My Top 5 2015 Eurovision Song Contest Picks Brought To You By Fanta Orange Zero

Three years ago today on Facebook I wrote, “Barry Piatoff is rooting for 3 different artists in the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest, so somebody he likes, has to win, right?” Well, The Russian Grannies nor Jedward nor Eleftheria Eleftheriou won. I can’t say I’m the voice of America so I can’t think I’m the voice of Eurovision. 2015 Eurovision is devoid of kitschy novelty acts so it hasn’t been as easy to find people to root for. With the contest tomorrow and a day off from work today, these are the five contestants who will make me cheer the loudest if they win.

#5-Russia’s Polina Gagarina-A Million Voices

If I knew for certain that Vladimir Putin, wouldn’t be cheering at 1AM local time on Sunday morning, and would not consider this a propaganda victory, I would probably rank this higher. Polina is not responsible for Russia’s policies any more than I am responsible, for better or worse, for my country’s policies. It sounded like a hit the first time I heard it and apparently it is one of the favorites to win. Seems like the type of “first single” the American Idol contestants used to sing, except it is a good song. Because of politics a lot of countries won’t vote for it but many of the former countries of the Soviet Union will. It proves people can write good commercial songs. Why aren’t there more of them in 2015?

#4-Germany’s Ann Sophie-Black Smoke

And speaking of good songs, if Lena had sung this in 2011, she would have won a second straight Eurovision Song Contest. Ann wasn’t even the winner of Germany’s Eurovision Song Contest. She finished second, then the winner decided he did not want to be in something as commercial as this contest so her she is. Based of this scenario, in the movies, Ann Sophie would win. Not likely. Nobody thinks Ann has a chance. She’s an excellent singer, it’s a very good song and like Lena, she has the greatest accent when singing English. But she doesn’t have the stage presence or charisma of Lena. Because Germany contributes a lot of money to Eurovision, they automatically make the finals. It saves being eliminated but it might hurt not getting the experience of going through the extra round. For the first time since Lena, I’m rooting big for Germany.

#3-United Kingdom’s Electro Velvet-Still In Love With You

On Saturday evening, if you’re still making up your mind up (a sly reference to U.K.’s 1981 winner Bucks Fizz), on who to vote for, remember if the U.K. wins, they’ll be the host country next time. The advantage for us; Graham Norton will be the host, and we won’t have to read U.K. tabloid articles about how badly the U.K. does in Eurovision every time we do a Google News search. Since 1997 the U.K. has had a hard time with it, and similar to The Boston Red Sox fans from 1919–2003, they’re letting everyone know about it. I read things have gotten so bad for the U.K. that one of the members of Bucks Fizz called for a Eurovision boycott! I’ve been reading a combination of doom and gloom about Electro Velvet chances and other articles saying that maybe they can win. In a year of ballads, their upbeats 1920s type song stands out. If they don’t give a great performance and/or get nil points they risk future ridicule. For the record, I like it and will be rooting for them.

#2-Greece’s Maria-Elena Kyriakou-One Last Breath

This is the fourth time in six years I’m rooting hard for Greece. Not the type of song I usually like and I hate to think that her looks are swaying me. But Maria-Elena has such stage presence and professionalism (she won “The Voice” in Greece) and an amazing voice. There are people who did not think that Greece would make it out of the qualifying round but Maria-Elena was too talented not to. Greece gets bonus points because my Facebook Friend Maria is from Athens and she is the only person I know who interacts with me on Eurovision and cares that Greece wins. Rooting for an upset!

#1-Poland’s Monika Kuszyńska-In the Name of Love

You can’t overstate how vulgar and awful Poland’s 2014 entry was. This year it is totally the opposite. Monika is a beautiful, classy singer with a great voice and is singing the type of gorgeous ballad that even people like me can get into. Monika has been a popular singer for a while, was in an accident and is now in a wheelchair. Like with Greece, a lot of people did not think Poland would get to the finals but they have. Nobody is giving this entry a chance to win but it doesn’t matter. It’s a great song and I’m thinking about Poland more than I have since the days of Lech Walesa.

Before you say, what about? Guy Sebastian of Australia and Sweden’s Måns Zelmerlöw are already established successful singers. They’re among the favorites to win. It’s like rooting The Beatles. Lithuania’s Monika Linkytė and Vaidas Baumila are super cute together and “This Time” is a good song and the kiss is great but there are five songs and performers I like a little more. Spain’s Edurne has a lot of the qualities of Greece’s Maria- Elena but I just don’t like the song enough. I was rooting for Finland’s Pertti Kurikan Nimipäivät (PNK) but they were eliminated in the semis.

My buckets list includes watching the Eurovision Song Contest in Europe with devoted Eurovision fans. It must be fun drinking alcoholic beverages on a Saturday night while watching this. Until then, I will be watching EurovisionTV online from my PC and tweeting and retweeting others. Since it’s mid-afternoon in New York, I won’t be drinking alcoholic beverages but my tweets with be brought to you by Fanta Orange Zero. Zero calories but lots of taste!