Countries with the least variety of entries

[Fluke]

So which countries do you think are most reluctant to venture outside a small range of genres and styles for most of their recent entries?

I think the country that's going to be on most people's minds for this is Albania, it's really been quite predictable what they're going to send every year, especially since 2014 there's been almost no variety at all.

Spain and especially Portugal probably belongs here too, though the problem for both might not be variety as much as sheer quality. Greece and Cyprus are doing pretty well in the results, but they really could try some entries that weren't so similar to each other, especially the latter country.

Italy was dangerously close to belonging on this list until they decided to send a screamy rock band out of nowhere, and won, of course, but they still seem pretty stuck in a certain style otherwise. Belgium and Malta also seem way to dedicated to a kind of low-energy adult contemporary style that never really does well in the contest, though Malta have at least gone away from it a few times recently.

Finally, while the United Kingdom's problem is more with quality than variety, Ireland really has been pretty dead set on a certain type of song and artist for the last few years. What do you think?

 

[Ajeje Brazorf]

So which countries do you think are most reluctant to venture outside a small range of genres and styles for most of their recent entries?

I think the country that's going to be on most people's minds for this is Albania, it's really been quite predictable what they're going to send every year, especially since 2014 there's been almost no variety at all.

Spain and especially Portugal probably belongs here too, though the problem for both might not be variety as much as sheer quality. Greece and Cyprus are doing pretty well in the results, but they really could try some entries that weren't so similar to each other, especially the latter country.

Italy was dangerously close to belonging on this list until they decided to send a screamy rock band out of nowhere, and won, of course, but they still seem pretty stuck in a certain style otherwise. Belgium and Malta also seem way to dedicated to a kind of low-energy adult contemporary style that never really does well in the contest, though Malta have at least gone away from it a few times recently.

Finally, while the United Kingdom's problem is more with quality than variety, Ireland really has been pretty dead set on a certain type of song and artist for the last few years. What do you think?

You really mentioned Italy and didn't mention Sweden??? Are you serious?

Italy from it's return 'til now: 2011: jazz, 2012: r&b, 2013: ballad, 2014: pop/rock, 2015: popera, 2016: pop, 2017: elettropop, 2018: folk pop, 2019: contemporary r&b, 2020: ballad, 2021 grunge/rock. Just saying.

Sweden from 2011 to 2018 has brought to Eurovision literally the same genre with the exception of Undo, the only ballad among elettropop and europop entries.

Sweden isn't the worst case, though: Cyprus has sent Fuego, Replay and El Diablo in four years... So, the most unoriginal entries came from Cyprus lately. But it works well for them, because they are actually in a qualifying streak. So I don't think this will change.

 

[Fluke]

I considered my own country, but while i'm pretty disappointed with our choices, i don't think we do that poor in actual variety of songs, it's more the type of performer and staging that's similar, though the selection is overfilled with a certain type of artists.

I think the only recent Swedish entries that are really directly similar musically are Måns / Robin Stjernberg, Robin Bengtsson / Benjamin and John Lundvik / The Mamas, but it's still not that bad overall compared to Albania or Cyprus.

And looking at it again, maybe Italy's entries aren't that similar, but they have certain special elements they always use, that no other countries do, and i still think they could have gotten away from their formula more, but now of course they finally did, and it remains to see if it was just a one-off.

 

[GianlucaTomoe]

Thank you Fluke for opening this thread, so I can say my opinion.

Basically, in replying to this question, ESC-fans will, once again, be completely out of touch with reality and common sense. They will say that countries like Albania and Cyprus are the least varied, when actually it couldn't be further from the truth. But they will always mention these 2 countries, of course not because of the type of songs they send, but because they can't digest the kind of singers who sing those songs. They can't accept the fact that certain singers go to ESC with those songs, so they will always find a way to bash them.

On the other hand, ESC-fans praise certain other countries that are, instead, the literal definition of "been there, done that". Italy, Norway, Lithuania, Portugal and Slovenia above all, but also Austria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Montenegro, San Marino (especially this one, since they even repeat their singers) and Hungary, Turkey and Bosnia and Herzegovina among the non-participating ones. A group of countries that insist year after year with their cheap and stereotyped songs, a confused amount of badly produced sounds that, in a normal world, shouldn't even have any reason to exist. Sung by the same kind of singers over and over, which are chosen through their NFs not because of any musical merit, but because they are scientifically created to appeal to that ESC-bubble. These are the least varied countries in ESC. You never get a new kind of song from these countries, something new, experimental, soulful, innovative... never.