An American's Review of Eurovision 2018

May 12th, 2018 marked my second annual viewing of the madness that is Eurovision! Israel came out on top, closely followed by Cyprus. But do I agree with the way Europe voted? Not exactly…

This being a competition, I made notes to myself on each act - what I liked and didn’t like. Then I ranked them from my favorite and least favorite based on my personal music taste! So here is my review of all 26 acts in the finals!

Asking yourself "What's Eurovision?" Check out my American's guide to Eurovision! Click the image to read!

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Ukraine- Melovin “Under the Ladder” 17th

At first, I didn’t know how to feel about this song. His voice seemed nice but his accent made him hard to understand. I enjoyed the chorus but wasn’t sure how to feel about the verses. The coffin piano and fire were great touches though! I think Melovin was just victim to his placement as the first performance. Personally, I hadn’t fully gotten into the Eurovision “mood” quite yet, so I didn’t feel too invested in the song. It wasn’t until I was watching the recaps that I realized the song was actually better than I had originally thought. Now he is my favorite artist to come out of this year’s Eurovision and I have all his songs on Spotify. Not only does he have an amazing voice but his vampire aesthetic makes him stand out as unique. Ukraine deserved so much more than what it was given. The televote seemed to agree, as they bumped him up to 17th after being last in the jury vote. If it weren’t for the jury, he could have easily made top ten. Can’t wait to hear more music from him in the future!

Spain - Amaia y Alfred “Tu Canción” 23rd

This song was so sweet I got a toothache. Was it cute? I guess so. But was I bored? Yep. It’s a pretty song but much too romantic and cheesy for me. The singers are certainly talented but this song had nothing going for it to me. After listening to the song a few more times, it’s still not my taste but they do have great voices that pair well together. And hey, at least they didn’t come in last again!

Slovenia - Lea Sirk “Hvala, ne!” 22nd

This is the first song I started to get into while watching it. The song was bouncy and fun to dance to. I wasn’t into the super repetitive chorus and the music stopping certainly didn’t help the performance. Let’s just say I related to this Irish man.

But overall, it isn’t a bad song. I do like to listen to it and its bouncy beat. Is 22nd low for it? Maybe, but I wouldn’t argue too hard for it.

Lituania - Ieva Zasimauskaite “When We’re Old” 12th

Okay, unpopular opinion: I did not like this act. The song lyrics were cute, I will give it that, and the staging looked pretty nice (I loved her dress!), but the thing that got me was her voice. I could not stand the baby voice she seemed to have. It’s just not something I enjoy listening to. To me, it sounded like she had three different voices depending on the note she was hitting. The transition between her head and chest voice just wasn’t very smooth, so I didn’t think it sounded good. I’ve heard her sing something else in a video that sounded nice, so maybe it was just the arrangement of the song but I’m still not sure how this got as high as it did but oh well.

Austria - Cesár Sampson “Nobody But You” 3rd

This is the first one I actually really enjoyed. I thought his voice felt soulful and passionate, which made him nice to listen to. The staging was pretty cool and I thought it was overall a solid performance. One comment I had was that the build-up to the chorus was a little underwhelming but I loved the song anyways. By the end of the song I was totally into it and I was so ready for the rest of Eurovision. Those high notes!! This is the first one that I actually agreed with his score. While it’s not a song I’d play on repeat and a little overrated by the juries, I do find myself singing along to it!

Estonia - Elina Nechayeva “La Forza” 8th

I was definitely too critical of this song when I first watched it only because I don’t particularly enjoy opera. Directly from my notes, I wrote: “meh, talented but I’m bored”. She has a tremendous voice and wow those are some high notes. Unfortunately, even with the epic light up dress, I wasn’t in love with this performance. While the dress was pretty magical, an opera ballad isn’t exactly something I’d listen to again and again. That being said, I have come to appreciate the real talent she has and realized that it was better than I originally thought!

Norway - Alexander Rybak “That’s How You Write A Song” 15th

“Hey, it’s the violin guy!” I was excited to see him perform after his fame from Fairytale that I’d heard so much about when I started to get into Eurovision. The beat of the song was fun and he has a great voice. The problem for me was how cheesy the lyrics were - I don’t think following his two steps would really help me write a song in any way. But it’s extremely catchy, so obviously it worked for him. I loved the projected instruments and of course, I was excited when he got the violin out. I found myself listening to this song a lot more now and “singing it all day long”.

Portugal - Cláudia Pascoal “O Jardim” 26th

I’m not really sure how this song got last place. I can only blame the curse of the host country. I enjoyed this one more than I expected. She has a really nice voice and it one of the slower songs that I actually genuinely like.The performance wasn’t too flashy and the singer looks just like Lola from Degrassi but I didn’t think it deserved last. I think if she had entered in another year, she would have done better. I guess no one wanted to go back to Lisbon next year.

The UK - SuRie “Storm” 24th

This performance was exciting purely because of that crazy guy that stole her microphone. With this interruption, I think she came back stronger and I commend her for continuing so well and not even accepting the offer to sing again. The show must go on and she did just that! The downfall I think is that the song isn’t too memorable. It’s pretty typical and not too different from last year’s entry, except I liked that one more. To me, it felt as if it was lacking something something. Still a great recovery after something that could have been much worse!

Serbia - Sanja Ilić & Balkanika “Nova Deca” 19th

Albert Einstein playing the flute definitely caught my attention. I enjoyed Serbia’s entry at first; It had some cool native vibes and was slightly haunting in tone but was still modern enough to carry it through. I did find myself growing bored as the song went on but maybe I just have a short attention span. I loved their dresses and it was pretty cool to watch but didn’t really stand out too much to me.

Germany - Michael Schulte “You Let Me Walk Alone” 4th

This song deserved more attention than it got. Even after getting fourth place, the song still doesn’t seem to be talked about that much. I loved this song, it really moved me with the meaning behind it and his amazing voice to carry it. The staging was simple enough but still beautiful and matched the song. It was emotional but also made me feel hopeful with the rise of the music in the background. He is so talented and I'll definitely listen to more of his music! Albania - Eugent Bushpepa “Mall” 11th

The music drew me in front the start before he even started singing. It was fun and upbeat with some rock vibes that was refreshing after the last song. He sounded very passionate to me and made hitting those notes sound easy. I didn’t have much else to say about this song other than I just genuinely enjoyed it even if I had no idea what he was saying. Bonus points for a fun last name!

France - Madame Monsieur “Mercy” 13th

I know France was a fan favorite this year, but I didn't really see that. Again, not too memorable to me. I enjoyed when it picked up for the chorus a bit but overall I was a bit bored (that seems to be a common theme for me this year). I’m not into repetition so hearing “mercy, mercy, mercy, mercy” in my ears over and over again was kind of annoying. I also found myself wishing the guy sang more because I liked his voice. The staging wasn't too interesting either, the man just looked bored the whole time. I think overall it was a bit overrated to me but that's just my personal taste. This song wasn’t very thrilling and not one I’d really listen to over again.

The Czech Republic - Mikolas Josef “Lie to Me” 6th

I found myself playing this song on repeat. I love it and it always makes me feel like dancing. It took me some time to get into it when I was watching it live. I found him hard to hear in the low parts (although I clearly heard him say spaghetti) and the dancing felt really “gen Z” to me (The Floss and Dab reminded me too much of my 10-year-old brother trying to be cool). The backup dancers were good though and the staging was fun and bright. It’s not what I usually listen to so it was a bit odd at first but now I love it. This definitely would be higher than I originally ranked it, especially for the dance value. Denmark - Rasmussen “Higher Ground” 9th

How can you go wrong with singing Vikings? I was very intrigued by this performance. The song was dramatic, cinematic, and they had great beards. The snow was also a nice touch. Not much else to say about this other than I enjoyed it and their amazing beards.

Australia - Jessica Mauboy “We Got Love” 20th

This was another song I couldn’t really get into at the time. I did note that she was very talented, but the song didn't do her justice. It was pretty typical Eurovision pop. It’s grown on me a bit more but not a stand out for me. I just really did not like her dress and kept getting nervous that she’d trip over that long sparkly string thing. The song is decent but just not memorable enough to rank too high.

Finland - Saara Aalto “Monsters” 25th

Ah yes, goth princess Anna! I was expecting this to score higher than it did. They certainly went all out with their staging - spinning on a wheel and singing doesn’t seem like an easy feat. It isn't spectacular and the staging was a bit over-the-top, but she is a talented singer and the song isn’t that bad. I thought it deserved more than it got.

Bulgaria - EQUINOX “Bones” 14th

I actually liked the live version of this song better than the recording. It had cool vibes and all the singers were really good and sounded great together (of course they sounded good, they had Sia!) I know they formed for Eurovision, but I hope they stay together because I would listen to them. Not quite Kristian Kostov good, but still a solid entry from Bulgaria.

Moldova - DoReDoS “My Lucky Day” 10th

Presentation: Amazing and highly entertaining. Song: Not quite as much. The staging and body doubles were massively entertaining and really matched the energy of the song. But the song on its own is a bit too novelty to me and isn’t as good without people’s head popping out of white boxes (that was a very strange sentence that would not make sense out of context.) For a Eurovision act, I really liked it, but I'd pass on the song alone.

Sweden - Benjamin Ingrosso “Dance You Off” 7th

And now we have the Swedish Justin Bieber. I wasn’t as into this song when I first watched it. His voice was higher than I expected which I didn’t like as much during the performance. The chorus is very fun and now its really grown on me. It sounds the most like a song that could stand on its own, not just in Eurovision, like I could hear it on the radio. I loved his dance and the staging because Sweden is extra, as always. Did it deserve to be as high as the jury put it? Probably not, but I do love listening to it now.

Hungary - Aws “Viszlát Nyár” 21st

I was rocking out to this whole performance. It was good to hear some metal because it was different than all the rest of the songs. I was into it as soon as it kicked off. Although I’m not really into screamo, it was fun to watch him running around screaming. I think he’s got a good voice otherwise and I’m really into this song. I can understand why it didn’t score higher since it’s not typical Eurovision style, but I loved it and some of the best memes came from this act, so I can’t complain.

Israel - Netta “Toy” 1st

I feel like the winner is pretty controversial in more ways than one. People seem to either like it or hate it. I’ve decided to look at it putting Israeli politics aside since that's kind of the point of the competition. I was very concerned about the cultural appropriation she seemed to display, but for the sake of this review, I will focus on the song itself and not get into all that. I think the overall message of body confidence and feminism seems great. I think it’s fun and catchy, I’d definitely jam to it. The chicken noises did confuse me though. The song is alright on its own, but overall I don’t think it should have won.

The Netherlands - Waylon “Outlaw In 'Em” 18th

I’m just not a fan of country music in general, so I wasn’t super into this song. That being said, he had a pretty good voice and it was nice to hear something a little different than the rest of the songs. I did write “weird dancing”, I can't remember what I was referencing there but okay we’ll go with that.

Ireland - Ryan O'Shaughnessy “Together" 16th

I thought this song would do better than I did, guess that shows how much I know about Eurovision voting. For a romantic ballad, I enjoyed this one. His voice is very soothing and beautiful. It's a sweet song with a great message - and it got banned in China so that’s pretty epic.

Cyprus - Eleni Foureira “Fuego” 2nd

Don’t hate me, but I still don’t fully understand the hype behind this song. It’s not bad, but I didn’t think it was all that amazing. It’s grown on me as I listen to it more and it was certainly fun, sparkly and sassy, but, at the time, I couldn’t understand why it was winning. I loved the dancing but her voice wasn’t as great to me - she was very out of breath (which is understandable with all the movement she was doing). I have gotten into it more now but at the time I didn’t really see this as a winner. I do love jamming to it now, though!

Italy - Ermal Meta e Fabrizio Moro “Non Mi Avete Fatto Niente” 5th

I think I would have liked this song a lot more if I spoke Italian. Watching it, I felt confused. It felt very one-note to me and I didn’t understand the words on the screen so the presentation wasn’t great to me. It wasn’t until I read the lyrics later that I realized how important and powerful the song is. I understand why it did so well in the televote now and I think it has a great message. I really hate to say it, because I love the language diversity, but this song probably would have done a bit better if it was in English or maybe I just needed to know the context beforehand. Overall, I love the message, but the vocals were just a bit too yelly for me

So that concludes my review of all 24 acts! Every country sent a very talented representative, even if they weren't my personal taste. But now it's time for me to be the jury and rank them all! Read on to see what I first thought vs now, a week after the contest.

My Rankings

Immediately after the show Now:

(before the results): 1. Germany 1. Ukraine 2. Hungary 2. Germany 3. Austria 3. Czech Republic 4. Ireland 4. Hungary 5. Bulgaria 5. Bulgaria 6. Albania 6. Albania 7. Czech Republic 7. Sweden 8. Ukraine 8. Austria 9. Denmark 9. Ireland 10. Portugal 10. Denmark 11. Sweden 11. Portugal 12. Norway 12. Norway 13. Australia 13. Israel 14. Israel 14. Cyprus 15. Finland 15. Finland 16. France 16. Australia 17. UK 17. Slovenia 18. Italy 18. Italy 19. The Netherlands 19. Serbia 20. Serbia 20. UK 21. Slovenia 21. Moldova 22. Cyprus 22. Estonia 23. Spain 23. Spain 24. Moldova 24. France 25. Estonia 25. The Netherlands 26. Lithuania 26. Lithuania

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So that's my opinion! What's yours?

I can't wait until Eurovision 2019 for another year of amazing talents!

*All image credit hyperlinked to photos!

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