Review of Eurovision 2019 Grand Final

It's finally Eurovision 2019 Final Night here in Australia. And yes, I could have stayed up after election returns to watch it at 5am, but I was cold and my people needed cuddles, so we stuck with the plan of watching the Prime Time re-broadcast.

But the excitement has built to its crescendo and I am tightly wound spring of bounces ready to explode around the living room. I am hopeful that the 6 entrants I have not seen before will bring some happy songs & performances tonight. The Semi-Finals were fun, but a bit angry and lackluster in the performances. I'd like a bit more fun and excitement. If you can't bounce and be silly at Eurovision, where can you? And, come on, truthfully the world needs some fun bounces and silliness now. You all know I'm right about that!

Things I liked about this year's telecast: I really liked the idea of the video postcards from Eurovision (filmed in Israel) rather than postcards to Eurovision (filmed in the contestants' home countries). And it may have been because I watched the Prime-Time re-broadcasts rather than the live coverage, but I liked there wasn't too much down time or filler in the Semi-Finals. I hope that continues tonight with the Final. I don't really need to see too much of of either the on-stage hosts or the local commentary team. The backstage interviews are great for refilling the snack bowl and answering calls of nature, but the on-stage/commentary booth banter I can do without. Titles on screen and/or voiceovers reading out the program take care of what viewers want and need to know, the hosts are a bit superfluous. (Aside, isn't superfluous a rather bouncy wound to say? It just naturally bounces. Well, it does to me anyway.)

Tonight's review will follow the format of the reviews of the Semi-Finals, where I'll score the performance out of 5 flags and then at the end I'll list my Top Ten. So far this year, I'm batting .500 for picks in my Top Ten moving on. I don't expect that to change too much with the Final. I have a fairly bad track record in having my favorite song be the ultimate winner. I still say Denmark got robbed last year! Higher Ground still gives me goosebumps when we watch the YouTube video. It was much, much, much better than Toy. I'm bouncing off on a tangent. On to tonight's Grand Final:

Malta
Michela
Chameleon
🇲🇹🇲🇹🇲🇹🇲🇹 (4/5)
I like the bounces. It's not a winning entry; but thanks for the pops of color and happy song, Malta.

Albania
Jonida Maliqi
Ktheju tokës
🇦🇱🇦🇱🇦🇱 (3/5)
This staging of this song has an angry feel, even if the song is not strictly angry. It's not one of my favorites, but it was a good performance.

Czech Republic
Lake Malawi
Friend of a Friend
🇨🇿🇨🇿🇨🇿🇨🇿 (4/5)
There is nothing wrong with the song, it's catchy and poppy, but the inability of the performers to successfully mime playing the instruments is distracting to me. Good effort, but it's not going to be a winner.

Germany
S!sters
Sister
🇩🇪🇩🇪🇩🇪 (3/5)
First new entry tonight. They look like very nice people, but the performance is not grabbing me. This one is probably not going to win.

Russia
Sergey Lazarev
Scream
🇷🇺🇷🇺🇷🇺 (3/5)
His voice is good, but neither the song nor the performance are stand-out to me.

Denmark
Leonora
Love Is Forever
🇩🇰🇩🇰🇩🇰🇩🇰🇩🇰 (5/5)
I like the fun, bouncy feel of this song and the happy performance. Unless something changes with the new-to-the-final entrants, it's my Number 1 for the night. I do not expect this to be the overall winner. My favorites have never won.

San Marino
Serhat
Say Na Na Na
🇸🇲🇸🇲🇸🇲🇸🇲 (4/5)
The bouncy upbeat feel is nice, but it's not going to be a winner

North Macedonia
Tamara Todevska
Proud
🇲🇰🇲🇰🇲🇰 (3/5)
I like the message but not the song. Tamara does a great job in the performance, it's just not a favorite of mine.

Sweden
John Lundvik
Too Late For Love
🇸🇪🇸🇪🇸🇪🇸🇪🇸🇪 (5/5)
The roller skating in the postcard is fun. I want to give him 5 flags for just that! But this is my second favorite so far. It might move down later in the night, but it's a solid favorite.

Slovenia
Zala Kralj & Gašper Šantl
Sebi
🇸🇮🇸🇮🇸🇮🇸🇮🇸🇮 (5/5)
I like this one. It's not my top pick, but a definite Top Ten. And the performers look happy and nervous. It feels real, not practiced to be down pat.

Cyprus
Tamta
Replay
🇨🇾🇨🇾🇨🇾 (3/5)
The performance and feel is upbeat, even so this is not a favorite.

The Netherlands
Duncan Laurence
Arcade
🇳🇱🇳🇱🇳🇱🇳🇱🇳🇱 (5/5)
The announcers say this is the favorite. It's a Top Ten for me, but not a favorite.

Greece
Katherine Duska
Better Love
🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷🇬🇷 (4/5)
The staging is light and bright, and she's doing a great job. A solid performance, but not a winner for me.

Israel
Kobi Marimi
Home
🇮🇱🇮🇱🇮🇱🇮🇱 (4/5)
New for tonight. It's a nice soft, simple, solid song.

Norway
KEiiNO
Spirit in the Sky
🇳🇴🇳🇴🇳🇴🇳🇴🇳🇴 (5/5)
I can't explain it. I really like this one. Definitely Top Five.

United Kingdom
Michael Rice
Bigger Than Us
🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧 (3/5)
Another new-for-tonight song. It's a safe, middle of the pack song for the UK, nothing special, but nothing that would make me turn the channel if it came on the radio.

Iceland
Hatari
Hatriò mun sigra
🇮🇸🇮🇸 (2/5)
I do not like this one. I didn't really like it in the Semi-Final and it has not grown on me since. I hate to give performances lower than 3 flags, but I am going to in this case.

Estonia
Victor Crone
Storm
🇪🇪🇪🇪🇪🇪🇪🇪🇪🇪 (5/5)
I like this song. It's a Top Ten for sure. I like it even more because he looks like he's having such a good time just being there.

Belarus
SENA
Like It
🇧🇾🇧🇾🇧🇾 (3/5)
I didn't really like it in the Semi-Final and it hasn't grabbed me any more tonight.

Azerbaijan
Chingiz
Truth
🇦🇿🇦🇿🇦🇿🇦🇿 (4/5)
The robots are still cool, but the song is nothing really special to me. There's nothing wrong with it, just nothing stand-out about it either.

France
Bilal Hassani
Roi
🇫🇷🇫🇷🇫🇷🇫🇷🇫🇷 (5/5)
New tonight. It does not surprise me in the least that France is singing in French. And I love the plus-size ballerina. The message the performance sends is great.

Italy
Mahmood
Soldi
🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹 (4/5)
Two new-to-tonight songs in a row. It's kind of catchy. I like it.

Serbia
Nevena Božović
Kruna
🇷🇸🇷🇸🇷🇸 (3/5)
I know she's giving a great performance, but it's not one of my favorites.

Switzerland
Luca Hänni
She Got Me
🇨🇭🇨🇭🇨🇭🇨🇭 (4/5)
I remember this from the Semi-Final. I didn't like the red lighting then and I don't like it any more now, but the song is kind of catchy and bouncy fun.

Australia
Kate Miller-Heidke
Zero Gravity
🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺 (4/5)
I still like it more at Eurovision than I did in the Australia Decides, but it's suffering from overplay and I'm kind of over it. And the bendy sticks are still making me nervous, humans do not have bottoms made out of rubber and tops made out of springs.

Spain
Miki
La Venda
🇪🇸🇪🇸🇪🇸🇪🇸 (4/5)
Last song, and last new song for the night. I'm glad they are ending on a peppy, happy, catchy, bright song.

My Top Ten:
1. Denmark
2. Sweden
3. Norway
4. Estonia
5. Slovenia
6. The Netherlands
7. France 
8. Italy
9. Australia
10. Israel

Thanks for joining me for my reviews of the Eurovision 2019 Song Contest.
If my favorite can't win, I hope yours did.
Tigger