Eurovision Song Contest 2024

68th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest

The Eurovision Song Contest 2024 was the 68th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. Hosted in Malmö, the contest began on 7 May 2024 with the first semi-final. The second semi final took place on 9 May and the grand final took place on 11 May 2024.[1]

A group of artists of the Eurovision Song Contest 2024 at the Eurovision in Concert pre-party event in Amsterdam, April 2024

37 countries took part in the contest, with Luxembourg participating for the first time in 31 years.[2][3]

Netherlands was removed because of an incident with production crew at the contest despite having made it through to the Finals.[4] The Swedish Police Authority has launched an investigation.

The winner was Nemo, representing Switzerland with the song "The Code".[5][6][7]

Hosting

The entrance to the contest's venue

The contest was held in Malmö, Sweden, following their win at the 2023 contest with the song "Tattoo" by Loreen. The hosts are Malin Åkerman and Petra Mede, who hosted in 2013 and 2016.

Changes to the contest

  • The EBU (the organisation which owns Eurovision) decided that every year following the 2023 Contest would use the same slogan "United By Music".[8][9]
  • For the first time, the Big 5 (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) and the host country performed in the semi-finals.[10][11]
  • Viewers were able to vote from the beginning of the first performance.[12][10] This was done because many songs which perform earlier in the show do not often place high in the public vote.

Overview

The Grand Final of Eurovision 2024 was planned to have 26 countries taking part. These include the Big 5 (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom), the host country Sweden and ten countries from each of the two semi-finals. On the day of the Grand Final, the Netherlands was removed from the contest, meaning that there were 25 countries in the final.

Semi-Final 1

The first semi-final took place on 7 May 2024 at 21:00 CEST.[13] Fifteen countries competed in this semi-final while Germany, Sweden and the UK also performed. Guest performers included past contestants Eleni Foureira, Eric Saade, Chanel Terrero, Benjamin Ingrosso and Johnny Logan, who was the first person to win Eurovision twice.

All countries from this semi-final were able to vote, as well as viewers from non-participating countries under one "rest of the world" online vote. The ten countries with the most votes qualified for the final.

  Countries that made it to the Grand Final
First semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2024[14]
R/OCountryArtistSongPointsPlace
1  CyprusSilia Kapsis"Liar"676th
2  SerbiaTeya Dora"Ramonda"4710th
3  LithuaniaSilvester Belt"Luktelk"1194th
4  IrelandBambie Thug"Doomsday Blue"1243rd
5  UkraineAlyona Alyona & Jerry Heil"Teresa & Maria"1732nd
6  PolandLuna"The Tower"3512th
7  CroatiaBaby Lasagna"Rim Tim Tagi Dim"1771st
8  IcelandHera Björk"Scared of Heights"315th
9  SloveniaRaiven"Veronika"519th
10  FinlandWindows95man[a]"No Rules!"597th
11  MoldovaNatalia Barbu"In the Middle"2013th
12  AzerbaijanFahree feat. Ilkin Dovlatov"Özünlə apar"1114th
13  AustraliaElectric Fields"One Milkali (One Blood)"4111th
14  PortugalIolanda"Grito"588th
15  LuxembourgTali"Fighter"1175th

Semi-Final 2

The second semi-final took place on 9 May 2024 at 21:00 CEST.[15] Sixteen countries took part in this semi-final while France, Italy and Spain also performed their songs. Guest performers included winners from the 1999, 2003 and 2005 contests: Charlotte Perrelli, Sertab Erener and Helena Paparizou.

All countries from this semi-final were able to vote, as well as viewers from non-participating countries under one "rest of the world" online vote. The ten countries with the most votes qualified to the final.

  Countries that made it to the Grand Final
Second semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2024[16]
R/OCountryArtistSongPointsNo.
1  MaltaSarah Bonnici"Loop"1316th
2  AlbaniaBesa"Titan"1415th
3  GreeceMarina Satti"Zari"865th
4   SwitzerlandNemo"The Code"1324th
5  CzechiaAiko"Pedestal"3811th
6  AustriaKaleen"We Will Rave"469th
7  DenmarkSaba"Sand"3612th
8  ArmeniaLadaniva"Jako"1373rd
9  LatviaDons"Hollow"727th
10  San MarinoMegara"11:11"1614th
11  GeorgiaNutsa Buzaladze"Firefighter"548th
12  BelgiumMustii"Before the Party's Over"1813th
13  Estonia5MIINUST & Puuluup"(nendest) narkootikumidest ei tea me (küll) midagi"796th
14  IsraelEden Golan"Hurricane"1941st
15  NorwayGåte"Ulveham"4310th
16  NetherlandsJoost Klein"Europapa"1822nd

Grand Final

The final took place on 11 May 2024 at 21:00 CEST.[17] The finalists included Sweden, the Big 5 and twenty countries which qualified from the semi-finals. A voting system of points was used to determine the winner. Half of the points were awarded by national juries from each participating country and the other half of the points were awarded by televotes from each country plus the "Rest of the World" online vote. The winner was Switzerland, with "The Code" by Nemo. The trophy was awarded to Nemo by Loreen, who also performed during the interval of the show.

Netherlands was removed because of an incident with production crew at the contest despite having made it through to the Finals.[4] The Swedish Police Authority has launched an investigation.

  Winner
 Removed from the contest
Final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2024[18]
R/OCountryArtistSongPointsPlace
1 SwedenMarcus & Martinus"Unforgettable"1749th
2 UkraineAlyona Alyona & Jerry Heil"Teresa & Maria"4533rd
3 GermanyIsaak"Always on the Run"11712th
4  LuxembourgTali"Fighter"10313th
5  Netherlands Joost Klein"Europapa"
6 IsraelEden Golan"Hurricane"3755th
7 LithuaniaSilvester Belt"Luktelk"9014th
8 SpainNebulossa"Zorra"3022nd
9 Estonia5MIINUST & Puuluup"(nendest) narkootikumidest ei tea me (küll) midagi"3720th
10  IrelandBambie Thug"Doomsday Blue"2786th
11  LatviaDons"Hollow"6416th
12  GreeceMarina Satti"Zari"12611th
13 United KingdomOlly Alexander"Dizzy"4618th
14 NorwayGåte"Ulveham"1625th
15 ItalyAngelina Mango"La noia"2687th
16 SerbiaTeya Dora"Ramonda"5417th
17 FinlandWindows95man[a]"No Rules!"3819th
18 PortugalIolanda"Grito"15210th
19 ArmeniaLadaniva"Jako"1838th
20 CyprusSilia Kapsis"Liar"7815th
21 SwitzerlandNemo"The Code"5911st
22 SloveniaRaiven"Veronika"2723rd
23 CroatiaBaby Lasagna"Rim Tim Tagi Dim"5472nd
24  GeorgiaNutsa Buzaladze"Firefighter"3421st
25 FranceSlimane"Mon amour"4454th
26 AustriaKaleen"We Will Rave"2424th

Controversies

Israeli participation

The decision to allow Israel to compete was controversial because some people argued that they should have been excluded from the contest due to their actions in their conflict with Hamas, much like how Russia was excluded in 2022 for their invasion of Ukraine. The Israeli contestant, Eden Golan, was booed by the crowds during live shows. Several contestants showed their unhappiness over Israel's participation over the course of the contest including Bambie Thug and Iolanda.[19][20] Additionally, Eric Saade, who performed in semi-final 1, had a keffiyeh around his arm, which Eurovision saw as a political move supporting Palestine and decided not to post footage of his performance on social media.[21]

Dutch removal

On the day before the Grand Final, Dutch contestant Joost Klein was not present in rehearsals. It was later revealed that there was an incident between him and a female photographer. Eurovision decided to remove the Netherlands from the contest while the Swedish Police Authority investigated the situation.

References

Other websites