Voting for the annual ESC250 celebration closed on the 16th of December 2024, 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 2024 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.
Georgia’s Votes
It’s my second year here at TES which means it’s my second time doing this ESC250 article. While some of the team have opted to use specific criteria to decide their top tens, but not me. This is just a pure, top 10 list. If you disagree, feel free to roast me on Twitter should you so desire. My top ten has not massively changed compared to last year, but there are a couple new songs and a couple have switched around, so it’s not the exact same, I guess. Let’s get into it!
1 Point: “Az én apam” – Joci Pápai (Hungary 2019)
This one is a new entry to my ESC250 top ten, but a worthy one. I love how it is able to balance the calm feel of the instrumentation with the emotion of the lyrics. You can see how much it means to Joci as he performs the homage to his father. Singing in Hungarian also helps this for me. It’s a worthy final (for now, we hope) entry from Hungary.
2 Points: “Un jour, un enfant” – Frida Boccara (France 1969)
The sole entry on my list from the pre-2000s. 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.
3 Points: “Voilà” – Barbara Pravi (France 2021)
“Voilà” is just the quintessential French chanson. Barbara Pravi is a phenomenal performer, you can see how invested she is in the performance as the song progresses. I also really like the technical side of this performance. The single spotlight adds to the atmosphere and intensity of the song and the shot of the birds is just beautiful.
4 Points: “Grow” – Jeangu Macrooy (Netherlands 2020)
I just think that this song is beautiful. The slow build-up throughout, 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 for the second year in a row.
5 Points: “Répondez-Moi” – Gjon’s Tears (Switzerland 2020)
As one of TES’ resident Frenchies, it’s probably not surprising that I am a sucker for a good French-language song, given this is my third on the list so far. I like both of Gjon’s entries, though for me, the slower, more dramatic Répondez-Moi earns a spot on this list. I would’ve loved to have seen how they would have staged it in 2020. It feels like it could’ve done very well with the juries and the televote.
6 Points: “Goodbye to Yesterday” – Elina Born & Stig Rästa (Estonia 2015)
2015 is one of my favourite years ever of Eurovision. There are probably eight songs in there that I really like and ‘Goodbye to Yesterday’ is my favourite of the bunch. Stig and Elina have great chemistry and do a great job conveying the emotions and storyline of the song, especially Elina. Overall I really enjoy the classy feel of the song in its instrumental.
7 Points: “Heartbeat” – Justs (Latvia 2016)
You know how there are some songs that you just kinda inexplicably like? This is one of them. It just has such a cool feel to it that I don’t really know how to describe but just works so well for me. The combination of Justs’ raspy, somewhat unhinged scream-singing and an absolutely killer beat puts ‘Heartbeat’ this high up on my list. This was in my top three of ESC250 last year, though it has been dethroned by…
8 Points: “(Nendest) narkootikumidest ei tea me (küll) midagi” – 5MIINUST & Puuluup (Estonia 2024)
You may be surprised that this is the only 2024 entry on my ESC250 list, but hear me out.
“(Nendest) narkootikumidest ei tea me (küll) midagi” does not get remotely near the credit it deserves. On the surface, it appears to just be a banging song that sings about drugs and has a silly dance with it. However, you need to look beneath the surface to truly appreciate the mastery of this song. The lyrics are smart, packed full of cultural references as well as discussion on important social issues like class division. It’s able to fuse 5MIINUST’s modern rap style with Puuluup’s older, folky style to create something unique that never has been and likely will never be shown on the Eurovision stage again. Sure, the performance in Malmö could have been cleaner (and could have avoided the technical issues) but it doesn’t take away from the fact that this song is an absolute banger.
“(Nendest)…” is just one of the songs on 5MIINUST and Puuluup’s collaboration album – “kannatused ehk külakiigel pole stopperit” – which I wrote an article on for our Beyond Eurovision series. No, this is not a subtle plug for said article.
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. I don’t really think that there’s anything more to say than this is just a piece of art.
Honourable Mentions
Before I reveal my 12 points, I’d like to give a shoutout to a few songs that just missed out on making my list for ESC250.
- Rhythm Inside (Belgium 2015) – I love the song’s dark, electric pop feel.
- Silent Storm (Norway 2014) – It may be fairly simple, but it’s an effective, emotional ballad that just works.
- Zitti e Buoni (Italy 2021) – The song that truly properly started my Eurofan era. Who doesn’t love a good bit of Italian rock?
And Georgia’s 12 points go to… “Aijā” – Sudden Lights (Latvia, 2023)
It’s them. It was only ever gonna be them. Sudden Lights have such a special place in my heart that no other band will ever be able to equal and it all started with this song. The first time I listened to “Aijā” I knew that these guys were special. The rich complexity of the music track added to the haunting, poetic message of the song and Andrejs’ phenomenal vocals just makes this song unforgettable for me. In the year and a half since then, I’ve seen Sudden Lights live six times and been to Latvia twice (trip #3 is happening next year, I can’t wait). I’ve made so many amazing friends from being fans of them. I did an article on them for our Beyond Eurovision series that was “only” (my first draft was longer) 1000 words long. I never would have expected that an 11th-place semi-final NQ would have as big of an impact on my life as it has but I could not be more grateful. Liels paldies Sudden Lights.
Listen to our collective ESC 250 playlist on Spotify
Listen to 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
Euan T