It’s been a week since Junior Eurovision took place in the capital of Bulgaria, and it’s about time we wrapped up the 2015 coverage by talking about our thoughts on the show – our favourites, our not-so-favourites and surprises on the night. Last night, the Aussies got to watch the show in prime time, although it was heavily edited to remove all the interval acts, and to show just the songs and the voting to allow it to fit nicely into 2 hours. Before I get too carried away about how I am disappointed that SBS did this (and had some brutal commentary), let’s look at the show in more detail…
The highs
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The production of the show was really outstanding, and when we compare it to the production of Eurovision in Vienna earlier in the year, Bulgaria absolutely nailed it. From the actual camera work to the presentation of the song, and even the stage, you can tell that the nation really embraced hosting for the first time in Eurovision history.
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The participants – not only did we have a larger pool of contestants compared to previous years, but the quality of the acts taking to the stage were arguably of the highest calibre we’ve ever seen in Junior Eurovision. Out of the 17 acts, (and totally in my opinion, feel free to debate with me down below) I totally think that 16 of those were vocally incredible. The only let down for me was San Marino, but in a sense I kind of expected that… But on the contrary, I think San Marino had one of the best stage performances – her dress, the dancers, it all just looked very professional – if only the song matched it!
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The interval acts were highly entertaining – there was a great mix of dance, song and humour with Poli’s hilarious ‘where’s my dress’ sketch. The inclusion of both Krisia and Vincenzo worked well, as it was a celebration of both the winner, and the reason why JESC was in Bulgaria
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Looking specifically at the acts, the personal highs for me were Malta, Slovenia, Serbia, Belarus and Armenia
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It’s so refreshing to see the winner doing their reprise, and the other acts behind them singing their competitors song – it confirms that JESC is all about fun and friendship
The surprises
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In terms of the results, I’m quite surprised with how it panned out for Albania. Whether it was the lateness in the running order, or the simplistic nature of the song, something must have captivated juries and audiences because I certainly did not expect it to reach top 5.
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I’m also surprised that Ukraine and Georgia didn’t end up on the left side of the table, especially Ukraine as that seemed to be a fan favourite
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I’m surprised that the vocals from the girls representing F.Y.R Macedonia were as good as they were. The song lacked sophistication, but with the vocal performance I stand by the fact that they should not have ended up in last place (a spot I happily reserved for San Marino)
The not-so-favourites
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As much as I love Poli Genova, moments during the show she seemed very flustered. Overall I think she did a good job, and they made a better decision in comparison to last year, but she just had a few cringeworthy moments
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The fact that the Australian public couldn’t vote was a big non-favourite to me. Seeing our 100% jury votes just saddened me, as I knew that I had absolutely no contribution to where our points were going. I understand why it was 100% jury, but I still would have liked to have voted for my favourites
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The staging for Montenegro – I have really no idea why they had a cityscape as their backing screen when the song referenced meadows, and mountains and all these natural things – it just made no sense to me, and I think the song could have benefitted from a different staging
