68th Eurovision Song Contest 2024 after last year's victory Loreen took place in Malmö. Sweden is hosting the competition on a special anniversary – it triumphed 50 years ago ABBA with a big hit “Waterloo”. The competition is very popular in this country; The Swedes are also very successful. In total, the representatives of this country won as many as seven times, which is a record tied with Ireland.
Since last year, Eurovision has had the universal slogan “United by Music”. The presenters acted as hosts Petra Mede (she already hosted Eurovision 2013 and 2016) and a Canadian actress of Swedish origin Malin Akerman (his credits include roles in, among others: “Watchmen: Watchmen”, “Involuntary Fiancé”, “Brotherhood of Bang Bang” and “Rock of Ages”).
Saturday's final took place in the shadow of scandal. Representative of the Netherlands JoostKlein by decision of the European Broadcasting Union was excluded. This is about an incident that took place after Thursday's semi-final. A member of the production team filed a complaint against the singer.
“We have a zero-tolerance policy towards inappropriate behavior during our event and make every effort to ensure a safe working environment for all Competition employees. In light of this, Joost Klein's behavior towards a team member is considered a violation of the Competition rules,” the organizers said.
The remaining participants kept their previously established numbers – viewers from the Netherlands could also vote in the final.
Saturday's concert began with a Swedish singer, actor and presenter Björn Skifs, two-time Eurovision participant (1978, 1981). Let us remind you that the Polish representative did not appear in the grand final Glow with a song “The Tower” (check!). We will find out which place she ultimately took in Tuesday's semi-final only after the end of Saturday's concert.
Even before the finalists' performances began, voting began. According to the rules, you could not vote for representatives of your own country. The first to appear on the stage were twin brothers Marcus & Martinus (“Unforgettable” – check!). Interestingly, although they were born in Norway, this year they represented the host country – Sweden.
The next duet caused considerable applause – alyona alyona and jerry heil from Ukraine in a song “Teresa & Maria” (check!). A somewhat pathetic and at the same time spontaneous proposal meant that our eastern neighbors were among the favorites from the very beginning.
He was the first representative of the Big Five in the final Isaac from Germany (“Always On The Run” – check!), who presented himself without much pomp. A pleasant song is unlikely to improve the results of our western neighbors, who have regularly been at the bottom of the pack in recent years. After the singer, she was born in Israel Taliwhich represents Luxembourg returning to Eurovision after over 30 years (“Fighter” – check!).
She faced very unfavorable reactions from the audience Eden Golan from Israel (“Hurricane” – check!). The TV producers worked hard to ensure that the audience's booing did not drown out the performance.
The next artists are: Silvester Belt from Lithuania (“Luktelk”), Nebulossa from Spain (“Zorra”) and 5minust and Puluup from Estonia with a song with a record-long title “(nendest) narkootikumidest ei tea me (küll) midagi”.
The controversy is not just Israel's performance. He represents Ireland this year Bambie Thug with a shocking display like from a satanic horror movie (“Doomsday Blue” – check!), and in Catholic circles across Europe, there were voices that the competition needed “exorcisms”.
They decided to reach for the folk atmosphere from their countries Dons from Latvia (“Hollow”) and Marina Satti from Greece (“Zari”). The first half was closed by the Briton, who has many fans in Poland Olly Alexander (“Dizzy”).
Subsequent performances brought very diverse musical atmospheres – from folk to metal Gate from Norway (“Ulveham”), by an Italian song from Angelina Mango (“La Noia”) and a ballad “Ramonda” From Teya Dory from Serbia to very humorous “No Rules!” a duo from Finland Windows95man. “You can't unsee this,” he emphasized Artur Orzechwho comments on Eurovision on TVP.
In front of one of the favorites Nemo from Switzerland also appeared on the stage Iolanda from Portugal (“Grito”), Ladaniva from Armenia (“As”) and Silia Kapsis from Cyprus (“Liar”). The mentioned Nemo declares himself a non-binary person (just like Bambi Thug), and he is one of the co-authors of his song “The Code” (check!) there are two Poles: Wojciech Kostrzewa and Nikodem Milewski.
They provided the viewers with a Balkan atmosphere Raiven from Slovenia (“Veronika”) and strongly inspired by the group Rammstein Baby Lasagna from Croatia (“Rim Tim Tags Dim”). She added a lot of fire Nutsa Buzaladze from Georgia (“Firefighter”), and he focused on an emotional atmosphere Slimane from France (“Mon Amour”). She closed the competition Kaleen from Austria (“We Will Rave”).
Apart from the finalists, they also performed during the concert Alcazar (“Crying at the Discoteque”), Carol, Perelli and Conchita Wurst (“Waterloo” in tribute to the group ABBA) and the winner of Eurovision 2023 – Loreen (new single “Forever” and last year's song “Tattoo”). To honor the 50th anniversary of the success of “Waterloo”, ABBA's avatars from the “Voyage” show from London were shown and their 1974 performance was recalled.
A few minutes before midnight, the viewers' voting ended. He won in the jury vote Nemo (Switzerland) before Slimane (France), Baby Lasagna (Croatia), Angelina Mango (Italy) and a duo alyona alyona & Jerry Heil (Ukraine). The sum of the votes from the jury and viewers gave Nemo from Switzerland the win (591 points). Second place went to Baby Lasagna (547), and the lowest place on the podium was taken by the duo Alyona Alyona & Jerry Heil (453).
This means that Eurovision 2025 will take place in Switzerland!