Mu$ic i$ the Door: Eurovision 2013: The Grand Final

Eurovision 2013: The Grand Final

19 May, 2013 7:42 PM

Published by MDS

Baku called last year after Ell & Nikki won the contest with their duet "Running Scared" in Düsseldorf. 42 acts competed on Azerbaijan's hosted contest last year yet it was Loreen's epic "Euphoria" which was awarded with the title, collecting 372 points, the second-highest point total in the contest's history, just below Alexander Rybak's 387 points for "Fairytale". Our 26 finalists are now selected and tonight, they'll battle it out for the ultimate prize, who will be lucky enough to take it all?

Videos after the jump ...

Big Five and Host

6 - Bonnie Tyler

(UK)

"Believe in Me" - Using such a huge star to get votes is a genius move, that's if the actual song is any good. "Believe in Me" isn't and not even the "Total Eclipse of the Heart" hitmaker can save such a dreadful tune. She also lost her voice before the finale but with such an awful song, I don't think it mattered. Actually, her sore throat made it sound more interesting.

5 - ESDM

(Spain)

"Contigo hasta el final" - Poor girl, she totally choked up there. The song itself seemed to be pretty enough but her delivery was so catastrophic that it didn't let the tune shine. They are the type of band I'd normally like but her shaky vocal performance put me off. I don't think she ever sang in tune throughout the whole performance. It's a shame, cause it had potential.

4 - Cascada

(Germany)

"Glorious" - I love Cascada. It's probably one of the best bands to come out of Germany if you ask me. Plus, the lead singer, Natalie Horler, is an incredible performer. For an electronic singer, her voice has so many different layers, it's something really gratifying to listen. The song could've been better, it's not "Everytime We Touch", but compared to some other songs this year, (Lithuania, I'm looking at you) it's quite great. Her joyful delivery really put a smile on my face, and that's something.

3 - Robin Stjernberg

(Sweden)

"You" - Robin was the runner-up to Amanda Fondell back in 2011's Idol Sweden. He was basically the Swedish Adam Lambert during the show's run so it's interesting to see him performing such a current tune tonight. It's impossible for Sweden to win this year but "You" is an incredible effort. It's catchy, the lyrics are good enough and Robin gives it his all. It could've been a contender had Loreen not won last year. At least it gave Robin his big break, expect to see a lot more from him in the future.

2 - Marco Mengoni

(Italy)

"L'essenziale" - Marco was the winner of the third season of the Italian X Factor in 2009. He became quite a big star after his victory, with both his albums achieving gold status and making it to #1. Most recently, he was the winner of the 63rd edition of the popular Sanremo Music Festival with this same song. It's not hard to understand why, since this is a beautiful emotional tune and his singing is just fantastic. Even standing there by himself, the stage never feels empty and that says a lot about him as an artist. 3 out of 3 for Italy since their return in 2010. They really deserve a win.

1 - Amandine Bourgeois

(France)

"L'enfer et moi" - Wow! What an absolutely perfect performance. Amandine won Nouvelle Star's 6th season in 2008 and she's been an indie darling ever since. Poor girl was given the death slot tonight, by the time the 25 entries that follow her finish performing, the audience will have already forgotten her. She completely made the best out of it with her killer rock performance though. The grit in her voice is quite impressive, I don't remember her sounding this phenomenal. She was totally channelling Courtney Love up there. I loved it.

Worst Songs

Koza Mostra feat. Agathon Iakovidis

(Greece)

"Alcohol Is Free" - It's hard to remember a year in which I've liked the Greek entry. Either Greece sends this kind of songs because they can't afford winning or they actually like this. It's scary to think they actually enjoy this, so let's pretend they really try hard not to win. I don't think there's even something I could compliment here. And where on Earth is alcohol free? Maybe this explains their financial crisis?

Andrius Pojavis

(Lithuania)

"Something" - It was a big shock seeing this shitty song making it to the final considering how awful in so many levels it is. Not only is he the worst singer (seriously, did they actually tried finding someone better?) but he also does the creepiest facial expressions. That was a scary performance indeed, perfect for Halloween. The lyrics aren't any better. "Because of my shoes, I'm wearing today, one is called Love, the other is Pain". It doesn't get worse than this.

Weirdest Performance

Cezar

(Romania)

"It's My Life" - What a bizarre performance. I guess we now know who Rylan Clark would sound if he was an opera singer. Not sure who actually wanted to know that, but there you have it. Romania isn't trying hard to hide the fact that their entire population is made up by vampires since they keep sending them to represent their country year after year. At least the guy was memorable, it'll be hard to remember his contratenor voice and that painful tune.

Top 5

5 - Margaret Berger

(Norway)

"I Feed You My Love"

4 - Marco Mengoni

(Italy)

"L'essenziale"

3 - Anouk

(The Netherlands)

"Birds"

2 - Amandine Bourgeois

(France)

"L'enfer et moi"

1 - Emmelie de Forest

(Denmark)

"Only Teardrops"

Results

1. San Marino: 8 France, 10 Malta, 12 Greece

2. Sweden: 8 The Netherlands, 10 Denmark, 12 Norway

3. Albania: 8 Hungary, 10 Greece, 12 Italy

4. The Netherlands: 8 Malta, 10 Denmark, 12 Belgium

5. Austria: 8 The Netherlands, 10 Italy, 12 Azerbaijan

6. United Kingdom: 8 Greece, 10 Russia, 12 Denmark

7. Israel: 8 Denmark, 10 Ukraine, 12 Azerbaijan

8. Serbia: 8 Russia, 10 Ukraine, 12 Denmark

9. Ukraine: 8 Moldova, 10 Azerbaijan, 12 Belarus

10. Hungary: 8 Malta, 10 Denmark, 12 Azerbaijan

11. Romania: 8 Norway, 10 Azerbaijan, 12 Moldova

12. Moldova: 8 Azerbaijan, 10 Romania, 12 Ukraine

13. Azerbaijan: 8 Malta, 10 Georgia, 12 Ukraine

14. Norway: 8 The Netherlands, 10 Malta, 12 Sweden

15. Armenia: 8 Greece, 10 Georgia, 12 Ukraine

16. Italy: 8 Norway, 10 Malta, 12 Denmark

17. Finland: 8 The Netherlands, 10 Hungary, 12 Norway

18. Spain: 8 Denmark, 10 Ukraine, 12 Italy

19. Belarus: 8 Russia, 10 Azerbaijan, 12 Ukraine

20. Latvia: 8 Norway, 10 Estonia, 12 Russia

Denmark is currently taking the lead, with Azerbaijan and Ukraine following.

21. Bulgaria: 8 Armenia, 10 Ukraine, 12 Azerbaijan

22. Belgium: 8 Ukraine, 10 Denmark, 12 The Netherlands

23. Russia: 8 Belgium, 10 Greece, 12 Azerbaijan

24. Malta: 8 Italy, 10 Ukraine, 12 Azerbaijan

25. Estonia: 8 Denmark, 10 Ukraine, 12 Russia

26. Germany: 8 Iceland, 10 Denmark, 12 Hungary

27. Iceland: 8 The Netherlands, 10 Norway, 12 Denmark

28. France: 8 Azerbaijan, 10 Italy, 12 Denmark

29. Greece: 8 Ukraine, 10 Romania, 12 Azerbaijan

30. Ireland: 8 Ukraine, 10 Russia, 12 Denmark

31. Denmark: 8 Sweden, 10 The Netherlands, 12 Norway

32. Montenegro: 8 Greece, 10 Denmark, 12 Azerbaijan

33. Slovenia: 8 Italy, 10 Russia, 12 Denmark

34. Georgia: 8 Ukraine, 10 Armenia, 12 Azerbaijan

35. FYR Macedonia: 8 Norway, 10 Italy, 12 Denmark

We already have a winner! Denmark wins the 58th edition of Eurovision Song Contest!

36. Cyprus: 8 Azerbaijan, 10 Ukraine, 12 Greece

37. Croatia: 8 Italy, 10 Denmark, 12 Ukraine

38. Switzerland: 8 Greece, 10 Hungary, 12 Italy

39: Lithuania: 8 Georgia, 10 Ukraine, 12 Azerbaijan

It was clear from the get go that Emmelie was a force to be reckoned with and that it'd be pretty hard to take the crown away from her. In the end, no one was able to. I'm happy for her, after all, she had the best song in the competition. This marks Denmark's third win, with their previous victories being in 1963 with Grethe and Jørgen Ingmann's "Dansevise" and in 2000 with the Olsen Brothers' "Fly on the Wings of Love". This is also the second time Denmark has won in Sweden (2000 was the 1st).

Grethe and Jørgen Ingmann - "Dansevise"