Our Best of the Bunch series continues, but this time, we’re crossing over between the two main formats of Eurovision, the Eurovision Song Contest and the Junior Eurovision Song Contest. The concept is simple, we take the Eurovision and Junior Eurovision entries of a certain year and put them up against each other in a poll to find out which is your Best of the Bunch! Our focus will be between 2016 and 2018, so let’s find out who you think is the Best of the Bunch!
2016
Eurovision:
Since their return to Eurovision in 2011, Italy proved to be a force at the contest. More often than not, the nation would finish in the Top 10 which is something few of the Big 5 nations can actually manage. With that said, in 2016 Italy was represented by Francesca Michielin and her song, No Degree of Separation. Unlike some of her predecessors, Francesca wasn’t a hot favourite of the show, but still gave a great performance. In the end, she finished in 16th place with 124 points.
Junior Eurovision:
Like at Eurovision, Italy have more often than not achieved success at Junior Eurovision, so much so that they won in their debut year at the contest. Fast forward to 2016, where Fiamma Boccia was selected to represent the nation with her bilingual entry, Cara Mamma. The touching message of the song plus a strong performance resulted in 3rd place for Italy, the second best result behind their winning entry two years prior.
Which is your Best of the Bunch? Vote below:
2017
Eurovision:
From Francesca to Francesco – In 2017 Italy was represented by Francesco Gabbani after his epic win of the Sanremo Music Festival. The song was titled Occidentali’s Karma, and it very quickly became the favourite to win Eurovision. The catchy number was accompanied with a signature dance, and of course, the gorilla which also took to the stage at Eurovision alongside Francesco. Despite the hype around the song, it ended up in 6th place overall with a total of 334 points.
Junior Eurovision:
The following year, Maria Iside Fiore was selected to represent Italy with the song Scelgo. The uplifting pop number wasn’t quite as hyped as the previous entry, but was confidently performed at Junior Eurovision. The staging was simple with a plain backdrop for most of the performance, and occasionally some of the clips from the music video. Overall, Italy finished just outside of the Top 10, finishing in 11th place with 86 points.
Which is your Best of the Bunch? Vote below:
2018
Eurovision:
In 2018 we saw two well known Italian artists join forces to perform the entry, Non Mi Avete Fatto Niente. Ermal Meta and Fabrizio Moro once again became strong favourites at Eurovision, despite having a song quite different from the previous Italian entries. At Eurovision, a simple performance conveyed the message of the song, and in the end the televoters loved it, but juries not so much. Overall, they finished in 5th place with 308 points.
Junior Eurovision:
The duo of Melissa and Marco were internally selected to represent Italy in 2018 with the song What Is Love. The bilingual ballad style song was a sweet entry from Italy, and the staging really encapsulated that. A swing was featured on stage, with the backing screen showing various magical scenes. Vocally, another strong performance from Italy and it showed in the results with Italy finishing in 7th place with 151 points.
Which is your Best of the Bunch? Vote below: