The Kalush Orchestra received 439 out of 480 possible rating points from the 40 participating countries, in the end, the Ukrainian band had 631 points on the account and therefore a big advantage over Ryder (466) and Spain (459). Cornelia Jacobson of Sweden finished fourth with 438 points. For Serbia, singer Konstrakta achieved surprising success with fifth place.
The fact that the Kalush Orchestra managed to perform in Turin is a story with many twists and turns. In fact, singer Alina Pash had won the Ukrainian preliminary. However, she stumbled on the previous year’s trip to the Russian-annexed Crimean peninsula and resigned from her place of departure. On February 22, the band, who originally started their career as a pure rap trio, announced that they would accept the offer and represent Ukraine in Turin instead of the singer. Two days later, Russia attacked Ukraine.
12 Ukraine: Kalush Orchestra, “Stefania”
Political debate before doors
Ukraine had already been traded early as the favourite. The mix of rap and folklore quickly suggested a potential for success. It was clear from the start that Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine would play a role – and points of sympathy were predictable. However, the country can already refer to an unbelievable track record in music contests. It’s the third win in 17 games.
It’s predictable that another rather tedious debate over politics will ensue at the Song Contest. Of course, the question of where the competition will take place next year is also open. Whether the situation in Ukraine will allow it to be held in Kiev, for example, will only become clear in the coming months.
Congratulations from Zelenskyy
After his triumph, Oleh Psiuk, vocalist of the Kalush Orchestra, was confident that the competition would take place in his home country: “I am sure that Ukraine will welcome Europe into a new, united and happy Ukraine next year”. band in Turin “to prove that Ukrainian culture is alive and beautiful”.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi also spoke after the victory. “Our courage impresses the world, our music conquers Europe! Next year Ukraine will host Eurovision!” Zelenskyy said on Telegram.
Photo series with 25 photos
british resurrection
Sam Ryder made his comeback of the year for Britain: they had only made two top five results in the 2000s – and even those were a long time ago. Recently, it got the impression that the British weren’t just caring about Brexit, but about the music contest as well. With a new team, they searched new paths and found the ideal candidate in Ryder, who managed to achieve meteoric rise through his TikTok videos with cover versions. Even though “Spaceman” borrows heavily from Queen, for example, second place – and first in the jury rankings – seems to be just another milestone in the 33-year-old’s promising career.
22 UK: Sam Ryder, “Spaceman”
Spain also ended the series of miseries
After six years of rankings above 20 in a row, Spain wanted to try again. While the concept of a very scantily clad woman lighting Latin dance fireworks surrounded by dance personnel has been used far too often in recent years, musical singer Chanel has brought a sophisticated version of it to the stage. She ended up taking third place.
10 Spain: Chanel, “SloMo”
Sweden was expected to be even further ahead. In recent years it was mostly men who started out with fancy pop numbers but then turned out to be quite mechanical and bloodless. Cornelia Jacobs, on the other hand, made a completely different figure on stage, suddenly she was human. However, little was left to chance: playing barefoot is part of the tradition of many winning songs – and so was the singer. “Hold Me Closer” is a rather light lyrical adaptation of Johnny Logan’s 1987 winning title, “Hold Me Now”. It turned out to be the fourth.
20 Sweden: Cornelia Jakobs, “Hold Me Closer”
Serbia’s surprise
Deep but captivating, Serbia made one of the most interesting contributions, which was rewarded with a surprising fifth place. Trained architect Konstrakta staged the performers’ heavy text on health, illness and social security with a washbasin and towel racks, while the clapping effect in the choir provided the necessary captivation.
24 Serbia: Konstrakta, “In corpore sano”
sixth place hosts
Four emotionally presented ballads were given the potential for the top ten or even higher in advance. Hosts Italy were even trusted to defend the title after all the stars Mahmood and Blanco prevailed at the traditional Sanremo Festival – with “Brividi”, a duet about relationship problems. The text-rich number with the punchy chorus ended up in sixth place.
Totally atypical and not at all Greek, Amanda Georgiadi Tenfjord presented “Die Together”, a ballad with a touch of modernity. The question of whether dying together is a really good solution to a toxic relationship was apparently not considered, especially by the juries, which awarded points to Greece in a row. It was eighth place musically deserved but lyrically questionable.
Portugal well above expectations
Ochman hit a similar note with “River” for Poland. Its dramatic ballad made its way to the opera here and there, reminiscent in places of “Arcadia,” Duncan Laurence’s 2019 winning song, and was bolstered by a thunderous stage show. Ochman finished twelfth, just below expectations.
more on the subject
All grand final videos
Dutch rapper S10, who processed her experiences with depression in “De diepte”, came out much more sober. The appearance, reduced to the essentials, apparently conveyed enough intimacy to elevate the song to number eleven.
Surprisingly, Portuguese singer Maro and her worldwide pain gossip group managed to rack up points for “Saudade, saudade” – especially with the juries, according to which they came in fifth. Finished in ninth place overall.
Good mood from Moldova and Norway
The good songs had a hard time: Moldovan band Zdob si Zdub & Fratii Advahov performed a slightly rocky polka variant with “Trenuletul”. The song about a train trip from Chisinau to Bucharest with the politically explosive question of whether Moldova and Romania are not too similar was a hit with the audience. They finished in second place with 239 points. With very few jury points, that meant seventh place.
The Norwegian duo Subwoolfer was also overlooked by experts. “Give That Wolf a Banana” was a song that can’t be reduced to just a funny, fun number. The “Masked Singer” concept was implemented professionally with irony, but the song would have functioned as a disk sweeper even without it. Tenth place is therefore at the lower end of expectations.
The suitability of the radio doesn’t help much either.
Czech band We are Domi opened the night. With “Lights Off”, one of the most radio-friendly songs in the competition, it only came in 22nd place. Armenian Rosa Linn’s “Snap” also had a captivating quality with perhaps the most elaborate stage performance of the night: she performed her song on a Zimmer completely covered in large white posts – and only found her way onto the open stage at the end. she turned 20
Finland’s Rasmus was the only final act to fly the rock flag. The well-known band, although a little outdated, finished in 21st place with a balloon show, rock poses and their song “Jezebel” “Miss You” by Jeremie Makiese from Belgium evoked many associations. Some felt reminded of a James Bond doorbell, others of Michael Jackson’s “Dirty Diana” and still others of Justin Timberlake. But the song didn’t want to completely ignite – hence the 19th place.
Zero audience for Switzerland
For Swiss Marius Baer, reaching the final was already a success. His Louis Armstrong-style ballad about crashing planes and drying up rivers, “Boys Do Cry,” ended up peaking at number 18 — and was the only song not to receive ratings points. Lithuania also surprisingly qualified with Monika Liu, her song “Sentimentai” earning her a flattering 14th place.
live ticker
The live ticker to read
As expected, country and western songs had nothing to do with the top spots. The Icelandic sisters Systur swayed and grinned with their surprisingly uneventful song at number 23. And Estonian Stefan ended up at number 13 with a “Hope” – and thus surprisingly loud, Western soundtrack.
Azerbaijan and Australia interesting only for juries
Azerbaijan, which used to score well with popular songs from Swedish pop makers, lived up to the song title “Fade to Black” and, thanks to some jury ratings, finished in 16th place: singer Nadir Rustamli fell mostly due to a roar “The Wedda” in her ballad about loss and the influence of weather on it. Permanent guest Australia was overly dramatized. In “Not the Same,” Sheldon Riley, dressed in a glittering burqa and all manner of jewelry and clothing, complained about discrimination and came out. The classic among song contest topics obviously can only be placed very densely – and this was only enough for rank 15 – also with virtually no ratings points.
Another disaster for Germany
Speaking of classics. Surprisingly, there were few song contest clichés in this year’s final. Ethno and folklore were few and far between. For Romania itself, the WSR trained dancer tried to be a lively Latin singer. With the call “Lhamame” he became number 18.
debate
Song Contest: Deserved Victory for Ukraine?
France fell into the existing ethnic gap. The Breton trio of women Ahez and the electro musician Alvan had already been highly valued in advance, but the combination of Breton singing and trance with the crackers of the sound didn’t work out, it was the penultimate.
The song contest was even more fucked up for Germany: Malik Harris finished last with “Rockstars” with no jury points and six ratings points – the music and performance were quite acceptable this time around – especially compared to previous German disasters. Why the catchy tune didn’t catch fire in Turin is quite intriguing.
A statement by the EBU, according to which there were “irregularities” in some of the jury votes in the second semi-final on Thursday, caused an uproar in the evening. However, nothing was known about the details.