After having waited for a few days and frantically trying to decide what songs I like or what I’d be voting for the day came where everything stopped. I blocked my phone, but my MSN on “Appear Offline” and closed down anything that could disturb me for the three hours that Eurovision takes up in my evening. I even double locked my door and put a little sign on the outside saying “Derrangez-moi uniquement si vous voulez regarder sérieusement Eurovision avec moi” which makes me sort of obsessive but I don’t care. Since I don’t have a TV I had to again watch the online broadcast which was just as well since the quality was great, however there was a glitch and I ended up missing part of one entry! Boo!
Bosnia & Herzegovina: Maria
First off we have this lovely country that lately has been sending some awesome songs. Last year’s ballad rocked my world, the year before that had a schlager hit that I know all the words to (of course) but it seems they went again for the ballad. Colours were green, which was different and sort of nice but the dress that Maria was wearing was a bit distracting / disturbing. It was a beautiful song, but not really one that I liked; it was okay, it didn’t have any *eumph*. It really had the feeling of being Slavic though, and I feel as thought I’m learning some Slavic languages which is sort of nice; but really like I said this lacked eumph!
Spain: D’Nash
Personal Favourite
Let me first say that the actual song by Spain pailed in comparison to the act that they put out. What do you get when you have four young men, some moderately good looking, and some amazingly hot, wearing all white, with women drummers and visually stiumlating things in the background? HAWT HAWT HAWT; is all I could say. The way they shake their hips, the way they move, the way they sing is all so Hispanic and it’s very intriguing and stimulating. Apart from that, the song was an alright schlager pop with cheesy lyrics but it was one of my top songs, for the soul fact that those guys were eye-candy; I love you mi vida baby!
Belarus: Koldun Personal Favourite
Our first Semi-Final qualification was the James Bond style act again. This performance wasn’t as good at the semi-final but the act was more or less exactly the same; sexy dancing, horrible English, fireworks, and a stary night. So much hype was put onto this song, but then I realised that it wasn’t really a winning song, thank goodness. Can one imagine Eurovision going to Minsk? I don’t even want to, at least not at this day and age, that’s for sure. Would they even let people come to the country? lol – Who knows, we won’t know until at least two years at minumum!
Ireland: Dervish Personal Favourite
I love this Irish ballad, it’s so sweet and cute but honestly some of the non-anglophones sang in better English than her. I knew the words so it was better, but listening ot the song I would never have known what she was saying. She kept doing this weird thing with her voice and as a result it sounded really bad, the first last place entry in Ireland’s history, how sad; but it’s totally understandable considering there wasn’t anything going on on stage besides the band. It was sort of boring in that case, but the Irish folk music is always nice to listen to, at least for me.
Finland: Hanna Pakarinen Personal Favourite
Rock on sister! You freaking rock my world I loved this act so much. Maybe it was the all the excitement that you can hear from the Finnish crowd, because even compared to last year in Athens I’ve never heard a home crowd be so proud of their entry. Rock is sort of growing on me, especially with the awesome bluey colour and very well written song. It’s sort of stereotypically Finnish, but I like the Finns, they are so weird and cute like that! Hurray for the awesome applause though, way to support your girl Finland! And it’s interesting to note this was the top ranking Western country! I would have gone with Sweden first, then Finland but still congrats; that’s two years in a row you beat Sweden. 😉
F.Y.R. Macedonia: Karolina Gocheava
As I said in the semi-final this song irritates me, I hate the sound of Macedonian, I hate the Na-Na crap, and I just don’t like the song. It has a decent message but it’s just an act that bothers me. She has a nice dress and she’s pretty but it didn’t help her for me; sorry!
Slovenia: Alenka Gotar
What a national jubilation for Slovenia to be in the final, and who would have thought with a schlager-opera song? Certainly not me, but despite the fact that I’m not really a fan of the song, she’s a trained opera singer so she doesn’t make a single mistake, so more or less the performance is perfect but still my mind says “WTF” ? Everyone is being critical of the little light thing that she had, but I thought it was kind of cool; but completely unrelated to the lyrics or song. Having said that, who knows what she was thinking?
Hungary: Magdi Rúzsa Personal Favourite
Simply awesome song, but poorer performance than the semi-final. Go Hungary! I did start to notice the bus-stop which was kind of random but I guess you need to have something on stage to attract people away from what is actually happening. Beautifully written jazz song, performed well, but horrible horrible English pronouciation. At points without reading the lyrics you can’t understand what’s going on; which is a shame because it would add more colour to it, but the spice it brings is nice. A good result too, so congratulations Hungary, I hope you come back next year with something equally as funky!
Lithuania: 4Fun
This was sort of the “WTF” of the final, it didn’t really sit in with anything else, it just sort was random. She just sat there with her guitar singing with the sillhouettes in the background as a band? It wasn’t such a bad song that sort of grows on me after a million listens, but it was simply too boring for anyone to remember or vote for. So sad, but at least it wasn’t as bad as Belgium! 🙂
Greece: Sarbel
Ugh. I like this song, which bothers me, because he’s so boybandish but singing alone. I think that my experience with Greek people has ruined Greek men (in particular) for me. The whole hands on approach is too… Meddeterrian for me, and this guy is the embodyment of it. If he attemps to shake his shoulders any more, he’s going to start to develop moobs (man boobs), and that just creeps me out. It’s a good song, but it’s equally made bad with horrible dancing of a semi-attractive Greek guy. And to add to that, I don’t think he’s the type to be singing to a woman named Maria, ‘nuf said.
Georgia: Sopho Personal Favourite
I absolutely love her, and I have continued to love her more and more since the semi-final. My love grew even further when I figured out that she was actually speaking English and what she was saying! Regardless this song is so sweet and cute, but the samauri dancers are a bit much, especailly when they try to seduce the camera. Unfortunately only in 12th place so no automatic qualification, which she so clearly deserved especially as a newcommer to Eurovision. Welcome Georgia, give me a good song next year so I can have a new favourite country!
Sweden: The Ark Personal Favourite
How can anyone not like Ola Salo and his band The Ark? He comes from Småland (:O) but one could consider his second home Finland, which is always a help too. Famous in Scandinavia, and using Eurovision as a bouncing board into Europe, but it sort of failed in many ways. With a dissapointing 17th place finnish, after a poor performance it’s a bloody shame because it’s going to be difficult for Western Countries to qualify next year. His voice was way off compared to Melodifestivalen and it even looked like he put on a bit of weight, oh well I still voted for him! haha!
France: Les Fatals Picards
I’m torn, in the French “final” (hyperbole for the horrible competition) I actually voted for this song because I couldn’t stand to see anyone from the competition sent, and really the song isn’t that bad. But I do have some on stage comments. Pink, okay I can deal with that, but the cat on the guy’s shoulder? What the…? Also I did notice that the main singer was wearing girly shoes, they were like high-heals with those thick heals, so I laghed to myself when I saw. It wasn’t as horrible as everyone else had thought though, something decently performed that France has sent in the last years. I do want to take France and shake them up, in more ways then one; Presidential choice, Socieity and Administration, Eurovision Entries; get your act together you Frenchies!
Latvia: Bonaparti.lv
I continue to shake my head in shame for this entry. Come on Latvia; you can do much better than a singing hobo choir! They look like hobos who are trying too hard, and then can’t sing well together. Il Divo rip-off written all over them, but people actually voted for this? How could anyone be so blind and stupid? How could anyone want to see this come anywhere in the top 10? *shudders*
Russia: Serebro
I have some interesting comments for Russia, and I don’t know if it’s a good thing or bad thing but I’m going to say them anyways. Russia sends good songs, it’s a fact, whether I like them or not they at least know who to choose, however this year reminded me a lot of a t.A.T.u rip off with three girls in black, but at the end of the night I had completely forgotten that they even performed. Now to me this is disturbing because I can’t even recall the tune of the song, which shows that it’s uninteresting to me. Even as I’m writing this I had to pull up the song to try to remind myself of what they did. And then the votes come in and it comes in the top5? How can a song that I don’t even remember, or like a huge amount do so well? It’s simply shocking to me.
Germany: Roger Cicero Personal Favourite 
Turn back the clocks babies, becuase Roger Cicero is here to bring us to a time that was prosperous, worry-free, and not like anything else in the competition. This was a huge favourite for me coming in, but it flopped in the voting results, so sad. He’s a good singer, he’s a good looking German man, with a band, and a good voice and good song! What’s wrong with it? It’s different, just like Georgia but in a different way! Votttee it! So as a result now I’m sad for it’s poor result.
Serbia: Marija erifović Personal Favourite
Winner
I can honestly say that I was happy and relieved to see the best song of the competition win. She sang her heart out to a good song, despite looking like a man, but the song sticks in my head and it crys out to me! Great job, so everyone stop bitching about voting results. The whole of Europe voted for it, so it’s not all about voting patterns of the East; the truth of the matter is that the song is great and that everyone sees that for once!
Ukraine: Verka Serduchka Personal Favourite
Wow. I was actually extrodinary surprised by this entry. Tobias had told me that it was his favourite, and really I avoided listening to it because I thought he was just pulling my chain. I saw it, and the first time I was like “Huh” but then when they did the reviews of the song I started to like it more and more. With a song of about 10 words of lyrics, in several different languages, with a drag-queen that looks hotter than a supermodel as a man, this song came in a close second. The whole time the voting was going on, I was nervous because seriously you can’t have that win! I can see why people voted it, but that scares me a lot! The dance is funny, the singing is funny, the song is funny, it’s just funny! Entertainment factor is high, but just wow. I still thing he should have performed as a man, he’s way hotter, but the drag-queen was there for “shock factor” that didn’t exist anyways.
United Kingdom: Scooch
Oh you crazy British. With about as many sexual innuendos as lyrics for the song I can’t help but laugh and not be surprise that the UK chose this. It’s cheezy on the highest possible level, with guys that look like women because they have so much make-up on, and cheesy lyrics. At the same time as the cheezyness it makes me just want to get up and dance because it’s a sort of dance-hit in a way. Oh well, Malta gave you 12 points? I think they looked more surprised than anything!
Romania: Todomondo Personal Favourite
Despite Romania being my favourite country for the last 4 or 5 years I thought that this year it would dissapointment this year, but after the performance I was happy to note that again it stays to the top. The song was lower in the quality scale than in past years, but it’s not bad, a multi-lingual song about love with an Eastern; Romanian feel. It was funny to watch too with the crazy French man. Bring me a better song next year please, I like you Romania, don’t fail me! We need another Mihai or Luminita to exite my soul!
Bulgaria: Elitsa Todorova & Stoyan Yankoukov Personal Favourite
I was surprised by this one, it was a top5 entry! I didn’t think that people would like it that much, but I know I did. It was the mix of folklore and new-age music from the début country, Bulgaria. The performance was way better this time around, but I wonder why people chose it, because it really was different! Horrible English, however, but I won’t judge. 🙂
Turkey: Kenan Dogulu
This is my first of only two Go Home songs in the Final. All in all this show has been on a very high quality scale, but this song pisses me off. He’s a short, slimey Turkish singer, and the Turkish dispora in Europe always voting for their song just pisses me off! Go home and get something far greater so you can shut me up about the voting; because I actually did just throw up a little bit in my mouth!
Armenia: Hayko
The tree bothered me, plain and simple, and the guy with the breaking heart who looked like he could be well just someone different it bothered me. This is the second Go Home song of the show, and it got voted in the top10? What the hell was anyone thinking? I can’t imagine that there is a huge Armenian population in Europe, but there were much better songs. Having said all this though, he actually did sing well in English which was a surprise! But boooo!
Moldova: Natalia Babu
Rounding up the evening was the powerful Moldovan entry with a woman who sings low but belts the high notes with ease, although it’s true that she is actaully screaming. A Cher rip-off, possibly, but really the performance grows on me and I like the song much more than I did in the semi-final. The staff thing going on in the backgound distracts me and it’s pretty cool but with all the clothes on the stage it makes me sort of confused as to what’s going on. I just see like random things going everywhere, when we should be focusing on the fact that Natalia can actually sing, as a rocker!
Great show, 6 years later I finally add the images! 