Eurovision 2024: super-late Grand Final performance reviews: top half
Well it's been a while. In fact, more time has passed since Eurovision 2024 than there is time left until Eurovision 2025. And at the time of writing we've already found out about the first confirmed entrant and song for 2025 and then subsequently witnessed the performers withdrawing from the contest! It was a band from Montenegro called NeonoeN with their song "Clickbait", which it turns out would have likely fallen foul of the "no release before 1 September" rule. This seems quite harsh given that similar situations have previously been overlooked for other countries - I only have to think back to Ladaniva's early live performance of a version of "Jako" to see that the posting date for that pre-dates the September 2023 deadline ahead of 2024's contest, but they were allowed to perform with no apparent controversy. Yes, the Eurovision 2025 drama has started already!
Anyhow, my urge for completeness means I'm going to finish off my 2024 Grand Final reviews. I'll use the same
scoring system as ever (see * below) and because I've previously reviewed
the studio versions of these songs I'll continue to focus on the live
performance from Grand Final night. Home straight, here we come!:
2024 Grand Final: the top half
(13) Luxembourg: Tali - "Fighter" ★😮😮😮
Tali gave a very competent delivery of this not-very-memorable but nevertheless pleasant song. I was reassuringly surprised by the couple of wordless belted-out lines she sang really strongly towards the end, which pushed me over into 3 singy-faces territory. Once more though, the backing vocals issue comes into play: I had to re-listen to that bit multiple times to be confident that yes, Tali was singing the wordless lines live. I also really appreciated the re-orchestration that was done on this song between first release and the competition itself. In particular I loved the addition of the sliding synth sounds that introduce the chorus, building excitement much more effectively. Nice work Luxembourg, a good effort with which to end your long Eurovision absence.(12) Germany: Isaak - "Always on the Run" ★😮😮
To quote my original review, this is still a "plain mid-tempo pop tune with no massive stand-out stylistic features", but "Germany probably doesn't deserve to come last again this year". Well, Germany managed to finish in the top half in 2024, which is frankly brilliant given their recent Eurovision results.
I thought Isaak's performance was competent, but a couple of issues kept my score down at 2 singy-faces. Firstly, there were a couple of moments where he edged a tiny bit sharp - nothing disastrous like some other acts but enough for me to think he hadn't mastered the delivery. In addition, I thought his phrasing was choppy, as he breathed at some awkward points mid-phrase and I didn't feel like he had the breath support overall that I'd have liked. Nevertheless, competently done, and well-received.
(11) Greece: Marina Satti - "Zari" ("Ζάρι")★★★😮
Firstly, an update: the reed instrument I mentioned in my earlier review was referred to by Marina herself as a Zurna, not a Karamuza as I'd originally speculated. (I'd guessed the Greek word for a very similar instrument, knowing how sensitive Greeks and Turks are about mixing up elements of each other's cultures!).
Thankfully Marina's performance was improved from the Semi Final: no random waving around of the microphone and slightly more accurate high notes. But overall this performance still failed to deliver live in comparison to the studio recording. A lot of this was to do with the still questionable accuracy of the lead vocals, and so I can only really score 1 singy-face. This belongs in the same club as Estonia's entry for having such a wide gap between recorded and live versions. Such a shame, because I think what Marina is doing overall (fusing pop and folk) is fantastic and deserved a better representation on the Eurovision stage.
(10) Portugal: Iolanda - "Grito" ★😮😮😮
Very well delivered by Iolanda, this song undoubtedly wins my personal prize for Best Ballad in the 2024 contest. The a cappella bits
that begin and end the song were very tasteful, especially the final
one which immediately follows the great cry that forms the climax of the
composition.
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(9) Sweden: Marcus & Martinus - "Unforgettable" ★😮
Not bad. OK. Acceptable. Adequate. I don't think I can really go further than that. This was a perfectly solid pop performance, but the vocals were nothing special and mostly got swallowed up in the backing vocals and the playback track overall (seriously, this whole backing track vocals thing is getting silly now). I'm honestly a bit surprised this broke the top 10.(8) Armenia: Ladaniva - "Jako" ★★★★😮😮😮😮
This was an excellent showing from my New Favourite Band. Jaklin's voice was on top form and the staging was simple but effective. I know almost everyone on stage was miming, but the whole band still brought plenty of visual energy to the performance, and the party atmosphere was there throughout just as I predicted.
This example of Eurovision perfection merits a perfect score: 4 stars and 4 singy-faces. Obviously I wanted Ladaniva to win, but 8th is a real achievement. I've since been to hear Ladaniva perform live, and all I can say is: if you too get the chance to hear them in person, do not pass up the opportunity. They are all amazing live musicians who've made my life a little bit better, and I wouldn't have even heard of them if it weren't for Eurovision.
(7) Italy: Angelina Mango - "La noia" ★★★😮😮😮😮
As expected, Angelina's consistency in vocal performance carried over to the Grand Final, and this was a flawless execution. I also appreciated that not everything was exactly the same as previous performances or the recorded version: Angelina sang a tasteful trill (probably technically a mordent if we're being classical about it) on the "mia" of "dress-code per la mia festa" the final time it came around. Stylish and controlled, in some ways I still think Angelina "should" have won, though maybe I'm just struggling to let go of my pre-contest predictions. What I'm absolutely certain about though is that this performance would have been a very worthy winner if the votes had gone a different way, and that 7th is another very respectable result for Italy.(6) Ireland: Bambie Thug - "Doomsday Blue"★★😮😮
I already congratulated Ireland on sending a non-boring composition, and further congratulations are deserved for conceiving of, and executing, such fantastic staging in order to show it off. I wasn't absolutely bowled over by Bambie Thug's lead vocals overall, which came across as a little weak and under-supported at parts, leading to just a hint of sharpness too. But there were certainly no disasters, and the extensive spoken and screamed sections were very serviceable too.
This performance will quite rightly be remembered for its staging. I was a little puzzled by the "think of the children" brigade online who thought the concept was inappropriately scary overall. As long as it's clear it's a stage performance, I fail to see the problem, as there was nothing here you wouldn't have got from retelling a Grimm fairy tale. I did wonder though whether it wasn't counter-productive to pick the flag of a real-world cause (the baby pink and baby blue of the trans flag) and associate it with such a purposely witchy and satanic artistic concept. Also the message "love will always triumph hate" feels significantly undermined by being shouted quite aggressively at the end of the performance (not to mention it's missing a preposition).
Nevertheless, this was a great show. The best moment for me was the very end where the choreography made it look like Bambie was using telekinetic powers to move the victim from side to side, up then down... all the while producing a piercing scream worthy of a true metal vocalist. Please, Ireland: never forget how well this act succeeded and never, ever go back to boredom.
(5) Israel: Eden Golan - "Hurricane"😮😮
It's impossible to discuss this result properly without touching on politics, so I'm not going to artifically avoid it. I made a very poor initial assumption that Israel's current involvement in conflict in Gaza would depress the number of votes for this song, which in retrospect was classic "Eurovision bubble" thinking: I took my cues mainly from people who are already online discussing Eurovision aherad of the contest, and I don't think it's an unfair generalisation to say that this group of people has an overall tendency to oppose Israel's actions.
I think perhaps lots of the Eurovision commentariat (and I include myself here) simply underestimated how big of a solidarity vote Israel would get from the public. Closer to the Grand Final, and certainly after Israel had qualified from Semi-Final 2, I realised I knew nothing and wondered out loud what might happen. Interestingly to me though, given the over-wrought panic from some quarters about the apparently terrifying possibility of an Israeli win, Eden Golan finished lower than Noa Kirel's 3rd place in 2023. In addition, though Eden's point total of 375 beat Noa's 2023 total of 362 points, this only amounts to a 3.6% increase, and was heavily reliant on public votes. While Noa Kirel had a 51:49 public to jury ratio, Eden Golan's was 86:14. So to summarise, there was large public support for Israel's entry, which was nowhere near matched by the jury scores, and hence Israel's ranking was high but not enough to challenge for the top spot.
Now, you might well have guessed by now that I think this low jury score was well-deserved on account of the musical material being so fundamentally dull. This song remained, to my mind, the weakest of all the ballads this year and was only saved from total forgettableness by the striking opening synth sounds. To return to the actual performance, it was very competently delivered. There were hints of breathiness to start the verses that I didn't particular like, especially since the notes were very low, possibly uncomfortably low for Eden's range. Eden's wordless descant lines towards the end also edged a tiny bit flat in places: nothing catastrophic, but enough to limit me to awarding 2 singy-faces. There's no way this performance deserved to place so high, but it was overall a competent job.
(4) France: Slimane - "Mon amour"😮😮😮😮
Still a terrible song, at least to my taste, but fantastically performed by Slimane here. The backing-away-from-the-mic trick at the climax of the song borders on cheesy but it was effective, and frankly something like that was necessary to liven up such a plain composition. I suppose the intention is some combination of projecting technical power and confidence ("why do I need to be close to the mic when my voice is *this* good, right?!") and also giving a feel of emptiness and loss: the vocal sounds distant despite being so powerfully delivered, and the backing track drops out here too. There's plenty of contrast in the vocals too, not just in terms of volume, but in style: the light, floated delivery of the first chorus sounds like a different person to the bold vibrato at the climax of the piece. Like Marco Mengoni in 2023, Slimane was working with a total dud of a composition but pulled out an exquisite performance which I have to give him credit for.
(3) Ukraine: Alyona Alyona & Jerry Heil - "Teresa & Maria" ★★😮😮
As I remarked earlier, "I will eat my corduroy flat cap if
it doesn't qualify for the Grand Final and do well there", and here we have it: a 3rd place finish for Ukraine. The song itself remains solidly good, without having much variety. Adequately delivered vocals, both spoken and sung, plus decent staging, choreography and visuals, added to the continuing public sympathy for Ukraine's military defence against Russia, which in turn meant that this act was always going to be amongst the leaders. Being bluntly critical, I don't think it derserved a placing as high as 3rd, but it was a really solid performance. Another great turnout from Ukraine.
(2) Croatia: Baby Lasagna - "Rim Tim Tagi Dim" ★★😮😮
Well I still don't quite get why this song was so wildly popular but it *is* good and I'm pleased it placed so highly. Like Finland's Käärijä the year before, Marko Purišić didn't bring a beautiful and virtuosic voice to the stage like some other contestants. But that's not the game he was playing with this song, and his vocal delivery absolutely got the job done in the intended style: a mixture of monotonic patter during the verses and a gravelly cry during the choruses.
One staging trick was particularly canny: knowing that all audience members had been given glow-in-the-dark wristbands as entry passes, the Croatian delegation associated a simple dance move with the song: pumping one bent arm up and down. The TV cameras panned across the darkness of the auditorium to show a co-ordinated sea of lights pulsing up and down in time to the song. Not just visually striking, but indicative of popular enthusiasm, potentially helping the televote scores as undecided viewers got a sense that *this* act was a feasible winner that they could get behind.
I will also be the eleventieth person to remark on the fact that Marko was a last-minute replacement entrant to Croatia's national final, following a drop-out. That the eventual almost-winner of Eurovision 2024 wasn't even selected for his country's national final should hopefully provoke some thought in other participating countries. Trying too hard to write songs that please everyone actually seems to be turning into a very poor strategy (Denmark this year and Ireland 2023 immediately spring to mind). More of this sort of thing, please, Croatia (and everyone else!)
(1) Switzerland: Nemo - "The Code" ★★😮😮😮😮
Whilst recognising that Nemo identifies as non-binary, I have to risk causing offence in order to comment properly on what must objectively be the most startling aspect of this vocal delivery. Namely: Nemo, with male physiology and therefore a male voice, hits several notes at C6 pitch and plenty more almost as high as that. C6 is a note two octaves above middle C, so high that a female voice capable of reaching that pitch would typically be considered a high Soprano. This is spectacularly impressive, especially when you consider how consistently well controlled Nemo has been when performing The Code throughout the run-up to the ESC and during the contest itself. My initial worries about potentially awful backing track vocals were vapourised once I'd heard Nemo sing at one of the pre-party events, and from then on I knew Switzerland were in contention for a win.
This was a stunning performance of an interesting and dynamic composition, and while I would have preferred my own favourites to win, Nemo is a very worthy winner, with an excellent winning song.
Final predictions round-up: 60% correct
So with everything considered, here's how my predictions turned out:
- Italy's Angelina Mango to win ❌
- Switzerland's Nemo to be the main challenger ✅
- Rest of the Top 10 to include:
- Finland ❌
- Netherlands ❌
- Croatia ✅
- Norway ❌
- Armenia ✅
- Grand final qualifiers that won't make the Top 10 to include:
- Estonia ✅
- Greece ✅
- Entrants who don't qualify for the Grand Final to be:
- Cyprus ❌
- Poland ✅
- Azerbaijan ✅
- Iceland ✅
- Moldova ✅
- Albania ✅
- San Marino ✅
- Malta ✅
- Georgia ❌
- Israel ❌
- Latvia ❌
==
* My scoring system in 2 parts: first for the song composition itself, incorporating the studio recording:
no stars = if I had control of the playlist I would turn it off or skip
★ wouldn't skip if it came up on shuffle
★★ on my "2024 Eurovision Favourites" playlist on Spotify
★★★ spent my own money getting a digital download; gone digging around their back catalogue for more stuff
★★★★ bought their entire back catalogue; checking out tour dates
Next, vocal performance on the night (just the vocals because everything else is recorded and played back):
No faces = out of tune or poor tone, either on average, or with a small number of mistakes so glaring the song is ruined
😮 Good enough to execute the song competently on the night without drawing attention to any mistakes that did occur.
😮😮Control and artistry was demonstrated, but not for the whole song.
😮😮😮Consistent control and artistic judgement throughout.
😮😮😮😮In control and musically well-judged, with genuinely impressive stand-out moments.
