Eurovision: A Long-Standing Tradition, Evolved

Waking up at 5 am for breakfast to watch the Eurovision Song Contest is a far cry from how I experienced it two decades ago. Back then, we’d gather on a Sunday night in Australia for a delayed broadcast, indulging in too much food and alcohol, staying up excessively late, and dissecting it all at work on Monday. I no longer have the stamina for that kind of Eurovision party.

The Viewing Experience: Then and Now

Besides, the immediacy of results has changed things. Twenty years ago, even if you accidentally stumbled upon the winner, there was a strict pact among friends: no spoilers. Everyone was impressively respectful of that. It was a fun ritual; we’d have friends over, armed with our own score sheets, individually rating performers and competing to predict the winner.

Eventually, this evolved into online discussions, the Twitter Years, which was enjoyable for a while. However, I grew tired of some of the “too clever by half” comments, particularly those bordering on racist generalizations about nationalities. It became a bit tedious, so I stepped back from that. Subsequently, I transitioned to watching the live morning broadcast all by myself.

Australian Eurovision Coverage: Hits and Misses

For a number of years, I found some of the Australian Eurovision hosts a little tiresome, seemingly all trying to emulate Terry Wogan or Graham Norton. I haven’t watched the Australian coverage for several years now, as I didn’t find previous hosts particularly engaging; it sometimes felt more about them than the contest.

This year, however, I caught some of the Australian coverage with Tony Armstrong and Courtney Act. I thought they were quite good – respectful of the competition. Clearly, Courtney Act was more knowledgeable, but Tony seemed to genuinely embrace the spirit of it and wasn’t just there to mock, which I appreciated.

The Changing Face of the Contest

I do enjoy the Eurovision Song Contest. Obviously, it’s changed in the last 20 years. It used to be amusing to see the clichés from different countries, and sometimes, frankly, it was quite “naff.” More recently, it has morphed into a more mainstream pop competition. When I watch it now, I sometimes long for the days of more outlandish and “crazy” entries.

This Year’s Standout: Sweden’s “Novelty” and a Cultural Connection

Speaking of crazy, Sweden’s entry this year really appealed to me. They’ve gone from having a series of great pop songs – really beautifully made and produced – to actually having a great novelty song. It’s a great, fun number. It’s also interesting that the three men performing are Swedish-speaking Finns. As someone who speaks some Swedish, I noticed some words I didn’t understand, which I later discovered were either dialect words or Finnish. It was good to get that insight.

This year, I once again watched the Swedish coverage via SVT, the Swedish broadcaster. I prefer their more downplayed, minimalist approach – perhaps what you’d expect from the nation that gave us H&M and IKEA. It’s something I genuinely enjoy about getting up early now: breakfast and the Swedish Eurovision broadcast.

This time, I even prepared a bit more. There’s a Swedish guy in Sydney who sells Swedish confectionery through pop-up stores and markets. https://yumyumcandy.com.au/ Even though I really shouldn’t be eating sweets with my diabetes, my friend Andrea and I bought some yesterday at their pop up stall at Broadway Shopping Centre. She’s also been to Sweden and occasionally gifts me Swedish treats she finds. There was a young Swedish woman selling the candy, and we had a lovely chat with her.

Australia at Eurovision: Reflections and Future Hopes

As we bought the Swedish candy, we also discussed Australia’s failure to make the final. We thought the song entered was reasonably okay, though it didn’t particularly stand out for me in the broader Eurovision context. Maybe a little “too clever by half”?

In fact, it’s been a number of years since I felt Australia was truly competitive. Kate Miller-Heidke’s song was quite good fun, but our peak was undoubtedly when Dami Im sang “Sound of Silence.” She came second to Ukraine, and honestly, had Ukraine not been competing, she probably would have won. It was such a great performance and song.

So, I don’t really understand how Australia’s Eurovision songs are chosen. I recall a deal with Sony Music for a while, and then perhaps a year or two of an actual national contest. Now, the selection process is unclear to me, but I believe we need to find a better way – something Australians can get genuinely excited about, and the Europeans too.

The Results (Spoiler Alet)

I caught a good chunk of Eurovision this morning, even if I did nod off once or twice. No surprises here, Sweden was my absolute favourite! What really jumped out was the massive gap between what the juries liked and what the public voted for. Juries played it safer, but the public? They were definitely up for something different. And, oh my gosh, the UK getting zero points from the public again is just golden – I bet they didn’t see that coming with Brexit! I also loved the songs from The Netherlands (who sang in French, how cool!), Ukraine, and Estonia (who went with Italian!). And even Sweden’s winner was a cool blend of Swedish, Finnish, and a Swedish dialect.

Here’s a summary of the top 10 results from the Grand Final:

1. Austria: JJ – “Wasted Love” (436 points) – Winner
2. Israel: Yuval Raphael – “New Day Will Rise” (357 points)
3. Estonia: Tommy Cash – “Espresso macchiato” (356 points)
4. Sweden: KAJ – “Bara bada bastu” (321 points)
5. Italy: Lucio Corsi – “Volevo essere un duro” (256 points)
6. Greece: Klavdia – “Asteromáta” (231 points)
7. France: Louane – “Maman” (230 points)
8. Albania: Shkodra Elektronike – “Zjerm” (218 points) – tied for points
9. Ukraine: Ziferblat – “Bird of Pray” (218 points) – tied for points
10. Switzerland: Zoë Më – “Voyage” (214 points)