Eurovision Song Contest 2021

Kunta Kinte · 23-05-2021 10:02AM

forumdedum wrote: »

During a live TV broadcast?

The point is this. Is there any Eurovision rule that would disqualify a winner or for that matter any competing artist because of drug taking? If there is I`m not aware of it.

23-05-2021 10:02AM

breezy1985 wrote: »

How without also taking away the fun of watching and the nice moments for the people who get loads of points

I think they should just add the points for the five lowest televote songs in one go, and maybe mention which countries they are but without singling them out with "your score is zero points."

shtpEdthePlum · 23-05-2021 10:04AM

Kunta Kinte wrote: »

The point is this. Is there any Eurovision rule that would disqualify a winner or for that matter any competing artist because of drug taking? If there is I`m not aware of it.

Alcohol is a drug. They are in Rotterdam where drug use is not a punishable offense under the law.

Hamsterchops · 23-05-2021 10:05AM

Cienciano wrote: »

I think BBC for the performances, then switch to RTE when the voting starts. Graham has more interesting comments on the performances but turns into one of those idiots talking about "block voting" when the voting begins.

Sound quality was better on BBC One HD, always is for some reason, maybe RTE taker their feed from the BBC signal?

Sadly France didn't win

breezy1985 · 23-05-2021 10:09AM

Flying Fox wrote: »

I think they should just add the points for the five lowest televote songs in one go, and maybe mention which countries they are but without singling them out with "your score is zero points."

I suppose but you still had people way higher up the list getting 40 or 50 who looked gutted. Humiliation is a risk you take with live performance or sport for that matter

jackboy · 23-05-2021 10:14AM

Samsonsmasher wrote: »

Italian song was great. A proper muscular rock song. A return of classic cool. The Iceland song was naff as well as the band. The weedy childish hipstery nerdy thing is over thankfully. Those kind of people should be wall flowers. They aren't cool. French song was great. Classic sexy French femininity.

Sure, even though the Italian singer is a weedy shorty.

shtpEdthePlum · 23-05-2021 10:15AM

breezy1985 wrote: »

I suppose but you still had people way higher up the list getting 40 or 50 who looked gutted. Humiliation is a risk you take with live performance or sport for that matter

At least with sport there is a objective winner by virtue of the rules. It's not just a popularity contest where even if everyone subjectively agrees that you excel, you can potentially get no points because you're unpopular.

Eurovision is like Mean Girls for the plebeians sucking up to politicians. The jury aspect of it also makes it entirely undemocratic, taking the power away from the people and putting it in the hands of the organisers, which is never a good thing. Very dishonest and makes a vote actually fairly worthless if it can just be overruled.

Kunta Kinte · 23-05-2021 10:17AM

shtpEdthePlum wrote: »

Alcohol is a drug. They are in Rotterdam where drug use is not a punishable offense under the law.

Well in that case he should have just admitted what he was doing instead of making up some BS about checking for broken glass.

deisedude · 23-05-2021 10:22AM

Kunta Kinte wrote: »

Sad day when a potential Eurovision winner like the UK`s entry is robbed because of the Brexit lashback. James should have finished in the top 5 at the very least.

I thought it was comfortably the worst overall performance

Lyrics terrible
Singer terrible
Production terrible

breezy1985 · 23-05-2021 10:23AM

shtpEdthePlum wrote: »

At least with sport there is a objective winner by virtue of the rules. It's not just a popularity contest where even if everyone subjectively agrees that you excel, you can potentially get no points because you're unpopular.

Eurovision is like Mean Girls for the plebeians sucking up to politicians. The jury aspect of it also makes it entirely undemocratic, taking the power away from the people and putting it in the hands of the organisers, which is never a good thing. Very dishonest and makes a vote actually fairly worthless if it can just be overruled.

It has been a jury vote for most of its existence so clearly the "plebs" dont have a problem with it and neither do the participants who go willingly.You have a problem with the public vote because its a popularity contest and a problem with the jury vote because you think its shady. Can I take it you just dont like Eurovision

bladespin · 23-05-2021 10:29AM

breezy1985 wrote: »

It has been a jury vote for most of its existence so clearly the "plebs" dont have a problem with it and neither do the participants who go willingly.You have a problem with the public vote because its a popularity contest and a problem with the jury vote because you think its shady. Can I take it you just dont like Eurovision

They brought in the public vote because the jury vote was accused of being out of touch, pretty obviously was/is considering last nights phone results.

Problem is they kept both systems opening themselves up to these accusations.

KathleenGrant · 23-05-2021 10:29AM

Why are people blaming the UK 0 points on Brexit? They have been failing miserably for years before Brexit. I have listened to the songs for the past two weeks and I still don't remember the song that well. It's forgettable.

shtpEdthePlum · 23-05-2021 10:30AM

breezy1985 wrote: »

It has been a jury vote for most of its existence so clearly the "plebs" dont have a problem with it and neither do the participants who go willingly.You have a problem with the public vote because its a popularity contest and a problem with the jury vote because you think its shady. Can I take it you just dont like Eurovision

The jury vote was gone for ages and only came back in 2009 because the organisers felt public voting was political.

The participants are doing it for their own fame and fortune (usually sellouts).

The voting public are the likes who watch XFactor. That is reflected in the calibre of the music.

I don't have a problem with the idea of Eurovision, I just wish it could be better. It's dishonest, staged (visuals often win it over sound). It's not about the music, not one iota. I hate that it's the main music contest and it's not about the music.

HeidiHeidi · 23-05-2021 10:34AM

When I first started watching Eurovision it was a contest for the songwriters.

Then it became all about the songs themselves.

Now it's about the theatre of the act.

I don't think it's a music competition per se at all any more.

Mildly entertaining, though (last night's being the first I've watched through in years, mind you).

JuanJose · 23-05-2021 10:40AM

juneg wrote: »

I love the Eurovision and watch it every year.
However I was very uncomfortable with the humiliation dished out to the UK act and the others who received zero points. That's no way to behave. The acts have worked hard done their very best and travelled a long road to be a laughing stock in front of millions.

Surely to God there is a more humane way of adding the public vote and the jury vote rather than the cruel way it was done.

It made for great TV - if you weren't one of the acts in the line of fire - but would agree to an extent as a few countries took a right punch to the gut/ego in that section. But, as someone else said, a poor mark in the public vote wasn't confined to just the back markers. Malta didn't grab the public's attention as I thought it might and had to suck it up despite being in the top half of the table after the jury vote. All told, you put yourself up there, you may be prepared for all outcomes.

penny piper · 23-05-2021 10:42AM

Personally, I thought Finland was far better than Italy and that neither of them deserved to win.
France, the song "voila" and that's the content of it... she also looked like a celine dion impersonator.
Norway the guy actually had a very good voice but the silly staging let him down. He also looked like he was a fan of john lennon.
Germany's song was dire.
The UK song didn't deserve to come last again the staging let him down alot.

is_that_so · 23-05-2021 10:44AM

HeidiHeidi wrote: »

When I first started watching Eurovision it was a contest for the songwriters.

Then it became all about the songs themselves.

Now it's about the theatre of the act.

I don't think it's a music competition per se at all any more.

Mildly entertaining, though (last night's being the first I've watched through in years, mind you).

Drifted in and out of it myself, mostly the votes. Unbelievably annoying hosts, especially at the end. Not a fan of the public vote which clearly rewards spectacle and tomfoolery and is just an instant reaction but I guess it fills a need for people once a year. Felt sorry for the Swiss lad who'd clearly won it but such is life.

23-05-2021 10:45AM

shtpEdthePlum wrote: »

At least with sport there is a objective winner by virtue of the rules. It's not just a popularity contest where even if everyone subjectively agrees that you excel, you can potentially get no points because you're unpopular.

Eurovision is like Mean Girls for the plebeians sucking up to politicians.

Politicians?

The jury aspect of it also makes it entirely undemocratic, taking the power away from the people and putting it in the hands of the organisers. Very dishonest and makes a vote actually fairly worthless if it can just be overruled.

There are two voting systems. Switzerland would have won if it was a jury only vote. Italy was rewarded for the performance on the night.

Mad_maxx · 23-05-2021 10:46AM

I like the Winner but i Preferred France

those were my top two after the superb silliness of Denmark failed to reach the final

breezy1985 · 23-05-2021 10:46AM

shtpEdthePlum wrote: »

The jury vote was gone for ages and only came back in 2009 because the organisers felt public voting was political.

The participants are doing it for their own fame and fortune (usually sellouts).

The voting public are the likes who watch XFactor. That is reflected in the calibre of the music.

I don't have a problem with the idea of Eurovision, I just wish it could be better. It's dishonest, staged (visuals often win it over sound). It's not about the music, not one iota. I hate that it's the main music contest and it's not about the music.

The juries were only gone between 1998 to 2000 and again 2003 to 2009.

Plenty of years are crap but this year the whole its not about the song thing does not hold up looking at the top acts

JuanJose · 23-05-2021 10:46AM

HeidiHeidi wrote: »

When I first started watching Eurovision it was a contest for the songwriters.

Then it became all about the songs themselves.

Now it's about the theatre of the act.

I don't think it's a music competition per se at all any more.

Mildly entertaining, though (last night's being the first I've watched through in years, mind you).

Good summary.

The bit that gets me though is the musicians get to ponce about with no need to worry about hitting the right notes 'cos they're not plugged in. The singer, on the other hand, has to hit the notes. Not sure why that is. The turnaround time for a tightly scheduled live TV marathon maybe doesn't allow for the stage to be reconfigured. Dunno.

is_that_so · 23-05-2021 10:47AM

fvp4 wrote: »

Politicians?

There are two voting systems. Switzerland would have won if it was a jury only vote. Italy was rewarded for the performance on the night.

Which is where it seems to be heading now. A mediocre song with enough crowd pleasing visuals can clean up.

23-05-2021 10:48AM

shtpEdthePlum wrote: »

The jury vote was gone for ages and only came back in 2009 because the organisers felt public voting was political.

The participants are doing it for their own fame and fortune (usually sellouts).

The voting public are the likes who watch XFactor. That is reflected in the calibre of the music.

I don't have a problem with the idea of Eurovision, I just wish it could be better. It's dishonest, staged (visuals often win it over sound). It's not about the music, not one iota. I hate that it's the main music contest and it's not about the music.

The best songs were rewarded in my opinion. The Swiss song was dull on the night. Possibly I’d have preferred the French song to win but it was close. All the top songs were good. The songs that got zero deserved zero.

breezy1985 · 23-05-2021 10:50AM

is_that_so wrote: »

Which is where it seems to be heading now. A mediocre song with enough crowd pleasing visuals can clean up.

Was Italy full of crowd pleasing visuals ?

is_that_so · 23-05-2021 10:50AM

fvp4 wrote: »

The best songs were rewarded in my opinion. The Swiss song was dull on the night. Possibly I’d have preferred the French song to win but it was close. All the top songs were good. The songs that got zero deserved zero.

You do get the sense all the same that it's 14 year olds doing a lot of the voting in this.

is_that_so · 23-05-2021 10:51AM

breezy1985 wrote: »

Was Italy full of crowd pleasing visuals ?

Outfits alone would have got them votes!

23-05-2021 10:51AM

is_that_so wrote: »

Which is where it seems to be heading now. A mediocre song with enough crowd pleasing visuals can clean up.

The Italian sing was fine. I’d have preferred the French song but it was pretty good. The other song that did well in the public votes was the Finland song which was also performed well. In neither case were the visuals that exceptional.

Norton was pretty good at knowing what the popular vote would do before it did it. He was able to judge the crowds reaction, and he didn’t like Italy at all

HeidiHeidi · 23-05-2021 10:51AM

JuanJose wrote: »

Good summary.

The bit that gets me though is the musicians get to ponce about with no need to worry about hitting the right notes 'cos they're not plugged in. The singer, on the other hand, has to hit the notes. Not sure why that is. The turnaround time for a tightly scheduled live TV marathon maybe doesn't allow for the stage to be reconfigured. Dunno.

It really is ridiculous, the more you think about it.

I suppose the secret is not to think about it. It's entertainment. And badly needed this year if all years, gawd knows!

Dodge · 23-05-2021 10:54AM

It’s always been entertainment. It’s always been a mix of music and everything else. The most famous bit of UK Eurovision is girls having their skirts whipped off FFS

I honestly don’t know how some of you can live your life being so angry about a TV show

Every year a different conspiracy is dreamt up

is_that_so · 23-05-2021 10:57AM

fvp4 wrote: »

The Italian sing was fine. I’d have preferred the French song but it was pretty good. The other song that did well in the public votes was the Finland song which was also performed well. In neither case were the visuals that exceptional.

Norton was pretty good at knowing what the popular vote would do before it did it. He was able to judge the crowds reaction, and he didn’t like Italy at all

I realise that I'm no longer the audience for it and they were like Iron Maiden meets Euro rock! Not that great either. But it's really a talent show that rewards performances on the night. That's what people seem to want.

Eurovision Song Contest 2021

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