Cyprus and Eleni Foureira narrowly lost to Israel and Netta Barzilai who won the Eurovision 2018 with “Toy” – a song about women’s empowerment and the #MeToo movement.
Foureira’s Fuego gathered a total of 436 points, 183 from the judges and 253 points from the public. It was the second highest public vote after the 373 for Israel, which took a total of 520 points. Austria came third with 342 point in total.
The Winner of the 2018 #Eurovision Song Contest is ISRAEL! #ESC2018 #AllAboard pic.twitter.com/Myre7yh3YV
— Eurovision (@Eurovision) May 12, 2018
Eleni Foureira was top on bookmakers list to win the contest.
Worth noting, the Foureira’s her home country, Albania, did not give the highest score, 12 points.
Nevertheless, Eleni Foureira brought to Cyprus the highest score the country ever achieved in Eurovision.
President Nicos Anastasiades tweeted early on Sunday after the contest: “Bravo and thank you @foureira_eleni ! #Cyprus in the 2nd place @Eurovision for the first time. Congratulations for the win of #Israel. All Europe echoes the sound of music tonight”.
Which song do you like best?
Loading ...It is the third victory for Israel after 1978 and 1998. Logically, Israel is expected to win the Eurovision contest again in 2038…
I think they need to change the name of the Eurovision Song Contest, perhaps it should be the Eurovision Performing Arts Contest. It long ago ceased to be about the song and is now much more about either or both the artists and the performance. If you’d heard all those songs without any visuals I doubt Israel would have won. I support inclusivity and value our differences, but it does seem that the more bizzare you can make your entry the better your chances – political voting aside of course.