2015 Eurovision Song Contest

[Flip]

The Eurovision Song Contest is an annual song competition held among the members of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which will be held in Vienna, Austria on 19, 21 and 23 May this year. It will be the 60th edition of the contest. 

Participating countries in 2015:

Purple countries: confirmed countries. Green countries: confirmed countries that already have selected their performer and/or song.
Yellow countries: Countries that participated in the past but will not this year. Grey countries: have never participated in the ESC. 

Every country has to perform in one of the two semi finals and gain enough votes, to perform in the grand final. Only Austria (host), France, Germany, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom, and since this year Australia will go straight to the grand final, simply because they pay a lot of money.

On February 10th, this weird news came out...

Australia to compete in the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest

Geneva, Switzerland - Yes, you read that right! After a prominent place in the interval act of last year’s Eurovision Song Contest, Australia will compete in the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest, to take place on 19, 21 and 23rd of May in Vienna, Austria. Just for once, and for many good reasons!
This year, the Eurovision Song Contest celebrates its 60th anniversary. To give the anniversary celebrations an extra dimension and to walk the talk on this year’s theme Building Bridges, the EBU and host broadcaster ORF invited Australia to compete in the Grand Final of the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest. This brings the total amount of represented countries to 40.

So this year will be a Europe + Israeli (Asia) + Australian song contest.

Official performances schedule:

Semi-final 1 (May 19th)

1. Moldova | Eduard Romanyuta - I Want Your Love
2. Armenia | Genealogy - Face the Shadow
3. Belgium | Loïc Nottet - Rhythm Inside
4. Netherlands | Trijntje Oosterhuis - Walk Along
5. Finland | Pertti Kurikan Nimipäivät - Aina mun pitää
6. Greece | Maria Elena Kyriakou - One Last Breath
7. Estonia | Elina Born & Stig Rästa - Goodbye to Yesterday
8. Macedonia | Daniel Kajmakoski - Autumn Leaves
9. Serbia | Bojana Stamenov - Beauty Never Lies
10. Hungary | Boggie - Wars for Nothing
11. Belarus | Uzari & Maimuna - Time
12. Russia | Polina Gagarina - A Million Voices
13. Denmark | Anti Social Media - The Way You Are
14. Albania | Elhaida Dani - I'm Alive
15. Romania | Voltaj - De la capăt (All over Again)
16. Georgia | Nina Sublatti - Warrior

Semi-final 2 (May 21th)

1. Lithuania | Monika Linkytė & Vaidas Baumila - This Time
2. Ireland | Molly Sterling - Playing with Numbers
3. San Marino | Michele Perniola & Anita Simoncini - Chain of Lights
4. Montenegro | Knez - Adio
5. Malta | Amber - Warrior
6. Norway | Mørland & Debrah Scarlett - A Monster Like Me
7. Portugal | Leonor Andrade - Há um mar que nos separa
8. Czech Rep. | Marta Jandova - Václav Noid Bárta - Hope Never Dies
9. Israel | Nadav Guedj - Golden Boy
10. Lativa | Aminata - Love Injected
11. Azerbaijan | Elnur Hüseynov - Hour of the Wolf
12. Iceland | María Ólafs - Unbroken
13. Sweden | Måns Zelmerlöw - Heroes
14. Switzerland | Mélanie René - Time to Shine
15. Cyprus | John Karayiannis - One Thing I Should Have Done
16. Slovenia | Maraaya - Here for You
17. Poland | Monika Kuszyńska - In the Name of Love

Finalists (May 23th)

14. Austria | The Makemakers - I Am Yours
TBA. Australia | Guy Sebastian - Tonight Again
TBA. France | Lisa Angell - N'oubliez pas
TBA. Germany | Ann Sophie - Black Smoke
TBA. Italy | Il Volo - Grande amore
TBA. Spain | Endurne - Amanecer
TBA. United Kingdom | Electro Velvet - Still in Love with You

[Flip]

All submissions have been announced!

[Musicguy]

Thanks for the info, Flip!

As usual, I'll refuse to listen to the songs (though I've listened to Edurne's single)... I prefer to listen to them all live for the first time.

[Flip]

Mar 16, 2015 16:42:14 GMT -5 Musicguy said:

Thanks for the info, Flip!

As usual, I'll refuse to listen to the songs (though I've listened to Edurne's single)... I prefer to listen to them all live for the first time.

I have listened to everything already.  my favorites are Sweden and Estonia :)

[Az Paynter]

I'm currently on a listening binge; I've been working my way down the list of semi-finals. My fave so far is Nina Sublati's 'Warrior', that song is immense!

[Musicguy]

I jinx it when I listen to them. Two years ago my favorite was Ryan Dolan's "Only Love Survives" and it came last. :( LOL

[allow that]

Australia will compete in the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest. Just for once, and for many good reasons!

LMAO, whaaaat? What's just ONE good reason then??

[Az Paynter]

One part of it was because it's the 60th anniversary; another is the cult following Eurovision has here. Beyond that, IDK. At least we've got a decent song, IMO, even though I would have preferred someone other than Guy Sebastian as our representative.

[allow that]

Mar 17, 2015 18:38:14 GMT -5 Az Paynter said:

One part of it was because it's the 60th anniversary;

Which is relevant to Australia because... LOL, I just don't see it.

[Az Paynter]

Well tbh I think it's because of the following here that they decided to include us in the 60th anniversary. I've also read that if we win, we are allowed back next year (calling it now - WON'T happen) but we'd have to co-host with another European territory on their turf.

[Relaxing Cup]

lol@ australia participating. next year the USA should participate and send Beyonce.

[skizzo]

So many countries struggle to even get to the final year after year, but Australia who couldnt be further away from Europe is automatically there. Must be lots of payola...

[Rocky]

I hope either Estonia or Iceland wins.

[Flip]

They sould give each country a fair chance and quit the "they pay us, we send them straight to the final"-rule.

[YourFaveIsAFlop]

Mar 17, 2015 19:45:08 GMT -5 Relaxing Cup said:

lol@ australia participating. next year the USA should participate and send Beyonce.

Several years back, somebody tried to get a USA version of Eurovision going, with each state getting to submit 1 act. Obviously never happened though

[Mark]

I was in Iceland last week and they played their entry, "Unbroken," every five seconds on the radio. I'm officially obsessed with it and will riot if they don't win.

[evergreen]

Took a listen to the entries:

Albania ain't playing around this year. (biased, obviously)
Spain is epic!
Macedonia might have my favorite song.
Azerbaijan is pretty neat.
Russia's song is pretty cheesy, but the girl is stunning...so I checked out her other stuff and it's kind of amazing?

 

[Az Paynter]

Albania's entry may well be my favourite of all the songs this year.

[JOJO SIWA DERANGEMENT SYNDROME]

I like Albania's entry too. It's nicely composed and constructed.

[Flip]

Updated OP with the right order of performances!

[surfy]

Mar 19, 2015 8:42:14 GMT -5 YourFaveIsAFlop said:

Mar 17, 2015 19:45:08 GMT -5 Relaxing Cup said:

lol@ australia participating. next year the USA should participate and send Beyonce.

Several years back, somebody tried to get a USA version of Eurovision going, with each state getting to submit 1 act. Obviously never happened though

Carrie Underwood reppin' OK FTW tbh. I would love for that to happen, but ofc it won't :(

Anyways, I'm not familiar with how this contest works, but why are there already finalists if it hasn't even started?

[Mikey]

May 10, 2015 16:18:05 GMT -5 surfy said:

Mar 19, 2015 8:42:14 GMT -5 YourFaveIsAFlop said:

Several years back, somebody tried to get a USA version of Eurovision going, with each state getting to submit 1 act. Obviously never happened though

Carrie Underwood reppin' OK FTW tbh. I would love for that to happen, but ofc it won't :(

Anyways, I'm not familiar with how this contest works, but why are there already finalists if it hasn't even started?

The countries which have paid to the authority will be sent straight to the finals.

[surfy]

May 10, 2015 19:55:47 GMT -5 Mikey said:

May 10, 2015 16:18:05 GMT -5 surfy said:

Carrie Underwood reppin' OK FTW tbh. I would love for that to happen, but ofc it won't :(

Anyways, I'm not familiar with how this contest works, but why are there already finalists if it hasn't even started?

The countries which have paid to the authority will be sent straight to the finals.

Well that's stupid.

[¤ Matthea ¤]

May 10, 2015 20:30:01 GMT -5 surfy said:

May 10, 2015 19:55:47 GMT -5 Mikey said:

The countries which have paid to the authority will be sent straight to the finals.

Well that's stupid.

Well, it's not really stupid.

The BIG 5 (UK, France, Germany, Spain, Italy) make Eurovision possible because they pay so much money. It's just unfortunate that a lot of the time they don't bother selecting a good entry. Sweden also contributes a lot to the contest with their advanced production.

The host country also makes sense since they are hosting the country and it would be weird if they weren't in the final.

And this year we also have Australia, which is a special case.


Still there are 20 places up for grabs.

[Flip]

My country is totally gonna suck this year. But oh well... last year, we ended 2nd (For me, it's like 1st, because Conchita won because of the beard, not because of the music).

[carrieidol1]

So I'm confused... how does this work? The finalists have already been announced?

[YourFaveIsAFlop]

May 11, 2015 10:31:03 GMT -5 carrieidol1 said:

So I'm confused... how does this work? The finalists have already been announced?

No.

The Big 5 are automatically in the finals. The host country is automatically in the finals. Australia is automatically in the finals this year as a "special guest"

All of the other countries participating are put into pools and after they perform, they are voted on and the best of each pool goes to the final.

[Flip]

May 11, 2015 10:31:03 GMT -5 carrieidol1 said:

So I'm confused... how does this work? The finalists have already been announced?

All countries start in the semi finals, except the UK, France, Italy, Spain, Germany because they make the contest possible and pay a lot, Austria because it's the host country, and Australia because they support the ESC a lot. - so these 6 countries go straight to the final.

[carrieidol1]

May 11, 2015 10:33:50 GMT -5 Flip said:

May 11, 2015 10:31:03 GMT -5 carrieidol1 said:

So I'm confused... how does this work? The finalists have already been announced?

All countries start in the semi finals, except the UK, France, Italy, Spain, Germany because they make the contest possible and pay a lot, Austria because it's the host country, and Australia because they support the ESC a lot. - so these 6 countries go straight to the final.

Got it! So it's politically and financially driven... lol. Hoping Holland gets the votes, always rooting for them... Even when The Toppers were in it with "Shine" Hahaha!

[Flip]

May 11, 2015 10:37:52 GMT -5 carrieidol1 said:

May 11, 2015 10:33:50 GMT -5 Flip said:

All countries start in the semi finals, except the UK, France, Italy, Spain, Germany because they make the contest possible and pay a lot, Austria because it's the host country, and Australia because they support the ESC a lot. - so these 6 countries go straight to the final.

Got it! So it's politically and financially driven... lol. Hoping Holland gets the votes, always rooting for them... Even when The Toppers were in it with "Shine" Hahaha!

That was just awful.