The winning entry this year came from Sweden, who also won in 2012 with the dance track “Euphoria” by Loreen. The young man singing the songs appears to be moving drawings of little cartoon people, clouds of smoke and other objects, so it looks like he’s doing magic. By the end of the song, he’s got an entire army of cute cartoon dolls. The song itself is a weird blend of country and western, violin, dance and pop. You can tell it’s a big production, and the crowd was really cheering for it! The singer himself was a pretty good dancer, and his body moved very well with the music and animation.
A bit of a twist this year was the participation of Australia. Because it was the 60th anniversary contest, and Australia has a massive Eurovision fan base, Australia was glad to accept the invitation. Not surprisingly, it’s the first time anyone from Oceania has participated, although Australia did provide the interval act a few years ago. Their song was sung by Guy Sebastian, and was really fun and light hearted. Some say it had a clear Bruno Mars styling. If Britain had tried to make 1920s swing music contemporary, then Australia was successful at actually making it popular. It was also a bit 1970s disco, but it was a great song. We won’t have seen the last of Australia!
Belgium doesn’t usually stand out at Eurovision, but this year it did. They sent a man called Loic Nottet, who had a very intense stare and dark trenchcoat. Comedian Jack Whitehall described him as “the kid who tortured insects with a magnifying glass”. The song also had a very similar beginning to “Royals” by New Zealand teenager Lorde, and Twitter mentioned this quite a bit.
A country that usually performs very well is Greece. They almost always get through the semi-final, and get a decent amount of points in the final. In 2005, they won with the aptly-named “My Number One”. Other classic entries include “Shake It” by famous Greek singer Sakis Rouvas, and the 2013 “Alcohol is Free” which was very popular in Britain. This year, they entered a power ballad by Maria Elena Kyriacou, and as there are a lot of sad songs in Eurovision nowadays they didn’t particularly stand out. Disappointing for many of us!
One of the Big 5, Spain, was among only a few countries to sing in their native language instead of English this year. The singer’s costume was a red dress with a hood, so she vaguely resembled Red Riding Hood. The routine was very dramatic, and she moved her arms about like a wizard a lot. Her red dress was torn away (a classic Eurovision cliché) to show a slightly more revealing flesh-coloured dress underneath.
Germany is another member of the Big 5, and their entry had a James Bond kind of theme. Her singing skills were actually better than a lot of the singers in the contest, but they scored nil points (zero points)! Last year’s winners, Austria, also scored zero points. That said, they did send in an entry when the piano set on fire and the entire band was a throwback to the 1970s, or “the decade that style forgot”, if you prefer.
In the final part of the Eurovision 2015 summary, the closing acts will be put under the spotlight and we’ll relive the tense moments of the voting procedure. Don’t miss it!
Image from: http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/sweden-wins-eurovision-contest-heroes-1502723
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