Eurovision Song Contest: the final

 It was a good final: most of the performances were better than the ones in the semi-finals, the hosts' humor actually worked, the production/technical values were excellent and Justin Timberlake was a very welcome presence. On the minus side were the presentation of the results: on the one hand, it was more interesting, but, on the other hand, it was quite confusing. Especially the first part, with the committees voting, was moving too fast for anyone to reasonably follow the changes throughout the scoring board. Still, this was the first year that this system was applied, so I expect there will be improvements in the future. Now, on with the show.

Belgium, improved since the semi-final, kicked off the contest with a successful Retro 70s Disco look and sound. It was a lively start. Points: 181 Position: 10

Czech singer Gabriela sung well. The song was a pleasant, but otherwise unremarkable "big ballad". She wasn't rewarded for her effort. Points: 41 Position: 25

One of my favorites, out bisexual Douwe Bob (Netherlands), didn't disappoint. His 70s flavored Country Pop song went down well with the crowd. Points: 153 Position: 11

Next came Samra from Azerbaijan. I didn't like either the song or the performance. It represents all that has been wrong with Eurovision the past 15 years or so. Points: 117 Position: 17

Tall, hunky and husky Freddie from Hungary was good, but not enough people voted for him. Points: 108 Position: 19

I liked the song of Francesca from Italy a lot, the presentation not so much: the theme was that of a princess in a golden dress stranded on an islet in the middle of a pond, waiting to be kissed by a frog. Unfortunately, it didn't do as well as I'd hoped for.

Points: 124 Position: 16

Out gay man Hovi from Israel, dressed in elegant black and sporting 80s New Wave hair was even better than the semi-finals. The national juries were appreciative of this giving him 124 points. The televoting public, however, shunned him, giving him only 11 points. Points: 135 Position: 14

Bulgaria's Poli generated a lot of sympathy, both from the juries, but even more so from the televoting public. She was astonishgly succesful. Points: 307 Position: 4

Sweden's teenage Joseph Gordon Levitt (known to the world as Frans) kept it simple, but his natural charisma took the song to another level. He was rewarded for that. Points: 261 Position: 5

Germany's teenage Bjork dressed as a bluebell (or, as her mother calls her, Jamie-Lee) wasn't at all bad. Not many people thought as I did: she came in last. Points: 11 Position: 26

Amir's song representing France was one of my favorites, but his performance was rather disappointing: it felt a bit flat. Still, it was enough for France to achieve the best position of the Big 5. Points: 257 Position: 6

Here's another pleasant surprise. I have liked this song since the semi-finals, but I didn't think that it would do much. The jury vote showed that my doubts were realistic: they only gave it 7 points, second to last. But then came the public vote and gave it 222 points, more so than even Australia. This was the biggest discrepancy between jury and public vote, even bigger than Israel's. Points: 229 Position: 8

Australia's Dami Im was the first awesome performance of the evening: the song is good and the singer had complete control. It was obvious that it was a contender for the top spot. It only just missed out. Points: 511 Position: 2

Here's Dami Im in the semi-final:

Cyprus was better now than in the semi-final, but unfortunately for them, the level of this year's entries was higher than usual. Points: 96 Position: 21

Serbia's song against domestic violence and for female empowerment, with echoes of Melissa Etheridge wasn't bad at all. It achieved midtable status. Points: 115 Position: 18

Lithuania's energetic Donny with the peculiar hairdo did much better than expected. Points: 200 Position: 9

Croatia's Nina appeared in the same forest lady dress that she wore in the semi-finals. I was not impressed and neither were the voters. Points: 73 Position: 23

Russia's Sergey had the same problem that France's Amir had: his performance was not bad, but it was below expectations, hurt by the hype that led up to the final. Also, he didn't take off his shirt. As a result, the jury gave him only 130 points, even less than they gave Malta. He did come first in the televoting, but that wasn't enough for victory. Points: 491 Position: 3

Spain's Barei currently resides in Miami and you can tell that by her sound. Hers was a good dance song and she gave an energetic performance, which went down very well with the live audience. Unfortunately, the voters disagreed. Points: 77 Position: 22

Latvia's Justs' performance felt a little out of control, which hurt his chances for a higher position, as was previously expected. Points: 132 Position: 15

The other high moment of the evening was the performance by Ukraine's Jamala (photo above). The song, called 1944, is about the forcible deportation of the Crimean Tatars from Crimea as ordered by Joseph Stalin. The most political song ever to appear in Eurovision. It was also musically intriguing, a mixture of styles that worked well together. The performance was great. She was second in the jury vote (after Australia) and second in the public vote (after Russia). This was, however, a winning combination: Jamala was crowned Eurovision's winner. Points: 534 Position: 1

Here's Jamala in the semi-final:

There was big improvement for Ira Losco from Malta: I got to appreciate the song more. I was also happy to hear that she's an LGBTQI activist. Also she's pregnant. Points: 153 Position: 12

Georgia's U2-influenced song wasn't bad, but it didn't much resonate with the voters. Points: 104 Position: 20

Austria's Zoe's appeal is a bit of a puzzle to me. Sure, she's a sex kitten disguised as an innocent debutante in a pink prom dress from the 50s. Sure, she sings an old fashioned "made-for-Eurovision" ballad that wouldn't sound out of place in 1962. Would that be enough? It seems that it was, since she placed in the left part of the scoreboard, overtaking better songs such as the ones from Israel and Italy. Points: 151 Position: 13

Joe & Jake from the UK didn't live up to their promise. A lifeless performance of an uninspiring song propelled them to the lower end of the scoreboard. Points: 62 Position: 24

Finally, sexy Iveta from Armenia did the best she could: she gave us an atmospheric performance that included a spoken word intro in a sultry voice and an impressive song climax. The voters rewarded her with points. Points: 249 Position: 7

That's all for this year's Eurovision. Tomorrow will be statistics' day, as well as the presentation of #10 in my all-time favorite TV themes. Then we will time travel to the 80s. See you!