What is the Eurovision Song Contest?
Started way back in 1956 as a way of drawing a fractured Europe back together with the healing power of music, the Eurovision Song Contest, or Concours Eurovision de la Chanson – the contest is telecast in both English and French – is open to all active members of the European Broadcasting Union, which oversees the competition.
Each country is permitted to submit one three-minute song to the contest – a song which is selected by a variety of means, usually a winner-takes-all competition such as Sweden’s renowned Melodifestivalen – which their selected entrant performs in one of two semi-finals in the hopes of making it to the glittering grand final.
Only six countries have direct entry into the grand final:
- The Big Five who fund most of the contest – UK, Germany, France, Italy and Spain
- The host country (which is the winner of the previous year’s contest)
In a change for 2024, the grand final six will now perform in full in the semi-final in which their countries are voting; so Germany, Sweden and the UK will perform in semifinal one while France, Italy and Spain will perform in the second semifinal.
The winner is chosen by a 50/50 mix of viewer votes (you cannot vote for your own country and for 2024, voting will now be permitted from the start of the grand final) and a jury of music industry professionals in each country, a method which was chosen to counter the alleged skewing of votes based on political and/or cultural lines when voting was purely the preserve of viewers at home.
Past winners include, of course, ABBA in 1974 with “Waterloo” and Celine Dion who won for Switzerland in 1988 with “Ne partez pas sans moi”.Above all though, the Eurovision Song Contest is bright, over the top and deliciously camp, a celebration of music, inclusiveness and togetherness that draws annual viewing figures in the hundreds of millions.
This year’s event
The Grand Final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2024 will take place in the Malmö Arena on Saturday 11 May with Semi-Finals on Tuesday 7 and Thursday 9 May. The 68th Eurovision Song Contest will be hosted by a Hollywood star and an iconic Eurovision-veteran; Malin Åkerman and Petra Mede will together lead the three broadcasts, live from Malmö Arena. Swedish broadcaster SVT, together with the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), will organise the Contest thanks to Loreen’s historic win in Liverpool in 2023. (courtesy and (c) Eurovision.tv)
THE ARTIST
Singer-songwriter LUNA aka Aleksandra Katarzyna “Ola” Wielgomas is yet another Eurovision entrant who got into the music biz at a very early age.
Along with a stint studying singing and performing operas with the Artos Children’s Choir at the Grand Theatre in Warsaw, LUNA also took violin classes at “Tadeusz Baird” National Music School in Grodzisk Mazowiecki, and sang and danced in a folk band.
If that wasn’t enough (anyone else exhausted by this prodigious output?), the artist also studied legal and political – always have a back-up am I right? – but her first love is music and in 2018, she released her debut single, “Na wzgórzach niepokoju” as part of her record labels “My Name is New” promotional campaign.
LUNA penned the lyrics to the song and she has gone to write in both English and Polish and to play at a range of music festivals.
So music apprenticeship well and truly done! But does the yoga teacher and drawer of energy from the Moon, who also like a good cup of energising coffee, have what it takes to truly shine on a pan European stage?
(courtesy official LUNA Instagram)
THE SONG
Quite posisbly.
“The Tower” is a burst of bright, effervescently feel good pop that carries not only a buoyant melody but lyrics that manage to sound earnest without suffering from a hint of Eurovision twee.
For a song possessing some fairly serious lyrics, “The Tower” feels a drop of sunshine and puppy dog happiness, helped along by vocals which sound playfully cute but also emotionally resonant too.
It’s alive, fresh and a pleasure to listen to and along with a costume that must be included in her official Eurovision performance is there is any sartorial justice in the world, it’s the kind of song that will no doubt fly on stage with the right choreography that needs to tap into and channel the song’s innate joyfulness.
THE ARTIST
iolanda, like LUNA, is a singer-songwriter firmly in the musical prodigy camp who began writing songs and participating in TV talent programs like Uma canção para ti (A Song For You) when she was just a teenager.
She also studied music at both Tecnimúsica and the Conservatory, the result of her parents revealed she has a passion for music and talent for burn and that it needed to be funnelled into something lasting.
That goal seems to have been well and truly kicked with iolanda moving south to Lisbon from her hometown of São Pedro de Cova Gala, with the capital affording her the opportunity to start, according to her official Eurovision bio, “performing in bars and national talent competitions as an even greater gateway into music”.
That big move gave way to an even bigger one with iolanda heading to BIMM, University of Sussex to study songwriting which has clearly paid off with the artist penning the lyrics and music (with Luar) to the Song “Grito” which won her the Festival da Canção 2024 and with the right to represent Portugal at this year’s contest.
(courtesy official iolanda Instagram)
THE SONG
Fittingly for an artist who combines R&B and pop with traditional Portuguese and Iberian, “Quito” is a beautifully emotional song.
Anchored in a vocal and musical ethereality, “Quito” has that trademark Portuguese emotional passion which has stood the country in such good stead in the past – it won the contest for the country back in 2017 when Savador Sobral poured his heart and soul (almost literally) into “Amar pelos dois” – and which could once again see it do quite well.
The only thing lacking in the song is that stays in first gear for much of the song, admittedly building up but not in such a way that it makes a lasting impression or the kind of performative statement that captures audience hearts and minds, and better still, their all-important votes.
It’s a beautifully evocative song that rather eccentrically features singers whose heads are decked out in what looks like plastic wrap netting and it definitely kicks some emotively arresting goals, but while it may get Portugal to the grand final, it likely won’t win it the entire contest.
SERBIA: “RAMONDA” by TEYA DORA
THE ARTIST
Continuing a Eurovision trend that’s been evident for a few decades now, Serbia’s representative, TEYA DORA (known to her parents and friends as Teodora Pavlovska; the stage name comes from Americans mispronouncing her given name – see below) blends “traditional Balkan influences and heartfelt lyrics”.
But if you think this limits her appeals to a set geographical area in Europe, think again because according to her short but sweet Eurovision bio, singer-songwriter-producer TEYA DORA’s music “has resonated with millions globally”.
That global reach has no doubt been helped along by her time studying at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts where her audition included singing “No One” by Alicia Keys and her classmate was one Charlie Puth.
While she lived in New York City for a while, TEYA DORA returned to Serbia four years after her graduation in 2014, writing songs for various artists, releasing her own single such as debut release “Nema limita”, and a subsequent 2023-debuted song, “Džanum”, which did big business on YouTube and Spotify.
So she has the world sewn up but does her song have what it takes to win over European hearts and minds?
(courtesy official TEYA DORA Instagram)
THE SONG
Quite possibly if she can absolutely nail the raw emotionality of “RAMONDA” (t appears to be capitals all the way in TEYA DORA’s world) in stage.
While the song doesn’t build up a massive heads of stream, it possesses a fragile but powerful beauty that could, with a pitch perfect performance, get her over the line to the grand final though a win in the contest herself is unlikely given the rousing strength of a number of other leading entries.
Still, this is a stunningly evocative song, that involves a lot of pensive lying on seaside rocks, and with vocals that have a resonant ethereality to them, it’s the sort of ballad that is far from inert and may make an impact on those who liken their songs a little slower and with more than a little thoughtful introspection.
If nothing else, it proves that TEYA DORA has a bright future ahead of her, capable of arrestingly touching delivery and a beautiful performative presence that should stand her in good stead.
SLOVENIA: “Veronika” by Raiven
THE ARTIST
The music has been youthfully strong with Raiven aka Sara Briški Cirman ever since she began studying music at the tender age of four at the Glasbena Matica in Ljubljana, which was followed by harp lesson at the same city’s Music School for nine years from the age of six.
Here’s someone, like so many other Eurovision entrants, who has shown a prodigious propensity for capre dieming everything musical out of life.
It’s no surpruse that with harp lessons, jazz singing and heavily awarded achievements in classical music to her credit that Raiven describes herself as a “musical alchemist”, with her range even extending to a burgeoning career in electro-pop.
With an abundant love of music in all kinds of many and varied forms, and the talent and passion to do something remarkable with it, it will not surprise you one bit to learnt that Raiven has competed to represent Slovenia not once, not twice but three times with her songs always landing firmly in the top three.
Fourth time has, of course proved the charm, and now she has her long-sought prize, does she has a song that will make the most of it?
(courtesy Wiwibloggs)
THE SONG
“Veronika”, which Raiven had a key hand in crafting, has come with a song that is all ethereal vocals and quietly reflective lyrics until it hits the chorus with some sort of bombastic certainty.
It doesn’t quite make as much of that burst of musical inventiveness as you hope, and while it is definitely bursting with some profoundly creative originality and pleasing musical and visual weirdness, it never really gets off the ground.
Having said that, it’s absolutely the sort of track that could attract real attention if some brave risks are taken with the performance which will benefit from striking visual backdrops and the sort of choreography that plays up the drama inherent in the song.
Helping things along are Raiven’s brilliantly crisp and evocatively sharp vocals that bring some real life to the song and which mean that even if it doesn’t fulfill its promise, it’s a damn fine entry that is worth a listen and a sizeable number of votes.
UKRAINE: “Teresa & Maria” by alyona alyona & Jerry Heil
THE ARTISTS
Collaboration almost always proves fruitful in music to greater or lesser degrees, and Ukraine, which last won the contest in 2022 is no hoping that it prove bountifully so for them this year.
Female rapper alyona alyona, who has been likened by The New York Times to Azealia Banks, has joined forced with singer-songwriter-YouTuber Jerry Heil who cut her musical teeth in 2012 with vlogs and musical covers, to represent the wartorn country.
Together these two clearly talented musical artists are more than the sum of their considerable musical parts, with alyona alyona beginning her rise to musical fame in the mid-Noughties and Jerry heil launching her professional career in 2017 with EP De miy yum, proving they are forces to be reckoned with alone and even more so as a duo.
But while they are routinely hailed as two of the biggest artists in Ukraine, will that give them the clout and lift they need to make it big on the European stage which cares not how big you are in your small country-specific pond?
(courtesy official Jerry Heil Instagram)
THE SONG
You’d like to think so because who doesn’t love a catchy Eurovision fairytale?
The good news is that while “Teresa & Maria” sounds a little underwhelming on a cursory first listen, it picks up speed and with it impact on repeat listens, making the most of the respective talents of both artist who are each allowed moments to shine in what is still very much a group effort.
Their Eurovision bio says that the song was written “to remind people that everyone is capable of achieving great heights … emphasising that we all start small and that it is our actions that define us”, a laudable contest-friendly sentiment that is matched by a richly affecting music that doesn’t fall into twee earnestness but stays sounding fresh, upbeat and delightfully inspiring.
The song may not quite scale the heights of labelmates and 2022 winners Kalush Orchestra, but it’s beautiful and uplifting with a real presence that should see Ukraine doing very well at this year’s contest.
SEMI-FINAL 1 TOP TEN
All of these reviews, bring us to the end of semi-final 1, beg the question – which ten acts do this humble reviewer think will make it through to the grand final and possible Eurovision glory?
AUSTRALIA: “One Mikaeli (One Blood)”
CROATIA: “Rim Tim Tagi Dim” by Baby Lasgana
CYPRUS: “Liar” by Silia Kapsis
FINLAND: “No Rules!” by Windows95Man
IRELAND: “Doomsday Blue” by Bambie Thug
LITHUANIA: “Luktelk” by Silvester Belt