History Recap / EurovisionSongContest2019

* AllIssuesArePoliticalIssues:
** Because this edition was staged in Israel (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 selection Tel Aviv as host city over Jerusalem, which hosted the previous three editions of the contest staged 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 narrowly beat three years ago.[[note]]Though she led neither jury nor audience votes, Jamala won by being second-place in both voting blocs, as well as the leads by Lazarev and Australia's Music/DamiIm with the audience and jury votes, respectively, being negated by relatively poor showing on blocs opposite their dominant ones.[[/note]]
** While Iceland's televote score was 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 fan 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), and which had given plenty of points to Music/{{Netta}} to help her win Lisbon 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 2010s, 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 the comparatively less-divisive Tel Aviv was named as the venue, helped by the fact that all its Nordic neighbours had long committed to entering.
** 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 six jury and three televote points (the latter, all from neighbouring Ireland). Downplayed, however, in that Ireland, which had comparatively more sympathy from the EU in the Brexit debacle[[note]]due to the chief complexity of the process being the questions over how to avoid a physical border between Ireland and its north, one which was amongst the most sensitive, with UK insistent on being removed from various regulations[[/note]], was also last-placing in the second semifinals (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.
** The Belarusian jury was dismissed ahead of the grand final for revealing their votes from the first semis before the grand final (in violation of EBU rules stating that semis results cannot be revealed until ''after'' the final). Moreover, the EBU-approved aggregate result (which was used as the Belarusian jury votes in the final) only gave Russia ''one point''. Naturally, Viktor Drobysh, producer for Belarusian entrant Zinaida "ZENA" Kupriyanovich, threatened to sue the EBU for fear of straining relations between Belarus and Russia, long-time allies and traditional Eurovision vote-exchangers.

* TheAce:
** Australia extends its perfect semi-final qualification record to 4-0.[[note]]It's Australia's fifth finals appearance, but it has to be noted that they went straight to the final in 2015, due to the circumstances of their participation and to not to affect anyone's chances of qualifying.[[/note]]
** Sweden and Italy both finish with good results. Sweden in the top 10 since 2013, and Italy winning second, continuing their top 10 streak since 2017.

* EpicFail: As if their 24th-place finish and their jury being dismissed (see above) wasn't bad enough, Belarus flubbed up further when it is revealed that their stated jury results, based on an aggregate result approved by the EBU, was presented in ''reverse'' order, such that supposedly last-placed Israel earned ''douze points'' and leader Malta given ''nul points''. Days after the grand final, the results were adjusted to reflect the correct points allocation.
** A lighter example is the host wishing Mans' son happy birthday right after Mans saying his son is 11 months old.

This edition was won by UsefulNotes/TheNetherlands' Music/DuncanLaurence with the soaring power ballad "Arcade," becoming the second-ever Eurovision winner that didn't top the jury ''or'' the televote, but scored highly enough in both to give them the edge. Their victory brought the Netherlands up to five overall wins, tying the record for third-most. Little did anybody know at the time, it would also give Laurence the unusual distinction of having the longest reign of any Eurovision winner ever, with him technically holding the title for ''two years'' because of the incoming UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic and its cancelation of the planned 2020 contest. On a better note, "Arcade" became a big international hit during the pandemic interim thanks to Website/TikTok and even made the top 40 of the Billboart Hot 100 in the United States, the first Eurovision entry to do so since Gina G's "Ooh Aah... Just A Little Bit" in 1997. He wouldn't be the last modern Eurovision act to manage this feat, and his win is largely credited with re-establishing the contest as a major potential springboard for the careers of any participating act.

[[caption-width-right:350:[[{{Tagline}} Dare to dream]]]]


The 2019 edition of the '''Series/EurovisionSongContest''' was held in Tel Aviv, UsefulNotes/{{Israel}} from 14 May to 18 May. The slogan for this year was "Dare to Dream".