Biggest Surpise of 2015

The biggest surprise for me this year was Montenegro's entry "Adio", with Knez. First of all I hugely respect the countries that sing in their own language and bring something that truly represent their country. The downside though is that I'm not a big fan of this kind of music, it's just not something I listen to. That automatically puts them on a low place on my list. And I thought this song was going to be pretty forgetful or not very good, but it honestly surprised me. It's a very nice song, very representative of Balkan, and I like how they start slow and builds the intro before Knez even starts to sing. Knez is a very experienced artist and it shows, he looks very calm on stage and sings well. His voice is very nice to listen to and it fits the song perfectly.

There is also some really good staging going on. The background dancers/singers start on their knees, then sit down when the verse starts and then stand up when it's building up to the chorus. They are dressed similarly and in dark colors and do a good job of complementing Knez, and not upstaging him. The colors changes to red when the second verse starts and the tempo goes up a bit. It's a good change of tone, red being a very dramatic color and making the whole song feel bigger. Then leading up to the last chorus is a great, simple dance which starts with them spinning around in place stomping with one foot and having their arms stretched out, and as the camera switches to an above view they start walking around Knez, still with their arms stretched out. This dance fits the song incredibly well, it feels like a folk dance with some very serious tones to it (the stomping and straight shapes mostly) which makes it very powerful and pleasing to watch.

The last chorus is also great. Knez stands close together with the background dancers/singers, presenting the idea of unity, which is a good way to close of a number with many people on stage. It really is a great number over all, it ended on place 13 in the final which I think was maybe a bit low, but on the other hand it was a very strong final so it's still a pretty good place to end on.

Which was the biggest surprise for you in this years Eurovision?