In what has become an annual tradition, The Fine Brothers (FBE) YouTube channel has asked American adults to react to the songs of Eurovision 2020.
Since this year’s contest was cancelled, the reactors couldn’t predict the results as they usually do. So, instead of a prediction, the self-isolating React cast made up their own result.
Americans react to Eurovision 2020
The popular YouTube channel which boasts over 20 million subscribers had its reactors watch the entries for Germany, Iceland, Lithuania, Norway, Russia, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom. These choices were based on Spotify streaming figures.
The four remote reactors – Mikaela Pascal, Rebecca No, Will Simmons and Sheila Curiel (who also reacted to Eurovision 2019) – then ranked the songs.
FBE Eurovision 2020 reaction
Lithuania: The Roop “On Fire”
All reactions to the song were positive, although Will criticised the music video.
Russia: Little Big “Uno”
Little Big left everyone shocked but in a good way. Sheila liked it but felt that the weird dance moves were distracting. Mikaela concluded that “they already won, you don’t need to show me the rest”.
Norway: Ulrikke “Attention”
Everyone praised Ulrikke’s vocal delivery, which left Rebecca to wonder: “How is her voice so gentle yet so powerful?”. She also praised the string instruments.
Spain: Blas Cantó “Universo”
Spain’s Blas Cantó and “Universo” received lukewarm responses from the reactors. Will said he wasn’t liking it, and Mikaela said she did but that it was still at the bottom of her list.
Germany: Ben Dolic “Violent Thing”
The reactors felt the beat and liked the EDM-inspired sound. “I haven’t been out in, like, three months. This is putting me […] in the club”, Sheila said. It pretty much sums it up.
Iceland: Daði og Gagnamagnið “Think About Things”
Most of the reactions, initially, were about the video: “Yes, wind!”, “so weird”, “that look is creepy and cool”. However, once they paid attention to the music and thought about things, it was love.
United Kingdom: James Newman “My Last Breath”
Mikaela liked James Newman’s voice but not the song. Others connected with it more.
Sweden: The Mamas “Move”
Will picking it as his instant favourite. “There’s a difference between singing and singing with soul”.
FBE Eurovision 2020 rankings
After combining their votes, FBE’s 2020 winner was in.
All four participants revealed their top three.
Mikaela’s ranking:
1) N/A (likely Russia)
2) Iceland
3) Germany
Rebecca’s ranking:
1) Norway
2) Sweden
3) Iceland
Sheila’s ranking:
1) N/A (likely Sweden)
2) Germany
3) Spain
Will’s ranking:
1) Sweden
2) Germany
3) Iceland
Full combined results
The reactor rankings were combined with members of the FBE “team super”.
- Sweden
- Iceland
- Germany
According to the video, these “could have been” the results of Eurovision 2020. Of course, we’ll never know who would have won Eurovision this year, but it’s fun to fantasise.
Do you agree with the Fine Bros’ results? Could these have been the results of Eurovision 2020? Let us know in the comments below!
I actually agree with their top 3 (except Germany) and Sweden was one of my faves. Just wish they could’ve seen Italy, Bulgaria, Malta and more. I don’t wanna sound ungrateful cuz I didn’t even think they’d do it this year but just having 8 songs out of 40+ is not really fair. I get they can’t listen to the whole songs as that would take too much time but at least they could listen to half of them or even a bit from all of them. And if you think I’m bitter because my country isn’t there then just… Read more »
I actually agree with their top 3 (except Germany) and Sweden was one of my faves. Just wish they could’ve seen Italy, Bulgaria, Malta and more. I don’t wanna sound ungrateful cuz I didn’t even think they’d do it this year but just having 8 songs out of 40+ is not really fair. I get they can’t listen to the whole songs as that would take too much time but at least they could listen to half of them or even a bit from all of them. And if you think I’m bitter because my country isn’t there then just… Read more »
I feel like it’s not being honest with the rest of the acts. You should make a compilation of the songs so each gets their chance. Moat streamed is bias and we all know Sweden ia good but not a winner in any way.
The average FBE reaction video lasts 10 minutes on average. They can only cram in so much within a small timeframe.
Why is it that every time I watch these sort of videos a tiny bit of me dies inside?
I love FBE, I’m so happy they didn’t skip this year
I thought we wouldn’t get it this year, I saw it yesterday.
Why did they show countries like Spain or UK and not Switzerland, Bulgaria or Malta ? I donn’t know why but I was happy to see Germany, though.
Because they chose the songs with the most spotify streams, which gave an advantage to countries with a large population. I think it would have been better to present the leading songs according to the bookies odds.
Also Spotify is not used in all countries of Eurovision, so their picking criteria just has zero sense
Odds are overrated. Why would we give them any weight at all?
Reacting to the compilation video would’ve been quicker than reacting to the most streamed songs.
Choosing Spotify streams as a method of selecting the songs which they presented is really unfair. Some countries don’t even have Spotify.
It’s only a silly YouTube video.
Italy leads the Spotify streams list, so I believe they had a more complicated process than that.
It wasn’t just streaming though. it was from ta FBE fan group that picked the entries.
I don’t know about anyone else but whenever I see an “American reacts to…” video on Youtube, I immediately hit the “Not interested” button. If you’re an American into Eurovision, then cool…but just because you’re an American, doesn’t mean I should automatically be interested in your opinion about anything, really.
I think the “American reacts to…” is supposed to signal their ignorance of the contest. Like a first reaction kinda thing. Not necessarily that they’re more important.
Remember it’s not a duty to watch these videos but an option. I’d also love to see a ‘Chinese react to Eurovision’ video as long as it’s subtitled. Unfortunately those American videos seem to be the only ones around.
But what you wrote sounds like you’re not bothering only because they’re American, which would be shamefully narrow-minded.
There re quite a number of non-American foreign reaction videos to ESC I’ve seen scattered around, the search algorithm tends to feature the ones showing Americans, many being vocal coaches, more.
Oh, okay … I’ve only ever stumbled upon those American ones. My bad, then. Sorry.
A lot of the American reaction videos popping up on Youtube in recent months have been from a guy originally was from Romania but is married to a US soldier stationed in Japan so he’s been exposing his American colleagues to the wonders that’s Eurovision. It’s quite fascinating especially when you have someone who knows ESC as the one educating them about it. 😀
Well you don’t have to watch it, it¨s options. It’s just that that non-American foreign reaction videos are rare and scattered about. The only ones I know who aren’t American and who are frequent are the South Africans hanco& Kaytie who I never know if they are married, siblings, couple or friends. I I don’t mind reactions,any. Always fun to see what non-Europeans think:)
Ok but why not top 10 streamed and then let them rank like last year?
Like I said, streamed. And then rank personal list..
Sorry this is not fair…. Choosing based on spotif…. Where is my country? It is a better from those that you choose in the video….
Well … better according to what? Your Personal opinion?
They had to limit the number of videos shown in some way. And Spotify at least gives away some hints about popularity, though that doesn’t necessarily equal quality.
For now, let’s just be happy they didn’t introduce the people to this year’s worst entries and rather went for a quite well-meaning approach to Eurovision instead.
i wait every year for this and was kinda disappointed… they picked the uk and spain over italy, bulgaria, malta, azerbaijan, or switzerland for no reason. surprise surprise that those were the ones that almost no one in the video liked
The FBE Super Fam (FBE’s exclusive fan patrons) voted for their top eight out of the most streamed entries on Spotify so there were some there were bound to not make the cut, unfortunately.
They have probably never heard of Malta for one. Interesting if “Georgia” had been included!
I would’ve loved to see a reaction to Cleopatra or All of my love
I was wondering how they would do this this year and which countries they would show. They probably should have went with the odds rather than the Spotify play count or whatever. Not many people are going to listen to Gjon’s tears’s masterpiece on Spotify but they might listen to the UK. Eurovision just doesn’t work like that because it is not about how contemporary a song is that will make it do well. They should have included Switzerland, Bulgaria, Romania and azerbaijan. (also why did they only show 8)
Been waiting ages for this!!!