I was delighted to see Verka Serduchka cameo in Melissa McCarthy's film, "Spy." Also Dima Bilan in 2006 reminds me of Wolf from the Russian cartoon, "Well, Just You Wait!"
And Dady Freyr, and Go_A, and The Roop, and....and... and... Seriously, because of 2020 cancellation, 2021 was the best assembly of really good songwriting and performing in a long time and probably years to come. And made staging look secondary to the final result. KUDOS!
Fun fact about maNga (Turkey/Türkiye 2010), once it was revealed the lead singer is a follower of Erdogan, many Turkish fans went back to Satellite's videos on the Eurovision channel and congratulated Lena for her victory.
@@EmoBearRights it means judge the art not the artist but it is true, Erdogan supports circumcison of Turkish men, which is sexist against them. The singer should be caled out.
Well, I guess he has the right to his opinion. That's how democracy works. I don't like Erdogan it actually gives me the creeps but the singer can take his side no matter what we think about it.
@@paulaaras1207 Exactly. Distasteful as opinions are between competing sects, democracy only works when everyone wants it to. That means allowing dissenting opinions to exist.
Thank you for your love for Käärijä, when he was announced as a participant for UMK 2023 almost nobody knew who he was, me included. Then when his Cha Cha Cha video was released by UMK , it is safe to say that his fate in Finland was sealed, he was an instant "star" the next day, people talked about the green bolero guy everywhere never have an artist in Finland in connection with Eurovision made this kind of huge impression, and I don't think it will ever happen again. Käärijä is and will always be remembered as an UMK/Eurovision "king" in Finland with an amazing personality.
I think it's because 00s era songs are generally pretty dire, you'd have had to slog through half an hour of video to get to Baby Lasagna and Käärijä if you did it chronologically and that would be a crime
Italy is always unique because the artists are not trying to enter Eurovision. They were trying to win San Remo, which is very much its own thing. The contest itself was inspired by San Remo. So even the voters are not thinking much of Eurovision when they’re choosing a winner.
You should do a "ranking every eurovision stage since 2000" video. I think looking at how well they interact with the performances could be interesting.
What about the next ranking being Host countries entries since 2000? I feel like that would be interesting since they have such a wide variety of results!
You are sooo spot on, when it comes to polina-war-criminal-gagarina. And as for Mango, I'm still listening to their song, it has aged well, despite the fact that it was 14 years ago.
Beautiful Mess is one of my all-time favourites and I still listen to it frequently. I’ve never thought the ‘everything is on the wire’ line felt wrong…. I picture a tightrope walker who could fall at any minute…. It feels like a perfect illustration of something fragile and close to falling apart. It fits the song absolutely perfectly. Of all the things to criticise about this song, I’m stunned it’s the lyrics….. they’re poetry.
this is hard to do without the context of the financial and political situation in Europe at the time. Europe was coming out of a economic downturn after the GFC. There were only a handful of countries that could afford to host the contest and none would have gone so OTT as Russia had just done a couple years earlier and gone with the massive screens that at time were 10s of thousands of dollars each. a lot of Europe was in the throws of austerity measures so in 2009 Norway won because oil. 2010 Germany won because industry. 2011 Azerbaijan won because oil. Even Russia it could be argued won for economics. It was not until 2014 we started getting Eurovisions that were not dictated by who could afford it. You also get political impacts. Molitva got a small boost because of the political situation that unfolded during the Serbia and Montenegro national selection the year before. The ultimate withdrawal of Serbia and Montenegro due to the vote rigging by the Montenegrin jury attracted some sympathy for Serbia on their return. A winner is not just a song, it is a whole slice of European history
@@jakieemyou can’t seriously mean That the ONLY reason Norway won in 2009, Sweden winning in 2012 and Denmark in 2013 was because they could afford it? Norway finished above Iceland who aren’t exactly poor, Sweden finished above Russia, who you mentioned yourself have alot of money and Denmark finished above Azerbaijan who also have Oil. This is nonsense
@@augustthuesen3028 It was not the only reason, it was obviously the most Eurovision song in Eurovision that year, but a heap of countries were not even in contention because of economics
Netherlands 2014 with that staging, man... I was in a bad place back then. So much so, that I couldn't even properly nerd about Eurovision that year, I hadn't even memorized the songs by name, and I heard a few of them for the first time only in semis. And I scoffed at most of them - it's like that South Park episode where Stan listen to music and it just sounds like shit. And then this song starts. And I felt calm. Everything felt so mellow. My favourite Eurovision song and performance of all times.
The funniest part was Gabe putting Polina’s song lower than the minimum rank: “War Crimes”. The booing from 2015 paid off after Polina openly supported Vladimir Putin and his genocide against Ukraine. Oh those R*ssians…
PS I’m happy that Sergey Lazarev wasn’t like Polina Gagarina, given he initially didn’t approve of the R*ssian invasion of Ukraine but he was forced to obey Putin, which got him sanctioned by Ukraine. Sergey gave out one of the best performances in Eurovision history. I really mean it. After Sergey, we got Yulia Samoylova as R*ssia’s 2017 entrant, selected for a political purpose: as she had previously travelled from Russia to Crimea for a 2015 performance, by choosing her, she would be banned from Ukraine because of one of the country’s laws. R*ssia’s decision to pick Yulia in 2017 to represent them exploited Ukraine’s law so that everyone and even the EBU would turn against Ukraine when they were hosting in 2017…
Please make a video like this one but ranking the last place song each year. It would be interesting to see whether you think they deserved last place or should have been higher up
Just want to say, Bulgaria 2017 was and still is my 2017 winner and one of my favourite Esc songs of the last decade. I think it's because I was like 13-ish at the time, it was my second contest and the idea of someone not much older than me delivering a performance that professionally presented was really inspiring to me, not to mention I thought Kristian's vocals were fantastic and he conducted himself brilliantly (and I just really liked the song). I completely understand it not standing out for some or being to everyone's taste, that makes sense, but I'll always have some emotional attachment to it. (Don't worry, Portugal was my 2nd, I'm not salty, took a few years to grow on me but now I absolutely love that performance too).
Same tbh. I was 16 when that contest took place and like you've mentioned, the vocal, the confidence, stage presence along with genuinely really liking the song (and I loved the staging and styling) made this my 1st of 2017 and it remains one of my favorite ESC songs/performances since I started watching in 2009.
As a Belgian, I would definitely not be opposed to my country sending another entry in an imaginary language, rather than constantly singing in English. ...as long as it's the 2003 variety, not the 2008 variety
How about “I ranked every host countries entry since 2000”. Im obsessed with brividi by Mahmoood and Blanco and It would be cool to see that in this format of video. Great video Duncan Laurence- I mean, esc Gabe.
@@AmongHappinessas a Turk hearing this first time. He is probably not a hard supporter but voice his support about something the opponents making a big deal out of that
@@mda990 On one hand some of the translated lyrics from some of the songs veered traditional/conservative so i wouldn't be shocked, sadly. On the other hand, politics is notoriously hard to translate through cultures, even before another language gets in the way.
Tbh I think when you see a video like this and look at third places, there's a lot of quality in those entries and just shows how competitive some editions have been (particularly in recent years). It is nice to see that some entries that have done consderisnly well have also had success commercially in the months/years after their performances and have a legacy.
Fellow ukrainian here, in 2015 Sweden and Mons were our herous, as they didn’t let this purest of lies of second place win. This was next level of duplicity to hear that country sing about piece and million voices when they took Crimea and started Donbass conflict a year prior
I can't believe you talked about Dancing Lasha and then Eleni, but didn't mention when Eleni did that amazing cover of Lasha!!!! it was the meeting of two genius ideas.
The Common Linnets are possibly my favourite runner-up in history (aside from Sam Ryder). Timeless song, brilliant performance and works beyond Eurovision (as shown by the song outperforming the actual winner in the UK chart)
@@Dmoll as a Brit it was wild watching the expectations build around Space man. People who weren't British in comments sections saying they loved it, the building realisation that we were getting left of the board for the first time since Dadi Freyer met his wife (shout out to Fatih Melek for that one) then the massive cheers as Sam walked out in the flag parade, the performance and thank eff we didn't screw up the staging for once, the getting points with the first jury and then 12 from Ukraine delivered by the pagan goddess Katheryna herself, all the other 12s including France, Sam not unknowing what Royiame Uni douze points meant, Graham Norton's they're talking to us, they never talk to us, winning the jury, coming second and then hosting. I did call it in advance we'd use twinning in the postcards I'm proud of that.
@@EmoBearRights I saw him live a few weeks ago and when I saying he's definitely one of the best artists I've ever heard live.... it's no understatement. That man is... I have no words. Absolutely incredible.
I couldn't agree more with the opinion about the Russian's entry. I don't like the song because I don't like ballads in general, but the fact that they sent an attractive blonde woman dressed in white, right after invading Ukraine and banning the "promotion" of lgbtq+ identities, really rubs me the wrong way. It was like they wanted to white wash their reputation and show that Russia isn't like those "western countries" that would send lgbtq+ artists or have a campy performance. They wanted to show that Russia is very traditional and proper, so they went with a very safe performance. I don't want to discredit the Polina's talent, because she's a good singer and I think she was primarily chosen for her talent. But she's a P*tin supporter, so I don't want to give her much grace anyway. Also I've noticed that the performers in a lot of Russia's entries wear white or a very light color. Idk if it's on purpose, but I just found it interesting.
Eleni Foureira - it was clear to me this was something special as soon as she was announced as the Cypriot representative, with that songwriting team. She made a really big deal for years about being constantly rejected by ERT - the moment she’d eventually get there, she wasn’t going to just let it pass. She definitely proved she wasn’t there to play and in my opinion should have won - I still don’t know how she didn’t.
I agee what you said about Baby lasagna + he wrote lyrics, music and produced song by himself, only he in this year + his vocal is perfect for this song + he brought traditional elements and styling on the stage to present his country + he was always nice to everyone, so he belongs to S list 💫
@@enigma8svemir468 I'm not gonna write an essay when there is already plenty of info out there. Can I assume you know how a search engine works? Then use it and type in "baby lasagna plagiarism". But first you might listen to Pain's "Party in my head". And if you really want to tell me that that's not the EXACT SAME CHORUS with the EXACT SAME MELODY and nearly the EXACT SAME CHORD CHANGES, then there's something wrong with your ears and your brain. That's blatant plagiarism.
@@ratatatuff woooo nije nikakav plagijat čak i ne zvuči isto, a ako ćemo o plagijatu onda je Pain skopirao Rockin in the free world od Neil Younga S mojim ušima i mozgom je sve u najboljem redu, hvala lijepo, provjeri svoje
Also a 'fun' fact - Alsou's daughter Mikella Abramova won The Voice Kids Russia in 2019 and her victory got taken away after it was discovered that her parents had invested into bots to help her win. Yerzhan, who represented Kazakhstan in jESC the same year was one of the finalists, that people say was robbed and that should have won.
@@trildi oh she is. Her father is an oil billionaire and was among the 100 richest people in Russia at the time. He pretty much financed her career at least initially.
Polina Gagarina was among my favourite artists for many years as I had a Russian pop phase in the late 2010s until February 2022. Now she’s literally dead to me and I hope we never see her in an ESC-context again. Even if you count out the pro-war/pro-regime stance, she has a reputation for being callous and a faker, who would do anything to remain on top.
@@EldaMengisto it’s ok now. I was blind to some very obvious things. I don’t support war in general, so also the war in Ukraine and everyone who supports the killing of their neighbours automatically disappears for me. So 2022 was both heartbreaking and eye opening at the same time. All the love and strength to Ukrainian people. 🇺🇦
Same here. At the time, I was a naive little 16 year old boy who thought blonde Russian girls were the prettiest thing in the world lol and I cheered on this heavily to win while my parents were commenting how it was bad taste. Now I completely understand why. In full honesty, I still like the song. But its just too hard to listen to it without knowing who sings it and the context of the time.
I never liked this song, just before that Russia started previous war with Ukraine and then she comes from war starting country and sings about peace. It has been at first hearing for me symbol of ultimate hypocrisy and I don't understand, how blind Europe was then. Another person who is dead for me is Dima Bilan, who also likes to s.u.c.k. Putin's d***, although I liked his earlier song once.
My take on 1st runner ups: 2000: the Russian Britney on latex 2001: unapologetic country sesh 2002: Malta's ticket to Disney 2003: does Belgium have a official language anyway? 2004: when Balkan ballad trend started thanks to Moje Lane 2005: another ticket to Disney from Malta 2006: creepy on every aspect. Including Dima 2007: SUPERSTAR 2008: literal bombshell (no pun intended) 2009: sweet ballad it almost give me diabetes 2010: Linkin Park + Super Sentai 2011: when hype for Italy started 2012: adorable party grannies 2013: I rather see this win over 2011's entry for Azerbaijan. So dramatic 2014: very intimate bluegrass jam 2015: propaganda to the core 2016: I keep calling calling to bring Dami back with a banger of a song. 2017: eastern europe take to k-pop 2018: sponsored by Moroccan Oil 2019: Mediterranean R&B with an attitude 2020: 2021: 'FRANCE!' - Miss Universe France 2018 2022: UK's Eurovision rockstar. Also proves that Europe don't hate UK. It's the BBC for sending sh*t songs that makes the audience lose interest to vote. 2023: Rockstar in bolero! Me still chanting CHA CHA CHA until now. 2024: Whoever is responsible to ignore Rim Tim Tagi Dim during Dora, please meow back and have your say! Thank goodness for that artist that withdrew the last minute and give Baby Lasagna a chance to shine. My Top 5 2nd placers: 2023, 2024, 2007, 2016, 2010 Thank you Gabe for your fantastic commentary once again!
I really wanted Baby Lasagna to win this year, they were so amazing and the song was my favourite in the competition. Don't get me wrong, Switzerland were good too but Croatia was my number one favourite.
@@PolinaTimoFF She always was but she was never singing about peace and love and new age self improvement bollocks. The lack of hypocrisy counts for a lot.
rim tim tagi dim became a regular in my karaoke rotation 💀 the only eurovision song to get there, though only because i never get the vibe i was for hard rock hallelujah
I agree with many choices in this list. Personally, I want to give a shoutout to Italy 2011 who absolutely should have won. In a year that is plagued by so many low-quality songs with boring staging where they could have potentially done so many more interesting things... in comes Italy for the first time since 1997 and immediately shows everyone how it's done. I love jazz as a genre, I find Raphael's vocal delivery to be phenomenal, the staging was immaculate... This, should, have, won.
fun fact, dami ims high note would have been the highest note ever sung in a eurovision winning song if she had won, instead that honor went to the song that she lost to, 1944
Let’s be honest, in the majority of these cases, the 2nd placers COULD have won and would have easily been a great winner. My favourite songs for the three years running have been 2nd placers and for like three years before that they were all bangers! There seems to now be the worrying trend of the televote favourite not quite making the mark!
Awesome video, as always ! Although I’d put 2013/2018 lower and 2004 higher, always enjoy hearing your POV as someone who’s been to quite a few in person. This video idea has great repeatability too. I’d love to hear you do the same for last places as there’s a real mix of undeserved (& deserved) entries. You could even consider doing a tier list for host country entries - some of them are really underrated gems !
Again a very enjoyable video and I agree with you on most of the ratings. Suggestion for another video or videos: top songs that didn't qualify since 2008, and most horrific songs that didn't qualify. So top and flop lists.
As a Ukrainian I need to thank you for what you said about Polina and your words about 2023 Eurovision in UK. It was truly special and we are grateful ❤ thank you for your support ❤❤❤
JUSTICE FOR YOHANNA! I have to admit, it's one of, if not THE favourite Eurovision song of mine, EVER! Like, the whole key-change thing elevates it even more for me and DAMN, those seconds when she belts out "will I wake from this paaaaiiiiin?!?" is still giving me goosebumps all over!
I have an interesting suggestion: perhaps something related to songs with most youtube views for every uear, or a top 10 of youtube views that werent winners. you'd get snap, epic sax guy and perhaps Joost in those
Honestly, I would love to see your opinions on all the songs 2000 to now all the way down to 10th or even better 15th place. Some of my top favorites placed 11th through 13th. Keep up the good work, you and Jay are always producing perfection.
Voila had these amazing camera movements that made it to unusual. I agree that it was wonderfully french in all the best ways. I loved it so much. It was a great year, with Swizerland being brilliant as well.
I would find it quite interesting to hear a list of "most underrated entry" for every year .... and when I'm thinking "Biggest ESC-crimes" would be an idea as well
Sam Ryder just singing in his living room on tiktok in 2020…. and then BOOM UK HAD SPACEMAN I loved that song, it’s so beautiful, Sam is an incredible singer and I’m glad we got to see him ‘save’ the UK (I remember joking the UK would be last again before I heard his song… but it was sooo good!)
With Italy, I feel like most people are missing a huge chunk of cultural context: our songs are selected from Sanremo, which is a massive deal here, having the most cultural relevance out of any singing competition in the country, meaning that the winners aren't chosen by their compatibility with Eurovision. That's why our entries are often detached from any contest trend or cliché in comparison to the acts that get selected in a contest-specific competition. Hope this was useful!
I'm going to declare it straight up. Proud Aussie here too, and with one exception (2019) no other Australian performance has made me as proud. @Gabe, I'd love to hear why, with those epic notes, Dami doesn't deserve S teir? As another commentor has said, at that time no one had sung notes like that live...
correction: Serbia and Montenegro participated TWICE not once 🫣
Was about to say it😂
was wondering about the Zauvijek Moja erasure
I was delighted to see Verka Serduchka cameo in Melissa McCarthy's film, "Spy." Also Dima Bilan in 2006 reminds me of Wolf from the Russian cartoon, "Well, Just You Wait!"
I honestly thought you had some kind of beef with Zauvijek Moja 😂
Almost Thrice, but that vote rigging by the Montenegrin jury...
сant wait for gabe to make a "I ranked every third place since 2000"
And we're not even talking about the "I ranked every fourth place since 2000".
Or "I ranked every last place since 2000"
And later "I ranked every 23rd place since 2000"
@@El_Jacob1and then “Ranked every fifth place since 2000”
don't tempt me (i'd do last places first)
May I suggest another tier list: the highest places each country reached.
That will be a great one
Or maybe with the highest points!
It's a shame Maneskin, barbara pravi and Gjon participated in the same year
All 3 deserved to win
REAL
And Dady Freyr, and Go_A, and The Roop, and....and... and...
Seriously, because of 2020 cancellation, 2021 was the best assembly of really good songwriting and performing in a long time and probably years to come.
And made staging look secondary to the final result. KUDOS!
@@71gmfdont forget Manizha!
Eurovision 2021 was a VERY strong country with STRONG entries that deserved to win
Indeed. But what a great top 3 they are!!!
Fun fact: Voila has become a figure skating staple, there’s at least four different programs this year alone!
That's so sweet. Thank you for the info.
and rhythmic gymnastics!
just a few weeks ago it was used in the Czech iteration of Dancing With The Stars
the word fs fans use is war horse lol
Fun fact about maNga (Turkey/Türkiye 2010), once it was revealed the lead singer is a follower of Erdogan, many Turkish fans went back to Satellite's videos on the Eurovision channel and congratulated Lena for her victory.
@@Erik_Emer People you like always disappoint you, don't they? I guess there's a reason why they say trust the art and not the artist.
@@EmoBearRights it means judge the art not the artist but it is true, Erdogan supports circumcison of Turkish men, which is sexist against them. The singer should be caled out.
Well, I guess he has the right to his opinion. That's how democracy works. I don't like Erdogan it actually gives me the creeps but the singer can take his side no matter what we think about it.
@@paulaaras1207 Exactly. Distasteful as opinions are between competing sects, democracy only works when everyone wants it to. That means allowing dissenting opinions to exist.
I don't care about his opinions. The song itself is what I care about, and it's a banger and then some.
If loving Verka is wrong I don't want to be right.
I feel like we need a ranking of all the last place songs after this. Would be fun for sure 😂
that would be the next one i would do! i will think about it 🤔
But dead last place or last in final?
Yess, please do that. The last places from the finals.
@@El_Jacob1 I would say both. Probably separate videos though, one for last in the GF and one for all semifinals.
As a Norwegian, I'm dreading this 💀💀
Thank you for your love for Käärijä, when he was announced as a participant for UMK 2023 almost nobody knew who he was, me included. Then when his Cha Cha Cha video was released by UMK , it is safe to say that his fate in Finland was sealed, he was an instant "star" the next day, people talked about the green bolero guy everywhere never have an artist in Finland in connection with Eurovision made this kind of huge impression, and I don't think it will ever happen again. Käärijä is and will always be remembered as an UMK/Eurovision "king" in Finland with an amazing personality.
Putting in the Udmurtian flag for the Babushkas was so nice! Glad i found your videos, great job!
i don't understand why these lists aren't in chronological order it just feels wrong
Yes, it does. It's totally weird.
I like the hopping. If it’s chronological then you know what’s coming next. I like the excitement of which one is coming next
@@MBM91UK No. It's putting me off watching.
I much prefer this. A chronological format would make it predictable and generally just make people skip through, this actually keeps me engaged.
I think it's because 00s era songs are generally pretty dire, you'd have had to slog through half an hour of video to get to Baby Lasagna and Käärijä if you did it chronologically and that would be a crime
Italy is always unique because the artists are not trying to enter Eurovision. They were trying to win San Remo, which is very much its own thing. The contest itself was inspired by San Remo. So even the voters are not thinking much of Eurovision when they’re choosing a winner.
You should do a "ranking every eurovision stage since 2000" video. I think looking at how well they interact with the performances could be interesting.
I didn't really vibe with Baby Lasagna at the time but since then, and rewatching his performance, his stage presence is phenomenal.
I so agree on what was said about Käärijä 😊 He still keeps blowing my mind time and time again with his music and personality.
Awww united by Käärijä, so sweet 💚
Could you do a video about the 2020 songs? I'd really like to hear your opinion on them
Good idea! People have not really revisited those songs and there are real gems there!
Yes!!!!
agree!
Great idea! 2020 had so many great songs.
yessss so many amazing songs!!
The Dima 'dance move' you showed is perfectly synchronised with the ballet dancers. They all jump up at the same time. So, a nice touch and not odd.
Lane moje will always have a very special place in my heart, it's such a beautiful and peaceful song😊
What about the next ranking being Host countries entries since 2000? I feel like that would be interesting since they have such a wide variety of results!
You are sooo spot on, when it comes to polina-war-criminal-gagarina.
And as for Mango, I'm still listening to their song, it has aged well, despite the fact that it was 14 years ago.
So sad about million voices, i loved that song but its sad what Polina did and represent
I still listen to a Million Voices. When I first saw her sing it, I was drawn to her voice. We shouldn’t cancel someone for their opinions.
I showed a German friend a number of Eurovision songs We Could Be The Same was the only one that impressed her.
@@TheManInBlueFlames Defending and actively supporting genocide is not "an opinion", it is a crime against humanity.
@@janariviik2634she supported Israel?
I really wish Baby Lasagna would have won this year. The winner was okay, but Rim Tim Tagi Dim is more to my taste. Oh well.
You should rank your favorite eurovision countries. Which ones make the most bangers, how do they approach the contest and so on.
Beautiful Mess is one of my all-time favourites and I still listen to it frequently. I’ve never thought the ‘everything is on the wire’ line felt wrong…. I picture a tightrope walker who could fall at any minute…. It feels like a perfect illustration of something fragile and close to falling apart. It fits the song absolutely perfectly. Of all the things to criticise about this song, I’m stunned it’s the lyrics….. they’re poetry.
I would love to get a video about what the hell was going on in 2010 and 2011 in the results(especially 2011 because WTF)
Yes, please
this is hard to do without the context of the financial and political situation in Europe at the time.
Europe was coming out of a economic downturn after the GFC. There were only a handful of countries that could afford to host the contest and none would have gone so OTT as Russia had just done a couple years earlier and gone with the massive screens that at time were 10s of thousands of dollars each. a lot of Europe was in the throws of austerity measures so in 2009 Norway won because oil. 2010 Germany won because industry. 2011 Azerbaijan won because oil. Even Russia it could be argued won for economics. It was not until 2014 we started getting Eurovisions that were not dictated by who could afford it.
You also get political impacts. Molitva got a small boost because of the political situation that unfolded during the Serbia and Montenegro national selection the year before. The ultimate withdrawal of Serbia and Montenegro due to the vote rigging by the Montenegrin jury attracted some sympathy for Serbia on their return.
A winner is not just a song, it is a whole slice of European history
@@jakieemyou can’t seriously mean That the ONLY reason Norway won in 2009, Sweden winning in 2012 and Denmark in 2013 was because they could afford it? Norway finished above Iceland who aren’t exactly poor, Sweden finished above Russia, who you mentioned yourself have alot of money and Denmark finished above Azerbaijan who also have Oil. This is nonsense
@@augustthuesen3028 It was not the only reason, it was obviously the most Eurovision song in Eurovision that year, but a heap of countries were not even in contention because of economics
Netherlands 2014 with that staging, man... I was in a bad place back then. So much so, that I couldn't even properly nerd about Eurovision that year, I hadn't even memorized the songs by name, and I heard a few of them for the first time only in semis. And I scoffed at most of them - it's like that South Park episode where Stan listen to music and it just sounds like shit. And then this song starts. And I felt calm. Everything felt so mellow.
My favourite Eurovision song and performance of all times.
I think the arguably funniest and worst part of Polina’s performance is the end where Russia is the centre of the world.
Looool I never noticed that but that is darkly hilarious
The funniest part was Gabe putting Polina’s song lower than the minimum rank: “War Crimes”. The booing from 2015 paid off after Polina openly supported Vladimir Putin and his genocide against Ukraine. Oh those R*ssians…
PS I’m happy that Sergey Lazarev wasn’t like Polina Gagarina, given he initially didn’t approve of the R*ssian invasion of Ukraine but he was forced to obey Putin, which got him sanctioned by Ukraine. Sergey gave out one of the best performances in Eurovision history. I really mean it. After Sergey, we got Yulia Samoylova as R*ssia’s 2017 entrant, selected for a political purpose: as she had previously travelled from Russia to Crimea for a 2015 performance, by choosing her, she would be banned from Ukraine because of one of the country’s laws. R*ssia’s decision to pick Yulia in 2017 to represent them exploited Ukraine’s law so that everyone and even the EBU would turn against Ukraine when they were hosting in 2017…
What a messed up country Russia is…
@@jason256-8bruh, censoring country's name. Seriously? Are you afraid of being arrested or what? xD
Please make a video like this one but ranking the last place song each year. It would be interesting to see whether you think they deserved last place or should have been higher up
Oooooo yeah that would be so interesting
so he would just rank the german entries😂🙈
Just want to say, Bulgaria 2017 was and still is my 2017 winner and one of my favourite Esc songs of the last decade. I think it's because I was like 13-ish at the time, it was my second contest and the idea of someone not much older than me delivering a performance that professionally presented was really inspiring to me, not to mention I thought Kristian's vocals were fantastic and he conducted himself brilliantly (and I just really liked the song). I completely understand it not standing out for some or being to everyone's taste, that makes sense, but I'll always have some emotional attachment to it.
(Don't worry, Portugal was my 2nd, I'm not salty, took a few years to grow on me but now I absolutely love that performance too).
Kristian Kostov was born on the exact same day I was so it definitely will always have a special place in my heart for that reason!
Same tbh. I was 16 when that contest took place and like you've mentioned, the vocal, the confidence, stage presence along with genuinely really liking the song (and I loved the staging and styling) made this my 1st of 2017 and it remains one of my favorite ESC songs/performances since I started watching in 2009.
Dancing Lasha Tumbai was by far the first Eurovision entry I listened to
As a Belgian, I would definitely not be opposed to my country sending another entry in an imaginary language, rather than constantly singing in English.
...as long as it's the 2003 variety, not the 2008 variety
PLEASE DO IT.
Yeah, wtf was that in 2008 lol
GIRLFRIEND?!!?!? 👁👄👁
It's like that Britney GIF. 😂
Yes, I gasped too and wondered the same as Britney. 😂
How about “I ranked every host countries entry since 2000”. Im obsessed with brividi by Mahmoood and Blanco and It would be cool to see that in this format of video.
Great video Duncan Laurence- I mean, esc Gabe.
Gabe not being updated on the maNga/Erdogan lore
I don't think anyone else does, can you tell us more about that?
@@santinodeagustini The main singer for maNga is an Erdogan supporter
@@AmongHappinessas a Turk hearing this first time. He is probably not a hard supporter but voice his support about something the opponents making a big deal out of that
@@mda990 On one hand some of the translated lyrics from some of the songs veered traditional/conservative so i wouldn't be shocked, sadly. On the other hand, politics is notoriously hard to translate through cultures, even before another language gets in the way.
Tbh I think when you see a video like this and look at third places, there's a lot of quality in those entries and just shows how competitive some editions have been (particularly in recent years). It is nice to see that some entries that have done consderisnly well have also had success commercially in the months/years after their performances and have a legacy.
Fellow ukrainian here, in 2015 Sweden and Mons were our herous, as they didn’t let this purest of lies of second place win. This was next level of duplicity to hear that country sing about piece and million voices when they took Crimea and started Donbass conflict a year prior
Croatia 🇭🇷 was a great song this year. Kaarija to return would not be a bad idea.
kristian kostov is WAY too low the sheer audacity hes A tier
I can't believe you talked about Dancing Lasha and then Eleni, but didn't mention when Eleni did that amazing cover of Lasha!!!! it was the meeting of two genius ideas.
U GOT ME on Margaret Berger as one of your all time favorite song( or something in that line)
NewSUB from Arctic Norway👋👋🇳🇴🇳🇴
The Common Linnets are possibly my favourite runner-up in history (aside from Sam Ryder). Timeless song, brilliant performance and works beyond Eurovision (as shown by the song outperforming the actual winner in the UK chart)
THE SAM RYDER LOVE
@@Dmoll as a Brit it was wild watching the expectations build around Space man. People who weren't British in comments sections saying they loved it, the building realisation that we were getting left of the board for the first time since Dadi Freyer met his wife (shout out to Fatih Melek for that one) then the massive cheers as Sam walked out in the flag parade, the performance and thank eff we didn't screw up the staging for once, the getting points with the first jury and then 12 from Ukraine delivered by the pagan goddess Katheryna herself, all the other 12s including France, Sam not unknowing what Royiame Uni douze points meant, Graham Norton's they're talking to us, they never talk to us, winning the jury, coming second and then hosting. I did call it in advance we'd use twinning in the postcards I'm proud of that.
@@EmoBearRights I saw him live a few weeks ago and when I saying he's definitely one of the best artists I've ever heard live.... it's no understatement. That man is... I have no words. Absolutely incredible.
I couldn't agree more with the opinion about the Russian's entry. I don't like the song because I don't like ballads in general, but the fact that they sent an attractive blonde woman dressed in white, right after invading Ukraine and banning the "promotion" of lgbtq+ identities, really rubs me the wrong way. It was like they wanted to white wash their reputation and show that Russia isn't like those "western countries" that would send lgbtq+ artists or have a campy performance. They wanted to show that Russia is very traditional and proper, so they went with a very safe performance. I don't want to discredit the Polina's talent, because she's a good singer and I think she was primarily chosen for her talent. But she's a P*tin supporter, so I don't want to give her much grace anyway.
Also I've noticed that the performers in a lot of Russia's entries wear white or a very light color. Idk if it's on purpose, but I just found it interesting.
Käärijä and Baby Lasagna are my absolute favorites
And mine
Same. There so fun and memorable.
mmm esc gabe i love your videos thank you for fuelling my eurovision obsession
Dami Im Baby Lasagna Verka Farid Mammadov Eleni Foureira Mahmood Kaarija and Sam Ryder are my favorite runner ups❤❤
Eleni Foureira - it was clear to me this was something special as soon as she was announced as the Cypriot representative, with that songwriting team. She made a really big deal for years about being constantly rejected by ERT - the moment she’d eventually get there, she wasn’t going to just let it pass. She definitely proved she wasn’t there to play and in my opinion should have won - I still don’t know how she didn’t.
I agee what you said about Baby lasagna + he wrote lyrics, music and produced song by himself, only he in this year + his vocal is perfect for this song + he brought traditional elements and styling on the stage to present his country + he was always nice to everyone, so he belongs to S list 💫
He didn't write the song. He used a bought sample and stole the chorus. That's not songwriting, that's just stealing.
@@ratatatuff explain and prove it
@@enigma8svemir468 I'm not gonna write an essay when there is already plenty of info out there. Can I assume you know how a search engine works? Then use it and type in "baby lasagna plagiarism". But first you might listen to Pain's "Party in my head". And if you really want to tell me that that's not the EXACT SAME CHORUS with the EXACT SAME MELODY and nearly the EXACT SAME CHORD CHANGES, then there's something wrong with your ears and your brain. That's blatant plagiarism.
@@ratatatuff woooo nije nikakav plagijat čak i ne zvuči isto, a ako ćemo o plagijatu onda je Pain skopirao Rockin in the free world od Neil Younga
S mojim ušima i mozgom je sve u najboljem redu, hvala lijepo, provjeri svoje
@@enigma8svemir468 🤦🤦🤦
Loving the videos, Gabe. I specially waited for part 3 of the iceberg video to come out so that I could binge the mini-series in one sitting.
I saw Käärjä a few weeks ago and it was definitely up there with the absolute best concerts I've ever been to!
A lot of the runner-ups should have won ESC in my opinion, that includes Käärijä, Chiara, Rollo & King, maNga, Mahmood and Sam Ryder.
Also a 'fun' fact - Alsou's daughter Mikella Abramova won The Voice Kids Russia in 2019 and her victory got taken away after it was discovered that her parents had invested into bots to help her win. Yerzhan, who represented Kazakhstan in jESC the same year was one of the finalists, that people say was robbed and that should have won.
Isn't Alsou herself the daughter of some oligarch? She wouldn't have been chosen to represent Russia otherwise.
@@trildi oh she is. Her father is an oil billionaire and was among the 100 richest people in Russia at the time. He pretty much financed her career at least initially.
@@KatyV191 Yeah, I thought so. So Alsou was just continuing her family tradition then 😂
@@KatyV191no wonder how she got to participate and host despite being terrible at either
Good thing Heroes won in 2015, imagine how a 2015 Russian victory would look for Russia and Polina today
Grande Amore normally would have won that year but sadly, Il Volo messed up in the Jury Final 😭
Oh no, Lane Moje is probably my favourite Balkan balad!
Epic song
Loved this. Every year my fav seems to come 2nd.
Polina Gagarina was among my favourite artists for many years as I had a Russian pop phase in the late 2010s until February 2022. Now she’s literally dead to me and I hope we never see her in an ESC-context again. Even if you count out the pro-war/pro-regime stance, she has a reputation for being callous and a faker, who would do anything to remain on top.
I'm so sorry about the shattering of Russophilia in the last two years. At least you have uncle Gustaph to bring you through. 😊😊
@@EldaMengisto it’s ok now. I was blind to some very obvious things. I don’t support war in general, so also the war in Ukraine and everyone who supports the killing of their neighbours automatically disappears for me. So 2022 was both heartbreaking and eye opening at the same time. All the love and strength to Ukrainian people. 🇺🇦
Same here. At the time, I was a naive little 16 year old boy who thought blonde Russian girls were the prettiest thing in the world lol and I cheered on this heavily to win while my parents were commenting how it was bad taste. Now I completely understand why. In full honesty, I still like the song. But its just too hard to listen to it without knowing who sings it and the context of the time.
Still hearing she's even one of madman Putin's supporters was enough for me too. 😡
I never liked this song, just before that Russia started previous war with Ukraine and then she comes from war starting country and sings about peace. It has been at first hearing for me symbol of ultimate hypocrisy and I don't understand, how blind Europe was then. Another person who is dead for me is Dima Bilan, who also likes to s.u.c.k. Putin's d***, although I liked his earlier song once.
not the kirkoflop jumpscare before 8 am, thank you gabe
at least it will have woken you up 🫣
My take on 1st runner ups:
2000: the Russian Britney on latex
2001: unapologetic country sesh
2002: Malta's ticket to Disney
2003: does Belgium have a official language anyway?
2004: when Balkan ballad trend started thanks to Moje Lane
2005: another ticket to Disney from Malta
2006: creepy on every aspect. Including Dima
2007: SUPERSTAR
2008: literal bombshell (no pun intended)
2009: sweet ballad it almost give me diabetes
2010: Linkin Park + Super Sentai
2011: when hype for Italy started
2012: adorable party grannies
2013: I rather see this win over 2011's entry for Azerbaijan. So dramatic
2014: very intimate bluegrass jam
2015: propaganda to the core
2016: I keep calling calling to bring Dami back with a banger of a song.
2017: eastern europe take to k-pop
2018: sponsored by Moroccan Oil
2019: Mediterranean R&B with an attitude
2020:
2021: 'FRANCE!' - Miss Universe France 2018
2022: UK's Eurovision rockstar. Also proves that Europe don't hate UK. It's the BBC for sending sh*t songs that makes the audience lose interest to vote.
2023: Rockstar in bolero! Me still chanting CHA CHA CHA until now.
2024: Whoever is responsible to ignore Rim Tim Tagi Dim during Dora, please meow back and have your say! Thank goodness for that artist that withdrew the last minute and give Baby Lasagna a chance to shine.
My Top 5 2nd placers: 2023, 2024, 2007, 2016, 2010
Thank you Gabe for your fantastic commentary once again!
Rim Tim Blablabla is simply a rip-off. It should have been last place.
@@ratatatuff How is Rim Tim Tagi Dim a rip-off? What is it even a “rip-off” of?
@@alicebthegachaweirdo8378 If you don't know what a "rip-off" is then I can't help you. Nobody can.
@@ratatatuff Of course I know what a rip-off is
@@alicebthegachaweirdo8378 Then why would you ask what it is? You're not very smart, are you?
I really wanted Baby Lasagna to win this year, they were so amazing and the song was my favourite in the competition. Don't get me wrong, Switzerland were good too but Croatia was my number one favourite.
Beautiful Mess in C is a CRIME
im not gonna let my personal preferences get in my way... and then this
Here before the pro-russians
Btw Ani Lorak is Z now. Live with it.
@@PolinaTimoFF what are you even talking about
@@PolinaTimoFF She always was but she was never singing about peace and love and new age self improvement bollocks. The lack of hypocrisy counts for a lot.
rim tim tagi dim became a regular in my karaoke rotation 💀 the only eurovision song to get there, though only because i never get the vibe i was for hard rock hallelujah
As a Norwegian ESC fan, I'm so scared of a potential last place ranking. Be nice pls
Dami Im was the true winner of 2016 imo. She's one of the best vocalists we've ever had!
Can’t wait for ranking every 20th place at Eurovision since 2000. Snap has to be A tier.
I agree with many choices in this list. Personally, I want to give a shoutout to Italy 2011 who absolutely should have won. In a year that is plagued by so many low-quality songs with boring staging where they could have potentially done so many more interesting things... in comes Italy for the first time since 1997 and immediately shows everyone how it's done.
I love jazz as a genre, I find Raphael's vocal delivery to be phenomenal, the staging was immaculate...
This, should, have, won.
No grumbles at all on this one, pretty much 100% agree with your ranking and comments! Bravo Gabe!
fun fact, dami ims high note would have been the highest note ever sung in a eurovision winning song if she had won, instead that honor went to the song that she lost to, 1944
I'm a Dutch person that doesn't like too much Dutch music but even I love our song here, Ilse and Waylon did a great job
I'd convinced myself that Keiino were the 2019 runner ups and was confused why they weren’t on the list!
Let’s be honest, in the majority of these cases, the 2nd placers COULD have won and would have easily been a great winner. My favourite songs for the three years running have been 2nd placers and for like three years before that they were all bangers! There seems to now be the worrying trend of the televote favourite not quite making the mark!
the televote favorite won 2021+2022 so let us see what will happen in future
Voila is my favourite ever Eurovision song. I just adore it. And her performance was incredible. It was like she was possessed.
5:24 The first of five Eurovision attendings for Ms. Hera Björk 🇮🇸
the second (she was year earlier with euroband)
@@rumenok that's right. But it still sums up to five in total 😅
Awesome video, as always !
Although I’d put 2013/2018 lower and 2004 higher, always enjoy hearing your POV as someone who’s been to quite a few in person.
This video idea has great repeatability too. I’d love to hear you do the same for last places as there’s a real mix of undeserved (& deserved) entries. You could even consider doing a tier list for host country entries - some of them are really underrated gems !
Ahh these videos are so entertaining. Also I love your perspective and unbiased opinions!
i’m so excited for the video: ranking every 17th place in the contest, he will surely do that c’mon
put Lane moje in B its crazy. this is still one of all favorites of Eurovision
Again a very enjoyable video and I agree with you on most of the ratings.
Suggestion for another video or videos: top songs that didn't qualify since 2008, and most horrific songs that didn't qualify. So top and flop lists.
Love the video. Thanks for putting it together. Really enjoyed watching that.
Thank you!!
Nice vid. Many thanx from a Geordie ESC fan 🙂
16:15 "only time this country took part" exactly no name never happened
…oops
And nobody hurt no one
...wait wrong country
@@escgabe it's better this way
As a Ukrainian I need to thank you for what you said about Polina and your words about 2023 Eurovision in UK. It was truly special and we are grateful ❤
thank you for your support ❤❤❤
❤️❤️🇺🇦🇺🇦
JUSTICE FOR YOHANNA! I have to admit, it's one of, if not THE favourite Eurovision song of mine, EVER! Like, the whole key-change thing elevates it even more for me and DAMN, those seconds when she belts out "will I wake from this paaaaiiiiin?!?" is still giving me goosebumps all over!
Would love to see a ranking of last places, that would be very fun to watch!
I have an interesting suggestion:
perhaps something related to songs with most youtube views for every uear, or a top 10 of youtube views that werent winners.
you'd get snap, epic sax guy and perhaps Joost in those
I'd love a tier list of Junior Eurovision winners as well!
Honestly, I would love to see your opinions on all the songs 2000 to now all the way down to 10th or even better 15th place. Some of my top favorites placed 11th through 13th. Keep up the good work, you and Jay are always producing perfection.
Voila had these amazing camera movements that made it to unusual. I agree that it was wonderfully french in all the best ways. I loved it so much. It was a great year, with Swizerland being brilliant as well.
I would find it quite interesting to hear a list of "most underrated entry" for every year .... and when I'm thinking "Biggest ESC-crimes" would be an idea as well
Your videos are such a treat! Thank you!
I rlly like the tier list but I sound like an esc nerd but Serbia and Montenegro also participated in 2005 with zauvijek moja and placed 7th
can't wait for gabe to make a "I ranked every place since 2000"
I LIVE for your rants, Gabe 😂
Dami has great vocals but Sound of Silence is such a mid song tbh
Now I would love to see a list of every countries highest COMMERCIAL success
Thank you for educating us
Sam Ryder just singing in his living room on tiktok in 2020…. and then BOOM UK HAD SPACEMAN
I loved that song, it’s so beautiful, Sam is an incredible singer and I’m glad we got to see him ‘save’ the UK (I remember joking the UK would be last again before I heard his song… but it was sooo good!)
With Italy, I feel like most people are missing a huge chunk of cultural context: our songs are selected from Sanremo, which is a massive deal here, having the most cultural relevance out of any singing competition in the country, meaning that the winners aren't chosen by their compatibility with Eurovision. That's why our entries are often detached from any contest trend or cliché in comparison to the acts that get selected in a contest-specific competition. Hope this was useful!
Question for ESC Gabe: Can you make a top 100 for pre 2000s eurovision songs you like? I'm quite interested in your taste.
Yes for, Dami Im, Sound of Silence … still one of my all time faves! (Proud Aussie here 🇦🇺) ✌️
I'm going to declare it straight up. Proud Aussie here too, and with one exception (2019) no other Australian performance has made me as proud. @Gabe, I'd love to hear why, with those epic notes, Dami doesn't deserve S teir? As another commentor has said, at that time no one had sung notes like that live...
Sound of silence is such an amazing song! Much love from Sweden.