Eurovision Grand Final - Preview

 Welcome back! So the second semi final was exactly as I expected it to be - not as good as the first semi final. I don't mean to sound callous about Thursday's countries, but it's not like any of them stands a chance to take the trophy this year. That honour sits solely with Loreen and Sweden.

So in terms of predictions, I hit a respectable 7. I fully expected to be knocked off my perch from Tuesday. For those who didn't watch, the qualifying countries were Armenia, Estonia, Belgium, Cyprus, Poland, Slovenia, Austria, Albania, Lithuania & Australia. From these, it did tickle me slightly that my deliberations over which of the three stylistically similar songs from Iceland, Georgia & Estonia were all for naught - I'm not disappointed Estonia went through, as it's still a great song, just still believe that Iceland and Georgia were better choices.

In this post, I'm going to predict how I think the leaderboard will end up by the end of the night. This is purely for fun and I will likely be incredibly wrong.

Winner - Sweden.
I can't see anyone but Loreen walking away as the winner and handing her a second win at Eurovision.

2 - Finland.
Will likely run Sweden to the very end, but ultimately comes second by a few hundred points.

3 - France.

4 - Spain.

5 - Ukraine.
Shouldn't be in the top 10, but will still pick residual sympathy/solidarity votes, due to the ongoing conflict.

6 - Italy.

7 - Israel.
Could be a dark horse and round out the top 5 in place of France or Spain.

8 - United Kingdom.

9 - Norway.

10 - Austria.

11 - Armenia.

12 - Belgium.

13 - Croatia.
As the marmite song this year, I think where the public will vote this up the table, the juries will vote it down.

14 - Estonia.

15 - Australia.

16 - Lithuania.
I've placed this higher than it deserves. I have a feeling about this. Will likely be wrong.

17 - Poland.

18 - Moldova.

19 - Switzerland.

20 - Cyprus.
Deserves to be higher but will get lost amongst the other upbeat songs.

21 - Slovenia.

22 - Germany.
Normally, I put anything in this genre at the bottom, but I think this might just pick up a few 1s or 2s from countries like Finland, United Kingdom and a random Eastern European country.

23 - Serbia.

24 - Czechia.

25 - Portugal.
Interesting, but not interesting enough.

Last Place - Albania.
Sorry Albania, I just don't like your song. I think it's weak and the will hopefully be overrode by far superior songs.

I'm confident that my top 10 will be the final top 10, thought possibly slightly different in order. I'm also enjoying that most of the 'Big 5' countries are starting to put some effort into the competition, especially with having France, Spain, Italy and United Kingdom looking like they'll comfortably take a top 10 spot. The only country that may drop out is United Kingdom, as sometimes the host country can get lost in the shuffle.

Dan's Recommended Track

In light of it likely winning the contest, my recommended track has to be 'Tattoo' by Loreen. If I'm wrong, I'll look stupid but AND YOUR NEW EUROVISION CHAMPION, LOREEN!

Back soon!