Eurovision Song Contest 2023 Grand Final

Host country: United Kingdom (BBC)
Venue: Liverpool Arena, Liverpool, United Kingdom
Hosts: Alesha Dixon, Julia Sanina, Hannah Waddingham, Graham Norton
Date: Saturday 13 May 2023

N.B. Any use of “tonight” or “this evening” throughout this post means Saturday 13 May 2023. Any use of “Tuesday” means Tuesday 9 May 2023, whereas any reference to “Thursday” means Thursday 11 May 2023. Any use of “this year” means 2023, whereas “last year” means 2022 and “next year” means 2024. All times in this post are in BST.

This year, Graham Norton served two duties; one of the hosts for some parts of the show and commentator for BBC One / BBC One HD viewers in the UK during other parts of the show. During the parts when Graham Norton was a stage host, Mel Giedroyc provided the commentary for BBC One / BBC One HD viewers in the UK. I’ve made it clear what role Graham Norton served in different parts of the show. I've mentioned some of Graham's or Mel’s background comments (which were intended for UK viewers only) at various points hereafter; if you saw the Contest outside the UK, you won't have heard their comments.

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

Kalush Orchestra - “Voices of a New Generation”

After the usual Eurovision ident, accompanied by Charpentier's Te Deum prelude, the Grand Final began with a pre-recorded video of Kalush Orchestra performing their winning song “Stefania” in a Ukrainian underground station. A clip of Sam Ryder, playing a guitar atop the Liver Building, Liverpool, and a clip of Andrew Lloyd Webber, playing a grand piano, were briefly shown during the video. When the video ended, there was a seamless transition to a group of drummers on the circular area at the front of the Liverpool Arena stage (meanwhile, Kalush Orchestra could be heard performing “Stefania”). When the drummers disappeared, Kalush Orchestra could be seen performing “Stefania” live, on the main part of the stage. Images on the background screen included a large face. After that, Kalush Orchestra sang part of their latest single “Changes”. Finally, they sang two more instances of the “Stefania” chorus. Their live performance ended with a burst of fireworks, around the stage.

Flag Parade

As soon as Kalush Orchestra finished their performance, a voice-over announced “Live, from Liverpool, this is the Grand Final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2023”. This led seamlessly into the flag parade, in which all twenty-six finalists entered the stage, in the order they were planned to perform. For each finalist country, curved lines appeared on the background screen, in the country’s national flag colours, and vertical lines appeared in the centre of the background screen, again in the country’s national flag colours. At this point, the country’s name was announced, and the artist representing that country entered the stage, carrying the applicable country’s flag. At certain points in the parade there were breaks, during which the following former Ukrainian Eurovision entrants performed parts of their competing songs:
• Between appearances of Cyprus and Spain: Go_A with "Shum" (2021 entry).
• Between appearances of Finland and Czechia: Jamala with her winning song "1944" (2016 entry).
• Between appearances of Norway and Germany: Tina Karol with "Show Me Your Love" (2006 entry).
• After appearance of United Kingdom: Verka Serduchka with "Dancing Lasha Tumbai" (2007 entry).

As Blanca Paloma, representing Spain, entered the stage, Graham Norton explained to BBC One / BBC One HD viewers that he was doing double duty tonight; that being UK viewers’ commentary and stage host. In order for him to proceed to the stage, he handed responsibility for BBC One / BBC One HD background commentary over to Mel Giedroyc.

Opening Speeches

After Verka Serduchka left the stage, Alesha Dixon, Julia Sanina, Hannah Waddingham and Graham Norton entered the stage to give their opening speeches. There was a burst of fireworks as they entered. The speeches included a brief explanation of why the United Kingdom was hosting this year, instead of last year’s winning country Ukraine, and a ranking of the countries that had three or more wins in the history of the Eurovision Song Contest (a list in descending order was shown on the background screen). Of course, Luxembourg, with 5 victories, appeared on the list despite not taking part since 1993, but Graham stated that Luxembourg have announced that they want to rejoin in 2024.

Back to the top

The Songs

At 20:19 BST it was time for the first song. Each song was introduced by a back stage shot of the artist, with the country name at the bottom centre of the screen. This led into the postcard film, which featured a chosen location in Ukraine, followed by one in the United Kingdom, and finally one in the artist's country of origin. All three scenes were linked by a common theme, e.g. City halls for Austria’s postcard. The transition from postcard film to song was layered hearts in the country’s flag colours, which disappeared to reveal the country's name, song title and artist name in the centre of the screen, with other details appearing at the bottom right-hand corner. In addition, curved lines appeared at the left-hand side of the screen and vertical lines appeared at the right-hand side of the screen; both sets of lines were in the country’s flag colours.

Song 1: Austria - Teya & Salena “Who The Hell Is Edgar?” (15th place, 120 points)

This was one of my “Prefer not to qualify” songs on Thursday evening, but it was obvious this was one of the songs most likely to qualify that evening, and I’d have been shocked if this had not qualified. Just like the preview video, the song began with three lines, which sound spoken rather than sung: During this section, the beat began. The first verse proper has a reference to Edgar Allan Poe. According to Wikipedia, he was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic who is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre. I’m mystified as to why Teya & Salena would want to sing a song about him, or which refers to him, at Eurovision. There is a notable change for the pre-chorus; I’d say this part sounds echoey. The chorus is very repetitive, due to the large number of instances of “Poe”. After another verse, the second instance of the chorus has a beat throughout. The Eurovision performance began with an image of an Edgar badged typewriter, with a page appearing, on the background screen at the start. It was clever how a head-and-shoulders image of Poe progressively appeared on that page during this time. Later images included red topped dancers on the background screen, and they became numerous during instances of the chorus. At the end, the large number of images of red topped dancers were zoomed out to cleverly form an image of Edgar’s face. Altogether a lively, catchy song to open the Grand Final, Teya & Salena sang well, and I liked the images at the start and end, but the chorus is far too repetitive for my liking. There was a considerable difference of opinion between the juries and the public, because this finished 8th with 104 points in the jury vote, but only 22nd with 16 points in the televoting. Consequently, this finished 15th with 120 points overall.

At the end of this song, Graham Norton said he had returned to the UK commentary box, and took over responsibility for BBC One / BBC One HD viewers’ commentary. He said Mel Giedroyc would be back later.

Song 2: Portugal - Mimicat “Ai Coração” (23rd place, 59 points)

I watched Festival da Canção 2023 Final online from the UK, on demand, one day late. This was among the songs I most wanted to qualify from the First Semi-Final on Tuesday evening, and one of the songs I thought was likely to qualify that evening. The beginning of “Ai Coração” seems fairly slow. From the first chorus it’s quite lively, with a good beat, and plenty of dancing. This sounds to me like something from decades ago. According to Google Translate, Coração means Heart. Just like in the First Semi-Final, the Grand Final performance included considerable use of red light; however white lighting was used at certain points in the song. In addition, Mimicat and her dancers all wore red outfits. The three beats at the very end were a good way to round off this entry. Altogether, quite a lively, catchy song, well sung and well staged; however, unlike the Festival da Canção Final performance, there was no heart or cogs on the background screen in Liverpool. Some described this as a cabaret song, but I’m mystified as to why that is. This finished 18th with 43 points in the jury vote, 23nd with 16 points in the televote and 23rd with 59 points overall. Although the jury placing was about right for this song, I think this was slightly under-rated by the public.

Song 3: Switzerland - Remo Forrer “Watergun” (20th place, 92 points)

This power ballad was among the songs I most wanted to qualify from the First Semi-Final on Tuesday evening, but it was also one of the songs I thought was least likely to qualify that evening. Amazingly, this qualified, and I’m glad it did. There are two noticeable parts, in terms of the manner in which they are sung and musically; the piano up is clearly noticeable until the end of the first chorus, and the powerful beat during most of the rest of the song. It’s hardly surprising therefore, that the staging included white / blue lights from the background screens up until the end of the first chorus. After that, the staging included red / orange lights and white flashing lights, along with fireworks and smoke effects. On the whole, a good power ballad, and well staged. Furthermore, Remo has a good voice; he sang equally well in the First Semi-Final and Grand Final, and demonstrated his ability to sing softly and powerfully in one song. This finished 14th with 61 points in the jury vote, and 18th with 31 points in the televote. Anomalously, this ended up 20th with 92 points overall. This was an example of a song which placed slightly lower overall than in either half of the voting.

Song 4: Poland - Blanka “Solo” (19th place, 93 points)

Is this really Poland's entry and not Spain's? This song sounds very Spanish style to me. This was on my “Wouldn't mind qualifying” list on Thursday evening. According to Wiwibloggs, “Solo” is a sensual summertime anthem about knowing your self-worth and finding power in independence. The song begins with an introduction, consisting of electronic music with a beat. This leads into the first verse, which has a regular beat. There’s a change in the beat during the pre-chorus, including a rapid beat on its last line. The chorus is bouncy, very catchy, and enhanced by a beat. After the second verse, the second instance of the pre-chorus and the second instance of the chorus, the Eurovision performances featured an instrumental break, with a powerful beat; I don’t recall this instrumental in the preview video. During the bridge, there is a notable change in the tune compared to other parts of the song. There is a softer beat here, but various sounds can be heard in this part of the song. Finally, the song draws to a close, with one more instance of the chorus. The Eurovision performances of “Solo” began with a video tape effect, complete with noise bars, during the introduction. Background images thereafter included a hand pattern, on a starry background, during the first instance of the chorus, palm trees, with the background changing colour, during the second verse, a beach scene, with palm trees either side, during the second instance of the chorus, the sun during the instrumental break and palm trees during the final instance of the chorus. Fireworks around the stage edge enhanced the song during the second and final instances of the chorus. Altogether, an upbeat disco song, with a bouncy, catchy chorus. It’s got the typical pop song structure: verse, pre-chorus, chorus, verse, pre-chorus, chorus, bridge, chorus, and you can clearly spot those parts just by listening to the song. Unsurprisingly for a song of this style, this featured a well-choreographed dance routine during the instrumental break, and plenty more dancing in other parts of the song. I think Blanka sang better in the Grand Final than in the Second Semi-Final on Thursday, but I still feel this entry is to be valued more for the screen images and the dancing than for the quality of the singing. This finished 24th with 12 points in the jury vote, 8th with 81 points in the televote and 19th with 93 points overall. I think this was under-rated by the juries and over-rated by the public; 14th place (or thereabouts) would have been more appropriate in both halves of the voting, and overall.

Song 5: Serbia - Luke Black “Samo Mi Se Spava” (24th place, 30 points)

Serbia has gone for a rather unusual song this year. According to the Eurovision website, Luke has a unique brand of indie-techno-pop; he uses classic pop influences as his canvas which he then paints over with experimental, electronic and indie sounds. As for the song’s content, Wiwibloggs website states “Samo mi se spava” translates to “I just want to sleep”. “Samo mi se spava” stands out for its memorable use of metaphors that reference video game language throughout, with phrases including “I don’t wanna choose my fighter, who’s taking control of me?”, and “Hello? Game over”. The lyrics describe Luke’s desire to escape feelings of hopelessness and despair. This was one of my "Prefer not to qualify" entries in the First Semi-Final on Tuesday evening, but it was obvious this was highly likely to qualify. The Eurovision performances included the giant leaf on a pedestal structure, just like the official preview video (which I presume to be the Pesma za Evroviziju 2023 Final performance). Just like in the preview video, Luke began by singing whilst lying down on the leaf, but by the pre-chorus, he sat up (and was accompanied by flashing blue lights in the background). During the first chorus, he stepped down on to the stage, and performed standing thereafter. Subsequent effects included a starry effect on the background screen and blue lights during the second verse, red and white flashing lights, plus a giant image on the background screen during the second instance of the chorus. The highlight, near the end, featured plenty of red lighting, plus a robot image and flame effects on the background screen. This mix of electronic / techno music is not my cup of tea, but no doubt there are plenty who enjoy this style, and I think Luke has been clever with the electronic keyboard, including special effects, combined with beats here. Furthermore, he gave a good performance in the First Semi-Final and Grand Final, and the staging was appropriate for this style of song. This finished 23rd with 14 points in the jury vote and 21st with 16 points in the televote. That showed a degree of consistency, with similar placings and points, between the juries and public. Despite that, this anomalously ended up 24th overall with 30 points. This was another example of a song which placed slightly lower overall than in either half of the voting. Anyway, this entry ended up in the place range I feel it deserved in both halves of the voting, and overall.

Song 6: France - La Zarra “Évidemment” (16th place, 104 points)

The first Big Five entry of the night, that being France. A beautiful ballad, sung in French. At least this sounds like a true French song, unlike last year. Undeniably, this sounds like something from decades ago, but I see it as timeless rather than dated. The title translates as “Obviously”. Musically, the introduction provides the perfect start to this song. For the Eurovision performance, La Zarra performed on a predominantly dark stage, lit by white light beams from overhead and/or the rear as the song progressed. From the start, it looked as though La Zarra was performing high above the stage. This was partly due to an extremely long skirt, which appeared to touch the stage at the start of the song. By the first instance of the chorus, it was clear that she was on what looked like a plinth. During the second instance of the pre-chorus, she was elevated still further; it was now clear that the plinth was atop a rising column. At the start of the second instance of the chorus, the plinth sides were illuminated bright white. The resulting upward and downward white light beams, from the plinth sides, provided a spectacular effect thereafter. To speculate the significance of the plinth and column, it’s necessary to analyse the lyrics. The first instance of the pre-chorus includes the lines “On a beau être sur le toit du monde”, “‎‏On ne peut toucher le ciel du doigt” which translate as “Even at the top of the highest mountain, you still can’t touch the sky”. Presumably that explains why La Zarra performed so high up during the song. Towards the end, a French flag, made of dots on the background screen, briefly appeared. Altogether an excellent ballad from France, La Zarra has a beautiful voice and sang very well tonight, and the song was very well staged. The only element of the staging I question the need for was the falling fireworks at the end; I’m not sure they were really necessary in a song of this style. This finished 16th with 54 points in the jury vote, 14th with 50 points in the public vote and 16th with 104 points overall. At least this song received similar scores from the juries and the public, but I think this should have finished 11th or 12th in both halves of the voting, and overall.

At this point, Alesha Dixon gave a short speech. This was followed by clips from the semi-finals which took place earlier in the week.

Song 7: Cyprus - Andrew Lambrou “Break A Broken Heart” (12th place, 126 points)

This was among the entries I most wanted to qualify from the Second Semi-Final on Thursday evening, and one of the songs I thought was likely to qualify that evening. As anticipated, this qualified. “Break A Broken Heart” is a power ballad. The introduction is quite an unusual style, which is difficult to describe. The early part of the opening verse has no beat, but there is a noticeable beat during the last three lines of the first verse, and during the pre-chorus. The chorus is sung in quite a powerful manner; I particularly like the way Andrew sings the line “You can’t, you can’t break a broken heart”, followed by “No-o-o”, the latter of which provides a vital hook for the song. The second verse has a powerful beat from the outset. After the second instance of the pre-chorus, there is the second instance of the chorus. After the bridge, there is one final instance of the chorus. At Eurovision, this performance began with blue light beams and smoke effects during first verse. A significant feature was the waterfall effect, which was continuous during first two instances of the chorus, and intermittent during the second verse; however, it’s difficult to tell whether this was real, or simulated on the background screen. During the bridge, this was replaced with flames and sparks on the background screen for the rest of the song. Real flames also appeared around the stage edge towards the end of the performance. Altogether a powerful song, Andrew has a good voice and sang well tonight, and well staged. In my opinion, this was the best performance so far in the Grand Final. This finished 13th with 68 points in the jury vote, 11th with 58 points in the televote and 12th with 126 points overall. I feel this was under-rated; this ought to have finished at least top ten, if not top five, in both halves of the voting and overall.

Song 8: Spain - Blanca Paloma “Eaea” (17th place, 100 points)

The second Big Five entry of the night, that being Spain. This was one of the few songs I had barely previewed before Eurovision Week, and during the live Grand Final performance, this seemed very unusual to me. Looking at the official Eurovision website since then, I’ve discovered that Eaea contains flamenco-inspired sounds, mixed with avant-garde and modern pop. Looking at the song’s lyrics, it’s difficult to tell what was meant to be verses, choruses or some other parts. By far the most memorable line is “Ya ea ea, Ya ea ea”; this appears twice or three times in succession at various points in the song. Another block which appears more than once is “Mi niño, cuando me muera”, “Que me entierren en la luna”, followed by three instances of “Y toas las noches te vea”. According to the official translation on the Eurovision website, this means “My child, when I die”, “May they bury me in the moon”, “So that I’ll see you every night”. I’m mystified as to why this topic would be included in a song, but evidently, that’s what Blanca and her co-authors wanted. The Eurovision performance began with a close-up of Blanca’s head, and her microphone, silhouetted against a white background, during the two opening lines. I’m mystified as to the significance of the circular pen, containing vertical strands of red twine, where Blanca and her backing group performed in the early part of the song. For the rest of the song, Blanca and her backing group performed on another part of the stage. The backing group’s dance routine, if it can be called that, was mostly swaying and arm movements, but it was effective for this song. This song featured extensive use of red lighting. However, I question the need for the strobe lighting that appeared in certain parts of the song; I’m not sure that was appropriate in this style of song. Smoke effects were also included; I feel they were a worthwhile enhancement here. All in all, a rather out-of-the-ordinary song and performance; you either like this or you don’t. There was a massive difference of opinion between the juries and the public here, because this finished 9th with 95 points in the jury vote and 26th (last) with 5 points in the televote. I’m not surprised by this difference of opinion; evidently this style appears to be jury friendly material, but only a minority of viewers liked this enough to vote for this. Consequently, this ended up 17th with 100 points overall. It’s debatable whether this was fairly placed or not, but at least the song’s overall placing was about mid-way between its jury and public vote placings.

A break occurred at this point. During this break, Hannah and Julia gave a short speech. This was followed by clips of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2022, and a short speech from its winner, Lissandro. Upon return from the break, Alesha spoke for a little longer before introducing the next song.

Song 9: Sweden - Loreen “Tattoo” (Winner, 583 points)

I watched Melodifestivalen 2023 Final live, online from the UK, on 11 March 2023. Loreen won the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 for Sweden with the song “Euphoria”. She returned this year, this time with the song “Tattoo”. This was among the entries I most wanted to qualify from the First Semi-Final on Tuesday evening, and one of the songs that was almost certain to qualify that evening. Having analysed the lyrics, it seems to me as though this is about a couple who aren’t ready to commit to a relationship yet, but it’s not over yet, and there is still hope for a successful relationship in the future, when the time is right. As for the chorus, it seems this is stating that one partner is determined to have a successful relationship with the other, no matter what challenges that requires. Just like the Melodifestivalen performance, the most significant and memorable part of her staging was the “giant sandwich”, with the upper layer being gradually raised during the performance. It’s unclear whether this was the same “sandwich” as used at Melodifestivalen, or a substitute, but it looked effective on the Liverpool Arena stage. The lighting tonight was similar to that in Melodifestivalen, and the smoke / dry ice effect enhanced the performance. Altogether an outstanding package; Loreen has a powerful voice, she sang exceptionally well tonight, and this song was very well staged. It’s hardly surprising this was strongly tipped to win the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 outright for several weeks before the event. Unsurprisingly, this won the jury vote by a landslide, with a jury total of 340 points. This also proved popular with the public, as this finished 2nd with 243 televote points, despite not receiving any 12-point televote scores. When the two sets of points were added together, this won the Contest with 583 points. A well-deserved winner.

An extended time filler was required at this point, during which Hannah and Julia told viewers about the Eurovision App and score sheet.

Song 10: Albania - Albina & Familja Kelmendi “Duje” (22nd place, 76 points)

This was on my “Wouldn't mind qualifying” list in the Second Semi-Final on Thursday evening, and a song I had my doubts about qualifying that evening. In hindsight, I’m glad this qualified. According to the song’s background information on the official Eurovision website, Duje is about the role of love in the family, and overcoming every challenge that life brings. According to Wikipedia, the title "Duje" translates as “Love it”. I particularly like the introduction, chorus and instrumentals elsewhere, but I’m less keen on the opening verse and pre-chorus. It’s understandable that the opening verse and pre-chorus are sung in the manner they are, because from what I can gather, from an English translation of the lyrics, they are about a rather sad subject. To fully appreciate this song, I think you need to preview it multiple times, both watching the official video and then just listening whilst following the lyrics, and read the song’s background information. Casual viewers who watched tonight’s show, having not previewed any of the songs, let alone read any background information about the entries, are unlikely to have appreciated this. Various unusual images appeared on the background screen during the performance; I liked the red images early on, and the starry effect near the end. Towards the end, the performance was enhanced by flame effects. Altogether, a good Balkan style ballad, and better still it was performed in Albanian Furthermore, Albina has a beautiful voice, and sang well tonight. This finished a rather disappointing 21st with 17 points in the jury vote. In the light of what the song is about, I’d have thought this would have been a jury friendly song, and would have fared much better with the juries. Thankfully, but surprisingly, this finished a much more deserved 10th with 59 points in the public vote. Even so, this ended up 22nd (lower than the jury placing) overall with 76 points, which was a pity. This ought to have finished considerably higher with the juries and overall.

Song 11: Italy - Marco Mengoni “Due Vite” (4th place, 350 points)

The third Big Five entry of the night, that being Italy. Marco Mengoni previously represented Italy, with the song "L'essenziale", in the Eurovision Song Contest 2013. He returned this year, with the ballad “Due Vite”. The title means “Two lives”. The version of the song performed live at Eurovision had a short introduction; just a few piano notes. Marco sang the first verse quite softly, and the opening piano sound could be clearly heard through this verse. This was followed by the first pre-chorus; the piano sound here was noticeably more harmonised, and the pace built up. Marco sang this in a slightly more powerful manner. The chorus was sung in quite a powerful manner. The English translation of the chorus is as follows: “If this is the last song”, “And then the moon will explode”, “I’ll be there to tell you you’re wrong”, “You’re wrong and you know it”. Between the end of the chorus and the start of the second verse there was the same sequence of piano notes as at the beginning of the song. The first line of the second verse is the same as the first line of the first verse, but the rest of the second verse is different. Marco sings this verse in a more powerful manner than the first verse. There is a beat in the second verse, but the piano sound can still be heard. I think the beat and the piano sound go well together here. The second pre-chorus has several lines which differ to the first pre-chorus. This is sung at a faster pace than the second verse. There is a beat in this pre-chorus, but the piano can still be heard. The second instance of the chorus is next, and unlike the first instance, this has a beat. It’s unclear from looking at the lyrics what follows next, but it seems that the section from “E tu non dormi” to “Due vite guarda che disordine” is a bridge, and what follows is a third instance of the chorus. Both of these are sung in a powerful, lively manner. The song closed with piano notes just like the introduction. The Eurovision 2023 performance was on a predominantly dark stage, with Marco under a light beam, and smoke effects, during the first verse and first pre-chorus. During the first instance of the chorus, a large white circle appeared on the background screen, along with light beams from the sides. Presumably the large circle was a way arf representing the Moon. Clouds appeared on the background screen during the second verse. During the second instance of the chorus, an image of the Moon appeared at the bottom of the background screen, along with more clouds. Near the end, the stage floor turned white, and the background screen images became brighter. Altogether an excellent ballad, Marco has a beautiful voice, and sang very well live in the Grand Final. Furthermore, the song was well staged; the subtle lighting was just what this style of ballad called for. The only element of the staging I question the need for was the two sets of steps at the back, with two men going from the steps on to what appeared to be a trampoline, and back. By the end of the performance, I thought this could do well. This ended up 3rd with 176 points in the jury vote, 6th with 174 points in the public vote and 4th with 350 points overall. This result was about right for this ballad; it was good enough for top five but not worthy of winning.

Song 12: Estonia - Alika “Bridges” (8th place, 168 points)

This was among the entries I most wanted to qualify from the Second Semi-Final on Thursday evening, but one I thought only had a borderline chance of qualifying that evening. Amazingly, this qualified, and I’m glad it did. It’s a power ballad, starting with a piano introduction. The most notable feature, during the Eurovision performance, was the self-playing grand piano. Alika sang the first verse quite softly, with the grand piano behind her. Just like the preview video, she sang each instance of the chorus in quite a bouncy manner, and I particularly liked the way she sang “Bridges” when it appeared. During the first instance of the chorus, Alika sat at the piano, appearing to be playing it. She stood up for the rest of the song. During the second verse, the notable sequence of piano notes could be heard after each line. The second instance of the chorus is longer than the previous one. Alika sang this instance of the chorus in a more powerful manner, effectively as build-up to the most powerful part of the song, that being the bridge. A blue marble effect appeared on background during the bridge. The song drew to a close with another instance of the extended length, 12-line chorus. Gold streaks appeared on the background and stage floor near the end. Altogether, an excellent song from Estonia, I’d say this would be good as the opening song for a James Bond film, due to its structure, including the characteristic finish. Furthermore, Alika has a beautiful voice and sang well tonight. Sadly, there was a wide difference of opinion between the juries and the public. After finishing a well-deserved 5th place, with 146 points, in the jury vote, this scored a very disappointing 19th place, with just 22 points in the televote. As a result, this ended up 8th with 168 points overall. This masterpiece was cruelly penalised by the disappointing public vote result; this deserved to be top five in both halves of the voting, and overall.

Song 13: Finland - Käärijä “Cha Cha Cha” (2nd place, 526 points)

I watched Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu 2023 Final live, online from the UK, on 25 February 2023. Their entry was performed in Finnish this year. This is a song of two distinct halves. I don't know what genre the first part of this is meant to be; to me it sounds like a mixture of rap and dubstep. Whatever it is, it's not my taste in music. Part way through it changes to a totally different style. Whether or not it's to one's personal taste, it's certainly a lively, unforgettable entry. Analysing an English version of the lyrics, this is about enjoying a night out, and having plenty of drinks until one's eyes are crossed and one's speech is slurred, along with dancing. Just like the UMK Final performance, tonight’s performance began with the lead singer inside the box, but part way into the song, he broke his way out through the top, and stood atop the box. Later he performed on stage. Also, just like the UMK performance, the lead singer wore his lime green top, and dancers, dressed in pink, were present on stage. This made considerable use of strobe lighting early on, but towards the end, this had static lighting in all colours of the rainbow on the background screen and stage floor. Altogether not my taste in music, which is why this ended up on my “Prefer not to qualify” list in the First Semi-Final on Tuesday evening, but it was obvious this was almost guaranteed to qualify that evening, and even I would have been shocked if this hadn’t qualified. Evidently plenty of people enjoy this style, because this won the public vote by a landslide, with a total of 376 televote points. Even the juries liked this, because this finished 4th with 150 points in the jury vote; I didn’t think this would finish anywhere near that high in the jury vote. When the two sets of points were added together, this ended up 2nd with 526 points overall, which was hardly surprising (during the live performance, I guessed this would be the runner-up tonight).

Song 14: Czechia - Vesna “My Sister's Crown” (10th place, 129 points)

Czechia has participated under the name Czech Republic in the past, but this is their first time of taking part under the name Czechia. The song “My Sister's Crown” is in English, Czech, Ukrainian and Bulgarian. Vesna are certainly being adventurous putting four languages in one song, but it’s ironic that they’re including Bulgarian in the song considering that Bulgaria isn’t taking part in the Eurovision Song Contest this year. This opening section, sung in Czech, sounds quite unusual; I think it sounds rather eastern style, but there is a noticeable beat within this section. The next few sections, in English, are in a noticeably different style. As for the Eurovision performance, the opening Czech section included Czech lyrics on the stage floor, and the English section, which followed, included “We’re not your dolls” on the background screen. Light beams also appeared during the performance. Unsurprisingly for a song of this style, the six-member group danced during the performance, in perfect synchronisation in some parts. During the section starting “All the sisters of the world”, the group members formed a tight circle, facing outwards. All in all, a rather unusual song from Czechia. It’s not the usual verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge, chorus structure; in fact, it’s difficult to say exactly what the different sections, in noticeably different styles, are. I particularly liked the Ukrainian section starting “Sestro krasyva”, but there are some parts that I’m not that keen on. Anyway, Vesna gave a good performance tonight and this was well-staged. There was a considerable difference of opinion between the juries and public here, because this finished 10th with 94 points in the jury vote, but only 17th with 35 points in the televote. Amazingly, this still managed to finish 10th with 129 points overall. I think this was a tad over-rated by the juries; the public vote placing is a closer reflection of where this should have ended up in both halves of the voting and overall.

Another time filler was required at this point. Firstly, a trailer was shown, previewing what was coming up during the interval act. Next, Alesha introduced Australia’s entry.

Song 15: Australia - Voyager “Promise” (9th place, 151 points)

Australia entered a rock song this year. I’m not normally keen on rock, but unusually for me, I actually enjoyed this in the Second Semi-Final on Thursday evening, and therefore this was one of my “Definitely want to qualify” songs that evening. Furthermore, Australia was among the countries I thought was almost certain to qualify that evening, and as expected, it qualified. “Promise” has a good beat throughout, and guitar sounds can be heard at times. By far the most memorable line is “Promise me it’s gonna be alright.”; that provides the hook for this song. I’m mystified as to why the lead singer performed the early part of the song seated in a car, but he left the car and performed directly on the stage after the first instance of the chorus. During one instance of the chorus, the illusion of driving at high speed was created with a moving road on the background screen behind the car. City scenes also featured in the background screen images. Altogether a very lively, catchy, rock song; it was very well performed, and very well staged; I enjoyed the Grand Final performance as much as the semi-final performance. There was a massive difference of opinion between the juries and the public here. This finished a well-deserved 6th place with 130 points in the jury vote. Sadly, this was grossly under-rated by the public; 20th place with 21 televote points. Consequently, this ended 9th with 151 points overall, which thankfully was still a top ten placing. I expected this to receive a much higher score from the public; I think this deserved at least 100 televote points.

Song 16: Belgium - Gustaph “Because Of You” (7th place, 182 points)

This was one of my “Definitely want to qualify” entries in the Second Semi-Final on Thursday evening, and one of the songs I thought was likely to qualify that evening, so I was glad this qualified. The song “Because Of You” began with a shortened form of the chorus, which provided the ideal lead-in to the first verse. Gustaph performed the lines of the first verse in a powerful and bouncy manner. This was followed by the first full-length chorus, the second verse and another instance of the chorus. After that, section starting “I’ll carry on” effectively serves as a bridge: Just like the preview video, Gustaph seemed to vary the speed at which he sang the lines in this section. During the Eurovision performances, the background screen and stage floor were white much of the time. Black images and some of the lyrics appeared in capital letters on the background screen, just like in the preview video. Altogether, a lively, catchy disco / party song. Drum beats and cymbal sounds feature heavily in this song, and there is good use of the saxophone at certain points in this song. Furthermore, Gustaph has a good voice, and sang in a powerful manner at Eurovision. I thought this would do well in the public vote, unlike the ballads Belgium entered in 2021 and 2022. As it happened, “Because Of You” finished a well-deserved 7th place with 127 points in the jury vote. Sadly, this fared less well ii the public vote; a middle-of-the-road 12th place with 55 televote points. Although that wasn’t a bad televote points score, I think this deserved at least 100 points, and a higher placing, from the public. With the two sets of points added together, this ended up 7th with 182 points overall; at least this placed as high overall as it did in the jury vote.

A break occurred at this point. During this break, Alesha and Julia gave a speech. Alesha explained that Graham Norton was working a double shift tonight, that being commentary for UK viewers as well as a host. Shots of Graham in the commentary booth were shown. Julia said that fans can buy the official Eurovision 2023 DVD, CD and vinyl album. Upon return from the break, Hannah spoke for a little longer before introducing the next song.

Song 17: Armenia - Brunette “Future Lover” (14th place, 122 points)

Another of my “Definitely want to qualify” entries in the Second Semi-Final on Thursday evening, and one of the songs I thought was almost certain to qualify that evening. Looking at the lyrics, “Future Lover” is clearly a love song. Just like in the preview video, Brunette sang the opening verse and the pre-chorus in quite a bouncy manner. The piano sound was noticeable during the first verse and the pre-chorus, just like in the preview video. She performed lying down during the opening verse, but sat up for the pre-chorus. The chorus is “I decide to be good, do good, look good,” four times over. Up until this point, there were amazing flowing patterns on the stage floor; these were pink during the opening verse and pre-chorus, and white during the chorus. The long section from “It's like a daydream, but I got some other, better plans” to “My pain, my panic attacks, oh.” appears to be a bridge, but due to the sudden change of singing style, it’s almost another song within the song. Just like the preview video, Brunette sang the lines in this section very rapidly, and in a powerful manner, almost angrily at times. Brunette stood up for this section, and the stage floor frequently changed between black and white. This section was followed by an instrumental section, including a powerful beat. During this instrumental section, Brunette danced on stage, and this part of the song was enhanced by strobe lighting and smoke effects. The rest of the song was a second instance of the chorus, followed by the outro, accompanied by white and pink flowing patterns on the stage floor. Light beams also appeared during the outro. Altogether, this is a song of two halves; almost two songs in one. It’s a ballad up to the end of the first chorus, and it’s a very powerful song during the long “bridge” section. An excellent performance; Brunette sang very well, and the staging was appropriate for the two totally different parts of the song. This finished 12th with 69 points in the jury vote and 13th with 53 points in the public vote. That showed a degree of consistency, with similar placings between the juries and public. Even so, this anomalously ended up 14th with 122 points overall, which was a pity. This was another example of a song which placed slightly lower overall than in either half of the voting. I think this ought to have finished 10th or 11th in both halves of the voting, and overall.

Song 18: Moldova - Pasha Parfeni “Soarele şi Luna” (18th place, 96 points)

Moldova has gone for what seems like an eastern style song this year. The song’s title means “Sun and Moon”. It has a good beat at certain points in the song, and I like the use of the flute at times. A notable feature of this song is the eight-line chorus, which is actually just four lines twice over; these mean “The Sun, the Sun, The Sun and the Moon, Will hold, will hold, Will hold our wedding crown.” Although a single instance of the chorus is repetitive within itself, it works well here. Unsurprisingly for an eastern style song, two band members played drums of some sort near the back of the stage, during the Eurovision performances. Notable background screen images included the giant eye at the start, followed by what looked like a totally eclipsed sun. Due to the way solar eclipses form, this was a good way of illustrating the song’s title. The red and yellow lights, and the smoke / dry ice effect enhanced the song. Altogether a lively song, well staged and well sung. Best of all, it was performed in Romanian. After all the First Semi-Final songs were performed on Tuesday evening, this ended up on my “Wouldn't mind qualifying” list. In hindsight, I’m glad this qualified. Thiis finished 20th with 20 points in the jury vote, which I feel was under-rated. Thankfully this did considerably better in the public vote, 9th with 76 points. Even so, this ended up 18th with 96 points overall; I think the overall place should have been a few places higher.

Before the next song, Alesha gave a short speech from the green room.

Song 19: Ukraine - TVORCHI “Heart Of Steel” (6th place, 243 points)

The fourth automatic qualifier was last year’s winning country Ukraine. Jeffery and Andrii, performing under the name TVORCHI, are a Ukrainian electronic music duo. According to the Eurovision website, the song “Heart Of Steel” is about being free in your actions, expressions and thoughts, and to keep going no matter how exhausted and wounded you are. I must admit, this was one of my least-previewed songs in the run-up to this year’s Contest, so this was one of the songs I was least familiar with whilst watching the Grand Final. The three chords, on what sounds like an electronic organ, provide a powerful introduction to this song. There is a rapid beat just before, and a slower, powerful beat during, the first instance of the chorus. Just after the first instance of the chorus, the electronic music effect, including a chord, provide the perfect lead-in to the second verse. Unlike the first verse, the second verse has a powerful beat throughout. Looking at some of the lyrics, the first four lines of the chorus are “Don't care what you say”, “Don't care how you feel”, “Get out of my way”, “Cos I got a heart of steel”. From what I can gather, the aforementioned lyrics are about showing one’s determination to succeed, in spite of problems. The second verse ends with three Ukrainian lines, which translate as “Despite the pain”, “I continue my fight”, “the world is on fire, and you act”. It’s good that some of the local language, Ukrainian in this case, has been included in a predominantly English language song. One notable feature of the Eurovision performance was the two-by-two arrangement of square free-standing screens. Images were displayed on these square screens, in addition to the main background screen, during this performance. I was mystified as to the significance of the mountains, on the background screen, during the first verse and first instance of the pre-chorus, but they certainly looked impressive. During the instances of the chorus, faces were displayed on the background screen. In addition, flames appeared around the stage, at the end of the second instance of the chorus; these provided a worthwhile enhancement. Altogether a powerful song, with a good beat, and well performed. Personally, I prefer “Heart Of Steel” to "Stefania" last year. By the end of the performance, I thought this could do well, but not win. There ended up being a considerable difference of opinion between the juries and the public, because this finished 15th with 54 points in the jury vote and 4th with 189 points in the public vote. Consequently, this finished 6th with 243 points overall, which was Ukraine’s best ever placing as reigning champions.

Song 20: Norway - Alessandra “Queen of Kings” (5th place, 268 points)

I watched Melodi Grand Prix 2023 Final live, online from the UK, on 4 February 2023, and of the nine finalist songs that evening, I think the right entry won. At Eurovision 2023, “Queen of Kings” was the first song to be performed in the First Semi-Final on Tuesday evening. It ended up being one of my “Definitely want to qualify” songs that evening, and one of the songs that I thought was almost certain to qualify that evening. “Queen of Kings” is a lively song from start to finish, the chorus is powerful and highly memorable, and the beat is powerful. The lines: "Lookin' out, she calls ... Lai, la-la-li, rai-ra ... Who will conquer all?" remind me of the lines "Zoti nuk ma fal ... Bota mbi mua ra" in Albania's 2021 ESC entry. Staging at the Liverpool Arena included blue light beams and white flashing lights. For some mysterious reason there were some red / orange lights during the bridge, but the blue lights returned afterwards. The dancers on stage enhanced the performance further. Altogether a lively, catchy song, well staged and well performed. In fact, I think Alessandra gave a better performance vocally in the Grand Final than in the First Semi-Final. By the end of the Grand Final performance, I predicted this would do very well. The actual result was a massive difference of opinion between the juries and the public here. This finished 17th with 52 points in the jury vote and 3rd with 216 points in the televote. I think this masterpiece was grossly under-rated by the juries, but thankfully, the public gave this the placing and score this deserved. With the two sets of points added together, this ended up 5th with 268 points overall. Although that was still a top five placing, I think this ought to have finished a place or two higher overall.

Before the next song, Alesha gave a short speech.

Song 21: Germany - Lord of the Lost “Blood & Glitter” (26th place, 18 points)

The fifth automatic qualifier, and fourth Big Five entry of the night, that being Germany. I watched Unser Lied für Liverpool live, online from the UK, on 3 March 2023. Germany has gone for a very lively hard rock / glam rock song this year. The live Eurovision Song Contest Grand Final performance included the stage elements of the Unser Lied für Liverpool performance. Firstly, the performance featured red light throughout, supplemented by white light beams at times. Presumably the red light was a way of representing red blood. Secondly, the two multi-tier stages were dominant features, though it’s difficult to tell whether these were the ones used at Unser Lied für Liverpool, or similar replicas built for the Liverpool Arena. Anyway, the person on the drumkit was on the top tier of one, and the person on the keyboards was on the top tier of the other, just like at Unser Lied für Liverpool, but it’s difficult to tell from rewatching the show whether they were actually playing or just miming their instruments tonight. Finally, the flame effects towards the end of each instance of the chorus enhanced this song (they were just what this style of song called for), and the burst of fireworks was the perfect ending (presumably the sparks from the fireworks provided a way of representing glitter). Altogether, a very lively and powerful entry from Germany, well performed and well staged. I liked the lead singer's outfit; it was appropriate for this style of song. This finished 26th (last) with 3 points in the jury vote, which was hardly surprising as, from what I can gather, juries tend to be put off by this style. Surprisingly though, this didn’t do much better in the public vote either; this finished 24th with 15 televote points. Although “Blood & Glitter” is not my taste in music, even I was disappointed with their low public vote score. I’d have thought loads of hard rock, glam rock and heavy metal fans all over Europe, Australia and the rest of the world would have voted for Germany’s entry, thereby leading to a public vote score much higher than 15 points; I thought this would have had no difficulty in scoring over 100 points from the public. Due to the poor scores in both halves of the voting, this ended up 26th (last) with 18 points overall.

Song 22: Lithuania - Monika Linkytė “Stay” (11th place, 127 points)

I watched Pabandom iš naujo! 2023 Final live, online from the UK, on 18 February 2023. This was the final song, out of ten finalist songs, that evening, and at the time I thought it was one of the better ballads that evening. At Eurovision, this was the penultimate song in the Second Semi-Final on Thursday evening, and one of the last five songs to be performed in the Grand Final. After a slow start, the song builds up during the pre-chorus. The most notable feature of this song is the line “Čiūto tūto” three times over, followed by “Finally my heart is beating”; this collection of four lines provides the perfect hook for this song. Effectively, this group of lines forms the chorus. I’m mystified as to the significance of the circular patterned images, and the unusual figures, which appeared on the background screen, but they certainly looked effective. Towards the end Monika and her backing group stood in a half circle to sing an instance of the chorus. On the whole, a beautiful ballad with a catchy chorus. Monika has a beautiful voice, and sang well in in both the Second Semi-Final and Grand Final, but by the end of the Grand Final performance, I saw this as a mid-table song. Nonetheless, I liked “Stay” enough to be one of the songs I voted for. There was a noticeable difference of opinion here, because this finished 11th with 81 points in the jury vote, but only 15th with 46 points in the televote. This difference is hardly surprising, because I think this is the sort of song which fares better with the professional juries than viewers at home. Despite those differences, this still managed to finish 11th with 127 points overall, which was better than I thought this might end up.

Song 23: Israel - Noa Kirel “Unicorn” (3rd place, 362 points)

This was among the songs I most wanted to qualify from the First Semi-Final on Tuesday evening, and one of the songs I thought was likely to qualify that evening. According to Wiwibloggs, the song “Unicorn” is all about perseverance and unleashing your inner strength. This song is notable for the word play of “feminine” and “phenomenal”. I liked the way Noa stood inside the frame, which was set on an angle, during the early part of the song. After the first instance of the chorus, she walked on to the main part of the stage, and was accompanied by dancers. Interestingly, Noa didn’t return to the frame during the rest of the song. Following the line “Do you want to see me dance”, Noa did some stage level dancing (presumably break dancing). During the outro, images of unicorns appeared on the background screen. The burst of fireworks after that was the perfect way to end this song. Altogether, a lively, catchy song, well sung by Noa and very well staged. This finished 2nd with 177 points in the jury vote. I was surprised this placed that high with the juries, but that said, it was a rather distant second place in the jury vote. In the public vote, this finished 5th with 185 televote points. Thus, this placed lower in the public vote than in the jury vote, but anomalously received more televote points than jury points. Overall, this finished 3rd with 362 points. I think this should have finished in the 6th to 10th range in both halves of the voting and overall; I’m not convinced this merited top five places.

Song 24: Slovenia - Joker Out “Carpe Diem” (21st place, 78 points)

Slovenia has gone for a rock song this year and the whole thing is sung in Slovenian. It’s great to hear a song in a country’s native language. This song has a very good beat, and guitar sounds can be heard at certain points the song The first three lines are sung softly, but the band sings the next sections, leading up to the chorus, more powerfully. The chorus is very catchy. After the instrumental break, and a few lines which effectively form a bridge, there is a second instance of the chorus. A few more lines, at a slower pace, form an outro, and the perfect way to unwind at the end of a lively, up-tempo song. During the early part of tonight’s performance, the title “Carpe Diem” appeared, as capital letters, made up of flashing red lights, on the background screen. Red and white light beams appeared during the instances of the chorus. Near the end, the band name, “Joker Out” appeared, as capital letters, made up of red lights, on the background screen. Altogether a very lively, catchy song. Now I’m not normally keen on rock, but I actually enjoyed the live performances in the Second Semi-Final and in the Grand Final. As a result, this was among the songs I most wanted to qualify from the Second Semi-Final, and I’m glad it qualified. In the Grand Final, this finished 19th with 33 points in the jury vote and 16th with 45 points in the televote. At least this fared slightly better with the public than with the juries. Even so, this anomalously ended up 21st with 78 points overall. This was another song which placed lower overall than in either half of the voting. Interestingly the jury, public and overall points scores for this song correspond to record player speeds.

At the start of the postcard for Croatia, Graham Norton said he must go downstairs to open the vote, and he therefore handed over responsibility for UK commentary to Mel Giedroyc. For the rest of the show, she provided the background commentary for BBC One / BBC One HD viewers, in the UK.

Song 25: Croatia - Let 3 “Mama ŠČ!” (13th place, 123 points)

From one ex-Yugoslav country to another. What on Earth, in the world, is this? Musically, this is not my cup of tea at all. However, I do like the way the group utilised the background screen to show extra people on stage, including those in (what looked like) sports kit early on, copies of group members during the first instance of the chorus, and loads of faces later. There were also line patterns on the background screen at times. Part way through, an image of what looked like a tractor wheel was momentarily shown on the stage floor. Looking at the lyrics, there are multiple instances of the line “Mama kupila traktora ŠČ!”, which translates as “Mommy bought the tractor ŠČ!” That clearly explains the significance of the tractor wheel image. Towards the end, one member of the group held two giant rockets, each with a firework at its tip. Altogether, a very lively song, and one which is difficult to forget. This was my only “Definitely don't want to qualify” song in the First Semi-Final on Tuesday evening, but it was obvious this was highly likely to qualify that evening. Evidently, plenty of viewers enjoyed this style of song, and/or the staging, because this finished 7th with 112 points in the public vote. On the other hand, the juries placed this 25th (second last) with just 11 points, and this ended up 13th with 123 points overall. This was another example of a massive difference of opinion between the juries and the public. I personally feel the jury placing is where this should have ended up in both halves of the voting and overall; I think this was grossly over-rated by the public.

Before announcing the next song, Hannah Waddingham appeared between Teya & Salena, who had performed first.

Song 26: United Kingdom - Mae Muller “I Wrote A Song” (25th place, 24 points)

The final song of the Grand Final was from the one remaining automatic qualifier, that being the United Kingdom. In fact, the United Kingdom qualified automatically on two counts this year; host country and Big Five member. The introduction features electronic synthesiser music, and there also seems to be some spooky sounds. The song structure that follows is first verse, pre-chorus, chorus, second verse, pre-chorus and chorus. The pre-chorus and chorus are performed in a bouncy manner. The first two instances of the chorus end with three occurrences of the line “Instead I wrote a song”. Between these lines is the filler sequence “Da-da-da-da-da-dai…”, three times over, this is by far the most notable feature of the chorus; a hook for the song. The bridge is in two distinct parts; the section “Look into my eyes” to “So work it baby, come with me”, is spoken, whereas the other part “Let's celebrate, Dance it away, I thought my heart would break” is sung. The song ends with a final instance of the chorus, but unlike the previous instances, this ends with “Instead I wrote a song” once only, and without the filler sequence that appeared earlier. The Grand Final performance featured a variety of artwork on the background screen and stage floor. During the introduction, Mae stood on a dark stage, with a light beam shining upwards from stage level. As Mae was about to sing the first line, a circle enlarged to reveal a giant image of Mae’s head, sliced in half horizontally, with Mae positioned between the halves of the image. These images dominated the first verse. Giant hands appeared on the background screen during the first instance of the pre-chorus. Background images during the first instance of the chorus included giant images of Mae’s head, sliced vertically, and moving outwards, followed by rotating mirrors showing Mae’s head. During the second verse and second instance of the pre-chorus, black and white patterns, and plain purple and yellow alternating, appeared on the background screen. Images shown during the remaining instances of the chorus were more complicated than the previous instance. Interestingly, during the spoken part of the bridge, static black and white chevrons appeared on the background screen and stage floor. Altogether, the artwork was clever and impressive, but I thought the distant views, in order to fully show certain background images, made Mae look tiny. The bursts of fireworks at the start and end of the final instance of the chorus provided a worthwhile climax to the performance. On the whole, a lively, catchy disco / party song, or club banger as some would call it, with a good beat throughout. It’s hardly surprising there were four dancers in the performance. Sadly, this finished 22nd with 15 points in the jury vote, 25th with 9 points in the televote and 25th with 24 points overall. Whilst these were disappointing results for the UK, I guessed that was where this song would end up, taking the live vocals into consideration.

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Televoting and Interval Act

As soon as Mae Muller finished performing, shots of the audience were shown. Shortly afterwards, Alesha, Julia, Hannah and Graham appeared together on the satellite stage to announce the start of the televoting. Unfortunately, their words were drowned out by cheering, as well as Mel Giedroyc who outlined the voting procedure for UK viewers. At 22:20, Alesha, Julia, Hannah and Graham all said "Europe, Australia and the rest of the world, start voting now". The voting lines opened, there was a burst of fireworks around the main stage, and the message “VOTE OPEN” appeared on the background screen. 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 "Please do not call, your vote won't count." Were any UK viewers foolish enough to try dialling the voting stem with 26 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: Sweden, Norway, Estonia, Lithuania, Cyprus, Italy. Voting for six songs might seem extravagant, but they were my top six 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: Sam Ryder - “Mountain”

Sam Ryder, who represented the United Kingdom last year with “SPACE MAN”, was back to perform his new single “Mountain”, with Roger Taylor from the band Queen on the drumkit. Sam stood on a raised circular plinth, surrounded by angled light sticks. Around the stage, there were blue light beams. The light sticks, around the raised plinth, spun during the first two instances of the chorus. After the second instance of the chorus, Sam shouted “Come on Roger”. At this point Sam played a musical interlude on his electric guitar, and the colour of the lights, around the stage, changed to orange. As the instrumental break continued, Sam stepped off the raised plinth and ran to the front of the stage, where a group of drummers were playing tall drums. Flame effects could be seen at this point. Sam sang the final instance of the chorus at the front of the stage. The song ended with a burst of fireworks around the back part of the stage. Altogether, a highly spectacular interval song, and very well performed and staged.

Interlude

The next part was what I personally see as a selection of fillers, as follows:
• Graham Norton spoke to Jan Leeming, who presented the Eurovision Song Contest 1982 from Harrogate. Jan outlined what the Contest was like then compared to now.
• Julia Sanina spoke to a group of displaced Ukrainians in the audience.
• Timur Miroshnychenko spoke, in a video, about memorable moments in the Eurovision Song Contest Grand Final jury voting and televoting announcement in recent years, including four zeros in the televoting in 2021 and cliffhangers at the end of the televoting (this video must have been pre-recorded).
• Alesha spoke to Timur Miroshnychenko in the Ukrainian commentary box, followed by the Australian commentators in their box.

When this interlude ended, Hannah and Graham reappeared, and gave a filler speech. Next, there was a second recap of the competing songs, complete with the voting numbers. During this recap, Mel Giedroyc reminded UK viewers of the voting numbers, and that UK viewers could not vote for the UK entry.

Interval Act 2: The Liverpool Songbook

Six former Eurovision entrants singing their own version of songs from the host city Liverpool.

Mahmood - “Imagine”

Mahmood, who represented Italy in 2019 and 2022, performed “Imagine” by John Lennon. At the start of the song, Mahmood was on a dark stage, lit by angled beams of light from above. As the song progressed, more light beams from behind were lit. These subtle lighting effects were just what this style of ballad called for. Dry ice effects were also used on stage.

Netta - “You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)”

Netta Barzilai, who won for Israel in 2018, performed the Dead or Alive song “You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)”. During the opening chorus, Netta was on what looked like a large bird, suspended high above the stage. By the start of the first verse, she landed, and performed the rest of the song on the stage, accompanied by dancers. I’m mystified as to the significance of what looked like either feathers or sun rays on the back of her outfit. There was a brief burst of fireworks at the end of the performance.

Daði Freyr - “Whole Again”

Daði Freyr, who was to have represented Iceland in 2020, but ended up representing Iceland in 2021, performed the Atomic Kitten song “Whole Again”. This was extra special for Daði in that he was able to perform live during a Eurovision show, albeit not in competition (his Semi-Final and Grand Final performances for Iceland in 2021 were, in fact, a rehearsal recording). During the first two verses, Daði was shown singing alone. Upon reaching the line “Looking back on when we first met”, a pixellated heart, of various colours, was shown on the background screen. A backing group could be seen behind Daði; the members of the group all wore green sweatshirts with a pixellated image of Daði’s on. As Daði sang the final instance of the chorus, the background screen became filled with multiple tiny images of his face.

Cornelia Jakobs - “I Turn to You”

Cornelia Jakobs, who represented Sweden in 2022, performed “I Turn to You” by Melanie C. At the start of the song, Cornelia was sitting on a chair, which was in a pool of shallow water. Part way through the first instance of the chorus, she got off the chair and kneeled and lay in the water. During the next instance of the chorus, she stood in the water, and made various movements on the chair. Near the end of her performance, she tipped the chair over and lay in the water. The whole performance was on a predominantly dark stage, initially lit by lit by white foot lights, and part way through, white light beams from overhead. Together with the dry ice effects, around the pool edge, the lighting effects worked well for this performance.

Sonia - “Better the Devil You Know”

Sonia represented the United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 1993 in Millstreet, Ireland, with the song “Better the Devil You Know”. She returned this year to perform a shortened form of her 1993 entry as part of The Liverpool Songbook. She was accompanied on stage by dancers. I’m mystified as to the significance of what looked like butterfly wings, in all colours of the rainbow, plus the sparkling effect, on the background screen. A burst of fireworks appeared at the end.

Duncan Laurence - “You’ll Never Walk Alone”

Duncan Laurence, who represented the Netherlands, and won, in 2019, performed the song “You’ll Never Walk Alone”. This is from the 1945 musical Carousel, and was covered in 1963 by Gerry and the Pacemakers. Since then, this song has become the football anthem of Liverpool F.C. At the start of this performance, Duncan was alone on the circular area at the front of the stage. The stage was predominantly dark, with subtle lighting. Part way through, the artists who performed earlier in the interval, along with the hosts, walked on to the stage to join in in with Duncan. Meanwhile, Ruslana (who achieved Ukraine’s first Eurovision Song Contest victory in 2004) appeared in a pre-recorded video at the Golden Gate in Kyiv. This video was briefly shown, in full screen, to TV viewers twice, and on screens high above the stage in the Liverpool Arena. This particular act fitted well with this year’s slogan United By Music.

When this act ended, Alesha, Julia, Hannah and Graham reappeared, and they each said a few lines. This was followed by the third (and final) recap of the competing songs, complete with the voting numbers. During this recap, UK viewers heard Mel Giedroyc reading out viewers' messages.

At the end of this recap, there was one minute of voting time remaining. Alesha, Julia, Hannah and Graham were behind a table, on stage, speaking to fill in time. They counted down the final ten seconds aloud, as the countdown figures appeared on the background screen. At the end of the countdown, all four hosts shouted “Stop voting now”, and the message “VOTE CLOSED” appeared on the background screen. The time was 23:04 when the voting lines closed. Graham said the fate of the 26 acts is sealed.

Björn Ulvaeus

Immediately after the voting lines closed, Björn Ulvaeus, from ABBA, appeared in a pre-recorded video. He spoke about how the international success of ABBA began with their performance of “Waterloo” at Eurovision, and how more recent Eurovision artists have since been successful. I question the need for this filler, because on this occasion, the table that was used during the voting looked like the same one, and in the same place, as 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. Hannah and Graham 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. Graham announced the start of the jury voting, and Hannah outlined how the voting works. Mel Giedroyc said, to UK viewers, that these are just the jury votes coming in.

All 37 countries, including the 11 non-qualifiers, voted in the Grand Final. The voting order was: Ukraine, Italy, Latvia, Netherlands, Malta, Moldova, Ireland, San Marino, Azerbaijan, Austria, France, Finland, Belgium, Germany, Portugal, Croatia, Estonia, Armenia, Poland, Romania, Iceland, Serbia, Cyprus, Norway, Switzerland, Australia, Denmark, Spain, Israel, Sweden, Georgia, Czechia, Slovenia, Greece, Albania, Lithuania, United Kingdom.

The points announced by each country's spokesperson, e.g., Ukraine, were from that country's jury voting only. Just like in 2016 to 2022, 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.

Ukraine, which announced its jury points first, gave 12 points to Sweden. That meant Sweden, which was strongly tipped to win the jury vote, and ended up being the jury vote winner as expected, was in the lead already. Thereafter, Sweden held its lead all the way through to the end (even during the pause between 1 to 10 being put on to the scoreboard and 12 points being announced for the first few calling countries after Ukraine). In fact, the gap between Sweden in the lead and whichever country was second generally, with few exceptions, gradually as each country announced its jury points.

For this reason, it’s worth looking at the race for second and third place as the voting progressed on this occasion. During the first eight rounds, Czechia, Estonia, Israel and Lithuania all had turns at being second or third, whereas Australia and Italy had turns at being third. However, once Azerbaijan (9th to call) announced its jury points, Israel was momentarily second and Italy was momentarily third. A cat and mouse situation arose between Israel and Italy for second and third place for the rest of the voting. The points difference between second and third was mostly in single figures, and sometimes as little as 1 point apart.

After the Netherlands (4th to call) announced its jury points, only five countries (Albania, Moldova, Norway, Germany, Croatia) were on 0. Malta (5th to call) gave 2 jury points to Norway. This left just four countries (Albania, Moldova, Germany, Croatia) still on 0. Moldova, which was 6th to call, gave 1 jury point to Albania. This left just three countries (Moldova, Germany, Croatia) still on 0. Ireland, which was 7th to announce its jury points, was the first country to give no points to any countries still on 0. San Marino (8th to call) gave 3 jury points to Moldova. That left just two countries (Germany and Croatia) still on 0. After that, it took until Portugal (15th to call) for another country to be awarded its first jury points, that being Croatia. From this point, Germany was the only country still on 0 points.

A break occurred between Romania and Iceland. At this point, the top five were: 1st Sweden 194, 2nd Italy 109, 3rd Israel 108, 4th Estonia 78, 5th Finland 75. At the other end of the scoreboard, Germany was still last with 0 points. During this break, Julia spoke to Loreen from Sweden, and Alesha spoke to Marco Mengoni from Italy.

After the break, Iceland (21st to call) gave 2 jury points to Germany. Thus, Germany was the last country to get off the mark in the jury vote. All 26 finalist countries now had points, and no-one was going home pointless. At the top end of the scoreboard, Sweden’s lead generally continued to grow until it peaked at 136 points after Israel had announced its jury points. Sweden’s lead went down and up a little, until it reached a new peak of 142 points after Albania (35th to call) announced its jury points. Sweden’s lead increased still further after the remaining two countries announced their points. Meanwhile, the cat and mouse situation between Israel and Italy for second and third place continued until after Switzerland (25th to call) announced its jury points. Italy was now second and Israel were now third. Thereafter, Italy stayed in second place and Israel stayed in third place (ignoring temporary fluctuations within individual countries’ rounds) until after the penultimate country, Lithuania, announced its jury points. With one more country to call, Italy was second, with 174 points, and Israel was third, with 173 points. The final country to call, that being the United Kingdom, gave 2 jury points to Italy and 4 jury points to Israel, thereby putting Israel into second place with 177 points, and Italy into third place with 176 points.

Sweden became uncatchable on jury points alone as soon as Denmark (27th to call) had announced its jury points. Sweden’s leading score was now 253 points, and Italy were second with 131 points. With ten countries still to announce their jury scores (including Sweden), the maximum number of jury points still available to second-placed Italy (who had already announced their jury scores earlier) was 10 x 12 = 120 jury points. Even if Italy had received 12 jury points from each of the remaining ten countries, and Sweden had received no more jury points, the final top two would have been 1st Sweden 253 points, 2nd Italy 251 points. Effectively Sweden had already won the jury vote, even though 10 countries had yet to announce their jury points. Had the EBU done jury voting only this year, and not bothered with televoting at all, Sweden would have been the outright winner at this point. Of course, with televoting totals to follow, after the remaining jury results were announced, countries placed lower than Italy could still possibly have been in with a chance of winning outright.

Greece, which failed to qualify for the Grand Final, gave just 4 jury points to Cyprus. This must have come as a shock to millions of viewers who expected the Greek jury to automatically give 12 points to Cyprus. Clearly, Greece doesn’t necessarily give 12 jury points to Cyprus. On this occasion, Greece gave its 12 jury points to Belgium. Obviously, it was impossible for Cyprus to give any points to Greece this time; for the record, Cyprus gave its 12 jury points to Sweden. In the former Yugoslavia area, the only exchange of 12 jury points was from Serbia to Slovenia. Slovenia gave no jury points to Croatia and no jury points to Serbia. This clearly shows that the ex-Yugoslav countries don’t necessarily give each other their top jury points when they are able to. In the Nordic area, Sweden received 12 jury points from Denmark and Finland, whereas Finland received 12 jury points from Norway and Sweden. On the other hand, Finland gave no jury points to Norway. Clearly, the Nordic countries don’t necessarily give high points to each other when they have the chance to. A more detailed analysis of bloc voting is available here.

Once the spokespersons from all 37 countries had announced their jury voting points, the scoreboard looked like this on screen:

1	Sweden	340	14	Switzerland	61
2	Israel	177	15	Ukraine	54
3	Italy	176	16	France	54
4	Finland	150	17	Norway	52
5	Estonia	146	18	Portugal	43
6	Australia	130	19	Slovenia	33
7	Belgium	127	20	Moldova	20
8	Austria	104	21	Albania	17
9	Spain	95	22	United Kingdom	15
10	Czechia	94	23	Serbia	14
11	Lithuania	81	24	Poland	12
12	Armenia	69	25	Croatia	11
13	Cyprus	68	26	Germany	3

At this point, Julia and Alesha spoke to Loreen from Sweden, who had won the jury vote.

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Televoting Results

Hannah and Graham reappeared to present the results of the public vote. Hannah asked Martin Österdahl if the televoting had gone according to plan. He said it had, and the EBU had a valid televoting result, and they were good to go. Hannah and Graham explained how the televoting works. In each of the 37 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 37 countries and having the spokespersons announce each country's televoting points in the same manner as the jury points, all 37 countries' televoting points were added together behind the scenes to produce one total televoting score for each finalist. In addition, countries which did not take part in at all this year, including outside the European Broadcasting Area, were eligible to vote as part of a Rest of the World online vote; their top 10 voted-for songs were converted to a 38th set of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 12 points and added to the applicable finalist totals. Hannah and Graham took turns to announce the total amount of televoting points each finalist had received from each of the other 36 countries, plus Rest of the World. Just like in 2019 to 2022, they announced the televoting totals starting with the finalist that had the lowest jury place, which was Germany, and worked their way up the scoreboard until they reached Sweden, which had won the jury vote. Mel Giedroyc's comments, which BBC One / BBC One HD viewers in the UK heard, are shown in square brackets.

Graham: Alright Germany, I can tell you that, after the public vote, you have received 15 points. [Good, that’s something, takes them up a little bit on that right-hand side of the leader board.]
Hannah: Croatia, the audience at home have awarded you 112 points. [That’s very good for Croatia, look at that, suddenly you see, they go flying across to the left-hand side of the leader board. What did we say? Everything can change.]
Graham: Next, it’s the turn of Poland, after the public vote, you have received 81 points. [There we go, across they go, it’s exciting isn’t it, it’s exciting.]
Hannah: Serbia, the audience voting at home have awarded you 16 points. [Well done Serbia, up you go, you’re ahead of Moldova for the time being.]
Graham: Next, it’s the turn of the United Kingdom. [OK, deep breath.] The public vote has awarded you 9 points. [9 points for the UK, Mae’ll possibly be a little bit disappointed with that.]
Hannah: All friends my friends, all friends. [Absolutely.] Onwards to Albania, everyone watching at home has awarded you 59 points. [Albania shooting up on the right-hand side there, 76 points.]
Graham: Moldova, you have received 76 points. [Nice little score there for Moldova, over they go.]
Hannah: Slovenia, the public vote has given you 45 points. [OK, moves them up, they’re not going to win, but it moves them up.]
Graham: Portugal, you’ve got 16 points. [Mimicat, 59 points altogether.]
Hannah: Norway, the audience voting at home have awarded you 216 points. Power of the people then. [Well that changes things, look at that, Alessandra going into second place, she looks really pleased, what a lovely girl.]
Graham: Alright, the turn of France now, and I can tell you that France have received 50 points. [50 points for La Zarra, I’m a bit surprised by that, I’d have thought that would have done better with the public vote, but there you go, it’s Eurovision, anything can happen.]
Hannah: Ukraine next to receive their points. The audience have awarded you 189 points. [That’s a good result for Ukraine, taking them into third place with 243 points, behind Norway and Sweden.]
Graham: It’s the turn of Switzerland now, Switzerland, you received 31 points. [Oh darling, don’t look so sad, bless him.]
Hannah: Cyprus, the people watching at home have awarded you 58 points. [58 for Cyprus, taking them across, 126 points].
Graham: Armenia, you’ve got 53 points. [OK, where are we with Armenia, 122, just behind Croatia.]
Hannah: Lithuania, time for your points, the people at home have given you 46 points. [127, she looks really pleased.]

With just ten countries left to receive their points from the public, the scoreboard looked like this at this point (countries which had already received their televote totals are in bold):

1	Sweden	340	14	France	104
2	Norway	268	15	Austria	104
3	Ukraine	243	16	Moldova	96
4	Israel	177	17	Spain	95
5	Italy	176	18	Czechia	94
6	Finland	150	19	Poland	93
7	Estonia	146	20	Switzerland	92
8	Australia	130	21	Slovenia	78
9	Lithuania	127	22	Albania	76
10	Belgium	127	23	Portugal	59
11	Cyprus	126	24	Serbia	30
12	Croatia	123	25	United Kingdom	24
13	Armenia	122	26	Germany	18

N.B. I’ve done a post-Contest analysis in a spreadsheet. At this moment, 1072 televote points had now been allocated to the scoreboard, and there were 1132 televote points remaining to share among the remaining ten finalist countries. Unsurprisingly, I didn’t know how many televote points had been allocated so far, or how many were left, whilst watching the televote sequence as I hadn’t been deducting the televote scores from the maximum available as they were announced. With over half the original number of televote points still available, anything was still possible.

Hannah: Right, it is getting very tense in here, we only have ten countries left to announce, but do bear in mind the leader board could still all change. [Absolutely, it could go topsy-turvy, it often does.]

Graham: Czechia, you’re up next, after the audience vote, you received 35 points. [129.]
Hannah: Spain, you have received 5 points. [I’m surprised by that, she dealt with that very graciously. Took her to three figures though, 100, that’s good.]
Graham: Austria is up next. Austria, after the public vote, you have received 16 points. [I’m going to say it again gang, I’m very surprised, that was a banger in the Arena.]
Hannah: Next to receive their points is Belgium. The people at home have awarded you 55 points. [55 points, takes them up to 182, which is very respectable.]
Graham: Let’s find out how Australia have fared. Australia, you have been awarded 21 points. [Goodness, goodness me, I thought they’d be scooting right up there, not to be tonight. 151 points]
Hannah: Next up Estonia, the people at home have awarded you 22 points. [22 for Estonia, taking them just the other side of Australia there, not much of a change.]
[Only four more to go now, OK, this is going to be interesting.]
Graham: Alright everybody, we are about to find out what the public awarded Finland. Finland, after the public voted, you received 376 points. We have a new leader. [Oh my goodness.]

With just three countries left to receive their points from the public, the scoreboard looked like this at this point (countries which had already received their televote totals are in bold):

1	Finland	526	14	Armenia	122
2	Sweden	340	15	Austria	120
3	Norway	268	16	France	104
4	Ukraine	243	17	Spain	100
5	Belgium	182	18	Moldova	96
6	Israel	177	19	Poland	93
7	Italy	176	20	Switzerland	92
8	Estonia	168	21	Slovenia	78
9	Australia	151	22	Albania	76
10	Czechia	129	23	Portugal	59
11	Lithuania	127	24	Serbia	30
12	Cyprus	126	25	United Kingdom	24
13	Croatia	123	26	Germany	18

There were now only four possible winners: Finland (who were currently in the lead), or one of the three countries still awaiting their televote points (Italy, Israel, Sweden). Green Room shots of the artists representing Finland (top left), Sweden (top right), Israel (bottom left) and Italy (bottom right) were displayed in four windows on screen during the next announcement. The current scores were included for each of those four countries were included alongside the applicable country names; this was a new feature for 2023, and very useful when this split screen was shown instead of the scoreboard.

Graham: Alright everybody, I can tell you this competition began with 37 countries all vying for the top place. Now only the current leader and the three acts yet to receive their scores could still win. Let’s check it out. Finland are currently in first place with 526 points, but will they stay there? We have three countries yet to receive their points, Italy, Israel and of course Sweden. Will one of them claim the top spot? [They’re all very popular these, it could go any way.]

N.B. From my post-Contest analysis, in a spreadsheet, I’ve retrospectively discovered that 1602 televote points had now been allocated to the scoreboard, and there were 602 televote points remaining to share among Italy, Israel and Sweden. Unsurprisingly, I didn’t know how many televote points had been allocated so far, or how many were left, whilst watching the televote sequence as I hadn’t been deducting the televote scores from the maximum available as they were announced. In order to pass Finland and win, Italy needed 351 points or more, Israel needed 350 points or more and Sweden needed 187 points or more from the public. Whilst in theory there were enough points still available for any one of those three countries to receive such large televote scores, it was highly unlikely Italy or Israel could get the minimum required number of televote points as a large number of 12s and 10s must have already been taken up by Finland. However, it was still reasonably realistic for Sweden to have over 200 televote points. Obviously, it wasn’t possible to tell from Finland’s televote total alone (376 points), which had just been announced, how many 12s and 10s had gone into that total (or how many were left).

Hannah: OK next to receive their points is Italy, the audience vote has awarded you 174 points. [Not enough to top Finland, but a very good second placing at the moment, 350 points.]

Green Room shots of the artists representing Finland, Sweden and Israel were shown, left to right, across the screen, during the next announcement. The current scores for those three countries were shown alongside the applicable country names.

Hannah: So, with Finland in the lead, and Israel and Sweden left to receive their scores, one of those three will be the winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 2023. [Could go any way.]

Graham: Oh very soon, Kalush Orchestra will present the Eurovision trophy to the new winner.

N.B. From my post-Contest analysis, in a spreadsheet, 1776 televote points had now been allocated to the scoreboard, and there were still 428 televote points remaining to share between Israel and Sweden. Unsurprisingly I didn’t know how many televote points were still available at this point during the live broadcast.

Hannah: Israel, you are next, you get 185 points. [Which brings them into second place, above Italy, but quite a way behind Finland.]

Green Room shots of the artists representing Finland and Sweden were shown, left to right, across the screen, during the next announcement. Their current scores were shown alongside the country names.

Graham: I’m so glad we don’t host this every year; I couldn’t do it. Alright, just one country left. Finland is currently in first place, but hang on, because Sweden have yet to receive their score from the public. It could still take it from them. Alright, Finland, Sweden are you ready? One of you will be the winner tonight. I can tell you that Sweden need a minimum of 187 points to win. OK, here we go. Sweden, the public has given you 243 points. We have a winner, Sweden, you’ve won the Eurovision Song Contest 2023. Congratulations to Loreen. [It’s Loreen, it’s Loreen, she’s done it again, she won in 2012 with “Euphoria”, and she’s done it again tonight, in 2023, with “Tattoo”. Well done, Loreen.]

Altogether, announcement of the televoting totals took about 19 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 Mel Giedroyc 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 Sweden’s televoting total included), it looked like this:

1	Sweden	583	14	Armenia	122
2	Finland	526	15	Austria	120
3	Israel	362	16	France	104
4	Italy	350	17	Spain	100
5	Norway	268	18	Moldova	96
6	Ukraine	243	19	Poland	93
7	Belgium	182	20	Switzerland	92
8	Estonia	168	21	Slovenia	78
9	Australia	151	22	Albania	76
10	Czechia	129	23	Portugal	59
11	Lithuania	127	24	Serbia	30
12	Cyprus	126	25	United Kingdom	24
13	Croatia	123	26	Germany	18

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

Finalist	Televote Total
Germany	15
Croatia	112
Poland	81
Serbia	16
United Kingdom	9
Albania	59
Moldova	76
Slovenia	45
Portugal	16
Norway	216
France	50
Ukraine	189
Switzerland	31
Cyprus	58
Armenia	53
Lithuania	46
Czechia	35
Spain	5
Austria	16
Belgium	55
Australia	21
Estonia	22
Finland	376
Italy	174
Israel	185
Sweden	243

Sweden won with a final score of 583 points. With a possible maximum of 12 jury points from each of the other 36 countries (including the 11 semi-finalists which failed to qualify), i.e. 12 x 36 = 432, plus 12 televoting points from each of the other 36 countries and Rest of the World, i.e. 12 x 37 = 444, the maximum achievable score was 876 points. Thus, Sweden won with 66.55% of the maximum possible score, which is nearly two thirds of this year’s maximum possible total. 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.

Perf Order	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	Austria	104	18	8	16	4	22	120	15	-88	-14
2	Portugal	43	9	18	16	3	23	59	23	-27	-5
3	Switzerland	61	15	14	31	10	18	92	20	-30	-4
4	Poland	12	5	24	81	17	8	93	19	69	16
5	Serbia	14	6	23	16	4	21	30	24	2	2
6	France	54	10	16	50	17	14	104	16	-4	2
7	Cyprus	68	17	13	58	11	11	126	12	-10	2
8	Spain	95	21	9	5	2	26	100	17	-90	-17
9	Sweden	340	36	1	243	36	2	583	1	-97	-1
10	Albania	17	4	21	59	10	10	76	22	42	11
11	Italy	176	27	3	174	29	6	350	4	-2	-3
12	Estonia	146	22	5	22	4	19	168	8	-124	-14
13	Finland	150	22	4	376	37	1	526	2	226	3
14	Czechia	94	18	10	35	12	17	129	10	-59	-7
15	Australia	130	23	6	21	6	20	151	9	-109	-14
16	Belgium	127	22	7	55	13	12	182	7	-72	-5
17	Armenia	69	15	12	53	10	13	122	14	-16	-1
18	Moldova	20	4	20	76	17	9	96	18	56	11
19	Ukraine	54	10	15	189	28	4	243	6	135	11
20	Norway	52	11	17	216	36	3	268	5	164	14
21	Germany	3	2	26	15	3	24	18	26	12	2
22	Lithuania	81	15	11	46	8	15	127	11	-35	-4
23	Israel	177	25	2	185	30	5	362	3	8	-3
24	Slovenia	33	6	19	45	11	16	78	21	12	3
25	Croatia	11	2	25	112	20	7	123	13	101	18
26	United Kingdom	15	5	22	9	2	25	24	25	-6	-3

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Trophy Presentation

As soon as Sweden was confirmed as the winner, Loreen proceeded from the Green Room to the stage to receive the winner's trophy, which was presented by Kalush Orchestra. Once Loreen had received her trophy, she took the opportunity to give a short speech. In addition, there was a burst of fireworks around the stage. Alesha, Julia, Hannah and Graham appeared together on stage for the last time to give their closing speeches.

Reprise

After all the closing speeches, Loreen performed her winning song “Tattoo” again. At the end of the performance, confetti fell onto the stage. Afterwards, closing credits appeared at the left-hand side of the screen, accompanied by music. 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 British broadcaster BBC for producing the two semi-finals and Grand Final. The BBC did very well in hosting the Contest on behalf of Ukraine; I liked the way they included a Ukrainian host Julia Sanina in both semi-finals and the Grand Final, and that they included Ukrainian and British locations in all the postcards. Most of the countries’ songs I wanted to qualify were in the Grand Final. My only “Definitely don't want to qualify” country which went through was Croatia; that was the first qualifier to be called out on Tuesday evening. Of my “Prefer not to qualify” countries, Finland and Serbia qualified on Tuesday evening, whereas Austria qualified on Thursday evening. I would have preferred Ireland, Latvia and Malta to have qualified instead of Croatia, Finland and Serbia on Tuesday evening, and Georgia to have qualified instead of Austria on Thursday evening. At the end of the day, many people have different musical tastes to me, so 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. This year, it was obvious that Finland was almost certain to qualify on Tuesday evening, and Austria was almost certain to qualify on Thursday evening, and even I would have been shocked if either of those hadn’t qualified.

Congratulations to Loreen for winning with a combined total of 583 points. After a landslide victory of 340 points in the jury vote, she also proved very popular with the public, because she finished 2nd with 243 points in the televote. This was her second time of winning the Eurovision Song Contest, having previously won for Sweden in 2012 with “Euphoria”. Loreen is only the second singer to win the Contest twice; that achievement having previously made by Johnny Logan, who won for Ireland in 1980 and 1987. Several other Eurovision winners have returned to represent their country again, and failed to win again. In addition, Sweden has now won the Eurovision Song Contest 7 times, thereby equalling the record for most wins, as set by Ireland in 1996. Sweden: Winners 1974, 1984, 1991, 1999, 2012, 2015, 2023. 8 years' gap between its most recent wins (2015 - 2023). Loreen can be exceptionally proud of achieving her second Eurovision Song Contest win, and Sweden’s seventh victory, in the same year.

Well done also to Käärijä from Finland, who won the televote by a landslide with 376 points, and finished second overall with a combined total of 526 points. This is only Finland’s second time of finishing in the top five, after Lordi achieved Finland’s first (and only) win with “Hard Rock Hallelujah” in 2006. In terms of placing, this is Finland's second best result to date. As far as points are concerned, their combined total of 526 points is their highest absolute score ever, but in terms of the maximum possible score for this year (876 points), that amounts to 60.05% of the maximum possible score for this year.

Shortly after the Grand Final ended, some Eurovision fans were dissatisfied at Sweden’s win, especially as Finland won the televote by a landslide with 376 points (including 18 lots of 12 televote points), whereas Sweden received no 12-point scores from the televote. Like it or not, Sweden won outright fair and square. I have since analysed the televote points which Sweden and Finland received at each level. Although Sweden received no 12-point scores from the public, they still managed to get 186 televote points from 10s, 8s and 7s, which was over three quarters of the 243 televote points they achieved altogether. For comparison, Finland amassed 136 televote points from 10s, 8s and 7s. As I’ve already said, Sweden finished 2nd with 243 points in the public vote, despite getting no 12-point scores from the public. On the other hand, Finland finished just 4th with 150 points in the jury vote. The total number of jury and televote points Sweden and Finland received, at each points level, is tabulated in the Extended Voting Analysis.

Commiserations to the UK's Mae Muller for finishing 25th with just 24 points overall. It's sad to go from 2nd in 2022 to 2nd from last in 2023, but that said, France went from 2nd in 2021 to 2nd from last in 2022. Effectively the UK did a France 2022 this year. During Mae’s live Grand Final performance of “I Wrote A Song”, I guessed that would happen, because I was disappointed at her live performance vocally, and I felt some of the background images made her look tiny. In addition, I didn’t think “I Wrote A Song” was as good as Sam Ryder’s "SPACE MAN" was last year. Looking ahead, where does the UK go from here, in the hope of winning the Eurovision Song Contest next year, or sometime thereafter? The UK will need to make the effort to choose songs which will achieve high scores and placings from both juries and viewers in future years.

Commiserations to Lord of the Lost from Germany, whose entry “Blood & Glitter” finished last with a combined score of 18 points. After scoring just 3 points in the jury vote, it only managed another 15 points in the televote. Although “Blood & Glitter” is not my taste in music, I was disappointed with their low public vote score. I’d have thought loads of hard rock and heavy metal fans all over Europe, Australia and the rest of the world would have voted for Germany’s entry, thereby leading to a public vote score much higher than 15 points. Put it this way, I thought “Blood & Glitter” would have done much better than “Rockstars” did last year. This is Germany’s second year running of finishing outright last, but at least their final score (18 altogether) was higher than last year.

Well done to all 26 finalists, no matter where on the scoreboard they placed. Don't forget, 20 of this year’s finalists already did well just to get past the applicable semi-final in the week; 11 countries' songs failed to reach this year’s Grand Final. At the end of the day, the important thing is not to win, but to participate.

Roll on the 2024 Eurovision Song Contest from Sweden. Can SVT 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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