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It’s been two weeks since the Eurovision 2018 Grand Final and I’ve been trying to cope with my PED (Post Eurovision Depression) and not only processing the results but also my very first experience in Eurovision. Here comes the positive part! The negative one will follow later..
First of all it was just amazing to be there in the same space where the actual magic happens, see what goes on at the stage during the postcards etc. The stage was gorgeous! For sure it is one hell of a big thing to cross on my “things to do before I die” check list.
I also enjoyed tremendously watching every day how the event was built in front of where I work. The hype was all around and I was super glad and proud to be part of that. Loudly as my friends witnessed (sorry!).
Besides of my favorites I always hope for a diversed Final show with different genres, songs and performers. This year we had plenty and was super glad to see Slovenia (rap), Estonia (opera), Hungary (heavy metal) and Netherlands (rock country) going through even though not all of these were my top 10 favorites.
I was so happy and relieved to see Denmark, Albania, Serbia, Finland and Lithuania qualifying! I was worried for all of them! Especially Albania’s success in the Final also was great thing to watch! Eugent is such an amazing singer and the song was soooo good!
About Finland. Finnish media has done its traditional dance around Eurovision “coulda-woulda-shoulda” after the event and putting down the artist, the song, the entire process. But there were 43 countries taking part this year which we left quite many behind! Okay fine, the points were lower than what expected but our song and performed was loved by Eurovision community. I felt that love and I’m sure Saara felt it too. Besides we were in the freaking Final which we haven’t been for FOUR YEARS! She did a good job and we had a great song. Unfortunately this year’s competition was full of good songs! Someone has to go down.
Also Italy was big fan favourite in the Final - the hype around the song wasn’t as strong as with France and Bulgaria for example so I did not expect fans to embrace the song the way they did. Especially after those jury votes...The guys had a good spot though performing last. With Denmark it was also the same thing! Televotes made the day!
My ultimate favorite from Semifinal II Romania didn’t qualify but it improved a lot during the rehearsals and I saw many people changing their minds about the song! I will be listening to this song for a long time!
Germany spoke to me this year! The song made me cry. And obviously I wasn’t the only. People reacted and this was the best result for Germany for many years. And totally deserved!
We Finns often envy Swedes and make fun of them and especially in Eurovision. And I’m so sorry for putting this to my list of positive things in ESC but....Swedish entry wasn’t clearly the best track but it was still well produced and slick Swedish quality which I did expect to please the viewers. Also their performance, lights and visuals were memorable - even though maybe not as memorable as the juries thought across EU. However what a shocker that SWEDEN GOT LESS TELEVOTES THAN FINLAND! This is historical! Audience dropped them hard!
As Israel kept on climbing towards the top Cyprus was getting its strength. The hype around Fuego was unexpected and sudden. However I was glad to see someone being strong enough to challenge Netta - it was beginning to be to obvious. Eleni did a grand job and her performance was perfect! Toy however did carry an important message and stands out pretty much anything else we’ve ever seen on ESC before. The right one won.