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We got the first confirmed Eurovision entry early this time, before even the list of participating countries: “Mon amour” for France. It’s a nice song that blends classic and modern styles, but its score will come down to how well it’s staged.
Also, I’m telling you in advance: the contests from 2004 onwards will get two posts each. One for the semifinals, where I review the non-qualifiers and the presentation of the semifinals, and one for the final.
Introduction
I was originally going to call this post “ireland op plz nerf” before I settled on something less ridiculous. After being the fourth country to win Eurovision twice in a row, Ireland became the first to host twice in a row and put on Eurovision 1994 in Dublin. When the contest ended, Ireland became the only country to win three times in a row and the first to win six times.
Despite the repetition in the contest’s winners, the lineup of countries was way different from last time. This was the first Eurovision to use a relegation system to limit the number of participants: the seven lowest-scoring countries from last year were locked out to make way for newcomers, at least in theory. Cyprus, the seventh lowest-scoring country, got lucky because Italy willfully quit the contest. This means that seven countries didn’t return from 1993 (Belgium, Denmark, Israel, Italy, Luxembourg, Slovenia, Turkey) and seven joined for the first time (Estonia, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia).
The relegation system doesn’t seem fair to me and I’m guessing it’s what drove Italy and Luxembourg away from Eurovision. It also broke Belgium’s perfect attendance, leaving only Switzerland and Germany as having attended every year… for now. The newcomers were a lot more successful than last year; Poland even got second place, by far their best result to date. On the other hand, Lithuania’s first entry got zero points and they didn’t return until 1999.
An interesting fact about one of the hosts: Cynthia Ní Mhurchú originally worked as an Irish language teacher. It shows with how confidently she spoke Irish on stage, and because she looks like a teacher. A sad fact about the other host: Gerry Ryan died in 2010, at only 53 years old, to the shock of his entire country.
The most famous thing part of this contest was actually the interval act. It was a folk dance performance called “Riverdance” and it’s perhaps the best known Eurovision interval act, rivaled only by “Love Love Peace Peace” in 2016. I’m quite excited for it! Oh yeah, I watched the contest with British commentary.
Sweden: Stjärnorna
Artist: Marie Bergman and Roger Pontare
Language: Swedish
Key: G major, A♭ major
Interesting fact: This is one of very few Swedish-language Eurovision entries that didn’t have an English version. Even for the first few years after the language rule was repealed, most English-language entries from Sweden also had a Swedish version.
Unlike the strong start last year, this is an average power ballad to me, set apart from the others only because it’s a duet. But I’ll have to keep an eye out for Roger Pontare; he’ll show up with a fan favorite song in 2000.
Finland: Bye Bye Baby
Artist: CatCat (Katja and Virpi Kätkä)
Language: Finnish, plus a repeated phrase in English
Key: B minor, C minor
This is an alright minor key pop song with some good melodies, including its English-language hook, but nothing really that special. The orchestra disguises what the song really is, which is average Eurodance. I’ve never liked Eurodance all that much, but I’ll have to get used to hearing it in the contest, especially after the orchestra is abolished.
“I don’t think we’ll be in Helsinki this time next year.” I couldn’t agree more, Terry Wogan.
Ireland: Rock ‘n Roll Kids (the winner)
Artist: Paul Harrington and Charlie McGettigan
Language: English
Key: E major
We’ve now arrived at the third Irish winner in a row, and the first Eurovision song to score over 200 points! This song got 226 points, which the UK surpassed three years later with 227 points.
Unlike the very forgettable first two songs, this song is absolutely beautiful! I’m really glad that the third Irish winner in a row is a completely different genre from the first two, because three Irish ballads in a row winning would have been repetitive.
This was also the most overwhelming of Ireland’s consecutive victories. “Why Me?” won by 16 points, “In Your Eyes” won by 23 points, both relatively narrow margins. This song, on the other hand, beat Poland by a whopping 60 points. If the rest of this contest is anything like the first two songs, then this runaway victory was well-deserved.
Even though I’m only three songs into the contest, I can already see why this one stands out so strongly. For one, it’s the only entry in this contest to not have an orchestra, so that already makes it unique. The only instrumentation is a piano and acoustic guitar, played by each of the singers. E major is a well-suited key for both instruments. The strong use of black keys fits with the curved shape of human hands, and the root note is a white key which is good for the thumbs. The most common notes in the E major scale (E, A, B) are among the strings’ default notes, meaning the guitarist doesn’t need that many fingers on the frets.
The song is slow, relaxed, and reflective, and the voices harmonize perfectly. It fits very well with the lyrics, which reflect on the singers’ childhoods when everything seemed simple and they were the rock and roll kids. Although the lyrics reference specific time periods of music, as a composition I find it timeless.
Songs like this are my favorite type of Eurovision winner. The ones that don’t conform to the popular music standards of the time period, but let the beauty of music speak for itself. Other examples are “Nocturne” the next year and “Amar pelos dois” from 2017. I’m not saying these songs are superior to flashy pop music, but I am saying that songs of this type are timeless, which is very much a good thing. This song could fit in almost any decade of Eurovision, as early as the 1960’s or as late as 2023.
You might know that when Ireland struggled to score well in the 21st century, one thing they tried was bringing back a prior winner. They sent Niamh Kavanagh in 2010 with an old-school Irish ballad. She made it to the final but scored near the bottom, despite all the hype, because Europe’s musical tastes had evolved. On the other hand, if Ireland sent a simple but heartfelt tune like this in the 2020’s, I could see it being the country’s redemption arc.
Now that I’ve reviewed all three of Ireland’s consecutive winners, I’m convinced that they scored so well in the 1990’s not just because they sung in English. Back then, Ireland took the contest very seriously and sent tons of quality songs. If there’s any country other than Germany (my own) that I hope scores well in 2024, it’s Ireland. The country totally has the potential to do well in Eurovision, but they aren’t putting in the effort to realize it. If a quality act winds up in their national final, that could change everything.
Oh wow, my review of this song turned out much longer than expected. Third longest behind “It’s Just a Game” and “Ein bisschen Frieden”! Part of me hopes that I don’t like any other entry nearly as much, because then I’d be annoyed this was a runaway winner.
Cyprus: Íme ánthropos ki egó (Είμαι άνθρωπος κι εγώ)
Artist: Evridiki Theokolous, returning from 1992
Language: Greek
Key: G♯ minor
Yep, Greece and Cyprus are still in their drama phase. This time, Cyprus gave us an almost opera-like piece with a bit of bouzouki in the verses, then ballad instrumentation in the chorus. Evridiki’s freeform singing is charming if a bit hard to listen to. Still, this is one of Cyprus’s best efforts yet.
Iceland: Nætur
Artist: Sigga (Sigriður Beinteinsdóttir)
Language: Icelandic
Key: E major and E minor in alternation, then F major
A member of the groups competing in 1990 and 1992, Sigga is now competing as a soloist. She’s not singing an upbeat Icelandic pop song this time, but a synth ballad whose title means “nights”. It’s decent, but I can’t really say it grabs me. Additionally, it doesn’t commit to the ballad style since the choruses sound like a regular 90’s pop song. Nice synths though.
United Kingdom: We Will Be Free (Lonely Symphony)
Artist: Frances Ruffelle
Language: English
Key: F♯ minor
Another one of the UK’s lowest results of the 20th century, this got tenth place so at least it was still in the top half. Again, it’s not bad but not great either. It’s got a nice funky bassline and a few groovy chords, better than most of the ballads, but it’s too eclectic to click with me. The lyrics basically say “one day, you and I will be free and achieve our dreams”, but the repetition of “we will be free” annoys me.
Croatia: Nek’ ti bude ljubav sva
Artist: Tony Cetinski
Language: Serbo-Croatian (Croatian)
Key: E♭ major
Disclaimer: Most linguists consider Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian, and Montenegrin variants of the same language, which is usually called Serbo-Croatian. They’re the experts in this topic, which is why even after Yugoslavia’s breakup, I’m listing these languages as Serbo-Croatian first and the regional variant second. This isn’t intended to demean anyone living in these countries, only to denote their languages from an unbiased perspective.
I’m thankful that the backing singers are annoyingly loud and overpower Tony, because otherwise I would have absolutely nothing to say about this song. It’s just another boring ballad. When will we start hearing Balkan ballads? That style is so much cooler than the usual Eurovision power ballad. Croatia is itself a Balkan country, so it can’t be too long till we hear one.
Portugal: Chamar a música
Artist: Sara Tavares
Language: Portuguese
Key: A♭ major
Sara has a good voice and some of that nice Portuguese twang, so this ballad isn’t as dull as the ones before. The juries seemed to like it considering it got 8th place, and the chord progression is nice too. Still, I’m disappointed that this is another ballad, because I’ve read that Sara’s music is best known for combining Portuguese and Cape Verdean genres, which sounds so much more interesting. I guess she was just 16 years old and her career had barely started.
Switzerland: Sto pregando
Artist: Duilio (Lorenzo Duilio di Cicco)
Language: Italian
Key: F major, C major, D♭ major
Argh, too many ballads in a row!!! Non-randomized song order can’t come soon enough, I’m telling you. Ballads work best when the singer gives it their all and Duilio really doesn’t. I’m quickly going to forget this.
Estonia: Nagu merelaine
Artist: Silvi Vrait
Language: Estonian
Key: E♭ major, E major
Finally, the first newcomer country! Another problem with randomized song order is that the debuting countries aren’t evenly spread across the contest. They don’t start coming in till song 10 out of 25, and then several are clustered together.
Contrasting against their entry in Preselection for Millstreet, Estonia sent a woman with a relatively deep voice and strong stage presence. It’s pretty decent for a Eurovision ballad and it’s got nice romantic lyrics. The tempo is fast enough that I’m not even sure it counts as a ballad. It has guitars here and there and even a bridge with rock elements. So why did this score second last and earn only two points??? It’s way more tolerable than Croatia and Switzerland’s ballads.
Romania: Dincolo de nori
Artist: Dan Bittman
Language: Romanian
Key: E minor, gradually transitioning to G major
This song makes Romania feel like the long-lost cousin of the Romance-speaking countries of France, Spain, Italy, and Portugal, which it basically is. It just has that Romance language ballad feel, which again it basically is. I would describe the way Romanian sounds as “Italian but less Italian”. I don’t agree with the common opinion that it sounds Slavic, but it’s a lovely sounding language either way.
The song itself is not much to write home about. It starts with a nice piano part but then delves into a very average ballad with a slightly eccentric structure. This is a common problem with Eurovision ballads: the simple instrumentation at the start is promising, but the rest of the song is ballad soup.
Malta: More than Love
Artist: Moira Stafrace and Christopher Scicluna
Language: English
Key: A♭ minor
Just like in 1989, the storm of ballads has fried my brain so much that I can’t even tell what is and isn’t a ballad anymore. This has nice harmonies in the chorus but is middling otherwise, yet it got fifth place probably because of English bias. I can’t say much else.
Netherlands: Waar is de zon?
Artist: Willeke Alberti
Language: Dutch
Key: B♭ major
After the piano intro (lovely as ever), I braced myself for the inevitable transition into a standard Eurovision ballad. It didn’t come until the second verse began, which is a little better than Romania because at least the first third of the song is good. Why can’t more Eurovision songs stick to the simple instrumentation they begin with, like “Rock ‘n Roll Kids”? For what it’s worth, Willeke sells this song well. She’s clearly an experienced performer, as you may guess from being in her late forties.
Germany: Wir geben ‘ne Party
Artist: MeKaDo, a girl trio
Language: German, with a few English phrases mixed in
Key: G major
I’m obligated to mention that Terry Wogan interviewed Frances Ruffelle (the British representative) in the postcard before this song began. These interviews are actually quite charming and I wish more commentators did that.
I know how biased this sounds, but I’m so proud that my country broke this contest’s streak of ballads! Almost as proud as I am that they got third place. I find it strange that Ralph Siegel contributed to so much to the streak of German peace ballads that I kept complaining about, yet the very same Ralph Siegel broke this pattern by composing an upbeat party song (title: we’re throwing a party). He did give us “Dschinghis Khan” so it’s about time he provides us another bouncy, lighthearted tune. But in typical Ralph Siegel fashion, he lost interest in working with these girls after one successful single.
This seriously would have been a perfect opener for the contest. An upbeat dance number to hype up listeners and keep them in good spirits through the inevitable ballads. Maybe I should make a list of fitting openers for each contest up to 2012, but that’s not the point of these reviews. I love how the verses consist of mischievous-sounding dominant chords, like the major key has a tinge of minor, but then it switches to ecstatic major key in the verses. The fast lyrics in the chorus must have been so hard to sing, but they sound good and the girls pull it off well. The rap section near the end is cheesy but also hilarious, in an extremely Eurovision way.
I think this song benefited from coming after so many ballads. It was a real breath of fresh air, so the juries were inclined to rate it highly. In that sense, maybe it’s for the best that this song didn’t come at the start.
Slovakia: Nekonečná pieseň
Artist: Martin Ďurinda and Tublatanka
Language: Slovak, like all but the last two of Slovakia’s entries
Key: D major
Here’s the proper debut of one of the most forgotten countries in Eurovision. Slovakia has only appeared in seven Eurovision contests and their highest result has been 18th place. That’s fewer appearances than Australia! For whatever reason, they and the Czech Republic have never had a high interest in Eurovision. Maybe they’re more interested in each other’s music? I do find it sweet that Czechs and Slovaks still see each other as the closest friends, even after they quit sharing a country.
Sadly, Slovakia’s debut is a nothing song. It’s an attempt at a rock song that falls flat because it lacks any sense of progression. Their entry from Preselection for Millstreet was so much better and I wish they sent it this year, because the orchestra would have brought it to life.
Lithuania: Lopšinė mylimai
Artist: Ovidijus Vyšniauskas
Language: Lithuanian
Key: G major
Finally, we have the first debuting country that wasn’t in the 1993 semifinal! Unfortunately, Lithuania did not have a strong start in Eurovision. They’re one of two countries to score zero points the first time. The other is Portugal in 1964, and back then scoring zero points was more common.
I don’t understand why this song got zero points. Sure, it’s yet another ballad and isn’t that remarkable, but neither are most entries in this contest, and compared to the other ballads this is fairly enjoyable. You can tell from the instrumental and the singer’s gestures that it’s something romantic. It’s got a little guitar solo and a few electric piano parts too. You could argue the language was too exotic for the juries to appreciate, but then you’d have to explain why Hungary scored so high.
If I was Lithuanian, I would be fuming with anger when writing this review. Not because I love this song—it’s just an average ballad, which is better than a hideous ballad—but because it meant Lithuania didn’t participate again until five years later, and didn’t sing in their own language until twenty-eight years later. OK, that isn’t totally true: in 1999 they sang in Samogitian, a maybe-dialect of Lithuanian, and in 2001 they had a verse in Lithuanian. But even then, that was a whole 21 years without singing in Lithuanian. There is a bright side: “Sentimentai” from 2022 is entirely in Lithuanian and it’s a perfect redemption arc for the language. I’m excited to eventually review “Sentimentai” because I have a lot to say about why it’s so great. If I was Lithuanian, I would have screamed in excitement when they revealed their entry for 2022.
For now, that’s it for Lithuania. We’ll see them again in the year of my birth!
Norway: Duett
Artist: Elisabeth Andreassen (returning from 1982 and 1985) and Jan Werner Danielsen (died in 2006)
Language: Norwegian
Key: D♭ major
This is Elisabeth Andreassen’s third of four times participating in Eurovision. It’s interesting to see her sing a completely different style from her first two schlagers; she’s good at the romantic ballad style too! I like when Eurovision artists return with a different genre from last time, since it showcases their versatility.
I find it mildly funny that the song is exactly what it says on the tin: a duet. It reminds me of “Disko” from 2022, which is also what the title implies. I don’t mean this song is disco, of course. Elisabeth and Jan sing this romantic duet well, but as with Sweden, I can’t say the style is up my alley.
Bosnia and Herzegovina: Ostani kraj mene
Artist: Alma Čardžić and Dejan Lazarević
Language: Serbo-Croatian (Bosnian). See my disclaimer under Croatia.
Key: C major, D major
This song is best known for a little incident at the start. Since Bosnia was still suffering through war, the audience cheered for them so loudly that they interrupted the start of the instrumental. Dejan didn’t notice that at first and stumbled over his first line. It’s all OK because the crowd meant well.
Is this a regular ballad or a Balkan ballad? It doesn’t quite have the structure of a standard power ballad, but it doesn’t sound that ethnic to me either. I’m going to assume it’s a regular ballad. The singers present this ballad well but again, this contest has too many ballads.
Greece: To trehandíri (Díri Díri) (Το τρεχαντήρι (Ντίρι Ντίρι))
Artist: Kostas Bigalis and the Sea Lovers
Language: Greek
Key: A major
This is Greek sounding, but in a different way from what we’ve heard in the 90’s. It’s in a cheerful major key and heavy in Greek guitars, vaguely reminiscent of Greece’s first ever Eurovision entry in 1974. That song gave me high hopes for Greece’s later entries, but those hopes weren’t met until the 1990’s. This song is far from perfect and the repetitions of “diri diri” annoy me, but at this point I welcome any half-decent non-ballad with open arms.
Austria: Für den Frieden der Welt
Artist: Petra Frey
Language: German
Key: A major, B♭ major
I’m sure there are some Eurovision fans who absolutely love all those boring-ass peace ballads from Germany like “Über die Brücke geh’n” and “Träume sind für alle da” and were salty Germany didn’t send one this year. I have good news for those fans: this time, Austria sent this kind of song instead! The title even means “for the peace of the world”.
I can barely understand what Petra Frey is singing in the verses because of all the loud synths and because she sounds a little slurred. The chorus has the same kind of anthemic melody and the same peace lyrics I have heard way too many times from Germany. Oh, and the key changes near the end because of course it does. It’s a very generic peace ballad all around.
Spain: Ella no es ella
Artist: Alejandro Abad
Language: Spanish
Key: D major
It’s not a ballad, but it still isn’t great. The twangy country guitar doesn’t fit the rest of the song and keeps getting on my nerves, as does Alejandro’s gravelly voice and the repetition of the title. I wish I had discovered this song merely by browsing YouTube, because I would have clicked off after 30 seconds instead of having to sit through the rest.
Songs like this make me realize that having a semifinal to filter out the crap songs is much better than punishing the countries that sent crap songs by not letting them send a better song next year. I should note that Spain itself never fell victim to the relegation system, but this year made them come close.
Hungary: Kinek mondjam el vétkeimet?
Artist: Friderika Bayer
Language: Hungarian, one of the most enigmatic languages in Europe
Key: D major
Man, why the fuck is all the good stuff at the end this year? After all that drivel, we have the three highest scoring newcomers in a row, then at the end, a famously risqué song from France. Hungary was the second most successful of the debuts in this contest. They scored fourth place with this song, which is still their highest result. It’ll probably be their highest for a long time, because they’ve been gone from the contest since 2020.
Contrary to Slovakia, I’m glad Hungary didn’t send their Preselection for Millstreet entry this year. This song’s title means “to whom can I tell my sins?” and I can see why it scored highly. It starts with a memorable guitar riff but unlike so many others that start with a strong riff, it doesn’t turn into a generic ballad, though it does have buildup using percussion and strings. Unlike so many other ballads in this contest, this one knows how to restrain itself. It doesn’t throw in dramatic drums or flashy pianos. Then at the very end, it smoothly goes to the very same guitar riff it started with.
This song is important to Hungary’s history in Eurovision because for the audience, it tamed the beast that is the Hungarian language. Friderika proves that this language, stereotyped to be alien gobbledygook, can sound soft and gentle just as can the more familiar European languages. This left a good first impression to viewers unfamiliar with Hungarian, which might be why Hungary still frequently used their language after the language rule was abolished.
Russia: Vechny strannik (Вечный странник)
Artist: Masha Katz, under the stage name Youddiph
Language: Russian—what else would it be?
Key: G major (verses), A major (chorus)
Now that we’ve reached the first Russian entry in Eurovision, I need to provide a quick disclaimer. My Eurovision blog is about reviewing music, not discussing the political views of the people who sing them. As such, I will judge Russia’s entries independently of the artists’ views on the war in Ukraine. I should also stress that Russia deserves to be banned from Eurovision so long as Putin remains in power. To rejoin the contest, their broadcaster would have to rejoin the EBU first, which would be a complex and lengthy process. Suffice to say, Russia would have to be a very different place if they’re ever to be allowed back in Eurovision.
I have a special fondness for the Russian language because it’s responsible for my existence. My father studied Russian starting in high school and he met my mother in a college Russian class. I was born just two years afterwards. I remember looking into my dad’s Russian textbook as a kid and memorizing the Cyrillic alphabet, which is still pretty much all I know of the language. I think this is why languages in general interest me: it runs in the family and caused me to exist.
Before they were banned in 2022, Russia was a real power player in Eurovision. In the 21st century, they were known for sending flashy pop and dance songs (usually in English) with crazy, elaborate staging. It may surprise you how different their Eurovision style was in the 1990’s!
Listening to this song, I can tell it came from a country with a different musical culture from the rest of Europe. It reminds me of the occasional Soviet city pop songs I’ve discovered in YouTube spirals, and those songs are real treats. This song is quirky and full of funky keyboards in the verses, then it goes for orchestral drama in the chorus. She’s got an interesting gimmicky dress that she alters and unfolds to match the lyrics about an eternal wanderer.
This scored ninth place which is a strong start for Russia, but they’d score much worse the next three years, then not return until 2000 with a brand new style. Buckle your seatbelts, because Russia’s Eurovision story will be complex and ridden with drama. I hope that someday, Russians will get to live in a free and peaceful country instead of the current nightmarish dictatorship, because at the end of the day, they’re as human as anyone else.
Poland: To nie ja!
Artist: Edyta Górniak
Language: Polish
Key: D major (verses), G major (chorus), A major (final chorus)
The most successful newcomer in this contest was without a doubt Poland, whose first ever submission to Eurovision earned them second place. This was at the time the highest ranking achieved by a debut entry, which might seem impossible considering the first contest in 1956 had a winner. But if you remember that Eurovision 1956 had two songs per country, Switzerland won with their second song of the night, so that means they technically didn’t win with their debut entry. This song is still by far the best ranking Poland has ever achieved, and the second most points behind 2016.
I can tell this song was intended to score highly. It’s a ballad with dramatic buildup, taking many compositional tropes from Irish ballads, and the singer gives it her all and gets extra shouty at the end. You can tell it’s dramatic and romantic even without understanding the lyrics, which roughly say “I’m not an almighty god, it wasn’t me who stole heaven, so please just love me for who I am”. To me, it’s very shouty and overly lovey, not the kind of ballad I’d personally go out of my way to listen to, but she gave a strong performance and I can tell she made Poland proud. In their later entries, Poland wouldn’t send jury bait nearly as much.
If Edyta Górniak won this contest, she almost certainly would have sung her reprise partly in English. I know this because of an amusing story: she sung part of the song in English in rehearsals because she found it easier to sing in, so the delegations launched a failed petition to disqualify her. This is another forewarning that the language rule wouldn’t last much longer.
France: Je suis un vrai garçon
Artist: Nina Morato
Language: French
Key: E minor with a tinge of E major
The final song of this contest is most famous for being one of very few with profanity in its lyrics. It contains the word “putain”, which caused some controversy but was surprisingly allowed in the song. The rules for Eurovision don’t say anything about swear words: whether they’re censored seems to be case by case.
Now in all fairness, knowing the topic of the lyrics, the swear word is integral to this song. Since the title literally means “I am a real boy”, my brain keeps telling me the song is some goofy Pinocchio story told by a woman for some weird reason, but a translation that better captures the meaning might be “I’m a real tomboy”. The lyrics tell the story of a woman faced with a dilemma: she wants to get away from her love interest but doesn’t know how much she should disclose, and thus bemoans the complications of romance. Her performance is very sassy and expressive, especially each time she says “c’est lourd” (it’s hard).
The final four songs in this contest were all among the best in the night, which proves I would’ve liked this year more if the running order wasn’t so imbalanced.
Who’s my favorite?
Though we had a decent stretch of songs near the end, none of them wowed me as much as the winner, Ireland, Rock ‘n Roll Kids. This is good because otherwise I would’ve been salty it was a runaway winner.
- Austria, 1
- Belgium, 1
- Denmark, 1
- Finland, 3
- France, 3
- Germany, 4
- Iceland, 1
- Ireland, 4
- Israel, 2
- Luxembourg, 3
- Netherlands, 6
- Norway, 2
- Portugal, 2
- Sweden, 3
- Switzerland, 1
- Turkey, 1
- United Kingdom, 1
- (15 winners)
I’m pleased with the diverse lineup that of countries this list has accumulated. Note that my Eurovision tastes aren’t static and there are some years where I might have chosen a different winner in retrospect. I know this because over the course of this blog, I’ve listened many times to every song I chose as my favorite in order and have started questioning a few of my picks. In particular, I kind of regret choosing the cheery, childish “Zwei kleine Italiener” in 1962. With all that said, I’m confident Ireland was the right choice this year.
General thoughts:
Not even a question: the interval act was by far the best part of this contest!!! It was easily the best interval act I’ve seen yet, entertaining and captivating both musically and visually. It blew my mind, you have to see it to believe it. The interval act proves that Eurovision 1994 should be a TV Tropes entry under “Just Here for Godzilla”.
I think the problem with this year’s entries was less that it had so many ballads, and more that the ballads weren’t interspersed by upbeat songs much (except for Germany). This is why randomizing the order of songs sucks and is for lazy people. That said, even if the running order was more balanced, the concentration of ballads and bland songs would still be annoyingly high. During the voting, I already forgot what most of the songs sounded like. Some ballad? Some other ballad? Who the hell knows.
The voting had a significant new development: now we could see the faces of each spokesperson announcing the votes. This marks the point where the spokespersons started becoming annoying, though they weren’t so bad this year. I just have to accept spokesperson shenanigans are a Eurovision tradition. I love the glass of beer next to the guy from Hungary. I would have been pleased with Ireland’s victory, but surprised it was this overwhelming. It reminds me of Sweden sweeping the jury votes in 2023.
Terry Wogan’s reaction to the voting is interesting. As a commentator, it was his duty to root for the UK, but I can tell that at heart he wanted Ireland to win. Makes sense because he grew up in Ireland, and when rooting for a country in a competition, the place you grew up in always comes first. At the end when Ireland won, he didn’t hide his excitement at all; a nice breach of his “the UK is automatically better than everyone else” persona.
Overall, this was a blah year with some strong debuts near the end and an excellent winner.
See you next time as Ireland kind of wins for the fourth time in a row, but not really.
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