Lake Ismo Puljujärvi
Bulgaria’s Eurovision win is the best thing that has happened to Eurovision in a long time, writes Iltalehti editor Ismo Puljujärvi.
Bulgaria’s Dara won Eurovision with the song Bangaranga. INKA SOVERI
The Eurovision final ended unexpectedly with the victory of Bulgaria. Representing the country, Dara charmed Europe Bangarangawith his song.
Bulgaria’s victory is the best thing that has happened to Eurovision in a long time.
In the previous two years, viewers have felt that the jury’s influence has been too great in choosing the winner.
Let’s take a few examples.
Last year’s winner, Austria’s JJ, was only in 4th place in the telephone votes, but won the council votes. Switzerland’s Nemo, who won in 2024, collected a huge amount of judges’ points, but was only in 5th place in the public votes.
This year the situation was completely different. Dara overwhelmingly won both the council and public votes. You can’t stop chewing on the result, how the victory came out “only” with the help of telephone voters or judges.
A hit item
What connects the following paragraphs: Fairy tale, Waterloooh and Euphoria?
In addition to the fact that they are all top five winners, the songs have also remained alive in the hearts of the audience. One of the most essential things about the five-way winner is whether you can sing along to the song.
Nemo and JJ’s winning songs are good, but not so commercially attractive. The songs that combine opera and pop have been impressive on the stage, but it is difficult to perform them in karaoke. However, it is important for Eurovision that the winners are still remembered decades later. That’s ultimately what the whole phenomenon is about.
Bangaranga is a go-to electronic dance pop song that will surely be remembered years from now. Five-winner is suitable for radio charts, but also works excellently on Tiktok. It’s not necessarily an easy song to sing, but it’s easy for everyone to join in on the catchy chorus.
Misleading punters
Finland was the pre-favorite for the five-way winner in the betting statistics throughout the spring. Unfortunately, the bettors’ faith did not turn into real votes in the competition itself, and Finland finished sixth in the final.
What do we learn from this?
Betting statistics should be treated more critically. Of course, it must be admitted that in recent years, the winner has been found among the best of bettors.
The signatory believed in Finland’s chances of winning even after the judges’ points, because the differences were still quite small at this point. Confidence was awakened by the attention received by Linda Lampenius and Pete Parkkonen in the international press. Foreign fan media also considered Finland to be the clear winner.
Bulgaria was indeed the dark horse of the competition. The country was not at the top among bettors or fans. The rise only happened on Saturday, a little before the final.
The voting was a real thriller for a long time, as the taste of the judges varied greatly in different countries. This kind of excitement is the best TV entertainment that a phenomenon like Eurovision needs.
Vaisu success
If we Finns have been saddened by the poor success over the years, the situation in Bulgaria is even bleaker.
The country has participated in the song contest 15 times, of which the final place has been removed only 6 times. Sometimes the country has had to withdraw from the competition due to economic difficulties.
We Finns know very well what it’s like to compete in Eurovision year after year without success. Because of this, it is difficult to be sad about Finland’s defeat, when the victory was taken by a country that has not been able to enjoy the same joy before.
Videos of celebrating Bulgarians have made people smile, because the joy has been genuine and immediate. There has been political turbulence in the country in recent years, so a visa victory will certainly be good for the nation.
