Eurovision Final: All of the Moments From This Year’s Eurovision Song Contest (2024)

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Sweden ties for most-ever Eurovision wins.

Eurovision’s grand final is the world’s most watched cultural event. Last year, over 160 million people tuned in to watch the spectacle. For the event’s fans, it’s the only singing competition that matters. To more casual observers, it’s simply a fun — and occasionally bewildering — extravaganza. For the first time, viewers from nonparticipating countries could vote, meaning American fans helped decide the outcome.

This year, there were serious undertones to the event.

As the winner of last year’s competition, Ukraine should be hosting the 2023 event. But with Russia’s assault on the country showing no sign of ending, Eurovision was moved to Liverpool, England. The Eastern European country has a strong presence on Liverpool’s streets and some back in Ukraine turned to the event as a moment of cheer.

European solidarity with Ukraine was clear throughout Saturday’s spectacle in Liverpool. It opened with a video of Kalush Orchestra, last year’s winner, performing on a subway train in Kyiv, before the band appeared onstage to almost deafening cheers, in person inside the Liverpool arena.

Although overt political statements are banned during the show, the war was hinted at onstage, with several entrants, including Ukraine’s own Tvorchi, obliquely referring to the conflict in its lyrics.

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This is television adrenaline. We won’t know the winner until the last possible moment.

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Now for the numbers game.

Once the 37 jury votes have been reported, we switch over to the results of the popular vote, which are announced by the final’s hosts. Each country’s audience gets 58 points, just like the juries, and these are allocated to its 10 most popular acts.

For the first time this year, viewers outside participating countries — and that includes the United States — have cast votes. Those will be tallied up into a single “Rest of the World” total, with 58 points for this group. Although it includes more than 7 billion potential voters, the Rest of the World will have the same weight in the competition as the tiny principality of San Marino, population 34,000.

The public vote can dramatically change the ranking: Last year, Britain was leading after the jury votes, but Ukraine earned the most public vote points ever and vaulted to the top spot. The same thing happened to Italy in 2021.

In other words: It’s not over until it’s over.

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The singing is over. Let the voting begin!

There has been another change this year to Eurovision’s notoriously complicated voting rules.

Previously, each country was awarded points based on a combination of votes from viewers and the decisions of juries in each competing country. After the contest’s organizers found “voting irregularities” among six juries in last year’s semifinals — many of whom seemed to be voting for one another — the rules were tweaked, so that the semifinals are now decided exclusively by viewers. The grand final results on Saturday, however, will still be determined by viewers and juries.

Oh, and all this voting happens live, which helps explain why the grand final broadcast takes so long.

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Can Britain continue its Eurovision rise?

The singer-songwriter’s uplifting “Space Man” topped the jury vote. Ukraine’s Kalush Orchestra was the overall winner once viewer votes were factored in, but Ryder’s second place was his country’s best Eurovision result since 1998.

So what caused this reversal of fortunes? Last year, the BBC, which selects Britain’s entry, worked with TaP Music, a global management company representing artists like Lana Del Rey and Christine and the Queens. After years of British entries that aimed for a “Eurovision-style” sound, Ryder’s “Space Man” was more commercially mainstream.

This year, the BBC and TaP Music used the same approach to select Mae Muller, an established pop artist who has had U.S. Billboard chart success and toured with the British band Little Mix. Muller is performing “I Wrote a Song,” a catchy record about channeling the rage of a heartbreak into a pop track.

Some songs, with messages of war, test competition rules.

While Ukraine’s official song entry, “Heart of Steel” by the electronic music duo Tvorchi, may not feature explicit lyrics about Russia’s invasion, the duo has said the song was inspired by the courage of Ukrainian defenders in the Azovstal steel plant during the siege of the southern city of Mariupol.

“Sometimes you just gotta know/ When to stick your middle finger up in the air,” the vocalist Jimoh Augustus Kehinde sings at the top of the song.

Last December, Tvorchi performed the song in Kyiv with background dancers wearing gas masks while images of nuclear hazard signs played on large screens behind the stage.

Let 3’s “Mama SC!” is Croatia’s official entry and though many of its lyrics seem like nonsense — “Mom bought a tractor!” “Mom kissed a moron!” — it also refers to “going to war” and an “evil little psychopath.”

The tractor references are being read by some on social media and Eurovision blogs as allusions to a 70th birthday gift from President Aleksandr G. Lukashenko of Belarus to his counterpart in Russia, Vladimir V. Putin: a Belarussian-made farm truck.

Let 3, known in Croatia for its social commentary and garish costumes, performs the song using what appeared to be nuclear rockets as onstage props.

Switzerland’s entry, “Watergun” by Remo Forrer, is unapologetically an antiwar tune. “I don’t wanna be a soldier, soldier,” Forrer sings. “I don’t wanna have to play with real blood.”

Explaining the message of that song for a promotional video in Eurovision’s website, Forrer said, “We are currently faced with global crises and war. And we must live with the consequences of decisions we didn’t make. But I still hope we can change things.”

In previous years, Eurovision has been less forgiving of entries with politically charged lyrics. Belarus was ejected from the competition in 2021 after critics said the song it had entered endorsed a violent crackdown on antigovernment protests that year by Mr. Lukashenko.

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Can Germany’s Lord of the Lost avoid last place?

Can the metal band Lord of the Lost, taking the stage now to perform “Blood and Glitter,” do any better?

Chris Harms, the band’s singer and guitarist, said in a recent telephone interview that he wrote “Blood and Glitter” with spectacle in mind, imaging a pyrotechnic and light show that could be synced to the band’s performance.

Still, he said, he knew it could be hard to convince Eurovision fans to vote for his act.

Harms said that many Germans believe their country is shunned in Eurovision for “political reasons.” Some Eurovision voters might also think it’s unfair that Germany’s entry is guaranteed a spot in the grand final when smaller nations have to qualify, he added. (Germany, Britain, France, Italy and Spain all go through to the final automatically, because they make the largest financial contributions to the competition.)

Yet sometimes, Harms said, Germany’s poor performance was simply because its entry was terrible. In 2021, Germany entered Jendrik, a ukulele player, who performed an upbeat track called “I Don’t Feel Hate.” Jendrik came second last, securing 3 points. Harms said he’d been skeptical about that song “from the very beginning.”

Even if Lord of the Lost do not do well on Saturday, Harms said, the band had already experienced some success. It has released eight albums, he said, the last of which topped Germany’s album charts. And next month, Lord of the Lost is going on an arena tour with Iron Maiden, the British heavy metal group. Harms said he would keep making music even “if things go sour, and we’re coming last — again.”

With Ukraine’s hopes in its hands, Tvorchi takes the stage.

Later, he switches to Ukrainian for a few lines. “Despite the pain, I continue my fight,” he sings, “The world is on fire, but you should act.”

In a recent interview in Kyiv, Hutsuliak said the song was inspired by Ukrainian soldiers who last year were defending the now-ruined city of Mariupol, in southern Ukraine.

Those forces, which survived for months longer than anyone thought possible, made a final stand at the sprawling Azovstal steel plant, and Hutsuliak watched clips of the conflict online. “When I saw these videos, I saw people with strength, staying solid even in the most terrible conditions,” he said.

In recent years, Ukraine has had Eurovision success by mixing musical folk traditions with contemporary styles, including rap and dance music. Tvorchi’s sleek electronic entry takes a new direction. Could it help Ukraine repeat the country’s victory at last year’s event?

Read our full profile of Tvorchi here.

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Australia? In Eurovision? What’s that about?

And finally, Australia landed an invite to compete — it was supposed to be only for a year but, well, the Aussies are still here.

And they are not joking around: Australia’s 2016 entry, Dami Im, was the runner-up that year, behind Ukraine, and Australia has been in the top 10 four times. Fun fact: Kate Miller-Heidke (9th in 2019) also co-wrote the score for “Muriel’s Wedding — The Musical.”

Voyager is not among the favorites this year, but what will happen if Australia ever wins? Will Melbourne and Sydney battle to host? Alas, that’s a fight we won’t get to see: The contest’s rules stipulate that hosting duties will be delegated to somewhere in Europe. Manchester is probably ready to step in.

It’s time for Finland: Perhaps tonight’s most bizarre entry.

In a recent phone interview, Kaarija, 29, said he always tried to make music that took popular genres like metal or rap then gave them a twist. “I just want to do crazy things!” he said.

He said he wrote “Cha Cha Cha” with two friends while sitting in a bar watching ice hockey on TV, and knew it could be a Eurovision hit as soon as he started playing it to friends and family. “It’s a party song,” he said. “All people like to party.”

Kaarija, whose real name is Jere Poyhonen, insisted the song was about more than drinking, even though its lyrics are about holding two co*cktails on the dance floor. He said he wrote it from the perspective of man using alcohol to overcome his demons, although that might be hard for viewers to grasp.

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Time for the favorite: Sweden’s entry, Loreen, with ‘Tattoo.’

Why is she so hotly tipped?

It’s not simply because Sweden is one of Eurovision’s most successful nations, having won the contest six times (starting with ABBA in 1974). Loreen, 39, also has pedigree in the contest, and won in 2012 with “Euphoria,” a love-struck dance tune that showed off her soaring vocals.

With “Tattoo,” Loreen has had help from some of Sweden’s most successful songwriters, including Moa Carlebecker, who has worked on numerous global K-pop hits.

So, the pedigree is there.

None of that, of course, would matter if Loreen’s entry wasn’t so glorious. “Tattoo” is a dance track that grows in intensity with every verse, as Loreen, the child of Moroccan Berber immigrants, sings about a lover she’s about to break up with.

The chorus is also among the catchiest you’ll hear tonight. During it, Loreen sings, “All I care about is you / You’re stuck on me like a tattoo,” drawing out the final syllables of each line’s last words.

If the track does win, Loreen will have won the same number of Eurovisions as some of Europe’s most populous countries, including Germany and Spain. Maybe she should form her own nation?

Up now: Blanca Paloma, from Spain.

Spain’s 2023 entrant, Blanca Paloma, has a different style and sound, mixing traditional flamenco sounds and an addictive electronic beat.

Paloma also tried to represent Spain at last year’s Eurovision, but lost out to Chanel during the country’s selection contest, Benidorm Fest.

This year, Spanish voters have chosen her to represent the country. But performing in the first half of the final may not help her, since Eurovision viewing figures usually peak later in the evening. Will “Eaea” be memorable enough to those voters who tuned in from the start?

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And we’re off! First up: Austria.

In the song, Teya & Salena imagine that they have been overtaken by Poe’s ghost, which is dictating the lyrics. “Don’t know how he possessed me, but I’m happy that he did,” the duo sings: “Cause this song is feeling special and is gonna make me rich.”

In recent interviews, Teya and Salena said this was a satirical dig at the music industry and the assumption that there were always men behind female artists’ success.

“Who The Hell Is Edgar?” is not the only Eurovision making literary allusions. Later tonight, Armenia’s entry, Brunette, will perform “Future Lover,” a song about a woman hoping to find a bookish boyfriend.

Rising costs mean fewer Eurovision competitors this year.

Last October, officials in North Macedonia said in a statement that the country had decided to pull out of the contest in “the best interest” of its citizens. Officials pointed to the rising cost of energy, which accounts for a large portion of the country’s public-service budget, and an increased registration fee to participate.

Officials in Montenegro made a similar announcement last year. “In addition to the significant costs of the registration fee, as well as the cost of staying in Great Britain, we also faced a lack of interest from sponsors,” officials said in a statement.

Bulgaria has also pulled out of the contest, though its reasons were unclear. In December and January, Bulgaria’s official Eurovision Twitter account responded to concerned fans, saying there were also no plans to participate in this year’s Junior Eurovision and Eurovision Choir competitions.

A broader recession was expected to hit much of Europe by the end of last year after Russia’s war in Ukraine, and retaliatory sanctions against Russia by European countries, caused global fuel, food and fertilizer prices to soar.

By late January, Europe’s economic forecast had become more positive. The region’s statistics agency had said the eurozone economy grew 0.1 percent in the last quarter of 2022, compared with the previous quarter.

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Is this Eurovision’s year of metal?

Daniel Estrin, Voyager’s longhaired lead singer and keytar player, said by phone that metal is a great fit for the annual song contest. “Eurovision’s all about drama and theater and is over the top,” he said: “So’s metal.”

Only one metal band has ever won Eurovision: Lordi, from Finland. Clad in monster outfits, its members triumphed in 2006 with “Hard Rock Hallelujah.”

Estrin, 41, said he’d been in love with the contest long before Lordi’s victory. As a child growing up in Germany, then, from age 11, in Australia, he watched Eurovision every year, jumping around his living room while pretending to play keyboards, he said.

At university in Australia, he attended Eurovision watch parties where he played drinking games with friends. “By the end of the night you’re having the greatest time in the world,” Estrin said. His band, which has released eight albums, has been trying to represent Australia in the contest since 2015.

Estrin said he expected to see more metal bands entering Eurovision in the future, though he added that some artists on a record label he runs — including groups called Earth Rot and Goat Torment — might not be suitable. Even in a show as inclusive as Eurovision, Estrin said, “I’m not sure how well that would go, to be honest.”

Meet this year’s Eurovision hosts.

The most well-known to American viewers is the Emmy Award-winning actress Hannah Waddingham, who plays Rebecca Welton in the TV soccer comedy “Ted Lasso.”

Waddingham, who has also appeared in “Sex Education” and “Game of Thrones,” has this week been charming British Eurovision fans during the semifinals with her mastery of French, which is one of the official languages of this year’s competition. Tonight, she might just try out some Ukrainian, too.

Alongside her is Graham Norton, an Irish comedian and late-night TV host. Norton has commentated on Eurovision for British television since 2009, and he is known for gently poking fun at the more outrageous performances and the horrendously complicated voting process. Expect him to do at least a little of that tonight.

Some musical expertise will come from Alesha Dixon, a former member of the girl group Mis-Teeq, whose 2003 single “Scandalous” reached number 35 on the Billboard Hot 100.

And finally, adding representation for Ukraine, is Julia Sanina, the lead singer of The Hardkiss, one of the country’s most popular rock bands.

In a recent telephone interview, Sanina said Eurovision was her first TV presenting gig. She felt a “big responsibility” to represent her war-torn country onstage, she added, and had been practicing her English by reading “Harry Potter” novels.

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As the war rages, some Ukrainians turn to Eurovision for a bit of cheer.

At Ponchyk Boy cafe, which means Doughnut Boy, bakers dedicated a special treat to Eurovision: one with Bailey’s topped with strawberry yogurt and fresh strawberry pieces.

“Many people got our doughnuts to go today and said they are buying them to watch Eurovision,” said Yaroslav Koshovyi, 26, the cafe manager. “We are a very bright cafe so our doughnuts suit Eurovision.”

At 6 p.m., Eurovision fans gathered at the bar Squat 17b for an early night out, with the first applause of the evening going to the Ukrainian Army. Kyiv’s curfew starts at midnight and the bar is closing at 8:30 p.m. to allow people to get home.

At one table, a group of friends sang along to Eurovision songs.

“It’s a piece of happiness,” said Olha Tarasenko, 24. “I remember last year when I evacuated to Poland, we went with friends to one Polish gay bar to watch Eurovision, and when Ukraine won, I was crying, and felt like everything is possible.”

Few in Ukraine expect to win this year.

“We probably will not win this year, but we are good at cheering and hoping,” said Anastasia Telikova, 32, a photographer and volunteer, who was resting in a downtown Kyiv park with a soldier friend.

After the park, she planned to go a club to watch the start before heading home to watch with friends.

“With all the pain and loss, if there is a possibility to get together with people you are close to, it’s worth doing,” she said.

Last year, when Ukraine won, “people were smiling, despite a lot of danger and uncertainty around us,” she said. “We are ready to hold onto any possible symbol now that can give hope.”