On May 13th took place the night of the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 Grand Final. Read the review from me below

Most of the people only tune in for the Grand Final of the Eurovision Song Contest and nations such as Germany do not lose broadcasting time on their main public channel to show the first as well as the second semi-final of the biggest music show in Europe. Therefore they broadcast them on a subsidiary channel which not necessarily everyone can receive immediately or even easily. Personally I find this disrespectful but I am lucky enough to be bilingual and receive more nations’ public channel so that I can follow the whole Eurovision Song Contest – just like a true fan – on the whole.

In the passed days you already have been able to read my reviews and impressions of the first and second semi-final along with the personal highlights therefore I will go without writing a second review of the nation that have already participated in the semi-finals. Instead I will just give an additional review of the big five (Spain, Italy, United Kingdom, Germany, France) and the host country Ukraine, who have already been qualified for the grand final. The big five are called like this since they count as founding members of the Eurovision Song Contest and therefore are treated preferred in the competition.

The review of the big five and the host country

So finally here are the big five and the host country in their running order:

1. (09) Italy – Francesco Gabbiani “Occidentali’s Karma”: The first one to be predicted as winner and personally more worthy than the actual one. Francesco is a very sympathetic singer full of positive vibes which he gave to his audiance. His lively and powerful song has real hit-potential and I very much appreciate that it was sung in the native language. Another point to the song goes because of the great message about critcizing human superficiality of nowadays. However the Buddha reminded very much of Artsvik’s performance.
2. (16) Spain – Manel Navarro “Do It For Your Lover”: The Spanish beach boys were definitely catching attention with their surfboards and colorful stages and Hawaiian shirts. The song and stage seemed very authentic and cool.
3. (18) United Kingdom – Lucie Jones “Never Give Up On You”: From Lucie’s promotion photos I was expecting a sexier Lucie but since she is a musical singer from Wales her well-behaved image was just right. She presented a beautiful, strong ballade. But from a musical songstress I would have expected a stronger voice such as Mary-Jean O’Doherty has it.
4. (21) Germany – Levina “Perfect Life”: Levina is a fantastic and very sympathetic girl – open to cultures, apart from that she was very feminine and beautiful on stage which I very much liked. Sadly her voice was everything but good during the three minutes she had on stage and ruined her song and placing.
5. (22) Ukraine – O.Torvald “Time”: One of the weakest performances provided by Ukraine. This rock song did not come across well just like the head on stage. Which was rather scary than cool.
6. (26) France – Alma “Requiem”: The best at the end and my personal winner to reveal it ahead. I have to steal the beautiful Alma’s dresses from the red carpet show and stage. For those who do not know the songstress used the two first letters of her name and last name and formed it to a French female first name – very refined from Alexandra Marquet! Her stage was magical, exclusive and enchantin! From the title of the song one might have expected a sad song but she made this sadness a beautiful impulsive lovesong in her native language and is responsible for the lyrics which speaks for her talent. The only thing that might have missed are two dancers on the stage just like in the video.

   

Ranking By Fall4Me

Before you may agree or disagree with my opinion on the songs I would like to share my personal ranking on the grand final with you:

1. France
2. Moldova
3. Romania
4. Italy
5. Armenia
6. The Netherlands
7. Azerbaijan
8. Austria
9. Norway
10. Croatia
11. Bulgaria
12. Australia
13. Greece
14. United Kingdom
15. Israel
16. Belarus
17. Hungary
18. Portugal
19. Belgium
20. Spain
21. Germany
22. Poland
23. Sweden
24. Cyprus
25. Ukraine
26. Denmark

Have the official recap of all the song participating in the grand final and tell me if you agree with my ranking. Where do you see differences? Where do you agree? Personally I am used to it that I always have a different taste than the mainstream but that does not bother me at all. My criteria is including the concern to the proper culture, the adaption to modernity, hit potential, self-written lyrics, singing in the propoer language, the voice, authenticity, sympathy and closeness to the public – otherwise being down to earth – as well as closeness to instruments, originality, that refined extra and last but not least a coherent picture on the whole.

Anyway congratulations to the winner Portugal and the family Sobral. I was really touched by the very end of the show when brother and sister performed the song as a duet. Luisa Sobral as writer and composer of the song. I am excited to see you all in Lisbon 2018! The victory was even funnier since Portugal has won the Euro Cup of soccer in the last year as well. Might there be a connection? What do you think?

Love, Johanna