Eurovision Song Contest 2012

[Resi12]

Sweden for gold, Cyprus for silver and Ireland for bronze would be lovely. Well, even Ireland for silver (or gold) but that's me being biased...

[duffy]

I'm excited to see Tooji and Loreen perform tonight!

[graffiti my soul]

Random, but does anyone think the Ukrainian one looked and sounded remarkably similar to Rebecca Ferguson?

The Australian commentary really is amazing, it more than makes up for the delayed telecast!

[StratusJM]

This Euphoria song is really a GEM isn't it? I didn't know Eurovision was shitting QUITE like this. Energizing and exciting in the chorus, yet very sensual and rhythmic in the verses. It seems to be the perfect blend of traditional pop and euro-dance. Just awesome. I think this song has the potential to be a European hit and maybe even in the UK as well. I hope that this will be the winning song. I've been listening to it for weeks now.

Is there other Eurovision songs from this year I should be checking out? I'm a newbie.

Ooh how exciting! Nice to see someone getting into Eurovision. My personal favourites outside of Sweden are:

France
Italy
Greece (I feel the performance better shows off her sluttiness)

And I know this is from last year but Lena's 'Taken By A Stranger' is always worth a watch.

If you're looking for a ballad it's hard to look past this year's Azerbaijan entry and also Spain!

[Rhombus]

Oh lawwwwwd I can't wait for this.

[The_47th_belmon]

I have some hopes for Spain. We've had oh God, SO many disappointments in the last two decades that I really hope this ends up at least around #15.

[duffy]

I'd like to point out Norway's amazing entry, it would be my winner any year if it weren't for Loreen!

[StratusJM]

I'd say Spain is on track for its best result since Beth in 2003 if not better.

[Txetxu]

I'm a bit scared for Sweden thanks to the negative response from her jury performance - it seems some fake snow made it into Loreen's mouth and couldn't stop coughing.

[KamikazeHeart]

It was one cough, the footage leaked: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...C-Gh0As#t=128s

Not a disaster, especially since she carried on like a pro. It would be far worse if it happens tonight, I think the jury pretty much has already made up their mind on who their favorite is before they see these performances.

[3Xs]

And I know this is from last year but Lena's 'Taken By A Stranger' is always worth a watch.

Actually strangely enough I already knew this girl from her "Satellites" song. Though I think this is even better and she should have won 2 years in a row if this is the case.

The France and Spain songs go along very nicely. Thanks for the help!

[JakeMagnus]

I just cleaned up the mess from my ESC party tonight, and what a night it was. For once the right song has won. Popjustice indeed.

How do I get tickets for next year's live show? I always wanted to go see it, and clearly this is going to be the best location ever.

[Tribal Spaceman]

I don't like that 'Euphoria' song very much. Swedish pop is usually innovative but to me it just sounds like the sort of rubbish JLS or Pixie Lott would have released a year ago. Very dated and bland. I do like that Loreen looks a bit like Ruth Lorenzo, and she has great stage presence, but the song itself disappointed me and the only good thing about it winning is that Sweden will be a fantastic host country.

In future I think they shouldn't release any of the entries for download outside of their own countries until the night of the contest (or they could make them "album only" until then), apart from those that have been eliminated in the semi finals. Let people download them as they hear them instead of giving artists with better promo teams an unfair advantage.

[KamikazeHeart]

In future I think they shouldn't release any of the entries for download outside of their own countries until the night of the contest (or they could make them "album only" until then), apart from those that have been eliminated in the semi finals. Let people download them as they hear them instead of giving artists with better promo teams an unfair advantage.

Is this about Sweden climbing across Europe before the contest even started? Because Loreen hasn't done ANY promo at all, except some televised performances in Finland and Norway. Euphoria built up all its hype from mouth-to-mouth alone.

[duffy]

The Semi Final results are in:
Semi 1
1. Russia - 152
2. Albania - 146
3. Romania - 120
4. Greece - 116
5. Moldova - 100
6. Ireland - 92
7. Cyprus - 91
8. Iceland - 75
9. Denmark - 63
10. Hungary - 52

11. Switzerland - 45
12. Finland - 41
13. Israel - 33
14. San Marino - 31
15. Montenegro - 20
16. Latvia - 17
17. Belgium - 16
18. Austria - 9

Semi 2
1. Sweden - 181
2. Serbia - 159
3. Lithuania - 104
4. Estonia - 100
5. Turkey - 80
6. Bosnia and Herzegovina - 77
7. Malta - 70
8. Ukraine - 64
9. Macedonia - 53
10. Norway - 45

11. Bulgaria - 45
12. Croatia - 42
13. Portugal - 39
14. Georgia - 36
15. Netherlands - 35
16. Belarus - 35
17. Slovenia - 31
18. Slovakia - 22

[biffy77]

Is this about Sweden climbing across Europe before the contest even started? Because Loreen hasn't done ANY promo at all, except some televised performances in Finland and Norway. Euphoria built up all its hype from mouth-to-mouth alone.

I think he means this. My other half said something similar. The BBC are sore losers so they are reporting on this making out that 'Euphoria' has an unfair advantage because it was 'already a hit' in some countries. Of course it is a load of rubbish, The Hump's song was also on sale - its just not a good song, whereas 'Euphoria' is an amazing song, been in love with it since February. I can't wait for September for the album.

[The Visitor]

Don't normally bother with Eurovision but went to a party last night and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Sweden was the best song, but also enjoyed Cyprus, and Ukraine, and thought the Spanish girl had a beautiful voice.

[The_47th_belmon]

It was a pretty forgettable night. I enjoyed much more last year's contest as a whole. I'm glad songs like Sweeden, Italy or Spain did well, but I wish Hungary, Denmark and Cyprus would've got more points.

And I don't think that entries like Russia, Turkey or Serbia deserved to be that high. Specially Russia!

[He]

Come on, the grannies were an amazingly adorable novelty. The tiny one was just too cute, and they made sure to give her most of the camera time, haha.

[Tribal Spaceman]

Is this about Sweden climbing across Europe before the contest even started? Because Loreen hasn't done ANY promo at all, except some televised performances in Finland and Norway. Euphoria built up all its hype from mouth-to-mouth alone.

I think he means this. My other half said something similar. The BBC are sore losers so they are reporting on this making out that 'Euphoria' has an unfair advantage because it was 'already a hit' in some countries. Of course it is a load of rubbish, The Hump's song was also on sale - its just not a good song, whereas 'Euphoria' is an amazing song, been in love with it since February. I can't wait for September for the album.

Well, it detracts from the contest. None of the songs should be available to buy before the night of the show, as suddenly one or two entries can go from being something new and unheard of to "ooh this is the song we heard on a night out / on the radio" etc, which is unfair. It should be a level playing field.

I don't care what the BBC may or may not have said, our song was weak and we were on first so we never stood a chance!

[Conalae]

People who are famous prior to the competition should be banned too then, cause it's unfair for them to get votes based on their past songs/actions.

[biffy77]

People who are famous prior to the competition should be banned too then, cause it's unfair for them to get votes based on their past songs/actions.

Well Said. The fact we (the UK) was on first has nothing to do with it. We deserved to do poorly, it was a depressing old fashioned song. The UK public had no choice over the song. Someone in the BBC who made the decision to pick The Hump & who chose that terrible song deserves to be sacked on Monday.
I support the best song and that was clearly Sweden's entry this year. I would love it to be the UK's entry. The UK also gave Sweden 12 points, so we do know a good tune when we hear one but sadly the BBC never gave us a choice to vote or get included in the song that was supposed to represent us.
It's quite sad really.
Now I see the BBC are reporting 'Never mind it's only a song competition' - funny I never hear them say that about football.

[He]

So, just to clarify, was Euphoria released anywhere else besides Sweden? Is that allowed?

[WowWowWowWow]

The Eurovision rules state that "songs (lyrics and music) must not have been commercially released and/or publicly performed, in full or in part, before 1 September 2011." Much beyond that I think it is a free for all.

Also, let's not forget that in the past, some acts would perform their Eurovision song during the national final of other countries picking their Eurovision song (and that may have even happened this year, I just don't remember any). So promotion can come in a number of ways.

As for "Euphoria," someone posted a list of its iTunes chart positions in many other countries, so yes, it is allowed.

Un/Fortunately, with the advent of YouTube, I feel like it's next to impossible for any of the songs in this competition to ever again be "unheard" before Eurovision week...

[StratusJM]

UK iTunes:



I am DEAD.