Eurovision 2023!

Azziman

Hey all!

The Eurovision Song Contest is right around the corner, being hosted in Liverpool next month! I'm curious to know if anyone else here has been following it, or is a fan of it? What do you make of the song selections this year, and who's your favourite entry?

JJLemon18

Hey, I really like Eurovision! I have a lot of Eurovision songs in my playlist so you could say I'm a fan of it! Often the points can be pretty biased but I just love listening to a lot of songs from different countries.

I haven't actually listened to the songs from this year, I prefer to hear them for the first time during the show, it makes it a lot more enjoyable to watch. But I have a small rant, since I'm Polish I heard the songs that were nominated to represent Poland, and I really hate the song that was chosen this year (its called Solo by Blanka). First of all she can't actually sing lol. And secondly there was a lot better and more interesting song called Gladiator by Jann which was a fan favourite, but it somehow didn't win. People are really upset since there is a lot of conspiracies that Blanka was only chosen because she is friends with the jury that was responsible for choosing the song to represent Poland... but yea. Sorry I had to get it out haha, it really annoyed me. There are a lot of awesome Polish songs that didn't get selected in the past, so its a shame more people didn't get a chance to hear them

How about any favourite Eurovision songs from the past contests?

Amy22

Oo I cant wait for Eurovision soon, Ahh Sam Ryder is one of my favourites. I heard he is playing at the grand finale as he was last year's contestant for the UK. I will be honest I haven't heard any of the new entries this year but I am mega excited to see what they bring. The UK entry I'd say is okay, it's not one of my personal favourites but its alright. I will be honest I loved Dadi Freyr's performance from a few years back

sinead276

Ahhh I love Eurovision too. Whilst I typically don’t watch the lead up to it and the semi-finals, I can’t remember a year where I haven’t watched the final on Saturday night. I’ve gotta also say that there’s definitely a couple song from past eurovisions that have made their way into my playlists whether it be Sam Ryder or ABBA. Can’t wait for this years contest and see who wins

Former Member

JJLemon18 wrote: »

Hey, I really like Eurovision! I have a lot of Eurovision songs in my playlist so you could say I'm a fan of it! Often the points can be pretty biased but I just love listening to a lot of songs from different countries.

I haven't actually listened to the songs from this year, I prefer to hear them for the first time during the show, it makes it a lot more enjoyable to watch. But I have a small rant, since I'm Polish I heard the songs that were nominated to represent Poland, and I really hate the song that was chosen this year (its called Solo by Blanka). First of all she can't actually sing lol. And secondly there was a lot better and more interesting song called Gladiator by Jann which was a fan favourite, but it somehow didn't win. People are really upset since there is a lot of conspiracies that Blanka was only chosen because she is friends with the jury that was responsible for choosing the song to represent Poland... but yea. Sorry I had to get it out haha, it really annoyed me. There are a lot of awesome Polish songs that didn't get selected in the past, so its a shame more people didn't get a chance to hear them

How about any favourite Eurovision songs from the past contests?

Speaking of which, as someone who is also Polish, I really wish they chose songs that represent our culture or music more 💔

ebyrne556

ive never actually watched eurovision but ive heard sm good things and hype.Whens it on i might watch it this year as no exams!

Azziman

Wow, lots of interest I see!

@JJLemon18 that makes two of us, I have a few Eurovision playlists based on songs I've liked over the years. Love the variety of songs we get, even if most of them do stick to pop Until this year, I was like you, never used to listen to the songs until the semi-final/final. This year, I've been following every national final/selection, and found there's a lot of hidden gems that didn't get selected (especially Italy's Sanremo!) Agreed on Poland - Gladiator was a much better performance, was very surprised it didn't make it through until I heard some of the alleged things that'd happened. Solo probably has the most people hoping that it flops for any song that I can remember in recent years Have to say, I really liked Poland's entry last year, one of my favourite performances of the set. As for favourite song from past contests, that's a tricky one - so many to choose from! The one that comes to mind is Hatari - probably my favourite Eurovision performance ever. The energy, the aesthetic, the genre - it feels electrifying every time I watch it back. How about you?

@ebyrne556 There's two semi-finals and the Grand Final, all during the week starting 8th May. The two semi-finals are on 9th and 11th May, and the Grand Final on the 13th May - all shows will be in the evening

JJLemon18

That's awesome @Azziman! Yea, I love the variety.
I don't think I'm that dedicated to follow every national selection haha. I'd say I'm fairly new to being this interested in Eurovision anyway, so maybe I'll look more into all the selections later, they sound really interesting.
I'm glad you agree! If Poland wins this year I will be genuinely upset haha.
Poland's entry last year was really good, I'm glad you liked it too! Really depressing lyrics tho. The performance was very similar to Duncan's Arcade which I also really loved.
Hatari was definitely something else haha, not really something I'd enjoy listening to on a daily basis, but the performance was stunning!
Also share as many favourites as you like, not just one
There were so many great songs last year, if I had to choose a favourite I'd say my fav song is actually Halo by LUM!X, but the performance was very underwhelming. I just really love the studio recording of this song, its really upbeat. As for the best song+performance I'd say it has to be Stefania, I genuinely enjoyed that one the most! Other songs I love are Lights Off, Hold Me Closer and Space Man from last year.
As for previous eurovisions I can't remember many songs, but the best ones in my opinion are Heroes by Mans Zermerlow and Fairytale by Alexander Rybak. I haven't watched them live but I heard them on the polish radio and I later found out they won the eurovision haha. I also really liked the polish entry Color Of Your Life! (Wait, that one was in 2016?? I feel so old now)
Finally a polish song I'd love to recommend that didn't get selected (I'm not even sure if it made it into the selections, there is no video of it on youtube) is Devil In Disguise by Clodie. I really love it!
Anyways, thats a lot of songs I mentioned haha, sorry

Azziman

Halo was one of my favourite songs from last year's selection too! Agreed, the live vocals weren't that strong which let it down, but the studio version was great so that went straight onto the playlist haha. Liked all your picks from last year - there were a lot of songs I liked last year, I'd add Hope, Sentimentai, Trenuletul, Rasmus & Subwoolfer as ones I really rooted for (of course, Space Man was top as a Brit! )

Totally fine to mention lots of songs, there are so many great ones to pick! That's where a playlist comes in very handy. Especially if you're watching the show with others, it's nice to put in the background before the show, or even sing & dance along to!

As I write this, a lot of the artists are in Liverpool now doing their rehearsals already. There's a lot of excitement here, and I imagine it's only going to climb as we get closer to the day! As an open question, do people have plans to watch this with friends or family? Or are you going enjoy it alone this year?

JJLemon18

@Azziman That's awesome you liked halo too! Subwoolfer is one I also really liked, the performance was great!

I'm definitely gonna be watching this with family. Real curious to see how low poland can get this year

NeonBlueThunder1

I watched it for the first time ever last night. The songs were definitely interesting, I was hoping for Norway to win, as that song was brilliant. What the heck was going with with Germany's song though? It was so random!

Am I the only one who got frustrated with the commentary constantly talking over the presenters though? Talk about rude and disrespectful, and I did want to hear what Graham Norton was saying. It didn't just happen the once either, it happened multiple times, including when it was time for the voting line to open, which just makes me think it was horrible sound mixing on the BBC's part. I actually wanted to yell at the commentator to shut up a few times! Sorry for the rant, it just really annoyed me and made it hard to enjoy the show.

Former Member

@NeonBlueThunder1 lol why did I kinda like germany's song? UNless I'm thinking about the wrong one....it was the dude wearing red and he was like bald or something right? Singing about like blood and sugar or something like that? Idek but yeah it grew on me as the song went on so by the end of it I loved it lol xD

JJLemon18

After the eurovision I went to sleep really late and I felt so dead all day yesterday lol.

I was kind of disappointed with this contest. Even though the song was good, Loreen didn't deserve to win the eurovision again, she didn't even seem happy about winning! She kinda took it like "oh, I won... Well that's nice I guess". I believe Finland deserved to win this year, at least they won in my heart! xD
But regardless, I did enjoy myself. There were a couple memorable moments like the reference to Poland's entry in 2014, Iceland giving their points haha, Australia getting caught off guard (they got given 12 points while they were eating), and a couple more funny moments.

My favourite was definitely Austria! (I just realised that last year by favourite was also Austria which is interesting!) But I also really loved Norway, Cyprus, Australia, Slovenia and Moldova! But there were more great ones as well.

@NeonBlueThunder1 yea haha, Germany went crazy on this one xD I didn't like it. I think its just a style that not that many people enjoy.

@Xee there's nothing wrong in liking it. It was called blood and glitter. The british commentator said "these are two things that are difficult to get out of your carpet" or something like that xD

independent_

Watched this for the first time this year, enjoyed it, thought Norway should have won though or Finland. Our song was rubbish putting it politely

JJLemon18

@independent_ Actually, I'd say it wasn't that bad. Sure there were a lot better songs but it was far from 'bad' imo. Now Poland is what I'd call bad haha, I'm surprised we even got so high up...

Azziman

Really enjoyed this year's contest - I think we did a great job of hosting, lots of cool cameos and awesome presenters (especially Hannah!). For the UK, Mae's vocals and staging was a bit disappointing on the night, but still a fan of the song personally. For the winners, I think it was always going to be a shoot out between Sweden (winning jury vote) and Finland (winning public vote), but it did worry me that Sweden would do better with public than Finland would do with jury due to Kaarja's song style. Still, Finland goes into the record books for a huge public score, and the whole arena was chanting Cha Cha Cha shows that people will remember this entry for some time

Personally, I think the entries that did much better than I expected were Estonia (a very respectable 5th in the jury), Poland (8th in the public vote, to the dismay of the Eurovision Reddit page), and Cyprus (12th overall). On the flip side, big shocks for Austria (22nd in the public vote), Norway (17th in the jury vote), and Germany (last overall), with all expected to do much better in my opinion. But hey, that's Eurovision for you

Overall, I never thought I'd see the day where we hosted the competition, and super proud of the production team for putting on a great show! Looking forward to the next edition in Sweden

Amy22

Eurovision was alright this year, Sweden were amazing and great. I kind of wished Australia won as I really liked their song as I love anything rock based and I would love it if one day a rock band won Eurovision. Did anyone see Croatia's performance lol it was very funny, I keep hearing them sing about tractors or something similar. I found Finland to be amazing too!.

Did anyone also see the guest singers they had Dadi Freyr on and he did such an amazing cover of Whole Again.

@NeonBlueThunder1 Yeah I found the commentary annoying a bit at times too especially as sometimes they were constantly talking over each other and stuff.

JJLemon18

Amy22 wrote: »

Did anyone see Croatia's performance lol it was very funny, I keep hearing them sing about tractors or something similar.

My native language is very close to this song so to us it sounded absolutely hilarious as we could roughly understand some of the lyrics xD
Its basically a song making fun of putin. Which kind of explains why the performance is so weird, its supposed to be weird.

Mama kupila traktora translates to Mum bought a tractor

"For his 70th birthday in 2022, Vladimir Putin got a Tractor from his Belarusian ally, Alexander Lukashenko."

(Quote taken from Genius Lyrics)
Also, they sing "mama" because russia like to call their land "mother" or something like that.

The song also calls him a "moron" and a "little evil psychopath".

The More You Know

Amy22

JJLemon18 wrote: »

Amy22 wrote: »

Did anyone see Croatia's performance lol it was very funny, I keep hearing them sing about tractors or something similar.

My native language is very close to this song so to us it sounded absolutely hilarious as we could roughly understand some of the lyrics xD
Its basically a song making fun of putin. Which kind of explains why the performance is so weird, its supposed to be weird.

Mama kupila traktora translates to Mum bought a tractor

"For his 70th birthday in 2022, Vladimir Putin got a Tractor from his Belarusian ally, Alexander Lukashenko."

(Quote taken from Genius Lyrics)
Also, they sing "mama" because russia like to call their land "mother" or something like that.

The song also calls him a "moron" and a "little evil psychopath".

The More You Know

Ah thank you so much I was a bit confused with some of the lyrics though I knew they were signing about Putin and stuff. That makes so much sense now lol.

JJLemon18

I got to say, I've been listening to all the eurovision songs on repeat and I love them all so much!
(That's literally all I came here to say lol)

Amy22

JJLemon18 wrote: »

I got to say, I've been listening to all the eurovision songs on repeat and I love them all so much!
(That's literally all I came here to say lol)

Omg I got quite a few of them on my Spotify playlist at the moment, I got Finland's, Belgium's, Dadi Freyr's, Australia's and some more too on there

Azziman

JJLemon18 wrote: »

I got to say, I've been listening to all the eurovision songs on repeat and I love them all so much!
(That's literally all I came here to say lol)

I can relate to this! It's a phase Started with a few songs from this year, and then slowly added previous years songs until I was listening to a mega playlist of all-time Eurovision classics!