[Scroll to the bottom if you want to ignore my blather. It’s fine. But come back to the blather. It’s good stuff.]
There are many reasons why I look forward to each year’s Eurovision Song Contest more than the year before, but the simplest one is that it gets better every year. Recently referred to by the Washington Post as “The annual celebration of music and kitsch, watched by more than 150 million people”, I am finding the balance of music and kitsch moving steadily towards better music.
More and more countries are hiring some of the world’s top pop songwriters for their entries. And this year, Olly Alexander, one of the top global pop stars, entered Eurovision to compete for the United Kingdom. It used to be former acts became stars after competing in Eurovision (Celine Dion, Abba, Robyn, Manneskin). In Olly, the contest has been joined by an artist who is already a star.
The quality of the staging and visuals for the entries is growing, too, as many entries are contracting with stage producers behind some of the world’s top music tours. This growing trend could negatively impact the competitiveness of smaller countries that don’t have the massive budgets available for their larger competitors.
The tension between kitsch and sophistication can be seen in the differences between the types of entries that make the Grand Final and the voting differences between the public and professional juries. Last year, the public vote favored the thumping quirkiness of Finland’s Cha Cha Cha, but the stylish pop and elegant stage production of Tatoo by former winner Loreen from Sweden won enough professional jury votes to give Sweden the victory.
This year’s prohibitive voting favorite is the kitschy/quirky/weird – pick your adjective – entry Rim Tim Tagi Dim by Croatia’s Baby Lasagna. But after that, as a solid second favorite, is Israel’s powerful, moving, and beautiful Hurricane. I am curious if the public and professionals vote differently for them. The public may also favor Switzerland, Netherlands, and the macabre entry from Ireland, while the professional juries may favor France and Ukraine.
I’ll be surprised if Rim Tim Tagi Dim does not win, especially after Cha Cha Cha didn’t win last year. Here are my Top Ten favorites for the Grand Final based on their semifinal performances. All but Georgia[1] and Norway were in my Top Ten entering the contest, so I’m pretty satisfied. Now the test is to see how many will make the contest’s Top Ten, which is a big deal in Eurovision-land.
- Israel
- Ukraine
- France
- Slovenia
- Austria
- United Kingdom
- Latvia
- Georgia
- Serbia
- Norway
[1] Shoutout to American Idol’s Nutsa who I definitely did NOT like last season.
Ray's Musings 
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