The Internationalist Eurovision Blog

The sun has finally come up on Monday morning and I for one am still in shock. We all expected a shock result and in a year when there was no clear front-runner, perhaps we could say that the song that was a front-runner for so much of the contest winning is a shock shock result. I am in a state of mourning for Cyprus who came so close to pulling off what would have been the greatest Eurovision promotions story of all time and let's not forget, still managed to be the best Cypriot result of all time! I am disappointed about how low so many of my favourite entries placed this year, particularly the United Kingdom who didn't deserve to come 24th. I am shocked by Austria and Germany who I'm sorry to say, shouldn't have come as high as they did. I am not sure what the juries were looking at when they placed this song highest. Maybe something sensational happened in the Jury performance but I can't see how it would have been enough to win. This isn't even mentioning ...

We have SO many reflections on this year which I am looking forward to sinking my teeth into on the other side of Saturday night. For now, I'll just say that the betting odds have been moving around like a group of five year olds playing musical chairs whilst high on orange juice. As part of that, when I wrote the initial 'Who Needs the Win the Most?' article (http://internationalisteurovisionblog.blogspot.co.uk/2018/03/eurovision-season-2018-who-needs-win.html) the top five favourites to win. In order to recognise the fact that these favourites have changed, we're going to take a look at the top five countries who are favourite to win (not including any countries mentioned in the other article). Norway We wake up on Sunday and realise that once again Alexander Rybak has won Eurovision and suddenly, it's like it's 2009 all over again. Having done some research on Norway's second city (Bergen and yes, I do know how sad my internet search history is beginn...

Right guys. We're nearly there! We are currently three days away from the first Semi Final and all the fun that is set to unfold as the Eurovision Song Contest finally enters into view! The blog has just the business to do of rounding up the staging on the big 6 and then we'll discuss any other notes from the second rehearsals of the semi-finalists. Portugal This falls directly into the category of does what it says on the tin. There hasn't been much change on this from the Portuguese final but it honestly didn't need it. It's safe to say we won't be back in Portugal next year and if the vocals aren't perfect, this is in danger of finishing last, but this is a perfectly sweet and lovely Portuguese home entry for what is set to be a perfectly sweet and lovely Portuguese debut Eurovision hosting. United Kingdom I can't believe my eyes but it actually seems like the BBC might have nailed the staging and the camera angles on this one. Again, people a...

Europe's living a celebration! Oh the joy of the biggest TV show in the world being up and running and in full beautiful swing! Not going to lie, I am on a European cloud of happiness at the time of writing. With a true bloodbath of a first semi lined up, it's time to see what the second semi has in store, a semi that includes some of the Eurovision big guns! Norway And Thursday's show will kick off with arguably the biggest gun of them all! There are few winners in the modern era that match the legendary status of Alexander Rybak and he's walked gingerly through the contest like the king he knows he is. The song is mediocre, the staging is cheap but Alexander is such a talented performer that it doesn't matter. I would be incredibly frustrated if Norway won with this, but the fact that it has risen to second in the betting odds demonstrates that Rybak, love this song or hate it, commands respect for the way he plays the Eurovision game. Romania So from what...

I have been chomping at the bit to be able to write this blog post but finally at around 6 pm today British time, I got enough information on the goings on in Lisbon to open my computer and start typing! I will be going through my thoughts on each act before presenting an updated list of the qualifiers. Azerbaijan I remember the days when Azerbaijani entries used to compete for the win. This staging demonstrates to me that the delegation have gotten bored and have started trying to resort to the generic staging. What is going on with those six weird pyramids? What does any of it have to do with crossing your heart? I would be surprised if this didn't qualify but this will do close to nothing on the Saturday night and could compete with their worst placing of 22nd in 2014! Iceland I feel really bad about the general state of affairs here. Iceland are one of my favourite countries at Eurovision and Ari seems like a nice enough bloke but I hope he seizes his moment on Tuesday...