Rise Up & Shine Like A Phoenix With A Mustache...

Another Eurovision is over. And despite very boring interval acts (did the organizers NOT watch last year's show in Sweden?), it was a fun evening as usual. The songs have often been better, true. But this year saw what seems like a great/fair results.





The top 5 was the Galaxy's exact prediction after watching the final on Saturday. Armenia was not a favorite, but Sweden, Hungary and The Netherlands finishing in the top places was very welcomed. The same can be said for Ukraine and Russia who deserved a top 10 placing (of course people used ever opportunity to boo the poor girls from Russia, as if they had anything to do with what has been happening in their home country. Classy!).



That said, I would have liked to see a few songs finish a little higher - Greece brought a much needed fun element and the one from Slovenia was certainly better than, say, Poland, Iceland, Norway, Denmark or Italy. And I would gladly have seen any of these five at the bottom instead of France. The songs from Germany and UK weren't bad, but somehow fell flat when they were being performed. But overall, very good results.





As for the winner, the song was pretty good (I think, I still can't remember anything but the chorus) and very well performed. It was one of the songs I was rooting for, mostly because I wanted to see a big "fuck you" to everyone who had been going overboard in hatred against the performer. Some bloody F***book campaigns, especially IN Austria, had been very vocal about how "inappropriate" it was for someone like "that" to represent their country (and this is the "nice" version of what people were saying).




I usually hate it when the acts are chosen over the songs (the horrible Lordi winning for Finland comes to mind). I do think that the results this year had more to do with the singer rather than the song (had Conchita performed "Undo" and Sanna "Rise Like A Phoenix", I'm convinced Conchita still would have won). But in this case it was a package that worked on every level - good song, great performance, and a message that needed to be shoved down people's throats in some parts of the world. So congrats to the winner - and bring on 2015!

Here are the full results:



1. Austria: Conchita Wurst, Rise Like a Phoenix - 290 points

2. The Netherlands: The Common Linnets, Calm After The Storm - 238 points

3. Sweden: Sanna Nielsen, Undo - 218 points

4. Armenia: Aram MP3, Not Alone - 174 points

5. Hungary: Andras Kallay-Saunders, Running - 143 points

6. Ukraine: Mariya Yaremchuk, Tick - Tock - 113 points

7. Russia: Tolmachevy Sisters, Shine - 89 points

8. Norway: Carl Espen, Silent Storm - 88 points

9. Denmark: Basim, Cliche Love Song - 74 points

10. Spain: Ruth Lorenzo, Dancing In the Rain - 74 points

11. Finland: Softengine, Something Better - 72 points

12. Romania: Paula Seling & OVI, Miracle - 72 points

13. Switzerland: Sebalter, Hunter Of Stars - 64 points

14. Poland: Donatan & Cleo, My Slowianie - We Are Slavic - 62 points

15. Iceland: Pollaponk, No Prejudice - 58 points

16. Belarus: Teo, Cheesecake - 43 points

17. United Kingdom: Molly Smitten-Downes, Children of the Universe - 40 points

18. Germany: Elaiza, Is it Right - 39 points

19. Montenegro: Sergej Cetkovic, Moj Svijet - 37 points

20. Greece: Freaky Fortune feat. RiskyKidd, Rise Up - 35 points

21. Italy: Emma, La Mia Citta - 33 points

22. Azerbaijan: Dilara Kazimova, Start a Fire - 33 points

23. Malta: Firelight, Coming Home - 32 points

24. San Marino: Valentina Monetta, Maybe (Forse) - 14 points

25. Slovenia: Tinkara Kovac, Round and Round - 9 points

26. France: TWIN TWIN, Moustache - 2 points