[OFF TOPIC] Eurovision Song Contest 2023

[Cinnamon Bun 905]

For me it should've been  and  instead of  and . Although after crowd reaction I knew  were going through and  always go through when they sing in their own language.  

[Makedonas 2,200]

Our third time ever not qualifying 

 

When will ERT learn that we need to have a national final? This "internal selection" method is so risky. The first time we did this was 2016 and surprise surprise, that was the first year we didn't qualify for the final. Then in 2017, we had a national final and qualified for the final. Then in 2018, we once again did internal selection and did not qualify (though at least that year we had a good song and the singer was somewhat known within Greece). Since then we have always done internal selection and did okay, but now in 2023 once again we did not qualify...

 

It would also be nice to finally send someone who is actually famous in our country, or at least someone who is actually known in our country. The last few years I don't even know where they find these people when we have so many other options. In the past we used to always send big names and place top 10. I understand this may not be possible but I'm sure there are some washed up Greek artists or one hit wonders who would love to go to Eurovision.

 

I don't mean to be disrespectful to Victor, and I actually liked the song more than last year's entry (which actually finished 8th in the grand final so clearly my personal tastes are not always in our best interests ), but it's really crazy how year after year ERT go against the public's wishes and sent unknown artists to Eurovision and don't even give the viewers a say.

 

But at least in 2021 and 2022 we qualified to the final and placed in the top 10 both years, now in 2023 we didn't even make the final 

[Makedonas 2,200]

  On 5/11/2023 at 7:44 PM, heywoodu said:

The Greek song was only partially in English, right?  

 

It was a fun party song, but I don't think it will qualify. At least he hit a few of the tones/notes  

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I couldn't even understand what he was saying half the time, and I'm talking about the studio version here. I can't imagine how much more inarticulate he was live...

 

  On 5/11/2023 at 7:45 PM, Olympian1010 said:

Honestly, pretty impressive to pull off a performance like that 16 years old. Not sure he qualifies, but he gave it a good go 

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I'm not sure why it was such a rush to send him when he is only 16 and has no experience. We are not San Marino or something to not have other singers. Also I don't know if it is good for someone so young to deal with the criticisms from the public. At least in 2016 the unknown/random group we sent that failed were much older and able to handle criticisms. I feel like this 16 year old kid here was set up for failure and I don't think it's good for his mental health, even when the song came out I saw people writing rude comments to him on his Instagram page.

 

He must be well connected though because no one in Greece heard of him until he was 'selected' 

[Makedonas 2,200]

Also I want to ask the people from other countries, how famous are these artists in your countries?

 

For Greece in the 2000s, we almost always sent extremely famous people (Helena Paparizou, Anna Vissi, Sakis Rouvas, Kalomira etc.).

 

In the 2010s, Demy was the only big star but also somewhat Eleftheria Eleftheriou. Then some others were known but not necessarily big stars (Yianna Terzi, Loukas Yiorkas ft. Stereo Mike, Giorgos Alkaios, and Maria-Elena Kyriakou who won the Voice the previous season).

 

I would say the ones who were completely unknown in Greece the last 20 years were Argo (2016), Katerine Duska (2019), Stefania (2020+21), Amanda Tenfjord (2022), and now Victor Vernicos (2023). 

 

So if you notice, we transitioned from always sending big stars in the 2000s, to sending some household names and less famous/but still known people in the 2010s, and now we keep sending complete nobodies.

 

Ironically Cyprus used to send the randoms and the B-list Greek singers, and in recent years they have sent some big stars like Eleni Foureira and Tamta, but this year they also sent someone who is unknown in our music industry.

[vinipereira 3,421]

  On 5/11/2023 at 9:18 PM, Vektor said:

That was one of the worst ESC semis ever. I wouldn't be surprised if none of the 10 qualifiers will be in the Top10 on Saturday. Only  seems like a potential Top10 contender. 

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Oh, I thought I was the only one seriously underwhelmed by the songs this year (first semi was better, but nothing truly memorable).

[heywoodu 15,355]

  On 5/12/2023 at 12:33 AM, Makedonas said:

Also I want to ask the people from other countries, how famous are these artists in your countries?

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I had never in my life heard of the Dutch duo of this year, whose names I actually will have to Google if I want to incorporate them into this answer  I feel like the girl is....Mia? Nia? No idea about the guy.

 

In 2018 we had Waylon and in 2015 Trijntje Oosterhuis. Can't say they're superstars, but at least they were pretty well known (especially Waylon)  Anouk in 2013 was the only time I remember we really had a big name with a well-known career participating.

 

Edit: of course there was 2014 with The Common Linnets, who were not at all a known duo, but individually Waylon and especially Ilse DeLange were definitely well known.

Edited May 12, 2023 by heywoodu

[Bearas 542]

  On 5/12/2023 at 12:33 AM, Makedonas said:

Also I want to ask the people from other countries, how famous are these artists in your countries?

 

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Well,  had public selection format with the voting and that good stuff since 1999, only exception was our debut in 1994. So we had famous singers competing with nobodys/never heard artists. It's sorta become a running joke as bands and new artists looking for fame competed in national preselection every year for publicity. National system would have people voting for top3 and jury selecting the winner. 

 

Quickly looking into history, only 7 out of 19 entries between 1999 and 2019 was by artists who were previously known in the country before competing in Eurovision. National selection would be open to absolutely anyone and sometimes run for 16 weeks!

 

Then in 2019  failed to qualify for the final by 1 point (although later on it was announced that had an error calculating their votes and actually  should have been in the final, hence our national broadcaster got some refund cash from EBU...) and we were represented by some random engineer that year that was heavily promoted by our jury in national final. After that our national national selection got revamped and renamed to ''Lets try again...'' where they would preselect 16-30 songs from all submissions and have it done in 3-5 weeks with equal 50%/50% split between jury and televotes. Since the change we qualified for the final every time

[AsensioWillemsen 158]

  On 5/11/2023 at 9:18 PM, Vektor said:

That was one of the worst ESC semis ever. I wouldn't be surprised if none of the 10 qualifiers will be in the Top10 on Saturday. Only  seems like a potential Top10 contender. 

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Estonia might be up there if jury likes it. Just scrambled through probably on televoting though, so will not score much there.

[AsensioWillemsen 158]

  On 5/12/2023 at 5:17 AM, heywoodu said:

I had never in my life heard of the Dutch duo of this year, whose names I actually will have to Google if I want to incorporate them into this answer  I feel like the girl is....Mia? Nia? No idea about the guy.

 

In 2018 we had Waylon and in 2015 Trijntje Oosterhuis. Can't say they're superstars, but at least they were pretty well known (especially Waylon)  Anouk in 2013 was the only time I remember we really had a big name with a well-known career participating.

 

Edit: of course there was 2014 with The Common Linnets, who were not at all a known duo, but individually Waylon and especially Ilse DeLange were definitely well known.

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Anouk and IlseDeLange have been the biggest names we have sent in 'recent' years. Trijntje Oosterhuis also had some hits in the 90s/early 00s, although her biggest hits have been mostly with others (Lionel Richie). Her song for the Johan Cruyff ArenA opening was a pretty popular song. Waylon had some moderate hits and was obviously known for his 2014 contribution.

 

Then, Douwe Bob/Jeangu Macrooy/S10 had some radio airplay on the national radio 2/3, but only a single top 40 hit song for Douwe and S10 (none for Jeangu) and they both were collaborations. They weren't exactly newcomers like Duncan/Dion/Mia, but they had little commercial success.

 

The years before Anouk, which really was the Dutch ESC Dark Age, had only two artists with serious commercial success apart from Edsilias return (really since 1998): De Toppers and 3Js. But well, they have commercial success in a niche that.. many would not qualify as very fruitful music. Before Anouk participated, 'serious' artists in The Netherlands had their doubts about participation in ESC. Nowadays, at least that doubt is lifted. However, I still don't see our commercially more attractive musicians contribute (in case of DJs) or sing (in case of the likes of Floor Jansen or Sharon den Adel).

[heywoodu 15,355]

  On 5/12/2023 at 8:43 AM, AsensioWillemsen said:

Anouk and IlseDeLange have been the biggest names we have sent in 'recent' years. Trijntje Oosterhuis also had some hits in the 90s/early 00s, although her biggest hits have been mostly with others (Lionel Richie). Her song for the Johan Cruyff ArenA opening was a pretty popular song. Waylon had some moderate hits and was obviously known for his 2014 contribution.

 

Then, Douwe Bob/Jeangu Macrooy/S10 had some radio airplay on the national radio 2/3, but only a single top 40 hit song for Douwe and S10 (none for Jeangu) and they both were collaborations. They weren't exactly newcomers like Duncan/Dion/Mia, but they had little commercial success.

 

The years before Anouk, which really was the Dutch ESC Dark Age, had only two artists with serious commercial success apart from Edsilias return (really since 1998): De Toppers and 3Js. But well, they have commercial success in a niche that.. many would not qualify as very fruitful music. Before Anouk participated, 'serious' artists in The Netherlands had their doubts about participation in ESC. Nowadays, at least that doubt is lifted. However, I still don't see our commercially more attractive musicians contribute (in case of DJs) or sing (in case of the likes of Floor Jansen or Sharon den Adel).

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To be fair, Duncan showed that even a relatively unknown artist can have a fantastic performance, so I'm fine with not sending big stars for the sake of it. It is good to see recent years though, Anouk really did sort of turn the tides with her participation.