Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2022 - Part Two - The Results!

 Barev! And welcome to part two of the 2022 JESC, where I will be reviewing the interval acts, the voting, and of course, giving my opinions on the winner! I will also be revealing my results, will it change the winner? Will last place no longer be last place? We don't have long to wait! So without further ado, lets begin!

We start by returning to the stage, where Karina and Robin the Robot are waiting in the green room. Robin the robot will vote for all the contestants as they are all friends now, I hate to tell you Robin, but that kind of defeats the object of picking a winner!

Iveta and Garik are on the main stage, and announce that the voting lines have opened! We get our first recap of the night. Who was your favourites? Comment below! I've worked out who gets my twelve points, but deciding who gets 10, 8 & 7 is a bit more difficult!

Iveta now introduces Malena, who is performing her new song "Can't feel anything". It's a bit more uptempo, but still feels like a down tempo sort of song. Does that make sense? I have a suspicion she maybe lip syncing, her mouth doesn't seem to be quite where it needs to be for this sort of fast tempo lyrics. She certainly has a more adult look about her, and even gives us a guitar solo in the middle. While it's a nice song, I would have much preferred to have heard a remixed "Qami Qami". But I suppose you don't get everything you want from life. 

We get another recep now, have you decided who would get your points yet? I think I've managed to organise my top 10!

Iveta is back, and introduces our next interval act, and we have Rosa Linn performing "Snap". While she had a disappointing result in the actual contest in 2022, the song saw a resurgence on TikTok, to become one of the most streamed songs in Eurovision history. Not bad for a song that came 20th! It also became the second Eurovision song to reach a billion streams on Spotify, only behind Duncan Laurence's "Arcade" and reached the top twenty in almost 30 countries. I think it's a prime example of not needing to win the contest in order to have a massive hit. Rosa performs it well, and we have a remixed and re-orchestrated version of the song, which I really appreciate. It's great to hear the song again, but in a new form, to show the growth of the song & performer. 

Iveta announces the vote is about to close, while Garik is frantically casting his votes. He's left it a bit late! There's like a weird discussion about who gets to open an envelope, which again I think was supposed to be funny, but it didn't land. We then get an awkward moment while we wait for the ten second countdown to start, and there we have it. That's the voting lines closed. 

Karina is in the greenroom chatting with the entrants from Portugal, France and Spain. Portugal's chappie says he loves his song, France's says he loves the people and food, and Spain's Carlos tells us he loved to dance with his brother when he was little. I mean come on kid, you are still little! Karina then says she wants a dance off, and in a very awkward encounter, where the music is late, she tries to sing along and it just falls apart. This whole contest has not felt rehearsed enough. Something which shows again as Karina is interviewing Malena. I think the 2021 contest hosting was so slick and polished, but our hosts tonight just haven't really gelled with each other or the show. Malena announces she is now a UNICEF ambassador in Armenia, and wants to empower children to have their say on climate change. That's good, that something that I think so many children nowadays learn about climate change and global warming, but feel like as children, they are not able to influence our governments and direct action to change things. That sounds like a very positive action.

Now, this is of course the 20th edition of JESC, and in true Eurovision style, the contest has arranged for several previous winners to return and perform their winning songs again. How many do you remember? I didn't remember Robin the robot who is now wearing a hat winning the contest. 

We have this fantastic children's choir, who give us snippets of each of the winning songs in chronological order. Our first winners to perform is Bzebiki for Georgia, with the irritating "Bzzz", followed by Ralf Mackenbach for the Netherlands, then Vladamir Arzumanyan for Armenia, Candy for Georgia, Gaia Cauchi for Malta, Vicenzo Cantiello for Italy, Destiny Chukunyere for Malta, Mariam Mamadashvilli for Georgia, Viki Gabor for Poland (still wearing that acid yellow colour), Valentina from France, and finally, Malena from Armenia, the reason we are here today. It's such a catchy song, and has really grown on me. 

It's a fast but fun act. And it really shows you the change in the winners over the years, some of the early ones being songs you would traditionally associate with JESC, while some of the recent ones could be entries from the main contest itself. Also worth a note, of the JESC winners, both The Tolmachevy Twins & Destiny have both come seventh in the main contest. Will we one day see our first winner of both contests?

Karina then speaks to our Executive Supervisor Mr Martin Österdahl (although she butchers his name in the process). It's Martin's first time in Armenia, who like the script, compliments the Armenian hospitality, and reveals votes came from 178 countries across the world. Iveta has gotten changed into a Malena inspired outfit which is marginally better than the previous one. Garik announces we will start the jury votes.

As always, I won't bore you with every detail, just the highlights. The Netherlands gives the first twelve points of the evening to France. The UK also scores 6, which I'm very happy with. Like with every contest, people are struggling with the envelopes, although I think Viki's nails were the problem on this occasion. The UK is picking up the votes, I'm so pleased! It's nice to do well once in a while! The Irish girl presenting the votes could not be any more Irish! But Ireland gives their twelve points to France, not us, which hurts me to write! Especially as we gave them 7! Our twelve points go to Spain, who seem to be lagging behind further than I expected. Ukraine gives the final twelve points to the UK, and I'm thrilled. What a great way to return to the contest. 

But of course, the jury votes are just half of the score. And we currently have France in the lead with 132, Georgia in second with 114, and Armenia closely behind with 110.  I think France is developing the edge here. I can't see Georgia doing well in the televote. It's going to be between France & Armenia. Is France about to nab their second victory? Or will Armenia do a Poland, and a win on home turf? Ooh this is exciting!

There's no messing around, we dive straight into the televote, where currently last place Kazakhstan gains 42 points. He's not happy with the result though! Serbia scores a lowly 51 points, followed by Italy & Poland with 53 apiece. So far no one is coming close to the top. Portugal comes close, but not quite. Same with the Netherlands. Spain edges closely into the lead, but it's not going to be enough. The UK is up next, and I've got my fingers crossed for a good score. And we receive...80 points, and again, briefly take the lead. What a great score though of 146. We are overtaken by Ireland, going into first place with 150. Host's Armenia gain a respectable 70 points, putting them into the lead. Jury runner up Georgia score 47 points, which I expected. But now it's between Armenia & France, with France needing only 49 points to take the trophy. Deep breaths everyone! Our hosts announce that France have scored 71 points, and send them flying into the lead with 203, 23 points more than runner ups Armenia.

Lissandro and the French delegation are celebrating while heading to the main stage. All in all, I think the voting was really good, and I'm so pleased the UK, returning after sixteen years with a great song came 5th. Overall, the rest of the scores were about right, this is France's second win, after winning in 2020. It also saw the best results for Ireland in the contest, as well as Kazakhstan's worst result.

I think while the concept of the show was really good, the execution was lacking. I felt there needed to be a few more rehearsals, and there felt a lack of attention to detail at times. That said, I enjoyed, just like I do every year! And while Lissandro performs his winning song "Oh Mamman!" and the credits roll, I'm very happy to announce my own results!

We begin with:

1 point is for Ireland

2 points are for Italy

3 points are for Ukraine

4 Points are for Albania

5 Points are for Poland

6 Points are for France

7 Points are for The United Kingdom

8 Points are for Spain

10 Points are for Serbia

and my twelve points go to...Armenia! 

What does that do to our scoreboard I hear you ask! Well, thanks to Google Docs, I can show you! 

As you can see, The UK & Serbia both gained places, and Ireland, Poland and Italy all going down the leaderboard, but our top 3 stay the same. It's also worth noting that this is Malta's third time coming in last place, although I suppose it is offset by two wins!

I just want to say thank you very much for reading my posts and the blog, and I hope you enjoy them. If you're not a Eurovision fan don't worry, normal programming will commence next post!