Intro Post
< 2015 Semifinals | 2015 Final | 2016 Semifinals >
Sorry this post took so long! My work schedule got abruptly changed and that threw me off for a good few days as I had to reshuffle my daily schedule. But boy is it worth finishing this post. Even if this isn't the most exciting year, I think you guys will enjoy it!
Introduction
Vienna, Austria had the honor of hosting the largest Eurovision final in history, with a whopping 27 countries—just one less than the 2007 semifinal. The final featured the ten qualifiers from the respective semifinals, the usual Big Five and host, and as a 60th anniversary guest, Australia automatically qualified. Australian fans had the special right to vote in both semifinals this year, just as rest of the world voters have since 2023. Australia's presence in Eurovision is really funny because fans at first thought it was stupid that the EBU let Australia keep participating, but now they happily welcome the land down under.
Aside from the usual France, Spain, Italy, and Portugal, only three countries didn't sing in English: Finland, Montenegro, and Romania. Finland didn't qualify, which means that Montenegro had the only song in the final not in English or a Romance language. I won't like this lack of linguistic diversity the next few years, but the good news is, 2018 onwards will be refreshing.
The top three this year were reliable power players: Italy third with a characteristic Italian tune, Russia second with a controversial peace anthem, and at the top came Sweden with a name that some Eurovision fans are tired of seeing all the time: Måns Zelmerlöw. The bottom four were all automatic qualifiers: the UK, France, and sharing zero points, Austria and Germany. Knowing these results, I'm surprised the EBU didn't let the Big Five perform in the semifinals sooner; we saw in 2024 that it benefits them so much. As usual, we'll see for ourselves whether these poor results are deserved.
I feel like ORF (the host broadcaster) decided to include every single idea of theirs in the opening act this year, which is why it takes a whopping 20 minutes till the first song begins. That is way too long in my opinion. I watched the grand final with British commentary, together with my friend Liv.
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