The 58th Grand Final of the Eurovision Song Contest was held last night at the Malmö, Arena Sweden and was broadcast live. More than 125 million people from all over the world watched the planet's biggest song contest. Beautiful 20-year-old Emmelie de Forest from Denmark won the contest with her song "Only Teardrops" scoring 281 points. That was one of my favourite songs. Emmelie, singing barefoot and sitting on the floor sang her heart out on stage and deeply touched Europe. She definitely deserved the first prize.
Although I had predicted that Greece would be in the top ten, I was pleasantly surprised to see that Agathonas and Koza Mostra scored 152 points and came sixth!
On the other hand, I was very disappointed to see that Bonnie Tyler came 19th although she did better than Engelbert Humperdinck last year. She gave a brilliant performance and her song "Believe in Me" was a magical rock ballad. I wonder...what went wrong? The final result was decided by a fifty-fifty split between professional juries and televoting from all 39 participants regardless of whether they had qualified for the Grand Final or not.
Here's how Europe voted:
- Denmark: Emmelie de Forest, Only Teardrops - 281 points
- Azerbaijan: Farid Mammadov, Hold Me - 234 points
- Ukraine: Zlata Ognevich, Gravity - 214 points
- Norway: Margaret Berger, I Feed You My Love - 191 points
- Russia: Dina Garipova, What If - 174 points
- Greece: Koza Mostra feat. Agathon Iakovidis, Alcohol Is Free - 152 points
- Italy: Marco Mengoni, L'Essenziale - 126 points
- Malta: Gianluca, Tomorrow - 120 points
- Netherlands: Anouk, Birds - 114 points
- Hungary: ByeAlex, Kedvesem - 84 points
- Moldova: Aliona Moon, O mie - 71 points
- Belgium: Roberto Bellarosa, Love Kills - 71 points
- Romania: Cezar, It's My Life - 65 points
- Sweden: Robin Stjernberg, You - 62 points
- Georgia: Nodi Tatishvili and Sophie Gelovani, Waterfall - 50 points
- Belarus: Alyona Lanskaya, Solayoh - 48 points
- Iceland: Eythor Ingi, Eg a lif - 47 points
- Armenia: Dorians, Lonely Planet - 41 points
- UK: Bonnie Tyler, Believe In Me - 23 points
- Estonia: Birgit, Et uus saaks alguse - 19 points
- Germany: Cascada, Glorious - 18 points
- Lithuania: Andrius Pojavis, Something - 17 points
- France: Amandine Bourgeois, L'enfer et moi - 14 points
- Finland: Krista Siegfrids, Marry Me - 13 points
- Spain: ESDM, Contigo hasta el final - 8 points
- Ireland: Ryan Dolan, Only Love Survives - 5 points
In my opinion Bonnie Tyler and Engelbert Humperdinck last year deserved the first prize. Unfortunately, the UK hasn't realised yet that Eurovision televoting mostly involves the younger generation who have no idea who Bonnie Tyler or Engelbert Humperdinck are!!!
Posted by: Jim | May 19, 2013 at 10:18 PM
To be honest I didn't like the Greek song. My favourite was the Russian entry and their song "What If"
Posted by: Stefania | May 20, 2013 at 07:54 PM
I was so glad to see that The Netherlands got at last a decent place in the top 10! Anouk is our national singer and she did a lot of hits all over Europe. I believe that Birds wasn't the right song for her.
Posted by: Alexia M | May 20, 2013 at 09:01 PM
Buonasera Anastasia. Right after Greece and with 126 points Italia was the only one country of the big 5 who dont have to pass semi-final that got a place in the 10 first countrys. I think that after our long absence for many reasons, Italy is now back to Eurovision. I watched the great show from Sweden with very good friends, we had homemade pizza that I made and beer. For me L'Essenziale is a great song which it should be number one! I agree with you, Anastasia, for the show from Sweden. Much better than the one from Bakou, Ajerbaijan last year.
Posted by: Lisa A | May 20, 2013 at 09:16 PM
Dans l'imaginaire collectif, la France est vouée à perdre à chaque fois qu'elle se présente à l'Eurovision. Or, l'Hexagone a déjà remporté le télé-crochet à cinq reprises. La première fois, c'était en 1958 avec André Claveau, ensuite il y a eu Jacqueline Boyer en 1960, Isabelle Aubret en 1962, Frida Boccara en 1969 et enfin Marie Myriam en 1977 avec L'oiseau et l'enfant. Ensuite, nous avons fait trois troisièmes places et deux médailles d'argent en 1990 et 1991. Depuis, c'est chou blanc pour les Gaulois et pourtant ce n'est pas faute d'avoir envoyé de dignes représentants. En 1988, Gérad Lenorman, alors au top de sa popularité, n'est arrivé que dixième. En 1993, Patrick Fiori a fait un peu mieux, en arrivant quatrième, pareil pour Natasha Saint-Pier en 2001.
Par contre, depuis 2000, la France n'est arrivée qu'à trois reprises dans le top 10. Pire, nos chanteurs se sont souvent retrouvés dans le fond du classement. Les Fatals Picards sont arrivés vingt-deuxième, Sébastien Tellier dix-neuvième et Anggun, vingt-deuxième... sur vingt-six. Ce soir, Amandine Bourgeois, qui va passer parmi les premiers candidats, va tenter de faire une jolie prestation avec son titre L'Enfer et moi. Ensuite, son destin sera entre les mains de ceux qui ont le pouvoir d'attribuer les points.
Posted by: Jean-Paul Bouvier | May 20, 2013 at 09:42 PM
Despite its diversity of language, culture, traditions and music, the Eurovision Song Contest united Europe long before the European Union was founded. And despite the exchange of votes amongst neighbouring countries, music has proved to be the unifying factor far more than the euro! I didn't watch the show as I was out for a business dinner, but was glad to hear that Greece got the 6th place.
Posted by: Constantinos T | May 23, 2013 at 08:50 PM
The greek song was ok but I can't say I was impressed. I didn't like the Koza Mostra wearing kilts and the song was average. My favourite was the Azerbaijan entry Hold Me which deserved first prize in my opinion.
Posted by: Christina | May 26, 2013 at 11:02 AM
Sounds like a great show! Thanks for sharing the videos.
Posted by: Haruko N | May 26, 2013 at 11:38 AM