Where does the time go? It’s been over three months since Eurovision 2017 ended in Kyiv. And whilst replaying our past playlists is all well and good, it’s time for some new tracks already.
Today, September 1st, is the first day that any song for Eurovision 2017 can officially be released. That means only one thing — Eurovision 2018 season has begun!
Yes, the successor to “Amar pelos dois” could drop any day now. Some countries have already begun the process of finding their act, whilst others may choose to play the waiting game.
But which is the better option? Do countries that reveal their song first have an advantage over the last country to reveal? We’ve taken a (totally unscientific) look at the last four contests to see who came out on top.
Eurovision 2014
First to Reveal: Ukraine — “Tick Tock”, Mariya Yaremchuk
6th place in Grand Final, 113 points
Last to Reveal: Russia — “Shine”, Tolmachevy Sisters
7th place in Grand Final, 89 points
International focus was already well and truly on Ukraine and Russia at Eurovision 2014. Hype for the Copenhagen contest ran simultaneous to the mounting crisis in Crimea and along Ukraine’s eastern front.
“Tick Tock” was the first song revealed for the contest, winning the Ukrainian national final in December 2013. The Tolmachevy’s “Shine” was released (in audio form only) at the last possible opportunity in March.
Heavily revamped before the contest, “Tick Tock” opened the show and still managed a remarkable 6th place, just ahead of “Shine”.
The penultimate song released? It was none other than Conchita’s “Rise Like a Phoenix”…
Eurovision 2015
First to Reveal: FYR Macedonia — “Autumn Leaves”, Daniel Kajmakoski
15th place in Semi Final One, 28 points
Last to Reveal: Montenegro — “Adio”, Knez
13th place in Grand Final, 44 points
Daniel Kajmakoski’s Skopje Fest victory with “Lisja esenski” in November 2014 puts him as the earliest reveal on this list.
Compare that to Knez, who publicly revealed “Adio” after the song deadline. The song was presented on time to the Head of Delegation meeting, however, meaning it was fine for entry. There would be no time for any revamps, though.
Not that the revamp of “Lisja esenski” to “Autumn Leaves” did Macedonia any favours. With three ex-Blackstreet members on stage with him, Kajmakoski dropped out in the Semi-Finals. Knez, meanwhile, went on to score Montenegro’s best-ever result, with 13th in the Grand Final.
Eurovision 2016
First to Reveal: Albania — “Fairytale”, Eneda Tarifa
16th place in Semi Final Two, 45 points
Last to Reveal: Bulgaria — “If Love Was a Crime”, Poli Genova
4th place in Grand Final, 307 points
The adage of “save the best until last” could be applied for a second straight year in 2016. Bulgaria’s on again/off again return to Eurovision was capped off by a late reveal of Poli Genova’s “If Love Was a Crime” — and to great reception from fans.
Contrast that with the frankly abysmal reaction to the revamp of Eneda Tarifa’s “Fairytale”. As ever, the Festivali i Kenges winning song was heavily changed between December and the contest.
At the contest, Poli stormed to Bulgaria’s best ever result at the time, finishing 4th. “Fairytale”, meanwhile, finished a lowly 16th in its Semi-Final.
Eurovision 2017
First to Reveal: Albania — “World”, Lindita
14th place in Semi Final One, 76 points
Last to Reveal: Armenia — “Fly With Me”, Artsvik
18th place in Grand Final, 79 points
The most recent contest, and once again a poor reaction to an Albanian revamp. Lindita’s “World” won Festivali i Kenges in December as the Albanian language “Bote”. Many fans wanted the song to remain in its native tongue, but the change was made for Kyiv.
Several countries left it late in 2017 — Bulgaria’s Kristian Kostov a notable name on the list — but Armenia were last on the list. Artsvik’s experimental “Fly With Me” was a slice of avant-garde pop the 2017 contest had perhaps been lacking to that point.
Though Artsvik faltered to a remarkably low (for Armenia) 18th place, Lindita failed to make it out of the semi-final. Will Festivali i Kenges finally find Albania a qualifier again this year?
So, it seems being last to reveal certainly doesn’t harm your chances. But with Portugal proving that anyone can win Eurovision if you try hard enough, there’s no telling what could happen in Lisbon.
Which country are you most excited to see for this year’s contest? Let us know all your thoughts in the comments section below!
I can say personally the best way is to not listen to any of revealed songs until the Eurovision semifinals, or shortly before, if TV insists on showing all of them for you once the list is complete. 😛 Those were the years I enjoyed watching Eurovision the best when I didn’t know any of songs before the contest, except my own country’s (but this didn’t matter, unless I was abroad where I could vote for it).
Only Teardrops was the 6th or 7th song revealed for Malmo….so songs released early can even win.
I was just watching Eesti laul 2014!! Will someone explain to me how Sandra Nurmsalu with ‘Kui tooled poorduvad’ went from 1st in Jury in her semi to last(nearly) in Jury vote in Final even though her performance was nearly flawless in both??
Because in Eesti Laul juries change in every stage of the contest, so the jury that had chosen her as a semifinalist, and jury in her semi, and then the juries in final were not the same therefore different opinions. Also, semi-final juries are usually more excentric then the final ones, they always play it safe.
Well the final jury definitely didn’t play it safe. They killed all her chances and it was clearly amomgst the best songs in that selection.Had they put her anywhere in the Top 4 she would have gone on to the Superfinal and would have probably won from there.
I think it might be significant that Eurovision week is a bit earlier next year.
Actually, it will be the same week it was in 2017.
2017: May 9/11/13
2018: May 8/10/12
Sezina just won the first semi-final of the Dutch Junior Eurovision selection.
http://www.esc-plus.com/junior-eurovision-sezina-wins-first-dutch-semi-final/
the QUALITY of a song decides ALWAYS!!!!
The songs released early on mostly aren’t masterpieces, usually, so I don’t think this makes them get a bad placing.
I think it would be interesting if a brave organizer puts ‘favorite’ songs in dead spots like second and third. I have a feeling that the voting would be much more exciting.
Once again, I totally agree. I understand the organizers’ efforts not to put similar songs next to each other, to bulid up the suspense… But regardless of these reasons I think it would be far better to make the contestants draw lots not only on which half of the show they are going to perform, but to to determine their exact order. Then there would be no allegations that the organisers are acting in favour of some particular entry. And the order DOES matter. Just take the example of IMRI (I hate his song,but he’s the perfect example) Semi-final, last… Read more »
I had sent a mail to the EBU to make draws for quarters in the final( instead of picking first or second half they pick 1st/2nd/3rd/4th quarter)
And in the semi to make them pick thirds (first 6….middle 6/7 ….final 6)
They didn’t reply to me obviously. It probably went into spam.But I definitely think that would be much more transparent and acceptable. Since picking second half and being put 14th is equally deadly as being put 2nd after first half. So then you are more sure about your position and the producers have less favouritism to show.
Even if it goes to their spam folder, it’s worth giving a try. I think I’ll send one too.
Maybe all ESC fans should write a petition explaining our concern and asking for changes in determining the order of performances ? If such petition was singed by, say, 50,000 ESC fans, it would mean a lot. Or maybe there is such a petition somewhere in the Net?
I haven’t really come across one Luke. But I see no reason why someone should refuse to accept this. This allows the producers the freedom to keep songs of different genres next to each other while taking away their leeway for destroying the chances of whosoever pleases/displeases them.
Had occidentali’s Karma been revealed a bit later!! it would have done better in televote for sure
I agree. It had lost its edge after I played it for the 300th time by the contest.
No, it wouldn’t.
Let’s also remember that Spirit of the Night, which came dead last at 42nd out of 42 countries, earning just one point from the public in its semi, was one of the last songs to be released this year (it was the 40th).
I wouldn’t be surprised if they were sitting on it for weeks, knowing that it was a lemon in the making and knowing how ill the people were going to react. Not to mention that Valentina Monetta and Ralph Siegel were once again involved, which also wouldn’t sit well with the ESC viewers.
They also put in fake YouTube views on the song.
I think you’ve got the point. Totally agree!
If the song is good it doesn’t matter when it is released. Every country has a chance to win and we all saw it this year. Most of the times, songs revealed later tend to do better. I remember in 2016 Russia released the entry towards the end of the deadline. Same with Bulgaria this year. Not to mention Bulgaria in 2016. “If love was a crime” was the very last song to be revealed and it was worth the anticipation. We all went crazy! (At least I did.) Still love it! Now some words on Albania: 2 years in… Read more »
Albania should seriously stop revamping the songs.
Hey, Chris, I think you meant to write that this is the first day that any song for Eurovision 2018 can be released, not 2017. 🙂
I don’t really care.I just wish the National Finals were more evenly spaced out.
I second that. I hate these Super Saturdays where you have no idea which national final to watch.
True! There were Saturdays where we had like 4 National Finals! You don’t know what to watch first!
Except the finals being spaced out, I also hope they have many good songs. (like the Estonian NF this year which was really interesting for me)
…it doesn’t really matter.
IMO, it depends on the quality of the song. We have this theory in fully bloom because of 2016 (Eneda finishing 37th, Poli finishing 4th), but let’s remember, people liked Perralle- it was the awful revamp that people didn’t like. Fairytale was one of the last songs to be revealed. Perralle would’ve undoubtedly done better.
If Love Was A Crime was seriously one of the best songs to ever grace the Eurovision stage in the past five years. Poli Genova did Bulgaria proud with that one.
Couldn’t agree more!
I’ll drink to that!
It was one of the worst songs in ESC.
You are the worst people who believes in a dream. So whenever the sun is shining together with the stars in the sky….we can sing we can shineeeeee!!
It’s not a dream, it’s reality. Awful song.
When you hear no voices call… you’ll be lonely forever and more…ooh!!
I’m not so sure it’s the SONG he didn’t like. Maybe it was Poli Genova’s ‘TRON Legacy’ outfit he didn’t like! 🙂
Probably one of the best ESC comebacks in recent years. My girl Poli SLAYYED! 😉
Have you seen Dima Blans new video? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_LrXZbOAWQ It’s bombastic
Plus, I figured out that it was filmed in Lisbon! 😀
https://oikotimes.com/brand-new-video-for-dima-bilan-filmed-in-lisbon/
This is just ridiculous, most regular viewers don’t know when have the songs been released, if you have a great song you’ll most likely end well regardless of the time when you reveal it.
I am not quite sure as to whether there is a winning recipe for a particular time for releasing a song, but if I was to be a HoD, I would stage a national final/or release the song in early Feb which gives time for fans to react to a live version and then the broadcaster can decide as to whether changes should be made. However, if I had to choose between being the 1st song to be released compared to being the final song, I’d choose 1st because “Tick-Tock”, was changed from a tacky song with a lame chorus… Read more »