FRANCE
GERMANY
GRAND FINAL
GRAND FINAL
Song: Évidemment ( Obviously ) Performer: La Zarra Songwriters: Benny Adam, La Zarra. Banx & Ranx
Song: Blood & Glitter Performer: Lord Of The Lost Songwriters: Anthony J. Brown,
Chris Harms, Pi Stoffers, Rupert Keplinger
FRANCE Grand Final Total: 104 points Juries: 54 Televote: 50 16th place
GERMANY Grand Final Total: 18 points Juries: 3 Televote: 15 26th place • Since 2015 the country has been out of the bottom two only once (in 2018)! This year only the juries in Czechia and Iceland thought it worthy of points - but at least the televotes of its neighbours, Austria and Switzerland, liked Blood & Glitter , as well as those hard rockers in Finland.
I never really got the hype around this. It’s a decent enough song and La Zarra clearly performs the socks off it, but I just can’t see how people were calling it as a dark horse winner. For me the beginning of the song is far more interesting than when the beat kicks in - it sort of becomes a bit something and nothing after that. I managed a lovely interview with La Zarra and she’s clearly a clued up and switched on artist, but something about this just didn’t click with me. France did give us the only fire curtain this year though, credit to them for that! Lisa-Jayne Lewis
Someone has to come last and for the second year running it’s Germany. I don’t think Lord of the Lost and this song deserved that dreaded last place in the Grand Final. Blood And Glitter was such a great entry as one of the stand-out songs that brought so much adrenaline and energy to the Eurovision stage. Probably this was one of the best performances on the night, but I don’t understand how the best songs always end up in last place - and hard to tell why it didn’t score as well as expected. Chris Harms, the lead singer, has a pretty extensive vocal range, and as expected there were good special effects with pyros and flashing lights. After the contest they signed up for a headline tour around Europe as well as supporting heavy metal band Iron Maiden on their UK tour. Shau Chan
• The highest jury points the country got was a 10 from Sweden - and the same amount of points from the Armenian televoters. The country has yet to capitalise on its runner-up ranking in 2021.
GRE ECE
GEORG I A
SEMI-FINAL 2
SEMI-FINAL 2
Song: What They Say Performer: Victor Vernicos Songwriter: Victor Vernicos Jørgensen GREECE Semi-Final 2 Televote total: 14 points 13th place • Only two countries voted for Greece this year, Armenia and Cyprus - and naturally the viewers in the latter awarded 12 points. Nevertheless the country still has a decent record of qualifying for the Grand Final.
Song: Echo Performer: Iru Khechanovi Songwriters: Beni Kadagidze, Iru Khechanovi, George Kukhianidze GEORGIA Semi-Final 2 Televote total: 33 points 12th place • The country hasn’t made it through to the Grand Final since 2016. Though the televoters of its neighbour, Armenia, awarded Georgia its only 12 points this year.
No one can deny that Iru was a striking figure on that stage. She looked like a dangerous vestal virgin - all helped along with, literally, striking special effects. There certainly was a storm brewing - but yet again the country failed to make it through to the Grand Final. Clearly the song, Echo , failed to make any impact - its key changes were maybe too awkward and probably too shouty. And was it wise to just let Iru stand on a small little round stage? Maybe a bit of movement and adding more people to the act might have been a bit more memorable. As it was it just got lost in the mix - which is a shame as the country, year after year, tries hard to impress. Let’s hope for a bit more oomph next year. Hass Yusuf
All credit to 16 year-old Victor Vernicos who represented his country with the self-penned What They Say . This is a great contemporary song in the style of James Arthur, but it just didn’t work on the Eurovision stage. Victor was struggling to overcome his nerves as he began to sing and, unfortunately, he didn’t really recover his composure from thereon. Hopefully he will have a successful career ahead of him but, for now, his inexperience of major live performances was his downfall. The choreography appeared awkward and, perhaps, the song would have had more impact had Victor not run around the stage while doing Busted- style jumps. A brave effort and, in a few years from now, it would be good if Victor could be given another chance. Gordon Lewis
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VISION ● AUTUMN 2022 31
AUTUMN 2022 ● VISION
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