Eurovision 2015

I'm starting this year's thread a little earlier than usual, only because we got a rather interesting development for Eurovision LX:

AUSTRALIA
Comes Down from Under The Battlefield!

Apparently, depending on how well this goes, they might try doing more guest fighters like this at future editions.

And remember, because 25% of the flag is ours, we still get 25% of your points, yeah?

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It's getting to be that time

Semi-Final 1
Semi-Final 2
Grand Final (+ Australia)

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Spontaneous favorites at this moment in time for me is Finland, Norway and Italy (which I actually can see as a potential winner). The only problem I see is that making stepcharts for songs this year won't be easy since there are so many ballads...!

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Hoooly shit I love Australia's. I totally did not see this coming.

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I like Italy a lot, sounds like a winner's song

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After listening to all the entries, I... I dunno. The best way I can sum up the 2015 crop is "aggressively boring", lmao.

I think my first impression favorites are the UK (holy shit you guys TRIED this year), Latvia, Poland, and Georgia haha

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I guess the UK couldn't be bothered all of the other years recently. From UK myself, we can be very lazy.

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Can't believe that the 1st semi will start soon!
So I need to make my predictions on the 10 qualifiers naturally.

1. Estonia
2. Russia (and I hope Polina won't get booed at...)
3. Finland (which is my favourite)
4. Belgium
5. Albania
6. Serbia
7. Romania
8. Greece
9. Netherlands
10. FYR Macedonia

And those that'll fall out:

11. Georgia
12. Armenia
13. Denmark
14. Moldova (the worst entry of the year for me)
15. Belarus
16. Hungary

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Armenia's entry is REALLY shit this year. As is Hungary's. And Moldova's.

There's a lot of shit this year, is what I'm saying.

Our host has described our entry as "The Great Gatsby mixed with Tron".

I don't think there's a better description, there.

Right, here's who's in:

Albania (thirty seconds of song spread out over 3 minutes)
Armenia (five different songs in one, none of which are any good)
Russia (awkwardly 90s ballad)
Romania (soft rock ballad)
Hungary (an weak ballad minus half of the instruments)
Greece (another ballad)
Estonia (admittedly quite good chamber pop)
Georgia (thirty seconds of song spread out over 3 minutes)
Serbia (not-quite-ballad turns into actually good dance-y bit)
Belgium (up-its-own-arse Lorde-but-a-man minimalist borefest)

It says a lot that for the first semi in ages there was literally no 'will they, won't they' tension for me.

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The disappointment was immense for me seeing that Finland had failed. Could it have been so bad that they actually ended up last with 0?

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I'm really intrigued because of all the songs, that one was the most unpredictable. So many people had it chalked in for a 'sympathy vote' Top 5. Maybe there was nothing to roll the sympathy off of. Did any of the hosts make any reference to the fact they all had Down's? I can't remember ours doing.

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The swedish commentators did, claming that they had autism and/or Down's.

Either way, now it's time to brace ourselves for the second semi, and this is how I predict:

TO THE FINAL
1. Sweden
2. Slovenia
3. Azerbaijan
4. Norway (which I'll be rooting for, and of course vote for)
5. Montenegro
6. Israel
7. Lithuania
8. Iceland
9. Ireland
10. Poland

OUT:

11. Malta
12. Latvia
13. Czech Republic (MIGHT consider to vote for them too)
14. Switzerland
15. Cyprus
16. San Marino
17. Portugal

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Has Ireland's singer super-glued her nostrils shut? She is doing baaaadly.

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I feel so bad for the Sammarinese duo, they felt so lost up there on stage.

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I've heard Heroes so many times I was all confused when it was in a lower key than the OST version. REALLY liking that the performance was kept from Melodifestivalen.

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And the finalists are:

1. Lithuania (cheesy cheesy cheese)
2. Poland (Slightly predicted that they could go through)
3. Slovenia (also expected)
4. Sweden (ABOUT TIME!)
5. Norway (YES!!!)
6. Montenegro (Balkan ballad of the year did it again)
7. Cyprus (Whoa, didn't expect that actually)
8. Azerbaijan (expected)
9. Latvia (unexpected, though Latvia should be happy being in the finals since 2008)
10. Israel (they better be happy, having failed since 2010 and now they're back in the game)

I also see that when this was quite a bad year for the nordic countries (Only Sweden and Norway qualified), it's a much happier year for the Baltics (all three, Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia are through)

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Lithuania (a not-wank Mumford and Sons, I guess I like?)
Poland (another thing from the 80s, probably got the sympathy vote that Finland missed due to woman in wheelchair)
Slovenia (the BBC was surprised here, I'm not. It was in the top 5 favourites)
Sweden (Well, it is going to win.)
Norway (Not Silent Storm. It's not bad...but not good.)
Montenegro (Because Bosnia isn't in it I guess Montenegro have cornered the market here. It says a lot that I'd actually prefer that time they did dubstep)
Cyprus (Dull-as-piss ballad, makes Disney fans vomit)
Azerbaijan (You know my opinions of Azerbaijan, both their songs since 2009 and the country as a whole. Spoiler alert: roughly three steps below ebola.)
Latvia (Joining Belgium in that smuggity-smug too-much-of-a-hipster-to-go-to-Starbucks wanker-pop)
Israel (*ACTUAL ETHNOPOP KLAXON* It says a lot that the one time they do an entry completely in English, they qualify. Hebrew isn't a good singing langauge, unless you're Teapacks #stillpissedabout2007)

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So... here's the running order:

1. Slovenia - Here for You / Maraaya
2. France - N'Oubliez Pas / Lisa Angell
3. Israel - Golden Boy / Nadav Guedj
4. Estonia - Goodbye to Yesterday / Elina Born & Stig Rästa
5. United Kingdom - Still in Love With You / Electro Velvet
6. Armenia - Face the Shadow / Genealogy
7. Lithuania - This Time / Monika Linkytė & Vaidas Baumila
8. Serbia - Beauty Never Lies / Bojana Stamenov
9. Norway - A Monster Like Me / Mørland & Debrah Scarlett
10. Sweden - Heroes / Måns Zelmerlöw
11. Cyprus - One Thing I Should Have Done / John Karayiannis
12. Australia - Tonight Again / Guy Sebastian
13. Belgium - Rhythm Inside / Loïc Nottet
14. Austria - I Am Yours / The Makemakes
15. Greece - One Last Breath / Maria Elena Kyriakou
16. Montenegro - Adio / Knez
17. Germany - Black Smoke / Ann Sophie
18. Poland - In the Name of Love / Monika Kuszyńska
19. Latvia - Love Injected / Aminata
20. Romania - De la Capăt / Voltaj
21. Spain - Amanecer / Edurne
22. Hungary - Wars for Nothing / Boggie
23. Georgia - Warrior / Nina Sublatti
24. Azerbaijan - Hour of the Wolf / Elnur Hüseynov
25. Russia - A Million Voices / Polina Gagarina
26. Albania - I'm Alive / Elhaida Dani
27. Italy - Grande Amore / Il Volo

So... what can I make of this? As if things weren't tough enough for France, they even got the death spot. I feel so bad for them. Estonia might have a problem too with them going out so early, same for Slovenia maybe. Sweden and Australia are right in the middle (and I believe this running order will cause some problems for one of my favorites, Norway). Azerbaijan and Russia got good draws, though I have a feeling that if any of these happen to win, it won't be a popular win. Which leaves us with Italy... I really hope the luck with being the last one out really will pay off here, since I'm rooting for Italy, but I don't know. As with last year, it could cause a dramatic plummet for them too. Then again, most of the ballads have appeared in the second half, so I wonder what kind of effect that'll have.

UPDATE:
I... am surprised. I seriously didn't think Sweden would win again right after Loreen did 2012.

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I'm not surprised who won, but it doesn't make me less happy.

Shame about UK getting stiffed. And Spain getting stiffed. And Germany and Austria getting REALLY stiffed.

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