The current Eurovision holder with his 2019 trophy...
Duncan Laurence was my #11 before Tel Aviv...
Who will be where in my preferences of the 2021 #39?
Duncan kicks off this week's LET ME BE THE ONE with "Arcade", setting up two shows that cover my personal preferences for 2021. Note the word 'preferences' - the 39 entries are placed in order of how highly I ranked them using the following Eurovision Jury categories (scored out of 5) that I always use now for SECHUK, OGAE Second Chance Contest etc...
Vocal Capability
Stage Performance
Composition / Originality
Overall Impression
There are only FOUR entries to date that we have not heard a live vocal for - Georgia, Greece, Azerbaijan and Israel - and they, unsurprisingly, take up four of my bottom five placing on my list. Three of those have the potential to be visually stunning in Rotterdam, so by the time we reach Eurovision week they could have been higher. Having said that, I have to have a cut off point for the show at some point, so 11 days before the first rehearsal in Rotterdam (Lithuania, THE ROOP, 10am CET) seemed to be right! Talking about the show, listen to show 141 and my preferences from #39 to #20 (with a couple of tributes at the end):
And just for completeness, those on the show...
"Arcade" - Duncan Laurence
"RUSSIAN WOMAN" - Manizha
"Set Me Free" - Eden Alene
"Mata Hari" - Efendi
"Last Dance" - Stefania
"You" - Tornike Kipiani
"Sugar" - Natalia Gordienko
"The Ride" - RAFAŁ
"Amen" - Ana Soklič
"Amen" - Vincent Bueno
"LOCO LOCO" - Hurricane
"Birth Of A New Age" - Jeangu Macrooy
"The Lucky One" - Uku Suviste
"Karma" - Anxhela Peristeri
"Love Is On My Side" - The Black Mamba
"Voy a quedarme" - Blas Cantó
"Embers" - James Newman
"Tick-Tock" - Albina
"Here I Stand" - VASIL
"Omaga" - Benny Cristo
"El Diablo" - Elena Tsagrinou
"Ball And Chain" - Les McKeown
"Pump-Pump" - Fredi & The Friends
"Let Me Be The One" (Eurovision live) - The Shadows
A bit of stats for those who are interested:
Bottom score (out of 10) : 5.5
Top score (out of 10) : 9.5
Excellent rating (9+) : 10
Good rating (7-8) : 21
Average rating (5-6) : 8
As you can see, I am a generous scorer! My opinion is that when you get to the Eurovision stage of this obsession of ours, there should be NO bad singers - National Finals may still have the odd vocal duffer but to be honest with you, each nation should be sending their best performer, vocally and visually. The lowest Vocal Capability rating throughout the 39 was 3.5/5 - even if the other three categories had a score of 0.5/5 (which isn't going to happen - my lowest score for any entry in any section was 1.0 and that was a rarity, 2.0 is my normal low) then you'd have 5/20 or 2.5 out of 10. As for performance, most singers have some sort of stage presence and most songs have some sort of individuality or composition prowess. For me, this is a fairer system rather than saying 'I don't like this, it gets 0.5'! It also means that I am continually updating my preferences throughout the season, rather than leaving it all to Mr Gerbear's Sorter (excellent way of doing it otherwise). So what does the bottom half of the LET ME BE THE ONE Eurovision 2021 list look?
Tune in next week to complete
the LET ME BE THE ONE journey
through Eurovision 2021!