Another Eurovision Song Contest site

I do not think there was a whole lot of people who liked the Polish entry before the song contest. I think the song was more jury bait than televoter. The song itself was complicated and integrated. The vocal arrangement was perfectly executed as we expected as Alicja has the lungs and swagger to perform this effortlessly.

The performance on the stage was well thought out from the lighting at the beginning, images on the screen and on the floor. The choreography she performed and the dancers on their paper hill was in keeping with the song. I like that they used shadows as additional components in the performance as well to give the performance depth. I also like that she started on the catwalk, and made her way through the performance to the stage and the dancers. There were too many people rushing around everywhere. This shows that this was the Alicja show and she will do it at her own pace.

Albania has a habit of getting their entries very right or very wrong. I don't like a song about people singing about their Mother. We had one last year that was quite good, but the ones from Belarus in 2006 and the Belgian one from 2014 are hideous and unforgivable. And then we have this dark and moody number, which I would count as a good one.

The opening to this performance is goosepimple inducing. What a dramatic way to open a song. To have a song about a mother with a mother figure looking down on Alis as he begins the performance. I didn't much like her loitering around the stage, but she did look considerably worried for her boy. It was such a mothering thing for her to remove his glasses so she could look into his eyes and the handing of the pocket watch was also a great ending moment to the song.

Alis is the star though. He had the right voice and performance for the song. His garment looked like he was going to war in some form of medieval place where there is jousting and fencing. The performance is very considered with his choir of men looking down at him, a collection of mothers standing by and the subtitles in English made it easier for everyone to understand the meaning of the performance.

The EBU said a stupidity to Jonas Lovv that I am appalled by. They told him to be less sexual on stage. Can they justify that? How can they ask this man to be less sexual, yet they allow exposed buttocks, low cut bosom exposing outfits and performing more provocative movements elsewhere? I also noticed that the Danish male backing vocals grabbed their crotch: where was their sexy warning?

Jonas is a sexy man and his performance was a bit yelling and a bit over the top. He was sick for the final and I would have suggested a nice pullover and some Vicks on his chest. But that was not in keeping with the entry. It was meant to be a bit tongue in cheek, a bit cheesy, and a whole lot unique. He did his best, but he was struggling. The man has charisma and even without a fill vocal performance, he still managed to charm us.

Croatia brought the meaningful drama this year. Much like everyone else who performed and produced something with some meaning that resonated with the country in question, it was ignored by everyone. Except of course to qualify for the final. Deservedly.

There is female violence problem across the world. Bringing it to the attention of the Eurovision audience in this way is clever. Using the history of the Croatian women in oppression was relevant. To highlight this violence, they have worn garments that are torn, painted in the bloodiest red colour and adorned traditional tattoos of their ancestors to show that the ladies have experienced an unspeakable violence. They also have their white maiden who I interpreted as innocence, but she also has a swipe of the blood on her garment. She was the main player in the performance while also being the side piece.

There is so much to say about this performance. The vocal harmonies were eerie and extraordinary. There were two main singers, then the other three were a chorus. The choreography was focused and complimentary to the theme of the song. Having the white lady on the pole like some sort of ghost was interesting, but also strange. It felt like she was the patron saint watching over them. They had her in the mist reaching out for her like they are trying to save her from her death. They had her running from danger towards the end and it worked. I expected her to reveal an equally bloody outfit towards the end, but that was a narrative in my head.

The Czech entry this year was presented in front of a fall of mirrors. It provided an interesting accompaniment to this song which I found suitable. There is a loneliness to the song and this image of Daniel amongst all the other Daniels says huge things about people which struggle in society. It also gave a great vehicle for Daniel as an artist and his exceptional vocal performance.

There are two things that I am unhappy about and I expect you will agree with me. The televoters gave nine points for this masterful performance. It is outrageous that that lad put in such a polished effort for nine points. Like this deserved the third lowest score excluding the nil points awarded. The faired much better with the juries, but that could have been better too.

Let's start by acknowledging a few things regarding this Swiss entry.

They came ninth in both televote and jury score, yet did not reach the final.

Highest score for a non qualifier this year: 108 points. In the last ten years, only Poland 2019 (120pts) and Croatia 2021 (110pts) were higher.

The score achieved in her semi final was higher than that of the nine finalist countries I have reviewed so far.

Before the song contest, I did not believe in this song. It's a fine song, but I could not see it qualifying. I was right about that, but in watching this performance, I wish I wasn't.

The Swiss entry performance is awesome! The entire package from start to end is a never ending collection of surprises. I love the rope reference as if she is tethered to Alice, and she struggled against the rope all the way through the song. She even walked on the rope like a tightrope at one stage. I love the dancers being held back attached to red ropes and then they are captured in the red spiderweb contraption. They were not intrusive by any stretch and blended in with Veronica's performance. It is all cleverly presented, everything fit in to the parcel and nothing was redundant or strange. They also kept the palette of the performance limited with black and white to highlight the stranglehold of the song in red.

I caught the completion of the Serbian song contest and these people were crying their eyes out. The poor lead singer was not wearing proper mascara and he looked like a young Alice Cooper.

It is a song that presents delicious agony and it starts with a quiet whisper of painful, haunting lyrics. It escalates to a normal tempo before an explosion of a million wounds. It continues this way to the conclusion and ends with a exhausted grunt.

It is presented in a way where the atmosphere of darkness begins as if he is shackled and unable to continue. There are really interesting lighting changes as the song continues to a black and blue theme as he starts to free himself and turns into a landscape of red to go with his angry conclusion.

This man is ridiculous. How is he real? Not only is he a beautiful man, he seems too kind, sweet and pleasant, he doesn't seem real. I think a lot of people fell in love with him this year. Except the televoters did not vote which is just so unfair. Bella is one of this year's most beautiful songs of this year's contest and Aidan promoted it everywhere. He came to Melbourne damn it - we all should have given him more points. And in this way, I feel we let him down. He deserved better.