What to expect from Eurovision in 2024

There is just over a month left until the start of the 68th Eurovision Song Contest. Both the participants and their musical numbers have been determined. He talks about what to expect from the third Eurovision in a row without Russia Igor Gavrilov.

In Europe, promotional tours of the participants of the upcoming competition are in full swing. They give concerts in different countries, winning new audiences, because their compatriots cannot vote for their own, such are the rules of the competition.

The competition will be held in the city of Malmö: for the second time in the last twenty years, Sweden is hosting Eurovision, and both times it was the merit of the same artist – singer Lorin. Its winning song in 2023 was “Tattoo”, and last time, in 2012, Sweden won with “Euphoria”. Laureen and her songs are the perfect embodiment of the Swedish pop miracle, commercial songwriting as an exact science. It’s no wonder that Thomas Gustaffson, the man who wrote 69 songs that participated in the national Eurovision selections from different countries, took part in the creation of both winning compositions. 12 of them were performed at the competition. But this year Gustaffson is taking a break: his music will not be in Malmö.

37 countries will take part in Eurovision 2024, including six that went straight to the final. These are the founding countries of the competition and the host country.

The first semi-final will take place on May 7, the second on May 9, and the winner will be determined at the final show on May 11. Like last year, countries that do not participate in Eurovision will still be able to vote for participants. To do this, their viewers need to join the “Rest of the World” team and pay for their votes with valid cards from one of the international payment systems.

Bookmakers currently give preference to the representative of Croatia named Baby Lasagna. His song “Rim Tim Tagi Dim” is predicted to win with a 17 percent probability. In the top three likely winners, he is followed by the Italian Angelina Mango (see “Kommersant” on February 11) and the Swiss Nemo.

Luxembourg returned to the lineup after a pause of 31 years. The country has five victories in the competition, mostly in the 1960s and 1970s. Usually, artists of French origin perform for Luxembourg, and once the well-known Spanish duet Baccara sang in our country, although it did not bring winning points. In the same year, Israeli-born singer and vocal coach Tali performed for the Grand Duchy. The competition song “Fighter” was written for it by Italian authors, but the lyrics are French.

There was a chance that Tali would have remained the only Israeli in the competition. Following the escalation of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, social media users launched a campaign to exclude Israel from participating. Representatives of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) firmly stated that Israel’s war with Hamas will not affect the country’s participation in the competition. However, the pro-Palestinian public was not appeased. French Eurovision 2023 participant La Zarra said in January that Israel should share the fate of Russia at the competition, which was suspended from participation in the competition in 2022. Iceland and Finland threatened to withdraw the winners of their national selections if Israel remained among the participants. However, in the end, delegates from both countries still go to Malmo.

Israel itself could also refuse to participate in the competition: the European Broadcasting Union invited the local broadcaster Kan to make changes for political reasons to the text of the competition song “October Rain”, which was to be performed by singer Eden Golan in Sweden.

The still very active Russian Eurovision fans can safely root for Eden Golan. She spent 13 of her 20 years in Russia, where her father worked. And her grandfather Yuri Golan is a graduate of the Faculty of Journalism of Moscow State University and once worked in the newspaper “Soviet Youth”. Eden Golan calls Russia the place where her singing career began: in 2015, she participated in the qualifying round of Junior Eurovision, which was organized by Igor Krutoy’s Academy of Popular Music. The next year she performed in Crimea at the children’s New Wave. Finally, in 2018 she became a finalist in the “Voice” competition. Children” on the Russian Channel One.

The song “October Rain” was written for her by Israeli authors Keren Peles and Avi Ohayon. Despite the fact that Israel has declared its readiness to withdraw from the competition if the EBU continues to put pressure on the broadcaster and musicians, Eden Golan remains on the final list of participants: the song will be called “Hurricane” and with changed lyrics, not causing, from the point of view of European television officials, direct associations with the October events in Israel.

In a word, the political context, which Eurovision critics constantly talk about, is not going away. But the more tense the international situation, the more closely the EBU monitors to ensure that Eurovision remains a “celebration of song” and the world’s problems remain behind its tightly locked doors.