🗳️ Our ESC250 Votes: Georgia

Voting for the annual ESC250 celebration closed on the 10th of December 2023, and now we have a nervous wait to find out the results! The event is hosted by songfestival.be, with the results revealed on the 31st December 2023 on EFR12 Radio to close out the year. Find out more about it here!

While we wait to find out the official results, members of the TES team will be sharing their votes for this year and explaining the reason for their picks. This time it’s Georgia’s turn to reveal how she voted.

This is actually the first year that I have voted in ESC250, so that’s fun. While some of the team so far has used specific criteria for their ESC250 votes, this is just a straight top 10 for me. So, feel free to roast me in the quote tweets if you feel like it. As always, all the opinions expressed in this article are mine and only mine, they don’t reflect the company as a whole, etc, etc. Let’s get into it!

1 point: “Rhythm Inside” – Loïc Nottet (Belgium, 2015)

The first song of my ESC250 votes is the one and only Rhythm Inside. What really sells the song for me is the staging. Of course, Loïc’s vocals are great, but the song is not my absolute favourite of his (his recent French language album Addictocrate is *chefs kiss*). But the staging, lights and choreography all help to emulate the dark pop atmosphere of the song and I love it.

2 points: “Répondez-Moi” – Gjon’s Tears (Switzerland, 2020)

I feel like this one is a pretty good indicator of what’s to come on my list. As TES’ resident French person, it’s probably not surprising that I am a sucker for a good French-language song. Gjon’s vocals are what really stand out for me. I would’ve loved to have seen how they would have staged it in 2020 as I think had the contest gone on, it would have done very well both with the jury and the televote.

3 points: “Zitti e Buoni” – Måneskin (Italy, 2021)

Who doesn’t love a good bit of Italian rock? Zitti e Buoni and Måneskin in general have a special place in my heart for two reasons. Not only is it the song that led to me becoming a full-time Eurofan (rather than just tuning into finals), but it also was right around the time that I felt completely comfortable with my bisexuality. While they’re not the only queer Eurovision winners in history, it just felt nice to see a band with two openly queer members doing so well, both during and after the contest. I feel like I’ve grown off of Måneskin a little bit recently with some of their newer stuff, but they’ll always have a spot in my heart.

4 points: “Grow” – Jeangu Macrooy (Netherlands, 2020)

I just think this song is beautiful. The slow build-up throughout the song, culminating with the big anthemic finish. Jeangu really brings out the emotions of the song, and you can tell that it’s his personal story. I (unfortunately) don’t think this would have done that well had the 2020 contest gone ahead, but in my ESC250, it’s my 4 points.

5 points: “Un jour, un enfant” – Frida Boccara (France, 1969)

The thing I like the most about ‘Un Jour, un enfant’ is its calming nature. I don’t really know how to explain it, but listening to the song just makes me feel calm. The same thing goes for Gjon’s Tears cover of the song too. It just has a really relaxing style that I really like.

6 points: “Voilà” – Barbara Pravi (France, 2021)

Can you tell that I’m French? 3 of my top 10 plus one of my honourable mentions are French-language songs. “Voilà” is just such a quintessentially French chanson, but there’s something special about “Voilà” specifically to me. Barbara Pravi is great, you can see how invested she is in the song throughout her performance. I also really like the technical side. The single spotlight I feel adds to the atmosphere of the song and the shot of the birds is just beautiful.

7 points: “Goodbye to Yesterday” – Stig Rasta & Elina Born (Estonia, 2015)

2015 is one of my favourite years of Eurovision and ‘Goodbye to Yesterday’ is my favourite of the bunch. Stig and Elina have great chemistry and do a great job of communicating the emotions/storyline of the song, especially Elina. The song overall just has a very classy feel in its instrumental that I really like.

8 points: “Heartbeat” – Justs (Latvia, 2016)

You know how there are just some songs that you just kinda inexplicably like? This is one of them. I think it’s such a cool-sounding song. The combination of Justs’ raspy, somewhat unhinged scream-singing and an absolutely killer beat puts ‘Heartbeat’ this high up on my list. I can’t believe this is still the last Latvian entry to qualify for the final, so here’s hoping that will change this year!

10 points: “Saudade, Saudade” – MARO (Portugal, 2022)

It’s just such a beautiful song. MARO’s vocals perfectly illustrate the emotions of the song and the staging just adds to it. Having the six of them in a circle out on the B stage, coupled with the lighting and the audience’s flashlights, really helped to create a perfect stillness of sorts. Had I done this last year, this probably would have been at the top of my ESC250 votes. But, ‘Saudade, Saudade’ has been dethroned…

Special mentions

Before I reveal my 12 points, I would like to give a special shout-out to a few entries that came so close to making my top ten. They are:

• “L’oiseau et l’enfant” – Marie Myriam (France, 1977) – Like ‘Un Jour, Un Enfant’, it’s a calming French song that I just really enjoy.
• “Hear Them Calling” – Greta Salóme (Iceland, 2016) – ROBBED. All I have to say.
• “A Monster Like Me” – Morland & Debrah Scarlett (Norway, 2015) – Another 2015 male-female duet that I really like.

And Georgia’s 12 points go to… “Aijā” – Sudden Lights (Latvia, 2023)

If you listened to the 2023 episode, this is… not a surprise. The first time I listened to Aijā, it hit me hard and I knew almost instantly that I would be a fan of Sudden Lights for a very long time. Their performance in Liverpool genuinely left me shaking and their NQ broke me (I stared at the wall for an hour and a half before realising it was almost midnight and I needed to be up in six hours). In September, I was lucky enough to go to Riga to see Sudden Lights live and it was incredible. I still think about the show at least like 3 times a day. I will forever be bitter that they did not make it through to the final in Liverpool, so here’s hoping that they can make it onto ESC250.

Listen to our collective ESC 250 playlist on Spotify

Enjoy our collective ESC 250 playlist on YouTube

Now that Georgia has revealed her votes for ESC250 this year, what do you think of her picks? Who received 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, Instagram, TikTok, Threads and Bluesky for all of the latest Eurovision news.

News Source: That Eurovision Site

Photo Credit: Corinne Cumming / EBU