Ukraine UKRAINE 2025 - Ziferblat - Bird of Pray

[ESC United Mod Team]

 

[allenakaalan]

After all the fuss and negativity, it turns out Ukraine won semi 1

 

[Rocket man]

Some eurofans were saying that Ukraine stole another country's place in the final and would have just made it to the final.
Actually Ukraine won their semi-final because it was the best performance on the night.

 

[Preuss]

I mean, without the current situation they would never come 9th. But it was good perhaps, never really got into Ukraine this year so hoping for something better next year

 

[GermanBango]

In all honesty: I am not surprised by Ukraine winning the semi. The song is actually really good. The only thing that was not so great was the vocal performance.

 

[allenakaalan]

Honestly I never wanna hear people complain about Ukraine's televote again, because unlike another country, Ukraine's televote actually fluctuates from year to year.

 

[Verjamem]

Ukraine's televote actually fluctuates from year to year.

Last year they got 307 points performing as 2nd, this year it was 158, 189 in 2023. It's safe to say they will get 150+ points from televoting no matter what they send.

In 2022 I liked the entry itself though and result feels much more authentic than Israel nowadays. It was also peak of people's sympathy for Ukraine + song was alright, it wasn't anything too artsy or experimental, just mix of pop, rap and ethno.

 

[ESC94]

Congratulations, but for me this just doesn´t feel like a deserved Top 10 result.

 

[Sultana]

I mean, without the current situation they would never come 9th. But it was good perhaps, never really got into Ukraine this year so hoping for something better next year

Let´s say they would not even qualify from the start. First in semi? For real? When they were announced people speculated that they stole somebody´s place, but they even won the semi. Same thing as with Israel = huge voting diaspora. I liked the song but top 10 result with a semi final winning? Who are you trying to scam? Their result is written beforehand no matter what they will send. And yeah +150 every year from the televote is granted

 

[Sammy]

Congratulation, but for me this just doesn´t feel like a deserved Top 10 result to me.

to me neither. It‘s not my cup of tea at all.

 

[allenakaalan]

To each his own I guess. Any song in the final/semi final will have an undeserved result according to certain people. What matters is the ones who do think it's deserved enough to vote.

 

[b4ld3r]

I love the song and there is some really pretty imagery, especially during the last 30 seconds. I just don't understand the eyebleed filters.

 

[Fluke]

Seriously, this was not "overrated for political reasons". The song is one of the best written and most sophisticated this year, and the performance was on point. It absolutely deserved every point it got. It probably wouldn't have done well if it was from Malta or Georgia, but that's what's unjust, not this actual result. People probably paid more attention to it because it's from Ukraine. What's sad is that all countries can't get the same chance.

A lot of viewers probably didn't get it because it was too complex and unusual for them, and assume it's "just because of politics" like with 1944 etc. Now if any entry from Ukraine was overrated IMO, it was that pretentious "Teresa & Maria" monstrosity last year. I still can't understand what the hell that performance was supposed to mean, but i guess it appealed to enough viewers somehow.

 

[AlekS]

I love the song and there is some really pretty imagery, especially during the last 30 seconds. I just don't understand the eyebleed filters.

I second that. They toned filters down for the jury show, at least in my broadcast, but they were back in the final.

 

[AlekS]

Ziferblat became #1 on Spotify (ESC and Vidbir versions combined, which is basically 1 song, lol)

Here are other ESC entries in our chart:

#4
#6 (was the most successful ESC act on Saturday)
#7
#11
#17
#22
#28
#36
#53
#66
#89
#98 Nemo - The Code
#113 alyona alyona & Jerry Heil - Teresa & Maria
#118
#119
#150 Måneskin - Zitti e buoni
#171 Baby Lasagna - Rim Tim Tagi Dim
#174
#183 MOLODI - My Sea
#190


The only thing thing that bothers me about our own votes is... why the heck Albania finished 11th in our televote, when we gave them 10 pts in the semi + I thought Poland will receive more points.

 

[deletingpoint]

This really clicked for me in the final. While i always thought it was an interesting piece of art, it was also quite difficult to listen to in the beginning. But that performance was so good and staging actually worked unlike in the semi. Glad it ended up in top 10.

 

[AlekS]

Danyil started posting a diary about his Eurovision experience.
He was diagnosed with chronic laryngitis right before Eurovision. He was doing injections to himself and drinking pills every single day in Basel.
He didn't sing on the 1st rehearsal at all Only backing vocalists performed, he was just miming his part. He was in constant pain. He said socializing with ESC staff and other contestants helped to concentrate on something else, but not for long.
After the hatred against their costumes became too intense (he said "the gates to hell have opened"), they stopped spending lots of time in socials and teamed up with NAPA who were experiencing similar pressure because of betting odds. He was happy when and arrived in the hotel.
The first rehearsal outside the venue, at some dance studio: "I'm trying to sing (but I scream). I'm scared. But I'm saying to everyone that everything is fine, because I don't want people to worry".

He said what happened next was the most difficult thing in their lives and he will share more about it tomorrow.

 

[jatojo]

Normally I would say the Ukranian song is a jury pleaser. But since the song got significantly more votes from the public than from the juries, something else must have been decisive.

It could be:
1) The criteria of the juries have changed over the years - the juries like the commercial songs more and thus the artsy-fartsy stuff less than before (as an Austrian juror said, he thinks Malta's entry deserved a lot of votes because it was like a Nicki Minaj song).
2) The televoters are to a large extent still influenced by their sympathy for the situation of the country Ukraine.

Maybe it's a combination of those two.

 

[AlekS]

The team had to change choreo and LOTS of camera angles, because the stage in Basel was larger on practice than our hangar/rehearsal base.
Somebody stole his ring Another one was made.
The 2nd rehearsal was even scarier than the 1st one. He couldn't sing properly, he couldn't do the choreo till the end because he was ill. He failed 2 attempts. The staging director begged him to shape up, because there was no material for 30 sec. clip So he actually did his best. "I can't go to the viewing room. I'm ashamed of myself... We barely found a 30 sec. clip. Valya doesn't mince words and says that everything is bad."
"30 sec. clip has been released. All hell broke loose... The delegation dissolved to their rooms and bars. I have never seen such dismoral state before."

Next day Jamala called. This is the turning point when things started getting better. She worked with him psychologically and gave him some professional advice on how to sing in his state. "She's a HUMAN with capital letters. I will be forever grateful for this."

Next day he sang a lot in his hotel room. At the vocal training he used everything Jamala said to him and things got better.

 

[allenakaalan]

Queen Jamala saved Ukraine, and us all!

 

[Fierro]

Let´s say they would not even qualify from the start. First in semi? For real? When they were announced people speculated that they stole somebody´s place, but they even won the semi. Same thing as with Israel = huge voting diaspora. I liked the song but top 10 result with a semi final winning? Who are you trying to scam? Their result is written beforehand no matter what they will send. And yeah +150 every year from the televote is granted

Latvia placed 2nd in their semi and didn't even enter top-10, largely due to televoting flop in final. Although I won't deny that we get some additional votes from diaspora/support (we always did to some extent btw), the results between semis and final are weird for a lot of countries this year, and even in the past years this occured. It's time to focus on something else.