ESTON I A
CZECH I A
GRAND FINAL
GRAND FINAL
Song: My Sister’s Crown Performer: Vesna Songwriters: Kateryna Vatchenko, Patricie Kaňok, Tanita Yankova, Adam Albrecht, Michal Jiráň, Šimon Martínek CZECHIA Semi-Final 1 Televote total: 110 points 4th place Grand Final Total: 129 points Juries: 94 Televote: 35 10th place • In the Grand Final, the Swiss jury awarded 12 points to Vesner, but the televotes from the semi didn’t seem to materialise. Still, it was a Top Ten finish for Czechia.
Song: Bridges Performer: Alika Milova Songwriters: Alika Milova, Nina Sampermans, Wouter Hardy ESTONIA Semi-Final 2 Televote total: 74 points 10th place Grand Final Total: 168 points Juries: 146 Televote: 22 8th place • While Alika just scraped through to the Grand Final her Top Ten finish was due to the juries who seemed to have loved Bridges - unlike the televoters. The difference between both voting groups was staggering.
The bookmakers weren’t certain about Alika with many suggesting that she wouldn’t qualify from a televote-only semi -final. Not only were they proven wrong but once she qualified, Alika’s self-playing piano became a hit with the juries ranking fifth among them to take an eighth place finish overall. Alika didn’t change much from her performance at Eesti Laul , but the song’s haunting elegance stood out as a beautiful ballad in a banger-heavy contest. Next year in Sweden, Estonia will be looking to qualify for the Grand Final for the third consecutive year for the first time since 2013. Fin Ross Russell
I absolutely loved this going into the contest but had no idea how they were going to stage and, boy oh boy, did they stage the heck out of it. It was sleek, sophisticated, pointed and, well, brilliant! The song of female empowerment and standing up for all women (seems to be one every year or so) this year was utterly fabulous. Czechia are on a good roll, if they can keep this up then surely a contest in Prague is coming isn’t it? Lisa-Jayne Lewis
F I NLAND
DENMARK
GRAND FINAL
SEMI-FINAL 2
Song: Cha Cha Cha Performer: Käärijä Songwriters: Aleksi Nurmi, Jere Pöyhönen, Johannes Naukkarinen FINLAND Semi-Final 1 Televote total: 177 points 1st place Grand Final Total: 526 points Juries: 150 Televote: 376 2nd place • In the Grand Final only two juries (neighbours Norway and Sweden) gave Käärijä 12 points, while he received 12 points each from 18 televoting countries! He was clearly the public’s choice.
Song: Breaking My Heart Performer: Reiley Songwriters: Bård Bonsaksen, Hilda Stenmalm, Rani Petersen, Sivert Hjeltnes Hagtvet DENMARK Semi-Final 2 Televote total: 6 points 14th place • All six points from the semi were awarded by Iceland. Denmark has never received so few points since the semi-finals began.
Wow!! This is a true winning song by far! A favourite with the majority of the Eurovision fans and rightly so. Many predicted that Käärijä should have won the contest but he was so close and yet so far. What a crushing experience to have victory snatched away in these circumstances. As expected it won the public votes and came fourth in the juries. It’s been months since we all saw that performance, but it feels like yesterday. I’m still having trouble moving on but can’t help thinking how great Cha Cha Cha was and still is to this day. Also, who would have thought that an artist from Finland would one day change the whole perspective on how non Finns listen to songs in the Finnish language? It’s crazy! It’s party! Shau Chan
Reiley received a plum spot in his Semi-Final 2 running order, opening up the show and setting the bar for the following acts. The staging saw some upgrades on the national final performance with a Rosa Linn-esque rotating house and some cool camera filters brought in to both build the connection to TV viewers while energising the Liverpool arena. Unfortunately some pitchy vocals let down the TikTok star with only the Icelandic public giving the Faroese singer any points. The result marks Denmark’s third consecutive non-qualification, the first time this has happened in the Scandinavian country’s history at the contest. Fin Ross Russell
VISION ● AUTUMN 2022 29
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AUTUMN 2022 ● VISION
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