The end is nigh. On Saturday evening, Eurovision fans settled down for the penultimate edition of #EurovisionAgain. This time, they were rewatching the grand final of Eurovision 2008.
And while all the performances remained the exact same, viewers voted for a new winner — Ukraine’s Ani Lorak with “Shady Lady”. The real-life champion — Russia’s Dima Bilan with “Believe” — finished in ninth place.
Scroll down to watch Eurovision 2008
Ani Lorak wins #EurovisionAgain 2008
Listed below are the results for #EurovisionAgain 2008. The rankings are based on the votes of more than 3,000 people who decided to vote for their favourites while rewatching the Eurovision 2008 grand final on Saturday 20 June.
In brackets, we’ve included the differences between the new fan vote and the original result from 12 years ago.
#EurovisionAgain 2008 results
- Ukraine: Ani Lorak “Shady Lady”(+1)
- Greece: Kalomira “Secret Combination” (+1)
- Iceland: Euroband “This Is My Life” (+11)
- Armenia: Sirusho “Qélé, Qélé” (=)
- Sweden: Charlotte Perrelli “Hero” (+13)
- Turkey: Mor ve Ötesi “Deli” (+1)
- Serbia: Jelena Tomašević feat. Bora Dugić “Oro” (-1)
- Norway: Maria Haukaas Storeng “Hold On Be Strong” (-3)
- Russia: Dima Bilan “Believe” (-8)
- Portugal: Vânia Fernandes “Senhora do mar (Negras águas)” (+3)
- Israel: Boaz Ma’uda “The Fire in Your Eyes” (-2)
- France: Sébastien Tellier “Divine”(+7)
- Latvia: Pirates of the Sea “Wolves of the Sea” (-1)
- Bosnia and Herzegovina: Laka “Pokušaj” Bosnian (-4)
- Azerbaijan: Elnur and Samir “Day After Day” (-7)
- Finland: Teräsbetoni “Missä miehet ratsastaa” (+6)
- Spain: Rodolfo Chikilicuatre “Baila el Chiki-chiki” (-1)
- United Kingdom: Andy Abraham “Even If” (+7)
- Albania: Olta Boka “Zemrën e lamë peng” (-2)
- Denmark: Simon Mathew “All Night Long” (-5)
- Georgia: Diana Gurtskaya “Peace Will Come” (-10)
- Croatia: Kraljevi ulice and 75 Cents “Romanca” (-1)
- Poland: Isis Gee “For Life” (+1)
- Germany: No Angels “Disappear” (-1)
- Romania: Nico and Vlad “Pe-o margine de lume” (-5)
Watch Eurovision 2008 online
#EurovisionAgain may be over for now, but the Eurovision 2008 grand final remains online. You can watch the full show on the official Eurovision YouTube channel.
#EurovisionAgain is scheduled to return for the last time on Saturday 27 June at 21:00 CEST.
What is #EurovisionAgain
For the past several weeks, since the COVID-19 pandemic first took hold, the Eurovision Again team has been organising mass rewatchings of classic contests on Saturday evenings. The EBU soon came on board and began publishing previously unavailable entire show uploads on its YouTube channel.
As well as organising rewatches, the Eurovision Again team has also added a fundraising element for various LGBT+ charities. Details can be found here.
What do you think? Did Ani deserve to win the rewatch? Has “Shady Lady” aged better than “Believe”? Let us know in the comments.
And what to say about Ireland… it makes me laugh… but because it’s bad. So, how to rate a song which wants to be bad, succeeds in it and that’s precisely what makes it memorable. Unlike Estonia, whose message is convoluted at best and spiteful at worst (yeah *this* is supposed to make fun of Questa notte, lol), and Belgium (no comment on how pointless and repetitive to the point of brainwashing that was), Ireland’s parody actually get to the point. It’s self-referential, which makes it more light-hearted and easy-going. Sure, it’s bad. Musically, it’s bad. Lyrically, it’s bad. Vocally,… Read more »
This year was such trash that no wonder juries were introduced a year later. Every second act is some sort of a troll or over the top novelty cr4p (Bosnia & Herzegovina, Azerbaijan, Spain, Ireland, Croatia, Latvia, France and I’m sure there were more.). If you have the turkey puppet and the pirates from Latvia in the same year, it’s not a good sign. The Russian entry sucked on many levels but also this alternative winner from Ukraine is a completely cheesy and outdated tune when you listen to it without watching the performance.
Going through the rest of my list and analyzing songs. Some songs are easy to pin-point, some aren’t. Perhaps the toughest one to define is Bosnia & Herzegovina. Sure, it’s funny, but what’s the catch? First, backing vocals break the ”fourth wall”, referring to Laka (the singer) and how he told them to stay in their houses until their love is strong enough. Then, he sings about plants, animals and how life might not have originated in water, but from love itself. The chorus is about him trying to kiss a girl. She would have to ”pretend to be crazy”… Read more »
I watched a few interviews with Laka back in the day, and every time someone would ask him about the meaning of song, he would answer: “it’s about evolution, man didn’t come from monkey, man came from love, so stop acting like monkeys, act like love”. He would also say that the funny presentation (“cabaret”, as he would call it) is only meant to attract the viewers’ attention and that the actual message is very serious. Now, all these years later, I can kinda see what he meant by those words – love is what makes us human, and without… Read more »
Well, thanks, Skiwalko. Very much appreciate this comment. I can see what he meant, although I still find it somewhat messy in it’s execution. I mean ”don’t fight the sentiment of love” is an okay message for a song to have. It still comes off as a bit random. Nevertheless, I can finally see what’s the concept behind it. 🙂
My TOP 5
1.Ukraine
2.Sweden
3.Portugal
4.Iceland
5.Norway
Deserved to be in final F.Y.R Macedonia,Switzerland,Hungary,Lithuania
I’ve decided to listen to all songs once again and some things changed a bit. First, I’d like to say how 2008 felt like a VAST improvement over 2006. It was only two years before, but it feels like a massively better average quality. I’ll have to check how 2007 comes in between, but considering it had Molitva, Salvem el mon,Valentine lost and Questa notte, I’ll go on the edge saying that was the first year to pull out ESC from the mid 2000s gutter. Now, on to 2008. My top 10: PORTUGAL – Absolutely beautiful, deep, mystical, delivered perfectly.… Read more »
I agree, there was a real uptick in quality in 2008, even compared to 2007.
I did love Switzerland in 2008 too, but he was so out of tune, it’s hard to say he was robbed.
“Nuna nej” is a folklore lullaby tune. It’s meant to sound comforting and tender. It’s not a dictionary word in a strict sense, but it’s implied meaning is to cause serenity for being loved by someone. Sure it’s used beautifully in Oro. 🙂
Sorry, this has nothing to do with 2008, but nostalgia is also a theme here, so… I just found some YouTube videos of backstage footage & behind the scenes of a number of Eurovisions from decades ago. Hours of stuff – interviews with the performers, press conferences, parties, rehearsals – that I find so fascinating and never even knew existed. 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000. Each one lasting a long time. They seem to be made by a devoted fan, a guy called Phillippe Schlesser. Posted by a guy called Peter Henshaw, though. Search! I don’t… Read more »
I checked out Oslo 1996 out of curiosity, and it blew my mind. It’s like a time capsule, amazing stuff, thanks for sharing it with us. Apparently, apart from being a Eurovision enthusiast, Philippe Schlesser is a Luxembourg-born desinger specialising in knifes, who travelled throughout Europe in his youth making various documentaries before settling down in Denmark. He seems to be a very interesting guy:
https://paperjam.lu/article/news-philippe-schlesser-il-faut-etre-ouvert-accepter-et-ne-pas-juger
https://www.euromovidas.com/eurovision-en-tiempos-de-confinamiento-el-gran-descubrimiento-ii/
The PS who filmed this is not the same as the one you mention.
(the original comment is waiting for approval)
I checked out Oslo 1996 out of curiosity, and it blew my mind. It’s like a time capsule, truly amazing stuff, thanks for sharing it with us. Apparently, apart from being a Eurovision enthusiast, Philippe Schlesser is a Luxembourg-born desinger specialising in knifes, who travelled throughout Europe in his youth making various documentaries before settling down in Denmark. He seems to be a very interesting guy:
https://paperjam.lu/article/news-philippe-schlesser-il-faut-etre-ouvert-accepter-et-ne-pas-juger
https://www.euromovidas.com/eurovision-en-tiempos-de-confinamiento-el-gran-descubrimiento-ii/
He does seem like an interesting guy, you’re right. I hope he’d be happy if he knew that we were appreciating his hard work now. Thanks, Philippe!
best year at that decade alongside 2009, my top 10 was like
1.UKRAINE (just epic)
2.Turkey
3.Israel
4.Greece
5.Serbia
6.Portugal
7.Norway
8.Armenia
9.Russia
10.Iceland
The postcards weren’t great. They had a nice theme, sure, but the ones of twenty years previously were far more enjoyable – as we saw last week. How did this ever happen, why did they do away with featuring the performers for a long time?
I liked them – the speed at which they got through the 25 songs was really impressive. The stagehands in Belgrade must have had to work very hard to get the stage set up for the next act in such a short time.
Why does it seem that most EurovisionAgain winners are whichever woman is regarded as the biggest “diva” since the year in question.
2008: the good, the bad, and the ugly. Well-hosted, and two semis was objectively the right way to go, but man was the bad stuff bad. Not the worst year ever (2002 is my least favorite) but the worst songs from 2008 still kinda stupefy me. But the good stuff was definitely worth sorting through the stinkers. 43. Estonia – I just don’t know who this song was for. Its commentary is pretentious if you get it and the act is bizarre in an unfunny way if you don’t. 42. Ireland – I get the joke. I just don’t think… Read more »
20. Denmark – After the previous year’s flop, Denmark stayed in their lane and did what they do best: inoffensive happy pop music. He looks like he’s having fun, but never has the phrase “celebrate good times, come on” sounded whiter. (Also: don’t remind people of better songs they could be listening to instead. See also: “Beautiful Song.”) 19. Greece – For this year, I get why Greece did so well. Not a song I listen to a ton outside this year, but it’s well-performed and has a good hook. 18. Croatia – The sung parts I find quite lovely.… Read more »
Oh boy, it seems like I’m the only one who has a soft spot for Estonia, as a matter of fact it’s my second favourite after France. I don’t know what the heck is it about (I’m not sure if it’s about anything at all), but I love me some schlock, and it doesn’t get much better (or worse) than this. Normally, that kind of song wouldn’t be as high in my personal ranking, but in a sea of mediocreness that was 2008, it’s the troll acts that stand out. As for France, I think it’s a genuinely good song… Read more »
Once my second bit gets approved, you’ll see I agree with you about France
I also agree with the two of you about France. It’s a laid back and charming entry, with a dash of irony, but it’s genuinely a good song. It’s a bit quirky, but refreshing and it actually has good lyrics. Estonia, on the other hand, is abysmal in any possible way. For those who don’t understand, they basically randomly say poorly enunciated and grammatically incorrect Serbian words which don’t make any narrative sense. (Leto svet actually means ”summer world” in Serbian, but as Serbian has cases for nouns, this is very incorrectly put. Both of these nouns are in nominative… Read more »
I don’t know when it’ll get approved but here’s my top 20 and hopefully my post with comments will get approved soon.
20. Denmark
19. Greece
18. Croatia
17. Switzerland
16. United Kingdom
15. Norway
14. Malta
13. North Macedonia
12. Iceland
11. France
10. Armenia
9. Latvia
8. Albania
7. Serbia
6. San Marino
5. Portugal
4. Bosnia and Herzegovina
3. Ukraine
2. Israel
1. Turkey
The story I heard is that it was making fun of how countries will sing in languages they don’t understand to sound cultured and get votes (coming off a year with a Cypriot song in French and a Latvian song in Italian). The bit with them…ahem…woki-ing the piano in the popo is apparently a metaphor for what those songs do to music. Then again, writing a bad entry off as “ironic humor” is nothing new. Also, the fellow in blue conducted two of Estonia’s most successful entries in ‘96 and ‘97. Passed away a while ago sadly.
Oh god, I thought they were just moving the piano as an homage to a famous Estonian pianist, Rein Rannap, who competed in Eurolaul 2008 as a composer. Now that’s in poor taste. I still don’t understand why they would choose Serbian, German and Finnish if that theory is correct.
Serbian because the contest was in Serbia, Finnish because they’re neighbors and they were voting in that semi, and German because I think they were also voting in that semi (Finland voted for it, but then again they probably would’ve voted for it anyway).
Yeah, but that sounds more like pandering to the potential voters (sort of like Ireland did) than trying to come off as intellectual or high-brow. But who knows what they were going for.
That’s why it doesn’t work for me as a novelty act: good novelty acts need to be really specific. The viewer needs to pick up on what the gag is relatively quickly, the gag itself needs to be funny (be it clever or simple) enough so that viewers all over Europe can figure it out, and they need to commit 100%. That’s why Latvia works for me so well: the gag is simple (they’re pirates!), the hook is catchy, the staging is great, and the performers all look like they’re having a blast. 2007 has a few similar examples to… Read more »
I can totally understand your point of view. I know it’s terrible, pointless and confusing in every way possible. But if you’re going to be bad, go all the way. Many people will disagree, but for me all the big fan favourites – Ukraine, Serbia, Portugal, Turkey – they’re nowhere near as memorable as the utter atrocity that is “Leto svet”, and their quality isn’t sufficient for me to regard them as praiseworthy. They stood out in 2008, but on their own they’re quite average. At least that’s what I think. Maybe it’s love, maybe it’s Stockholm syndrome, but I… Read more »
I disagree with you there. I’d call you right if you were talking about Armenia or Greece, but speaking personally, I enjoy all of those entries outside of just the context of 2008 (except maybe Serbia and I still think it’s very good). Heck, I’d even call Turkey’s entry their best ever.
I agree to disagree. I don’t usually like rock entries at Eurovision, and neither “We Could Be The Same” nor “Deli” are exceptions. “Deli” in particular has that 2000s alternative rock sound that I’m not a fan of. But hey,different strokes for different folks, you do you and I do me. 🙂
Precisely. In the same way that I find “Leto svet” unlistenable and unwatchable, so too may you not care for rock at Eurovision when nine times out of ten it’s the genre I most look forward to at Eurovision. Hell, one of my all-time favorite Eurovision songs is “Aina mun pittaa,” and I’ll stand by that forever.
I actually love “Aina mun pitta”, alongside Georgia 2016 and Hungary 2018 it’s one of the rare instances when I straight out fell in love with a Eurovision rock song. I even liked “Missa miehet ratsastaa” way more than “Hard Rock Hallelujah”. Last place in the semi for PKN was a joke, punk’s not dead!
I’ll quietly pass on Finland 2015, but I will state that both Georgia 2016 and Hungary 2018 are simply epic and among my fav songs of the decade! 🙂 IDK if there is a *genre* I dislike. Even my least fav genre, Balkan turbo-folk, has at least one song roughly in that style which I really like (Moldova 2018), so I can be eclectic. I can like some classic ballads, tho (including Poland and even Hungary 2008), so that might be considered boring. IDK. I also like some silly songs if I find them amusing. It just has to be… Read more »
If a country’s particularly good at a certain kind of music, I wholeheartedly embrace them sending songs in that genre. It’s when that genre starts to feel like a crutch (as we’ve seen with countries like Sweden, Russia, Ireland, Australia, and Spain in the past) that I stop finding it fun. I just want the clear idea that the people putting the act together know what they’re doing and how they’re going to do it. If anything feels too scattershot, if there’s the vibe that somebody, at some point, at least had the thought “hey, I don’t know what I… Read more »
Hey Joe, if you’re still in need of a Polish back-up juror, I could do it. Unfortunately I don’t know any people with experience in the music industry.
Honestly, that would be a big help if you’re down to do it! The scoring isn’t too different from your standard Eurovision vote – 12, 10, 8, etc…
Sure thing.
12 p. – Finland
10 p. – the Netherlands
8 p. – Bulgaria
7 p. – Iceland
6 p. – Belgium
5 p. – United Kingdom
4 p. – Denmark
3 p. – Italy
2 p. – Australia
1 p. – Lithuania
If you’d need a back-up juror for Croatia, I’d be down for it too. That’s just in case if.
That’d also potentially be very helpful! Also, Skiwalko, the good folks from Destination Eurovision also agreed to judge for Poland and I don’t know if their plan is to send individual votes for each member or one collective vote, so I’ll keep you posted because otherwise it’ll be too many people. But thank you very much!
No problem.Sebastian Mnich (the founder) is a really cool guy and a devoted fan, I’m glad you found someone to cast the votes.
I’m not sure if anyone saw this yesterday (I didn’t but others did), but a tweet went out earlier on Saturday from the Eurovision Again account about voting for Cannes 1959. Cue outrage on other fan fora and Twitter from fans not wanting to see a b&w contest, they wanted a contest they could “party and drink to.” Obviously, it was a joke from the organiser, and I can’t blame him really, it must be fun to “accidentally’ send tweets revealing the year and throw people off the scent. But…I was a bit disappointed that they didn’t take a real… Read more »
“to right some wrongs”
How? Russia was the legit winner in 2008. Got the most points. But 2800 people voting through Twitter (I added up all points and divided them by 58) doesn’t change the result from 12 years ago. (And this coming from someone who really dislikes “Believe”.) Besides, we don’t know the demographics of the people voting, their nationalities and if they vote for their own country. #eurovisionagain is great fun, but it is not more then that. We don’t need to break a tie for 1969. That is not up for us to decide.
I think it could actually be quite fun to break the tie and see what country has the most likeable song to this date. Could be quite interesting if you ask me. 🙂
To see what country has the most likeable song to this date you have to have millions of voters.
France was always my favorite of the four, with the Netherlands not far behind.
1974 is the closest we’ve gotten to a seriously old school contest. They didn’t even have the 12-point system in place yet!
There’s not much respect for the historic contests from today’s Eurovision cognoscenti, is there?
I mean, damned if you do, damned if you don’t, right? People were annoyed at them showing a contest from only two years ago, but anything pre-00s gets dismissed as too old. Eurovision fans: amazing at their best, nightmares at their worst.
Reply to both Fatema and Joe: yes, the horror expressed on Twitter when rumours went around saying it was Cannes ’59 was sad, the point of Eurovision Again was bangers and to party, the fans said. 1959 would be like watching paint dry they said. But I think I’m the one at fault here, I thought it was going to be a journey through history, but no, it’s just a chance to party. I think ’68 or ’69 would be well received by fans though. Anything in B&W though…no way, there would be revolt. And yes, you’re right, if they… Read more »
Yeah, I think that is more the case. EBU only has the rights to the contest 2004 on and it’s probably easier to dive from their own archive than to obtain permission from other broadcasters.
And it’s fair to say some broadcasters have been more generous than other. BBC, RTE and RAI all opened up their archives. The former two did it twice.
I’d love to hear something from the 90s or early 2000s. I would be happy with earlier concerts too. I have very fond memories of both 2012 and 2019, but the latter one does feel to close to repeat. 2012 was lovely, though. I’d be happy with that one. I will Never Forget it, as my Euphoria was on the high level that year. It was my first year as an actual fan who followed the contest before the semi-finals. 😉
I’ve never quite been able to work out why in such a strong year, a weak song won.
I have my suspicions. Maybe they’re unfair, but when you think of Russia and the Olympics, or American elections, or many other things…
That’s all true. I still have my doubts. I probably sound like an eccentric conspiracy theorist, but c’mon…Russia even had a controversy over drugging their soccer team at the last FIFA World Cup. They had been banned from the Tokyo Olympics. Is the Eurovision Song Contest the one international event that they play fairly? Whatever the facts may be, I’m still wondering how one of my least favourite of all their many entries became their one winner.
I actually want to say Russia won fair and square. Believe came on the back of a couple of well received Russian entries and Dima was famous and current in Eastern Bloc countries. Compare that to talent show contestants and has beens some other countries were sending why wouldn’t you pick up the phone and vote for Dima? While phone voting was a life giving idea to the contest in the 90s buy 2008 it had been corrupted. With countries in like Netherlands and Ireland (for example) being knocked out in the semifinals, lower viewership for the final meant diaspora… Read more »
I don’t think there was anything dodgy at play that Russian won, as you said he is very famous in the Eastern Bloc, there was definitely a feeling though that Russia was preordained to win.
If you like fun uptempo female led pop you can shake it and dance too your votes were split between Ukraine Greece and Armenia, who all came 2nd 3rd and 4th. If one hadn’t been there one of the other 2 could probably have won.
I think something similar could have happened this year actually, the ‘quirky’ entries from Iceland, Russia and Lithuania could have taken votes from each other, allowing another entry (Switzerland possibly) to sneak through and win.
‘Shady lady’ fans, do yourself a favor and check out this live performance of the song that Ani posted earlier this year. The staging is epic!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0Co9_hTCBM
AMAZING! Was this from one of her concerts or a TV special of some kind?
Hi Christopher. If my Google Translate skills are any good, this performance was from the Moscow leg of her ‘Show Diva’ World tour, which took place a few years ago.
I know the voting in these Eurovision Agains has been ridiculously typical ESC fan stuff and I don’t really want to point out stuff that I think is overrated but, come on, Iceland coming third might just be the icing on that cake. It’s the very definition of average Eurodance from that era.
I am personally very much surprised. I haven’t heard many of these songs for some time now and my pre-2010 lists might also need updating. However, as I recall, Iceland in 2008 is as mid-list as it goes. Perhaps my memory is failing me.
Iceland 2008 was THE example of how to lift a mediocre song to something memorable with a fantastic performance.
As I’ve said below, the Eurovision Again fans are only interested in bangers, so Iceland always going to finish very high up last night.
I know it’s sad that EurovisionAgain will be ending soon, but there is a factor you’re all forgetting–The EBU does not own the broadcasting rights to contests prior to 2004. Those past contests are actually owned by the host country broadcasters and that’s why past contests pre-2004 have only be uploaded for a week as part of a rights agreement. It probably takes a lot of time to negotiate and the volume of pre-2004 contests is much larger than the contests owned by the EBU. There’s even a missing contest (1964 was lost, although the audio still exists), and I… Read more »
The Israeli broadcaster that did 1979 and 1999 also doesn’t exist anymore.
I wonder if their video archives have been transferred to Kan. I don’t know. For the 1990 contest, my best guess is that it’s probably in the archives of the current Croatian broadcaster because the contest took place in Zagreb (for the 1989 winner was from Croatia).
Yep HRT and RTV Zagreb are the same continuous company, it was just renamed.
Unlike IBA which was dissolved entirely and Kan subsequently set up at a later date.
HRT the Croatian broadcaster is the same legal entity as RTV Zagreb the host of the 1990 contest. They just changed the name upon Croatians independence. The actual station has been broadcasting continually since 1926 (radio) 1956 (television)
I really hope EBU will publish back up jury points one day. I think we would have had a very different scoreboard in 2008 if jury was involved.
Knowing the lunacy and unpredictability of ESC juries, which tend to go for something mainstream middle of the road something like Denmark wouldve probably won 2008 if 100% jury lol ?.
This might be an unpopular view, but I’m ready to say farewell to Eurovision Again. It’s done a great job keeping people entertained during lockdown, and raised lots of money for charity. And that’s great. But as lockdowns ease, more things reopen, live events return (at least on TV), and 30 degree summer weather kicks in, it’s inevitable that interest will fizzle out. On top of that, I’m getting tired of the predictability of it all. Clearly, the winner of the vote will be a “banger.” I’ve made this comment already below, but Serbia and Portugal sent in 2008 probably… Read more »
I like 2008 because it was a year full of trolls. It pains me seeing Rodolfo and Pirates of the Sea losing positions. Latvia deserved Top 10 that year.
There were wildcard entries – the highest scoring entry out of the televoting Top 10. In SF1 it was Poland (placed tenth anyway) and in SF2 it was Sweden (12th over Macedonia which placed tenth barely below Iceland and Albania).
Juries love Sweden. It’s some consolation that Tamara got her reward 11 years later.
Poland didn’t actually need the wildcard as she made it in anyway. But had she finished 10th, and the wildcard was a finisher lower than 11th, she’d have gone home. Weird. But I can understand why they did it, some odd choices were made with 100% televoting, and there was a lot of public anger over perceived neighbour voting, so juries were probably seen as less likely to block vote.
Oh, and while juries came in for the 2009 final, the 2009 semis were run identical to the 2008 semis, 100% televote with a wildcard. Macedonia (once again) and Serbia finished 10th in their semis, but as the chosen wildcards were both lower ranking in the televote, they didn’t make it to Saturday.
Unfortunately the country that needed it the least was the one profiting the most from that jury wild card in 2008.
Ireland did use a jury vote from what I know, which kind of explains their seemingly random 10 points to Poland which would have done well with the jury (but that doesn’t explain the 12 to Latvia lol). Juries have always voted, even when it was televote only as juries would be used as a backup incase the televotes could not be used for whatever reason. They probably used the 10th place chosen by the jury to try and experiment with letting the jury have a say, but it backfired when the 10th place in the televote did not line… Read more »
Niamh mispoke- Ireland definitely used televoting that year as our televote always gives 12 points to Latvia or Lithuania (we have a large baltic diaspora here and seemingly they love Eurovision!). It’s kind of embarrassing now as its almost as bad as Cyprus and Greece.
Same as Norway and UK; 36 points already in the bag before a note is sung or a phone picked up
Not necesarily a mistake. In the 100% televote era it was common to refer to the televoters at home as the countries “jury”.
In 2006 after UK gave 12 to Finland. Terry wogan said he knew the UK jury would go for it.
What we know today as the jury was called the “backup jury”
I wonder which contest is gonna be used for the last #EurovisionAgain. My gut tells me they’re gonna go with 2019, but I’d rather they choose an older edition. Here’s a list of contests that in my opinion would make for a splendid ending of the series: ’63 – an innovational year in terms of camera work and staging, the best edition of the 60s song-wise ’69 – we would finally get an answer to the question who was the “real” winner in 1969 ’73 – great year, arguably the most famous runner-up ever ’76 – everybody knows the Brotherhood… Read more »
I’ve given up on them doing a really old one. They just want to do ones with “bangers.”
Maybe they should do 1976; Monaco was a banger that year
69 would be fantastic. Put that one to bed once and for all.
Maybe, but surely the UK would win seeing as it’s primarily UK voters. They probably love Lulu too. I would give France my 12.
I hope it’s 2000, something that’s not easily available…I think. It’s twenty years ago, but the Swedish and Globen elements might make it feel more current and encourage people to watch. Those are all great suggestions too, of course.
2000 was fine I guess. It definitely felt very modern for its time, which contrasted with ESC 1999 whose main theme was past and tradition. I don’t much care for the songs, to be honest, except for my two guilty pleasures, Israel and N. Macedonia.
I was also thinking about the plausible outcomes, and I’d say that 2012 and 2014 look very likely as well.
Yeah. You’re right about 2012 or 2014. I’m betting on 2014, they’ll hardly leave out Conchita.
Seems to be a lot of demand for 2012 though, and I admit it was a great winner that year.
Might make sense to end on 2019 though. But yeah, the Conchita story is big too..
I don’t want it but sadly I predict next weeks will be the last time Netherlands hosted.
Sweden should winn 2008
Oro is the best host country entry in all of the 2000’s! Serbia should have won two times in a row!
Oh so much agreement with this!
My favourite ESC song of the 2000s!
I bloody love Divine and Pokusaj.
Turkey was amazing. Probably my favourite.
Serbia and Israel were also very good. Best ballads for me.
That would be my Top 5 I guess
This is an interesting and very fair result IMO . If this result was the actual result in 2008, 4 Western countries in the top ten and reasonable results for the france and UK, I wonder if the changes made for the 2009 contest would of been implemented.
As it was the voting sequence was exciting, Russia not pulling away from the rest too early.
Dima carrying on the the green room I found very off putting back then and still do.
The postcards were great and I think that 2008 was an underrated year.
Yes, those were the back-up juries (in case something went not as planned with the televote in one country, the votes of a back-up jury would be used instead, for example in 2007, due to technical difficulties, Albania and Andorra used their jury results as the official votes). In 2008 only San Marino opted to use the jury vote, so that must have been a mistake on the part of Niamh. The 50/50 system was first introduced for the grand final of Eurovision 2009.
If the votes of the Albanian back-up jury had not been used in 2007 Ireland may well have scored a deserved 0 points. What a farce/disaster. Thankfully sanity was restored when Dustin The Turkey appeared in 2008. From what I recall Sweden needed the help of the jury to even qualify in 2008.
Worth noting that Germany won the back up jury vote in 2007. That was confirmed by the EBU in 2008
Wasn’t a mistake so much. Just people who’d been in Eurovision for a while referred to the 100% televoters as the countries jury.
So 2006 for example terry woman knows it’s the people at home voting but says “I felt it in my waters that the UK jury would go for finland. We the televoters are “the jury”.
Greece should have won. Poland and Portugal are to low
I love Iceland, Sweden, Portugal, and France getting the recognition they deserve! This was a strong year, though.
My favourites (in no particular order) were Turkey, Portugal, Israel, France, Spain and Albania.
She should have won in 2008
OK so…….im watching it right now and I’m loving it. The standouts for me are Ukraine, Iceland, Greece and Portugal. I think my favourite is Iceland. I also loved Albania, Armenia and Turkey. Tbh they were all good but Russia didn’t deserve to win.
What a pity; why would they end this awesome concept already? So many contests still to explore. I hope it comes back! Fingers crossed.
They don’t want now us to remember Eurovision was a live singing competition.
Plus, as they run low on recent editions, there’s less to choose from. Rights for pre-2004 contests might be hard to get, plus they probably need work to bring up to quality. They could just do the recent years they’ve missed out on (2004, 2005, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2017 and 2019) though.
My prediction is they’ll finish next week on 2019. It would make sense.
Genuinely one of the beat years this century!
#EurovisionAgain has become something of a Saturday night staple, and I was thrilled to see it was the turn of 2008. Apart from a slightly soggy middle section this was an exceptional year, with an amazing variety of songs and performances. I’m sure there will be a few snooty comments about the number of ‘novelty’ entries, but I love and miss the fun element so evident in 2008 (we’d have had to make do with Little Big this year). Plus many came with a strong song, and I loved Bosnia & Herzegovina and France. Ukraine were worthy winners, Ani is… Read more »
It was the final year of novelty entries being a thing, no doubt due to increasion of the juries’ importance. Latvia, Spain, France, Ireland or Bosnia and Herzegovina from that year were less likely to happen nowadays, not to mention all at the same contest.
Ukraine had a really good party song, so I can get that they’ve won. Same goes for Greece. My pick would’ve been Portugal. I think that Senhora do mar might be their best entry. My second favorite in the final would probably be Albania, even though my overall second favorite, Switzerland, unfortunately didn’t even qualify. Poland should’ve also been much higher, as this is a really quality ballad. Serbia had a very lovely host entry too. As for the actual winner, Russia, it’s good. Not in my top five, but not a completely baffling choice either.
Continued: Latvia is my guilty pleasure. Not an outstanding song by any means, but it’s SO fun. France was quite charming too. None of the songs in the final were terrible, but Spain might be in a ”so bad it’s good” category, not sure. It might just be bad. From NQ’s, Ireland and Czech Republic are also my guilty pleasures. The latter has some of the worst party song lyrics ever, but it only makes it more memorable. The worst one was, of course, the insufferable Estonian Leto Svet. The fact that San Marino placed lower than that is an… Read more »
Both Babi? songs for Portugal were amazing! This was my second favourite of the two and is in my ESC top 50. Beautiful, beautiful song.
I simply love both Senhora do Mar and Vida minha. Vida minha is my 8th of 2012. Along with Telemovies my top 3 Portuguese songs. I had no idea Babic made both of them. A family member actually knows him as says he’s a cool guy.
I thought Eurofans would deliver some justice and not rob countries like Portugal, Albania and Poland a second time, but clearly I thought wrong. At least they chose a deserving winner and bumped Sweden up; Russia had nothing on Ukraine.
Alas, my beloved Portuguese entry wasn’t going to do well last night. It’s not a “banger” and it’s becoming clear the Eurovision Again voters are unable to see past a “banger.”
Of course, people are free to vote how they wish, but it’s becoming predictable.
I think Romania suffered from being first on, and the awful outfit of the male singer, tuxedo on top, jeans on the bottom (even I struggled with that). Also, don’t forget No Angels were huge in Germany circa 2001, and would therefore have a decent fanbase over there.
You might not have heard of them but they won German Popstars about 20 years ago and were very big in the German- speaking countries.