Eurovision 2023 shipost thread

[Plk_Lesiak]

This year's Eurovision kind of sucks, and the Polish entry is just a full-on travesty, but there's always something exotic enough to make the contest amusing for me. My current favourite is this Moldovan-Turkish guy with a midget playing the flute:

So, anyone else following this very important cultural event?

[Emi]

i usually dont watch it   but seems like sweden have abit of a chance to do well. so might have to support and watch abit.  if its livestreamed that is. i dont have tv.

[Plk_Lesiak]

1 hour ago, Emi said:

i usually dont watch it   but seems like sweden have abit of a chance to do well. so might have to support and watch abit.  if its livestreamed that is. i dont have tv.

I'm pretty sure there's a free livestream on the Eurovision website every year, I watched it that way a few years back when I was abroad for the contest.

And yeah, Sweden is 100% winning this year, nothing comes even close. Not that I'm such a huge fan of the song or Loreen, but simply the competition is a few levels behind her in most aspects, and her live performance skills are impeccable.

[Plk_Lesiak]

Well, the lukewarm nature of this year's contest makes me feel I actually got spoiled by the last four Eurovisions, they always had deeply memorable moments... And hell, we had Hatari in 2019, nothing will ever top that, so I guess I should adjust my expectations. At least the Moldovan shaman dude got to the finals. 

 

[alpacaman]

I've been quite happy with the line-up so far in terms of entertainment factor. Countries like Holland, Malta, Switzerland or Ireland especially suck almost every year, so I expected nothing else. But there has also been stuff like Serbia with its weird Gundam video show:

Or Croatia with whatever this is:

My personal favourite was Finland with its weird mixture of EBM and Eurodance, but performed with the right dose of self-irony.

Also worth mentioning is Israel, who managed to send a pop song so generic yet overflowing with terribly misguided attempts at being quirky that it transcends our pedestrian notions of what constitutes good or bad.

 

[Plk_Lesiak]

7 hours ago, alpacaman said:

But there has also been stuff like Serbia with its weird Gundam video show:

I think Serbia was genuinely quite good! At least it stood out. Croatia was funny and I like the relentless political parody, but I wish it was a bit more catchy/less messy.

Welp, we'll see whether something in the second semi-finals tops what we've seen so far.

[alpacaman]

3 hours ago, Plk_Lesiak said:

I think Serbia was genuinely quite good! At least it stood out.

I liked Serbia as well! Their stage show just screamed "small country ESC entry" with its CG effects that some VNs from 2006 have pulled off more convincingly. Serbia is one of the more interesting countries in terms of nationally dominant politics vs. their contestants at the ESC anyway, but that's probably a rant for a different time.

 

The second semi-final was just bad though. Almost anything that wasn't a not-quite-power-ballad where the performer lacked the vocal skills to carry their respective songs made it to the final because the alternatives were just that bland. Sadly Iceland didn't make it. They sent a bland song, but a different kind of bland than the majority of the field today, and with the by far best vocal performer this year (I mean she did backflips and still hit every note perfectly and with the right emphasis up till the end). 

On 5/9/2023 at 10:15 PM, Plk_Lesiak said:

the Polish entry is just a full-on travesty

YES. I joked with my girlfriend that Poland reaching the final would be the funniest outcome of this semi-final since it was the only song this year upholding the proud ESC tradition of boring latin-influenced pop songs performed by attractive women with thin voices. And then they did? I don't even know what to to say...

[Plk_Lesiak]

17 hours ago, alpacaman said:

YES. I joked with my girlfriend that Poland reaching the final would be the funniest outcome of this semi-final since it was the only song this year upholding the proud ESC tradition of boring latin-influenced pop songs performed by attractive women with thin voices. And then they did? I don't even know what to to say...

I think musically the second semi-final was still a bit less disastrous than the first one, I liked Estonia and Belgium in a semi-serious manner. Which makes the fact we made it to the finals even more amusing... I guess it's the power of memes. there was a lot of chatter around our entry and in the end, all publicity is good publicity when you're pitted against a dozen of similarly bland things.