Did anyone ever know what the capital city of Azerbaijan was before they won the 2011 Eurovision Song Contest? I clearly remember wikipediaing Azerbaijan to find out what the capital city was. At the time I was already thinking of potential 40th birthday destinations back in May 2011 ( a whole year in advance). So all eyes were on Baku this past weekend for the 57th Eurovision Song Contest.
I love Eurovision and you can see my earlier post about that. The London years really made me fall in love with Eurovision and now I simply couldn't not not watch it. It would be wrong. This year I managed to see all of Semi Final 1, part of Semi Final 2 and all of the Grand Final. This post is about my favourite countries from the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest. You may not agree with me but thats your problem, not mine. I promise this will be my last post on Eurovision til 2013 comes around. So you probably know by now that Sweden won with their entrant Loreen. It was a strong song, a very deserving winner in a Eurovision non-compliant kind of way (more on that later) but it wasn't my favourite.
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| Loreen wins 2012 Eurovision for Sweden |
7. Albania
This was the belter from this year. Full credit to Rona Nishliu for singing her heart out for Albania. Interesting choice of hair and dress. She reminds me of the Evil Queen from Snow White but then I would say that at the moment. Be prepared to be moved - FYI!
Official Placing: 5th place with 146 PointsAustralia Placing: 23rd place
Its quite obvious Iceland were copying Azerbaijan's winning formula from last year by having a couple singing a together. Jonsi and Greta really pulled this off and she is also playing the violin! They have a great key change and lets be quite honest Jonsi is worth the points on looks alone.
Official Placing:19th place with 26 pointsAustralia Placing:10th place
Italy vanished from Eurovision for a while there and came back with a vengeance last year. I thought this years number was a cool little song. Nina Zilli really pulled this one off by singing in English and Italian. Lets be honest the choreography is a bit non-existent and thats being kind. You kind of have to do more than just stand behind a microphone and sing. Eventually she moves around a bit but I think a little too late really.
Official Placing: 9th place with 101 PointsAustralia Placing: 4th place
I always like Greece in Eurovision and thats a fact. I can't explain it but usually I am very impressed. I loved Sakis from 2009 (that was my winner that year). I actually will never forget that performance so that may explain it. Eleftheria Eleftheriou is Eurovision all the way. Look at those legs!
Official Placing: 17th place with 64 PointsAustralia Placing: 8th place
So Switzerland didn't even make it to the Grand Final but they were great in Semi Final 1. I think he is singing "Swim against the stream, following your wildest your wildest dream" but I could be wrong. Sinplus (not sure about the name boys) remind me so much of Norwegian band Lorraine/Blackroom. I'm including them anyhow!
Did not place!
The winner is Loreen. I think its a great song and very catchy, kind of like a trancey Florence and the Machine. The one thing I am glad is that she is slightly bonkers and the performance was very NON-Eurovision which makes a nice change. The lighting was quite dark, her dancing was very "different" and just having the one black dancer come on for the end - all very unusual for Eurovision. I also am beginning to think that hype is deciding the winner. It has happened the last few years with the most hyped contestants winning the contest in the end. It happened in 2019 with that annoying fiddler from Norway and then Lena from Germany stole the show in 2010 and now Loreen for Sweden.
Official Placing:1st place with 372 votesAustralia Placing: 1st place
My favourite of the night. I love Tooji! This song is SO-OO catchy and he's dancing and they have the whole persian rhythms going. I mean he stood out to me and Tooji gave a fantastic performance and really did not deserve to be in last place. How can he have got less votes than Engelbert Humperdink?
Official Placing: Last place with 7 votesAustralia Placing:15th place (see Australia knows!!!!)
So that was the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest. There is nothing quite like it in the world. I am already excited about Stockholm in 2013. I have always said I'd love to go to a Eurovision Contest one year. I am not sure if 2013 is that year. Time will tell. Thanks for sticking with me on this mammoth post.
SBS Eurovision (Australians only)
Jedward 3rd in Oz...OMG!!
ReplyDeleteYes its not good is it! LOL
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