Eurosong 2023 took place yesterday at the Palais 12 in Brussels with one of the most subversive votes we have seen in national finals. The winner was decided by one point and only 11 points separated first and fourth place. In the aftermath of last night’s event, we’ve compiled some interesting statistics, reactions from the artists and lots of miscellanea in this article.
The winner of the audience ..stays home!
For the first time since the voting rules were changed at Eurosong in 1999 where the TV audience voted, the song that comes first in the public vote does not win the national final.
Although the Starlings won the audience by 26 points over Gustaph, they finished second overall by one point.
One point wasn’t enough!
As we can see in the official Eurosong rules, in case two songs were tied, the jury would have the final say. This means that the Starlings would need another 2 points to win since they were ranked 5th by the jury against Gustaph‘s 3rd.
A damning review
The most uncomfortable moment of last night was Alexander Rybak’s criticism of the Starlings. The many similarities between the song Rollercoaster and Ed Sheeran’s I See Fire were pointed out by the Norwegian artist who seemed somewhat annoyed. Laura Tesoro in turn agreed with Alexander but also mentioned how powerful their performance was which made her forget everything else. This criticism seems to have been particularly disappointing for the Starlings. In their Instagram post today they stated the following:
‘Thank you for your support. 1 in 4 people voted for our song yesterday. However some members of the jury had a different opinion. We are very disappointed. They hardly talked about our performance, our music and our voices. It’s a lack of respect for our whole work.
The 20 points of Gala Dragot!
The scoring system was quite special as the total of 780 points was used to calculate the exact scores and percentages of each song for the jury and the audience. If Flemish TV had adopted the classic scoring system, where the first jury member receives 12 points, the second 10 points and so on, then things would have been completely different. The big winner would be Gala Dragot with 20 points, leaving Gustaph and the Starlings with 18 points.
Gala Dragot vs Alexander Rybak
Alexander Rybak didn’t leave Gala Dragot‘s statement in the introductory film about the message of the song unchallenged. Specifically, he advised her that her performance and her song is enough to convey the message of the song and she doesn’t need to state it from the beginning. The singer, who is only 17 years old, did not seem to be particularly bothered and replied that she wrote the song herself and felt the need to state its message. Alexander Rybak replied that beyond that in terms of music that he needed advice. Gala Dragot wanted to answer more extensively by taking the microphone from the presenter saying that we have enough time!
Eurosong 2016 ? Starlings!
2016 was the last year that Flemish TV did Eurosong. Had the scoring system used at the time been used big winners would have been Starlings. That year the points of the TV audience were multiplied by 5. The first song received 120 points, the second 100, the third 80 and the last two 70 and 60 points. In such a case, this year’s points would be 180-150-120-120-105-90-75 and 60. The Starlings would have received 180 points from the audience and would have won, leaving Gustaph in second place with 271 points.
The unsung jury
Among the highlights of Eurosong that the jury consisted of 15 people and not just the 4 we saw on the panel yesterday. The detailed jury results have not been published at the moment. According to a report from Songfestival.be the other jury members were split on Gustaph, with several people ranking him first and several others last.
The first reactions of the crowd
Several people called last night’s result a surprise as in a number of votes in Belgium and abroad the big favourite was Chérine with Gala Dragot in second place. Our poll had a similar result. There were delays and issues in the voting yesterday.
The first statements of the winner
Gustaph couldn’t hide his surprise from the moment the jury announced his scores until, of course, he won. A human moment when he rushed to kiss his husband when the final result was announced. In his statements to VRT immediately after his victory, he said that the final was very controversial as the songs differed a lot from each other and that everything was fluid.
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How do you think Belgium will do at this year’s Eurovision? We look forward to your comments.
Stay tuned to OGAE Greece for all the Belgium at Eurovision 2023 news!
[Source : VRT, Songfestival.be]
