Eurovision Song Contest 2021 Grand Final

Host country: Netherlands (AVROTROS, NOS, NPO)
Venue: Ahoy, Rotterdam, Netherlands
Hosts: Edsilia Rombley, Chantal Janzen, Jan Smit, Nikkie de Jager
Date: Saturday 22 May 2021

N.B. Any use of “tonight” or “this evening” throughout this post means Saturday 22 May 2021. Any use of “Tuesday” means Tuesday 18 May 2021, whereas any reference to “Thursday” means Thursday 20 May 2021. Any use of “this year” means 2021, whereas “next year” means 2022. All times in this post are in BST.

To make this report easier to read, I've split it into sections. Click the applicable link below to jump to the section you want to read:
The Opening
The Songs
Televoting and Interval Act
Jury Results
Televoting Results
Jury and Televoting Comparison
Reprise
And Finally

The Opening

After the usual Eurovision ident accompanied by Charpentier's Te Deum prelude, the Grand Final began with a short opening film. This led seamlessly into the opening song "Venus" remixed by DJ Pieter Gabriel. Just after the start of the song, a voice-over announced the start of the welcome announcement. This was followed by the flag parade. 25 of the 26 artists walked on stage, one by one, in the order they were to perform. The artists didn't actually carry flags. Instead, the flags appeared on screens either side of stage entrance; in addition, the country name appeared int multiple positions. When it was Iceland’s turn to enter the stage, an image of Daði og Gagnamagnið in their room appeared on a screen high above the stage. There were two breaks in the procession. Firstly, between the appearance of the artists from Greece and Switzerland, the hosts could be seen singing part of “Venus” with Eurovision dancers. Secondly, between the appearance of the artists from France and Azerbaijan, Nikkie de Jager said “Let’s open up” and there were fireworks on stage. After the parade ended, the hosts Edsilia Rombley, Chantal Janzen, Jan Smit and Nikkie de Jager entered the stage to give their opening speeches.

The Songs

At 20:10 BST it was time for the first song. Each song was introduced by a postcard film at a location in the Netherlands. featuring the relevant country's artist visiting a beautiful place in Israel. Every postcard film began with rays in the country's flag colours sweeping across, left to right, and opening up vertically. The main focus of each film was a framework house, filled with various items. An image of the artist appeared during the postcard. They all ended with the country's name, song title artist, and other details at the centre of the screen, with rays in the country's flag colours above the stage. Furthermore, BBC One / BBC One HD viewers in the UK had Graham Norton's commentary over the postcard films. I've mentioned some of Graham's comments at various points hereafter; if you saw the Contest outside the UK, you won't have heard his comments.

Please note: once the jury and televoting points were all allocated to the scoreboard at the end, Greece and Bulgaria both ended up with a combined total of 170 points each, but Greece is said to have finished 10th and Bulgaria 11th. I have quoted the following points and placings from the official Eurovision Song Contest 2021 Grand Final web page, which I believe and trust as the only official source.

Song 1: Cyprus - Elena Tsagrinou “El Diablo” (16th place, 94 points)

#CYP It’s always tough being the first to perform in a Eurovision Song Contest Grand Final, but this lively Greek sounding song was a good choice of song to begin the evening. I had mixed opinions on this whilst watching the preview video, and during the First Semi-Final on Tuesday evening; this ended up on my “Prefer not to qualify” that evening but I was convinced this would qualify. I’m not that keen on the verses, which seem to be a cross between singing and rap. However, I quite like the choruses, which are lively with a good beat. I’m mystified as to why Elena lay on the stage at the start of the song, bit she stood up during the second line. During the rest of the song, Elena was accompanied by four synchronised dancers. This was well staged, with considerable use of red lighting, plus white flashing lights. After the brief pause near the end, I liked the flame effects on the background screens during the last chorus. Altogether a lively banger of an entry from Cyprus. This finished 16th with 50 points in the jury vote, 15th with 44 points in the televote and 16th place with 94 points overall, which was about as much as this deserved; I don’t think this was good enough for a top 15 overall placing.

Song 2: Albania - Anxhela Peristeri “Karma” (21st place, 57 points)

#ALB This power ballad was one of the songs I most wanted to qualify on Thursday evening. Anxhela sang the opening line “Zoti nuk ma fal!” in quite a powerful manner, and this is followed by a powerful instrumental sequence. The way in which she sang all later instances of "Zoti nuk ma fal" (which means “God won't forgive me this”) was amazing. In terms of staging, this featured amazing simulated cloud / smoke effects in red, and sometimes green, on the background screens; I also liked the red “smoke circle” Anxhela created early on. However, I don’t think the brief moments of strobe lighting about two thirds of the way through, and at the end were necessary for this kind of song. Altogether, an excellent power ballad from Albania, very well staged and the instrumentation throughout the song adds to its Balkan style. Best of all, this entry was sung entirely in Albanian; I think if all or part of it had been performed in English or any other language, it would have been ruined. What more could one ask for from Albania? Furthermore, Anxhela sang well. This was somewhat under-rated at 20th with 22 points in the jury vote, 16th with 35 points in the televote and 21st place, 57 points overall; I think it ought to have finished in the top 15 in both halves of the voting and overall, but I don’t think it was good enough for top 10.

Song 3: Israel - Eden Alene “Set Me Free” (17th place, 93 points)

#ISR One of the songs I most wanted to qualify from the First Semi-Final on Tuesday evening. “Set Me Free” had a relatively slow start, but from the line “Feeling like in prison” Eden sang at a faster pace, and in a bouncy manner, which I liked. This verse was accompanied by a good beat. Once this verse ended, there was an extended length chorus; however, the first four lines were the same as the four-line chorus which appeared earlier. This extended length chorus included a few more “I'ma I'ma Ah” lines and two other Hebrew lines. The extra lines were accompanied by a good beat. This song was enhanced by the group of dancers, along with the background screen images such as the title “Set Me Free” in blue and purple capital letters, and blue and purple triangles. Altogether, a lively, catchy song from Israel, Eden sang well during the Grand Final performance. After this finished well-deserved 12th with 73 points in the jury vote, this finished a disappointing 20th with 20 points in the televote, and 17th place 93 points overall. I think this ought to have finished top 15 with the public and overall.

Song 4: Belgium - Hooverphonic “The Wrong Place” (19th place, 74 points)

#BEL A country ballad from Belgium. This is one of two songs I least wanted to qualify from the First Semi-Final on Tuesday evening. It was also one of the songs I least expected to qualify from that semi-final, as it was performed between the upbeat songs from Croatia and Israel that evening. Against my wishes and expectations, Hooverphonic qualified that night. In the preview video, I thought the instances of “last night” overpowered the rest of the words within the first and second verses. During the Grand Final performance, the instances of “last night” seem a bit toned down by comparison, but I still think the lead singer’s voice could have been stronger during the rest of the words within the verses. The choruses were better, but on the whole, I was as disappointed with this song during the Grand Final as I was during the First Semi-Final, and when watching the preview video. One member of the group appeared to be playing the upright piano, and another member appeared to be playing the drumkit, but no doubt they were only miming the instruments. I think the strobe lighting during some parts of this song was totally uncalled for; I feel that was totally inappropriate for this ballad. In terms of scoring, I think this was over-rated by the juries at 13th place with 71 points. Thankfully it finished a more appropriate 22nd place with 3 points in the televote, but when the two sets of points were added together, this ended up 19th with 74 points overall, which was still too high. I think this should have finished near bottom with the juries and overall, as well as in the public vote.

Song 5: Russia - Manizha “Russian Woman” (9th place, 204 points)

#RUS The other of two songs that I least wanted to qualify from the First Semi-Final on Tuesday, but it did (I guessed it would; in fact, I'd have been shocked if it hadn't qualified!). From the moment I first saw the preview video for this song, I thought it was somewhat unusual and out of the ordinary. The only parts which resembled singing, and which I sort of liked, were the sections from “Boryut·sya, boryut·sya” to “No slomannoy family ne slomatʹ menya”. I liked the way the first of those was accompanied by the flame effects, and second of those was accompanied by rows of faces on the background screens. The rest of the performance was what I call an utter mess; hardly a song. There were some lines where it sounded to me as though Manizha was singing in a similar style to certain parts of Netta Barzilai’s song “Toy” in 2018. During the early part of the song, Manizha appeared in an impressive cone shaped costume; I liked the way she stepped out of it after the first few lines. I also liked the sequence of messages such as “Be creative”, “Be honest”, “Be grateful” which appeared on the background screen during part of the song; presumably these were to add impact to the message Manizha was trying to get across. Altogether Russia was adventurous sending something as unusual as this to Eurovision. This finished 8th with 104 points in the jury vote, 8th with 100 points in the televote and 9th with 204 points overall. At least the juries and public agreed with placing, but I think this should have finished much lower in both halves of the voting, and overall.

Song 6: Malta - Destiny “Je Me Casse” (7th place, 255 points)

#MLT Destiny has taken part in Eurovision events before, she won the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2015 when she represented Malta with the song "Not My Soul", and she was a backing singer for Michela Pace in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019. Her entry this year, “Je Me Casse” was strongly tipped to win during in the run-up to Eurovision week, but by the First Semi-Final on Tuesday, she had slipped in the odds. Despite the French title, the song was mostly in English. Destiny was accompanied on stage by dancers, dressed in pink. The staging was impressive, including the split screen effect after the first chorus, the falling fireworks towards the end, and the final burst of rising fireworks at the end. Altogether a lively, catchy disco song. There was a huge difference of opinion between the juries and the public, because this song finished 3rd with 208 points in the jury vote, but only 14th with 47 points in the televote, and hence 7th with 255 points overall. I think 7th or 8th would have been the optimum placing in both halves of the voting and overall, this certainly wasn’t good enough to win. At least this was Malta’s best public vote result since the introduction of the two-part voting system in 2016.

Song 7: Portugal - The Black Mamba “Love Is On My Side” (12th place, 153 points)

#POR Portugal won with a timeless classic in 2017, and they brought another timeless classic this year. There was one notable difference to 2017; “Love Is On My Side” was performed entirely in English, which is unusual for Portugal. To me, this slow and gentle song sounded like something from several decades ago, 1940s or 1950s. Just like in the Festival da Canção 2021 Final (which I watched online, on demand, from the UK two days after it took place), the first verse and first chorus were shown in monochrome 4:3 aspect ratio, to simulate pictures of yesteryear. The rest of the song was in 16:9 colour; during this part of the song, I liked the graphically created walking figure between the graphic lamp posts. Altogether an excellent ballad, which should be seen as timeless rather than dated, and the lead singer sang well in the Grand Final. This was among the songs I most wanted to qualify from the Second Semi-Final Thursday evening, and I was glad it qualified. There was a huge difference of opinion between the juries and the public in the Grand Final; this song finished a well-deserved 7th with 126 points in the jury vote, but I think it was grossly under-rated by the public at just 19th with 27 points in the televote. Consequently, this ended up 12th with 153 points overall; I think it deserved a much better score from the public so it could have finished 7th to 10th overall.

Song 8: Serbia - Hurricane “Loco Loco” (15th place, 102 points)

#SRB Hurricane’s entry was one of the songs on my “Wouldn't mind qualifying” list in the Second Semi-Final on Thursday evening. In hindsight, I’m glad it qualified. The song was mostly in Serbian, with just a few words in English. That in itself made it sound more like it was from Serbia; it’s always good to see a country singing mostly in its native language. “Loco Loco” was a lively, catchy, disco song, with a good beat. However, it’s was quite repetitive, especially within each chorus (“sam, sam, sam”, “znam, znam, znam”, “lom, lom, lom”). Thankfully those sets of monosyllabic words worked very well here, in that they fitted the rhythm perfectly. I question the need to have the pause, followed by the spoken line “One, two, girls, come on!” about two thirds of the way through. This was enhanced by background screen images, including “Hurricane” at the start, “Baby” later, plus white block and stripe patterns or various coloured patterns. In addition, fireworks were used during the first chorus and at the very end. Altogether a lively, memorable song, enhanced by good staging. There was a huge difference of opinion between the juries and the public here, because “Loco Loco” finished 21st with 20 points in the jury vote and 9th with 82 points in the televote. Its combined result of 15th place with 102 points was about right for this song.

A short break followed at this point. During this break, three former Eurovision winners Jamala (2016), Emmelie de Forest (2013) and Duncan Laurence (2019) showed viewers where they keep their trophies.

Song 9: United Kingdom - James Newman “Embers” (26th place, 0 points)

#UK The first of this year’s six direct qualifiers, and the first Big Five country was the United Kingdom. Overall, “Embers” is quite a lively, catchy disco song. The first verse and pre-chorus both have a good beat. Undeniably though, the chorus is the most memorable, and most powerful, part of the song. During the Grand Final, James stood on a plinth during the first verse and chorus, and on the stage for the rest of the song. He was accompanied by four trumpet players, but presumably they would have been miming when they appeared to be playing the trumpets in the relevant parts of the song. In terms of staging, the most notable features were the giant trumpets; they were suspended high above the stage during the first verse and chorus, but they were lowered by the start of the second verse. Personally, I think they were, if anything, overpowering and distracting. Apart from that, there was two quick bursts of fireworks during the first chorus, and there were some flames close to the end, but I think they were insufficient for a song whose chorus contains the lines “Out of the embers, You and I are gonna light up the room. Out of the embers, There's a fire burning for you”. On the whole, an upbeat entry; by the time the performance was over I thought this might finish 15th to 20th overall. As it happened, this finished last with 0 points in the jury vote, and was therefore the first of four countries which received 0 points in the televote. Consequently, this ended up 26th (last) with 0 points overall.

Song 10: Greece - Stefania “Last Dance” (10th place, 170 points)

#GRE This was one of the songs I most wanted to qualify in the Second Semi-Final on Thursday evening. "Last Dance" is a well-structured song. I like the way the ends of each pair of lines in the verses rhyme. The pre-chorus provides a good build up to the chorus, which starts “Let's dancе”. The chorus is really catchy, with a memorable beat, and heavily themed around dancing. The graphically simulated purple clouds, and the towers, enhanced this song. However, there was no flying horse on the background screen, unlike the preview video. During the second verse, Stefania climbed some invisible steps, and was lifted down during the next chorus. Altogether a lively, memorable song, well-staged and Stefania sang well during the Grand Final. This finished 10th with 91 points in the jury vote, 10th with 79 points in the televote and 10th with 170 points overall. It’s good that the juries and public agreed on place (despite the difference in points); I think this could have merited a few places higher in the top ten.

Song 11: Switzerland - Gjon's Tears “Tout l'Univers” (3rd place, 432 points)

#SUI This was another of the songs I most wanted to qualify from the Second Semi-Final on Thursday evening. “Tout l'Univers” is a ballad with gentle verses, and a comparatively powerful chorus. Furthermore, Gjon has a beautiful voice, and he sang well during the Grand Final. However, I’m mystified as to the significance of the frame structure he stood on, and the rippling background images in some parts of the song. I think the strobe lighting during the choruses was totally uncalled for and, if anything, spoilt the performance. This ballad needed soft, static lighting throughout. I’m surprised there were no star constellations, galaxies or planets on the background screens; considering what the title means "All The Universe". Altogether a beautiful ballad, and well sung, but I think the staging could have been better. Interestingly this won the jury vote with 267 points, but was just 6th with 165 points in the televote. That was quite a large difference of opinion, particularly in terms of points. Anyway, this finished 3rd with 432 points overall.

Song 12: Iceland - Daði og Gagnamagnið “10 Years” (4th place, 378 points)

#ISL This was another song on my “Definitely want to qualify” list in the Second Semi-Final on Thursday evening. It’s a pity Daði og Gagnamagnið had to resort to using their second rehearsal performance for both the Second Semi-Final and the Grand Final, thereby leading to an identical performance in both shows, but at least that was better than having to withdraw. Undeniably “10 Years” is not as instantly memorable as “Think About Things” was last year, but it’s still quite lively and catchy, with a good beat. To me, “10 Years” sounds like another UK pop song from the late 1970s to mid-1980s, just like “Think About Things” last year. The two verses and two choruses in “10 Years” are a similar style to “Think About Things” last year. The instrumental break includes drums and cymbals, followed by the unusual electronic keyboards, all of which featured in "Think About Things". During the Eurovision performance, the group wore their green sweatshirts with pixelated faces; presumably that was their way of creating a 1980s look (the kind of graphics 1980s computers were capable of producing). The 1980s look was enhanced by the 1980s style computer graphics on the background screen, including what looked like games characters among the among the starry simulation, and a sea of faces. Other notable graphics were a dolphin, a six-coloured rainbow between two clouds, a unicorn and the caption “You’re so fascinating” all of which momentarily appeared on the background screen during the line “You’re so fascinating”, but I’m mystified as to the significance of those. When the song ended, there was a short pause before a final burst of fireworks. All in all, a lively, catchy song, and well-staged. This finished a well-deserved 5th with 198 points in the jury vote, 5th with 180 points in the televote and 4th with 378 points overall.

Song 13: Spain - Blas Cantó “Voy A Quedarme” (24th place, 6 points)

#ESP The second of this year’s six direct qualifiers, and the second Big Five country was Spain. “Voy A Quedarme” is a ballad; it has quite a dull start, but gradually picks up. Late in the song this gets livelier and more powerful. Blas has an amazing voice, and during the Grand Final, he sang well and said “I love you Mum” at the end. Staging in the Grand Final included a starry background, a total solar eclipse during the first chorus, stage level clouds (presumably created with dry ice), blue lighting and shooting stars during the bridge. As much as I liked all the aforementioned elements of the staging, I question their significance because having seen the English translation of the lyrics, “Voy A Quedarme” seems like a love song. The most dominant feature of the staging was the giant moon, which was first noticeable during the second verse. Although impressive, I think it was a bit overpowering because it made Blas look tiny when viewed from a distance. Altogether a beautiful ballad, well sung and well-staged. This finished 24th with just 6 points in the jury vote, and was one of four countries which received 0 points in the televote. Its combined result was 24th place with 6 points overall. I think this was under-rated by both the juries and public; I think 10th to 15th in both halves of the voting, and overall, would have been a more appropriate result for this song.

Song 14: Moldova - Natalia Gordienko “SUGAR” (13th place, 115 points)

#MDA This is one of two songs I least wanted to qualify from the Second Semi-Final on Thursday evening. To me, "Sugar" sounds like a country and western song. During both the semi-final and Grand Final performances, I thought Natalia’s voice was a bit flat during the verses, especially the first few lines of them. Thankfully she sang better during the choruses, which accompanied by their powerful beat, were the best parts of the song. I think it's clever how she changed singing style part way along the final line of the chorus, and there was a pause before the last word of that line "Sugar". Just like the preview video, the Eurovision performances included four dancers, and Natalia danced with them during the instrumental fillers. The best thing about the Eurovision performances of this entry was the amazing geometric patterns on the background screen and stage floor. This finished 15th with 53 points in the jury vote, 12th with 62 points in the televote and 13th with 115 points overall. I think it was over-rated by both the juries and public; this ought to have finished near bottom in both halves of the voting and overall. Better still I’d rather this hadn’t qualified, and that Denmark had received its Grand Final place instead.

Song 15: Germany - Jendrik “I Don't Feel Hate” (25th place, 3 points)

#GER The third of this year’s six direct qualifiers, and the third Big Five country was Germany, who entered a novelty song this year. When I first saw the official preview video, which included three rows of washing machines stacked atop each other, an inflatable pool (which was tipped over during the video), coloured paint powder throwing, pressing cakes against one’s faces and tap dancing, I wondered how many (or how few) of those elements could realistically be recreated live on stage at Rotterdam. The song itself starts with a fast and really catchy chorus. The lines “You feel so very clever whenever you find another way to wear me down” and “So you can wigglе with that middle finger, it'll never wiggle back to you” are exceedingly fast; it’s almost as though there are too many words fit into the tune. Amazingly Jendrik managed to sing those lines well live in the Grand Final. Of course, the two instantly memorable lines of the chorus are “I don't feel hate, I just feel sorry”; they occur twice in each chorus. The verses are also quite fast, and there are lively and punchy instrumental fillers. Just like the preview video, the Grand Final performance began with Jendrik playing (or perhaps miming) the ukulele whilst singing, however he was standing up instead of sitting on a sofa. The big hand outfit with the finger sticking up was present, but there were no stacks of washing machines and no inflatable pool (I didn't think they'd be able to have those). I liked the way they simulated coloured paint powder throwing graphically, both on the background screen and stage floor, because I guessed they wouldn't be allowed to throw coloured paint powder around for real on stage. There were also moments when the entire background screen showed words for “hate” in different languages, and various monochrome patterns, and when the screen panned between words for “hate” on the left with blue on the right. Just like the preview video, the Grand Final performance included the tap dancing towards the end of the song; I guess that was one of the few preview video elements that could realistically be recreated on stage. All in all, a lively, catchy song; a bit of fun really. This finished 25th with 3 points in the jury vote, and was one of four countries which received 0 points in the televote. Its combined result was 25th (second last) with 3 points. Although I expected “I Don't Feel Hate” to score hardly any points from the juries, I thought it would get quite a fair-sized score from the public, somewhere in the 50s or 60s (possibly 70s), because I thought people would vote for it just because it’s a rather silly song / a fun song. My impression is that people saw sense and didn’t vote for it.

Song 16: Finland - Blind Channel “Dark Side” (6th place, 301 points)

#FIN I watched the Finnish national final, Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu, live online from the UK. The winner was Blind Channel - "Dark Side". It’s a hard rock / heavy metal song. I don’t like hard rock / heavy metal generally, which is why this ended up on my “Prefer not to qualify” list in the Second Semi-Final on Thursday evening. Nonetheless, I guessed this would qualify, as there are plenty of people who enjoy this genre. Just like the UMK performance, the Eurovision performances featured extensive use of flames, light beams and use of strobe lighting. During the bridge, which was softer, red lighting (which was mostly static) was used. Altogether an extremely lively, powerful song, which hard rock / heavy metal fans are likely to have enjoyed, and very well staged. There was a huge difference of opinion between the juries and the public, because this song finished 11th with 83 points in the jury vote and 4th with 218 points in the televote, thereby leading to a combined result of 6th place with 301 points.

A short break followed at this point. During this break, Edsilia spoke to the commentators from Denmark and Russia.

Song 17: Bulgaria - VICTORIA “Growing Up Is Getting Old” (11th place, 170 points)

#BUL This was another of the songs I most wanted to qualify in the Second Semi-Final on Thursday evening. Bulgaria went for a ballad this year. The song’s structure seems unusual, with no obvious chorus. After quite a slow, soft start, it builds up to quite a powerful section near the end, before easing off for its closing section. The ticking clock sound in the early part of the song, which was present in the preview video, was retained for the Eurovision performances. Victoria performed this sitting on what resembled an artificial island, lit by golden orange lighting. I liked the rippling water effect around the island. About two thirds of the way through she stood up for the more powerful parts. Based on her entries last year and this year, Victoria's voice is out of this world; beautiful, magical. Furthermore, she sang very well in the Grand Final. Altogether a beautiful timeless ballad, it’s what I'd call a Disney style song, and the Eurovision staging and lighting was appropriate for this style of song. There was a considerable difference of opinion between the juries and the public here. After scoring a well-deserved 6th with 140 points in the jury vote, this finished a rather disappointing 18th with 30 points in the televote. Consequently, this ended up 11th with 170 points overall. I think this should have finished 7th to 10th in the public vote and overall.

Song 18: Lithuania - The Roop “Discoteque” (8th place, 220 points)

#LTU One of the songs I most wanted to qualify from the First Semi-Final on Tuesday evening. I particularly like the chorus “Let's discoteque right at my home, It is okay to dance alone, I got the moves, it's gonna blow”. That’s a really catchy moment, the perfect hook for this song. To me it has a hidden meaning. The way I see it is this; due to lockdowns from time to time the past year, people have been unable to go to discos / nightclubs to dance with their friends, so the chorus gives the message that it’s acceptable for one to dance alone at home. Unsurprisingly, the group, who were dressed in their yellow outfits, danced along during the choruses and instrumental fillers. The visual effects, which included lines and checkerboard patterns, were amazing too. There was extensive use of purple in the visuals, which for some reason, went well with the yellow outfits. Altogether, a lively disco song with a memorable chorus, excellent staging and well performed in the Grand Final. There was a considerable difference of opinion between the juries and the public here, because this finished 14th with 55 points in the jury vote, 7th with 165 points in the televote. I feel this was under-rated by the juries, but thankfully the televote result was more appropriate. The combined result was 8th place with 220 points; I think this deserved slightly higher than that.

Song 19: Ukraine - Go_A “Shum” (5th place, 364 points)

#UKR When I first saw the preview video for “Shum”, it sounded to me like a Chinese / Japanese style song. I’ve since found out this is Ukrainian popular folk singing style combined with techno rave. During the postcard, Graham Norton described this song as an intense dance track, based over a folk music melody; he described the staging as a department store’s Christmas window. Whichever way you describe this song, it certainly sounds unusual. The song has a fairly slow start, but gradually speeds up and is fastest after the final instrumental section. Just in like the preview video, the Eurovision performances included someone appeared to be playing a flute of some sort (even if it was being mimed with its sound pre-recorded on the backing track), and the final word was sung at a high pitch. In terms of the staging, the background images were amazing. These included a yellow circle early on (which presumably resembled the sun), various patterns later and graphically created figures, which looked as though they were running during the final fast section. Other visuals included the three-way diagonal split screen for part of the song. I’m mystified as to the purpose of the imitation bushes on stage, but they provided added embellishment. All in all, totally unlike anything Ukraine sent to the Eurovision Song Contest from 2003 to 2018 inclusive. Although this is not my taste in music, which is why this ended up on my “Prefer not to qualify list” Tuesday evening, I was convinced this was almost guaranteed to qualify, and would have been shocked if it hadn’t qualified. There was a considerable difference of opinion between the juries and the public, because this entry finished 9th with 97 points in the jury vote and 2nd with 267 points in the televote. The combined result was 5th place with 364 points.

Song 20: France - Barbara Pravi “Voilà” (2nd place, 499 points)

#FRA The fourth of this year’s six direct qualifiers, and the fourth Big Five country was the France. I watched this year’s French National Final, “Eurovision France, c'est vous qui décidez!”, live online from the UK on 30 January 2021. Oddly enough, I ranked Barbara Pravi “Voilà” 9th out of 12 competing songs that evening, but the song grew on me since, as I familiarised myself with other countries’ Eurovision Song Contest 2021 entries. “Voilà” is a ballad, which sounds as though it’s from the 1940s or 1950s. However, I think it should be seen as timeless rather than dated. During the Grand Final, Barbara sang alone, on a dark stage, under a spotlight. However, noticeable beams from different directions could be seen at times, and towards the end there were tiny spots of light, just like stars in the night sky. This style of staging was just what a ballad of this style needed. Altogether an excellent ballad, though I’m surprised how the chorus varies so much between instances. The pace varies quite a bit too, from a relatively slow start to the relatively upbeat finish. Barbara has a beautiful voice, and she sang very well during the Grand Final. When I examined the Grand Final running order I felt was in a dangerous position between Ukraine’s lively folk song and Azerbaijan’s somewhat upbeat ethnic song. My impression was that France’s "Voilà" would be a bungalow between two skyscrapers and forgotten by the time the lines opened, or alternatively it would stand out as a masterpiece enough for people to want to vote for it. The latter clearly turned out to be the case, because this finished 2nd with 248 points in the jury vote, 3rd with 251 points in the televote and 2nd with 499 points overall. I think this should have been the outright winner, as musically I think this was better than Italy’s entry.

Song 21: Azerbaijan - Efendi “Mata Hari” (20th place, 65 points)

#AZE Another song among those I most wanted to qualify from the First Semi-Final on Tuesday evening. The song opens with the title, "Mata Hari", and after some eastern style instruments, the first verse follows. Those instruments continue during the first verse and the pre-chorus. Interestingly the pre-chorus includes the line “Just like Cleopatra”; effectively the title of last year’s song has been included in this year’s song again. The final line of the pre-chorus, which presumably is performed by the backing group, is “Yalan da men, yanan da men, yaman da men”. I like the way that’s been included, it adds to the eastern style of the song. The chorus is entirely made up of the title “Mata Hari” (some lines are preceded by Ma-Ma-Ma), and is accompanied by a good beat, and more use of eastern style instruments. Altogether the chorus is catchy and memorable. After a short instrumental, the second verse begins. Eastern style instruments can be heard throughout the second verse, and the pre-chorus which appears again thereafter. After the second instance of the chorus, the bridge is simple, two lines of “Ma-ma-ma-ma, ma-ma-ma-ma”, followed by some sort of piping sound. Finally, after the line “Let’s go”, some instances of “Ma-ma-ma-ma, Mata Hari”, along with a powerful beat, close the song. Altogether a catchy song from Azerbaijan, with everything you could ask for from an Azerbaijani song; eastern style music, an eastern style song. The Eurovision performances were accompanied by amazing staging, including a golden globe on the back screen, and patterns on the back screen and stage floor. There were also brief instances of flame effects near the bottom of the back screen, though they looked graphically simulated rather than real. All these effects enhanced the song. The highlight was the set of flames around the stage (which appeared to be real) at the end. This finished 19th with 32 points in the jury vote, 17th with 33 points in the televote and 20th with 65 points overall. I think this deserved better in both halves of the voting and overall; this ought to have finished 11th to 15th but I don’t think this was good enough for top ten.

Song 22: Norway - TIX “Fallen Angel” (18th place, 75 points)

#NOR I watched MGP Norway Grand Final performances of the twelve competing songs, online from the UK, about a week after the show. I had my doubts about this qualifying on Tuesday evening, as I saw this as very much a borderline qualifier, but thankfully it qualified. Just like the MGP performance, TIX had his angel wings, and chains between his wrists and the stage. However, I'm mystified as to the significance of the chains. For some mysterious reason, this performance featured extensive use of blue lighting, including TIX under the blue spotlight at the start, widespread blue lighting in the first and second verses and blue light beams from behind during the first and second choruses. In addition, there were brief flame effects at the start of the second verse and during the second chorus. The colour scheme changed to orange lighting during, accompanied by flame effects, during the final chorus. At the end of his Grand Final performance, TIX said “Remember guys, you’re not alone”. Altogether, quite a lively song, well sung and well-staged. There was a difference of opinion between the juries and public here. After a disappointing 22nd with 15 points from the juries, this finished a more appropriate 13th with 60 points in the public vote. This led to a combined result of 18th with 75 points, which was reasonable. Maybe this could have merited 13th to 16th in both halves of the voting and overall, but this was very much a middle of the road song.

Song 23: Netherlands - Jeangu Macrooy “Birth Of A New Age” (23rd place, 11 points)

#NED The host entry now. The opening line “Skin as rich as the starlit night”, sounds impressive, and the response line “Your rhythm is rebellion, your rhythm is rebellion” by backing singers compliments it. This response line is sung again after Jeangu’s second and lines. The chorus, sung in Sranan Tongo, is the line “Yu no man broko mi” six times over; however, the third and last of those lines mention broko twice in succession. The second verse is the same structure and style as the first. Finally, the song ends with an extended length chorus, 16 lines altogether. I’ve noticed, from the lyrics, it’s actually four groups of four lines. Within each group, the first two lines are both “Yu no man broko mi”, the third line is “Yu no man broko, broko mi” and the fourth line is “Mi na afu sensi”. At least that arrangement breaks the 16-line chorus up a bit; it would be very monotonous if “Yu no man broko mi” was performed 16 times in succession. As for the staging at the Grand Final, I liked the light shining through cracks in a wall, albeit graphically simulated on the background screen; this was present during the two verses and the first chorus. One noticeable extra during the first chorus was the alternating “Yu no man broko mi” / “You can’t break me” on the background screen. During the long chorus at the end the background consisted of multi-coloured patterns, again with “Yu no man broko mi” / “You can’t break me” on the background screen. Presumably the change from a “grey wall” effect to a multi-coloured patterned background was a graphical representation of the birth of a new age for the closing chorus. Altogether, an unusual sort of song for the Netherlands to be performing at Eurovision; they certainly took a massive risk entering this. Jeangu has a good voice, he demonstrated his ability to sing in various ways and, together with the backing singers, he gave an impressive performance in the Grand Final. Although I quite liked the way Jeangu sang some lines, I’m less keen on the way he sang others. The verses have a good beat to them, but I think three responses of “Your rhythm is rebellion, your rhythm is rebellion” per verse is pushing it to the limit; two in each verse might have been better. Put it this way, I think more than three instances of that line in each verse would have been too repetitive. I’m not surprised such an obscure entry as this was 23rd with 11 points in the jury vote, and one of four countries which received 0 points in the televote. Its combined result was 23rd place with 11 points overall. Maybe this could have done better, but at best I think this would have been one for the 15th to 20th range.

Song 24: Italy - Måneskin “Zitti E Buoni” (Winner, 524 points)

#ITA I'm surprised Italy wanted a hard rock / heavy metal song this year, considering the song styles they entered since returning from their long absence in 2011, but that’s what they wanted this year. It’s a lively, powerful entry, with some sections of the song sung rapidly, and it was no surprise that it was performed in Italian at Eurovision. Unsurprisingly the Grand Final performance included strobe lighting at times, in addition to white light beams, red lighting and blue lighting. Towards the end this featured rising and falling fireworks, accompanied by more flashing lights; the highlight of the performance. Although not my taste in music, hard rock / heavy metal enthusiasts are likely to have enjoyed this very much. Still, it was well performed and appropriately staged for this style of song. It’s hardly surprising this was the runaway winner of the public vote with 318 points. However, I’m surprised this did as well as it did in the jury vote: 4th with 206 points. I didn’t think juries would rate this so highly. Anyway, its combined total of 524 points was enough to win outright.

Song 25: Sweden - Tusse “Voices” (14th place, 109 points)

#SWE The penultimate song in the line-up already. I watched Melodifestivalen 2021 Final live online from the UK. Although I ranked Tusse second on My Eurovision Scoreboard that night, I was nonetheless pleased to see this at Eurovision, and this was among the songs I most wanted to qualify from the First Semi-Final on Tuesday evening. The song is impressive right from the very beginning. The chorus is really powerful and memorable. Altogether this has everything; Tusse has a good voice, it’s a well-structured song, which is powerful and memorable enough to keep people listening from start to finish. The staging, including lighting effects, in Rotterdam, was even more impressive than at Melodifestivalen. This included wave effects on the background screen and stage floor, strobe lighting during the choruses and star effects on last chorus. Altogether, a lively entry, and very well staged. This finished 17th with 46 points in the jury vote, 11th with 63 points in the public vote and 14th place with 109 points overall. After two years of doing considerably better in the jury vote than the public vote, Sweden did better in the public vote than the jury vote this time.

Song 26: San Marino - Senhit “Adrenalina” (22nd place, 50 points)

#SMR The final song in the line-up. This was one of the songs I most wanted to qualify, and one of the songs I thought was most likely to qualify, in the Second Semi-Final on Thursday evening. In many ways the San Marinese entry is very much a Greek sounding song. The introduction, the tune and style of singing in the verses and choruses, and instrumental break between the first chorus and second verse are all somewhat Greek sounding; I think this ought to have been Greece’s entry. It’s a catchy, memorable song from start to finish, with a good beat throughout. My only dislike is the rap section; I think that spoils it. I question the need for the rap. Just like the preview video, there was a spinning diamond on stage near the start. Patterns and words appeared on the background screens, including the title “Adrenalina”. Towards the end, falling and rising fireworks added to the atmosphere. All in all, a lively, catchy disco song to close the line-up of entries in the Grand Final. After a disappointing (but hardly surprising) 18th place with 37 points in the jury vote, this finished an even more disappointing 21st with 13 points in the public vote. Hence its combined result was 22nd with 50 points. I thought this would have done considerably better, particularly in the public vote (I anticipated at least 100 televote points); in fact, I thought this might even be San Marino's first ever top ten placing. Sadly, that wasn’t to be.

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Televoting and Interval Act

As soon as Senhit finished performing, shots of selected artists in the Green Room were shown. Shortly afterwards, Edsilia, Chantal, Jan and Nikkie appeared together on stage to announce the start of the televoting. Unfortunately, their words were drowned out by Graham Norton who outlined the voting procedure for UK viewers. At 22:03, Edsilia, Chantal, Jan and Nikkie all said "Europe, start voting now". The voting lines opened, and a recap of the songs followed with the phone numbers at the bottom of the screen. When the UK's song extract appeared, a caption at the bottom of the screen stated "UK VIEWERS CANNOT VOTE FOR THE UK ENTRY" and "Your vote won't count and you may still be charged." Were any UK viewers foolish enough to try dialling the voting stem with 09 at the end? Knowing that the lines would almost certainly be extremely busy during this recap, I deliberately delayed voting until later. When I eventually tried voting (quite late into the televoting session), I successfully voted for: France, Lithuania, Iceland, Greece. Voting for four songs might seem extravagant, but they were my top four on My Eurovision Scoreboard during the Grand Final. Whilst the voting lines were open, there was a series of acts, and intermediate fillers, as outlined below.

Interval Act 1: Music Binds Us - Afrojack ft. Wulf and Glennis Grace

This featured three songs “Hero”, “Ten Feet Tall” and “Titanium” performed by Afrojack ft. Wulf and Glennis Grace. The first part of the act ("Hero") had singing in the background with members of the group on a tram, and the next part (“Ten Feet Tall”) was on the Erasmus Bridge, Rotterdam. The last part looked as though it was on the Rotterdam Ahoy stage, yet viewed from the bridge at some points. During “Titanium”, there were some fireworks. I’m mystified as to how this all this was made. Presumably the whole of this was pre-recorded. If the first two parts were pre-recorded and “Titanium” was live, it’s clever how one cut to another (for a live performance of “Titanium” on the Rotterdam stage, the view through the bridge must have been added, in real time, by virtual / augmented reality).

This was followed by a second recap of the competing songs, complete with the voting numbers. During this recap, UK viewers heard Graham Norton reading out viewers' messages.

Interlude

The next part was what I personally see as a selection of fillers, as follows:
• Eurovision Tutorials, presented by Nikkie. This included pictures from past Eurovision Song Contests, and tips on how to rock the vote.
• Film of how the Ahoy was transformed for the Eurovision Song Contest 2021. Graham Norton mentioned, among other comments, that last year the Ahoy was a temporary hospital to cope with the pandemic.
• Eurovision Carpool Karaoke. This featured past Eurovision Song Contest winners singing bits of past Eurovision entries whilst travelling around in cars.
• Clips from past Eurovision Song Contests with commentary.

This was followed by a third recap of the competing songs, complete with the voting numbers.

Interval Act 2: Rock The Roof

Six former Eurovision Song Contest artists, performing their winning Eurovision Song Contest entries, from past years, on the rooftops of various buildings in Rotterdam:
1 “Heroes” by Måns Zelmerlöw (winner 2015)
2 “Ding-a-dong” by Teach-In with Getty Kaspers (winner 1975)
3 “J'aime la vie” by Sandra Kim (winner 1986)
4 “De Troubadour” by Lenny Kuhr (winner 1969)
5 “My Number One” by Helena Paparizou (winner 2005)
6 “Hard Rock Hallelujah” by Lordi (winner 2006)

Although their performance was impressive, they each only performed about a minute of their song. I think it would have been better to for them to have performed their songs in full, and to have made room for that, the preceding “odds and ends” such as Eurovision Tutorials and Eurovision Carpool Karaoke could have been omitted.

The voting lines appeared on screen again, in succession, without clips of the songs.

Interval Act 3: Duncan Laurence

At this point Duncan Laurence, who won the Eurovision Song Contest 2019, was going to perform a shortened version of his 2019 winning song “Arcade”, followed by his new single “Stars” live. Unfortunately, he had tested positive for COVID-19 and was unable to perform live during the Grand Final. As a result, recorded footage of his rehearsal was shown instead. At the end Graham Norton said “We wish him all the best”.

The Human Countdown

It was almost time for the lines to close. Jan and Chantal announced the start of the countdown. When there were 10 seconds left, The Eurovision Dancers formed the number 10 on stage, followed by the numbers 9 to 1. Simultaneously, a voice-over announced the number of seconds left. Each on-stage number also appeared on the back ground screen. When they formed 0, Jan and Chantal shouted “Europe, stop voting now”, accompanied by a few fireworks. The time was 22:52 when the voting lines closed.

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Jury Results

At last, it was time to start the presentation of the voting results. The voting system first used in 2016 was used again this year. That meant the jury results from each country yielded one set of 1 to 12 points, and each country's televoting results generated a completely separate set of 1 to 12 points. Chantal and Jan appeared and gave a short speech. Martin Österdahl stated that the jury results had been checked and verified, and they were good to go. The points from the jury voting were about to be presented in the traditional way first. Chantal announced the start of the jury voting. Graham Norton pointed out that the jury results were based on the Friday evening rehearsals, in front of a full audience, but the viewers' votes were based on the Saturday evening Grand Final. Graham reminded UK viewers that, in 2019, Michael Rice finished last, so if James Newman finished anywhere other than last, that would be an improvement.

All 39 countries, including the 13 non-qualifiers, voted in the Grand Final. The voting order was Israel, Poland, San Marino, Albania, Malta, Estonia, North Macedonia, Azerbaijan, Norway, Spain, Austria, United Kingdom, Italy, Slovenia, Greece, Latvia, Ireland, Moldova, Serbia, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Belgium, Germany, Australia, Finland, Portugal, Ukraine, Iceland, Romania, Croatia, Czech Republic, Georgia, Lithuania, Denmark, Russia, France, Sweden, Switzerland, The Netherlands.

The points announced by each country's spokesperson, e.g., Israel, were from that country's jury voting only. Just like in 2016 to 2019, the 1 to 10-point scores were displayed on screen when the spokesperson appeared, added to the scoreboard as a block and the spokesperson only announced the 12-point score.

Israel, which announced its jury points first, gave 12 points to Switzerland. After that, Switzerland stayed in the lead (ignoring temporary fluctuations within individual countries’ rounds) until Moldova (18th to call) had announced its jury points. The next country, Serbia gave 12 points to France and just 1 point to Switzerland, thereby putting France into the lead and Switzerland second. France stayed in the lead as each of the next three countries (Bulgaria, Cyprus, Belgium) announced their jury scores.

After Malta announced its jury points, only five countries (United Kingdom, Spain, Germany, Norway, Netherlands) were on 0. Estonia, which was sixth to announce its jury points, was the first country to give no points to any countries still on 0. Austria, which was 11th to announce its jury points, gave 2 to Germany and 3 to the Netherlands. This left just three countries (United Kingdom, Spain, Norway) still on 0. The United Kingdom, which was 12th to call, gave 2 to Spain. This left just two countries (United Kingdom and Norway) still on 0. Finally, Italy, which was 13th to announce its jury points, gave 2 to Norway. The United Kingdom was now the only country still on 0 points. Since the United Kingdom were still on 0 after all 39 countries had announced their jury points, Norway was the last country to get off the mark in jury vote.

A break occurred between Belgium and Germany. At this point the top five were: 1st France 145, 2nd Switzerland 140, 3rd Malta 118, 4th Iceland 104, 5th Italy 95. At the other end of the scoreboard, the United Kingdom was still last with zero points. During this break, Edsilia spoke to Gjon from Switzerland, and Nikkie spoke to Barbara Pravi from France.

After the break, France stayed in the lead until after Australia (24th to call) had announced its jury points. Next, Finland gave 7 points to France and 12 points to Switzerland, putting Switzerland back into the lead by just one point. Switzerland was still in the lead with 179 points, and France second with 177 points, after Portugal had announced its jury points. Next, Ukraine gave 8 points to Switzerland and 10 points to France. The scoreboard now showed France in the lead and Switzerland second, despite both of them having 187 points (presumably tie-breaker rule was applied here). After that, Iceland gave 6 points to France and 12 points to Switzerland, giving Switzerland a clear lead. Switzerland held its lead as the remaining countries announced their jury points. In fact, Switzerland became uncatchable on jury points alone after France (36th to call) announced its jury points.

Unsurprisingly Greece and Cyprus, both of whom qualified for the Grand Final, gave each other 12 jury points. However, North Macedonia was the only ex-Yugoslav country to give 12 jury points to Serbia. Surprisingly, there were no exchanges of 12 jury points within the Nordic area; the highest individual jury score from one country to another within this group was 10 points. Furthermore, Iceland was the only country to receive jury points from all the other countries within the Nordic area. A more detailed analysis of bloc voting is available here.

Once the spokespersons from all 39 countries had announced their jury voting points, the scoreboard looked like this on screen:

1	Switzerland	267	14	Lithuania	55
2	France	248	15	Moldova	53
3	Malta	208	16	Cyprus	50
4	Italy	206	17	Sweden	46
5	Iceland	198	18	San Marino	37
6	Bulgaria	140	19	Azerbaijan	32
7	Portugal	126	20	Albania	22
8	Russia	104	21	Serbia	20
9	Ukraine	97	22	Norway	15
10	Greece	91	23	Netherlands	11
11	Finland	83	24	Spain	6
12	Israel	73	25	Germany	3
13	Belgium	71	26	United Kingdom	0

At this point Edsilia spoke to Gjon from Switzerland, who had won the jury vote.

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Televoting Results

Chantal and Jan reappeared to present the results of the public vote. Chantal asked Martin Österdahl if the televoting had gone according to plan. He said it had, and the EBU had a valid televoting result, and the procedure would be very, very exciting. Chantal and Jan explained how the televoting works. In each of the 39 countries, the public's phone / text / app votes were totalled up, and converted to 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 12 points to the top 10 voted-for songs. However instead of going around all the 39 countries and having the spokespersons announce each country's televoting points in the same manner as the jury points, all 39 countries' televoting points were added together behind the scenes to produce one total televoting score for each finalist. Chantal and Jan announced the total amount of televoting points each finalist had received from each of the other 38 countries. Just like in 2019, they announced the televoting totals starting with the finalist that had the lowest jury place, which was United Kingdom, and worked their way up the scoreboard until they reached Switzerland, which had won the jury vote. Graham Norton's comments, which BBC One / BBC One HD viewers in the UK heard, are shown in square brackets.

Jan: As we’ve just explained, we will begin with the country that is now in last place, that is United Kingdom, and the United Kingdom gets, from the public, 0 points. [I honestly don’t know what to say, you can hear the response in the hall. Good for you James Newman, good for you. He’s so popular with all the other delegations.]
Chantal: Alright we move on to Germany, and Germany has received, from the public, 0 points. I’m sorry. [At least he’s not alone]
Jan: Well, well, well. Moving on to Spain, and the public points going to Spain are, another 0 points. [There are going to be some really high scores. Obviously, people have voted for specific countries, not in a scattergun way.]
Chantal: We move on to the Netherlands. The Netherlands, you have received, from the public, 0 points. I’m sorry. [Ok this is the first time this has happened like this. Normally the public move their love around, but clearly, they voted for just a pack of about ten countries.]
Jan: It’s quite unusual [It’s very unusual]
Jan: We have to continue. So, let’s move on now to Norway. Norway, the public has given you 60 points. [I thought they might do better; I thought the public would respond to that song a bit better.]
Chantal: And we move on, we go to Serbia. Serbia, from the public, you have received 82 points. [There could be more zeroes by the way, we’re not out of the woods yet.]
Jan: We have to move on to Albania now. Albania, the public has given you 35 points.
Chantal: Next up is Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan, you have received [They will get some viewer votes] 33 points [Wow, they are going to be very, very disappointed with that. Azerbaijan traditionally do very well in the public vote.]
Jan: 18 countries left, let’s move on to San Marino, and San Marino, you have received, from the public, 13 points. [Wow, that is a shocker, FloRida won’t be going back to San Marino.]
Chantal: We move on to Sweden, and Sweden has received, from the public, 63 points. [OK this is just going to be a feeding frenzy at the end, where all the points are up for grabs. There’s going to be hundreds and hundreds of points.]
Jan: Moving on to Cyprus. Cyprus has received 44 points. [This is a year like no other, not just about the UK have nothing, but really these are low, low, low scores.]
Chantal: Next up is Moldova, are you ready? Moldova, you’ve received 62 points.
Jan: Let’s move on to Lithuania. [This is going to be big; I think.] The public has given you 165 points. [Not too bad, in third place, I don’t think they’ll stay there for long, but enjoy the moment.]
Chantal: And we go to Belgium, you have received, from the public, 3 points. [Is that worse than zero?]
Jan: Let’s move on to Israel. Israel, the public has given you 20 points.
Chantal: Alright, eleven countries left, we now go to Finland. [Heavy metal, very popular in the hall, but then, James was popular in the hall.] Finland, has received 218 points.
Jan: And that means Finland is in the lead right now. [This voting system is terrific. They’re not going to win with that, they won’t win, but it just shows you what can happen.]

Chantal: OK edging towards that moment of truth, just ten results to go, the moment that millions of people out there have been waiting for.
Jan: Ten songs still waiting for points, and from those last ten, the winner will be revealed.

Chantal: Alright, deep breath. As we said, we have ten countries left. Next up is Greece. Greece has received, from the public, 79 points [Respectable, they can be pleased with that.]
Jan: OK let’s move on to Ukraine. [I think this is going to be another biggie]. Ukraine, the public has given you, are you ready? 267 points, and that means Ukraine is in the lead now. [Wow. I don’t think that’ll get them the victory, but it could]
Chantal: Alright, only eight countries left, and next up is Russia. [It should be fairly sizable; I would have thought.] Russia are you ready? You have received, from the public, 100 points [A respectable finish for Russia]
Jan: OK let’s move on to Portugal. Portugal, get ready to get, from the public, 27 points. [Wow, I’m very surprised by that, but it just goes to show, as we go up here, some of these really popular countries with the jury may get very, very little]
Chantal: Moving on to Bulgaria. Bulgaria has received, from the public, 30 points. [Harsh, but still, she’s on the left-hand side of the scoreboard, something we could dream of]
Jan: Only five countries left. Let’s move on to Iceland. [OK this will be interesting, did the public respond to Iceland? There they are, in their room.] Iceland, from the public, you are getting 180 points, and that means we have a new leader. [Will it be enough? I don’t think so]
Chantal: We move on, we move on to Italy. [These are the four we thought would do well.] Italy, get ready to receive, from the public, 318 points [Bookies’ favourite. Remember how well Finland did.] That means Italy is now in first position. Italy is in the lead. [Wow! Of course, we don’t know how many points are left, but there were so many zeroes at the beginning, there could well be more points left. But that looks very strong, really strong.]

There were now only four possible winners: Italy (who were currently in the lead), or one of the three countries still awaiting their televote points (Malta, France, Switzerland). Green Room shots of the artists representing Italy (top left), Switzerland (top right), France (bottom left) and Malta (bottom right) were displayed in four windows on screen during the next announcement.

Jan: Italy is in the lead, but three countries still haven’t received their points from the public yet. and those countries are Malta, France and Switzerland. Italy leads with 524 points, but we all know, things can still change. We move on to Malta. Malta has received, from the public, 47 points. [That is unbelievable. Oh, I feel so badly for her, just 18 years of age. I really thought she would have done better than that. That’s a wake-up call for France and Switzerland]

Green Room shots of the artists representing Italy, Switzerland and France were shown, left to right, across the screen, during the next announcement.

Chantal: Still in the lead is Italy, but bear in mind that two countries still need to receive their points from the public vote. So, the winner can be either Italy, or one of the two countries that haven’t received their points from the public vote, France or Switzerland. [I think Italy have probably got this in the bag. We’ll see.] It feels like almost everyone in Europe is holding their breath right now. We’re moving on. The next country is France. France, the public has decided, to give you 251 points. [Is that enough? No, no it’s not.] Everything, everything is balancing on this pivotal moment. [I think we’re off to Italy. I think we’re off to Italy.]

Green Room shots of the artists representing Italy and Switzerland were shown, left to right, across the screen, during the next announcement.

Jan: So only one country left. Italy is currently in first place, and Switzerland has not received their points yet. One of you will be the winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 2021. [I’d have thought France would do better in the popular vote than Switzerland. They need to get at least 258.]

Chantal: If Switzerland gets at least 258 points, they win. So, it’s either Italy or it’s Switzerland. Who will be the winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 2021? [I’d be very surprised if Switzerland get that much in the popular vote, but this has been full of surprises tonight.]

Jan: So, here’s a recap, Switzerland needs at least 258 points to win. Are you ready? Switzerland has got, from the public, 165 points. [A good result for Switzerland, but not enough at the end.]

Altogether, announcement of the televoting totals took about 16 minutes. Just before the scoreboard was shown for the final time, the UK's televoting results were displayed at the bottom of the screen, and Graham Norton read each of the ten scores out. Did other countries' broadcasters present their own televoting points in a similar manner?

When the scoreboard was shown for the last time (with Switzerland's televoting total included), it looked like this:

1	Italy	524	14	Sweden	109
2	France	499	15	Serbia	102
3	Switzerland	432	16	Cyprus	94
4	Iceland	378	17	Israel	93
5	Ukraine	364	18	Norway	75
6	Finland	301	19	Belgium	74
7	Malta	255	20	Azerbaijan	65
8	Lithuania	220	21	Albania	57
9	Russia	204	22	San Marino	50
10	Greece	170	23	Netherlands	11
11	Bulgaria	170	24	Spain	6
12	Portugal	153	25	Germany	3
13	Moldova	115	26	United Kingdom	0

Here is a summary of the televote totals, in order of announcement:

United Kingdom	0
Germany	0
Spain	0
Netherlands	0
Norway	60
Serbia	82
Albania	35
Azerbaijan	33
San Marino	13
Sweden	63
Cyprus	44
Moldova	62
Lithuania	165
Belgium	3
Israel	20
Finland	218
Greece	79
Ukraine	267
Russia	100
Portugal	27
Bulgaria	30
Iceland	180
Italy	318
Malta	47
France	251
Switzerland	165

Italy won with a final score of 524 points. With a possible maximum of 12 jury points from each of the other 38 countries (including the 13 semi-finalists which failed to qualify), i.e., 456, plus 12 televoting points from each of the other 38 countries, i.e., 456, the maximum achievable score was 912 points. Thus, Italy won with 57.46% of the maximum possible score, which is quite low. The record for the winner with the highest percentage of the maximum possible score since 1975 still rests with United Kingdom - Brotherhood of Man "Save Your Kisses For Me"; 80.4% in 1976.

An in-depth analysis of the jury voting and televoting is available here.

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Jury and Televoting Comparison

A sortable table, with all the jury, televoting and final points and placings, is shown below.

#	Finalist	Jury Total	Jury Count	Jury Place	Televote Total	Televote Count	Televote Place	Combined Total	Combined Place	Tele-Jury Pts Diff	Tele-Jury Place Diff
1	Cyprus	50	11	16	44	7	15	94	16	-6	1
2	Albania	22	4	20	35	5	16	57	21	13	4
3	Israel	73	17	12	20	4	20	93	17	-53	-8
4	Belgium	71	17	13	3	2	22	74	19	-68	-9
5	Russia	104	21	8	100	22	8	204	9	-4	0
6	Malta	208	35	3	47	15	14	255	7	-161	-11
7	Portugal	126	22	7	27	6	19	153	12	-99	-12
8	Serbia	20	3	21	82	12	9	102	15	62	12
9	United Kingdom	0	0	26	0	0	23	0	26	0	3
10	Greece	91	15	10	79	11	10	170	10	-12	0
11	Switzerland	267	34	1	165	34	6	432	3	-102	-5
12	Iceland	198	28	5	180	29	5	378	4	-18	0
13	Spain	6	2	24	0	0	24	6	24	-6	0
14	Moldova	53	6	15	62	11	12	115	13	9	3
15	Germany	3	2	25	0	0	25	3	25	-3	0
16	Finland	83	19	11	218	37	4	301	6	135	7
17	Bulgaria	140	26	6	30	5	18	170	11	-110	-12
18	Lithuania	55	12	14	165	27	7	220	8	110	7
19	Ukraine	97	19	9	267	38	2	364	5	170	7
20	France	248	33	2	251	38	3	499	2	3	-1
21	Azerbaijan	32	9	19	33	12	17	65	20	1	2
22	Norway	15	5	22	60	16	13	75	18	45	9
23	Netherlands	11	5	23	0	0	26	11	23	-11	-3
24	Italy	206	28	4	318	38	1	524	1	112	3
25	Sweden	46	10	17	63	18	11	109	14	17	6
26	San Marino	37	7	18	13	3	21	50	22	-24	-3

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Trophy Presentation

As the scoreboard was shown for the final time, Måneskin proceeded from the Green Room to the stage to receive the winner's trophy, which was planned to be presented by the 2019 winner Duncan Laurence, but since he was unable to be present, the trophy was presented by Chantal. Once Måneskin had their trophy, the lead singer took the opportunity to give a short speech. Edsilia, Chantal, Jan and Nikkie appeared together on stage for the last time to give their closing speeches.

Reprise

Finally, Måneskin, performed their winning song “Zitti E Buoni” again. During the later stages of their performance, closing credits appeared at the left-hand side of the screen. UK viewers also saw the BBC's own additional credits at the bottom of the screen. Finally, the Eurovision ident accompanied by Charpentier's Te Deum prelude "Marche en rondeau" marked the end of the show.

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And Finally

Altogether another great Contest. Well done to the Dutch broadcasters AVROTROS, NOS, NPO for producing the two semi-finals and Grand Final. Under the present circumstances, it’s something of a miracle that all the artists (other than Montaigne) were able to travel to Rotterdam, and of those that were there, all except Daði og Gagnamagnið were able to perform their acts live during the relevant televised shows.

Most of the songs in the Grand Final were OK or very good. There were just a few “Definitely don't want to qualify” countries which went through against my wishes both semi-final evenings (Russia and Belgium on Tuesday, Moldova on Thursday). I would have preferred two out of Australia, Croatia and North Macedonia to have qualified instead of Russia and Belgium on Tuesday evening, and Denmark to have qualified in place of Moldova on Thursday evening. Nonetheless I appreciate many people have different musical tastes to me. At the end of the day, I cannot possibly expect to have all the songs I personally like the most qualify for the final and have all the ones I dislike eliminated in the semi-finals.

Congratulations to Måneskin for winning with a combined total of 524 points. Although “Zitti E Buoni”, as a hard rock / heavy metal song is not my taste in music, there are plenty of hard rock / heavy metal fans out there, who enjoy this genre. That means Italy has scored its third victory to-date. Italy: Winners 1964, 1990, 2021. 31 years' gap between wins (1990 - 2021). To be fair though, Italy was absent from 1994 to 1996 inclusive, and from 1998 to 2010 inclusive, so their number of participations between wins is considerably less than 31.

Commiserations to the United Kingdom, which finished last with a combined total of 0 points. That means “Embers” is the first song to score outright “nul points” (0 from the juries and 0 from the public) in a Eurovision Song Contest Grand Final since the introduction of the two-part voting system in 2016. Although three other countries (Germany, Spain and Netherlands) also received 0 points in the televoting, they each scored a few points in the jury vote. It has to be said, “Embers” was performed between Serbia’s “Loco Loco” and Greece’s “Last Dance”, both of which I thought were slightly livelier than “Embers”. Presumably that may possibly have put “Embers” at a disadvantage. Furthermore, in hindsight, I think “Embers” has a number of similarities to “omaga” (Czech Republic) and “The Ride” (Poland), both of which failed to qualify from the Second Semi-Final on Thursday evening. If the United Kingdom had to participate that evening (rather than just vote), and the top twelve countries had qualified, I think “Embers” would have failed to qualify. Anyway, at least James Newman handled the situation very well, and other countries’ artists cheered him, when 0 public vote points to the United Kingdom was announced. Although it is disappointing for any country to finish last in the Grand Final, particularly with no points at all, it should be borne in mind that, this year, 13 countries failed to reach the final. At the end of the day, the important thing is not to win, but to participate.

Roll on the 2022 Eurovision Song Contest from Italy. Can RAI do as well or better? Time will tell. Mark my words, next year's Contest will tell another story as far as the results are concerned, especially if the EBU retains the method of separate jury and televoting points from each country. Who knows, the UK might win next year!

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