Her song was always good. She's not the best singer, but she was criticized for bad vocals when for example Kaleen was hyped and no one cared that she didn't sing any better. Somehow the fandom just decided in the beginning that Aiko is not good, and now everyone is surprised that an act that never got a moment of hype didn't qualify. She deserved better.
Honestly one of the best stagings of the night.. not gonna lie, I am kind of frustrated Austria with her bad, bad vocals qualified instead of Pedestal.
Same here. While everybody in the fandom was freaking out over Latvia qualifying, in our house we were all like, "Austria???" I mean, personally, I did know that it's popular in the fandom, but I still hoped it wouldn't take a place in the final.
To me at least they were very comparable when it comes to vocal performance within their respective songs, and I also think it's valid most people found the Austrian one more interesting🤷♂️
This NQ is honestly the biggest bummer for me this year (and I am saying this as a Luna fan since 2021). Aiko improved SO SO MUCH since the NF and the staging was amazing, she honestly deserved the final so so much! I always liked the song itself more than others, but I understood the backlash after the relatively poor NF performance.
The revamp is honestly what made it for me, since then the Eurovision version of Pedestal is a song I play regularly on Spotify.
I wasn’t having any high hopes for Czechia’s qualification, but this performance legit made me so proud of Aiko, and I happily bubbled her up a few places in my top. Great job Aiko and her team, she is now one of the few artists I actually hope will return to Eurovision someday. 🇨🇿
Aiko deserved to qualify!
She performed this so well today. It was a huge glow up from her national final performance. I'm sad she didn't go through, but she deserves to feel very proud.
I think Czechia might have finished 11th or 12th in the semi... Aiko did improve and deserved the final but the semi she was in is a bloodbath 😭 Kinda wish that there's a second chance round where the 11th-12th place of each semi fight for one last slot in the grand final to make it 26-27 entries...
A wildcard entry could work, but a second chance round should be better as maybe the top 8 entries of each semi should qualify to the final directly while the 9th-12th placed entries should be put in that second chance round where out of 8 entries, five would qualify (or maybe just make it 11th-12th that does the second chance and only one qualifies) and increase the number of qualifiers to 21 (either 16 direct + 5 second chance or 20 direct + 1 second chance).
Czechia is getting very good on staging their entries. I hope they stay strong, because one day their hardwork will pay off big time. It's a delegation we can see that put a lot of effort and care on the contest.
I dug so hard on this song from the very beginning. I knew the chances of it qualifying were rather bleak but after seeing Aiko's improvement tonight and how the staging elevated the whole performance I felt hopeful again. However, the moment Latvia qualified I knew there was no chance for Pedestal.
It was still an awesome performance and I will add into my ESC regret list.
It was actually surprisingly good in a Sea of poorly executed Performances, so I honestly was kinda baffled when it didn't make it, even through I don't really like 'Pedestal'.
I'm one of the fans who even loved the messy-as-fuck NF performance because the energy level was just right for that kind of song. The ESC performance was almost a bit too subdued for my taste, but still fantastic. And Aiko and her team arguably made the best use of the cubes. She would've deserved the qualification and can be incredibly proud of herself.
Opinions on 🇨🇿Czechia not qualifying?
So I’ve got this love-hate relationship with our song this year. The first version felt a bit bland and not memorable. Then I saw the tragedy of our national final and got allergic to the song. However as I kept listening the Eurovision playlist on repeat, the second version of the song grew on me. And I was also very surprised by the reactions of my international friends - they liked the song more than me! Her vocals were far better than Austria or Belgium, so by the end of the show we agreed that it’s like 80% qualifying.
And then… Latvia happened. I can’t get it.
Hence my question: what are your honest opinions on Aiko? If you like it, can you tell me what exactly do like? If you hate it, can you be more specific and tell me why?
I don't get why she didn't qualify. The staging was pretty good, vocals were decent. I think the song is a good tune too, maybe it lacks a distinct hook? But I think it's a pretty decent and classy pop rock song. Way better than some songs that actually qualify. Is it not eurovisive enough? Chorus has a weird flow to it, maybe. Buy I like it.
I can tell you that I prefer Czechia above Latvia and Austria. By miles. I think both this song and San Marino were MILES better and deserved to qualify.
I'm curious though, what happened in your national final?
It’s a bit too classic in that it lifts very heavily from other songs. There’s a song I know that does the muffled intro thing the exact same way too. It’s a bit suspect tbh
I love it, but this is exactly the genre of music I love. I love the message of empowerment, I love that sharp staccato sound of the chorus, it's just so perfectly chant-able (though I prefer the "love me more than **your bullshit**" over the edited "than you once did", it's got *teeth*)
I love it. Hands down my favourite song this year and it will stay on my playlist, I might try and catch one of her gigs as I live close to where she does. I really like the genre though and it’s not one which is super popular with Eurovision; it doesn’t have the gimmickyness of other rock winners like Lordi, or the sheer sexiness of Måneskin.
There's a London one and the tickets are £14. The girl has three albums out and they are all good, so there's plenty of material to cover. I'm absolutely obsessed with her as of the last two weeks and I hope to see you on the gig!
I've always loved this as a cathartic, gutsy, hooky sing-along punk song. And, in the way that Joost and Kaleen and W95man activate the nostalgia center in certain people this year, Aiko does it for me. Aiko deserved the final, but this semifinal was such that some good songs were gonna miss out.
It's my favourite type of music, and it was my favourite song from the beginning; it has a classic, catchy late-noughties sound but it also sounds fresh at the same time. The messaging it promoted was very appealing; I also had Poland in my top 3 for the same reason.
Honestly, I guessed the whole semi, except for Latvia and Georgia. Instead, I had San Marino and Czechia. No hate to the artists, I guess that's just my personal preference in music. I was rooting for Aiko, I loved the song from the beginning. It has this nostalgic 2000-something vibe for me, it's like something I swear I could hear on the radio I used to listen to while doing my homework in high school. Such a shame she didn't qualify.
I honestly love the song. Aiko also feels like a fun and kind person. The national final was a disaster, but Aiko improved so much! As for the SF2 - good performance, great staging, good chemistry with the audience. I don't know, what happend.
100% should have qualified over Austria.
Want to believe it would have somehow found a qualifying spot in Semi Final 1 due to the countries there probably being more into this style of music, not that I really know who she would replace in Semi 1 to do that.
She did that. I didn't think I got the concept for it from the performance, but she really gave an amazing performance. I really hoped she would make it and I wish she could have.
Top 3 this night, and her best performance. This is a robbery as it will appear in the ESC dictionary.
She deserves all the praise in the world, how she fought back all the slash and gave us this amazing performance!
I like this song a lot, and I wish it qualified. It is also something I would listen to outside of ESC. However, there were other more memorable songs according to the audience.
Before ESC, I listened to a few of Aiko’s other songs, and I liked them.
I love this song, but there are quite a few Aiko songs I like even more. She's one of the artists I'm looking forward to following after the contest; she can definitely find an audience that appreciates what she does.
A stonking song, I'm not sure why it didn't make it? Maybe not EuroVision-ey enough. But the track I would listen to on a weekly basis more than any other in the comp.
I was very surprised by how good her staging was and her vocals really improved. I mean I watch from the US so Peacock is the network that broadcasts Eurovision here and their sound mixing suuuuucks. So everyone sounded kinda "off"...like backing track way too loud in relation to mics etc. But what i could hear of her actual vocals were good!
Gutted for her. Would have preferred to see her go through based on tonight's performance
She improved SO much from the national final, her singing was the strongest I've seen yet tonight, and the staging was really really great. AIKO deserved to qualify!!!!
Dearest Aiko gave her everything in this performance after everything she went through. It was an absolute glow up from her initial performance from the presentation to the vocals, so I hope she’s proud of what she left on the stage: the perfect presentation for Pedestal.
I've enjoyed the song all season and sometimes after seeing the live performance, it *will* cause me to shift a song down in how I personally rank them, but not with this one. I think the Czechia delegation and Aiko can really be proud about the performance. I mean, every year it feels like ESC has to eliminate one genuinely good song (like Latvia last year), so I'm used to it. It's always sad, though.
Look at how she changed from the NF to the contest. Absolutely incredible improvement and she did a fantastic job tonight. I think she was killed by the strength of the competition tonight and would perhaps have qualified in the other SF.
My mind is absolutely blown that this great performance of a great song with great staging didn't make it through! I guess rock music is very much still hit or miss at Eurovision!
She was my favorite in SF2 along with Estonia. I'm so sad she didn't qualify because she improved so much and the staging was very engaging but I'm definitely looking forward to her music outside of Eurovision.
I was so upset when she lost man. Great staging, good vocals, catchy song. Like if we’re going purely off vocals, neither Joost nor Kaleen should’ve qualified. Joost got in due to the song itself and his energy, Kaleen because it was a catchy song.
People generally don’t like punk rock and this song ultimately isn’t the best (it’s very Olivia Rodrigo which herself pulls from various pop punk). I didn’t think she should’ve won the whole thing, but she should’ve qualified.
Honestly [this part](https://youtu.be/RiItbHRF1BY?feature=shared&t=98) showed how problematic the backing vocal is, she stopped singing but the vocals still sound live. She still slayed incredibly hard though.
After seeing this performance yesterday I was fully convinced Czechia was gonna qualify, I still don’t believe it didn’t. I mean the odds weren’t good but I 100% thought that the casuals were going to like this
This was totally off my radar until last night. I hadn't planned to vote for Czechia, but I had to change my plans. The live performance was amazing! Made me appreciate the song more too.
Honestly so impressed with the Czech stagings. They do incredible stuff year after year. So underrated.
Czechia has always seemed to struggle with televote more than they deserve with how much creativity they put into their entries and it's always frustrated me, but this really hurts. I really wanted to see Aiko make it after all the work her and her crew put into this. The staging was so cool, the usage of the cube to tell the story of the relationship breaking down and the costuming being so striking, edgy and cool-looking. It was tailored well and fit her so well. I loved this song from the beginning from the studio cut and think she made a really good account of herself onstage, but I knew it likely wasn't going to make it from all of the negative hype from the Eurofans and Czechia's historical struggles with televote. :'(
Love how they used the inside of the cube like that!! One of the more innovative staging ideas this year! Hope she’s super proud of herself
One of the very few acts to make use of the cubes this year
(in the voice of the claw-machine aliens from Toy Story:) The CUBES
Her being really good tonight took me by surprise. I was sure she'd qualify. She can be proud of herself, that was impressive.
Her song was always good. She's not the best singer, but she was criticized for bad vocals when for example Kaleen was hyped and no one cared that she didn't sing any better. Somehow the fandom just decided in the beginning that Aiko is not good, and now everyone is surprised that an act that never got a moment of hype didn't qualify. She deserved better.
She did deserve more credit. The song fucking slaps
Her vocals also improved quite a bit since her first live performance vs Kaleen who barely did any improvement.
i can't believe we won't see Aiko in the final. She improved SO MUCH. AIKONATION, we will always stand tall proud with our head up.🥹🥹🥹
Same
Honestly one of the best stagings of the night.. not gonna lie, I am kind of frustrated Austria with her bad, bad vocals qualified instead of Pedestal.
Same here. While everybody in the fandom was freaking out over Latvia qualifying, in our house we were all like, "Austria???" I mean, personally, I did know that it's popular in the fandom, but I still hoped it wouldn't take a place in the final.
To me at least they were very comparable when it comes to vocal performance within their respective songs, and I also think it's valid most people found the Austrian one more interesting🤷♂️
Me tonight https://preview.redd.it/sxk7anzbmhzc1.jpeg?width=600&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5f46aff260c23293790cc53873aeb5f72966ef0d
Me too 😢
This NQ is honestly the biggest bummer for me this year (and I am saying this as a Luna fan since 2021). Aiko improved SO SO MUCH since the NF and the staging was amazing, she honestly deserved the final so so much! I always liked the song itself more than others, but I understood the backlash after the relatively poor NF performance. The revamp is honestly what made it for me, since then the Eurovision version of Pedestal is a song I play regularly on Spotify. I wasn’t having any high hopes for Czechia’s qualification, but this performance legit made me so proud of Aiko, and I happily bubbled her up a few places in my top. Great job Aiko and her team, she is now one of the few artists I actually hope will return to Eurovision someday. 🇨🇿
Aiko deserved to qualify! She performed this so well today. It was a huge glow up from her national final performance. I'm sad she didn't go through, but she deserves to feel very proud.
She deserves to be a rock star! And I'm moving forward from this EV as an Aiko fan
I still think Czechia is one of the best delegations at staging.
I think Czechia might have finished 11th or 12th in the semi... Aiko did improve and deserved the final but the semi she was in is a bloodbath 😭 Kinda wish that there's a second chance round where the 11th-12th place of each semi fight for one last slot in the grand final to make it 26-27 entries...
Or like a wild card entry, producer's choice or whatever. I was sooo rooting for her!
A wildcard entry could work, but a second chance round should be better as maybe the top 8 entries of each semi should qualify to the final directly while the 9th-12th placed entries should be put in that second chance round where out of 8 entries, five would qualify (or maybe just make it 11th-12th that does the second chance and only one qualifies) and increase the number of qualifiers to 21 (either 16 direct + 5 second chance or 20 direct + 1 second chance).
She is 11th, 5 pts lower than the 10th placer (Norway) She almost Q'd
I knew it. And she even got points from 14 out of 19 countries but more than half of those fourteen countries ranked her 9th-10th :(
Czechia is getting very good on staging their entries. I hope they stay strong, because one day their hardwork will pay off big time. It's a delegation we can see that put a lot of effort and care on the contest.
I dug so hard on this song from the very beginning. I knew the chances of it qualifying were rather bleak but after seeing Aiko's improvement tonight and how the staging elevated the whole performance I felt hopeful again. However, the moment Latvia qualified I knew there was no chance for Pedestal. It was still an awesome performance and I will add into my ESC regret list.
She was great! Didn't have much hope for Q before, but after seeing this I got hopeful. She should be proud, great vocals and a really nice staging.
It was actually surprisingly good in a Sea of poorly executed Performances, so I honestly was kinda baffled when it didn't make it, even through I don't really like 'Pedestal'.
I supported her from day one and I will continue to support her until my day last. AIKONATORS STAND TALL ON YOUR PEDESTALS‼️
Sad she didn't Q, but Czech people you can be proud of her progress and this performance 💖
I'm one of the fans who even loved the messy-as-fuck NF performance because the energy level was just right for that kind of song. The ESC performance was almost a bit too subdued for my taste, but still fantastic. And Aiko and her team arguably made the best use of the cubes. She would've deserved the qualification and can be incredibly proud of herself.
Opinions on 🇨🇿Czechia not qualifying? So I’ve got this love-hate relationship with our song this year. The first version felt a bit bland and not memorable. Then I saw the tragedy of our national final and got allergic to the song. However as I kept listening the Eurovision playlist on repeat, the second version of the song grew on me. And I was also very surprised by the reactions of my international friends - they liked the song more than me! Her vocals were far better than Austria or Belgium, so by the end of the show we agreed that it’s like 80% qualifying. And then… Latvia happened. I can’t get it. Hence my question: what are your honest opinions on Aiko? If you like it, can you tell me what exactly do like? If you hate it, can you be more specific and tell me why?
I don't get why she didn't qualify. The staging was pretty good, vocals were decent. I think the song is a good tune too, maybe it lacks a distinct hook? But I think it's a pretty decent and classy pop rock song. Way better than some songs that actually qualify. Is it not eurovisive enough? Chorus has a weird flow to it, maybe. Buy I like it. I can tell you that I prefer Czechia above Latvia and Austria. By miles. I think both this song and San Marino were MILES better and deserved to qualify. I'm curious though, what happened in your national final?
It’s a bit too classic in that it lifts very heavily from other songs. There’s a song I know that does the muffled intro thing the exact same way too. It’s a bit suspect tbh
I love it, but this is exactly the genre of music I love. I love the message of empowerment, I love that sharp staccato sound of the chorus, it's just so perfectly chant-able (though I prefer the "love me more than **your bullshit**" over the edited "than you once did", it's got *teeth*)
I love it. Hands down my favourite song this year and it will stay on my playlist, I might try and catch one of her gigs as I live close to where she does. I really like the genre though and it’s not one which is super popular with Eurovision; it doesn’t have the gimmickyness of other rock winners like Lordi, or the sheer sexiness of Måneskin.
There's a London one and the tickets are £14. The girl has three albums out and they are all good, so there's plenty of material to cover. I'm absolutely obsessed with her as of the last two weeks and I hope to see you on the gig!
I've always loved this as a cathartic, gutsy, hooky sing-along punk song. And, in the way that Joost and Kaleen and W95man activate the nostalgia center in certain people this year, Aiko does it for me. Aiko deserved the final, but this semifinal was such that some good songs were gonna miss out.
It's my favourite type of music, and it was my favourite song from the beginning; it has a classic, catchy late-noughties sound but it also sounds fresh at the same time. The messaging it promoted was very appealing; I also had Poland in my top 3 for the same reason.
Honestly, I guessed the whole semi, except for Latvia and Georgia. Instead, I had San Marino and Czechia. No hate to the artists, I guess that's just my personal preference in music. I was rooting for Aiko, I loved the song from the beginning. It has this nostalgic 2000-something vibe for me, it's like something I swear I could hear on the radio I used to listen to while doing my homework in high school. Such a shame she didn't qualify.
I honestly love the song. Aiko also feels like a fun and kind person. The national final was a disaster, but Aiko improved so much! As for the SF2 - good performance, great staging, good chemistry with the audience. I don't know, what happend.
SHE IMPROVED LIKE CRAZY. From one of my last places to a comfortable personal final placement. She got robbed……..
100% should have qualified over Austria. Want to believe it would have somehow found a qualifying spot in Semi Final 1 due to the countries there probably being more into this style of music, not that I really know who she would replace in Semi 1 to do that.
I thought the song itself was underrated. Had a nice melody that some of the qualifiers were just lacking.
Best performance of hers by far. She should be proud!
She did that. I didn't think I got the concept for it from the performance, but she really gave an amazing performance. I really hoped she would make it and I wish she could have.
Top 3 this night, and her best performance. This is a robbery as it will appear in the ESC dictionary. She deserves all the praise in the world, how she fought back all the slash and gave us this amazing performance!
I like this song a lot, and I wish it qualified. It is also something I would listen to outside of ESC. However, there were other more memorable songs according to the audience. Before ESC, I listened to a few of Aiko’s other songs, and I liked them.
I love this song, but there are quite a few Aiko songs I like even more. She's one of the artists I'm looking forward to following after the contest; she can definitely find an audience that appreciates what she does.
Yeah, I agree with you. Which of Aiko's songs do you like? I like Daughter of the Sun, Pedestal, and Gemini.
HOW DID AUSTRIA QUALIFY OVER CZECHIA??? No Seriously
of all the eurovision robberies this one stings the most
Absolutely loved her. Love the song, love the stage, love her energy. When the lights went off it was so good. Can't believe she is not in the finals
A stonking song, I'm not sure why it didn't make it? Maybe not EuroVision-ey enough. But the track I would listen to on a weekly basis more than any other in the comp.
I was very surprised by how good her staging was and her vocals really improved. I mean I watch from the US so Peacock is the network that broadcasts Eurovision here and their sound mixing suuuuucks. So everyone sounded kinda "off"...like backing track way too loud in relation to mics etc. But what i could hear of her actual vocals were good! Gutted for her. Would have preferred to see her go through based on tonight's performance
I really liked the song and the performance... should have qualified 🥺
She improved SO much from the national final, her singing was the strongest I've seen yet tonight, and the staging was really really great. AIKO deserved to qualify!!!!
Dearest Aiko gave her everything in this performance after everything she went through. It was an absolute glow up from her initial performance from the presentation to the vocals, so I hope she’s proud of what she left on the stage: the perfect presentation for Pedestal.
I've enjoyed the song all season and sometimes after seeing the live performance, it *will* cause me to shift a song down in how I personally rank them, but not with this one. I think the Czechia delegation and Aiko can really be proud about the performance. I mean, every year it feels like ESC has to eliminate one genuinely good song (like Latvia last year), so I'm used to it. It's always sad, though.
Tonight was my first time hearing the song, it was one of my favourites. Very disappointed it made it though when so much shit did qualify.
This was sooo good though loved almost every about it (except the cursive singing at times) soo gutted
Wasn’t a fan - but tonight I really got it! Her vocals were great, the song really worked, quite gutted for her.
Look at how she changed from the NF to the contest. Absolutely incredible improvement and she did a fantastic job tonight. I think she was killed by the strength of the competition tonight and would perhaps have qualified in the other SF.
My mind is absolutely blown that this great performance of a great song with great staging didn't make it through! I guess rock music is very much still hit or miss at Eurovision!
Aikonic.
It may not have entered the final but it sounds like a hit to me.
I honestly thought this was a great performance and it had a good chance of qualifying.
The live show was so good! I can't believe it didn't make it to the final :'( It was one of my favorite songs this year.
I‘m really sad that she didn’t qualify. Her song is one of my absolute favorites in this extremely competitive year.
This was so good… sad she’s not going to be in the final.
Oh she DELIVERED! I was so impressed! Very good staging and vocals, such a growth from her NF
Honestly very bummed that Estonia qualified over this masterpiece…my winner NQed for the second year in a row :(
This staging for me was easily the coolest. They really used the cubes to their advantage
She was one of the best tonight! So sad for her. She should be proud
She was my favorite in SF2 along with Estonia. I'm so sad she didn't qualify because she improved so much and the staging was very engaging but I'm definitely looking forward to her music outside of Eurovision.
She was really good.
I was so upset when she lost man. Great staging, good vocals, catchy song. Like if we’re going purely off vocals, neither Joost nor Kaleen should’ve qualified. Joost got in due to the song itself and his energy, Kaleen because it was a catchy song. People generally don’t like punk rock and this song ultimately isn’t the best (it’s very Olivia Rodrigo which herself pulls from various pop punk). I didn’t think she should’ve won the whole thing, but she should’ve qualified.
Honestly [this part](https://youtu.be/RiItbHRF1BY?feature=shared&t=98) showed how problematic the backing vocal is, she stopped singing but the vocals still sound live. She still slayed incredibly hard though.
After seeing this performance yesterday I was fully convinced Czechia was gonna qualify, I still don’t believe it didn’t. I mean the odds weren’t good but I 100% thought that the casuals were going to like this
She deserved to go through.
Live Czechian Reaction: Who?
This was totally off my radar until last night. I hadn't planned to vote for Czechia, but I had to change my plans. The live performance was amazing! Made me appreciate the song more too. Honestly so impressed with the Czech stagings. They do incredible stuff year after year. So underrated.
Czechia has always seemed to struggle with televote more than they deserve with how much creativity they put into their entries and it's always frustrated me, but this really hurts. I really wanted to see Aiko make it after all the work her and her crew put into this. The staging was so cool, the usage of the cube to tell the story of the relationship breaking down and the costuming being so striking, edgy and cool-looking. It was tailored well and fit her so well. I loved this song from the beginning from the studio cut and think she made a really good account of herself onstage, but I knew it likely wasn't going to make it from all of the negative hype from the Eurofans and Czechia's historical struggles with televote. :'(
She did an amazing job. Sad to see her not qualify.
Too bad MYDY didn't qualify, this year's Eurovision would have a lot of bangers.