Eurovision Song Contest 2008

[Pani]

That was guessed in another forum as well ... Cat Stevens copy.

I have watched it also, France was terrible, Greece, Ukraine and
Turkey was OK for me. Didn't really like one song ...

The German performance was awful.

[Patrick Bateman]

The winning song, Believe, is partially a copy of Wild World of Cat Stevens.

It was a copy of that One Republic song that Timbaland also produced.

[Rusty]

Eurovision is quite a cult here in Australia. We even have our very own "Eurovision The Musical", which is a complete send up of the whole thing. We're just jealous we can't take part of course! I just watched the final tonight and was highly amused at the more than usual political voting. The Russian entry was very ordinary indeed I thought, although the figure skater tootling about the singers was pretty funny. Ukraine as runner up were more in the tradition of cheesy Eurovision, and I actually rather liked them. The Latvian Pirates derserved a better placing simply because they had me in stitches. However, my money was on France and Spain, both of which seemed to be completely left of centre, although I did rather wonder if they were actually taking the piss. The UK derserved better than last, but it was a rather "serious" effort. They might be better off bringing back Bucks Fizz! Eurovision has never been the same for me since Iceland's Selma lost out to Sweden's dismal attempt at country & western a few years back. What a travesty of justice that was! Oh well, roll on next year and a few more good laughs!

[Riikka]

I watched the contest with great excitement, and today I've been watching and listening to the songs again. I think people pay all too much attention to the bad songs and to the result of voting. That way, you will always get disappointed. It's quite unlikely to see the real Top 5 matching the Top 5 you made in your head.

I just always concentrate on the good songs, and there are some good songs each year. I like the show itself, and I don't care what people vote - I vote what I like best and then just hope for the best. The Eurovision night is a huge party, because once a year, music finally gets the attention it should. I don't understand why pop music is so underrated generally, compared to sports for example. Or compared to politics. Or anything else. Music is one of the most important things for me. It's entertainment, but sometimes it's not just entertainment, but the deliverer of huge emotions.

[Hillbilly]

Yawn. Timbaland and Evgeni Plushenko won this year. I have mixed feelings about the Russian entry. Well, at least none of the really horrible ones won. Iceland is still the winner for me.

Truth is, Timbaland did not produce "Believe"! It was produced by somebody in his "team" whatever that means. I hadn't actually noticed the "Wild world" similarity, but now when you say it I hear you are right! The verse melody is not far from it, but then I could also say that the chorus is a bit similar to "Håll om mig" by Nanne Grönvall, who finished second in the Swedish final 2005. It became a big hit, whereas the winner "Las Vegas" flopped in the ESC...

The winning song is quite decent I think, but Bilan's English pronounciation could be better... To be honest, the chorus has stuck in my head the whole day so I guess that song is pretty good after all. Sweden didn't give Russia any points though...

I voted for Norway. Not only because it belongs to Scandinavia, but the song is a really good one! It fairly deserved its 5th position. Sweden's 18th place is a real disappointment. I had expected Top 10.

The Big Four will never win again! France with Sebastien Tellier was good this year but the other countries don't give a damn what they are sending to the ESC! Germany was definitely worst of them all.

[Hillbilly]

The Latvian Pirates derserved a better placing simply because they had me in stitches.

In Sweden we apparently use something called "quality control". The Latvian song was written by a Swedish team, but it was considered too bad for the Swedish selections so they sent it to Latvia. The Pirate song has been totally slaughtered in our media, still it qualifies to the final and ends up better than our own song!
"We're the hi-hi-ho! We're the hi-hi hey!" At least it's catchy.

Eurovision has never been the same for me since Iceland's Selma lost out to Sweden's dismal attempt at country & western a few years back.

Excuse me but you call "Take me to your heaven" an attempt at "country & western"?!? Let me tell you, it's just an ordinary "dansband" song!

[psb-freak]

It´s great Russia won it. We were number 22. Thanks for not voting Finland. I hated the whole band of ours.

Latvia was fabulous. The song just keeps going in my head. Also liked Iceland. Although I think the woman didn´t have so good voice. But the man did.

[Radiophonic]

The best way to enjoy the ESC is to switch off before the voting.

Some of the songs were just great. I'm more offended by the lack of success for Sweden and Iceland than the grotty UK entry.

All my previous winning favourites were non-UK. In fact the last one I liked from these shores was The Bad Old Days by Co-Co.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5o1TmUqDr2U

[Parkol]

I haven't seen Eurovision because I think it's all waste of time, but watched on You Tube how France performed and that was really interesting.

Russian song was awefull as I said before.

france were better than others I think.

[Radiophonic]

Apparently the Russian act (Dima Bilan) is well-known in the Baltics and had a wide enough fanbase to win. His song, as has probably been mentioned on here, was produced by Timberland.

Perhaps Duffy could enter next year. She could sing barefoot like Sandie Shaw.

[Kris]

I haven't seen Eurovision because I think it's all waste of time, but watched on You Tube how France performed and that was really interesting.

Russian song was awefull as I said before.

france were better than others I think.

The French song was probably my favourite too although I also really liked the downight surreal entry from Bosnia-Herzegovina. Neither got the votes they deserved, though.

[missemma]

We had policy in our house of phone voting for only one country and then we ended up with a draw and had to vote for both Latvia and Azerbajan. Very democratic we are.

We also very much enjoyed which ever country it was with the Alice in Wonderland inspired performance, we all gave that coutry a point on our socrecards simply for having a man on stage peeping through some washing.

We are fed up of Terry Wogan, his heart is just not in it any more. Replace him with Harry Hill I say (search for my group on facebook!)

Did anyone in the UK "press red" and get that terrible lilac haired chap on screen? I'm all for a bit of camp but that was just offensive.

[bookshopboy]

Did anyone in the UK "press red" and get that terrible lilac haired chap on screen? I'm all for a bit of camp but that was just offensive.

Yup - it was awful and unnecessary!

My favourites were Iceland and Ukraine.

Also, from the semi-finals, I think I might have been the only person to like the strange song from Belgium that didn't make it to the finals...

[markus]

My favourite was "Quele Quele" -the Armenian entry. It could become a summer hit if the attitude against Eurovision songs weren't so negative everywhere.

I'm really surprised that Sweden did so bad. Seems like everyone loved the song so was it the performance or the artist that ruined it? Can somebody outside Sweden explain what you thought?

[Radiophonic]

My favourite was "Quele Quele" -the Armenian entry. It could become a summer hit if the attitude against Eurovision songs weren't so negative everywhere.

I'm really surprised that Sweden did so bad. Seems like everyone loved the song so was it the performance or the artist that ruined it? Can somebody outside Sweden explain what you thought?

I loved it, along with the Iceland song. It also topped the Radio Times poll so some of the UK liked it. I can't remember where our (UK) points went in the actual competition.