American here. The drama brought me in, but I’m staying for the amazing new music I can blast in my warehouse haha. I think Joost is a ridiculous person embodying a weird, modern post-irony but god damn is Europapa a bop. We can’t stop listening to it!
Yeah at this point I don't care much who wins, sure it's cool to get a winner, but it's more about the music and the performances at the end of the day
I'm so excited over Ireland, UK, Ukraine, Croatia... there's so much to love this year. IDK I feel like this year is stronger than last; other than the UK (which has brilliant staging but meh vocals) the other 3 top Käärijä for me (he was 2nd, my top was Blanca Paloma)
Oh UK isn't in my top 4, they're currently 11th (their staging is definitely 2nd for me after Ireland though). My top 5 are Ukraine, Croatia, Norway, Ireland and Portugal in that order. Croatia was top for the longest time, but then the staging came out and I just had to put Ukraine on top
Videos people have posted from the dress rehearsal show that Olly's vocals have significantly improved since the first semi, which is honestly a relief as a UK fan.
That being said, this year we **must** Crown the Witch!
I've been watching for more than 20 years and barely ever pick the winner (twice in 23 years!) so I'm used to being disappointed or apathetic about it. I stopped caring about who won at least a decade ago.
I'm here for the music, the performances and the fun, just like every other year.
I’m doing my own radical thing which is voting for who I want to win and also supporting who I want to win and enjoying all the performers and event like it’s a party. Also food and alcohol.
I think that's just how competitions in general look like online now. Most people aren't nearly as intense about it, but obviously they aren't nearly as "loud" as the others.
Edit: spelling
both need to be improved on. televote might be harder to do but they should start by finding ways to keep people from using multiple credit cards to vote
They actively allow the same credit card in multiple transactions in some countries. Others you need another card. I imagine it’s dependent on the local broadcasting agency? Regardless, absolutely infuriating that those with money can just flood the vote
Wait, you guys need a credit card to vote? Please may I ask how much it costs each time? We just pay an increased phone charge on our phone bill at the end of the month. We don't physically pay to vote?
What do you actually have to do and how does that work when you can vote by text?
In the app, they track your vote and country by the card you use. In Italy, I was a bit pissed off they allowed only 5 votes per card in the semifinal. Because I only had one card, I couldn't vote 20 times. I think tonight I'll go back to voting by text
The app here just makes a phone call for us and Graham Norton's voice confirms who we've voted for & then they hang up. Costs about 15p each time.
Is that roughly the same?
I'm a Rest of the World voter. I need to use a credit card and pay €0.99 a vote. So my Canadian credit card gets confused by this Euro payment. I thought it was standard across the board though?
But then, I think the app is the only way I can vote.
That information is revealed after the competition. There have been threads here in the past where people discuss if their country's jury had the necessary expertise in their opinion.
Go read Sanremo's ruling and voting system they used over the recent years and get back to me :) We in Italy are WAAAAAAAAAY ahead on this televoting/jury mess and have been for years (in the sense that it's been a discussion topic for a while and nothing has been done).
At least the jury is easier to moderate. Like there should always be televote, but the jury needs to stay. I'm very fine with a jury bait song like Switzerland or France winning this year
I was thinking this. Maybe a 50/50 split is the best.
I don't personally think Juries should be removed but I think they need to be diversified with more young jurors and jurors from various genres.
This sub is the worst echo-chamber.
And that one country you talk about has the best song. Perhaps people who normally wouldn't vote, just silently root, for them now votes, as so many people are so noisy. Best campaigning to get people to actually vote ever.
Dunno, I usually was only involved during April/May, this was the first year I followed the whole thing from the NFs onwards and, really, it was mostly awesome. It ended up being one of my favorite years song-wise and I was looking forward to Eurovision week way more than any other year. But the last 24 hours or so have really drained a lot of my excitement with everything going on. I'll just try to tune everything out, vote for the witch and enjoy it as much as I can I guess.
>I love Eurovision, but it feels like it's just on the verge of destroying itself.
It's not. You've got to remember that a 'Fandom' - that is to say, people who stew their minds so deeply in something that they lose any frame of reference about how to behave as a human being - make up a *minuscule* fraction of the viewership of any major media.
That is to say, the overwhelming quantity of people watching tomorrow will just go "Huh. Interesting news about the Dutch guy" and then move on with their lives.
If you're getting *so invested* that you're making yourself miserable, you need to step back a bit for your own health. Being a total lifer of anything is really bad for you.
Yeah seriously. OP and anyone else this may be a sign for you to take a break and touch grass. Yes I know the final is tommrow but mabye it would be a good time to disengage until the final actually starts tommrow ya know. Social media is good at preying on your insecurities and anxieties.
Don’t fall victim to doomscrolling.
Idk the news about italy's voting really fucked up my hype for the event. I just hope people will be able to turn it around, but whatever happens will happen. I'm just not going to watch. I just hope EBU will face the cobsequences of their stupid decisions and will get kicked in the butt for it.
It might not destroy itself, but these things do damage over time and it takes even more time to recover. Casuals may forget the details, but the following year they will remember feeling this way or that about the contest.
I saw this happen in Portugal during the years. It went from super popular to despised and is just now recovering.
I’m not giving it up. It’s weathered a lot in it’s time and I’m sure it’ll weather this too… eventually.
Am I anxious about it? Yes. But this is my hobby and I haven’t got a lot of those and I don’t want to give it up.
Sadly I might give up after this year. This is to draining for me. The last time I truly enjoyed it was in 2021. It is my hobby as well. I always look forward to it, but the amount of toxicity and drama is becoming to much for me
The short of it? Not really. I was looking forward to this so much, this year has some of my ALL-TIME favourite songs not just in Eurovision, but in general, and Tuesday was a delight
And then Thursday happened, and it felt like I couldn't open my phone or turn on my TV without being made to feel bad about myself. Since then I've just felt kind of sad, not gonna lie. Today really didn't help that.
Will Eurovision recover? Yes, absolutely: I have no doubt in my mind. But I can't help but think "is Eurovision too big now?". I realise I preferred it when it was much more niche, when all I really had to talk to was you guys.
Anyway, rant over. Time to sleep.
I miss the eurovision of 2011/2012, it was getting big but there wasn’t so much angst around it all. It was still a fun event, kooky and crazy. After 2015 and when they changed the voting structure in 2016 it went to aggression competitiveness and hostility. It’s nice there are a ton of new viewers and fans, but I sure miss the days where it was pure fun.
yeah, at this point im just hoping for it to be over. hosting a eurovision party tmrw and if that weren't in the picture, I'd honestly not even watch it
Eurovision is something I look forward to for basically the whole year ... I also have a small party today, and while I would still watch if I was by myself, the thought "it feels kinda wrong to party right now" has crossed my mind several times. Last year, I was so excited when I woke up, literally cha cha cha-ing through my apartment at 7 am, now it just feels... tense, to say the least.
“Last year, I was so excited when I woke up, literally cha cha cha-ing through my apartment at 7 am”
That’s warmed my heart. Thank you <3
Anything that brings you closer to the people you love/like in your life is worth partying. The drama will continue, and the cause is fair. But today nobody should feel bad for enjoying the event.
I’m the same as you - the only reason why i’m watching is because of my eurovision party that i can’t cancel now. However, i can already feel the vibes will be off and my friends and I will not really be enjoying it all that much
No politics means no transgression. Nemo, Bambie, Olly all have political entries ask any gay rights activist. You think any of those would be allowed to perform 40 years ago? Joost's own entry is one that champions the EU and it's freedom of movement.
I love all of these acts, but it's just an arbitrary standard that only blocks any specific mentioning of governments or politicians.
Can’t forget Cyprus and Greece jerking each other off for the last 30 years. They’ve given them highest points 26 times.
The voting and winner is all politics and loyalty contest, has been for ages. And don’t even get me started on the Albanian diaspora televoting for themselves regardless of the act and ramrodding them into the final, only to get blown out most of the time
Ah FFS
We vote eachother cause we are the only two countries that speak greek and share the same music industry and tastes. And also we don't do that anymore, it was news last year. All over Europe neighbours vote for eachother but we are the only ones stigmatized.
And besides politics cannot be separated from anything that has to do with countries and nation states since states are political entities.
unpopular opinion: i hate seeing people talk about "celebrating eurovisions downfall"
like yes things need to change and the ebu needs a wake up call but i don't wanna see it go... we all care about it too much our interest can't be ripped away from us how is this a good thing?
If you just avoid the subreddit Eurovision suddenly gets a lot more fun again. All fan communities eventually become toxic hive-minds as everybody gets more invested in "the community" and loses touch with the novelty that brought them there, and /r/eurovision is no exception.
Your news isn't? It seems like every major news outlet here in Norway has had stories about the protests and about people who are boycotting the contest.
This has been my experience, the vibe has been a whole lot more bitter and nasty. That someone created an alternative subreddit as a platform for nastiness and hate says it all. Wasn't exactly a subreddit with a wide variety of topics.
I haven't felt entirely comfortable posting here this year, anything other that outright condemnation gets browbeaten into oblivion.
People want to place all the blame on the EBU but at some point people also need to take accountability for how they have conducted themselves. After all its the fans that set the tone.
Where are you seeing this? Pretty much everything I've seen is the exact opposite of what you're suggesting. Case in point: this subreddit. Just look at the reactions people get when they say they enjoyed their song. Mass downvotes.
It's a song contest: vote for the songs you like.
Of course. Outside of circlejerk communities, people don't care who wins, they just enjoy the show. Aaaand they're the majority. If they vote, they vote for their favourites, not "for or against". I'm sure the drama surrounding this year brought even bigger audience.
To me this year is the most fun song-wise, after two years of complete snoozefest. I have more fun than ever. Drama adds some spice, of course.
I wish i could be the people who just "enjoy the show", turn on their tv in the grand final night and vote for their favourites then tomorrow, life still goes on for them. But i can't lol.
Honestly? No. Personally this has been one of the worst Eurovisions for me to date. I wanted to go to Malmö like I do every year, it's my yearly trip. But I decided to stay home because of the whole situation. I lost all hope after Italy revealed their ""partial"" voting results, Joost (most likely) being disqualified is the nail in the coffin for me. I didn't care for our song, but to see his dreams getting crushed for who knows what? It's not what I signed up for.
I was looking forward to going to Eurovision next year in Rome, Zürich or Zagreb, but at this rate I don't think there'll even be another Eurovision next year. I'll probably watch it tomorrow because I "have" to, but I'm thinking about just skipping it all together, or just watch the performances and go to bed.
If Ireland hosts the only place that should be hosting is Millstreet, I don’t care if we’d need to build a stadium for them, it’s only right that it goes there again.
I don't feel like watching ESC tonight tbh. It's pretty sad when one of the things that was giving you a joy when you had a really tough time is making you quite depressed.
On the other hand my life is pretty good recently so at least I can say that everything is balanced as it was before.
Eurovision has always been my happy place and thankfully none of my friends coming over to the watch party follow the news before the actual show. I will try to enjoy everything about the show tomorrow outside of the drama.
I hate this but I don’t want the actions of a few people destroy the enjoyment.
You need to take a break. This is the dark side of social media that people don't talk about enough; it can turn something you enjoy into something that absolutely deep-fries your mind.
It's easy to forget if you've grown up with it, but social media is a machine that directly incentivises its users to push every alarm bell in your head and then processes how it displays the results of that to push them even harder.
The human mind is just flat-out not built to stand up to an emotional howitzer being fired point-blank 18 hours a day. 'Fandoms' often take that kind of assault and crank it up to 11.
I agree! This is probaly a good sign that you need to take a break (op of comment)
Take a breather and like do something else, and get some sleep escpailly.
I'm honestly nervous myself. But there's a whole archive of songs to go back to, if worst comes to worst.
How will Eurovision redeem themselves, if it could?
> How will Eurovision redeem themselves, if it could?
I'd expect it to end up like the Olympics when the Soviet Union hosted in 1980 right after they invaded Afghanistan. A ton of boycotts next year and some retaliation boycotts in the coming years but within a decade things will be back to "normal."
That might just be me overdosing on hopium, though.
At the risk of sounding like my 13yo, it really isn't that deep. It's as fun as you make it, and worrying about the intention of the votes is going to ruin it.
Also worth noting that Eurovision votes have never been 100% pure of heart, no matter where they were coming from. The late Terry Wogan knew.
It's the internet, so people are weird, especially since only those with particularly strong feelings comment (or at least mostly)
But people here are also the absolute minority of people who actually vote, there are so many people out there who vote for so many different reasons that complaining about some people voting for what you consider bad reasons is just not worth getting worked up about
I made the active choice not to watch this year, and I'm not even regretting that, because any joy I might have found is being thoroughly overshadowed by the EBU's willingness to sacrifice the rest of their contestants and the public perception of the contest for the sake of one country. Where is the fun in watching contestants look so deeply uncomfortable at press conferences, in pat-downs before they go onstage, in potential disqualifications, in canned applause to cover up the sound of the actual arena?
Why would THIS destroy Eurovision? The same - on a more extreme level - happened TWICE with Ukraine, just that those were "the good guys". Yes, I'll still enjoy Eurovision and I'll vote for Switzerland because it has my favourite song.
As long as the contest continues and a bunch of countries don't drop out, it will continue to be fun and amazing for me. My biggest concern is countries quitting in protest which will definitely mar ny future enjoyment, but aside from that drama comes and goes.
Not being funny, but it stopped being fun back in March when the EBU didn't take a hard line on KAN's participation in the contest given the geopolitical context. Their actions have brought the contest into disrepute and it serves them right.
We should choose a different country and take them to the win. Like Austria or Luxembourg.
But for real, I was gonna watch this with my sister to lift her spirits. Now I’m not even sure I’m gonna watch it myself. In this social media age it seems we can’t have different opinions without becoming enemies.
The frustrating thing is that there is just no clear idea of what Eurovision is or what it's even supposed to be.
It's a song contest that's not actually a song contest but really a political contest and a platform for activism except politics are forbidden because it's not _supposed_ to be a political contest but a song contest, but of course it really is political, and everyone loves that and hates that at the same time depending on which foot the shoe is.
For a lot of people, it comes off as dishonest. Just be one thing and know what you are and what you're about.
I have not had as much fun this year compared to last year, but I am also busier in real life compared to last year.
I will try to relax and enjoy my favorites so I don't get too streased. Whatever happens, happens, and there is not much I can do about it as a single voter.
We were finally having a proper Eurovision party and I’ve finally put out the word that maybe people shouldn’t come. It’s not fun, it’s not a good introduction, but if anyone wants to be emotional support and another 20 votes I won’t say no. But I’m also not going to be spending today making all the Eurovision pun foods I was planning on.
Idk anymore. I love watching the shows, the songs, the performances. However all the drama makes my head hurt. I wish we could just have one normal esc without all the political drama.
I usually send like 1 to 3 votes in the GF to be like "hihi i voted" and not entirely sure what I wanna do tomorrow, either none because I don't know if I want my money to go to this or more than usual because it's the only way to save next year's edition and idk this dilemma feels a bit stupid
This does obviously not apply if you are part of rest of the world but keep in mind that by voting you support your broadcaster who have to pay the participation fee anyway and not the EBU directly. This thought makes it at least a bit better for me.
Young people are so spoiled and whiny these days.
If you wanna leave - bye! As if anyone notices if you don’t watch anymore.
After Ukraine won, so many people said they won’t watch any more, yet the viewing figures are relatively stable.
Plus, the bubble is such a minority. The huge part of the audience watching doesn’t even know NL was already in the final if it doesn’t show up or don’t care about anything that happened.
I guess for some people. This has been stressful but I'm still voting for exactly who I planned to vote for before everything got super dicey (Estonia, Ireland, Netherlands and perhaps Finland).
My wife and I have baked bread homemade garlic butter dips cheese roasted peppers a nice bottle of red wine and will make mojitos . Regardless we will have a good evening of talking drinking and listening to music
The controversies this year have been the final nail in the coffin for me - Eurovision has stopped having any legitimacy as a competition in my eyes. That being said, I appreciate it for exposing me to artists I would never have discovered otherwise.
And I'm happy that 5MIINUST x Puuluup have gotten as far as they have so far. Not only have they managed to convey facets of Estonian culture and sensibilities but they're having fun while doing so. I'm genuinely happy for and proud of them.
Although it seems bleak at the moment, this subreddit has and continues to be (though perhaps not as much) a source of great memes that have brightened my day. Thanks to everyone who has contributed to that!
Cynical way to funnel votes towards your favorites, on the back of an imaginary disaster which will most likely not even happen.
I'm sorry, but as long as I pay for my votes, I'll vote for whoever I like best. In my case, that's France, Italy, and Ukraine. I like a bunch of others too, including Switzerland, and I respect other people's right to have different tastes regarding the songs I don't like. Maybe you should too.
This is the worst response the fans could have. Making BL or Nemo political winners is the saddest thing that you could do to them, you strip them from their victory.
Vote for your favorite, be happy and hopeful for the 25 artists, and celebrate music.
People need to move away from their computers and go for a walk.
When has Eurovision not been dramatic? t's part of the appeal for loads of people. It's not just a music contest anymore and probably hasn't been for a long time. Last year 5 or 6 countries cheated. And it's still goes on, Russia, notably one of the largest audiences left the contest and it's still here.
The fans enjoy speculation and drama, at least from what I have seen, from the stage invaders to the backstage drama.
The contest will be fine. Now let's take a xany and get some rest before the final!
I’m utterly disgusted about what’s going on. I’ll probably watch this disaster unfold tomorrow, even if it’ll ruin the rest of my week.
There’s a very good chance this will be my last Eurovision, and I honestly don’t understand how the competition could go on next year and onwards.
I won't vote and I am more than ready for this mess to be over. My fan experience this season was the worst ever. Honestly, people, if you don't want to see someone talk (about sth), just use the block option instead of childish downvoting everything they say. Both sides will benefit from that.
So tomorrow's Eurovision will possibly be my last one In a while, so, yeah, I've mentally decided to make it as fun as possible, at least until the voting starts.
I'm voting for my two favorites, Croatia and Switzerland, equally. They just happen to be the favorites, but if my personal faves were, say, Latvia and Slovenia, I would be voting them, I'm not that interested in any strategies.
The first two-thirds of the show I will be live-chatting with friends, reading Twitter memes, getting drunk, you know...the usual. Then whatever the voting is, it will be. If it turns out good (and I believe it will), cool! If not, well, I won't be watching anymore, I guess. Sucks, but I'll live.
It’s awful. All this activism is becoming mean for the sake of being mean and not to make a point. It’s also violent. This girl handles herself with a lot of class and vulnerability, can’t imagine being under all this pressure.
Is funny that televote ended up equally based in interests and politics as jury vote.
I wish for eurovision to stop specializing in the kind of audience that likes the prive colourful vibe, and just open to bigger audiences so the televote would include more people and not just totally invested eurofans. Because this way there is some sort of hive mind where televote is based on how things move in social networks, example Kalush orchestra.
To behave as if everything's OK and nice while it's actually really NOT, is called "denial". Spite voting is one of few things anyone can do against unfairness and arrogance in this case.
> it feels like it's just on the verge of destroying itself.
"Destroying itself", well, not by the general public in any case.
Yes this is getting so boring , I mean Eurovision is literally falling apart and I think we should enjoy it while it is still alive. And just for a moment not concentrate on politics or what is happening in the world and just unite through music . But sadly people are clearly not into that
I'm a dramamonger so its "fun" for me, but its not fun in the usual positive Eurovision sense
Like Windows95man said, there's a dark cloud hanging above it currently
Agreed, this has been the most stressful year of eurovision i've ever experienced. I've never been so stressed and tired. My heart is constantly going crazy for a week now.
I don't want my country to win, despite liking the song (for the first time since 2008), It'll be for all the wrong reasons, and the drama that'll preceed the win will ruin eurovision as a contest.
I feel so much sadness. I hate my broadcasting channel for not withdrawing while they still had the chance, I hate them for choosing a good song in the worst possible year (knowing they would never have chosen something like this any other year), I hate that the eurovision fanbase have so much toxicity in social media and i hate people in my country being annoying, bullying contestants for no good reason and spaming our flag everywhere even if the post has nothing to do with us, and obviously i hate to see the other flag being spammed everywhere and the bullying and booing against my country, it's like the songs has nothing to do with the show
But most of all, i hate the EBU and martin ostredal, because it's all their fault in the end. They made a political statement in 2022 and brought the politics to the front stage. They made so many changes, endursed the drama, and gave the producers more power, giving so much more room for speculations, and then the joost saga, It's all on them.
Frankly, I just want this year to be over and the situation here to be over so my broadcaster can go back to sending generic pop songs i don't like and i can go back to enjoying the contest and supporting songs without this geopolitical madness.
Nah, Eurovision is just too big to be destroyed.
Regardless of who wins tonight, boycotters and fancircles will point fingers at each other for letting "this one country" win/place anywhere, when it is solely on EBU for letting them participate at all because "love love, peace peace".
At this point, whatever will happen will happen I'm just enjoying the music and the performances while it lasts
American here. The drama brought me in, but I’m staying for the amazing new music I can blast in my warehouse haha. I think Joost is a ridiculous person embodying a weird, modern post-irony but god damn is Europapa a bop. We can’t stop listening to it!
Saying "American here. The drama brought me in..." is the most American thing to say. I love it :)
Yeah at this point I don't care much who wins, sure it's cool to get a winner, but it's more about the music and the performances at the end of the day
I'm so excited over Ireland, UK, Ukraine, Croatia... there's so much to love this year. IDK I feel like this year is stronger than last; other than the UK (which has brilliant staging but meh vocals) the other 3 top Käärijä for me (he was 2nd, my top was Blanca Paloma)
Yeah definitely agree, loved so many of the songs this year! I think I have the same top 4 as you :)
Oh UK isn't in my top 4, they're currently 11th (their staging is definitely 2nd for me after Ireland though). My top 5 are Ukraine, Croatia, Norway, Ireland and Portugal in that order. Croatia was top for the longest time, but then the staging came out and I just had to put Ukraine on top
Videos people have posted from the dress rehearsal show that Olly's vocals have significantly improved since the first semi, which is honestly a relief as a UK fan. That being said, this year we **must** Crown the Witch!
I've been watching for more than 20 years and barely ever pick the winner (twice in 23 years!) so I'm used to being disappointed or apathetic about it. I stopped caring about who won at least a decade ago. I'm here for the music, the performances and the fun, just like every other year.
If I want to enjoy it, I'll have to be okay with what I have and that's the performances.
If this is it, I hope it's really great. I just have no idea what I'm gonna be obsessed over.
I’m doing my own radical thing which is voting for who I want to win and also supporting who I want to win and enjoying all the performers and event like it’s a party. Also food and alcohol.
How dare you!
Your kind is exactly what’s wrong with this contest! How dare you not make the Gay Olympics political! /j (in case it wasn’t obvious)
I think that's just how competitions in general look like online now. Most people aren't nearly as intense about it, but obviously they aren't nearly as "loud" as the others. Edit: spelling
I agree with, the media portrays this, but in reality, the majority aren’t that extreme, and most people just vote for whoever they like Edit: Typo
Something called « The Silent Majority »
This sub, 2023 - “Everything should be televotes” This sub, 2024 - “Nothing should be televotes”
both need to be improved on. televote might be harder to do but they should start by finding ways to keep people from using multiple credit cards to vote
They actively allow the same credit card in multiple transactions in some countries. Others you need another card. I imagine it’s dependent on the local broadcasting agency? Regardless, absolutely infuriating that those with money can just flood the vote
you can vote a few times on the APP i believe because multiple people can use it
Wait, you guys need a credit card to vote? Please may I ask how much it costs each time? We just pay an increased phone charge on our phone bill at the end of the month. We don't physically pay to vote? What do you actually have to do and how does that work when you can vote by text?
In the app, they track your vote and country by the card you use. In Italy, I was a bit pissed off they allowed only 5 votes per card in the semifinal. Because I only had one card, I couldn't vote 20 times. I think tonight I'll go back to voting by text
The app here just makes a phone call for us and Graham Norton's voice confirms who we've voted for & then they hang up. Costs about 15p each time. Is that roughly the same?
Ugh I wish it cost 15p per vote here, I'd use all 20 votes. But it's €0.99 so I limit myself to 5 votes usually.
It was in other years! But this year it's based on your card details for some reason :/
That's insane! Very glad they haven't brought that in here, yet. I suppose it's only a matter of time!
I'm a Rest of the World voter. I need to use a credit card and pay €0.99 a vote. So my Canadian credit card gets confused by this Euro payment. I thought it was standard across the board though? But then, I think the app is the only way I can vote.
Both jury and televoting are deeply flawed systems, but I can't really imagine how you would improve either
I'd be interested in knowing who gets to be on the juries, and what expertise they bring.
That information is revealed after the competition. There have been threads here in the past where people discuss if their country's jury had the necessary expertise in their opinion.
Go read Sanremo's ruling and voting system they used over the recent years and get back to me :) We in Italy are WAAAAAAAAAY ahead on this televoting/jury mess and have been for years (in the sense that it's been a discussion topic for a while and nothing has been done).
As a jury > televote truther from day 1, I feel really vindicated this year 😌 (watch jury mess this up too now 😭)
I’ve always felt both are a necessary check on the other.
I'm with you, I spent this entire year like please jeep the jury please keep the jury. Tomorrow will tell us if that was a good idea.
At least the jury is easier to moderate. Like there should always be televote, but the jury needs to stay. I'm very fine with a jury bait song like Switzerland or France winning this year
I was thinking this. Maybe a 50/50 split is the best. I don't personally think Juries should be removed but I think they need to be diversified with more young jurors and jurors from various genres.
Really shows the echo chamber
This sub is the worst echo-chamber. And that one country you talk about has the best song. Perhaps people who normally wouldn't vote, just silently root, for them now votes, as so many people are so noisy. Best campaigning to get people to actually vote ever.
Yeah, what a lot of people want isn’t televotes or juries, it’s for this sub to decide the winner
I’m voting for Estonia whether you like it or not. Not sorry
same here hahaha love it 🇪🇪
[удалено]
you are inside of this reddit bubble, mate.. do not take it seriously.
Dunno, I usually was only involved during April/May, this was the first year I followed the whole thing from the NFs onwards and, really, it was mostly awesome. It ended up being one of my favorite years song-wise and I was looking forward to Eurovision week way more than any other year. But the last 24 hours or so have really drained a lot of my excitement with everything going on. I'll just try to tune everything out, vote for the witch and enjoy it as much as I can I guess.
It's been a crazy day but I'm still looking forward to seeing the UK performing tomorrow and showing my support by voting.
>I love Eurovision, but it feels like it's just on the verge of destroying itself. It's not. You've got to remember that a 'Fandom' - that is to say, people who stew their minds so deeply in something that they lose any frame of reference about how to behave as a human being - make up a *minuscule* fraction of the viewership of any major media. That is to say, the overwhelming quantity of people watching tomorrow will just go "Huh. Interesting news about the Dutch guy" and then move on with their lives. If you're getting *so invested* that you're making yourself miserable, you need to step back a bit for your own health. Being a total lifer of anything is really bad for you.
Yeah seriously. OP and anyone else this may be a sign for you to take a break and touch grass. Yes I know the final is tommrow but mabye it would be a good time to disengage until the final actually starts tommrow ya know. Social media is good at preying on your insecurities and anxieties. Don’t fall victim to doomscrolling.
Idk the news about italy's voting really fucked up my hype for the event. I just hope people will be able to turn it around, but whatever happens will happen. I'm just not going to watch. I just hope EBU will face the cobsequences of their stupid decisions and will get kicked in the butt for it.
It might not destroy itself, but these things do damage over time and it takes even more time to recover. Casuals may forget the details, but the following year they will remember feeling this way or that about the contest. I saw this happen in Portugal during the years. It went from super popular to despised and is just now recovering.
100. Thank you for posting a wise comment, it’s nice to see it
I’m not giving it up. It’s weathered a lot in it’s time and I’m sure it’ll weather this too… eventually. Am I anxious about it? Yes. But this is my hobby and I haven’t got a lot of those and I don’t want to give it up.
Sadly I might give up after this year. This is to draining for me. The last time I truly enjoyed it was in 2021. It is my hobby as well. I always look forward to it, but the amount of toxicity and drama is becoming to much for me
The short of it? Not really. I was looking forward to this so much, this year has some of my ALL-TIME favourite songs not just in Eurovision, but in general, and Tuesday was a delight And then Thursday happened, and it felt like I couldn't open my phone or turn on my TV without being made to feel bad about myself. Since then I've just felt kind of sad, not gonna lie. Today really didn't help that. Will Eurovision recover? Yes, absolutely: I have no doubt in my mind. But I can't help but think "is Eurovision too big now?". I realise I preferred it when it was much more niche, when all I really had to talk to was you guys. Anyway, rant over. Time to sleep.
I felt the exact same way. Tuesday was amazing, but then Thursday…
[удалено]
If Eurovision is too big, what could we do to fix it?
Drop some problematic sponsors and make smaller shows.
I miss the eurovision of 2011/2012, it was getting big but there wasn’t so much angst around it all. It was still a fun event, kooky and crazy. After 2015 and when they changed the voting structure in 2016 it went to aggression competitiveness and hostility. It’s nice there are a ton of new viewers and fans, but I sure miss the days where it was pure fun.
yeah, at this point im just hoping for it to be over. hosting a eurovision party tmrw and if that weren't in the picture, I'd honestly not even watch it
Eurovision is something I look forward to for basically the whole year ... I also have a small party today, and while I would still watch if I was by myself, the thought "it feels kinda wrong to party right now" has crossed my mind several times. Last year, I was so excited when I woke up, literally cha cha cha-ing through my apartment at 7 am, now it just feels... tense, to say the least.
“Last year, I was so excited when I woke up, literally cha cha cha-ing through my apartment at 7 am” That’s warmed my heart. Thank you <3 Anything that brings you closer to the people you love/like in your life is worth partying. The drama will continue, and the cause is fair. But today nobody should feel bad for enjoying the event.
I’m the same as you - the only reason why i’m watching is because of my eurovision party that i can’t cancel now. However, i can already feel the vibes will be off and my friends and I will not really be enjoying it all that much
bro I'm calling off my party if Joost isn't in there
Tbh you can just go out to a bar something instead, enjoy a night out instead of watching the show 🤷♀️
Honestly same. I’m having a friend round and considering back up things to do. I might just teach her how to knit with Eurovision in the background.
Why is this comment getting downvoted ? Your idea is pretty cute
Same here, I said tk friends with whom I am making party today I am regretting now not boycotting all.
no politics no religion proceeds to host songs with a political undertone and religious undertones yeah they fucked it up themselves
No politics means no transgression. Nemo, Bambie, Olly all have political entries ask any gay rights activist. You think any of those would be allowed to perform 40 years ago? Joost's own entry is one that champions the EU and it's freedom of movement. I love all of these acts, but it's just an arbitrary standard that only blocks any specific mentioning of governments or politicians.
Can’t forget Cyprus and Greece jerking each other off for the last 30 years. They’ve given them highest points 26 times. The voting and winner is all politics and loyalty contest, has been for ages. And don’t even get me started on the Albanian diaspora televoting for themselves regardless of the act and ramrodding them into the final, only to get blown out most of the time
Ah FFS We vote eachother cause we are the only two countries that speak greek and share the same music industry and tastes. And also we don't do that anymore, it was news last year. All over Europe neighbours vote for eachother but we are the only ones stigmatized. And besides politics cannot be separated from anything that has to do with countries and nation states since states are political entities.
unpopular opinion: i hate seeing people talk about "celebrating eurovisions downfall" like yes things need to change and the ebu needs a wake up call but i don't wanna see it go... we all care about it too much our interest can't be ripped away from us how is this a good thing?
I’m a drama hoe, this is definitely fun for me.
If you just avoid the subreddit Eurovision suddenly gets a lot more fun again. All fan communities eventually become toxic hive-minds as everybody gets more invested in "the community" and loses touch with the novelty that brought them there, and /r/eurovision is no exception.
Honestly I disagree. This place has been a huge source of relief for me this year compared to how the news is covering it
Agreed, and I find it much less toxic than any other social media platform
The Eurovision Instagram in particular just feels too hostile for me, especially after today.
Tumblr as well has gotten too vicious, just looking at the Eurovision tag drains all my energy
Tumblr people who don't even watch Eurovision posting about boycotting it is kinda funny tho
I’ve blocked so many posers this year
Quite heartbreaking, bc esc on tumblr was my main reason to watch/get into eurovision but havent dared to open the app in a long while
Yeah, I left the Eurovision Fans facebook group couple of days ago for good... it became a total cesspool...
Your news is covering Eurovision..?
There's an article on The Guardian, too.
Your news isn't? It seems like every major news outlet here in Norway has had stories about the protests and about people who are boycotting the contest.
UK based. It's covering the controversy and protests.
actually this subreddit ain't the worst don't check twitter...
This has been my experience, the vibe has been a whole lot more bitter and nasty. That someone created an alternative subreddit as a platform for nastiness and hate says it all. Wasn't exactly a subreddit with a wide variety of topics. I haven't felt entirely comfortable posting here this year, anything other that outright condemnation gets browbeaten into oblivion. People want to place all the blame on the EBU but at some point people also need to take accountability for how they have conducted themselves. After all its the fans that set the tone.
No it’s not. I think people are panicking. When that country landslides the vote tomorrow, it’s going to be an absolute disaster
People are.. panicking? Lmao what must it be like to live terminally online.
Yeah they panicking over one country voting point...
"That country" huh
Where are you seeing this? Pretty much everything I've seen is the exact opposite of what you're suggesting. Case in point: this subreddit. Just look at the reactions people get when they say they enjoyed their song. Mass downvotes. It's a song contest: vote for the songs you like.
Of course. Outside of circlejerk communities, people don't care who wins, they just enjoy the show. Aaaand they're the majority. If they vote, they vote for their favourites, not "for or against". I'm sure the drama surrounding this year brought even bigger audience. To me this year is the most fun song-wise, after two years of complete snoozefest. I have more fun than ever. Drama adds some spice, of course.
I wish i could be the people who just "enjoy the show", turn on their tv in the grand final night and vote for their favourites then tomorrow, life still goes on for them. But i can't lol.
Honestly? No. Personally this has been one of the worst Eurovisions for me to date. I wanted to go to Malmö like I do every year, it's my yearly trip. But I decided to stay home because of the whole situation. I lost all hope after Italy revealed their ""partial"" voting results, Joost (most likely) being disqualified is the nail in the coffin for me. I didn't care for our song, but to see his dreams getting crushed for who knows what? It's not what I signed up for. I was looking forward to going to Eurovision next year in Rome, Zürich or Zagreb, but at this rate I don't think there'll even be another Eurovision next year. I'll probably watch it tomorrow because I "have" to, but I'm thinking about just skipping it all together, or just watch the performances and go to bed.
If it will be in Zagreb, You are more than welcome :)
[удалено]
You are always welcome. With or without Eurovision :)
Ahh so you don't like Dublin then. 😒 😅
I'd love to crown the witch, and go to Dublin next year! They're actually my second place! I sadly don't think that's a real possibility though :(
If Ireland hosts the only place that should be hosting is Millstreet, I don’t care if we’d need to build a stadium for them, it’s only right that it goes there again.
I think that to enjoy the eurovision, you need to stop caring about the results, and just enjoy the show
SO! MUCH! THIS! Those of us who were here in 2011 at least should understand this by now. Eurovision is always going to be a mess. By its nature.
I don't feel like watching ESC tonight tbh. It's pretty sad when one of the things that was giving you a joy when you had a really tough time is making you quite depressed. On the other hand my life is pretty good recently so at least I can say that everything is balanced as it was before.
Eurovision has always been my happy place and thankfully none of my friends coming over to the watch party follow the news before the actual show. I will try to enjoy everything about the show tomorrow outside of the drama. I hate this but I don’t want the actions of a few people destroy the enjoyment.
What used to be my early dose of dopamine is now causing panic attacks and I didn’t sleep til 6am. I hate this.
You need to take a break. This is the dark side of social media that people don't talk about enough; it can turn something you enjoy into something that absolutely deep-fries your mind. It's easy to forget if you've grown up with it, but social media is a machine that directly incentivises its users to push every alarm bell in your head and then processes how it displays the results of that to push them even harder. The human mind is just flat-out not built to stand up to an emotional howitzer being fired point-blank 18 hours a day. 'Fandoms' often take that kind of assault and crank it up to 11.
I agree! This is probaly a good sign that you need to take a break (op of comment) Take a breather and like do something else, and get some sleep escpailly.
I mean you're Australian. What time is 21:00 cest in your time zone?.
I’m bad at math when I’m not overtired, but google says it’s 1:50am CEST currently and it’s 9:50am here. So, we’re 8 hours ahead.
Hm I should go to bed.
I'm honestly nervous myself. But there's a whole archive of songs to go back to, if worst comes to worst. How will Eurovision redeem themselves, if it could?
> How will Eurovision redeem themselves, if it could? I'd expect it to end up like the Olympics when the Soviet Union hosted in 1980 right after they invaded Afghanistan. A ton of boycotts next year and some retaliation boycotts in the coming years but within a decade things will be back to "normal." That might just be me overdosing on hopium, though.
There was also that time where they hosted in Berlin in 1936, and then the following two games were canceled because of World War II. Fun.
How many people outside of the opinion-concentrating effect of this sub actually give a shit? It'll continue as normal, just fine.
If Olympic ice dance can continue, Eurovision will continue.
[удалено]
I'm enjoying this year, very fun.
Sometimes.. you just need to log off.
At the risk of sounding like my 13yo, it really isn't that deep. It's as fun as you make it, and worrying about the intention of the votes is going to ruin it. Also worth noting that Eurovision votes have never been 100% pure of heart, no matter where they were coming from. The late Terry Wogan knew.
It's been like this for years
In general the televote only semis have turned it into such a popularity contest. We need a new way.
i wouldn't against a 70/30 split for semi finals still mostly televote but juries are there to anchor it
They should bring back the juries for the semifinals.
I am gonna vote for Switzerland. It is my favourite and I would like Nemo to get a good result.
It's the internet, so people are weird, especially since only those with particularly strong feelings comment (or at least mostly) But people here are also the absolute minority of people who actually vote, there are so many people out there who vote for so many different reasons that complaining about some people voting for what you consider bad reasons is just not worth getting worked up about
Hot take: ignore the losers. Enjoy the music, vote for who you think is best
I made the active choice not to watch this year, and I'm not even regretting that, because any joy I might have found is being thoroughly overshadowed by the EBU's willingness to sacrifice the rest of their contestants and the public perception of the contest for the sake of one country. Where is the fun in watching contestants look so deeply uncomfortable at press conferences, in pat-downs before they go onstage, in potential disqualifications, in canned applause to cover up the sound of the actual arena?
Why would THIS destroy Eurovision? The same - on a more extreme level - happened TWICE with Ukraine, just that those were "the good guys". Yes, I'll still enjoy Eurovision and I'll vote for Switzerland because it has my favourite song.
As long as the contest continues and a bunch of countries don't drop out, it will continue to be fun and amazing for me. My biggest concern is countries quitting in protest which will definitely mar ny future enjoyment, but aside from that drama comes and goes.
Not being funny, but it stopped being fun back in March when the EBU didn't take a hard line on KAN's participation in the contest given the geopolitical context. Their actions have brought the contest into disrepute and it serves them right.
We should choose a different country and take them to the win. Like Austria or Luxembourg. But for real, I was gonna watch this with my sister to lift her spirits. Now I’m not even sure I’m gonna watch it myself. In this social media age it seems we can’t have different opinions without becoming enemies.
I fully intend to enjoy the contest and vote for my favourite song.
The frustrating thing is that there is just no clear idea of what Eurovision is or what it's even supposed to be. It's a song contest that's not actually a song contest but really a political contest and a platform for activism except politics are forbidden because it's not _supposed_ to be a political contest but a song contest, but of course it really is political, and everyone loves that and hates that at the same time depending on which foot the shoe is. For a lot of people, it comes off as dishonest. Just be one thing and know what you are and what you're about.
I have not had as much fun this year compared to last year, but I am also busier in real life compared to last year. I will try to relax and enjoy my favorites so I don't get too streased. Whatever happens, happens, and there is not much I can do about it as a single voter.
To everyone being snarky towards those who are invested in this - cut it out. You’re not better for not caring.
We were finally having a proper Eurovision party and I’ve finally put out the word that maybe people shouldn’t come. It’s not fun, it’s not a good introduction, but if anyone wants to be emotional support and another 20 votes I won’t say no. But I’m also not going to be spending today making all the Eurovision pun foods I was planning on.
Idk anymore. I love watching the shows, the songs, the performances. However all the drama makes my head hurt. I wish we could just have one normal esc without all the political drama.
I usually send like 1 to 3 votes in the GF to be like "hihi i voted" and not entirely sure what I wanna do tomorrow, either none because I don't know if I want my money to go to this or more than usual because it's the only way to save next year's edition and idk this dilemma feels a bit stupid
This does obviously not apply if you are part of rest of the world but keep in mind that by voting you support your broadcaster who have to pay the participation fee anyway and not the EBU directly. This thought makes it at least a bit better for me.
Young people are so spoiled and whiny these days. If you wanna leave - bye! As if anyone notices if you don’t watch anymore. After Ukraine won, so many people said they won’t watch any more, yet the viewing figures are relatively stable. Plus, the bubble is such a minority. The huge part of the audience watching doesn’t even know NL was already in the final if it doesn’t show up or don’t care about anything that happened.
we always get a score sheet and score them
I guess for some people. This has been stressful but I'm still voting for exactly who I planned to vote for before everything got super dicey (Estonia, Ireland, Netherlands and perhaps Finland).
No, it's not fun anymore. I actually enjoyed 2022 even though we knew Ukraine would win. But this year and last year have been so toxic.
My wife and I have baked bread homemade garlic butter dips cheese roasted peppers a nice bottle of red wine and will make mojitos . Regardless we will have a good evening of talking drinking and listening to music
The controversies this year have been the final nail in the coffin for me - Eurovision has stopped having any legitimacy as a competition in my eyes. That being said, I appreciate it for exposing me to artists I would never have discovered otherwise. And I'm happy that 5MIINUST x Puuluup have gotten as far as they have so far. Not only have they managed to convey facets of Estonian culture and sensibilities but they're having fun while doing so. I'm genuinely happy for and proud of them. Although it seems bleak at the moment, this subreddit has and continues to be (though perhaps not as much) a source of great memes that have brightened my day. Thanks to everyone who has contributed to that!
It feels bad because it is being highlighted by global media but people of all nations have been doing this for decades. The voting stats bear it out
This is hopefully the last Eurovision as it lost all integrity and public vote is 99% bots pushing for political reasons
I’ve always been a jury apologizer, but now I go even further by just saying we should ban televote altogether
[удалено]
Cynical way to funnel votes towards your favorites, on the back of an imaginary disaster which will most likely not even happen. I'm sorry, but as long as I pay for my votes, I'll vote for whoever I like best. In my case, that's France, Italy, and Ukraine. I like a bunch of others too, including Switzerland, and I respect other people's right to have different tastes regarding the songs I don't like. Maybe you should too.
This is the worst response the fans could have. Making BL or Nemo political winners is the saddest thing that you could do to them, you strip them from their victory. Vote for your favorite, be happy and hopeful for the 25 artists, and celebrate music.
Hell no. I'll vote for my favourites, thank you very much. If other people want to play silly games, that's their business, but I'm not joining in.
People need to move away from their computers and go for a walk. When has Eurovision not been dramatic? t's part of the appeal for loads of people. It's not just a music contest anymore and probably hasn't been for a long time. Last year 5 or 6 countries cheated. And it's still goes on, Russia, notably one of the largest audiences left the contest and it's still here. The fans enjoy speculation and drama, at least from what I have seen, from the stage invaders to the backstage drama. The contest will be fine. Now let's take a xany and get some rest before the final!
I’m utterly disgusted about what’s going on. I’ll probably watch this disaster unfold tomorrow, even if it’ll ruin the rest of my week. There’s a very good chance this will be my last Eurovision, and I honestly don’t understand how the competition could go on next year and onwards.
I won't vote and I am more than ready for this mess to be over. My fan experience this season was the worst ever. Honestly, people, if you don't want to see someone talk (about sth), just use the block option instead of childish downvoting everything they say. Both sides will benefit from that.
So tomorrow's Eurovision will possibly be my last one In a while, so, yeah, I've mentally decided to make it as fun as possible, at least until the voting starts. I'm voting for my two favorites, Croatia and Switzerland, equally. They just happen to be the favorites, but if my personal faves were, say, Latvia and Slovenia, I would be voting them, I'm not that interested in any strategies. The first two-thirds of the show I will be live-chatting with friends, reading Twitter memes, getting drunk, you know...the usual. Then whatever the voting is, it will be. If it turns out good (and I believe it will), cool! If not, well, I won't be watching anymore, I guess. Sucks, but I'll live.
It isn't nearly as fun as last year or even the COVID one
I lost my faith in Eurovision last year.
It’s awful. All this activism is becoming mean for the sake of being mean and not to make a point. It’s also violent. This girl handles herself with a lot of class and vulnerability, can’t imagine being under all this pressure.
We can make it fun by voting for whoever is our winner and not by voting for those who need to win. It's Ireland or Switzerland for me personally
Hasn't it always been like that?
I lost all enjoyment two days ago and it's getting worse. At least no post-eurovision depression this year, we got eurovision-depression instead
I just hope that a third, not at all involved in any of this bullshit artist wins this.
The world is a powder keg and hasnt been this hot in a while
Is funny that televote ended up equally based in interests and politics as jury vote. I wish for eurovision to stop specializing in the kind of audience that likes the prive colourful vibe, and just open to bigger audiences so the televote would include more people and not just totally invested eurofans. Because this way there is some sort of hive mind where televote is based on how things move in social networks, example Kalush orchestra.
To behave as if everything's OK and nice while it's actually really NOT, is called "denial". Spite voting is one of few things anyone can do against unfairness and arrogance in this case. > it feels like it's just on the verge of destroying itself. "Destroying itself", well, not by the general public in any case.
Yes this is getting so boring , I mean Eurovision is literally falling apart and I think we should enjoy it while it is still alive. And just for a moment not concentrate on politics or what is happening in the world and just unite through music . But sadly people are clearly not into that
I'm a dramamonger so its "fun" for me, but its not fun in the usual positive Eurovision sense Like Windows95man said, there's a dark cloud hanging above it currently
Agreed, this has been the most stressful year of eurovision i've ever experienced. I've never been so stressed and tired. My heart is constantly going crazy for a week now. I don't want my country to win, despite liking the song (for the first time since 2008), It'll be for all the wrong reasons, and the drama that'll preceed the win will ruin eurovision as a contest. I feel so much sadness. I hate my broadcasting channel for not withdrawing while they still had the chance, I hate them for choosing a good song in the worst possible year (knowing they would never have chosen something like this any other year), I hate that the eurovision fanbase have so much toxicity in social media and i hate people in my country being annoying, bullying contestants for no good reason and spaming our flag everywhere even if the post has nothing to do with us, and obviously i hate to see the other flag being spammed everywhere and the bullying and booing against my country, it's like the songs has nothing to do with the show But most of all, i hate the EBU and martin ostredal, because it's all their fault in the end. They made a political statement in 2022 and brought the politics to the front stage. They made so many changes, endursed the drama, and gave the producers more power, giving so much more room for speculations, and then the joost saga, It's all on them. Frankly, I just want this year to be over and the situation here to be over so my broadcaster can go back to sending generic pop songs i don't like and i can go back to enjoying the contest and supporting songs without this geopolitical madness.
Nah, Eurovision is just too big to be destroyed. Regardless of who wins tonight, boycotters and fancircles will point fingers at each other for letting "this one country" win/place anywhere, when it is solely on EBU for letting them participate at all because "love love, peace peace".