12 May 2024

Nemo broke the code for Switzerland when he won the 2024 Eurovision Song Contest in Malmö, Sweden. Performing a song aptly titled The Code, it was Switzerland’s first win since Celine Dion won in 1988 and it’s their third win overall. In breaking the code for Switzerland, Nemo also broke the heart of Croatia and Baby Lasagna, who almost brought down the arena with their performance of Rim Tim Tagi Dim to almost give Croatia their first ever Eurovision win. Croatia were the favourite leading into the grand final, and won the public vote while Switzerland won the jury vote. Ultimately, Switzerland’s jury win was just too convincing, as they led Croatia by a whopping 155 points heading into the phase of revealing the public’s votes.

Switzerland scored so well with the jury that their 365 points was, amazingly, 25 more than Sweden and Loreen scored last year in Liverpool. They took 22 sets of 12 points (15 sets for Loreen) with France next on 4 then Portugal on 3. Croatia only earned 2 sets (from Cyprus and Serbia). The contest was essentially over halfway through the jury phase and made it the second year straight that the jury wrecked the chances of the public favourite by voting them absurdly low. Finland had a 190 point deficit to flip around last year, falling 57 points short despite 376 points from the public. Croatia scored an impressive 337 points, which still wasn’t enough to overhaul the 155 point deficit, leaving them 44 points short. Switzerland finished fourth ranked on 226 points with the public, 111 points behind Croatia.

Could it be a case for Croatia to blame the Dutch? On the eve of the grand final, their entrant, Joost Klein, was removed from the grand final following a police report by a female crew member for inappropriate behaviour. Netherlands (2nd) destroyed Switzerland (4th) in the second semi final by 50 points, which is more than the final 44 point margin in the grand final. Israel (1st) in that same semi final don’t add a new variable in the grand final voting pattern, nor does Ukraine from the first semi final because Croatia beat them there and in the grand final. With twice as many countries voting in the grand final, it’s not hard to believe Switzerland would have lost at least 44 points from the public, meaning Croatia would have won Eurovision with Netherlands involved.

Jury/Public Vote Comparison

Jury Vote

01 Switzerland 365
02 France 218
03 Croatia 210
04 Italy 164
05 Ukraine 146
06 Ireland 142
07 Portugal 139
08 Sweden 125
09 Armenia 101
10 Germany 99
11 Luxembourg 83
12 Israel 52

Public Vote (+/- vs Jury)

01 Croatia 337 (+127)
02 Israel 323 (+271)
03 Ukraine 307 (+161)
04 France 227 (+9)
05 Switzerland 226 (-139)
06 Ireland 136 (-6)
07 Italy 104 (+60)
08 Greece 85 (+44)
09 Armenia 82 (-19)
10 Lithuania 58 (-32)
11 Sweden 49 (-76)
12 Cyprus 44 (+10)

Automatically you see the big handicap the top 3 countries suffered as a result of the jury voting, while Switzerland was a mammoth beneficiary, especially that the jury did not spread their votes around. Switzerland was the only country to score over 300 points with the jury while the public awarded three countries more than 300 points. Israel got 15 sets of 12 points from the public, with Croatia next best with 9, then Ukraine with 7.

Review & Score

01 Sweden – Marcus & Martinus – Unforgettable (7)

Filled the stage completely with movement during the finale, especially the rotating numbers on all the screens, to make it a bigger finale than the national final. I guess, as hosts, they’ll be happy enough with 9th place.

02 Ukraine – Alyona Alyona & Jerry Heil – Teresa & Maria (6)

I noticed the fire and ice contrast between the two singers in the presentation. It’s the finale that really completes the performance, and Jerry Heil’s moody singing is as impressive as her super long hair.

03 Germany – Isaak – Always On The Run (5)

Best suited to radio. Fiery start and the voice is immediately nice. The song is pleasant for most of the run run run, before it begins to walk walk walk. Finishing 12th would be pleasing for Germany, even if it’s mostly a result of the 99 points from the jury.

04 Luxembourg – Tali – Fighter (6)

Fought well for 13th place, even if the jury is mostly responsible for that. Reasonably catchy dance song with an ethnic flavour, and I love the giant leopards. Got 12 points from the Israeli jury due to Tali’s heritage of born in Israel and some Hebrew in the song.

05 Netherlands – Joost Klein – Europapa

Withdrawn from the competition following a report to police by a female crew member for inappropriate behaviour.

06 Israel – Eden Golan – Hurricane (8)

Beautiful sultry voice and an evocative performance. Choreography was good too, and Israel had plenty of fans. Dare I say Eden Golan reached even greater heights in the grand final? While there were some boos during the voting process, Eden had the last laugh with a whopping 323 points from the public for the second most overall, and 12 points from 15 countries that included Sweden, Finland, United Kingdom, almost all of western Europe and everything outside of Europe. She also won her semi final. It’s an interesting transition for Israel over the years, considering their win with Dana International in 1998 as the first transgender winner ever, yet the country is heavily maligned in favour of despotic neighbours with poor human rights records, much less offer an inkling of tolerance towards gay and transgender people. It’s a magnificent bizarro world we live in, and the deranged hostility and ugly behaviour no doubt caused sympathy votes for Israel. Despite winning that semi final, producers placed Israel early in the grand final running order, and it’s highly likely the jury were nudged into avoiding a difficult outcome.

07 Lithuania – Silvester Belt – Luktelk (6)

Presented better, and nice to hear Lithuanian at Eurovision. In fact, it was a good year for local languages at Eurovision. Ultimately, Silvester lacked vocal variety and intensity, and the song got a bit repetitive.

08 Spain – Nebulossa – Zorra (7)

If only for a decent chorus it would have done better than 22nd place! Love the infectious vibe, and the Spain seemed to raise the intensity. It just wasn’t enough. I found myself more transfixed on the cute female drummer.

09 Estonia – 5miinust x Puuluup – (nendest) narkootikumidest ei tea me (küll) midagi (6)

Still fun to watch, better than the national final, and we’ll forever appreciate those unique dance moves.

10 Ireland – Bambie Thug – Doomsday Blue (6)

The theatrical performance lost some impact following the semi final, and I never much liked the song. Still entertaining and Ireland would be rapt with 7th place.

11 Latvia – Dons – Hollow (5)

Remains a perplexing finalist, and stands out for being the only basic male act singing alone. A friend had it top 5, so clearly there’s fans. I like the song; it just doesn’t do much more than hang around. It was Latvia’s first grand final appearance in 8 years.

12 Greece – Marina Satti – Zari (5)

Quirky infectious chorus, with plenty happening on stage. I’m starting to get the appeal. Just!

13 United Kingdom – Olly Alexander – Dizzy (7)

Innovative anti-gravity staging, song quite catchy, voice not the strongest. Laughed when they got zero points from the public. Clearly, the UK is a meme at Eurovision: do well or get trashed. No middle ground! Still finished 18th thanks to the 46 points from the jury, so not a complete disaster.

14 Norway – Gåte – Ulveham (6)

So good at start with a haunting sound and harmonies, then lost interest by end. Finished last of those that competed with just 16 points, and just qualified in 10th place in their semi. Send a proper chorus, not just endless wailing, next time.

15 Italy – Angelina Mango – La Noia (7)

Translating to “boredom”, La Noia was a bit boring following a major change in outfits from the semi final performance. The dancers in all black made the performance less busy and the performers not blend into the background, while Angelina with flat hair lost some of her allure. This has always been a tricky song for me. Sometimes really like it, other times it’s average. It does have some infectious qualities, while also being repetitive. Angelina has a nice voice, and she’s intriguing too. It’s really a tough relationship! The song is inspired by the rhythms by cumbia from Latin America. For a song well liked by fans, Italy might be slightly disappointed in 7th place. They’ve only sent four women since their return in 2011, and Angelina now holds the best placing. Nina Zilli was 9th in 2012, Emma was 21st and a disaster in 2014, and Francesca Michielin 16th in 2016.

16 Serbia – Teya Dora – Ramonda (7)

The early verses of this sound like Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. Anyway, the appeal of this song is about Teya’s voice and the staging – stunning.

17 Finland – Windows95man – No Rules! (7)

They finally got all the camera shots perfect! Never saw a glimpse of his crotch. Finland should have sent Sara Siipola anyway.

18 Portugal – Iolanda – Grito (5)

I get the minimalist and artistic appeal, and Iolanda’s voice is nice. It just does not scratch my itch.

19 Armenia – Ladaniva – Jako (6)

So much fun and colour, especially with Jako (the song is about her) always smiling and she’s oh, so cute. Interestingly, Australian viewers rated Armenia the highest at 83% approval during the prime time replay of semi final 2 on Saturday night.

20 Cyprus – Silia Kapsis – Liar (8)

It feels like forever since Cyprus appeared as the very first song in the first semi final. That break gave it some freshness, and I really enjoyed it. Excellent solo dance section. Australia’s Silia Kapsis has done us proud!

21 Switzerland – Nemo – The Code (7)

While a song I never liked a huge lot, and still don’t, I recognise the great voice, the highly artistic presentation, and obviously Nemo is a quality artist. A well deserved winner, especially as Switzerland has sent some excellent entries recently. I just wish he won without such an over zealous jury.

22 Slovenia – Raiven – Veronika (7)

Strong vocals again, and I did not mind the long squealing bits to close the song. 2024 could have seen the strongest group of former Yugoslav countries ever. All in the final, and all performed well. Of course, that they were all in the same semi final probably aided one of them qualifying. Just another example of the EBU clueless about how to set up a semi final draw. Often, they can’t even keep Cyprus and Greece apart in semi finals.

23 Croatia – Baby Lasagna – Rim Tim Tagi Dim (9)

All the hallmarks of a Eurovision winner. Catchy song, great, energetic stage presentation, and big finale. The “whoa” that engages the audience is much like that of WWE wrestler, Cody Rhodes, during his entrance. That sort of crowd involvement really adds to the overall excitement of the performance, and you wonder if Cody Rhodes was the inspiration. It’s such a shame that Croatia could not snag their first win with this classic. Even though the jury was always the concern for Croatia, I began to feel perhaps they won’t crush their chances, especially with so many fun songs this year. Wrong. It begs the question of revising the voting system. I believe in juries, and believe they should get 50% of the say. Perhaps it’s a matter of providing them with extra instructions so they are not so biased against songs like Rim Tim Tagi Dim.

24 Georgia – Nutsa Buzaladze – Firefighter (7)

Again I struggled to engage with it. There’s just so much happening with the song, the stage graphics, and Nutsa’s vocals. The big finale nails it.

25 France – Slimane – Mon amour (9)

Vocally, no peer. Haunting song, and I love the staging of using the camera as directly speaking and interacting with his love, who seems to be abandoning him and he desperately does not want to lose. Superb stuff.

26 Austria – Kaleen – We Will Rave (9)

Spectacular finale to the grand final. Despite the camera glitch with one of the operators on stage during the highly choreographed bridge section, loved this performance of We Will Rave just as much as the semi final. Vocals top notch for this type of song too. That Kaleen finished second last and only accrued 24 points, including 5 from the public, is an outrage.

My Top 10

Croatia 9
Austria 9
France 9
Israel 8
Cyprus 8

Serbia 7
Switzerland 7
Georgia 7
Sweden 7
Italy 7

Quite difficult to pick a top 10. Only two songs scored 8, then I need to dive into the scores of 7. Armenia is the difficult one, as I like it as fun to watch, not so much a great song. I was tempted to give it 7 points and squeeze into the top 10. Then, do I really like it more than Sweden or Italy? No.

The average score for this grand final is 6.7, and while that makes it look quite an impressive one, the one big caveat is that it was devoid of weak songs to drag the score now. The lowest score was 5, which is almost certainly a record. I’ve scored a song zero before. The highest score grand final is 7.3 for Rotterdam 2021, while last year got 6.4 and 2022 got 6.5. Way back to Malmö 2013, the grand final scored 6.7. The semi finals in 2024 scored 6.2 and 6.6. This year always seemed to be an even, not a spectacular year, and these scores validate that.

My Overall Top 10

01 Croatia – Baby Lasagna – Rim Tim Tagi Dim (+4)
02 Austria – Kaleen – We Will Rave (-)
03 France – Slimane – Mon amour (+3)
04 Israel – Eden Golan – Hurricane (-)
05 Moldova – Natalia Barbu – In The Middle (+26)
06 Denmark – Saba – Sand (+4)
07 Netherlands – Joost Klein – Europapa (+5)
08 Cyprus – Silia Kapsis – Liar (+1)
09 Czechia – Aiko – Pedestal (-2)
10 Poland – Luna – The Tower (-7)

Next is Serbia (+14), Malta (+9), Georgia (-5), Switzerland (+2), Belgium (-14), Sweden (-4) and Italy (-3). The +/- represent the changes from my Top 37 before Eurovision. Belgium (Mustii – The Party’s Not Over), my number 1, had a huge drop to 15th following their poor semi final performance. Moldova made the biggest leap of 26 places, from 31st to 5th.

Semi Final 1 Results

01 Croatia – Baby Lasagna – Rim Tim Tagi Dim – 177
02 Ukraine – Alyona Alyona & Jerry Heil – Teresa & Maria – 173
03 Ireland – Bambie Thug – Doomsday Blue – 124
04 Lithuania – Silvester Belt – Luktelk – 119
05 Luxembourg – Tali – Fighter – 117
06 Cyprus – Silia Kapsis – Liar – 67
07 Finland – Windows95man – No Rules! – 59
08 Portugal – Iolanda – Grito – 58 points
09 Slovenia – Raiven – Veronika – 51
10 Serbia – Teya Dora – Ramonda – 47

11 Ineligble Associate Member – 41
12 Poland – Luna – The Tower – 35
13 Moldova – Natalia Barbu – In The Middle – 20
14 Azerbaijan – Fahree feat. Ilkin Dovlatov – Ozunle Apar – 11
15 Iceland – Hera Björk – Scared of Heights – 3

No real issues here, except that Moldova was clearly cheated! For a compressed field, especially at that lower end, 6 points is a comfortable margin for Serbia to be the final qualifier, and were clearly superior to the rest (except Moldova).

Semi Final 2 Results

01 Israel – Eden Golan – Hurricane – 194
02 Netherlands – Joost Klein – Europapa – 182
03 Armenia – Armenia – Ladaniva – Jako – 137
04 Switzerland – Nemo – The Code – 132
05 Greece – Marina Satti – Zari – 86
06 Estonia – 5miinust x Puuluup – (nendest) narkootikumidest ei tea me (küll) midagi – 79
07 Latvia – Dons – Hollow – 72
08 Georgia – Nutsa Buzaladze – Firefighter – 54
09 Austria – Kaleen – We Will Rave – 46
10 Norway – Gåte – Ulveham – 43

11 Czechia – Aiko – Pedestal – 38
12 Denmark – Saba – Sand – 36
13 Belgium – Mustii – Before The Party’s Over – 18
14 San Marino – Megara – 11:11 – 16
15 Albania – Besa – Titan – 14
16 Malta – Sarah Bonnici – Loop – 13

You can see here how the grand final, with Netherlands included, their clear superiority over Switzerland with the public potentially would have reduced Switzerland’s votes beyond the 44 point final margin to prevent them winning. Czechia were the unlucky country here, especially as it was a far superior song to Norway’s in 10th, and if there was enough time before Netherlands were thrown out, they could have been elevated into the grand final anyway. Latvia, again, puzzling, as they qualified easily.

The Betting

Switzerland were big favourites before Eurovision, to be replaced by Croatia before the grand final. Israel rose to second, France rose to fourth, as Switzerland dropped to third. Ukraine always hovered near the top 5 as well. The first semi final, Slovenia and Portugal were missed, albeit, it was a close pack between 9th and 12th, and both still had a 53% chance despite ranked 11th and 12th. It doesn’t take much to cause a shuffle when the field is that compressed. Poland did not impress as expected and so opened the door for others. Latvia was the only miss in semi final 2, with Belgium the failure.

Predictions

I went Croatia, Switzerland and Israel, so very close. I did not deviate from those three from my main preview and the grand final preview.

The European Broadcasting Union

That Martin Österdahl, the executive supervisor of the Eurovision Song Contest, was booed heavily during the broadcast was understandable. While the situation with the Dutch artist was an unfortunate occurrence, the Israel situation should have been settled very early with a clear and precisely detailed statement. Officially, Israel was allowed because ESC “is a non-political music event and a competition between public service broadcasters who are members of the EBU. It is not a contest between governments,” and Israel’s song, Hurricane, “met the necessary criteria for participation in accordance with the rules of the competition”. Regarding the Russian broadcasters, their membership was suspended in 2022 due to “consistent breaches of membership obligations and the violation of public service media values.” As for the respective wars, “Comparisons between wars and conflicts are complex and difficult and, as a non-political media organization, not ours to make.” All too vague, and all too late.

The EBU should have delineated the obvious differences between the respective wars, notably Israel is responding to a horrific terrorist attack and against a regime committed to further such attacks, and to rescue hostages, whereas Russia invaded Ukraine solely for conquest. Emphasise it is the broadcasters that were banned, not countries, and state the specific reasons for that. Make this statement much earlier than 31 January 2024 too.

Finally

Despite the drama surrounding Israel and Netherlands, music ultimately won, and we like that! Sweden produced another quality set of shows, complete with the indomitable Petra Mede and the impeccable Malin Akerman. Adding the grand finalists to perform live in the semi finals worked, and finally that annoying thump thump heartbeat introduction to each song disappeared. I loved the screen graphics of the countries in large letters and how the pieces merged together. The green room hidden beyond the wall was spectacular, especially when it opened like a space ship.

The grand final was over before the 4 hour mark, and it was noticeably a snappier production. It was a pleasure to see Aysel read the votes for Azerbaijan (represented them in 2009) and Birgit Õigemeel (now Sarrap) reading for Estonia. Birgit represented Estonia in 2013, the last time Eurovision was in Malmö, and she was 5 months pregnant at the time. That baby is now a son that will turn 11 years old in October, and she also has a daughter born in 2016. Let’s not forget the excellent interval acts and the postcards. Really well done. It was simply another wonderful Eurovision Song Contest and now we look excitedly to what the Swiss can do. Hej då!

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