What’s so special about the 2023 contest? I suppose there isn’t anything particularly special, except that it was being held in the UK, who came second last year, because of the war in Ukraine (who were the winners – and therefore would normally be the hosts). It being held in the UK, where I live, also means, as a country, we’re promoting it more heavily.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n
My thoughts on the countries who made it to the grand final (along with my friend, fellow reviewer, and Eurovision fan):<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/howsaffworks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/9a0fcd079522cf4406378fbd9c5bc656-700x700.jpg\")
<\/figure>\ud83c\udde6\ud83c\uddf9 Austria | Teya & Salena – Who The Hell Is Edgar?<\/strong> – we love the song, because it\u2019s a weird TUNE, but question if flamboyant enough – 8 and 8.5. \ud83c\uddf5\ud83c\uddf9 Portugal | Mimicat – Ai Cora\u00e7\u00e3o <\/strong>– groovier than we remembered but a bit difficult to get into; liked the flamenco-ness – 4 and 3.5.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \ud83c\udde8\ud83c\udded Switzerland | Remo Forrer <\/strong>– Watergun – pure emotion and depth, gives you the feels as we already knew – 9 and 8.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \ud83c\uddf5\ud83c\uddf1 Poland | Blanka – Solo<\/strong> – this is surprisingly funky though no one realises there\u2019s more to it and cheers before the end – 7 and 6.5.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \ud83c\uddf7\ud83c\uddf8 Serbia | Luke Black – Samo Mi Se Spava <\/strong>– still don\u2019t quite understand why he is a finalist, doesn\u2019t even seem to sing in tune, and his song is meh – 1 and 3.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n \ud83c\uddeb\ud83c\uddf7 France: La Zarra – \u00c9videmment –<\/strong> France proving that 1. Serious and dramatic can still be a banger and 2. That you can sing all in your own language and still have a hook.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \ud83c\udde8\ud83c\uddfe Cyprus | Andrew Lambrou <\/strong>– Break A Broken Heart – really great, solid performance, though verses feel heavy compared to the epic chorus, and definitely gets better with time – 7.5 and 7.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \ud83c\uddea\ud83c\uddf8 Spain: Blanca Paloma –<\/strong> Eaea – sounds like Arabian nights, gets worse with time\u2026this was never going to get a good score – 1 and 2.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \ud83c\uddf8\ud83c\uddea Sweden | Loreen – Tattoo<\/strong> – definitely grows on you, Tattoo is a typical love song, but it IS good – 5.5 and 6.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n \ud83c\udde6\ud83c\uddf1 Albania | Albina & Familja Kelmendi – Duje – <\/strong>this was just a bit meh, as previously thought – 2 and 3.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \ud83c\uddee\ud83c\uddf9 Italy: Marco Mengoni – Due Vite <\/strong>– beautiful voice and performance, but not a memorable song – 3.5 and 5.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \ud83c\uddea\ud83c\uddea Estonia | Alika – Bridges<\/strong> – the way she sings BRIDGES is stupendous, we like it a lot – 6.5 and 7.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n \ud83c\uddeb\ud83c\uddee Finland | K\u00e4\u00e4rij\u00e4 – Cha Cha Cha <\/strong>– THIS IS CRAZY DRINKING SONG, better than last time, and woah it has a dance move, who knew (?) – 10 and 8.5. \ud83c\udde8\ud83c\uddff Czechia | Vesna – My Sister’s Crown –<\/strong> a feminist, dancey song, better in concept than actuality, lacks a strong chorus. Choreography and harmonies spot on though – 5 and 6.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \ud83c\udde6\ud83c\uddfa Australia | Voyager – Promise <\/strong>– crazy strong chorus and bridge, works well live, but for some reason doesn\u2019t stick in your head like others – 6 and 7. \ud83c\udde7\ud83c\uddea Belgium | Gustaph – Because Of You –<\/strong> just as fun as remembered, this has a good beat, and feels jazzy – 7.5 and 8.5. \ud83c\udde6\ud83c\uddf2 Armenia | Brunette – Future Lover –<\/strong> this is elegant and heartfelt, and I like how the verses are a bit irregular, but it\u2019s not AS memorable as other songs – 6 and 7. \ud83c\uddf2\ud83c\udde9 Moldova | Pasha Parfeni – <\/strong>Soarele \u015fi Luna – just very \u2018meh\u2019 – 0.5\/10 and 1.5\/10.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6 Ukraine: TVORCHI – Heart of Steel <\/strong>– a \u2018catchy enough\u2019 line from the chorus, but generally a slow, subdued kind of odd song – 3 and 3.5.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \ud83c\uddf3\ud83c\uddf4 Norway | Alessandra – Queen of Kings <\/strong>– emotional anthem sung by a beautifully silver voice, AND ITS POWERFUL – 8.5 and 8. \ud83c\udde9\ud83c\uddea Germany: Lord of the Lost – <\/strong>Blood & Glitter – one of the more \u2018out there\u2019 songs of the year, but he pulls off the screamo elements and crazy outfit well, and the chorus is genuinely a SHOUT – 7.5 and 7.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \ud83c\uddf1\ud83c\uddf9 Lithuania | Monika Linkyt\u0117 – <\/strong>Stay – in Graham Norton\u2019s words, \u2018a perfectly nice song..needs something to make it stand out\u2019 – 3.5 and 8.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \ud83c\uddee\ud83c\uddf1 Israel | Noa Kirel – Unicorn –<\/strong> she\u2019s a bloody amazing singer but the song, controversially, is NOT a stand out – 5 and 5.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \ud83c\uddf8\ud83c\uddee Slovenia | Joker Out – Carpe Diem –<\/strong>a very cute group of boys singing a groovy pop ditty, and we did enjoy – 8 and 6.5.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n \ud83c\udded\ud83c\uddf7 Croatia | Let 3 – Mama \u0160\u010c! –<\/strong> it\u2019s very odd, a bit of a mess, and you\u2019re not sure if they realise it themselves, but they seem to be doing their own thing, and 50% of us like it – 6 and 4. \ud83c\uddec\ud83c\udde7 United Kingdom: <\/strong>Mae Muller – I Wrote A Song <\/strong>– very poor performance on the night, but this was a catchy enough song, and a good effort, for us – normally a 6.5 but on the night, a 4, and normally a 7, but on the night a 3.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n After seeing all the performances, I also had some extra thoughts:<\/strong> And, a couple weeks after Eurovision, and after listening to the playlist constantly on repeat, I had a few more thoughts:<\/strong> My top of the year: Did you watch Eurovision? What were your thoughts?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I thought it’d be fun to share my thoughts on the Eurovision Song Contest of 2023, hosted in Liverpool.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":225,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[43,20,45],"class_list":["post-209","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tv-show-reviews","tag-eurovision","tag-music","tag-tv-show-review"],"featured_image_src":"http:\/\/howsaffworks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/230508_Sarah-Louise-Bennett_EBU_1575-Enhanced-NR.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"saffmae","author_link":"http:\/\/howsaffworks.com\/?author=1"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/howsaffworks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/howsaffworks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/howsaffworks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/howsaffworks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/howsaffworks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=209"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/howsaffworks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":226,"href":"http:\/\/howsaffworks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209\/revisions\/226"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/howsaffworks.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/225"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/howsaffworks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=209"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/howsaffworks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=209"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/howsaffworks.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=209"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
More detail: it\u2019s very fast paced and the sardonic lyrics are GREAT. LOVE IT. Random holy chants. There\u2019s a few different Eurovision stereotypes and this fits \u2018just WEIRD\u2019. Something about being inspired by Edgar Allan Poe and being a star. EXCELLENT. Pumping beat is fabulous. Would like some Austrian though, so docking a point for that. However, does get points for dance moves, and culture references. The performance, in terms of dancing, etc, is quite plain, for this kind of song, however.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/howsaffworks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Blank-4-Grids-Collage-700x700.png\"){kind=spacer}
<\/figure>![\"\"](\"http:\/\/howsaffworks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Blank-4-Grids-Collage-1-700x700.png\"){kind=spacer}
<\/figure>![\"\"](\"http:\/\/howsaffworks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Blank-4-Grids-Collage-2-700x700.png\"){kind=spacer}
<\/figure>![\"\"](\"http:\/\/howsaffworks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/SEI_155840007.jpg\")
<\/figure>
More detail: Finland do usually do something \u2018out there\u2019, and THIS YEAR IS NO EXCEPTION! THERE\u2019S CHANTING AND A BOX. THIS SOUNDS ANGRY AND RANTY AND RAVEY! CHA CHA CHA CHA CHA! I\u2019m not exactly sure what\u2019s going on but YES, YES, YES! I’m stimming out, aaah! I’m living in the moment, and escaping, and ahh, in the words of K\u00e4\u00e4rij\u00e4, ‘it’s crazy, it’s party’!<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/howsaffworks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Blank-2-Grids-Collage-700x700.png\"){kind=spacer}
<\/figure>
More detail: come on Australia, please! I really want you to do well (as an Australian citizen, though I understand why people are confused that the country, not being in Europe, is in Eurovision). It\u2019s very upbeat with odd synthesizer sounds, but kind of works? I like the emotion and power when they hit \u2018it\u2019s gonna be alright\u2019, but overall, I don’t feel like it’ll be super popular. Was much better performed live than the music video though!<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/howsaffworks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/1_Britain-Eurovision-Song-Contest-Semi-Final-23131708482170-700x700.jpg\")
<\/figure>
More detail: THIS JUMPED STRAIGHT IN. IT\u2019S GROOVY, C\u2019MON, PARTY-LIKE. Clapping beat in the background. Wonderful outfits. CELEBRATE. Because Of You! I CARRY ON. Love this, really jazzy and Eurovisiony – anthemic and self lovey, and Discoey. Wish there was more Belgish (this is not a language). Excellent.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/howsaffworks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/SEI_155567125.jpg\")
<\/figure>
More detail: this is kind of solemn, haunting, more stripped back. Suddenly jumped into a weird hip hop rap song\u2026felt a bit meh AND THEN IT HIT THE BE GOOD DO GOOD CHORUS AND I SUDDENLY GOT IT! WOAH! I LOVE IT! THIS IS A TURNAROUND FOR THE BOOKS! Encapsulates the drama and theatricality of Eurovision, though could\u2019ve been cheesier.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/howsaffworks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Blank-3-Grids-Collage-700x700.png\"){kind=spacer}
<\/figure>
More detail: I REALLY LIKED THIS!! It had a quirky rhythm and tune, and I liked the whole power woman feel to it. THE SINGER IS STUNNING TOO. AND IT FELT VERY NORWAY-Y. I liked the references to the Northern Lights and the Northern and Southern Seas.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/howsaffworks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Blank-4-Grids-Collage-3-700x700.png\"){kind=spacer}
<\/figure>![\"\"](\"http:\/\/howsaffworks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Croatia_1st_rehearsal_2023_2.jpg\")
<\/figure>
More detail: Mama SC? I have no idea how to pronounce this. Has a very different vibe, there\u2019s just tinny drums in the back at the start..and now some weird aggressive sounds. WHAT IS HAPPENING? THEN THE DISCO HITS. This felt a bit like it was trying too hard to be crazy and out there.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/howsaffworks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/1_Britain-Eurovision-Song-Contest-Dress-Rehearsal-23130540900220.jpg\")
<\/figure>
Germany\u2019s song was great live, but not as great as the recording.
Solo was remarkably BETTER live, a real groove!
Norway\u2019s was also a bit better live!
Tattoo was much improved live!
Bridges is POWERFUL.
There was a weird bit at the end with Liverpool iconic songs like Imagine and You\u2019ll Never Walk Alone.
I loved it when Australia got 12 points and were busy eating sandwiches because they did not expect it to happen!!
I’m sorry to join in with the controversy, but while I’m happy for Sweden, who won, I REALLY believe Finland should have (there has been much controversy that the jury vote was fixed, giving Sweden an extreme lead that even with a shockingly high public vote, Finland could not surpass)!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
WHY DOES EVERYONE HATE WATERGUN – I STILL DON’T GET IT?
I am obsessed with Joker Out and K\u00e4\u00e4rij\u00e4.
Mama SC has grown on me, woah, I actually think it’s gone from trying too hard to trying so incredibly hard they clearly don’t care about trying too hard, and I love the themes.
The emotional power of Italy’s is finally getting through to me.
I also cannot believe Greece, Azerbaijan, Poland, and Malta, all didn’t make it to the final. I thought they were all absolutely amazing!!??
Everyone who participated genuinely seems so kind and genuine (I have enjoyed watching many clips of interviews etc – in particular videos of K\u00e4\u00e4rij\u00e4 and Bojan (from Joker Out) together).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Finland and Norway
Switzerland and Austria
Honourable mentions to Slovenia and Germany, of those who made the final.
Honourable mentions to Greece and Poland, of those who didn’t make it to the final.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n