Eurovision 2016

It's the middle of May so that means it is once again time for the Eurovision Song Contest, which was held this year in Stockholm, Sweden. After watching the Semi Finals on delay Friday and Saturday night I was up early in the morning to catch the Grand Final live- well, at least most of the performances before I had to leave for the airport.

Before boarding my plane to the States, this year's winner was announced - Jamala from Ukraine performing the politically charged "1944," a song about the deportation of the Crimean Tatars by Stalin (and with obvious parallels to Russia's treatment of Crimea in the present day).


Once again that little nation of battlers, Australia, was able to send an entry to Eurovision, with Dami Im absolutely slaying her performance of the power ballad "Sound Of Silence." We came in second place (and would have won if the voting system hadn't changed this year).


Since by Eurovision rules I am not allowed to vote for my adopted country, my top three this year were as follows:

12 points: Douwe Bob (The Netherlands) with "Slow Down," a nice little alt-country song.


10 points: Laura Tesoro (Belgium) with "What's The Pressure," a great r&b groove track to dance around to (and it sounds a bit like Kimbra's "Miracle").


8 points: Amir (France) with "J'ai Cherche," a nice song with a very catchy chorus.


Note: normally I would upload the live performances from the Grand Final, but the Eurovision TV You Tube channel is blocking the videos in some countries, so I have gone with the original videos.

The hosts Mans Zelmerlow (last year's winner) and Petra Mede did a fantastic job, and in a very meta moment during the Grand Final interval they discussed the required elements for the perfect Eurovision performance and sang their created song "Love, Love, Peace, Peace."