Who will win Eurovision 2016?

[emmabjones]

These are the top 14 countries according to the bookmakers. What's your opinion? My personal favourite is the Bulgarian song.

 

[ProfessionalPainters]

Wow! I loved Poly Genova's song, too! I even searched for it in Youtube. Francesca Michielin's song was pretty good, too. The other one that really stuck with me is the Australian one. I'm hope one of these three wins. Or at least makes it to the final. Bet on one of the three hehe

 

[emmabjones]

The Australian song is very good despite the fact Australia has nothing to do with Eurovision... You can also check out Croatia's Lighthouse. Btw I don't like at all the UK song Joe and Jake - You're Not Alone.

 

[ProfessionalPainters]

I agree with you about Australia, I just think their song is nice

 

[Benjamin Sherwin]

How is Australia in a European song contest!?

 

[emmabjones]

How is Australia in a European song contest!?

No idea...

 

[CoolHandCol]

Who cares ha ha!

 

[garyk]

Who cares ha ha!

Agreed its the most pointless contest in the history of human existence.

 

[RPower]

Aww what? Ireland isn't up there? But it's got a former Westlife singer and all...

 

[paulears]

They were invited to help celebrate the 60th anniversary, and were popular, so got invited back. The aim to make it a Global entertainment show. We of course will lose, no matter how good our song or the singer is. Clearly a transgendered minority with a sad family history and absolutely no talent at all will win, and be extremely popular

 

[emmabjones]

Aww what? Ireland isn't up there? But it's got a former Westlife singer and all...

The song is not bad, but there are better ones

 

[RPower]

@emmabjones I was joking Westlife were waaaay better back in the day, when I was 11 and had a crush on most of them and several posters hanging in my room.

I actually met Nicky a few years ago at a media launch in Dublin. Nice guy!

 

[NorthernNewbie]

I couldn't care less However national pride swings me either to the UK or Ireland.

 

[Gecko001]

Agreed its the most pointless contest in the history of human existence.

To be a little pedantic, it did have a serious purpose when it started. When the Eurovision Song Contest was set up in the 1950's by the EBU (European Broadcasting Union). Its purpose was as means of testing out and advertising a quite expensive and technically advanced network of microwave links (think of old Post Office Tower with its microwave dishes) which had been built linking many of the national TV broadcasters (eg. BBC etc.) all over Europe. The network meant that people in say the UK could get live TV pictures from France or Germany etc. Since then the microwave dish network has been superseded by satellites, but the network did actually stay in existence for several decades.

 

[WikiWill]

Russia are favourites for a reason! I backed Sweden last year and was always safe money.

 

[Root 66 Woodshop]

I personally think we should all get behind Brussels or France.

They've had enough heartache - a little bit of happiness even if it is the Eurosongfest that I detest so much



What would be even more funnier is if the French band change their name to Bretix - we can all back em!

 

[AnnaDanishek]

Who is still watching it?..

 

[Tom_Dwan]

So, what do you think of the semifinals, do you think the right contestants reached the finals ?

 

[Jeff Nev]

I rather enjoyed Iceland's performance, but no else did apparently. The only one I can remember is Russia, where the guy was floating around and it was a rather impressive optical illusion. Everyone seemed to love it, which was a far cry from last year when they were constantly booed for their involvement in Ukraine.

 

[Carl "Excel-Expert" Nixon]

The only real winners are the TV companies and the record producers.

The main loser is music as a whole. It is all over produced musical pap, that does not reflect the vast majority of what people listen to in the real world.

Rant over

 

[Tom_Dwan]

Most of the songs were so much alike. However, there were a few that were nicely done and performed. Unfortunately, a lot of factors are taken in mind when determining the winner and the song the quality and performance not being one of the top ones.

 

[Carl "Excel-Expert" Nixon]

Unfortunately, a lot of factors are taken in mind when determining the winner and the song the quality and performance not being one of the top ones.

I think you have hit the nail on the head there. It is song writing by committee to get a song past another committee's criteria. There is probably a good business lesson there.

Most songs in the charts (i.e. songs that people buy) have been written by one or two people trying to write the best song they can.

 

[Cobby]

Most songs in the charts (i.e. songs that people buy) have been written by one or two people trying to write the best song they can.

I don't think that's true. I checked the current #1 and it's like a dozen writers.

 

[Carl "Excel-Expert" Nixon]

Sure you have the odd over produced / written entries in the charts, but are they there because of how good they are or because of how much money has been spent on PR?

The vast majority of the charts still appear to be made up of self written penned songs (got to admit at my age I'm not that up on the charts - the last time I listened to the charts I was taping the songs and trying to cut the recording before the DJ spoke)

 

[Cobby]

Sure you have the odd over produced / written entries in the charts, but are they there because of how good they are or because of how much money has been spent on PR?

Chicken or the egg? Who knows.

 

[Carl "Excel-Expert" Nixon]

Chicken or the egg? Who knows.

True - but I have a hatred of over produced pop music so I may have a biased opinion of the charts

 

[Cobby]

True - but I have a hatred of over produced pop music so I may have a biased opinion of the charts

Me too, although I'm not an avid believer of the "soul" of some music. Whatever is in vogue is largely measurable, and the attractive traits can be extrapolated and replicated. 'Good' is whatever is popular.