to be downsized a bit. The box things were obviously much smaller in Liverpool, but they look even smaller with a massive empty stage. For contrast, the Melfest prop nearly took up the whole stage, allowing the smoke to be concentrated in a much smaller area. It's the same with Spain, the tiny string prop doesn't fill up the stage enough.

[@Titusro]

Can you make a video about the semifinals and the NQ? Why do you think they didn’t qualify?

[@stu_makes_vids]

I've been thinking about using this format to talk about the semi finalists too 😉

[@harry69007]

I think the issue is that some ESC fans can never be happy. This year they weren't happy with the juries, last year they were unhappy with the public voting for Ukraine so many times. And I think you should do a video on the plagiarisim claims of 2023. Some songs do sound similar to others, yet they have different reasons for sounding the same, such as chord progression and rather than admitting it, they say that "Tattoo" is plagarised (it's not), they ignore the fact that Norway's song sounds similar to a Swedish song contest performance in 2022 called Running to the hills (or something similar, as the Swedish commentators called out this year). And people have even said that cha cha cha is plagarised, I just think that you could help people be educated with songs and how even if they sound the same, they aren't necessarily plagarised. Loving the video as I'm watching it. Keep it up

[@stu_makes_vids]

It has crossed my mind to talk about the plagiarism allegations, but I think that would be a topic best covered by someone else. Even in this video I was a bit reluctant to get too in-depth with musical terms because I'd rather not give myself that level of credit. I also feel like to make a video like that, even just to prove the point wrong, would give license for those things to be taken seriously. This is one of the reasons I haven't talked about a certain conspiracy theory that far too many people, and content creators, are entertaining as possible when it's obviously not. But I'm glad you're enjoying the videos and I'll keep that topic in mind if I find the right way to go about it. 😉

[@harry69007]

@@stu_makes_vids Thanks Stuart for the reply and I agree with you. Certain creators are trying to push conspiracy theories around trying to diminish other acts. All acts this year we're amazing and that was shown by no act getting nil poit. No problems, and keep up the great work alright Stuart, you're doing a great job!

[@ZironixNO]

Great video overall, but a few comments: 1: Totally agree about Spain and Israel. Spain was severely overlooked by the juries and should definitely have scored better with juries and rewarded for artistic approach and originality. Israel was all about the dance break, no song really. I can understand the televote for both, but not the jury vote. 2: originality of the songs (not staging) should matter and several songs that lacked originality scored too well with the juries, among them Sweden, Estonia and Italy among them. Yes Swedens staging was amazing, but the fact that the song is so similar to many other songs, and even Euphoria as well, should have been in its disfavour. Estonias ballad cant even compare with 10s of other ballads of previous years that were way better, and Italy was just too safe even though the performer still is professional. Safeness and carbon coby of previous years songs shouldn't be rewarded this highly by juries. But of course Loreens amazing staging and vocals made it a winner still, but the margin should have been less in my opinion. 3: Norway dated and unoriginal? When were there a sea shanty banger in Eurovision previously? NEVER! Also combined with what she vocally went for, with a message in the song as well it deserved way better in juries - thankfully televoters recognized it. 4: also, my main issue with the jury votes is that juries dont reward songs in native languages other than English, French and Italian. They way juries vote make it very very difficult for any other language song to ever win. Jury winners are usually ballads, and most often in English, randomly in French or Italian... The lack of diversity in jury winners is sad. 5: All types of vocal abilities should be rewarded, not only the "screaming ladies". Germany especially should have been rewarded much better for vocals and overall impression as the rock and metal vocal abilities are quite impressive from a musical expert point of view. So I do feel your scores miss out in some places and get overtaken by biased attitude. But overall a great video. Thanks for the great work.

[@raoultlam1549]

Do this for the non-qualified songs as well

[@harry69007]

My ratings Please don't attack me for my opinion) (Stage/vocals/Song). Austria: 7/9/8 Portugal: 6/7/8.5 Switzerland: 7.5/8.5/9 Poland: 3.5/5/6 Serbia: 8.5/7.5/7.5 France: 8/8/9 Cyprus: 8/7.5/9 Spain: 7.5/8/8.5 Sweden: 9/9.5/9.5 Albania: 7.5/7.5/7.5 Italy: 8/9.5/7.5 Estonia: 7.5/9/8 Finland: 8/6/7 Czechia: 7.5/6.5/7 Australia: 8.5/8/6.5 Belgium: 8.5/8.5/8 Armenia: 8/9/8.5 Moldova: 6/8/7 Ukraine: 7.5/8.5/8 Norway: 7.5/9/7 Germany: 5/9/7 Lithuania: 7/8.5/9 Israel: 8/9/7.5 Solvenia: 5/8/7.5 Croatia: 7/6.5/6 United Kingdom: 6/4.5/7.5

[@harry69007]

My top 10 1 Sweden (28.5/30) 2 Belgium (25.5/30) 3Switzerland (25/30) 4Serbia (25/30) 5 Australia (25/30) 6 Italy (25/30) 7 France (25/30) 8 Cyprus (24.5/30) 9 Estonia (24.5) 10 Israel (24.5)

[@TiagoSilvaESC]

Wow i agree with amost every single thing you said

[@cabemaru1]

Mmm... Albania with only a 8 in the vocal part with a full six vocalists on live and Slovenia with the same 8 with mimicking. Mmm A bias at least. Overall, a good analysis

[@stu_makes_vids]

Albania could be higher in that department 😊 But Bojan delivered and deserves a good score too. The miming only brought it down slightly

[@nsomandin5342]

Not the point of the video but you have a nice personal ranking so I just go to ask, who is the NQ that was your 5th place?

[@stu_makes_vids]

Iceland 💔

[@nsomandin5342]

@@stu_makes_vids ah, already expected her to go out but that was still a bad pill to swallow after her semi performance

[@EmoBearRights]

I think you're being fairer than the jury. With Sweden - I don't feel it that much or as much as many but its a personal thing.

[@stu_makes_vids]

I'd like to think that the majority of jurors are also fair, but we don't get as much insight into why they voted the way they did. Nonetheless I'm grateful for the compliment 😊

[@nick3805]

​@@stu_makes_vidsIsn't that the real problem through? We can't know if they are fair if we do not have insight into the reasons for an entry scoring like it did. This is what I criticize in the jury system: lack of transparency. I mean, I'm no professional, but I don't see this year's winner winning when we go according to the criteria when we have factors such as "originality" in those. Especially not with twice as many points as the runner-up.

[@stu_makes_vids]

Hi Nick! Regarding the lack of insight, I've heard people say things like wanting to see written explanations for why the jury ranked the songs the way they have, but I don't think that would be realistic: 1. There's not enough time to write detailed comments on 25/26 songs to justify each of their ranks. It would also have very little practical use as only the diehard fans would bother reading into them. 2. Even if we got detailed explanations, that wouldn't stop people from saying those jurors are wrong. Some jurors have voluntarily shared their reasoning in interviews. But rather than people accepting their reasoning, it instead gives them specific reasons to criticize them if, for example, they preference someone's vocal performance above other factors. The next video (which I am editing as we speak) does a deep dive into the jury numbers and puts them into context, so hopefully that addresses some of the thoughts you have.

[@livvylivvylivvy]

I really enjoyed this video, you have fair and well thought out opinions! I had a go using your system and this was my rank: Slovenia Sweden Italy France Belgium Israel Switzerland Austria Serbia Spain Cyprus Ukraine Armenia Finland Czechia Estonia Portugal Moldova Lithuania Norway Australia Albania United Kingdom Poland Croatia Germany My personal top 10 is near enough the same, few swaps around (top 10 is Slovenia, Sweden, Israel, Austria, France, Italy, Armenia, Serbia and Switzerland), the biggest drop is for the UK, currently have that at 13 as I enjoy listening to the studio version but Mae wasn't the best live performer unfortunately :( looking forward to your future Eurovision videos!

[@stu_makes_vids]

Awesome!! Thank you for sharing! 😁

[@harry69007]

That's an amazing top 10!

[@livvylivvylivvy]

@@harry69007 Thank you!!!

[@CasualUmami]

Sorry if I'm stating the obvious, I haven't watched the entire video but only the parts of the countries I had an interest in: The jury judges the songs by the performace at the jury final, not the grand final, so that could explain some differences.

[@stu_makes_vids]

That's correct. I saw the jury final from the press centre and I have some memory of where the differences were. But for the exercise I didn't think it would make sense to judge performances that people can't see for themselves. I also don't think that many of them were significantly different in order to justify different jury scores. France might have done better if La Zarra's grand final performance was being judged as it was the best one.

[@oscaralvarenga4391]

The Czech harmonies were on point. 7 was too low for that.

[@rafismusic]

Australia and Israel (and even Poland) were amazingly low in your scores, you punched them in the liver. Agree, absurdely high notes for Croatia and Italy. And if you ask me, that "thing you can't get that is missing" should be something that affects your scoring.

[@efi3825]

By the way, do you have an opinion on Malta this year? Because as far as eurovision songs go, I found that song super strong, and I seriously don't understand how they didn't qualify for the final.

[@stu_makes_vids]

I loved the personality and creativity that they put into the performance. The song is enjoyable and has a charm to it, but I think that it depends a bit too much on the sax hook which stays the same in every chorus. To make matters worse, in the live performance it's quite easy to see that the sax parts are mimed, which prevents you from buying into the illusion that it's really being played. My feeling was that it needed more of an evolution because it ends up feeling a bit repetitive. Aside from that, running order was likely a factor too.

[@efi3825]

@@stu_makes_vids I see, thanks!

[@pedronovais4130]

Heya! I loved this video, but there's one thing I really cant understand, when you were rating mimicat you gave the visuals 7.5/10 while giving her performance an 8? At least in my opinion, the visuals should have been quite a bit lower, while the performance should have been higher. I think in the visual department, the performance was a bit underwhelming, especially the back-up dancer's outfits and the use of lights instead of LEDs. On the other hand, I would say her performance was one of the best out of the whole contest, since she was really expressive and kept her amazing vocals (with no backing vocals, except during the chorus, if i remember correctly) while dancing and interacting with the audience. I'm probably biased, but I really can't understand your choice, especially your rating for the visuals. But that's just my opinion, great video, as always ❤️

[@stu_makes_vids]

Hi Pedro! Glad you liked the video! With the visuals I was considering things like the aesthetic, the energy and the visual identity. It might not have been the big cabaret show that people were expecting, but I felt as if all the areas were covered well enough to be recognized. It was effective from my POV. As for the performance, I suppose it could be slightly higher. One thing that you find is that your in-the-moment assessment might not be exactly the same as one you make later (something we should also keep in mind before we criticize a jury's ranking). But when considering some of the other performers who I gave that score to, I would say they seem comparable to me. I'm also not a vocal coach or a performer myself so I tended to play it safe with that ranking rather than act as if I am an expert. Hope that explains things for you 😉

[@Goddybag4Lee]

I don't think that the minor singing quality drop in Käärijäs second part should be looked so down on. It actually complement the lyrics.

[@tanjanikola9489]

After a lot of running a round as well 😁.

[@esc.castelosca]

I really liked your video is a very interesting score, this would be mine: 1. Sweden 🇸🇪 12 (Personal 1st) 2. Spain 🇪🇦 10 (P 9th) 3. Israel 🇮🇱 8 (P 2nd) 4. Italy 🇮🇹 7 (P 21st) 5. Armenia 🇦🇲 6 (P 7th) 6. Finland 🇫🇮 5 (P 3rd) 7. Norway 🇧🇻 4 (I watched the jury show and it wasn't really that bad as they said, only the phrase that she improvised came out out of tune) (P 6th) 8. France 🇫🇷 3 (P 18th) 9. Estonia 🇪🇪 2 (P 13th) 10. Australia 🇦🇺 1 (P 27th) 11. Belgium 🇧🇪 (P 23rd) 12. Switzerland 🇨🇭 (P 5th) 13. Lithuania 🇱🇹 (P 15th) 14. Austria 🇦🇹 (P 4th) 15. Portugal 🇵🇹 (P 12th) 16. Germany 🇩🇪 (P 29th) 17. Albania 🇦🇱 (P 36th) 18. Ukraine 🇺🇦 (P 20th) 19. Slovenia 🇸🇮 (P 22nd) 20. Czechia 🇨🇿 (P 10th) 21. Cyprus 🇨🇾 (P 14th) 22. Moldova 🇲🇩 (P 19th) 23. Serbia 🇷🇸 (P 33rd) 24. United Kingdom 🇬🇧 (P 8th) 25. Poland 🇵🇱 (P 28th) 26. Croatia 🇭🇷 (P 34th)

[@JacobSmith462]

I can't believe you're doing Norway so dirty in the staging. You talk about the staging matching the performance and then dock points because she takes the literal approach? Suit yourself, but you don't even acknowledge the physical presence of Alessandra. I don't think any of the other performers could have gone out there and sold "Queen of Kings" like Alessandra, because she commands respect and dominates, reflected in her slow march forward, hitting the whistle note, and the strut down the center. There are plenty of other disagreements I have, but that one just felt like highway robbery

[@nick3805]

I actually came up with my own criteria for judging songs and performances even before watching Eurovision and when I finally did and checked the criteria of the juries I relised that my criteria is basicly an extended version of the jury criteria. So I rank the songs after the following criteria: 1. Song and Originality - song structure - instrumentation - concept/meaning - cultural representation - Longevity and Replayability 2. Performance: - stage presence - choreography - Staging: conceptual coherence, scope and appropriateness, aesthetics, innovativeness. 3. Vocal Performance - stability - range - (number of) singing styles - conceptual coherence Using that criteria, I came up with the following ranking: S-Tier: Sensational 1. Blanca Paloma - EAEA A-Tier: Amazing 2. Noa Kirel - Unicorn 3. La Zarra - Evidemment 4. Mimicat - Ai Coracao B-Tier: Bop OR Great Song, Questionable Show OR Grower 5. Teya and Salena - Who The Hell Is Edgar? 6. Alessandra - Queen Of Kings 7. Lord Of The Lost - Blood and Glitter 8. Brunette - Future Lover 9. Vesna - My Sisters' Crown 10. Käärija - Cha Cha Cha 11. Voyager - Promise 12. Iru - Echo 13. Luke Black - Samo Mi Se Spava C-Tier: (a)Cceptable OR Great Singer, Mid Song 14. Andrew Lambrou - Break A Broken Heart 15. Albina & Familja Kelmendi - Duje 16. Alika - Bridges 17. Loreen - Tattoo 18. Dilja - Power 19. Pasha Parfeni - Soarele Si Luna 20. Blanka Stajkow - Solo 21. Gustaph - Because Of You 22. Mae Muller - I Wrote A Song D-Tier: Dungeon OR Soup Ingredient AKA. Unpolished OR Forgettable 23. Monika Linktye - Stay 24. Remo Forrer - Watergun 25. Mia & Dion - Burning Daylight 26. The Busker - Dance (Our Own Party) 27. Victor Vernicos - What They Say 28. TVORCHI - Heart Of Steel 29. Reiley - Breaking My Heart 30. Teodor Andrei - DGT (Off And On) 31. Joker Out - Carpe Diem 32. Sudden Lights - Aija 33. TuralTuranX - Tell Me More 34. Wild Youth - We Are One E-Tier: ESC-Hell 35. Marco Mengoni - Due Vite 36. Piqued Jacks - Like An Animal 37. Let3 - Mama SC! (Tbh, E-Tier is the tier where one element of the song is so terrible to me that it overrides all other qualities of the song. For 35&36 it's the voice, for 37 it's the fact that this... musical sequence can barely even be called a song...) I am open to discussion, I just didn't want to write an essay again that is too long for KZbin to handle, so... yeah. Let's argue!

[@TheNathanj2009]

Spain was my favourite

[@UnC23]

I feel like everyone who doesn't get the lyrics for unicorn isn't really making an effort to understand it from a cultural perspective. Because it does carry a meaning from an Israeli perspective, and in fact relays a bold statement. "Hey, you don't like the way I'm talking, just stand there and keep on calling me name. No I'm not your enemy so if you're gonna do it don't do it. Hey, do you wanna check my DNA. Older stories time to go away, and believe in fairytales. History caught in a loop, don't you want to change it. You, and me can write a new book. Don't you want to change it now? Its gonna me phenomenon (🦄) phenomenon (🦄) phenomenal ✨ ... " This message really went over so many heads because it is disguised with a well produced pop song.

[@stu_makes_vids]

Thank you for your comments. I have thought about this point of view exactly, and I see the connection. But I feel like if that is truly the statement they're trying to make then they're playing it far too safe, even with respect to where the lines are with Eurovision and political statements. If at a later point Noa clarifies that there's a deeper meaning then maybe I would rethink my judgements. But the descriptions she gave in interviews about the song seem to be just as superficial as the song feels to me...

[@UnC23]

​@@stu_makes_vids Thank you for your acknowledgement. Noa did however post the day the song was released quote: "... If we stop hating each other, and believe in fairytales a little more, we will have a phenomenon phenomenon phenomenal world 🦄" While she did lightly touch on it numerous times in few interviews, for most times she was cautioned to be as politically correct as possible. At the end of the day, as an artist she has to seperate herself from politics (especially when it comes to Israel often being heavily criticised). Honestly though, you don't really need the artist to spell it out for you over and over again on interviews. The lyrics speak for themselves if you simply acknowledge the context.

[@idogonen3075]

I have to point out something about the Israeli song. It hasn't been officially confirmed, so don't take me to court, but it you read the lyrics, you can pretty much decern that It's one big allegory of Israel as a nation... If you read the lyrics with that context in mind, they might make a little more sense...

[@stu_makes_vids]

Yeah I've heard that interpretation of the lyrics. If some people find a deeper meaning in the song that's fine. I remain skeptical and I doubt that it was a major factor in why it did so well on both sides.

[@idogonen3075]

@@stu_makes_vids and by the way, you're by far my favourite Eurovision KZbinr. Truly head and shoulders above anyone else currently out there and the only one I'm subscribed to!

[@stu_makes_vids]

Aww thank you! ☺️

[@debsiduracel]

Eurovision posted their nbr x release of 2023 out to be purchached. Well, I woted my bank account out of order with people's winner losing still, why should I shop from you? Nop.

[@alterego5824]

This analysis is great! But I just wanted to point out two things 1. I think it's crucial to consider also the overall impression of the act (as the jurors do) 2. At the end of the day, the ranking will be heavily influenced by one's preference Just to give an example, this is how I would rate Spain and Israel if I were a juror: Spain - stage: 8,5. Very well put together, the light work is simply amazing - vocals: 10. Nothing to say, she is a stellar vocalist, not a single note was missed - song: 6,5. I like the combination of traditional and modern elements of it, but there's a clear lack of a catchy melody and it sounds very repetitive - overall impression: 7. Even tho her talent is undeniable, the performance sounded quite annoying, like a 3 minutes long shout Israel - stage 8,5. Very well put together, I loved the led box at the beginning, the unicorn leds during the dance break and the fire at the very end - vocals 8: a bit pitchy at the beginning, but overall pretty solid with a clear voice and a polished vibrato - song 8,5: I agree that the lyrics may sound generic, but the song has some interesting middle eastern and k-pop vibes. The "phenomenal" part is really catchy. - overall impression 9,5. The wow factor was huge, and the performance gave me shivers and a boost of adrenaline. So my final score of Spain would be 32, my final score of Israel would be 34,5.

[@stu_makes_vids]

I actually experimented with a fourth category that addressed the overall impression, but the problem that I found was that it just amplified the already high scoring songs and brought down the low scoring ones so it seemed a bit redundant. With that said I understand what you are saying and it makes sense that it's there in the criteria

[@Esc_Sotos_King]

For me Israel is winner!!! I loved her voice it was a 8.5 bc it was hard to hit these vocals, for the visuals it's a 10 cause wow the led screen and the lights and the song 9.5 cause the unicorn is weird as a title but symbolize the feminine and in the part of you wanna see me dance it's an answer for her hebrew references!!! Anyway that's my opinion!!! You are great much love from Greece🇬🇷

[@juusotaskinen452]

9.5 for Blanca Paloma's vocals? It was note-to-note perfect with spotless techinque, anything other than 10 is a disgrace.

[@esc.castelosca]

United Kingdom has at least an 8/10 in song because it has THE BEST production of the year, not debatable

[@johnduncombe2985]

Some interesting comments..but some ridiculous opinions too. Spain... you put top. It was a horrendous, wailing entry. It was obvious it would struggle with the public vote. Last. That says it all really. And I say that as a Spanish speaker and I have a place in Spain. Dreadful

[@ZakhadWOW]

Thankful to you Stuart for recognizing Poland for the absolute piece of crap it was... .and as far as people annually claiming ripoff/plagiarism, this one is arguably the worst offender. I've seen two analyses that show it to copy not just the music, but the dance, the staging, the words... totally unoriginal, and after what went down in the national final, a truly massive disgrace that it made the final simply due to ignorant televoters not understanding the context for it. I'd much rather have seen Georgia in, even with it's very wonky lyrics - because Iru's performance. .. pardon me.. SSLLLAAYYYYEEEDDDDD

[@paulskyekahawaty6133]

Armenia is one of the most overdone and showiest entries in many many years.

[@sebastianniittyvuopio5017]

Rigged jury

[@TheNathanj2009]

Norway sounded like a poor mishmash of many Eurovision bangers of the last 20 years put into a blender

[@bojan80]

What is point of gay couple pictures in the video ? Does everyone who watch eurovision need to support LGBT ?