The 2024 edition of Eurovision will not have given Eurofans any respite. From the announcement, last November, of Slimane’s candidacy, to the final twists and turns of the day on Saturday, marked by an exclusion, a behind-the-scenes incident, tensions around Israel and a surprise victory for Switzerland, The European song contest has been particularly eventful this year.
• The Swiss surprise
Betting houses have been predicting for several days the victory of the Croatian singer Baby Lasagna and his song Tim Tagi Dim Rim. However, they were wrong: the Swiss artist Nemo, although he occupies a good position in the bookmakers’ rankings, defied the predictions by winning the top of the podium, becoming the first non-binary artist to win the Eurovision final.
Your song, The code, “tells the story of the journey I began by realizing that I am neither a man nor a woman,” said Nemo, who flew the nonbinary flag during the competition’s opening parade. “They forced me to fly my flag,” lamented the artist, who considered that “Eurovision needs to change a little” how it works.
• Tensions around Israel
Israel’s participation in the competition has been a source of multiple tensions in recent months due to the war between Israel and Hamas since October 7. Israeli Eden Golan came in fifth place with 323 points for her song. Hurricane. “Every time Israel got points, there were boos everywhere,” Michael Kerwick, an Irish fan, told AFP.
From boycott calls to exclusion requests, their presence has sparked several protests in participating countries in recent months. The FTT, an association of Icelandic artists, demanded in December 2023 not to participate in Eurovision unless Israel is excluded. A month later, a collective of 1,400 Finnish artists made the same request.
After several speeches in favor of Israel’s participation, the Eurovision organizers finally fired the idea of its exclusion in mid-February, without calming calls for a boycott. The controversy was revived at the end of February when the Israeli delegation presented the song. october rain. A title immediately interpreted as a direct reference to the massacre of October 7.
The station, which first threatened to withdraw In case of rejection of the song, he ended up reworking the title with a new version titled dance forever, which specifically refers to the Hamas attack on the Nova Music festival on October 7. Once again the song It was rejected. The third proposal, titled Hurricane, finally got EBU approval at the beginning of March.
As the competition approached, Eden Golan received threats of death on his Instagram account. To ensure the security of the event, the Malmö police mobilized reinforcements from all over the Scandinavian country but also from Denmark and Norway. Several pro-Palestine demonstrations were also organized in the city.
• The exclusion of the Netherlands
Joost Klein, the Dutch candidate, was excluded from the final a few hours before it began. “The Swedish police have investigated a complaint made by a member of the production team following an incident that occurred after her performance during Thursday night’s semi-final,” the EBU explained in a statement.
“While the judicial process is ongoing, it would not be appropriate for him to continue participating in the competition,” said the organization, recalling that it applies “a zero tolerance policy regarding inappropriate behavior.” A decision immediately condemned by the Dutch broadcaster Avrotros, for whom this disqualification is “disproportionate”.
According to Avrotros, Joost Klein became angry after being filmed even though he had asked “several times” not to be filmed. The fact that his request was not “respected” caused “a threatening movement” from the artist towards the camera. According to Avrotros, “Joost did not touch the cameraman.” The station explains that he “proposed different solutions” to the organizers to avoid the candidate’s exclusion, to no avail.
• Another incident with Bambie Thug
The non-binary artist Bambi bully, who represented Ireland this year, missed a rehearsal hours before the final due to a backstage incident. Although the artist did not specify the nature of this incident, it is a different event from the one that caused Joost Klein to be excluded from the contest this morning.
“Something happened while we were waiting to go on stage during the flag parade rehearsal,” Bambie Thug’s Instagram story read. “Something happened that required urgent intervention by the EBU, and the EBU took this matter seriously. We discussed what measures should be taken,” the artist added.
• No points for England
The performance of Olly Alexander, representative of the United Kingdom during Eurovision, did not convince the Europeans. The singer did not get any points from the audience after performing his song. Dizzy. With a total of 46 points, the United Kingdom finished in 18th place of the competition. Despite this poor performance, Olly Alexander is doing better than Mae Muller, who failed in 25th place in 2023.
• Slimane’s emotion
The French candidate, who aspired “the place of pride”took off with his moving song My love fourth place. If he fails at the foot of the podium, in this edition he left his mark in particular thanks to the a cappella passage of his piece. During the final rehearsal, this passage was especially applauded. The singer replaced the lyrics with a speech for peace.
“When I was a child I dreamed of music, I dreamed of being a singer and singing about peace,” said the singer to the applause of the Malmö audience, according to his words collected by 20 minutes. Before adding: “We need to be united by music, yes, but in love and peace.” A message that she did not reiterate during the final. But the artist, with tears in his eyes, sang his ballad with great emotion.
Slimane was just as “very moved” after the competition. “I always said that when they asked me to do Eurovision I just wanted to be proud of myself. And today I am not only proud of myself, I am proud of us because in France we have talents whose quantity we cannot measure. I think there will be a before and a later in my life not as an artist but as a man”.
Source: BFM TV
