Eurovision Song Contest 2022: Organisers respond to vote scandal; Kalush Orchestra takes title for Stefania
Eurovision Song Contest organisers have addressed a voting controversy after the winner was crowned.
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Eurovision Song Contest organisers have issued a statement following calls to introduce a ban on national juries and scrap the jury vote altogether.
Saturday night’s event saw Ukraine’s Kalush Orchestra win the 2022 Eurovision with a massive fan vote in support of the country as they bravely battle against the Russian invasion.
Their song Stefania, which has been adopted as a symbolic anthem of resilience and strength as they continue to defy Vladimir Putin’s attempts to overtake their country, received the highest fan vote after polling fourth in the jury scores.
However, shortly after the win Eurovision bosses admitted “certain irregular voting patterns” had been spotted in the results of six countries.
In response, votes from Azerbaijan, Georgia, Montenegro, Poland, Romania and San Marino were all replaced by aggregate scores.
Acknowledging the controversy, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) issued a full statement.
“In the analysis of jury voting by the European Broadcasting Union’s (EBU) pan-European voting partner after the Second Dress Rehearsal of the Second Semi-Final of the 2022 Eurovision Song Contest, certain irregular voting patterns were identified in the results of six countries,” the EBU said.
“In order to comply with the Contest’s Voting Instructions, the EBU worked with its voting partner to calculate a substitute aggregated result for each country concerned for both the Second-Semi Final and the Grand Final (calculated based on the results of other countries with similar voting records). This process was acknowledged by the Independent Voting Monitor.
“The EBU takes any suspected attempts to manipulate the voting at the Eurovision Song Contest extremely seriously and has the right to remove such votes in accordance with the Official Voting Instructions, irrespective of whether or not such votes are likely to influence the results and/or outcome of the voting.”
Viewers had called for jury votes to be scrapped as they slammed this year‘s “baffling” scores.
It comes as the hip hop folk outfit had to receive special permission to leave Ukraine to represent their country as they fight against the incursion of Russian forces.
“Thank you so much, thank you supporting Ukraine,” rapper Oleh Psiuk said.
“This victory is for all Ukrainians.”
Australia’s Sheldon Riley polled well with the juries of the 40 countries who competed this year, finishing ninth but did not receive the backing of fans and finished 15th when the final votes were combined.
Riley delivered the most emotional and vocally powerful performance of his two-week campaign to the final.
The 23-year-old singer and songwriter poured every bit of heart and talent into his final rendition of Not The Same, the song he penned about his struggles navigating life as a neuro-divergent child and then as a gay teenager.
Realising his dream to compete at Eurovision, sparked by the historic win of Conchita Wurst in 2014, Riley was clearly overwhelmed by the effort and the occasion, his voice cracking with emotion as he thanked the cheering audience.
In one of this year’s biggest shocks, the UK — which has come last in the contest for two years running — could go from zero to hero in 2022 thanks to TikTok star Sam Ryder and his song Space Man.
While that black and silver embroidered suit borders on the ridiculous, his vocal and the stellar pop song could just steal the crown.
Poland’s Ochman possesses one of the voices to beat in 2022 and his song River has many of the delegation members backstage speculating that Eurovision 2023 could land in Warsaw.
MEGHAN MARKLE GETS EUROVISION SHOUT OUT
Another of the weird but wonderful art pieces in this year’s competition belongs to the hand-washing Konstrakta whose song In Corpore Sano opens with a lyric wondering how Meghan Markle keeps her hair healthy.
Apparently the Serbian media have been cracking jokes that should they win this year, Australia could suffer some border problems as payback for the Novak Djokovic vax visa fiasco earlier this year.
The final performance of the 2022 final belonged to Estonia’s handsome guitar-strumming, stunt-jumping singer Stefan and his spaghetti western pop tune Hope.
SPAIN’S CHANEL SENDS FANS WILD
Spain has electrified fans at the 2022 Eurovision Song Contest with a performance from singer Chanel that has made her a dark horse contender for the title.
One of the Big Five – along with Italy, France, UK and Germany – Spain didn’t have to perform in the semis.
The crowd went nuts for Chanel’s performance so she should score a big fan vote.
BELGIUM HITS WRONG NOTE, GREECE STUNS
There is nothing more maddening at Eurovision than hearing an artist saddled with a song that just doesn’t suit their voice and Belgium’s Jeremie Makiese got saddled with a lemon. Those pitchy high notes in the chorus will have you pulling the sour face.
Unlike Greece’s Amanda Georgiadi Tenfjord who gave big Lorde energy with her sublime performance of Die Together and its obligatory power note at its climax.
The three sisters of Systur – the brother is the drummer – have been coined the Icelandic Dixie Chicks. And that’s all you can really say about this innocuous folk song.
Moldova’s Zdob şi Zdub & Advahov Brothers inspired a conga line around the press centre with their infectious The Ramones meets hoedown song Trenulețul.
UKRAINE ALWAYS THE FIRM FAVOURITE
The angelic-voiced Dutch contestant S10 had everyone at Turin’s Pala Alpitour arena swooning with the “ooh ahh” hook of her song De Diepte; but 2022 is unlikely to be the year a mid-tempo ballad is going to win.
Unlike perhaps the strongest song of the competition, Stefania from Ukraine’s Kalush Orchestra who have been frontrunners since the 40 countries in the running in 2022 arrived in Turin for rehearsals.
And it’s not just about supporting the country fighting for its survival against the Russian invasion; the innovative hip hop meets Ukrainian folk song and the dynamic staging and brilliant costumes – plus freakishly good breakdancing, deserve the votes.
NORWAY’S SUBWOOLFER THRILL FANS, GERMANY’S BRAIN FADE
Germany’s handsome pop star Malik Harris had a bit of a brain fade with his lyrics early in his performance but recovered well with a song called Rockstars because the world needs more songs called Rockstars.
Lithuania’s Monika Liu has one of the sexiest voices in the 2022 line-up and literally shimmers on stage but her jazz-flecked pop song Sentimentai isn’t going to light up the voting lines.
Neither will Azerbaijan’s Nadir Rustamli with his rather unremarkable, desperate to be a power ballad song Fade To Black which had plenty of pundits asking WTF when it made it through to the final.
Norway’s Subwoolfer thrilled fans with their insane Give That Wolf A Banana.
It doesn’t get more Eurovision than dancing Norwegian aliens singing “Before that wolf eats my grandma, give that wolf a banana”.
Italy’s Mahmood & Blanco got a huge roar for their version of Brividi.
The reception for the hometown heroes was ear-splitting, and the song was one of the standouts of the slower show-ish tunes winning hearts around the world for its message of masculine vulnerability.
France’s Alvan & Ahez took to the stage to perform Fulenn, the folk EDM song inspired by a Breton fairytale about a young woman who loves to dance and gets shoved in a tower by her family.
Apparently the story doesn’t well; along with France’s chances of winning in 2022.
The 2022 Eurovision Song Contest kicked off with an epic performance from the Czech Republic.
We Are Domi’s version of Lights Off was the perfect show-opener, a slice of pumped EDM pop with a touch of 90s attitude.
Next up was Romania’s WRS performing Llámame, the first big choreography number for the 2022 competition.
The song brought a flamenco flavour both in sound and its red and colour scheme. The costume reveal and equal opportunity dance flirting has plenty of fans in the crowd.
Portugal has raised eyebrows with MARO’s version of Saudade, Saudade.
If Eurovision was doing the acoustic cafe sessions, this one might have a shot but the singing in a circle staging doesn’t work, with the cameras showing more backs than faces.
Next up was Finland’s The Rasmus with a performance of Jezebel.
Millennial Triple J listeners might remember this band for their 2003 altrock hit In The Shadows. The frontman is giving some chaotic Jack Black energy and while the chorus is rocking, the song struggles to keep that energy up through the verses.
Switzerland’s Marius Bear had many Boys Do Cry pundits scratching their heads as to how this low key number, which has divided fans, made the cut.
Jury versus fan, the battle for the 2022 Eurovision Song Contest is shaping up to be a competition for the heart vote.
While the juries of the 25 countries in the grand final were weighing up the merits of the songs and performances – and their voting bloc allegiances – Eurovision’s legion of diehards were far more passionate about casting their votes.
Ukraine’s Kalush Orchestra and their quality rap meets folk song Stefania were firm favourites from start of the 2022 contest and attracted a powerful protest vote against Russia’s ongoing invasion of the country.
After their dynamic performance at the “dress rehearsal” of the final, not televised but watched by the juries around the world, the crowd leapt to their feet with an emotionally-charged ovation.
But that jury show also saw Spain’s representative Chanel throw down with her J Lo-channelling, sexy pop hit-in-waiting SloMo.
Regardless of his result, Riley will never forget his Eurovision experience for what happened three hours before the final kicked off when he met his idol Conchita Wurst.
The Austrian singer’s win in 2014 inspired the then 15-year-old singer to pursue his dream of one day representing Australia at the contest.
Riley was shocked when Wurst surprised him in the press centre, tapping him on the shoulder and then embracing him as the Australian artist barely contained his shock and then tears as he paid tribute to his idol.
“This is crazy; you are the reason why I am here,” Riley said as the emotion overwhelmed him.
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