61st Eurovision Song Contest gets underway tonight, with Russia the favourite

[Blackleaf]

The people of Europe, from Ireland to Russia - as well as the people of Australia - are gearing up for the 61st Eurovision Song Contest tonight.

There are sure to be Eurovision parties across the continent as the cheesy song contest is broadcast live from Stockholm, with Russia the favourite to win this year's competition.

Russia's Sergey Lazarev, a huge pop star in the country, is widely tipped to win with his techno ballad, You Are The Only One.

Australia (who are competing in it for just the second time), France, Sweden and Ukraine are also hotly tipped for success in the competition.

The running order for the contest was unveiled on Friday, with the UK's Joe and Jake performing second last.

The duo, both of whom are former contestants of The Voice UK, were chosen to represent Britain in a public vote in February.

Record seven-time winners Ireland will not be competing at this year's competition. Former Westlife star Nicky Byrne failed to qualify in Thursday's semi-final.

Eurovision 2016: Russia's Sergey Lazarev favourite to win

BBC News
14 May 2016

Russia is the favourite to win this year's Eurovision Song Contest, which takes place later in Stockholm.

Russia's Sergey Lazarev, a huge pop star in the country, is widely tipped to win with his techno ballad, You Are The Only One.

Australia, France, Sweden and Ukraine are also hotly tipped for success in the competition.

The running order for the contest was unveiled on Friday, with the UK's Joe and Jake performing second last.

The duo, both of whom are former contestants of The Voice UK, were chosen to represent Britain in a public vote in February.

Sergey Lazarev, who hails from Sochi, is a well-known singer in Russia

Russia's Sergey Lazarev performs his song You Are The Only One in Semi-Final 1:

Joe and Jake will represent the UK in Saturday night's contest. The boys will be 25th out of the 26 to perform tonight

Listen to UK entrants Joe and Jake perform their song "You're Not Alone":

Joe and Jake qualified for the final automatically as the UK is one of the biggest financial contributors to Eurovision, so the pair did not have to perform at the semi-final.

The contest will be broadcast in the UK at 20:00 BST on BBC One, with commentary from Graham Norton.

Other finalists include Ukraine - whose entrant Jamala is the first ever Crimean Tatar to perform at the contest.

Her politically charged song 1944 is not typical Eurovision fare - its lyrics include references to Stalin, Crimea, and claims of ethnic cleansing.

The song has angered Russia, which annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, as tension between the two countries grew.

Jamala's song was allowed to compete but other entries fell foul of Eurovision's "no politics" rules

Ireland was knocked out of the contest after former Westlife singer Nicky Byrne failed to qualify in Thursday's semi-final.

It has been a bad year for Scandinavian entries.

Denmark and Norway were knocked out in the semi-finals, which were decided based on a combination of public and jury voting. Iceland and Finland also failed to make it through.

However, as reigning winners, Sweden has automatically advanced to the grand final.

The Czech Republic has also made it to the final - the first time it has qualified since the semi-final system was introduced in 2004.

Former Westlife star Nicky Byrne failed to qualify in Thursday's semi-final

Dami Im is representing Australia in this year's contest, performing the song "Sound of Silence"

Listen to Australia's Dami Im performing her song "Sound of Silence":

Australian X Factor winner Dami Im, who was mentored by pop star Dannii Minogue, was voted through to the final with her song Sound Of Silence.

Despite being on the other side of the world from Europe, Australia was invited to join Eurovision for its 60th anniversary in 2015, when contestant Guy Sebastian finished in fifth place.

Russia favourites

A victory for singer Sergey Lazarev would mean Russia would host the contest next year for the second time - the country first won in 2008.

Russia is known for its controversial laws regarding homosexuality, making it an unusual host for an event with a strong LGBT following.

Lazarev told the BBC the LGBT community will be welcomed to his country if he wins the contest.

"Gay life exists in Russia, he said. "There is more talk and rumours about problems than exist. I just want you to come and see everything yourself."


Eurovision 2016: Russia's Sergey Lazarev favourite to win - BBC News

 

[Walter]

Many great songs have come out of that competition over the years.

 

[Blackleaf]

Waterloo!

 

[Curious Cdn]

Nasty, nasty crap. I have to have my ears washed out with Drano after listening to Eurovision Song Contest entrants.

Airstrip One's versificayor really exists and it's grinding out this dreck.

 

[Blackleaf]

Nasty, nasty crap. I have to have my ears washed out with Drano after listening to Eurovision Song Contest entrants.

Airstrip One's versificayor really exists and it's grinding out this dreck.

Still great Saturday night fun, though, for several hours. The Irish comedian Graham Norton, who does the BBC commentary for the show, reads out emails and tweets every so often during the show: "Jill and Bob in Leighton Buzzard are holding a Eurovision party at home with their friends and neighbours;" "Mike in Consett is watching the show dressed as Agnetha from ABBA."

 

[Blackleaf]

Ukraine's Jamala has won this year's Eurovision Song Contest, held in Stockholm, Sweden.

The country scored 534 points with its song 1944, about the deportation of Crimean Tatars under Josef Stalin.

Australia finished second with 511 points, while Russia - which was the favourite going into the competition - was third with 491 points.

Joe and Jake, who represented the UK with their song You're Not Alone, finished in 24th place with 62 points, ahead of only the Czech Republic, who were competing in the Eurovision final for the first time ever, and Germany.

Jamala is the first Crimean Tatar to perform at the contest and her song caused controversy because of alleged political overtones, which aren't supposed to be allowed at Eurovision.

It references the year when Stalin deported almost all of the Tatar ethnic group from its native region of Crimea in what was then the Soviet Union.

A new scoring system was introduced this year, providing separate scores for each country's jury and public votes, rather than combining them as in previous years.

At the half-way point after the juries' votes had been counted, Australia - which had been invited back to perform after last year's 60th anniversary celebrations - topped the scoreboard with 320 points and a firm lead over Ukraine's 211 points.

The new system made matters much more exciting and edge-of-the-seat.

It looked like Australia were going to win for a long time, but Ukraine beat it to the post at the end.

It is Ukraine's second victory in the competition, with its previous one coming in 2004.

Eurovision Song Contest: Ukraine's Jamala wins competition

Sophie van Brugen reports from Stockholm
BBC News
15 May 2016

Ukraine won the contest for the second time, with its only previous win coming in 2004

Listen to Ukraine's winning song, 1944, being performed in the semi-final:

Ukraine's Jamala has won this year's Eurovision Song Contest, held in Stockholm, Sweden.

The country scored 534 points with its song 1944, about the deportation of Crimean Tatars under Josef Stalin.

Australia finished second with 511 points, while Russia - which was the favourite going into the competition - was third with 491 points.

Joe and Jake, who represented the UK with their song You're Not Alone, finished in 24th place with 62 points.

Jamala is the first Crimean Tatar to perform at the contest and her song caused controversy because of alleged political overtones.

It references the year when Stalin deported almost all of the Tatar ethnic group from its native region of Crimea in what was then the Soviet Union.

The song has angered Russia, which annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, as tension between the two countries grew.

How Twitter reacted to Jamala's win

There have been calls in Russia for a review of her victory after a prankster told Russian TV that Jamala had admitted to him her song had a political subtext while he posed as an aide to Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.

A Russian MP, Elena Drapeko, blamed Russia's defeat on what she called an "information war" and "general demonisation" of her country.

But Mr Poroshenko hailed Jamala's victory and said her performance had been "incredible".

The juries from Russia and Ukraine did not award each other any points. However large numbers of the Russian public voted for the Ukrainian song, awarding it 10 points while the Ukrainian public gave Russia's entry the maximum 12 points.

The singer had dedicated the song to her great grandmother who was forced to leave along with a quarter of a million Tatars as a collective punishment for those who had collaborated during the Nazi occupation.

It had been expected to finish in the top three but in a surprise result beat favourites Russia, which annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and had been angered by the song.

Collecting her award, an emotional Jamala thanked Europe for their votes, adding: "I really want peace and love to everyone."

Speaking about her win backstage after, the singer said: "It's amazing. I was sure that if you talk about truth it really can touch people."

Russia's Sergey Lazarev had been the favourite to win, but finished in third place

A new scoring system was introduced this year, providing separate scores for each country's jury and public votes, rather than combining them as in previous years.

At the half-way point after the juries' votes had been counted, Australia - which had been invited back to perform after last year's 60th anniversary celebrations - topped the scoreboard with 320 points and a firm lead over Ukraine's 211 points.

But Dami Im's Sound of Silence failed to strike the same chord with the public and was voted the fourth most popular song overall.

The new scoring system highlighted the disparity between the preferences of the juries and the public.

The final Eurovision scoreboard

It allowed Poland, which was in penultimate place with seven points from the jury, to leap to eighth when the public's 227 points were taken into account.

It also meant the UK, which had been placed 17th after the jury vote with 54 points, was pushed down to 24th out of 26 when the public's mere eight points were added (only Czech Republic got less public votes than the UK).

Despite the low finishing position, the UK still scored more points than it has done since 2011 when Blue competed.

Writing on Twitter, Joe and Jake said: "Regardless of the result, our main aim was to make the UK proud. We hope we did that."

Germany's Jamie-Lee finished in last place - her song Ghost received 11 points.

The UK's Joe and Jake finished 24th out of 26, but were awarded the maximum 12 points from Malta's jury - the first maximum the UK has received since Blue represented it in 2011

Graham Norton, who provided commentary to viewers watching in the UK, paid tribute to his predecessor Sir Terry Wogan during the contest.

He recalled Sir Terry, who died in January, advising him not to drink anything alcoholic until the ninth song had been performed.

"I would urge you at home to raise a cup, a mug, a glass and give thanks to the man who was, and always will be, the voice of Eurovision," he said as the ninth competitor began.

This year's contest took place at the Ericsson Globe arena in Stockholm and was hosted by last year's winner Mans Zelmerlow and Swedish TV personality Mede.

Justin Timberlake performed his new single during the interval of the show, which also included a sketch featuring British actors Sir Ian McKellen and Sir Derek Jacobi as their ITV Vicious characters.


Under the radar: Helen Bushby, BBC entertainment reporter, Stockholm

Ukraine confounded the bookmakers and Eurovision commentators who had been convinced that Russia - or possibly Australia - would win.

Russia's CG effects and the brilliance of Australia's singing weren't enough to defeat jazz artist Jamala.

Russia was the bookmakers' favourite for so long, possibly because it was so similar to last year's Swedish winner. Ukraine appears to have slipped past it under the radar.

Simon Bennett, head of the International OGAE Eurovision fan club, told the BBC that former Soviet countries that would "normally vote for Russia" sent it a message by voting for Ukraine instead.

The Eurovision Song Contest 2016 introduced a new voting system to increase excitement and revamp the way the results are delivered.

Ukraine were the first country to triumph under the change in rules, which saw each nation receiving a score from both the jury and the public vote, which were then combined with a 50/50 split to work out the final score.

Although a full breakdown of jury and public votes is yet to be released and calculated using the old system, some fans have speculated whether it would have meant a different result.

It was close at the top, with Ukraine winning with a combined 534 points, Australia coming in second with 511 and Russia finishing third with 491.

The latter were the televoting favourite as Sergey Lazarev won the public vote - but he lost in the jury vote and could only come in third place.

Meanwhile, Australia had led the way after the jury votes were revealed first under the new system.

Regardless, the history books will show that Ukraine's Jamala won to bring the competition to Eastern Europe next year thanks to a stellar performance performance of her track 1944.

She said: "I know that you sing songs about peace and love but actually, I really want peace and love to everyone. Thank you Europe.”


Eurovision Song Contest: Ukraine's Jamala wins competition - BBC News

 

[Blackleaf]

Of course, to win the Eurovision nowadays you don't have to have the best song, you just need to please its lefty-liberal organisers who rig the voting.

Austria only won it in 2014 because a mustachioed bloke dressed as a woman represented the country.

Ukraine have only won it because, in the eyes of some people, it is an innocent victim of evil, imperialist Russia.

The reality, of course, is that it is the EU's imperialist, expansionist policies which provoked Russia in retaking Crimea, a land which had belonged to Russia until handed to Ukraine in 1954 and whose inhabitants are mostly ethnic Russians who want Crimea within Russia.

I'm not sure I'm comfortable with the fact that a country that incorporates neo-Nazi units into its armed forces - neo-Nazi units that the EU supported to overthrow the elected Ukrainian government - and which openly celebrates murderous SS divisions that ethnically cleansed thousands of Poles and Jews has won Eurovision.

 

[petros]

Mad it was Ukr instead of UK?

Touchy!

You got kicked out of Anatevka.

 

[Blackleaf]

Mad it was Ukr instead of UK?

Yep.

I'm still right, though, about Crimea and that.

Of course, the Bremainiacs like to tell us that we have to stay in the EU because the other Europeans love us so much and we have to stick with our "friends and allies." Of course, that love wasn't shown, yet again, in the dodgy Eurovision voting.

You got kicked out of Anatevya.

Where's Anatevya? Have you just made that up?

 

[petros]

So if a Scot sang about English tyranny in a relative sense to modern times a Scot would have won?

Anatevka? You really don't know?

 

[Blackleaf]

So if a Scot sang about English tyranny in a relative sense to modern times a Scot would have won?

A Scot singing about English "tyranny" just under two years after his countrymen voted to keep clinging onto England's generous purse strings would just have an entire continent laughing and jeering at him.

Anatevka? You really don't know?

Never heard of it.

 

[petros]

So it's okay for Scots to be run by London eh?

F-cking wimps.

 

[Blackleaf]

So it's okay for Scots to be run by London eh?

Well that's what they chose in a democratic referendum in September 2014.

 

[petros]

Not too sharp are they?

 

[Blackleaf]

Not too sharp are they?

They know what's best for them.

 

[petros]

Being minions is best for them?

So be it.

 

[Blackleaf]

Being minions is best for them?

So be it.

The Scots know they can't stand on their own two feet. They've been breastfeeding off England and tied to her apron strings for so long, receiving lavish amounts of English subsidies each year to pay for things like free prescriptions and free university tuition and free care for the elderly and all their other lavish freebies which are denied to the English - university tuition in England costs each student £9,000 - that they just find it so hard to let go. The Scots have acquired a dependency culture, so much so that the Scottish "nationalist" party, SNP - the ones who gave Scots their vote on independence in 2014 - aren't actually true Scottish nationalists. They don't want Scotland to be a free, sovereign, self-governing nation state as they are pro-EU and want an "independent" Scotland outside the UK but within the EU - which isn't true independence. The SNP merely want to swap rule from London for rule from Brussels, and have Brussels throw generous amounts of taxpayers' money at the Scots rather than having London do it.