ESC 2019 General Discussion Thread

[Alaska49]

my position in this board is that i am not against any country in eurovision; i am against lack of critical thought above all. and nothing else lacks critical thought more than people defending their own flag. sure, love your country, but if you are being a irrational homerist weirdo about it, i will have an opinion about it. annoyingly and abrasively because that's how i do lol.

also, jealousy is such a basic middle school level argument to make and in many cases factually impossible. i am brazilian. i have NO intrinsic flag-based investment in this contest. i literally cannot be jealous of sweden or anyone else. i am here for the show, the drama and the comedy. and i am pointing out most swedish posters of this board have a huge problem taking any s of criticism towards their country in eurovision, more so than any other nationality. not all criticism is valid, sure, but there is an inability to tell things apart here, and that doesn't fly with me (high oh high).

also, eurovision will absolutely never die and if it does it certainly won't be because people are criticizing poor widdle sweden lol.

 

[lavieenrose]

also, eurovision will absolutely never die and if it does it certainly won't be because people are criticizing poor widdle sweden lol.

I honestly had to read back to make sure this wasn't a strawman. I couldn't believe my eyes. What delusional, ridiculous, narcissistic behavior.

 

[Swedenvision]

Well, even Benjamin as a competing artist felt the Sweden-hate
So stop pretending it does not exsist...

 

[pepe C]

Maybe what Benjamin felt was the dislike for him as a person.

 

[Realest]

Benjamin has a great Personality.
But well, now that Sweden flopped a bit last year, the Sweden-Hate decreased. I think after the next Flop, Sweden becomes popular again.

 

[BorisBubbles]

Benji flopped because Dance You Off lacks a certain charm.
Melodifestivalen has a beautiful word to describe the trait I'm refering to: Udda, which etymologically cognate with "Odd" and I believe translates to "miscellaneous" in English.

Udda is hard to capture in words, but represents a warmth, a quirkiness that allows the casuals to identify with the song, while Juries will in general not care about it all that much. Udda elements from past years include Ieva's honky singing techniques, Michael's tears as he sang about his dear departed father and Blanche's palpable anxiety. Udda is what made these people beautiful in their imperfections, flawed to a relatable degree and the more robotic and competent an act is, the less Udda it becomes.

Benjamin utterly lacked this for me, so while I personally loved him backstage (yeah he's a jerk ,but he's fun and funny, so who curr.), I never connected with him *on the stage*, despite him being good at everything a jury would look for (Charisma, Vocals, Song, Staging, Camerawork, Show Element). He came off as too perfect and polish, as cold and distant. Hence why he flopped the televote.

 

[goncalovieira]

I attended the final in Lisbon and I saw the sadness of all the swedish team after received that 21 points from televote. They were very dissapointed after that amount of 12 points of the juries. Another sad situation was the reaction of the australian delegation... Jessica started to cry. Meh... And these two artists were the happy ones, taking photos for the fans and saying Hello to the audience.

 

[Ianp16]

I don't understand any dislike for Sweden. It has quite clearly sent fantastic entries year after year for the last decade and their efforts have been rewarded - whether that be through juries or televote. Some of the songs have not been to my taste but they clearly make an effort year after year with entries that appeal to the masses, are composed well and have an interesting performance.

The only thing I have read that I do agree with and find suspicious is the place that they take in the running order each year since it is now decided by the producers. It would be interesting to see Sweden placed in the first two songs of the final this year and see how they do (especially as a favourite). They do seem to have a preferential place each time they appear in the final, even when they draw first half.

 

[Preuss]

[MENTION=13427]goncalovieira[/MENTION]
Oh no, poor Jess
[MENTION=14650]Ianp16[/MENTION]

Well what do you want the producers to do when Sweden's always finishing top 3 in their semi? Place them in the deathslot?

 

[Ianp16]

Yes! They haven't been in the first three songs for as long as I can remember. Unlike poor Ukraine.

 

[Realest]

Ukraine was never Top3 in the Semi except Jamala since 2013.
But on the Other Side got #14 despite being 3rd in the Semi..

 

[Preuss]

Yes! They haven't been in the first three songs for as long as I can remember. Unlike poor Ukraine.

But how's that fair...?

Like I can see the claim as a genuine claim if Sweden did shit in their semi finals and continued getting good spots in the finals, but that's not the case

 

[goncalovieira]

I am still curious for the position of Portugal...
I do not know why but I really think that we will close the semifinal.

 

[nofuxCZ]

Not sure if this was mentioned anywhere but according to the Czech HoD there will be changes to how they will present the final results this year... it should be more 'dramatic'

 

[Etanna]

[MENTION=9138]nofuxCZ[/MENTION] what do you think it means? Maybe they'll just read out the televotes slower, that would certainly help

 

[JChan]

Not sure if this was mentioned anywhere but according to the Czech HoD there will be changes to how they will present the final results this year... it should be more 'dramatic'

It's already so dramatic what else can they even do

 

[0scar]

More.. dramatic

okay

 

[HayashiM]

They could for instance try drawing the name of the next country to announce its points directly on stage from a giant Pikachu.

 

[Leydan]

It's already so dramatic what else can they even do

make it look like a country is in for the win with a huge televote score by leaving it to the end, or right near it but then reveal it actually only got like 10 points and flopped with public? that would be a curveball.

 

[MyHeartIsYours]

I agree with Czech HoD lol, since they've changed the voting it has become Zzz! The voting used to be my favourite part - now they speed through the countries so quickly just saying hello, 12, bye (and the countries don't even give points which people in that country have voted for) you just lose track.