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Eurovision 2023 is just 5 days away and if you have no idea what I'm talking about, a) where have you been? and b) don't fret - I have everything you need to know right here. In a nutshell, The Eurovision Song Contest is a predominantly European music contest (though Australia somehow participates) in which participating countries submit an original song of no more than 3 minutes, which is performed live in a spectacular live final. Other participating countries then cast votes for their favorite; besides the prestigious title, the winning act also receives an iconic trophy. According to the official Eurovision website, voting works as follows: "After all songs have been performed, each country will give two sets of points to their favourite songs; one set is given by a jury of five music industry professionals from that country, and one set given by viewers watching the show in country. Viewers can vote by telephone, SMS and through the official app. Out of fairness, you cannot vote for your own country".
The final is approximately four hours of pure unapologetically camp, boundary-pushing music and costumes and entertaining commentary. It's even more fun to experience at a live viewing party, which is my plan for this year's finale. Liverpool is hosting the contest on behalf of last year's winning country, Ukraine. Typically the winning country hosts the following year's contest but this is not possible because of the ongoing war in Ukraine. This year's hosts for the live broadcast are British singer Alesha Dixon, British actress Hannah Waddingham, and Ukrainian singer Julia Sanina with the BBC's Eurovision commentator since 2009, Graham Norton, completing the group of hosts for the final.
Here are my top 10 entries for this year's contest along with some facts about each country's Eurovision track record:
10 | Moldova : Pasha Parfeni - Soarele şi Luna
Moldova has never won the contest
Czechia has never won the contest
The first Israeli winner was the song A-Ba-Ni-Bi by Izhar Cohen and the Alphabeta in 1978
Belgian has only won the contest once with Sandra Kim's J'aime La Vie in 1986
Sandra Kim, at 13, is also the youngest ever Eurovision winner
Malta has never won the contest
Also check out Reiley's catchy song blah blah blah, which samples Kylie's Cant' Get You Out Of My Head
Last Danish winner: Emmelie de Forest - Only Teardrops (2013)
Grethe and Jørgen Ingman were the first Danish participants to win with their song Dansevise in 1963
Last Norwegian winner: Alexander Rybak - Fairytale (2009)
The first Norwegian entry to win was La Det Swinge by Bobysocks in 1985
Last British winner: Katrina and The Waves - Love Shine A Light (1997)
The first UK winner was Sandie Shaw's Puppet On A String in 1967
Last year's UK entry, Spaceman by Sam Ryder, came in second place in last year's contest
2 | France : La Zarra - Évidemment
Last French winner: Marie Myriam - L'oiseau Et L'enfant (1977)
André Claveau was the first French winner with Dors, Mon Amour in 1958
1 | Sweden : Loreen - Tattoo
Loreen also brought the trophy home for Sweden in 2012 with her song Euphoria
Last Swedish winner: Måns Zelmerlöw - Heroes (2015)
ABBA was the first Swedish act to win the contest with Waterloo in 1974
Finally, here is a link to all 37 songs for 2023: Eurovision 2023 Songs
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