When the Cheshire emerges...

It's all OVER! Can you believe it? I'm going to feel all sad now taking everything down and having to wait another year. I've never decorated before!

I tweeted this to @SBSEurovision to say that it was Julia's first Eurovision experience so I wanted to make it one she wouldn't forget. The amount of actually great songs in the final made that job a little bit easier! And she really enjoyed herself :)

To spare you from reading (and myself from writing) recaps of most of the songs, you can look at my wrap-ups of semi-final one and semi-final two. For now, my thoughts on hearing the Big Five and host nation's hopefuls.

UK -  Love Will Set You Free by Englebert Humperdinck - The only song I'd heard in full before any Eurovision coverage. And I didn't mind it then. But since hearing the other songs, it's a shame that there was such strong competition. BUT: he hit the notes right and like Julia Zemiro, I REALLY liked it.
- Liked 49 per cent on the SBS Eurovision website after the song's completion.


France - Echo (You and I) by Anggun - This chick reminds me of Crystal, someone I used to work with. Almost a dead ringer. What I'd seen of the preview sounded better... I like her, but the chorus was the best. Great use of the wind machine. "Anggun: Queen of the Desert." - Julia.
- 39 per cent


Italy - Out of Love by Nina Zilli - Liked this much more than expected, especially for the fact it's Italy. Nice and poppy, with a bit of attitude. She looks like a trashy (or better?) Amy Winehouse.
- 77 per cent


Azerbaijan - Love Come by Sabina Babayeva  - The effects hologrammed on her dress? A bit weird. The whole thing's stuck in the 90s jst a little bit - and all the feathers... too much below the shoulders. The song's not too bad though, and she's beautiful.
- 51 per cent

Spain - Paedora zoler - Cat eye makeup did not work, sorry hun. The song was a really safe ballad. Someone tweeted she'd look like the Statue of Liberty if she had a torch... fair call.
- 42 per cent




Germany - Standing Still by Roman Lob - Goodness me, how amazingly good-looking he is, really casual but great *sigh*. However, the name Roman immediately makes me think of Days of Our Lives. Thankfully there's no actual resemblance. Oh the song? Pretty great actually. Mainstream - but not strong enough to win.
(TWEET: "If the ladies of Europe had their way we'd be back in Germany in 2013. With Lena's farm and small dogs of course)
- 71 per cent
***

Julia Zemiro and Sam Pang highlights:
- Julia with Anggun - what Julia knew in Indonesian, somehow: "I'm going to the market to buy a chicken". Excellent.
- Sam in the blue wig to go with Nina Zilli, looking like her brother apparently.
- Julia telling Ivi Adamou is a mix of Anne Hathaway and Liv Tyler and the poor girl doesn't know who they are. She WILL google it later.
- Sam to Kurt Calleja asking about his time as an airline steward. Hilarious.
- Sam still annoyed with the lack of trombonist in the Romanian song.
- Julia convinced Tooji jinxed his results for not doing an interview with SBS.
Also: costume changes... the Penelope Cruz looked pretty doll-like (re: gorgeous) in every change. Nice different dresses that show off how incredibly teeny her waist is.

White count - only four or five I think. Terrible.

And hottest guy award goes to *drum roll...* Germany! I think I knew that long before, but he had some real decent competition this year. So well done Roman, you're now held in very high esteem.
***

The interval act... Amin(?)...

TWEET: Oh for God's sake, I could've gone to the toilet this whole time...

 - Azerbaijan president's son-in-law. Of course he is. Longest wait for an entrance possibly ever. But he was okay actually. Better looking then he did sing... a Shannon Noll correlation from Julia and Sam totally made sense.

***

The voting...

So SO disappointing. For possibly the strongest overall final I've ever seen, I'm as confused as Julia with Denmark and Norway's disappointing results. Especially Norway!!! That was one of my top three on SBS Eurovision (with Greece and Sweden in a tough choice). And although the UK's used to languishing these days, I truly feel sorry for Engelbert Humperdinck. The Hump deserved better than that.

AHAHAHA Leila was trying not to laugh when Lordi tried being smart about Finland. The changing nature background, taking three minutes longer than everyone else... boooo.

We saw a clapping Mrs Doubtfire and a redux of Tony Manero's white suit among the spokespersons, and the whole thing generally ran through pretty quickly.
***
The win...



Euphoria by Loreen. Excellent club hit from Sweden.

Sam called it at about the three-quarter mark. He wasn't wrong. This was a LANDSLIDE. We knew the song was good. But this year was damn strong. I didn't even really have a standout favourite! I truly think this year deserved to have a close result more than any other contest I've seen. As much as I'm cool with the win I'm a bit disappointed with such a skewed result.
So Sweden 2013. Julia put it first: will ABBA come out of retirement for a special performance?
***

Well! That's it! I've been busy blogging Eurovision steadily over the last few weeks and it's done! If you want to have a read about my love for the song contest in the time I've watched, catch up on the rest of the My decade of Eurovision series.

My decade of Eurovision: the beginning
My decade of Eurovision: the Greek affair
My decade of Eurovision: repeat offenders
My decade of Eurovision: whitewash
A year ago today: Dusseldorf, Eurovision Song Contest
My decade of Eurovision: wailing for Wogan
My decade of Eurovision: special guests
My decade of Eurovision: 2012