Escbetting Song Reviews Reviewed

Yes that title is not a typo, we are going down the wormhole today having a look at this year's new super scientific scoring system and seeing where the entries stack up. I'll also be highlighting any - hopefully not many - cases where my opinion has changed. Consider this a mini lead in for a proper preview to come soon.

Overall Rating (Out of 100)

Sweden 95

Austria 86

France 85

Belgium 82

Israel 79

Finland 78

Estonia 76

Australia 74

Italy 73

Malta 72

Lithuania 71

Albania 68

Greece 67

Luxembourg 65

Poland 65

Ukraine 63

Ireland 60

Netherlands 59

Switzerland 59

Cyprus 58

Czechia 56

Serbia 55

Germany 54

San Marino 50

Slovenia 49

Norway 48

Armenia 48

Azerbaijan 47

UK 46

Iceland 45

Denmark 44

Montenegro 42

Portugal 35

Croatia 28

Spain 26

Latvia 25

Georgia 15

Overall Rating Minus Personal (Out of 80)

Sweden 75

Austria 72

France 69

Israel 68

Belgium 67

Finland 65

Australia 62

Italy 61

Estonia 59

Malta 59

Lithuania 55

Ukraine 55

Luxembourg 55

Greece 51

Switzerland 51

Poland 50

Albania 50

Netherlands 48

Ireland 47

Cyprus 43

Czechia 43

Germany 42

Serbia 41

Norway 40

Armenia 39

Slovenia 37

UK 35

Iceland 35

San Marino 34

Azerbaijan 32

Denmark 30

Portugal 28

Montenegro 28

Croatia 28

Spain 24

Latvia 23

Georgia 14

I won’t bother breaking down televote and jury individually but the former is led by Sweden (20/20), then Estonia (19/20) and a big group a little further back (which I still agree with roughly). Jury Potential alone is led jointly by France and Austria (19/20) with Italy and Belgium just behind (18/20).

What's Right and what’s wrong

So some quick observations: Belgium has aged really badly since selection and is the most over ranked here. I think two other novelty-ish entries from Australia and Ireland have also started to look more and more irrelevant and also overplaced: they don't look like getting near the televote I might have previously guessed. Finland outscoring Estonia both times overall is not representative of my thoughts either in what will be one of the more speculated on h2hs.

The Netherlands could do with a 10-12pt boost to land closer to a realistic outcome (4th-8th) given a lack of jury options and it going down better than expected. In fact I'd also adjust the other Benelux entry too in Luxembourg looking more precarious so that's all three from that region whose first reviews look off. Ukraine is worthy of a boost when looking at everything in full also.

I'll touch more on some of my thoughts in the next days but also want to remind if there's discrepancy its often because I'm ranking on potential and these ratings aren't to be taken too seriously - not like anyone was anyhow. Track Record is of course another variable in here and whilst I do think that holds merit, particularly at this stage pre-rehearsals in judging who is likely to bring a good staging and where diaspora lies etc, it can easily be turned upside down by finals night.