History Recap / EurovisionSongContest2019

* Book-Ends: While the winner, The Netherlands didn't win in the Jury, they were third, the first and last jury countries to present their votes, Portugal and Israel, awarded their 12 points to the Netherlands

** The UK's paltry, last-place finish was blamed on the Brexit debacle going into overtime, and the fact that the contest was held only days before EU elections that could widen the gap between the UK's pro- and anti-Brexit camps; in fact, the UK only earned thirteen jury and ''three'' televote points (the latter, all from neighbouring Ireland). Downplayed, however, in that Ireland, which had relately more sympathy from the EU in the Brexit debacle, also earned sixteen points, and thus also last-placed, in its semis heat (also thirteen jury and three televote points, the latter all coming from the UK), and Big Five member Germany, one of the strongest supporters of the EU, scored ''nul points'' with televoters; this leads to the other implication that musical quality was still a major deciding factor, and none of the three aforementioned countries, despite their vocal fanbase, were remotely seen as competitive.

** San Marino earns only its second-ever qualification from the semifinals, and the first since Valentina Monetta in Copenhagen 2014 (on her third attempt, no less). It is also doubly redemptive for artist Serhat, who fell flat on his Stockholm 2016 debut. And while he finished a fairly paltry twentieth, that this was their best finish ''so far'' still speaks volumes.
** North Macedonia (until last year known as the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia until a late 2018 agreement with Greece) qualified for only the second time in twelve years, and the first in seven. Furthermore, their entrant, Tamara Todevska, was the first of the ten entries out of eleven during this period to fail to qualify (as part of Tamara, Vrack and Adrijan in Belgrade 2008, eliminated during a time when each semifinal sent through the top nine from the televoters and one jury choice). Moreover, she finished eighth, her country's best finish so far, having never gotten any higher than joint twelfth beforehand.

** The UK's paltry, last-place finish was blamed on the Brexit debacle going into overtime, and the fact that the contest was held only days before EU elections that could widen the gap between the UK's pro- and anti-Brexit camps; in fact, the UK only earned thirteen jury and ''three'' televote points (the latter, all from neighbouring Ireland). Downplayed, however, in that Ireland, which had relately more sympathy from the EU in the Brexit debacle, also earned sixteen points (also thirteen jury and three televote points, the latter all coming from the UK), and Big Five member Germany, one of the strongest supporters of the EU, scored ''nul points'' with televoters; this leads to the other implication that musical quality was still a major deciding factor, and none of the three aforementioned countries, despite their vocal fanbase, were remotely seen as competitive.

** Mikheil Javakhishvili, who represented Georgia in 2018 as part of Ethno Jazz Band Iraio, returns as a backing vocalist for Oto Nemsadze.

** Because this edition is held in Israel, [[Administrivia/RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment with all the baggage that entails]], Tel Aviv 2019 is certainly more politically-charged than previous editions, which is saying a lot. For starters, there is the decision of staging this edition in Tel Aviv over Jerusalem, which hosted the past three editions in Israel, taking into account the latter's delicate geopolitical status, as well as concerns by conservative religious groups.
** Once again, the Russia-Ukraine rivalry rears its head. During Ukraine's national selection show ''Vidbir'', frontrunner Anna "MARUV" Korsun, an east Ukrainian with a Russian music label, got grilled on her views by juror and 2016 winner Music/{{Jamala}}, and upon winning was forced to sign a tough contract, leading her and her fellow finalists to protest being used by the Ukrainian government as political tools and force Ukraine to withdraw. It also didn't help that for this year Russia fielded anew Music/SergeyLazarev, whom Jamala beat by a close margin three years ago.[[note]]Though she led neither jury nor audience votes, Jamala won by being second-place in both voting rounds, as well as the leads by Lazarev and Australia's Music/DamiIm at the audience and jury votes, respectively, being negated by relatively poor showing on vote phases opposite their dominant ones.[[/note]]
** While Iceland's votes were being read in the grand final, their entrants Music/HatariBand flashed Palestinian flags. This obviously caused the camera to quickly turn its focus away, and the cheering for Iceland, erstwhile a strong favourite, quickly turned into loud booing. The nation, where almost everyone watches ESC and has internet access (the highest rates in the world in both cases, as a proportion of the population), which had given plenty of points to Netta to win in 2018, was rocked by a viral petition, reaching equivalent to 1/15 of the population, after a day of extreme violence in Gaza as the US was opening an embassy in Jerusalem [[note]]Iceland, which is renowned for being the first nation to recognise the independence of many Ex-Soviet and Yugoslav states, took direct recognition of the Palestinian Authority as a state before any other western European nation took such a step, in the early tens, and, in 2015, there was divisions in Iceland over a trade boycott, which applied to settlements after a compromise.[[/note]], though they decided to partake once Tel Aviv was named as the venue, helped by the fact that the neighbours had long committed to entering.
** UK getting only 3 televote points (all from Ireland) during the Brexit debacle going into overtime, and just a few days before EU elections that would further the divide between the Brexit tribes. However, as Ireland suffered the exact same result in their heat (with only UK's public giving them any points - also 3 - and the jury giving them 13 points - like the UK would later get), even though they are the nation the EU sympathises with most in this debacle, and Germany got no televote points, even as the EU's most sensible member, this breaks down somewhat, and leads to the fact you just vote for a song, and none of the trio, despite their fans, were remotely seen as competitive.

** Cyrpus is represented by Tamta, a Georgian-Greek. Her predecessor, Music/EleniFoureira (who took the song "Fuego" after Tamta declined it), is also a Greek citizen born in Albania.

** San Marino earns only its second-ever qualification from the semifinals, and the first since Valentina Monetta in Copenhagen 2014 (on her third attempt, no less). It is also doubly redemptive for artist Serhat, who fell flat on his Stockholm 2016 debut.
** North Macedonia (until last year known as the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia until a late 2018 agreement with Greece) qualified for only the second time in twelve years, and the first in seven. Furthermore, their entrant, Tamara Todevska, was the first of the ten entries out of eleven during this period to fail to qualify (as part of Tamara, Vrack and Adrijan in Belgrade 2008, eliminated during a time when each semifinal sent through the top nine from the televoters and one jury choice). Moreover, she finished eighth, her country's best finish so far - they never prior got higher than joint 12th.

** While Iceland's votes were being read in the grand final, their entrants Music/HatariBand flashed Palestinian flags. This obviously caused the camera to quickly turn its focus away, and the cheering for Iceland, erstwhile a strong favourite, quickly turned into loud booing.

** Montenegro, Finland, Poland, Hungary, Belgium, Georgia, and Portugal failed to proceed from the first semi.

** North Macedonia (until last year known as the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia until a late 2018 agreement with Greece) qualified for only the second time in twelve years, and the first in seven. Furthermore, their entrant, Tamara Todevska, was the first of the ten entries out of eleven during this period to fail to qualify (as part of Tamara, Vrack and Adrijan in Moscow 2009, eliminated during a time when each semifinal sent through the top nine from the televoters and one jury choice). Moreover, she finished eighth, her country's best finish so far.
** Switzerland earns their third finals appearance since Athens 2006 (and the first since Copenhagen 2014). Even better, Music/LucaHanni scored his country's best finish in many years with an impressive fourth-place, only one spot behind Annie Cotton's third from Millstreet 1993.

** While Iceland's votes were being read in the grand final, their entrants Music/{{Hatari}} flashed Palestinian flags. This obviously caused the camera to quickly turn its focus away, and the cheering for Iceland, erstwhile a strong favourite, quickly turned into loud booing.

** Finland was never really touted as a contender, but was at least expected to qualify due to name recognition of Music/{{Darude}}, who became famous worldwide in the early Aughts for his hit "Sandstorm".

** North Macedonia (until last year known as the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia until a 2018 agreement with Greece) qualified for only the second time in twelve years, and the first in seven. Furthermore, their entrant, Tamara Todevska, was the first of the ten entries out of eleven during this period to fail to qualify (as part of Tamara, Vrack and Adrijan, eliminated during a time when each semifinal sent through the top nine from the televoters and one jury choice).
** Switzerland earns their third finals appearance since Athens 2006 (and the first since Copenhagen 2014).

** Because this edition was held in Israel, [[Administrivia/RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment with all the baggage that entails]], this year was more politically-charged than most, which is saying a lot in recent years.

* DiscretionShot: This edition's postcards[[note]]A short movie clip designed to give the television (and perhaps live) audience something to look at while the stage is being set for the next performer/s, while also introducing him/her/them[[/note]] feature the artists, wandering around various locales in Israel[[note]]For obvious reasons, Gaza and West Bank are not represented despite the Israeli government's claims over the said areas[[/note]], pressing an imaginary play button (a wireframe triangle made of light, similar to that shown in this edition's logo), leading him/her/them into a dance-off with local dance crews, ending with him/her/them casting another wireframe triangle onto the screen and into the arena, where it joins an array of triangles above the arena in forming the flag of the participating nation.

* ThrowTheDogABone: San Marino earns only its second-ever qualification from the semifinals, and the first since Valentina Monetta in Copenhagen 2014 (on her third attempt, no less). It is also doubly redemptive for artist Serhat, who fell flat on his Stockholm 2016 debut.
** North Macedonia, previously called FYR Macedonia before a deal with Greece to distinguish the neighboring province of the same name, qualified for only the 2nd time in 12 years, and the first in 7. Furthermore, their entry, Tamara Todevska, was the first of the 10 entries out of 11 (all 10 acts in this period, as the only qualifier in it, Kallipoi, narrowly failed to qualify a few years later) that failed to qualify, as part of Tamara, Vrack and Adrijan, as the rules at that time only applied qualification through public votes to the top 9, and FYR were 10th, and not given the final place by the jury. Switzerland made only their 3rd final since 2006, and first since 2014 (the other one, in 2011, saw them place last) and Iceland also made a first final since 2014.

* ThrowTheDogABone: San Marino earns only its second-over qualification from the semifinals, and the first since Copenhagen 2014's Valentina Monetta. It is also doubly redemptive for artist Serhat, who fell flat on his Stockholm 2016 debut.

* GratuitousFrench / GratuitousGerman:

* GratuitousFrench / GratuitousGerman: Denmark's "Love is Forever" contains French and German lyrics.

** Italy's "Soldi" is primarily in Italian, but contains a few lines in Arabic.

** Downplayed by Greece's Katerine Duska, an ethnic Greek born in UsefulNotes/{{Montreal}} in Canada as a child, then moved to Athens, where she lives to this day.

* AllIssuesArePolitical:

** Once again, the Russia-Ukraine rivalry rears its head, when Ukraine's Anna "MARUV" Korsun, an east Ukrainian with a Russian music label, got grilled on her views by juror and 2016 winner Music/{{Jamala}} during the grand final of ''Vidbir'', Ukraine's national selection show, and upon winning was forced to sign a tough contract, leading her and her fellow finalists to protest being used by the Ukrainian government as political tools. It also didn't help that for this year Russia fielded Music/SergeyLazarev, whom Jamala beat by a close margin three years ago.

* FakeNationality:
** Cyrpus is represented by Tamta, a Georgian-Greek. Her predecessor, Music/EleniFoureira (who took the song "Fuego" after Tamta declined it), was also a Greek citizen originally from another country.
** Estonia is represented by Victor Crone, a Swede.
** San Marino is represented (for the second time) by Serhat, a Turk.
** Downplayed by Greece's Katerine Duska, who is originally from UsefulNotes/{{Montreal}} but currently resides in Athens; she is also ethnically Greek.
** Zig-zagged by Romania's Ester Peony, who was born in Romania but moved to Montreal as a child, and then moved back to Romania a few years later.

** San Marino's "Say Na Na Na" contains a few Turkish words.

* ShockingElimination:
** Portugal's failure to qualify came as a surprise for many, even if the song and performance were admittedly an acquired taste.
** Downplayed by Finland, which was never really touted as being a possible winner, but many expected to at least qualify from name recognition of producer & DJ Music/{{Darude}}, who became famous worldwide in the early Aughts for his hit "Sandstorm".
** Hungary. Just 2 years after placing 8th, Joci Papai became the first Hungary entry to miss the final since 2009's (which was a novelty song chosen by default after the first choice was found to have been in the public domain for years and the second choice pulled out), and the first final without them since 2010 (when they didn't enter due to finance) although there were some narrow qualifications (in 2012 and 2018).
* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotPolitical: Because this edition was held in Israel, [[Administrivia/RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment with all the baggage that entails]], this year was more politically-charged than most, which is saying a lot in recent years.

** Jacques Houdek, who represented Croatia in 2017, returns as a backing vocalist for Roko; he also co-wrote their song "The Dream".

** San Marino is represented by Serhat, a Turk.

** Georgia's "Keep On Moving" is sung entirely in Georgian, despite the English title; it was originally announced as "Sul tsin iare".

** Georgia's "Keep On Moving" contains an Abkhaz idiom, a first for the competition.

** Stig Rästa Rasta, who represented Estonia with Elina Born in 2015, returns as a backing vocalist for Victor Crone; he also co-wrote their song, "Storm".