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The National Finals That Got It Right For Vienna Written by on May 30, 2015 | 9 Comments

Ten thousand songs later (give or take the submissions to a handful of smaller broadcaster) and we have a winner. Everyone else will be looking at the result and deciding if the right decisions were made, if the wrong song made it to Vienna, or if a country chose the best that it could.

Yes, it’s time for the annual ‘which National Finals got it right and which got it wrong’ from ESC Insight. Tomorrow will be the wrong choices (they are now posted, read them here), but we’ll start with the National Finals and selections that (in our opinion) made the right call.

Latvia Were Right To Send Aminata

It’s on record in the podcasts that my first moments with ‘Love Injected’ was not one of unbridled joy. That changed over time and I bloody love this song now.

It’s also on record that on seeing the first rehearsal in Vienna I throw what can only be described as a ‘great big hissy fit’ at the staging. I wanted more than Aminata just standing there, I wanted more of a show, and I genuinely thought Latvia had thrown away their qualification chances (yes, I was mad enough to expect the Avik choreography). Calmer voices reassured me it was all good, Aminata could not physically do any more except sing, and that I was too close to the song to be objective. I was, it was, and sixth place is a just reward for Latvia.

Quite frankly, there was nothing else in the National Final system that could have rivalled this… not even the Riga Beaver.

Cyprus Were Right To Send John Karayiannis

Keen followers of the National Final season were impressed with the Cypriot return. Not only did the broadcaster deliver a top notch, multi-week long selection process, but they also had ‘that song’ that was ready to take the jury scores, not embarrass itself with the public, and return to the island with a respectable result.

That track was Minus One’s ‘Shine‘, and in the final show it finished… third.  John Karayiannis stepped up with the spotlight ballad, won the nan vote in Cyprus, and proceeded to win over Eurovision and qualify for Saturday night. Good call, Cyprus. We can talk about the actual Saturday night result later.

Denmark Were (Probably) Right To Send Anti Social Media

The rule of thumb is a simple one – if you don;’ win the public vote in your National Final, you;re not going to do very well at the Eurovision Song Contest. So the case proved with Denmark, as Dansk MGP provided a winner in the shape of Anti Social Media that failed to qualify out of the semi-finals in Vienna.

So why was this the right choice? Well, could you have seen another slow-to-mid-temp female ballad such as ‘Suitcase‘ do any better? Or the high-on-cheese-astic Tina and Rene? Denmark put on just enough of  National Final to find a respectable act and no more. But with neighbours Sweden hosting next year, expect Dansk MGP to up it’s game for the 2016 season.

Estonia Were Right To Send Stig And Elina

To be fair – in the best style of Sanna Nielsen – it was Stig’s turn. Even then, a Top Ten result from a dark song with an early draw is a result that should at the upper end of expectations.

Eesti Laul was an almost a coronation, but a comprehensive win at home does not always translate to a result. In this case, Estonia took your typical hipster break-up song and staged it with a keen mix of style, substance, and subtlety. A key point made in the press room a was that even if it had been sung in Estonian, everyone around Europe would have understood what was going on. A song that tapped directly into emotion, presented well, with a strong stage performance… what’s not to like?

Norway Were Right To Send Mørland & Debrah Scarlett

Because much as I think Tor and Bettan’s ‘All Over The World‘ was one of the classic NF stagings of the year, much as it would make the perfect Oscar winning track at the end of ‘How To Train Your Dragon Part 3‘, and much as I wanted to see how all those children would have made it to the Viennese stage (without upstaging France’s army of little drummer boys), it was simply far to cheesy…. even for Eurovision.

And if not the BobbySocks/NulPoints combination, the alternative was  ‘En godt stet pizza‘… who’s only redeeming feature to the public would have been to allow Malta’s ‘Warrior‘ to qualify through to Saturday night instead of the ode to the Italian cheese and tomato open sandwich

I have just one tip for NRK. Next time, maybe leave yourself a few more weeks between the end of MGP and having to submit your camera angles to the EBU so you can paper over any awkward fifteen second gaps?

Serbia Were Right To Send Bojana Stamenov

Even before the revelation that Eurovision 2015 was going to be a female ballad heavy Contest, the competition in Serbia’s national final was boiling down to the ‘two songs in one’ from Stamenov and the cookie-cutter by the numbers approach of Danica Krstić. The latter might have been the ‘safer’ musical choice that would have been respectable, and might even have qualified by virtue of upsetting absolutely nobody, but ‘Beauty Never Lies’ was exactly what the Contest needed. A deserved Top Ten place, and a sure-fire Euroclub classic in years to come.

Italy Were Right To Send Il Volo

Even if the popera closer has not set the charts alight int he way that ‘Heroes’ or ‘ Rhythym Inside’ has managed, Italy’s ‘Two Tenors and a Baritone’ brought a professional song to the Contest, acted as the perfect closer, and if Sweden had stumbled would likely have taken the Russians on in a close voting duel. The Contest needs class as well as chart hits, and the boys provided that side of the recipe. With the best will in the world, Nek’s ‘Fatti avanti amore‘ would have rocked the mid-table and no higher.

As for the potential victory, well, the signs were there that it wasn’t going to happen… Il Volo may have had the public’s support, but they never carried a Sanremo jury. What’s true in the Italian principality was true in Jury rooms across the continent after a weaker performance on Friday night.

 We’ll have our look at the ‘wrong choices’ tomorrow (you can read them here now) and the songs that failed to rise to the occasion, but for now, who got it right in your opinion? Let us know, the comment box is below!

About The Author: Ewan Spence

British Academy (BAFTA) nominated broadcaster and writer Ewan Spence is the voice behind The Unofficial Eurovision Song Contest Podcast and one of the driving forces behind ESC Insight. Having had an online presence since 1994, he is a noted commentator around the intersection of the media, internet, technology, mobility and how it affects us all. Based in Edinburgh, Scotland, his work has appeared on the BBC, The Stage, STV, and The Times. You can follow Ewan on Twitter (@ewan) and Facebook (facebook.com/ewanspence).

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Have Your Say

9 responses to “The National Finals That Got It Right For Vienna”

  1. Max says:

    Surely Sweden made the right choice, I mean, it WON!!!

    Ireland has to be the worst choice, Erika Selin and Break Me Up was a nice upbeat catchy song with a serious approach, sadly RTE was too fixated on copying what they thought was last years winning formula

  2. Eric Graf says:

    I think “Suitcase” and “En godt stet pizza” would’ve easily qualified. But I also thought Israel was going to get blanked by the juries, so what do I know?

  3. Jaz says:

    I still believe Suitcase would have gotten Denmark into the final – although in hindsight, the peppiness of The Way You Are was much-needed in the 2015 lineup!

    I agree with all of your other choices, though. I really liked Stone In A River in Cyprus, and the Eesti Laul runners-up, but those two countries absolutely made the best choices possible.

    Looking forward to the list of the countries whose selections weren’t so on point. There’s one in particular I hope to heck I see on it!

  4. John Egan says:

    Bojana is a classic example of how sometimes the public can see the potential in an entry. The staging in the NF was…awkward (to be polite). And the switch to English was inspired. Shame Romania didn’t follow suit: we might have seen All Over Again in the top 10.

  5. Calvin says:

    Definitely agreed on Serbia, but Danica Krstić would’ve upset me; I find that song completely inert creatively.

  6. Nick says:

    Aminata was a great choice. Glad they stood by their creative guns by, ‘er, standing still! I thought it came across very powerfully and it was an undeniably memorable performance. Still can’t quite get that ‘Fifth Element’ diva scene out of my head though…

  7. Max says:

    Surely Israel was right to send Nadav Guedj, best result in years!

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