Eurovision Song Contest 2014 Analysis

Here are all the 26 finalists, in alphabetical order (not order of performance):
Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Malta, Montenegro, The Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Russia, San Marino, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, United Kingdom.

Now for the 11 countries who failed to reach the final, but which will still vote tomorrow night:
Albania, Belgium, Estonia, F.Y.R. Macedonia, Georgia, Ireland, Israel, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Portugal.

Now let's look at some country groups:

Baltic States (Ex USSR)

OUT: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania.

How unusual to see all three Baltic countries (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania) fail to qualify. Normally at least one of them reaches the final. To be honest, I'm glad all three were eliminated. Tuesday evening neither Estonia nor Latvia impressed me much with their live performances, and both ended up on my "Prefer not to qualify" list. By the time Tuesday's results were announced, I felt glad Estonia and Latvia were both out. Last night I thought Lithuania was one of the worst songs of all in the second semi-final, which is why it ended up on my "Definitely don't want to qualify" list. Thank heavens Lithuania failed to qualify; their entry was a load of nauseating trash which would have been a disgrace to the final. Of course these countries still have to vote tomorrow night, so they won't be able to exchange their high points with each other. Most likely they'll give high points to Finland, or to the ex-USSR countries that are in the final.

Benelux

IN: The Netherlands. OUT: Belgium. (Luxembourg didn't enter yet again).

Congratulations to the Netherlands on reaching the final for the second year running, after their eight year run of failing to qualify 2005 to 2012 inclusive. Their country song "Calm After The Storm" by The Common Linnets was one of the best songs Tuesday evening, which ended up on my "Definitely want to qualify" list that night. I was so glad they were confirmed as a finalist Tuesday evening. I'm ever so disappointed that Belgium failed to qualify; Axel's ballad "Mother" was another excellent song which too was on my "Definitely want to qualify" list Tuesday evening. I'd much rather have seen Belgium instead of Azerbaijan or Armenia (whose entries I disliked very much). So that means the Netherlands will almost certainly get 12 points from Belgium again, but unlike last year, the Netherlands won't be able to give 12 points to Belgium. Who then will the Netherlands give their 12 points to now? Time will tell.

Nordic area

IN: Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden.

Once again there is a full representation of the Nordic area in the Grand Final. Denmark as last year's winners and thus this year's hosts automatically qualified for the final. I'm glad Sweden are through as Sanna Nielsen's "Undo" is an excellent ballad worthy of a place in the final. Also I'm pleased to see Iceland through as Pollapönk's "No Prejudice" has a really catchy chorus with a good beat, including a reference to trigonometry. Sweden and Iceland were both on my "Definitely want to qualify" list Tuesday evening. Last night I was glad to see Norway qualify as Carl Espen's "Silent Storm" is an excellent gentle ballad, which definitely deserves its place in the final. Norway was on my "Definitely want to qualify" list last night. As for Finland, although I was less keen on their entry, it was one of five songs on my "Wouldn't mind qualifying" list. Although I don't mind Finland's entry in the final, I wasn't overly keen to see it and wouldn't have missed it if it hadn't qualified. No doubt these five countries will award each other plenty of points tomorrow night.

Greece and Cyprus

IN: Greece. (Cyprus didn't enter in 2014).

What a year it's been for these countries! Cyprus chose go give Eurovision a miss for 2014, and Greece took until late in the day to confirm entry. After Greece finally decided to enter, the best they could come up with in terms of a song was "Rise Up" by Freaky Fortune feat. RiskyKidd; a song which I found only marginally better than Greece's dreadful "Alcohol Is Free" last year. Put it this way, "Rise Up" was one of my least liked entries, and thus on my "Prefer not to qualify" list last night. I was annoyed Greece reached the final; Israel or Ireland which I felt had much better songs deserved the place Greece took. So against my wishes, Greece is in tomorrow's final. Who will vote for them now? They certainly won't have their guaranteed 12 points from Cyprus, because Cyprus didn't enter this year, and for that same reason, Greece won't be able to give 12 points to Cyprus. So who will Greece now give their 12 points to? Greece would have still had to vote, and decide which participating finalist (which obviously can't be Cyprus) even if they had failed to qualify last night.

Former Yugoslavia

IN: Montenegro, Slovenia. OUT: F.Y.R. Macedonia. (Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia and Serbia didn't enter in 2014).

Isn't it ironic that, with the official slogan being "Join Us", it's been more like "stay away" in the former Yugoslavia, with only three of the six former Yugoslav countries (i.e. F.Y.R. Macedonia, Montenegro, Slovenia) entering in 2014. Of the three that entered, only two qualified. Well at least that's an improvement on last year, when no ex-Yugoslav country reached the final. Congratulations to Montenegro in qualifying for the first time since their debut entry in 2007. After their atrocious garbage last year, Sergej's ballad "Moj Svijet" really deserved a place in the final this year. I'm also glad Slovenia are in the final, as their entry was one of the better songs last night, which thus went on my "Definitely want to qualify" list. As for F.Y.R. Macedonia, their live performance last night "To the Sky" (enhanced by the dancer in white) was alright, but it ended up just being one of my "Wouldn't mind qualifying" songs. In other words, I'm not disappointed that it failed to qualify. No doubt Montenegro and Slovenia will give each other high points, and get high points from Albania and F.Y.R Macedonia, but who else will vote for them? Absent Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia and Serbia won't be able to give them anything.

Italy and San Marino

IN: Italy, San Marino.

Congratulations to San Marino in reaching the final for the first time since their debut entry in 2008. It's also Valentina Monetta's third year running of representing San Marino, so it's third time lucky for Valentina. Her ballad "Maybe (Forse)" definitely deserves its place in the final, as it was one of the best songs in the first semi-final Tuesday evening. Of course Italy automatically reached the final as a Big Five country. So that will create interesting voting between these two countries tomorrow night. Being as San Marino appears as a small dot (as a separate country in its own right) on a map of Italy, will Italy and San Marino favour each other and award each other 12 points? We've never seen Italy and San Marino perform together on a Saturday night before, so this will be another pair to watch out for.

Founding Seven

By this I mean the seven countries which appeared in the very first Eurovision Song Contest in Lugano in 1956:

IN: France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Switzerland. OUT: Belgium. (Luxembourg didn't enter yet again).

As I've already said, I was glad to see the Netherlands qualify, but disappointed to see Belgium fail to qualify. Both the Netherlands and Belgium should have been in the final as both had good songs this year. Last night Switzerland's entry wasn't bad, but I didn't think it was as good as their 2013 entry. I didn't mind Switzerland qualifying, but I wouldn't have missed it had it not gone through. France, Germany and Italy, as Big 5 contenders, got there automatically.

And Finally

Tomorrow evening's Grand Final certainly looks set to be a spectacular one, and I'm really looking forward to it. Most of the countries I wanted to qualify are in, and most of the ones I didn't want have been eliminated. I still think Belgium and Portugal should have had the places taken by Azerbaijan and Armenia Tuesday evening; and that Israel and Ireland should have had the places taken by Poland and Greece last night. I now hope that Azerbaijan, Armenia, Poland and Greece all finish in the bottom four tomorrow night.