(courtesy Eurovision.tv (c) Corinne Cumming)
We have a winner!
Switzerland’s non-binary identifying Nemo took the top prize this year with his empowering song “The Code” in a contest that was, unfortunately, marked as much by controversy as inspiring moments.
Nemo romped away with the jury votes with a clear majority (22) of the 37 participating countries awarding him the top prize – he finished on top at this stage of the voting with 365 votes, followed by France on 218, Croatia on 210, Italy on 164 and Ukraine on 146.
To win the crystal microphone prize, Nemo, found a lot of love in the green room from the likes of Ireland’s also non-binary entrant Bambi Thug, who delivered a spookily magnificent performance, had to then garner 183 points or better from the public vote to win the contest overall.
It was touch and go at the end with Switzerland and France the last two to have public votes awarded – the second part of the votes were allocated from the bottom of the jury votes table up which meant a lot of moving around of countries on the points board, most particularly by Israel who, confounding the prevalent anti-war sentiment in the room, went from 52 points from the jury and 12th place to fifth place overall with 375 points – but Nemo, whose exuberantly emotional reaction at the end was everything, won out in the end gathering up 226 points to emerge the 68th winner of the contest!
The win marks Switzerland’s third win at the Eurovision Song Contest, following victory by Lys Assia in 1956 and Céline Dion in 1988 and Geneva has already signaled its interest as acting as the host city (Update: three cities are now vying for the hosting gig – Geneva, Basel and St. Gallen).
Well done Nemo – from the moment I heard the song I knew it was something special and I hoped Switzerland would win, and seeing that happen has made me and million of others very happy.
For all of the joy and happiness of the grand final, it had to battle against some significant controversy.
To everyone’s shock, Netherlands’ fan favourite Joost Klein whose gorgeously upbeat and surprisingly touching song “Europapa” was a firm favourite in Malmö Arena, was disqualified from the contest just hours before the grand final following a complaint by a female EBU camerawoman – the European Broadcasting Union or EBU run Eurovision on behalf of their public TV broadcasting members from across Europe – that Klein had acted aggressively towards her.
While the full story is still to emerge, and likely will take some time to do so given the investigation required, the disqualification cast a pall over an event which was already struggling with the controversy surrounding Israel’s participation with many people calling it for it to be disqualified over its military campaign in Gaza.
Whatever your thoughts on the issue, and it is a complex one, the fact remains that these two issues meant that unlike last year’s relentlessly sunny and upbeat event where the UK co-hosted on behalf of Ukraine, the 2024 contest was mired in all kinds of negativity that don’t sit well with a musical event meant to unite everyone with music.
Still, for all that darkness, Nemo remained a ray of light throughout …
As usual, outside of the stunningly good performances by the likes of Ireland’s Bambi Thug, Lithuania’s Silvester Belt, Croatia’s Baby Lasagne, and Estonia’s 5MIINUST x Puuluup, Eurovision 2024 gave us some wonderful opening act and interval performances, and a heartwarmingly fun tribute to ABBA whose 1974-winning song “Waterloo” is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year.
The flag parade took place with an array of iconic Swedish pop songs playing, a run of musical success that began in 1974 with the Björn Skifs-fronted band Blue Swede’s hit song “Hooked on a Feeling” which the artist performed at the grand final …
There were of course some wonderful performances from the likes of Alcazar – they came on as part of the comedy driven lead up to the ABBA tribute section with co-host actress Malin Åkerman booking the wrong Swedish act beginning with an “A” – Loreen, who performed two songs, new single “Forever” and “Tattoo” which won her the 2023 contest and even co-host Petra Merde, back for an iconically humourous third hosting stint, giving Eurovision a super comedic musical tribute …
But the big moment if you’re an ABBA fan, was the appearance by the “ABBAtars” which front the Voyage show in London, on stage reminiscing about their big win. Sure it wasn’t ABBA themselves but then that was always unlikely to happen, but it was the next best thing and it led into a wonderful performance of “Waterloo” by Carola, Charlotte Perrelli and Conchita Wurst which stole the night …
For all of the controversy, what will be remembered about this year’s contest was the brightness and light of Nemo, the rap rambunctiousness of Baby Lasagne and so many other artists and people who affirmed that whatever comes our way, we can be united by music.
Sure, there are fractures and divisions and yes, as Nemo observed at his press conference Eurovision may need a little fixing – just like the trophy he broke oops! – and will no doubt as good as new, no matter which city gets the hosting gig for what we hope will be a year of healing and rejuvenation in 2025.