Eurovision 2016: The Nordic Blood Bath...

For the first time in Eurovision history, Sweden are the only Nordic country in the Grand Final of the Eurovision Song Contest. But why?

Elliot Harris looks at what could be a turning point in the region's relationship with Eurovision.

Agnete couldn't secure Norway a place in the Grand Final with her song "Ice Breaker"

Scandanavia – a region in Northern Europe known for fjords, the Blue Lagoon and the birthplace of modern day flatpack furniture, but they have also dominated. In the last 10 years a Scandinavian nation has won Eurovision five times, Sweden twice (2012, 2015) then Finland (2006) Denmark (2013) and Norway (2009) and for a long time they seemed untouchable, as a region, more often than not, if not winning, qualifying into the Grand Final and being high on the scoreboard.

But this year, which is slowly becoming a year of firsts, threw up another one which no one before the contest saw coming, for the first time since the introduction of the semi-finals back in 2004, no Scandinavian country entering at the semi-finals has qualified for the Grand Final, meaning Sweden and young Frans, will be flying solo for Scandinavia after Agente of Norway, Greta of Iceland, Sandjha of Finland and Lighthouse X of Denmark were all eliminated in the semi-finals.

What could of caused this we wonder. Although none of the four countries eliminated had a perfect qualification record (Only Norway and Sweden advanced from the semis last year) there were still some strong entries from this region, with Greta Salome’s folksy Of Monsters And Men style “Hear Them Calling” a huge fan favourite and dark horse for the title and who’s elimination sparked tremendous outcry and distain amongst Eurovision fans across the continent, same for Agente with the song “Icebreaker” performing in the second semi-final, many were certain and convinced we would hear Mans and Petra shout Norway at some point but alas it never came.  Even our head producer Rob dubbed it a contender for the title when it first was selected back on Super Saturday (27th February)

So it begs the question, have the Scandanavian countries become, dare I say it, lazy in selecting their artists? All five nations have national selection formats, and they have all turned out winners or top 5 finishers in the past, so has the standard dropped in Scandinavia? Are they relying on their allies too much to vote them through? Norway and Denmark performed in semi-final 2 and Iceland and Finland semi-final 1, with Iceland and Finland having the added bonus of Sweden voting in semi-final 1 also. Or are the Eurovision voters getting sick of Scandanavia dominating and look elsewhere? 

Remember five of the ten winners have been from the region. Or on a less negative note, have the rest of continent just rose their game and their entries? There are arguments for both sides and right now I don’t know why all four countries have been eliminated and I guess we never will know.

All we know for certain is come Saturday night Frans will not have his neighbourly friends in the green room with him which could work in Sweden’s favour, with only Sweden representing Scandavia, the likes of Finland and Norway won’t have to decide who to award the highest mark to -Sweden or Denmark like they have in previous years, and considering those four countries account to 96 points in the top marks Sweden could have a nice little nest egg there in case they fall short in our countries and regions.

Well there we go – 5 Nordic/Scandinavian countries began Eurovision 2016 and one is left for the final, will the same happen next year? We don’t know but this could the start of a shift in Eurovision dominance just maybe I can pack for a warmer climate for Eurovision 2017, unless we return to Sweden again! 

Don't forget you can find us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram too.