And the winner of the 2020 Eurovision Song Contest is...

Well, not going to lie, it has been an emotional roller-coaster of a Eurovision season and not for any of the reasons that we would have thought it was going to be before the word "coronavirus" entered our vocabulary. As I look back now on Eurovision Season 2020, it's clear that reaching the end of a season that had its legs cut off in March was about gaining a sense of closure that we were never going to get upon the cancellation of the contest. That said, I still wanted to know what the result of a 2020 Eurovision would have looked like for myself so I took it upon myself to recreate the rest of the contest from what was left by the Rotterdam organisers. #EurovisionAgain was organised as a means of bringing people together. OGAE proceeded with their poll but with a fan vote twist. Several nations organised their own votes to see who would have won their nation's 12 points (with Spain and Austria including their own songs in that vote). But let's start with what the EBU did to gain their sense of closure.




Now before I get into my thoughts on Shine a Light, let me make some things clear. There is no precedent for dealing with coronavirus. There is no knowing how long this pandemic is going to disrupt our lives as much as it has. There is no guessing how other nations will feel about being part of something that is clearly not Eurovision but was the best they could do under the circumstances.



That said, I can't be the only one who thought that Shine a Light was the biggest mess of a two hour programme that I have ever seen the EBU put its branding on. Don't get me wrong, I thought that broadcasting live from Hilversum with the intended hosts was a nice touch but reflecting on it several days later, I still can't figure out what the overall concept was. The EBU stated that they wanted to honour the 2020 artists and their songs but actually, this took up a tiny proportion of an event that seemed to be dedicated to the past with no spine or coherence as to how it would respect said past. One moment, they are calling Johnny Logan from an empty TV studio in Dublin to sing 'What's Another Year' and before you know it, Netta and Duncan Laurence are performing new singles. This was alongside depressing interviews with stars of Eurovision past who basically all said the same thing about the current crisis. The show also included shots of landmarks in all 41 nations being lit up (except Czech Republic, Finland and Moldova were not a part of that) and ended with all 41 of the 2020 artists singing 'Love Shine a Light' (except it wasn't all 41 because they couldn't encourage Belgium's Hooverphonic to be part of it). And don't get me started on Diodato being in 'Milan' during his segment when the map showed him in Rome and then him in the same location performing 'Fai Rumore' which was supposedly performed in an empty Verona arena.



People have had mixed feelings about the show and I fully respect the opinions of people who enjoyed the show, but make no mistake, that show did not honour the 41 artists and their songs. I completely understand those who say that the tone of the show was correct given the circumstances but in times of a pandemic, surely we want to bring Europe together to share our music. How hard would it have been to ask people in different countries to film themselves singing their nation's song that year and to share that on the night. Sure, the songs would have taken up most of the two hour show but remember that they had a four hour slot to begin with. Whilst I feel sympathy for all of the artists who won't get the chance to return next year, I feel absolutely gutted for The Mamas who managed to fight their way out of the Melodifestivalen final by one point only to not get the chance to perform at Eurovision and to have their song exist only as a footnote in the context of the show and of Eurovision history. I also feel gutted for Jon Ola Sand who will now slip quietly into the background without anywhere near the appreciation he deserves for years of excellent service across many contests and difficult settings to navigate and negotiate. He will be missed by so many people across the world of Eurovision.



With my rant over, I want to get back to what everybody else did and I will start with myself. Using the running order parameters given by the Rotterdam organisers, I put together the running order for the two semi finals which looked like this:

Semi Final One: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWyN8ISpszhASO33TwtUBdkce7wtDSXKY

Semi Final Two: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWyN8ISpszhBaQpBAQNpKTcLF6C7WyslO

In order to attempt to mimic the actual results of Eurovision, I invited my friends and families to participate in the vote rather than open the vote up to the Eurovision fan community. The results of these votes with 12 people having voted in each semi looked like this:

Whilst it is certain that the results are by no means binding, there are some small conclusions that we can draw. Lithuania and Switzerland would not have been as popular with the public as may have initially been considered whilst Denmark, Poland and Ireland punched above their weight in order to achieve their result. After announcing each qualifier, each nation was drawn into their half of the final with the eventual running order looking like this:

 
And in the end, the final result with 24 people having voted looked something like this:

These results show suggest that Iceland would have followed through on their initial dominance but perhaps not by as comprehensive a manner as some were initially predicting. Nonetheless, it does suggest that Iceland would have picked up their first ever Eurovision victory this year. Under this result, Sweden would have had their best result since Mans Zelmerlow's victory in 2015, Denmark would have had their best result since Emmelie De Forest's victory in 2014 and Malta would have returned to the top 10 for the first time since Gianluca Bezzina's 'Tomorrow' in 2013. The Irish would also have achieved their best result at the contest since Jedward's 'Lipstick' in 2011 and San Marino would have achieved their best result ever. By contrast, it would have been more bad news for the UK, Germany and Spain whilst Australia would have had their worst result at the contest to date. Obviously, these will never be the actual results and live performances would have changed the outlook on everything, but they are still interesting results to analyse.



Outside the fandom, the verdict is similar. In analysing who the artists gave their 12 points to of the 29 Eurovisioncalls videos, more than twice the number of artists (7) gave their points to Iceland than any other country (with Sweden, Russia and The Netherlands all receiving the next highest number (3)). Public votes in Sweden, Finland, Australia and Austria gave Iceland the 12 points with Germany giving their points to Lithuania and Iceland giving their points to Italy. Digital Spy (a UK media news website) calculated a close run race between Iceland and Italy based on the number of listens on Spotify each country had racked up. By contrast, the fandom felt differently with the OGAE poll going for Lithuania and Wiwibloggs' writers agreeing (unlike Wiwibloggs' readers who went for Switzerland).



So who won Eurovision 2020? Every piece of reasonable evidence seems to suggest that it would have been Dadi Freyr and although he will be the winner that never was in the eyes of many, the true winners of this year were us, the fans. Whether the fandom poured their love out for the contest by re-watching and voting on previous years' shows, organising their own competition, hosting online zoom discos, making their own CD and DVD covers so as to not leave a gap in their collections, making t-shirts or just saying encouraging words to each other, we got each other through a difficult period in our society using the power of music beyond borders.

After the contest in Tel Aviv last year, I used this blog to ask if loving Eurovision was a losing game? Even though I have since gone back to Tel Aviv only to find that 2019's contest really was as much of a car crash as I remember it being, I will always appreciate the fact that it happened. I used to be scared by the concept of what life would be like without Eurovision in it but now we and everybody else have lived through that and in doing so, I am even more in love with the contest and its passionate fanbase than ever before.



I will end my thoughts on Eurovision Season 2020 by honestly saying that the road to our next Eurovision is far from smooth and that I am not optimistic that we will see Eurovision 2021 in Rotterdam next May. Coronavirus has reared its ugly head and taken away so much of what we love in its wake. Whatever the new world is that we are all headed towards and whatever the format is that allows us to enjoy Eurovision in the future, I am looking forward to it and I am looking forward to sharing it with all of you. Stay safe, be kind and keep smiling.