Poland

Poland's national broadcaster TVP has been involved in controversies and scandals in the Eurovision sphere. Despite undergoing changes, they selected a generic pop song and had poor staging. Luna's vocals were strained and the delegation failed to work within their limitations. Poland received low points, even from their diaspora and friendly countries. The lack of transparency and corruption within TVP is concerning. It's disappointing that Poland, with its resources and artists, has never won Eurovision. Doubts remain about TVP's ability to improve. Moving on now to my number 32, this is a country that went through some changes in the pre-season with their national broadcaster and I was hoping that might mean better results would be on the way, but it doesn't seem like that's going to be happening, and that country is Poland. So if you don't know, which you probably do, but if you don't, the Polish broadcaster TVP is quite controversial in the Eurovision sphere. They've been involved in two different scandals over the last two seasons, with them being caught trying to cheat in 2022 and doing it very poorly. And then, of course, they infamously rigged their national final last year for Beba. Over the pre-season this year, TVP underwent some changes, and there was even a time where we weren't sure if they were going to be able to participate. Luckily, they were able to, but for the second year in a row, they selected a generic radio-friendly pop song over something much more unique. It was Solo over Gladiator last year, and this year it was The Tower over Wichita Horror. While The Tower is a fine song, and there is a place for radio pop songs at Eurovision, obviously, the staging didn't help. The one thing I will say was that TVP didn't use their famous on-screen effects this year, but honestly, maybe this was the song that could have been helped by them. Am I crazy for thinking that? The staging wasn't the biggest problem, but it was too busy and clearly strained Luna's vocals. When are delegations going to learn to work within the limitations of their artists? Speaking of Luna's vocals, they weren't good, which I believe is the biggest reason why Poland failed to qualify. I was a little bit concerned about the fact that Poland was performing in between Ukraine and Croatia, and that they might get overshadowed. Turns out that was a very valid concern, considering Ukraine and Croatia dominated the semi, and Poland didn't even do that well with their diaspora and friendly countries. They did get 8 points from Iceland, which I had absolutely no idea Iceland had a Polish diaspora, the more you know. But anyways, only getting 7 points from Ireland, 6 from the UK, 4 from Lithuania, and 3 from Ukraine is shockingly low for a Polish entry. Consider this, in 72 last year, Beba got 12 from Ukraine and Lithuania, and 10 from the UK and Iceland. Beba also got the following terrible points in the final with a terrible running order, 12 from Ukraine, 8 from the UK, 8 from Lithuania, 8 from Ireland, 7 from Iceland, and 6 from Norway. I do believe that TVC made progress in terms of transparency this year because they at least disclosed the results of the internal selection, but I still think they're extremely corrupt and there really isn't anything to prove otherwise. I really would like to see Poland do well, it's insane that they've never won before given their population, and they have the resources and artists to be just as dominant as Ukraine is, but they haven't figured it out, and hopefully maybe TVP can get their act together, but I have my doubts.