{"id":30270,"date":"2021-05-24T10:21:16","date_gmt":"2021-05-24T09:21:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eqmusicblog.com\/?p=30270"},"modified":"2021-05-24T11:09:33","modified_gmt":"2021-05-24T10:09:33","slug":"eurovision-2021-eq-decides-who-impressed-us-in-the-grand-final","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eqmusicblog.com\/eurovision-2021-eq-decides-who-impressed-us-in-the-grand-final\/","title":{"rendered":"EUROVISION 2021: EQ DECIDES \u2013 WHO IMPRESSED US IN THE GRAND FINAL"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Never has a Eurovision grand final been more hotly anticipated than the culmination of the 2021 competition. There was no way I was going to forego watching the world-famous music extravaganza, despite spending most of the day travelling, after taking a few days away on holiday. Besides, the field was unbelievably strong this year. I really felt no, one country had an obvious win in the bag before going into the grand final. There was so much to play for and the range of entries was vast to choose from. Before leaving for my holiday, I shared my thoughts about (who I considered the strongest entries) going into semi-final heats 1<\/a><\/strong> and 2<\/a><\/strong>. Eight out of ten choices through, made for pretty decent tastemaking, I feel. Success however all comes down to the performance on the night. Who upped the game? Who fell short of expectations? Where did the shock of the night come from? Let’s tie up some ends. As I share some of my favourite bits of the grand final night of Eurovision 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“Set Me Free” by Eden Alene (Israel)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n


I haven’t written about the Israel entry “Set Me Free<\/strong>” by Eden Alene<\/strong> before, but I have been interested in the track with notable Dua Lipa<\/strong> vibes. This was song three of the night and the point where the competition got started for me. The competition this year contained a healthy proportion of entries geared around retro and nostalgic aesthetics. (To be honest, they all sounded very outdated efforts to me and I’m glad voters ensured these never made it through to the final.) “Set Me Free<\/strong>” didn’t adhere to that format. Being instead, a modern pop song, befitting of the modern age. Yes, the Israeli entry sounded like 2\/3 Dua Lipa<\/strong>, 1\/3 Ariana Grande<\/strong>, but makes strides in introducing Eden Alene to the international stage. I feel like, this isn’t the last time we’ll be hearing from her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n