DE
Minimalist staging concentrates the viewer's attention on the song - if the song's good and the viewer's paid attention to it, it'll stick in the memory and will get votes from the televote. And if the song's good it'll also get votes from the jury. Simples (in theory!). This year Conchita's song isn't at all bad (I don't agree it wouldn't have done well without the gimmick - I'm pretty sure it would have been on the left-hand side of the board) and had relatively simple staging: no dance routine, no hamster wheels or butter churning, just charismatic performance with superb lighting and visuals. And the song wasn't bad. IMO a worthy winner, though I loved the Dutch song too (and last year's entry from The Netherlands).
As for schlager, IMO Sweden are still the king of that and Melodifestivalen still routinely has at least two or three classic schlager songs in the final. I always enjoy them, they always leave me smiling. Here's a couple from this year's Melodifestivalen, which aren't quite schlager, but are what we might consider 'classic eurovision'. They both made the final but were ultimately beaten by Sanna Nielsen (also a great song btw, with minimalist staging).
As for schlager, IMO Sweden are still the king of that and Melodifestivalen still routinely has at least two or three classic schlager songs in the final. I always enjoy them, they always leave me smiling. Here's a couple from this year's Melodifestivalen, which aren't quite schlager, but are what we might consider 'classic eurovision'. They both made the final but were ultimately beaten by Sanna Nielsen (also a great song btw, with minimalist staging).
