Loreen with "Tattoo"
The bookies and jurors favourite gave Sweden their 7th win!
Congratulations to them for what ended up being a fairly predictable win in 2023, with the public favourite "Cha Cha Cha" giving Finland only their second top three ever and incredible memories of Käärijä to whoever saw him live or onscreen! This week's show was a summary of what happened in Liverpool - obviously not all 37 entries fit into a two hour show but the top ten, plus the rest of each SF top five does:
And the playlist...
"Tattoo" - Loreen
"Cha Cha Cha" - Käärijä
"Unicorn" - Noa Kirel
"Due Vite" - Marco Mengoni
"Queen Of Kings" - Alessandra
"Heart Of Steel" - TVORCHI
"Because Of You" - Gustaph
"Bridges" - Alika
"Promise" - Voyager
"Dance (Our Own Party)" (Karaoke) - The Busker
"My Sister's Crown" - VESNA
"Soarele și Luna" - Pasha Parfeni
"Who The Hell Is Edgar?" - Teya and Salena
"Solo" - Blanka
"Stay (ČIŪTO TŪTO)" - Monika Linkytė
"Carpe Diem" - Joker Out
"Eaea" - Blanca Paloma
"I Wrote A Song" - Mae Muller
"Aijā" - Sudden Lights
"Echo" - IRU
"Let Me Be The One" - The Shadows
There were a few additions to the show with two being picked by listeners, one giving us a statistical oddity and then of course the UK. I took a lot of pictures this week and I will go through the acts on the show, each with a picture chosen by me! As for the other nations, either on the Turquoise Carpet or within the Liverpool Arena, plus pictures taken around Liverpool, you can click here to look at my Instagram...
Either work backwards or start with the Eurovision Village picture! As for the rest of the article, I am not going to record all the stats here as you can find them anywhere online but what might be useful is to record who I placed in my top ten for the Jury Final, where I was in the venue:
And then the Grand Final on Saturday 13th May, sat in Screen 4 of Vue Cinema in Cribbs Causeway, watching a massive screen and listening to a superb sound system: I have put my 11th place on each list as obviously the UK came 8th with me both times but would not have got anything from me vote wise, given I am a Brit! You will see that I did not have Sweden in either of my top tens - I am afraid that the entry just didn't grab me in the way it did for huge numbers of others, which is fine. It was never one to watch in the venue itself anyway, given the necessity for close camera work to help with the narrative. Noa Kirel benefited massively from having all the tv angles as well - the closest we got to "SloMo" this year and we all saw why she is the top performer in Israel! Otherwise not much difference between the two shows for me - my predictions of top tens for Gustaph and Alika came true, which was a nice memory for both. Now onto the show and first up, the overall top ten for 2023... We saw a couple of different sides to Loreen in Liverpool - the focussed professional artist within the Liverpool Arena and the relaxed fun side on the Turquoise Carpet. She was hugging Andrew Lambrou before this picture and she spent as much time with the fans as with the press. To be honest, "Tattoo" and its staging never clicked with me at all in the same way as it did with most fans and that is why it never appeared in my top ten in the Final (4th in SF1 though). Respect due to her for a second victory and getting Sweden level with Ireland - we may have to wait until after they have hosted in 2024 for their eighth win, although of everyone competing at Eurovision, you can imagine that they might be the only ones who might go all out for a win on home soil. I have to admit that I wanted this guy to win Eurovision 2023 - "Cha Cha Cha" was an instant hit with me the moment I heard the song, that was compounded by the video and then when I saw the National Final performance - wow! The Eurovision performance was scaled up perfectly for a bigger arena and Käärijä was the ultimate favourite within the venue and with the public. He IS the 2023 breakout star, he was thoroughly enjoying the attention and the adulation, and I suspect that he will be doing international gigs very soon. His televote 'victory' will trigger some debate among HoDs and the EBU about jury influence over the voting process again - it was a shame that we won't be going back to Finland... THE pop concert performance of 2023 - Noa Kirel gave us something that built and built into what was an incredible last 30 seconds of "Unicorn". Part of the support was due to the fact that a win for Israel would have won me about £1300 (£20 at 66-1) but part was that I loved the performance of this entry! Noa cried out "Do you wanna see me dance?" and of course the answer was yes - she and her dancers gave it everything, along with that incredible backdrop with the galloping unicorns and her bursting in between them, best pout and all. I was pleasantly surprised that the juries had her second but I assume that was due to the modern nature of the entry and that staging. To be honest, she nailed her vocals too! Given the battle between Sweden and Finland for top spot, Noa was definitely best of the rest and she goes back to her home nation as the seventh best Israeli finisher at Eurovision...
Being in the arena itself is an enlightening experience and often we see great things that are missed by the tv cameras - the Italian staging was an exception in Liverpool! Nothing to do with Marco himself, as he gave a truly emotional delivery of "Due vite", so much so that he was spent by the end of the Final itself. I was talking about the two guys at the back of the main stage, doing a RiskyKidd! Once you noticed them falling onto trampolines and bouncing back onto the steps, that is all I could focus on throughout this performance, both times that I saw it. Luckily (in my opinion) the tv screens did not show much of the bouncing performers and focussed almost exclusively on Marco and the lights from the audience. Italy managed yet another top 5 and a well deserved one it was too... Alessandra looked amazing on the Turquoise Carpet, continuing her theme of being a queen - ordinarily 5th with the four I have mentioned already ahead of her would have been considered a great result but it could have been so much more. Third would have been a likely finish for "Queen Of Kings" if Alessandra's Jury Final vocal had been as good as her Grand Final one - one messed up line and not hitting that high note gave the juries enough of a reason not to give Norway big points on the Friday. That was always the risk with this singer - it did seem to be either perfection or an off day for Alessandra throughout the promo season and that unfortunately continued into the show week. We could have had a three way fight at the top between three Scandi-nations but never mind... Respect due to Ukraine in dealing with all of the past twelve months - their National Final in a subway, having to relinquish so much to the BBC with the staging of Eurovision 2023 and then getting an unexpected 6th place with "Heart Of Steel". TVORCHI had been third favourites on the same odds of 14-1 for months due to early bets immediately after KALUSH won in Turin - 6th place was probably a fair result, especially as a lot of their points came from the public. This was another performance that looked far better on screen, face on with the mini screens and the dancers positioned perfectly for the animations, along with the excellent backdrop that we in the arena had full appreciation of. We will never know if Jerry Heil or KRUT' would have done better but overall we got a taste of Ukrainian pop music and we all got the benefit... "Cha Cha Cha" got the arena on its feet, clapping and cheering - "Because Of You" got everyone singing along! Gustaph, Monique, Chantal and Sandrine had the most fun and gave the most joy in 2023 with Belgium's entry and PussCee added another level of entertainment with the dance. I had said pre-Liverpool that Belgium could be a surprise top ten this year, especially with the televote - I was right on the first count but it was the juries that got Gustaph there! The response in the arena would have easily had him and his singers top 5, and given that he scraped the win in Belgium with most of his nationals wondering how that happened, that was a great result for them, the best since Blanche in 2017. Total earworm of a song that will hang around in my head for a very long time... I didn't get too many predictions right this year but one I did so with was that Estonia would get a top ten and their best placing since 2018. Alika and "Bridges" matched Elina Nechayeva and "La Forza" that year with an eighth placing and also with the feeling and sensation I got within each arena, with each singer's vocals and volume enveloping me within the Altice in Lisbon and the M&S in Liverpool. The best vocalist for me by far this year, Alika looked amazing in her Estonian blue trouser suit, gave a wonderful performance to camera and involved the Tallinn Airport piano perfectly. "Bridges" was always going to be a 'jury' song and so it proved but you need brilliance and vocal perfection like this at every Eurovision - I am so pleased for Alika and also delighted that I got to chat with her in Amsterdam... I never did look to see if I was in any of Voyager's vids from the Turquoise Carpet, something I must do! If 2023 is to be Australia's last year at Eurovision for the foreseeable future then Daniel's band from Perth took them out with a bang! "Promise" was THE band performance in Liverpool, the ones that really filled the stage and gave us an arena feel - assuming that is like their concerts, I hope that they return to the UK sometime in a bigger venue! Another surprising set of scores with juries ranking Voyager higher than the public, but 9th was an excellent result. We also got one of the television gold moments when they were eating sandwiches in the Green Room, obviously not expecting to get a 12 from any jury and then hurriedly trying to swallow them down and smile to the camera! I hope it isn't the Aussie's last go but none of those fans from down under in the know were expecting another trip to Europe in 2024... And to complete 2023's top ten, we had a piece of artistry, power and excellence from Czechia. VESNA's journey through 2023 has been best official video, a restricted National final, gig performances in the promos and then a piece of magnificent staging in Liverpool. The use of braids had a chequered past, what with Slavko using his like a helicopter in 2017, but this year we got them used as a beautiful visual tool that showed that each member of the group was not only feminine but totally in control of her own destiny. The harmonies were amazing, the choreography was superb and the back drops the best in the Contest, especially the homage to Del La Soul in Feel Good Inc during the rap part of "My Sister's Crown" AND using the hand signal for being in distress. Vesna were a bit disappointed with 10th but being this good throughout the season will ensure that they are remembered far more than for what position they got... Moldova did it again with their staging, again using the music and traditions of their nation in a great performance. Much like the National Final show, we had the same choreography but far better outfits plus massive horns instead of antlers on the female backing singers, which made for a very effective 'heart shape' at one stage. I think that Pasha Parfeni's entry was better in a smaller venue but another Final placing for Moldova keeps up their excellent record of 5 Q in the past six Contests... There were a few entries that did not do as well as us fans expected and Austria's was one of them. To be fair, this was obvious from Monday's Jury SF1 when we saw the staging for "Who The Hell Is Edgar?". The official video was amazing and funny but none of that was in the Liverpool visuals - instead we got a slick pop video with lots of red and black. It was still a fun song but the impact from the studio and video was gone, with Teya & Salena having to carry this all themselves, their dancers really adding nothing. It did not help that they opened the Final which has become a curse all of its own over the past six Contests, the last top ten placing for who opened being Belgium in 2016. Still a memorable song but a case of what might have been... Blanka looked the Disney Princess on the Turquoise Carpet with her "Bejba" dress and looked the Beach Queen on stage in Liverpool. "Solo" was always going to appeal only to the public and so it proved, with the pyros, the dance break and the costume change all working perfectly. It was never one of my favourites, but after all the trolling and crap she got in the run-up to Liverpool, I was delighted that she made it to the Final. A big middle finger to all of her critics to be perfectly honest... A beautiful massive backdrop and a different amber outfit were the only real differences between Monika's National Final performance and Liverpool. That meant that they were both perfect - "Stay" having the most wonderful lyrics of Eurovision 2023, together with Monika and her singers all getting the arena (well, trying to) to join in the chanting. Eleventh place is a decent finish for Lithuania and ironically one of the highest placings for UK singers this year (given that all the backing vocalists are from the UK). The fourth best ever finish for Lithuania, the second Monika to sing in a row - will another Monika get to sing in 2024? It has to be said that Joker Out were perhaps the most active on social media and arguably the most fun of all the acts this year at Eurovision. Their performance was very cute and dynamic, probably deserving a better result, but in the end their aim was to break out of Slovenia professionally and that has been achieved. Slovenia now have nine months to work out if picking the best artist of the year is the way to go or whether the urge to host EMA is too strong. Thank you for being at Liverpool, guys - I got a great interview out of you... One of the shocks was how few Jury points Spain got - after being third last year, 17th was a disappointment. Having said that, we did get one of the statistical anomalies sorted - Spain have now had every Final placing, something no other nation has had. I am sure that Blanca Paloma would rather not have been the one to fill that particular gap but it does mean we will always remember "Eaea"... The staging in the venue was great, I couldn't see anything wrong with Mae's choreography and her vocals sounded good in the arena, but I feel that everything was not on her side in Liverpool. She wasn't the greatest vocalist this year, she was closing the show (another cursed position now) and you only got the true fun of "I Wrote A Song" in the venue itself. I do wonder if the BBC gave enough attention to the UK entry this year- back to 'top 5' followed by 'bottom 5' again, story of the UK in the 21st Century... The last two on the show were two NQs - the first was Latvia's Sudden Lights. Professional throughout their run with Supernova, the promos, the Turquoise Carpet and then SF1, this band were the main victims of not having juries in the SFs. Absolute class and superb musicianship does not appeal to the public as much as fun routines and gimmicks - perhaps we might see them again at Supernova in a year where juries are back... One of my favourite pictures on the Turquoise Carpet was set up by someone singing IRU's song well enough to get her attention. She looked as though she was thoroughly enjoying her time at Eurovision but the staging and performance of "ECHO" was not enough to get Georgia back into the Final for the first time since 2016. I loved the song, I adore IRU and hope she has another go for Eurovision some day. That picture was one of my favourites of this year and I took some more on the Turquoise Carpet: The Busker were the first to our section of the carpet and they looked super smart - probably the entry that I felt most deserved a Final place of the NQs...
Alika looks on as Diljá does a handstand on the Carpet with ease - I thought that I had a unique picture until I met up with others who had bee at other points along the way and found out that she had been doing these with some frequency! At least I got one...
I have a lot of Loreen and this was a nice one of her and Andrew Lambrou after they had greeted each other with a hug - not sure who was more pleased!
Love this one as it appears that Gustaph has someone else's arms around him! Just the style of clothing which was ironically very sedate for him and his singers...
Monika looked amazing on the Carpet and she was one of the few that looked directly into my mobile - it was a shame that we didn't get her singers with her... That moment where Salena had found a fellow German speaker next to me, but was being dragged away to chat to press by one of the Austrian delegation! It made for a great picture though and those circumstances explains why she wasn't smiling... And one of those funny pictures that is caused totally by the angle and framing! Victor laughs at a joke, press lady has her hand on barrier, picture seems to show something different happening... Two other pictures of my time in Liverpool - there was a Meet & Greet with Scooch at Eurocafe and they still look absolutely amazing! At the British Music Experience earlier in the week, I met with someone I had chatted with at a Eurostarz M&G back in 2017... Anjeza Shahini held a Q&A session during Eurovision week at the Star Cafe in the BME and it was a pleasure to see her again, especially as she has a new band called Ani & The Cranes. We chatted for a while, got the great picture above and I will be interviewing her in a couple of weeks, one you will hear on LET ME BE THE ONE soon. Talking about interviews, one has been set up and happened, all within the space of a week, with this singer:
Rosa Linn will be on next week's show #250!
Join me for what will be one of the
highest profile interviews I have ever done!
