Inspired by the infamous line uttered by ESC host Bar Refaeli during the 2019 voting sequence, I’m Sorry, Points! is a second chance style competition for all the Eurovision entries throughout the years that have failed to accumulate a single point during the voting. All 38 ‘nul pointers’ will get a chance to get the justice they deserve… if you think they deserve it, that is.
Continue reading “I’m Sorry, Points: Voting in the semifinals is now open!”
Throughout the years, there have been entries at the Eurovision Song Contest that fail to get a single vote from any country at the end of the night. This was particularly prominent in the 1960s where juries only gave points to a very small percentage of countries, but even as the voting structure changed to allow more countries to get votes, we still saw the occasional nul points occur every now and then.
With the introduction of semifinals, it ensured that the ESC final would be filled with more popular songs which offered voters many good choices, thus reducing chances that a song in the final would go home empty-handed.
Indeed, you can look at the numbers: since 2004, only 4 songs have failed to get any points. Half of them did not progress past the semifinals, and the other half automatically qualified to the final. This is a stark contrast from 50 years ago where 4 songs a year would get no votes.
Still, many of us recognize that many of these songs were good and deserved better. So what if we were to give all these songs a second chance?
Let me introduce to you: I’m Sorry, Points!
Note: This post contains major spoilers to the movie Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga.
Just over the past weekend, the first ever major feature film about our beloved contest, Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga, was released.
Those of us who have watched it have been thinking about things, without a doubt.
Here are my thoughts on the movie, as a Eurovision fan.
Being a Eurovision fan in the 21st century means having to get used to the various lighthearted entries that exist to poke fun at various contemporary issues. Some ‘parody entries’ come to mind, such as Israel’s “Push the Button” from 2007, parodying the threat of nuclear warfare, or Spain’s “Baila el chiki chiki” from the following year, which made fun of the reggaeton music genre.
Although this has mainly been a more recent phenomenon, it is not to say that it is completely new. In fact, the song that could be credited as the first ever parody entry at Eurovision competed for Austria in 1977.
Following the Grand Final of the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest, I figured it was time. I had been wanting to launch a Eurovision blog for years, and several months ago I finally began planning towards creating this site.
I want to use this space to express my views on Europe’s favourite TV show. After having watched all the shows that have taken place in the past 6+ decades, I’ve learned so many fun facts about the contest and I feel like it’s worth sharing all this cool information that I’ve learned throughout the years.
Of course, my blogging journey has just begun. At the time of writing, I am still in the process of planning out a structure for posting. New posts may come irregularly for now. But I know for sure that there’s so much to talk about in regards to this wonderful festival, and I hope to keep you informed and entertained for the years to come!
That being said, I’m excited to start this blog and establish this place of mine within the Eurofandom. I hope you look forward to staying around as well!
With love,
Kalvin
