Building Bridges

Good evening Europe, good evening world,

this is Fall4Me calling.

We have heard these words at least 40 times yesterday during the unforgettable grand final of the world's biggest music show the Eurovision Song Contest which took place for the 60th time in the Austrian capital Vienna under the slogan Building Bridges.

This time Eurovision wrote another history with the highest number of finalists with an amount of 27 countries and Australia as anniversary guest which had its debut in Eurovision on Saturday May 23rd.

I had a full house yesterday with friends and family. A happy surprise was that the weather was sunny for the evening the artists confirmed us during the show that the sun was shining insinde them since everyone was singing even better in the semi-finals. The quality of all finalists was very high and it was the first time that I let myself be surprised for the voting results since too many favorites and potential winners have been in my heart.

It was in fact a big surprise with Sweden winning almost twice in a row after it celebrated a success with Loreen and her song "Euphoria" Måns Zelmerlöw takes the Eurovision Song Contest for the sixth time to Sweden with his song "Heroes" which has been the most popular song according to polls and surveys. No I do not have any doubts any longer that anything is possible in Eurovision. Personally I would wish that the responsible ones arrange the contest next year not in Malmö like they did in 2013 but in Stockholm.

Photo: Telegraph.co.uk

Since in my previous posts you can re-check my impressions of the ones two already participated in the two semi-finals on Tuesday and Thursday and not much has changed I will keep it short and add the impressions of the big five France, United Kingdom, Germany, Spain, Italy, the hosting country Austria and special anniversary guest Australia who had been qualified for the grand final already.

France/Lisa Angell "N'oubliez Pas"/Lisa had a strong and great voice character and excellent mechanism of singing. Her stage made me go goose-pimply. It was bright but touching with the soldiers and ruins which shall remind that mistakes as such from the first world war shall neither be forgotten nor repeated. I loved it very much.

United Kingdom/Electro Velvet "Still In Love With You"/I never thought that the United Kingdom could ever catch my taste and love towards retro funk, jazz and electro like this. A wonderful song, stage and performance from the male-female duo.

Australia/Guy Sebastian "Tonight Again"/A pretty common song which was very well "eurovisionized" to dance and party to it. Guy put on a great performance and was literally shining on the stage.

Austria/The Makemakes "I'm Yours"/Generally I could kill the host of the first German TV ARD Peter Urban for his tasteless and rude comments. But this time I have to agree that this song had nothing original but rather sounded very Jan Delay-like.

Germany/Ann-Sophie "Black Smoke"/The young shining woman Ann-Sophie did not sing bad. Or more exactly said she was one of the best singers yesterday on stage and her song was very cool. She in her quality did not deserve zero points and my personal message to her is to not take it personal. She was never worse than Lena 2010/2011.

Spain/Edurne "Amanecer"/Another ballade from a Spanish beauty with a strong statement voice however in a breath-taking way. Her song could have matched perfectly to a "Lion King" Disney movie. A very strong performance.

Italy/Il Volo "Grande Amore"/The best at the end obviously. Il Volo embranced me with literally big love. Three handsome gentlemen with strong Opera voices, An end just to fall in love.

And just like last year here in the following is my very personal ranking without any political or financial influence but opinion of a musician, viewer and Eurovision fan and with the actual ranking in brackets:

1. Poland (23)
2. Italy (3)
3. Georgia (11)
4. Israel (9)
5. Montenegro (13)

6. United Kingdom (24)
7. Armenia (16)

8. Estonia (7)
9. Russia (2)

10. Slovenia (14)

11. France (25)
12. Sweden (1)
13. Australia (5)
14. Greece (19)
15. Norway (8)
16. Germany (27)
17. Albania (17)
18. Spain (21)
19. Serbia (10)
20. Romania (15)
21. Cyprus (22)
22. Lithuania (18)
23. Belgium (4)
24. Austria (26)
25. Latvia (6)
26. Azerbaijan (12)
27. Hungary (20)

My message to all the artists is that despite the results despite all they are all winners. They have won the heart of the country they have represented and many new fans and friends and thrill of many positive emotions and experiences and they were all shining stars on stage. Each one can be proud of his and her work. 12 points go to everyone who was part of the Eurovision Song Contest 2015.

As always I am looking forward to exchange opinions with you on my networks.

Xoxo ♥ Johanna