#esc2016

Hello again! I'm back with yet another set of songs for each participating Eurovision Country! I also realized that I have a TON of disclaimers that I haven't mentioned because I'm very forgetful. I'll just list them all down below right now.

Each country being looked at has participated in the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest

The songs looked at are from 2009 to 2023. There may be future editions where I go further back, but this year, we'll keep it like that.

I am horrible at updating my rankings, so all my rankings were either done on a speedrun in December 2021 or after all the songs came out...so there is no listing for countries that have grown on my since then

I am from the US and don't have Peacock...AND THE PERFORMANCES ARE BLOCKED ON YOUTUBE! So, I will only be looking at the songs with their audio, as that's the only way I have heard all songs.

Okay, I think that's it. If there's any more, then I'll probably update you guys in later posts.

For those who are just seeing this on their feed, I'm looking at each participating Eurovision Country this year and picking a favorite from each one. I also share my thoughts about the 2023 songs. However, there are some countries where my favorite is the 2023 song, so I just...share my 2nd favorite afterward.

Let's get to it! Next up is....Serbia!

Serbia is very well known as being the country that won in their first run as an independent country (after being part of Yugoslavia and Serbia & Montenegro) in 2007. And that one win wasn't a fluke as they've constantly have put themselves in the conversation in the following years. And lately, they've been putting out entries that would be considered "risky" to some. But nonetheless, they always make sure they're part of the conversation both before and after the contest!

Favorite Entry: There are very few songs in general where I have a "love at first listen" moment. It's a super cool experience when it happens and those songs alter my brain chemistry in the best way possible. And in the 2023 contest, there have been 2 songs like that. One that you will see me talk about later, but the other one was Serbia's entry "Samo Mi Se Spava" by Luke Black. When I first heard that song, it felt like it was just...waiting for me to find it? What also helped was that I have a WIP soundtrack I'm working on, and something was missing, and this song fit what I was looking for so perfectly. *side note: the lobster is a great touch! My sister got me a lobster plushie that I did in fact name Luke* RANK: 24th in the 2023 Grand Final/PERSONAL RANK: 2nd of 37 Countries

Previous Favorite Entry: For how good Serbia is in the contest, I never really see it high in my personal rankings, I don't know why. However, there was one entry in particular that really stood out to me until 2023 came along and gave us Luke Black. Which is ironic because it was the chosen song for another year Luke tried to represent Serbia: 2016. "Goodbye (Shelter)" by Sanja Vučić ZAA is a very powerful ballad that could be interpreted to be someone standing up in an abusive situation. It was well done and I wish that it was on Spotify so I can listen to it more often. RANK: 18th in the 2016 Grand Final/PERSONAL RANK: 8th of 42 Countries

- I got so so excited to visit Douwe Bob's Fool Bar

- I even realised the hotel i'd booked is, by chance, literally 10mins walk away

- And then I tapped on Fool Bar on Google Maps and realised it's permanently closed.