I’ve been a fan for almost 18 years, ever since some euro friends were talking about the voting system on IRC. Love the intersection between culture and geopolitics.
I get that the big scrutiny against overt politics is something political in itself, but...
To me the strictness towards the presiding mainstream opinion, the forced harmony, makes it less interesting.
UK: 0 points total
Cyprus: 12 points from Greece
Azerbaijan: 12 points from Turkey
San Marino singer: A Turkish guy sings in English
Armenia: the song is in English instead of Armenian
It gives you a clue on what's going on in every country. How nationalistic they feel this year, are they fixing their issues with their arch enemies, are they opening up to different cultures, do they feel part of the community, is everybody still annoyed by the Brits and did they took the event seriously enough to send a good song etc.
1: Georgia's entry in 2009 was called “We Don't Wanna Put In”…
I think that it is rather as you suggest in your last sentence: There is strict "correctness" enforced, which is how things work in the EU in general.
To Europeans it is normal and old hat, but to an American like me it is almost too weird to be real!