The voting for the annual ESC 250 celebration closed on 5th December 2021, and now we have a nervous wait to find out the results!
The event is hosted by songfestival.be, with the results revealed throughout the day on 31st December 2021 on ESC Radio to close out the year. Find out more about it here!
While we wait to find our the official results, members of the TES team will be sharing their votes for this year and explaining why they have voted the way they have. Next to reveal their votes is Helen.
Why I voted how I voted
As someone who tends to listen to ESC entries far past the contest takes place, I decided to go for personal preference over contest importance. This year as well, I tried to include some songs I love that were overlooked. So, no Euphoria on this list – enough people will carry that one through. Instead, I put my entire ESC iTunes library on (so, 2017 onward plus a few singles from the past) and narrowed it down from there. It was hard, as I had about 40 candidates that I then had to narrow down to 10. From those ten I listened to them once more to get them ranked in order. And funnily enough, no one country is represented more than once!
And now, without further ado, here are my votes for this year’s ESC 250!
1 Point: Never Give Up On You – Lucie Jones (United Kingdom 2017)
I definitely have a soft spot for Lucie Jones, especially after I saw her on the West in Waitress back in 2019. This the UK’s best entry in years – the vocals, the staging, and the performance all come together to create one magical moment. Robbed in the televote!
2 Points: Mall – Eugent Bushpepa (Albania 2018)
There’s always that one entry that comes out that you loved from the start – and everyone sleeps on it in pre-contest discussion, only to blow everyone’s expectations away on the night. Eugent Bushpepa’s “Mall” was that entry for me in 2018. I love the elements of rock, and his vocals are next-level. The fact that he placed 11th – far above most everyone’s expectations – is just icing on the cake of this beautiful entry.
3 Points: Zitti e Buoni – Maneskin (Italy 2021)
It had to be on here somewhere, if only because this is the first song in years that has a legit shot at de-throning “Euphoria”. I also want to highlight the excellence of the performance as well as throwing the proverbial middle finger at Americans who refused to dive into their Italian-language music and instead made them perform “Beggin'” over and over again. Am I salty? When this winner got ignored in my home country…maybe…
4 Points: YES – Ben & Tan (Denmark 2020)
Little old me loves a folky, unabashed love ballad, and Ben & Tan’s “YES” radiates pure joy. I can’t help but smile whenever I hear it, and it’s a shame we never got to see its full potential on a Eurovision stage. Also, DMGP should have had them back in 2021. Justice!
5 Points: She Got Me – Luca Hanni (Switzerland 2019)
Ah yes, Despa-Fuego it is. Look – I can’t argue with the urge to dance every time this song comes on. I mean, LOOK at the amazing imagery that starts this song! Switzerland turned their fortunes around with Luca Hanni, and in the process gave us an excellent party anthem.
6 Points: Violent Thing – Ben Dolic (Germany 2020)
Pour one our for Ben Dolic, delivering Germany’s best entry in YEARS before ESC 2020 got cancelled. I tend to listen to music while I write (shocker) and this song gave me a lot of inspiration in one of my larger projects. Hopefully when it’s eventually realized, I’ll get the rights to use “Violent Thing”. But for now, don’t sleep on this pop banger.
7 Points: Birth of a New Age – Jeangu Macrooy (The Netherlands 2021)
There are not enough words to describe how excellent and important Jeangu Macrooy’s “Birth of a New Age” is. It went criminally underappreciated in its year, especially because of the significance it holds in terms of the representation of people of color at Eurovision. It is beautiful, daring, and magical. Don’t let this one fade into the ether.
8 Points: Shum – Go_A (Ukraine 2021)
From the moment I first heard “Shum” – the original version that was released in January – I got a feeling that I knew this was going to be an entry to remember. The the revamp came along and I knew it could potentially win. This is the song that I am so excited to hear at the Euroclub in Turin next year because the entire room is going to go OFF when that last chorus drops.
10 Points: When We’re Old – Ieva Zasimauskaite (Lithuania 2018)
I get tears in my eyes every time I watch this. It is the most romantic song ever put on a Eurovision stage, and I love it so much that I very nearly walked down to the aisle to this song at my wedding in 2019. Ieva brings so much heart to this performance – and I’m so excited to see her back for Pabandom is naujo this year.
And Helen’s 12 points go to… Maps – Lesley Roy (Ireland 2021)
Lesley Roy gave Ireland its best, most heartfelt, soaring entry in years – and the person in charge of staging promptly quashed any qualification chance it had. The studio version is so joyful, so freeing, so unabashedly hopeful, and it makes me smile every time I listen. When I inevitably make a montage video on my next trip home or to Eurovision, this will be the song that accompanies it.
Now that Helen has revealed their votes for ESC 250, what do you think of them? Who has gotten your 12 points this year? As always, please let us know what you think by commenting below. Be sure to follow ‘THAT Eurovision Site’ on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
News Source: That Eurovision Site
Photo Credit: EBU / Andres Putting
