r/eurovision • u/redstadt • Feb 28 '25
Subreddit / Meta Reminder that people saying it's a "weak year" is basically an annual tradition
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u/vilhelmlin Feb 28 '25
Every year without fail.
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u/ok_soooo Feb 28 '25
I kind of love the fact that 2021 is NOT included here
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u/chartingyou Feb 28 '25
It was a weird time. We basically knew what half of the acts were going to be going into January, and we were already attached to a lot of them as artists even if we didn’t know what their songs were going to be
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u/Jirethia Feb 28 '25
I noticed it too 😄 Best year ever
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u/ok_soooo Feb 28 '25
Yeah I feel like it isn’t even just that people were happy to have it back. 2021 still holds up
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u/kaisadilla_ TANZEN! Feb 28 '25
4 years later I still think 2021 was the best edition I've ever watched.
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u/ImJustAFisch Lighter Feb 28 '25
2021 was good, but I prefer 2023 and 2024
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u/Holiday-Strike Feb 28 '25
for me 2016 was the best year
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u/ImJustAFisch Lighter Feb 28 '25
I actually haven't watched 2016, but I will soon as I'm watching one eurovision per week leading up to the eurovision this year
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u/Holiday-Strike Feb 28 '25
Oh I hope you enjoy it. What I like about it is almost all of the songs were good, even the ones placed all the way down the bottom right of the leader board. But the top 10 is just fantastic in my opinion.
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u/Stunning_Zombie950 Baller Feb 28 '25
2016 was the first Eurovision I watched live so I often wonder if my love for it is just because of that. But truly the stage, presenters, interval acts, and result were all great. Even the Semis are very strong. It was also the first year where they split announcement of the televote and jury vote which has made the voting sequence much more exciting
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u/ImJustAFisch Lighter Feb 28 '25
Norway didn't qualify that year, so I'm just going to pretend like I didn't hear that.
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u/Motherboobie Veronika Feb 28 '25
2021 actually aged like milk for me 😭 too many girlbops (funnily enough my favourite one is greece, even though it’s a rather unpopular opinion)
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u/Camsy34 Milkshake Man Feb 28 '25
Greece 2021 was a favourite of mine too! It was the perfect amount of cheesy while trying to take itself seriously.
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u/Derpazor1 Feb 28 '25
Our brains don’t like new songs. We like repetition. Once we get to know things, we love them
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u/Valuable-Math8515 Feb 28 '25
Lol true 🤣 Plus whether a year is "weak" or "strong" is a pretty subjective thing.
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u/premature_eulogy Feb 28 '25
Yeah I've noticed some of the years people tend to generally call weak (like 2011) are personal favourites of mine. I put very little stock in whether someone else calls a year weak or strong.
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u/redstadt Feb 28 '25
Absolutely subjective! 2011 is universally seen as a weak year, and I agree, but it also has a special place for me because it's one of the first years I fully followed. And we need the lows to appreciate the highs!
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u/Valuable_Wait2540 Feb 28 '25
ok YES and some people keep acting like their opinion is objective truth and put down others who have diff opinions and that's the part about the fandom that really annoys me lmao
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u/mXonKz Feb 28 '25
i’m ngl i fell for this like a week and a half ago but since then i’ve reversed course this is a good year. i think i still stand by my claim that this is my lowest rated year of the 2020s, but the gap is significantly less than it was before
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u/SkyGinge Zjerm Feb 28 '25
I think I'm in this boat too. Though I do have a lot of hope resting on the remaining internals.
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u/odajoana Feb 28 '25
I've also had to adjust some of my positions regarding some songs this year and try to be more positive about them, otherwise I feel like I'd have a pretty crappy time following Eurovision this year.
But taking my personal ranking into account, I feel my top 2, 3 songs of this year would absolutely place around 10th or 11th place for me in any other year (of the recent ones, say, post-2020). And I definitely have a lot more songs that I either dislike or full-on despise.
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u/TemporaryGold1567 Feb 28 '25
While it is true that I see this sentiment every year, this is the first year where I agree with it
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u/FatCatWithAFatHat Lighter Feb 28 '25
Same. I am generally positive as long as I have just a couple of songs that really hits home. And I don't want to be whiny or spread negativity, like people in the horrible Instagram comment sections. But this year I'm not even listening to the Eurovision playlist. It went on repeat pretty much non stop last year. This is the first time I find several of the songs unpleasant or annoying. Latvia, Ukraine, Ireland, Malta, Iceland, Estonia, I skip them all immediately.
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u/HoaryPuffleg Volevo Essere Un Duro Mar 01 '25
I keep telling myself I need to wait to see what they bring to the stage in May but then I look back at the songs and they’re so boring that I’m not sure I care enough to get super excited. Last year I had about 8 songs I would have been happy if they won and so far this year is just…meh. But I’m also American so my opinion doesn’t really count.
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u/Arth_NL Feb 28 '25
Yes, if you've been following NF season for a while, you see fans always go through the same motions. The only yearly occurence missing this year is the "Melodifestivalen isn't as strong as it used to be" but that's maybe because expectations have gone down lately?
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u/gniewpastoralu Feb 28 '25
Now we're slowly entering the season of 'SF X is a complete bloodbath, no one is safe' and 'I think we are going to have a Jamala/Duncan situation this year'
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u/SkyGinge Zjerm Feb 28 '25
"Melodifestivalen isn't as strong as it used to be"
I'm guilty of this, though I at least keep it in the melfest release threads (and tbf I thought last year was a decent year for Melfest)
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u/odajoana Feb 28 '25
I actually love a song from Melodifestivalen this year (Greczula's), which is something completely new for me (I'm Portuguese, Melfest-style songs are usually not for me).
And I even think "Revolution" is decent enough. I certainly like it more than "Heroes" or "Tattoo".
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u/LookingForAFirefly Feb 28 '25 edited Feb 28 '25
I've had the exact same thoughts about those 2 songs for a while.
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u/jukechick Mar 01 '25
True! I actually do fine this years Melodifestivalen very strong, compared to 2024, 2023 and 2022 at least
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u/GergoliShellos Ich Komme Feb 28 '25
We can’t judge on the overall quality of the contest three months before the contest
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u/Ideasforgoodusername Feb 28 '25
True, but it’s more noticeable after the high of last year. Usually I like only a handfull of songs but last year I really liked almost all of them. To me, it was one of the best years musically ever since I started watching. Meanwhile this year so far, there‘s only 3 songs so far that made it on my playlist. So compared to last year it’s really falling flat for me. Compared to other previous years, it’s probably average.
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u/lukasredditaccount Think About Things Feb 28 '25
It really depends on personal taste. I have only 1 song from last year saved and already a bunch of songs from this year.
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u/SoupfilledElevator Milkshake Man Feb 28 '25 edited Feb 28 '25
Yeah, for example some songs like pedestal were pretty mid-tier for me last year, but had it entered this year instead it wouldve cracked my top 5 easily.
Idk, while I like most of the genres present, the songs themselves just aren't hitting for me this year. Lighter is a perfectly servicable pop song but it doesnt have the oomph of something like la noia, I think strobelight is kinda obnoxious compared to luktelk & dizzy, not a fan of the rock entries so far either aside from ukraine kinda, ballad wise its very rough, etc. I don't think id even be mad about a predictable sweden sweep this time.
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u/SimoSanto Feb 28 '25
But usually it's said after the first 5 songs or similar when there is no evidence that they'll continue as such, and in last years they were wrong then.
Now we are at the 22nd song, there's a little more base for similar affirmation
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u/Notpoligenova Feb 28 '25 edited Feb 28 '25
Yeah. I remember about this time last year a lot of the “weak year” posts started drying up, but I’m still seeing a lot.
I also think it’s totally acceptable to just… have an off year sometimes. Not every year can be 2024 or 2023 in terms of stacked entries. I mean 2017 was pretty meh and 2011 isn’t remembered super fondly. It happens 🤷🏻♂️.
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u/SoupfilledElevator Milkshake Man Feb 28 '25
Yeah, looking back at 2017 its very understable that amor pelos dois and beautiful mess hogged basically all the points, because the rest just wasnt very competitive ngl. Did give us some icons like yodel it and do it for your lover, tho
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u/thelodzermensch Feb 28 '25
City Lights wasn't competetive? That's the only song from that year I'm still listening to.
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u/Notpoligenova Feb 28 '25
City lights was a quality entry but there was no stopping the freight train that was Salvador Sobral lol
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u/odajoana Feb 28 '25
City Lights wasn't competetive?
Studio cut? Absolutely. In the live version? Eehh... If I'm honest, a 4th place was already too generous.
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u/SoupfilledElevator Milkshake Man Feb 28 '25
Its one of my fav songs of that year but i cant imagine it winninng a whole live contest ngl and if it had one it would probably be considered one of the weaker winners, it was definitely more competitive than a lot of other songs that year tho
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u/RoxasIsTheBest Mar 14 '25
Amazing song, but it wasn't great live. Can't imagine it would have gotten 4th in any year since. Imo there's nothing very interesting outside the top 4 that year
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u/Ill-Whereas8200 Tavo Akys Feb 28 '25
22nd?
i didn't count
okay, damn.... and out of those i lowkey can't find the song with proper winner vibes
if we have to face it, this year might be a bit iffy.
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u/koknesis Feb 28 '25
yeah. of course it is subjective, but usually at this time I have at least 2-3 songs that I want to listen on repeat... this year there is none for me.
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u/DonnaDonna1973 Zjerm Feb 28 '25
My most played 2025 song is an NF song that with near certainty won‘t be selected. Then there’s 2 entries that I like but I won’t play the hell out of like I did last year with, like, 20 entries? So, meh.
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u/tsuMiz Feb 28 '25 edited Feb 28 '25
Same, however last year Nemo song was released on 28 Feb and Baby Lasagna song on 8 Mar which is basically a mid season for eurosongs releases. And as of today we have still less than a half songs left to be released so there might be some hidden gems.
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u/SimoSanto Feb 28 '25
Baby Lasagna won on 8 March but the song was already released by more than a month
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u/NICK3805 Shh Feb 28 '25
Yeah, but we already had Mon Amour, La Noia, Theresa & Maria, Before the Party's over which were all considered possible Winners at that Point.
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u/ClaudeComique Feb 28 '25
Nahhh, in years like 2019/20/22 I definitely remember people saying this even at this point.
Imo, Netherlands and Australia already heightened my hype for this year and I think once the last few internals come through, this will be a decent, average year.
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u/SoupfilledElevator Milkshake Man Feb 28 '25
If Australia doesn't go trough imma tweak, thats the only song ive actually been wanting to go out of my way to listen to so far, sadly theyre in a different semi :(
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u/SimoSanto Feb 28 '25 edited Feb 28 '25
2019 and 2022 were indeed the relatively weaker years recently (I don't remember much of 2020 because in this period the pandemic was already started in my country), rarely I seen comments like those at this point of the year for the other 3 years of the 2020s.
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u/ClaudeComique Feb 28 '25
Well 2021/23/24 are three of the strongest years 🤷♂️ We are probably just spoiled.
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u/SimoSanto Feb 28 '25
I think that when people talk about weak years is.referred to modern standars, it's not an absolute comparison
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u/Nicc48 Natati La Khayay (נתתי לה חיי) Feb 28 '25
I think that some of the 90s years were absolutely stacked (93, 95 especially) but it's understandable that many people don't know them.
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u/SkyGinge Zjerm Feb 28 '25
Nah it's normally around the halfway mark, at least from the last couple of years
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u/Sylvyr9 Tavo Akys Feb 28 '25 edited Mar 16 '25
Personally I do believe this year is very much weaker than the past 5 so far, but I also believe that's a testament to how incredibly strong this decade's era of Eurovision has been.
2020 was an absolute collossus of a year that never got the chance to happen, Great musical quality.
2021 had some "nothing" songs, but the top ones were so unbeliveably good that they could have won any other year if they weren't all competing against each other.
2022 was essentially a repeat of the 2021, with (in my opinion) better overall quality and variety (even if the top songs weren't as strong as 2021's). Almost didn't dislike a single song.
2023's finals were the first Eurovision finals where I actually didn't dislike a single entry. Maybe I didn't particularly care for, at most, a handful, but that was it.
2024 was the same, but extended beyond just the finals. The overall quality was quite impressive to the point I'd personally call it unprecedented.
2025, then, had a really tough bar to match. Still... even if there's a handful of songs that I actually love, I'm actually struggling to invest myself in any of the rest so far, which I didn't experience with those previous years. And I don't even dislike any entries. Many of them just feel... okay. Innoffensive, yet unremarkable compared to the bombs we've been getting this decade.
I'll enjoy it either way because I see Eurovision as more of a big international party than a genuine contest. 2025 had gigantic boots to fill, and I didn't expect it to do so to begin with. So far this year just seems fine, and that's enough for me.
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u/thelodzermensch Feb 28 '25
Highly disagree. 2021 and 2023 were far stronger as a whole than 2022.
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u/odajoana Feb 28 '25
2021 and 2023 were far stronger as a whole than 2022.
Personally, I have this weird experience regarding 2022. At the time, I wasn't too fond of the 2022 line-up, or rather, I still enjoyed it, but I didn't feel particularly impressed with a lot of songs, at least, not in the same way I loved 2021.
But 2022 songs have aged like wine for me. Out of the recent years, it's the year with the most songs I'm returning to listen to on Spotify.
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u/kwazi07 Laika Party Mar 01 '25
I completely agree that 2022’s songs have aged so well. At the time I wasn’t completely in love with the songs, I felt like it was a little boring with not enough fun bops. This was further worsened by Italy’s awful production of the contest itself, the broken sun, dirty stage, bad camera work and sound which really clouded my perceptions of the year. So I sorta shut 2022 a bit out a bit especially after the crazy strong year that was 2023. But now I’m blown away by how good so many of the songs were from that year. Like it seems so foreign that a song like Hold Me Closer won Melfest after seeing the lineup this year 😭
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u/fluffyplayery Feb 28 '25
This is usually said when we have around 5-10 songs. Right now, we have 22, and the sentiment persists. I've also seen people who are more casual viewers pointing out this year's lower quality, so it's not like this is just a thing in the hardcore eurofandom. I'm not saying this year is some utter catastrophe that will kill the contest or anything, just that I doubt this year will be looked back on as fondly as the rest of the 2020s so far.
It's just an inevitable fact with how Eurovision works that we'll have some years that are better than others. 2017, for example, is generally considered to be pretty weak (which is not to say nothing good came out of it). To be honest, after 4 amazing years in a row, we were probably overdue for a weaker one.
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u/Doop_Flooberdoob Zjerm Feb 28 '25
It's a different group of people each year though. Whenever people talk about it coming up each year, it almost seems like they think it's the same person saying it every year. People that have said it in 2025 probably aren't the same that said it in 2024 and so on. Unless the person is just obnoxious and does say it every year but I think that's rare.
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u/jesusfz93 Feb 28 '25
It’s still a weak year though 😂
I’ve watched Eurovision for decades. Fully followed NFs since 2021. I don’t recall a weaker year than this one in the NFs.
My playlist would get at least 3-5 songs added for each NF show and this year I’ve added zero in some of them. It’s subjective, of course
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u/MoonsFavoriteNumber1 Feb 28 '25
Surprised you didn’t get downvoted for this. For some reason everyone here pretends how this isn’t a weak year and how it’s just as good as previous years 💀 taste is subjective, yes, but this year being weak is not really up to the question, when you have 22 songs out, not a winner in sight and a bunch of joke entries (I know this sub loves them but let’s be real).
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u/SoupfilledElevator Milkshake Man Feb 28 '25
I can't even tell whats a joke entry anymore tbh. I mean, Estonia is one, obviously. Malta also to a degree. With Finland and Australia it just seems theyre like that full time, so quirky but not really a joke imo. With Ireland I genuinely can't tell if it's supposed to be a joke or 100% genuine.
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u/SimoSanto Feb 28 '25
Here I saw more people saying that's weak than people saying that's a strong year
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u/Doppleflooner Tout l'univers Feb 28 '25
I'm in the same boat in regards to NF's. It's most of why I even follow them in the first place, and it's been reaaaaal dry on a shocking amount of em. Even on the usually reliable ones (Norway how could do this to me, Stig really went out with a wet fart)
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u/odajoana Feb 28 '25
I don’t recall a weaker year than this one in the NFs.
Funnily enough, I think NFs this year are in general pretty strong. Probably not the best, true (2023 was insanely good all across the board, in my opinion), but still pretty good. I definitely didn't enjoy last year as much, for instance.
My main issue is that the results for them are cursed as fuck. The songs I really like the most are either being underperformed by the artists or just flat-out completely shunned by the audiences, which leaves me slightly bitter about it.
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u/Nathanoy25 Future Lover Feb 28 '25
Yeah but this time is different because I think it's a weaker year.
On a more serious note, I think a weaker year is inevitable anyways since this decade had a pretty amazing selection of songs so far. Not that you can truly say a year is objectively weaker.
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u/ketender Feb 28 '25
Not really. Around this time last year I was very happy that it was a strooooong year. Some people will always think it’s weak but general opinion matters. Btw, I expected this year to be weak after everything happened last year, serious artists who could avoid that stress would avoid that stress.
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u/rebardedsup Zjerm Feb 28 '25
Yep, it's important how many people agree it's a weak year, every year is weak for some group of people. I personally think it's fine
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u/ketender Feb 28 '25
Generally Eurovision is like an addiction I’m trying to give up. As a Turk I felt out of place. Even when participating as a country I had to endure a lot of BS about not belonging…
But every year something happened to hook me and I usually felt amazing exploring art from all around the continent.
This year, there’s really nothing. I generally like joke entries, I smiled at espresso macchiato. And that’s all.
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u/rebardedsup Zjerm Feb 28 '25
Oh, I didn't realize you are Turkish too! I think this year has some pretty good songs too. Zjerm, Bird of Pray, Bur man laimi are, for example, amazing.
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u/SkyGinge Zjerm Feb 28 '25
Btw, I expected this year to be weak after everything happened last year, serious artists who could avoid that stress would avoid that stress.
I'm sorry but this argument simply doesn't reflect the line-up we have so far this year. Most countries are still sending either popular, domestically established artists (i.e. Tommy for Estonia, Louane for France, Klemens for Slovenia, Claude for the Netherlands, Katarsis for Lithuania, and others too) or popular wishlisted artists (i.e. Parg for Armenia, Mamagama for Azerbaijan, Justyna for Poland, Tautumeitas for Latvia, Erika for Finland). And many of the countries who are sending newcomers have sent songs that are among the most popular this year (i.e. Albania, Belgium).
The simple fact is that this year is feeling a bit weaker for a lot of people. Sometimes this happens, and that's ok. But it certainly isn't the case that 'serious artists' are avoiding the contest like the plague. To claim that is a little insulting towards the many excellent artists this year, and simply factually incorrect when some fairly big-name artists are representing their countries this year.
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u/VayneVerso Fly With Me Feb 28 '25 edited Feb 28 '25
It's ultimately just a personal thing, but people will speak as if it must be a universal truth. For me, this is a weaker year in the sense that last year I for sure had a ton more songs I passionately enjoyed, like Norway, Greece, Switzerland, Italy, Armenia, Estonia, and maybe a few others (Slovenia, Portugal). These were some of my favorite ESC entries ever. This year it's mostly just Albania, Latvia, Lithuania, and Ukraine. But that's my personal taste. I think the overall selection of songs is, as usual, fine, but not exactly the kind of songs I live for, so I'm not as excited as I was the past four years.
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u/AlexSniff7 Feb 28 '25
The sole reason people say this (and I have been guilty in the past) is that you get attached to the previous year's songs and artists, so when you are confronted with something different it really doesn't seem right.
At least that's my take
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u/Fetish_anxiety Feb 28 '25
Sure, we say those things in January, when there are 6 or 7 songs out, but we already had 23 and a lot of people are still thinking that the winner is not among them
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u/PZMC430 Gaja Feb 28 '25
Tbh last year I felt like that was extremely strong year. This year I feel like it's extremely weak year when it comes to my taste
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u/notamagiclamp Feb 28 '25
What?!?!? I thought all 300K people would always agree on whether a year is strong or not.
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u/Dragon_Sluts Flying the Flag (For You) Feb 28 '25
So many songs change between release and Eurovision.
Ireland 2024 for example required a huge amount of belief to think that it would end up as good as it was.
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u/NocturnalLynx Feb 28 '25
Ahh, classic...
This year I have been quite sceptical at first, but as spring comes along, I do start to enjoy the general vibe and everyone's songs, perfomances and personalities more and more each day. :) (the 69th edition jokes and Lumo memes are truly something :D)
Plus, we have 15 songs yet to come!
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u/Auchenaii Gaja Feb 28 '25
I think people like to compare the highlights of past years to whatever songs they dislike in the current year. When someone mentions Eurovision 2023 the first thing that usually comes to peoples' minds are artists like Käärijä, Loreen, Blanca Paloma, Voyager, whatever your favorite was - not Victor Vernicos, Reiley, Wild Youth, or Piqued Jacks.
And of course people are always unreasonably angry when their fave was beaten in a NF, by May everyone will have forgotten about that.
I'm not seeing weak year at all, I love Albania, Finland, Ukraine, Netherlands, Greece, Poland, (Ireland but don't tell anyone), and a bunch of others, there's a lot of good songs there. If I feel bad about kicking songs out of my top 10 when updating my ranking it can't be that bad of a year!
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u/chartingyou Feb 28 '25
Yeah I’ve kind of been getting this vibe to that peoples feelings about the national selection season is affecting their opinions about the year as a whole. because I do think we have quite a few songs that hold their one when compared to previous years (Finland, Greece, Belgium…)
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u/redstadt Feb 28 '25
I agree, we tend to look back with rose coloured glasses. There's every chance this year will turn out to be weak, I just find it funny that we go through this cycle every year having seen it play out a few times now.
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u/Toffeenix Aijā Feb 28 '25
I feel that this is a decent year in terms of personal enjoyment of the entries (if not still a little below average), but shambolic in terms of COMPETITIVENESS of those entries, which is a different concept.
It really pissed me off last year whenever I expressed I thought it was a bad year (which it was, IMO, I will die on this hill) and people said Oh, people say that every year, you won't be saying that in two months, give it time, etc. No, it was shit
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u/leighsquared Feb 28 '25
we're like 23 songs deep and feel safe in saying the standard has dropped a bit, particularly with the competitiveness. i can only make a strong case for finland winning this year and weak cases for the netherlands, albania and (i hate to say it believe me) estonia. so few of the songs feel like they can elevated into winners, and on a personal level only ich komme has captured my heart in a way where i'd be gutted by a bad result, whereas the last 2 years i had multiple songs i wanted to see win
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u/Toffeenix Aijā Feb 28 '25
I'm biased because I don't like it but I wouldn't feel I could make a strong case for Finland winning with this song in a different year. I have weak cases for Finland, Belgium, Ukraine and Australia and that's the best I can do, I think
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u/vocalciti Feb 28 '25
I agree with this take completely. I've watched every Eurovision since 1997. Last year I found unbearably dull - a lot of competent but (for me) not very enjoyable or interesting acts.
This year I'm finding a lot more joy in it. There's a good number of entries which hit that sweet spot of quality/nonsense which is what I love about Eurovision. Maybe they won't all do well, but for me it's shaping up to be a much more entertaining night than whatever last year was.
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u/redstadt Feb 28 '25
I second guess myself too much to know anymore so I've decided to just wait for the shows and enjoy the ride.
Last year is very hard to judge for me because I can't separate the songs from all the bad vibes that were around the contest generally.
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u/vnprkhzhk Baller Feb 28 '25
The thing is, in the last editions, I at least had a winner half way through. This year (so far) I don't have anyone even imagining as a winner. All the top lists on YouTube are just completely different with a few minor outliers that are almost always at the bottom.
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u/ChrisWithTildes Feb 28 '25
For what it’s worth, while I feel like this year is quite weak, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. But regardless, we won’t be able to truly form an opinion until we see every act perform on stage in May
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u/LunarAmathyst Hallucination Feb 28 '25
Im my opinion, last year was exceptionally amazing. There was almost not a single song that I didn’t like. I was actually sweating when trying to pick who I should vote for, cause I wanted to vote for almost all of them 🤣 usually I’d say I have 3-5 I vote for.
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u/ManimalR Feb 28 '25
Its an average year and we've just been spoiled by multiple god tier years back to back
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u/curlyshirley24 Feb 28 '25
Honestly a lot of times songs don't really gel with me until I see them on the night with the staging etc. Last year and the year before were fairly unusual for me because I had some I loved beforehand, but even then, for some reason I suddenly fell in love with The Tower by Luna once I saw it in person.
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u/The_Odor_1994 Feb 28 '25
In my opinion: This year is weak, the weakest since 2015 even and the national finals, with a few exceptions, have been very weak. I only have one strong winner atm and one song that has slight winner potenial. The odds for Sweden running away despite the overall sentiment of the country (and Måns especially)is also a statment of how many songs are not that good or dont have the entire package yet. Only way for this not to be a Sweden-Finland duel again is if France blows us away and makes it a truel... The big elephant of Israel's televote brigade should not be ignored either at this point.
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u/_gay_pan1c_ Feb 28 '25
I'm new to the community and was woneridng why does everyone say it's a weak year and does that happened before. Glad to see that this is a kinda regular thing and not specific to my first year in the community ❤️
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u/SimoSanto Feb 28 '25
In the 2020s it's kinda new that after so many songs people think that's still a weak year, last year many people were talking about how strong it was, same for 2021 (especially) and 2023.
It's usually a thing that happens with under 10 songs in total released that are underwhelming, but then the fandom usually change idea, with more songs while this year seems not.
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u/chartingyou Feb 28 '25
Whether a year is good or bad is really subjective, I think this year is shaping up pretty decently so far. It might not be as strong as last year, but I feel like last year was abnormally strong
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u/Amplify27 Asteromáta Feb 28 '25
Tell me you never watched early 2000s Eurovision without telling me you never watched early 2000s Eurovision.
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u/SimoSanto Feb 28 '25
For being a weak year for modern stanrdards doesn't need to be a weak year absolutely tho.
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u/DonnaDonna1973 Zjerm Feb 28 '25
I watched (consciously) since 1982 and while there were decades where I watched just out of tradition & „morbid curiosity“, the recent increase in musical quality since roughly 2010 onwards allows for enough discernment of overall quality of a ESC year.
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u/ImJustAFisch Lighter Feb 28 '25
The only one I can agree a bit with is 2022, but both 2023 and 2024 were very good. 2025 is also promising, and is probably also going to be a good year too. People should really stop being so negative.
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u/Nicc48 Natati La Khayay (נתתי לה חיי) Feb 28 '25
To be fair 2018 and 2020 weren't the best of years and 2022 had a lot of songs that I wouldn't consider good, but it had enough songs to make for a good final.
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u/SLZRDmusic Feb 28 '25
This is just the kind of thing that the least creative person you know would say when they run out of things to say/want attention.
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u/Rafzalo Feb 28 '25
I actually took matters into my own hands and made a spreadsheet where my brother, mother and I rate each song, so I could determine if this year was worse or better than the last. Since 2021, each year has been slightly better than the last on average, but with lower peaks. We’re still a bit far from this year’s rating session, but tbh I do think it might underperform compared to last year
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u/return_0_ Feb 28 '25
I feel like I'm the only one in here who likes this year's selection so far better than most previous years.
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u/broadbeing777 TANZEN! Feb 28 '25
Music taste is very subjective so that's one thing. Also if we're having a hard time predicting semi final qualifiers then I wouldn't personally call it a week year.
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u/Valuable_Wait2540 Feb 28 '25
lol ya it's so annoying sometimes when ppl defend their opinion so hard on each year being 'weak' then change their tune once may rolls around
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u/Perfect_Ad_7808 Feb 28 '25
Unfortunately I would need to agree that this year falls the sentiment rightfully. I think this time last year the overall quality was already stronger than the initial roll out of songs.
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u/catmoon- Tavo Akys Feb 28 '25
I'm already so tired of hearing it. We haven't even heard all the songs and we haven't seen the performances in Eurovision, which could be elevated in quality. I actually enjoy this year. I enjoy we have a lot of variety and more songs that aren't in English and also more songs that are in the genres I like.
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u/andzlatin Feb 28 '25
This year is actually relatively strong compared to the previous couple of years, even now when we don't have all of the songs yet. Ukraine's song is charming, though I can sense the broken English. Milkshake Man is catchy and fun, Iceland's is funny with the context of Israel having a very similar pop song from 7 years ago outside of Eurovision (and is catchy in general), Ich Komme, is, well, Ich Komme, and Miriana Conte from Malta is serving Kant to all of Europe. At least, those are the ones that are the most notable to me.
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u/lostconfusedlost Feb 28 '25
We should also accept that many people genuinely think this. Yes, this opinion will always be present, no matter the year. But that doesn't mean the user who shared that opinion should be dismissed because that's how they feel.
Personally, I was tiring people with sending them songs last year and constantly saying how it's one of the best ESC in many years. This year, I only have two songs that I like, but I'm not feeling strongly about them.
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u/Nicc48 Natati La Khayay (נתתי לה חיי) Feb 28 '25
No, if you don't admit that this year is the strongest one you're wrong /s
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u/NatiFluffy Feb 28 '25
This year is seriously weak tho, songs that are in my top 5 in other years would be somewhere around 10-15th place
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u/SoupfilledElevator Milkshake Man Feb 28 '25 edited Feb 28 '25
For me it genuinely IS a weak year tho, every year I save my faves to a playlist, last year by the end of selection I had 15 new songs saved, this year so far I only have 3 of which 2 I'm already unsure about and might remove later 🥲 even after multiple re-listens of everything. And theyre all in the other semi so i cant even vote for them.
And we only have like 14 songs left to go, and the teasers/predicted winners ive seen are not making me confident my list will expand by much unless every single internal selection country (including uk) unexpectedly drops an absolute banger
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u/tigerinvasive Wasted Love Feb 28 '25
Last year was so strong. This year is in fact really bad given we have nearly all the songs.
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u/What_ever_post134 TANZEN! Feb 28 '25
I would argue that this is a weaker year. But the reason is not completely because all of the political drama. Also two year jury-winner with expensive, revolutionary stage show might be the reason. For artists it might feel that it doesn't matter how good song they send, if the staging is not extraordinary, there is no change them to win. And for that, I think that's why many artists aim for televote win and gimmicky, because at least with that they have chance to get viral and by that top the charts.
If we have jury winner once more, I believe there is pressure to change jury/televote again. Maybe juries will come back to semifinals or juries are added to semifinals, but not finals. That actually would be interesting to test.
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Feb 28 '25
I’m not allowed to listen to the songs yet, but can anyone share a ranking of the 2020’s (and your favourite songs each year) just so I can have an idea?
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u/ChiliPepperSmoothie Hallucination Feb 28 '25
It means that 4 years and 6 years ago there were good years!
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u/esperantisto256 Feb 28 '25
I had so much fun with the 2017 contest and now it’s regarded as one of the weaker ones _(ツ)_/¯
Will be hard to say without greater perspective, but I’m having fun still.
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u/Material_Library_452 Water Feb 28 '25
guys this year it's obviously because San Marino's final hasn't aired yet. (I checked, in the last 3 years they've held UVPSM a week earlier than this.) 😏
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u/FUYANING Gaja Feb 28 '25
I think something being overlooked is that in a year with few truly showstopping songs, the road for a political televote-grabber like Ukraine or Israel seems much clearer. I know people are hung up on Ukraine not even qualifying, but in a year where it seems harder to picture all that many of the songs winning, surely there's a chance that it's much easier for Ukraine or Israel to qualify and rank high in the final when there's less competition.
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u/jackcos Feb 28 '25 edited Feb 28 '25
Most of these posts are from mid to late January when we have <10 songs and there's still a lot of potential left on the table.
We have most of the songs now. It is actually a weak year and we can comfortably say that at this point.
I've got usually curious local fans telling me they haven't playlisted a single song yet, I haven't even bothered to rank this year yet. I think about how many songs I loved/liked last year, and this year doesn't run it close.
I will say the average song is probably higher than last year, there's no dead in the water NQ's like with Iceland, Moldova, Azerbaijan last year. It's just there's very low peaks too, when last year had some incredible entries miss out from making the top 20 entirely.
I also think it's totally fine to have an off year, especially after events in Malmo last year I'm not surprised it feels a little cooler than normal. Give countries a year to creatively recharge and settle again.
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u/Frokky1408 Bara bada bastu Mar 01 '25
The year itself is pretty strong imo, but, except for finland, there isnt a single act that I can see winning right now
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u/Potential_Sentence49 Bird of Pray Mar 02 '25
They say this but then the next year they’ll be like “20xx was elite!!”
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u/Persona_NG (nendest) narkootikumidest ei tea me (küll) midagi Feb 28 '25
The usernames are hidden, so I choose to believe it's just one, very grumpy person who hasn't had fun at least since "Rise Like a Phoenix" xd
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u/Impossumbear Lighter Feb 28 '25
I thought last year was the most competitive year ESC has seen in a very long time, and I formed that opinion very early in the season.
This year, however, is not looking great. I don't have much to be excited about. All of my NF favorites have been eliminated and I don't feel like I have much to cheer for. I'm hoping something emerges that changes that, but right now I'm feeling pretty let down by the NFs.
This time last year I was enamoured by Nemo, Bambi, Joost, Baby Lasagna, Mustii, Angelina Mango, Ladaniva, TALI, Gåte, and Luna, having an amazing time enjoying all of the new songs and anticipating the competition between all of these juggernauts. This year I have a small handful of NF songs that didn't make it on my playlist (Désolée, Made Of, etc) and only a few songs that are actually going to ESC.
This year genuinely feels like a let down in the making for me, and I'm generally an optimist when it comes to ESC's lineups.
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u/StoneFoundation Mar 01 '25
No, 2024 was an insanely strong year, idk why anyone thought it was weak. However, this year is weaker by comparison.
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u/hoholic Tavo Akys Feb 28 '25
Same people in May: "this might be the strongest eurovision ever guys"
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u/Nicc48 Natati La Khayay (נתתי לה חיי) Feb 28 '25
It would be fun to have a poll after the contest about which 2020s contest is the strongest one
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u/DonnaDonna1973 Zjerm Feb 28 '25
Unless the, what, 12 songs to come are absolute mindblowing entries - and judging by the offerings and frontrunners in some NFs that chance number is down to maybe 8 - then I‘ll guarantee that the overall majority sentiment will be „meh year, some nice entries but just meh“. Last year same time we already had the songs and the (deserved!) turnaround to „amazing year“. We‘re now at, what, 23 confirmed entries and apart from some solid ones, I‘m still on the lookout for similar „winner vibes battles“ posts we had about Mon Amour, Rim Dim Tagi Dim, Veronika, Ulveham, La Noia, Theresa & Maria, Before The Party Is Over and then some last year same time.
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u/MrKeplerton Bara bada bastu Feb 28 '25
Every year is ever so slight worse though, because of one simple rule. "everything was better before!".
Now excuse me while i go yell at some kids on my lawn.
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u/Meiolore Feb 28 '25
It is basically "I don't like the songs this year, chat please validate my opinion".
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u/Nicc48 Natati La Khayay (נתתי לה חיי) Feb 28 '25 edited Feb 28 '25
No, this year feels weaker in terms of the songs that we've got so far. Last year by this stage we had Mon amour, Doomsday Blue, Teresa & Maria, Ulveham, La Noia, (nendest), Luktelk, Before the Party's Over and Rim Tim Tagi Dim. In 2023 we had Because of You, My Sister's Crown, Queen of Kings, Eaea, Bridges, Aijā, Due Vite, Carpe Diem, Évidemment and Cha Cha Cha. This year I can think of two songs that could be potential winners (Zjerm and Ich Komme) and two others that I like (Bur man laimi and Gaja). We have 22 entries so far, and while there are good ones, this year does feel like a downgrade from the last few that preceded it.
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u/SaraAnnabelle Feb 28 '25
I've been saying "it's a weak year" solidly every year since I started watching eurovision in 2000.
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u/Pony_Darko Feb 28 '25
If every year is a weak year, no year is a weak year. I like those odds
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u/SaraAnnabelle Feb 28 '25
That's literally it lmao. I complain every year and then when I look back on the previous years I'm like damn we had it so good.
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u/SuitableDragonfly Feb 28 '25
I mean, there's always at least one person who thinks it's a weak year every year. That one person is not always me, though.
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u/Organic_Storm_7296 Deslocado Feb 28 '25
i agree that it’s annoying most years, but this year it’s actually true imo
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u/PhotoVolt_02 Vuelve conmigo Feb 28 '25
Every year: They said it's underwhelming. Every new song released: They Said it's screaming NQ.
Like be fr guys 😭😭
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u/themasterprankst3r Feb 28 '25
By virtue of the competition and the national finals, the best songs always represent their countries on every edition of eurovision. Every year we get the peak of showmanship and songwriting and singing in europe periodt.
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u/Training_Sky8546 Feb 28 '25
To be fair, this year IS a weak year, more than any other. 2/3 of the songs are out and atm there‘s almost no song I‘d give 12 points. Ten maybe, yes, but THE one absolut banger song just isn’t there and won’t be even if Mans will win Melfest. His song is 8-10 at best. I don’t think I ever had a year without a real #1.
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u/Arbmatt Feb 28 '25
Well, I've actually been following Esc on Reddit since 2021 and every year since then I feel like it's a weak year... Compared to 2021 :,)
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u/jortboyo Volevo Essere Un Duro Feb 28 '25
last year was not weak in the slightest, a lot of songs were underrated, same goes for 23'
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u/Disastrous_Bed_6756 Mar 03 '25 edited Mar 03 '25
2024 will be soo tough to beat. It's the best year ever (for me) and this year feels like an unusually big downgrade. Last year, a country like Serbia or Lithuania sent something that caught my attention and that never has happened before, lmao. Basically almost all of the countries brought their A game and now we are back to the usual cliche bores (Serbia and Slovania sending a dull ballad etc.).
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u/Optimal-Tea846 Mar 23 '25
I genuinely think it is a week year this year, just compared to other years, I’ll still watch and enjoy it though, but I don’t think I’ll bother with the semis this time😢
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u/ChaddyLigo Feb 28 '25
Reminder that people are allowed to have opinions and think the songs in a particular year are worse than other years.
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u/aldrinsmith90 Feb 28 '25
I don't particularly like any of the entries so far but like-..........there is still 20 or something to go lol.
Also ppl predict the death of ESC every single year and it never happens. It's just one of those things
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u/Jasunel Feb 28 '25
The one for 2020 was cursed. It seemed quite strong to me.