In the third of our 4 part series Mr Phil tells you where it went *right* for certain countries… well, perhaps one!
10th Greece
A typical Greek effort here and with ERT seemingly cost cutting by using Superhero’s background and re-imaging it for Stefania’s other song this did OK – The staging would have looked pretty darn odd in the hall because of all the Green Screen and it looked a bit dodgy on the screens at home too because there was not enough money thrown at tidying up the shadows and etc. Vocal doubts went by the time the votes were handed out but, in truth, it was a good song swallowed up in a sea of good songs. Cyprus gave it 24 points in a move that shocked no one – and its other televoting 12 was from Georgia of all places, but not enough of the scores that counted to make an impression.
9th Russia
This is a damn good song, even if you take away the “hahaha – look at the Dalek” factor that clearly only we saw and the televoters ignored. Manizha can’t half belt this song out and, as we said at the time, it has a very powerful if a little contrived message behind it – yes Russian Women can do “things” as well as run the country. The kneeling before a screen was spot on and it all looked well done. You didn’t need to understand the Russian bits either! – 104 from the jury and 100 from televoting was a great return for very little outlay.
8th Lithuania
Whereas this will be seen as a failure. In truth, and sometimes it hurts, this song was squarely a vehicle for the Roop’s silly hand movements to be showcased across Europe. It was helped by a decent position in the running order but whilst this stands out as a decent song when placed one in the running order, after 17 other songs had hit the juries ears they just couldn’t bring themselves to say “that one” – apart from in Italy where they thought it was the best, and Israel who thought it was the 2nd best. Televoters, though, liked the cooky and off the wall presentation of this song and despite their eyes being burnt with Yellow outfits, 5 Twelves were forthcoming including from the UK and Ireland who presumably thought that this is what the Eurovision Song Contest is still all about.
7th Malta
For many, me included, *this* is what the song contest is actually all about – Talent. Destiny has a metric shirehorse full of talent to burn and paired with this song she should have showcased it. However, I think that there were many decisions that meant it didn’t win. Firstly the backdrop, blocks of colour aren’t the best choice – the dancers were in pink which looked incoherent with the yellow backdrop and Destiny, who quite honestly should have been dressed in something flattering to start with, was left changing her dress three times in an attempt to stay on-brand with the empowerment stuff. The juries lapped it up 4 Twelves and points from all corners meant it had a decent start. Sadly, though, Televoters just decided that, again, there were just better songs with no one putting it in their top 3. Which is a shame. This will be seen as a failure – I think Destiny needs to mature and relax and come back stronger.
6th Finland
If, as we shall see later, Rock and Roll never dies, then its unsurprising to see this one up quite so high. It still surprised me because I didn’t think it was that great an example of metal or punk but it’s really not my genre. It wasn’t particularly the juries genre either as they only got 83 points but the telephone voters of Europe, as we shall see, were in a Rock mood and it got 218 including 3 Twelve points. It chimed a chord, though which one is open for debate.
