Saturday 26 May 2012

Loreen lives up to her billing as Sweden win Eurovision

BOOKIES' favourite Sweden won the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest after holding off a strong challenge from Russian grannies Buranovskiye Babushki in Baku.

Loreen's trance track 'Euphoria' finished on 372 points with Russia on 259 points. Serbia, in third, was the only other country to top the 200-point mark while host nation Azerbaijan was fourth.

The United Kingdom's entry Engelbert Humperdinck slumped to second last place, collecting just a dozen points from four countries - Estonia, Ireland, Latvia, and Belgium. 

Only Norway act Tooji prevented the UK from a fourth bottom-placed finish in the last 10 years, although no country suffered the indignity of scoring nul points.

Hopes were not particularly high for the 76-year-old crooner nicknamed the Hump especially after a poor draw put him and his ballad 'Love Will Set You Free' on first.

Viewers often tune into the contest late or simply cannot remember the early acts by the time the voting opens.

Nevertheless, Humperdinck was in a genial mood in this interview afterwards.

"I've had many highs in my career and Eurovision has been a wonderful experience," he said. "I did the best for my country, the rest was out of my hands."

The choice of Humperdinck was always a bit of a risk with his heyday having come over 40 years ago.

But, with greener acts having also failed miserably in recent times, it now seems impossible to know what the UK must do to regain its Eurovision credibility.

Ireland, who last won in 1996, has a plan: simply enter Jedward twins John and Edward Grimes every year until they win.

It doesn't seem likely to work, though. As predicted on this blog, Jedward lacked the element of surprise for 2012 and always seemed likely to fare worse than last year when finishing eighth.

This time the twins could only manage 46 points to be placed in 19th, though they did at least make a splash by finishing their song 'Waterline' by jumping into an on-stage fountain.

Thankfully for the organisers in Baku, that was about as ridiculous as it got, meaning this controversial contest passed by without incident.

After all, the 57th edition of the competition had been making headlines in the run-up for all the wrong reasons.

The venue - named the Crystal Hall - was newly-built but came at the expense of the relocation of hundreds of Baku residents. Meanwhile, other human rights abuses by the Azerbaijani authorities were also uncovered.

As such, Eurovision organisers will be comforted by the fact that next year will be in the relative safety of Sweden following what the Guardian described as "the most politicised contest yet".

That remains a genuine shame but, considering even the very first competition in 1956 was overshadowed by the Suez crisis, it was clearly ever thus.

FINAL STANDINGS

CountrySong - ArtistPoints
01SWEDEN'Euphoria' - Loreen372
02Russia'Party for Everybody' - Buranovskiye Babushki259
03Serbia'Nije ljubav stvar' - Željko Joksimović214
04Azerbaijan'When the Music Dies' - Sabina Babayeva150
05Albania'Suus' - Rona Nishliu146
06Estonia'Kuula' - Ott Lepland120
07Turkey'Love Me Back' - Can Bonomo112
08Germany'Standing Still' - Roman Lob110
09Italy'L'amore è femmina (Out of Love)' - Nina Zilli101
10Spain'Quédate conmigo' - Pastora Soler97
11Moldova'Lăutar' - Pasha Parfeny81
12Romania'Zaleilah' - Mandinga71
13FYR Macedonia'Crno i belo' - Kaliopi71
14Lithuania'Love Is Blind' - Donny Montell70
15Ukraine'Be My Guest' - Gaitana65
16Cyprus'La La Love' - Ivi Adamou65
17Greece'Aphrodisiac' - Eleftheria Eleftheriou64
18Bosnia-Herzegovina'Korake ti znam' - MayaSar55
19Ireland'Waterline' - Jedward46
20Iceland'Never Forget' - Gréta Salóme & Jónsi46
21Malta'This Is the Night' - Kurt Calleja41
22France'Echo (You and I)' - Anggun21
23Denmark'Should've Known Better' - Soluna Samay21
24Hungary'Sound of Our Hearts' - Compact Disco19
25UNITED KINGDOM'Love Will Set You Free' - Engelbert Humperdinck12
26Norway'Stay' - Tooji7

--
Preview
ENGELBERT HUMPERDINCK will open the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest for the United Kingdom, having been drawn as the first act on stage at the Baku Crystal Hall in Azerbaijan.

The 76-year-old crooner, who had two number one hits in the late 1960s with 'Release Me' and 'The Last Waltz', aims to give the UK their first Eurovision win since 1997 with his new ballad 'Love Will Set You Free'.

But Humperdinck's hopes have been hit by the draw as the first song is rarely remembered by the time that voting opens.

In that respect, Irish twins Jedward have been given a better chance. They are 23rd in line having been one of 10 countries to qualify from the first semi final on Tuesday.

The question remains, though: if they failed last year, what are the chances of them doing any better this time?

Russia's Buranovskiye Babushki - featuring eight grandmothers - was another novelty act to emerge from the preliminaries but the strong favourites - as short as evens in places - are Sweden and their trance hit 'Euphoria'.

Eurovision 2012 is on BBC One at 8pm tonight, thus clashing with Roy Hodgson's first game as England manager against Norway in Oslo which is on ITV at 7.45pm.


EUROVISION 2012 RUNNING ORDER
Click on the links for the official Eurovision videos of each of the songs.

CountrySongArtist
01United KingdomLove Will Set You FreeEngelbert Humperdinck
02HungarySound of Our HeartsCompact Disco
03AlbaniaSuusRona Nishliu
04LithuaniaLove is BlindDonny Montell
05Bosnia-HerzegovinaKorake ti znamMayaSar
06RussiaParty for EverybodyBuranovskiye Babushki
07IcelandNever ForgetGreta Salome & Jonsi
08CyprusLa La LoveIvi Adamou
09FranceEcho (You and I)Anggun
10ItalyL'amore e femmina (Out of Love)Nina Zilli
11EstoniaKuulaOtt Lepland
12NorwayStayTooji
13AzerbaijanWhen the Music DiesSabina Babayeva
14RomaniaZaleilahMandinga
15DenmarkShould've Known BetterSoluna Samay
16GreeceAphrodisiacEleftheria Eleftheriou
17SwedenEuphoriaLoreen
18TurkeyLove Me BackCan Bonomo
19SpainQuedate conmigoPastora Soler
20GermanyStanding StillRoman Lob
21MaltaThis Is The NightKurt Calleja
22FYR MacedoniaCrno i beloKaliopi
23IrelandWaterlineJedward
24SerbiaNije Ijubav stvarZeljko Joksimovic
25UkraineBe My GuestGaitana
26MoldovaLautarPasha Parfeny

Related links
- Official Eurovision website
- Official Eurovision Youtube page
- BBC Eurovision page
- Previous Eurovision reports on this blog - 2009 2010 2011

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