My Thoughts on the 2012 Contest

I was introduced to Eurovision through this year's contest in Baku, which I must say was an amazing first show to see! Looking back on previous years, this year had, in my opinion, the best collection of songs for one particular contest. Many of the songs were catchy (good and bad), the singers were very talented (mostly), and the overall feel of the show was upbeat and interesting. Honestly, I'm jealous the U.S. doesn't have something like this, and can't participate in your contest either.

Now, onto my personal opinions of the results, if they don't match yours then they don't, don't be rude about my thoughts if I'm not rude about yours, thank you.

1. Sweden deserved the win 100 percent. I think it's obvious since Loreen received the most 12's ever, even from some of the supposed "block voting" eastern nations. It was an amazing song, she's an amazing singer, and I'm still addicted to listening to it. Also, I personally like Loreen as a person very much. She met with human rights activists while she was in Azerbaijan, and after winning she wasn't extremely cocky like some winners have been, she just remained her cool, quirky self. I respect that completely. Congratulations Loreen and Sweden, 2013 will be a fantastic show!

2. France deserved a much better score. This is the biggest problem I had with the results this year. Anggun had one of the best songs out of any of the contestants in my opinion. A nice blend of French and English, a good dance beat, and lasting appeal, I'm still listening to Echo on repeat every day. I will admit her actual performance didn't live up to expectations, vocals weren't perfect, and the staging left some to be desired. However I don't think that it constituted a ZERO in the televoting. She sounded better than some of the other acts (UK, sorry) and it was an interesting performance, unlike some that were at yawn inducing levels of boring (Estonia). I'm happy she didn't recieve last place thanks to helpful contributions from the jury, but she totally deserved at least a top 15.

3. Norway did not deserve last. Tooji had an amazing performance, good dance moves and decent vocals. How Engelbert Humperdink and his boring, off key ballad placed higher is beyond me. I'm not sure if Tooji's supposed sexuality had anything to do with it, (Personally, after watching him present Norway's points in the Swedish selection show, I think he's gay), or if his ethnicity did either, but all I know is that it was an unfair placing. But this presents an issue with my next point.

4. Bulgaria and Croatia deserved the final. These two are the semi finalists that I think should have made the final more than any other semi final song. Sofi Marinova's performance was simple, fresh, and fun. She had good vocals, and the different languages made the song interesting. Just dancing around by herself brought back memories of Lena, one of my favorite winners, and her fun performance of Satellite in Oslo 2010. Then we have Nina Badric with "Nebo", a slow turned mid tempo pop ballad like song sung entirely in Croatian. The video was unusual, but yet I find that I really like it for some reason, in a sort of "arty" way. Her performance was good as well, I liked it when she got a little more gritty with her vocals when the song picked up, and her dress was unique in that it was connected to her finger and she could flow it any way she wanted. Two of the more simple performances in Baku, and two that should have seen the Grand Final. But get this, they almost did. Sofi (Bulgaria) tied with Tooji (Norway) for 10th in the second semi-final, and Tooji got through due to having more countries vote for him, leaving Sofi with 11th, and Nina close behind (just 3 points) in 12th. I believe that Tooji deserved a final spot as well, so if I had to pick two countries from the second semi final that advanced that I think Bulgaria and Croatia were better than, it would have to be Malta (Generic in my view, got lost in the Grand Final mix), and Estonia (BORING, Getter Jaani was so much better in 2011).

5. I liked Albania. There is no doubt that Rona Nishliu was the most polarized contestant this year. "Suus" is an unusual song, very slow, with powerful vocals that climax in several very long notes of what I call "Shout Singing". Some people say she is just screaming, but there's a difference between screaming, and screaming in key for god knows how many seconds, and she does just that for about half the song, and in the live show as well.

6. Iceland was not as good as everyone made it out to be. The studio version was nice, I liked it, and I thought it would do well. However, after seeing the live show, I feel Iceland placed right where it should have, I'm also debating if it deserved a final spot instead of Switzerland, but that's not my main point. Greta's forced smile creeped me out big time, and I think it affected her vocals, she didn't sound as good as she usually does. The two of them had a few issues with singing in sync, had ZERO chemistry on stage, and I don't really like Jonsi, he seems cocky, especially when they got their final spot. I much prefer Hera Bjork and Yohanna.

7. Belgium wasn't that bad. I liked Iris, the song was generic yes but for being that young she sang it well, I just wish they had given her a better song.

8. The UK needs to STOP COMPLAINING! I look online and everyone's in a frenzy about Engelbert getting 25th. "Oh we should pull out!" "Oh it's unfair!" "Oh everyone hates us, we'll never win!" The reason you guys don't ever win is because you really don't take this contest seriously in my opinion. You send a washed up 1960's ballad singer to represent you against a flurry of cool modern dance track singers and you're shocked that you lost? Here's an idea, get with the times! Send someone people will actually like! Jade Ewen was your best recent contestant, and Blue was a good choice also. I'll even admit that I liked Josh Dubovie, and I don't think he was fairly scored. But you usually send people that could be considered jokes, need I remind you of the Jemini disaster? I suggest sending someone a little more known in the music world next time. If you could somehow manage to get Adele or Jessie J to do it, you would pretty much have the win.

9. Jedward is not cool. This needs no explanation.


Now that the long stuff is over, I'll put which countries I think deserved higher/lower spots in the respective semi finals and Grand Final.

SF-1
Higher: Switzerland, Belgium, Cyprus, Denmark
Lower: Iceland, Ireland, Moldova, Israel, Austria (I know they got last but it was so terrible that they deserved nul points!)

SF-2
Higher: BULGARIA, CROATIA, FYR Macedonia, Slovenia, Norway, Belarus
Lower: Estonia, Turkey, Malta, Serbia, Georgia, Slovakia

GF
Higher: FRANCE, Norway, Cyprus, Italy, Spain, Denmark, FYR Macedonia
Lower: Serbia, Moldova, Turkey, Estonia, UK, Iceland, Ireland