Dear Readers,

Hope you’re all doing well!

Warning – this is a whiny rant!

So last week was Eurovision week. For those who know me – Eurovision week is the highlight of my week.

On Tuesday and Thursday I rush home and prepare for the Semi-Finals; then on Saturday, I try to find a party to watch and celebrate with others.

I’ve been watching Eurovision since I was about 6 years old. It really has contributed to my love of foreign cultures.

This year, however, I was slightly disappointed. 

Maybe it’s my age, but I felt that the Eurovision has become so young? Many of the performers were around 20 years old…and I just felt they didn’t embrace what Eurovision was supposed to be about. Or…they just didn’t appeal to my type of music.

Warning: This is the selfish ramblings of a millennial trying to grasp the past – and these opinions are truely my own.

What is Eurovision supposed to be about really?

Eurovision is generally a chance for countries to express themselves. This means a lot of the music isn’t exactly mainstream yet quite memorable. 

My favourite acts from the past include:

• Alexander Rybak / Fairytale  🇳🇴
• Waterloo / Abba 🇸🇪
• Zitti E Buoni / Måneskin 🇮🇹
• Give that wolf a banana /Subwoolfer  🇳🇴
• 10 years / Daði Freyr 🇮🇸
• Heroes / Måns Zelmerlöw 🇸🇪
• Tomorrow / Gianluca Bezzina 🇲🇹
• Kedvesem / ByeAlex 🇭🇺

My favourites in 2023 were:

• Cha Cha Cha / Käärijä 🇫🇮
• Because of you / Gustaph 🇧🇪
• Queen of Kings / Alessandra 🇳🇴

What I fear. 

So this year the winner was Loreen with Tattoo 🇸🇪.

The song is good – it’s mainstream. It can be played on the radio or pumped into the clubs. 

Loreen changed Eurovision’s direction with the song Euphoria in 2012, but maybe we need to reverse back a bit. 

How Eurovision votes. 

There are two votes in Eurovision. The jury votes and the public votes.

The jury votes on the musicality of the song and the performance. They place their votes during the final dress rehersal—the public votes on the night.

This year Loreen won the Jury votes, but Käärijä won the public vote – with Loreen ultimately winning.

And the Eurovision crowd is not happy. Me included.

While Tattoo is a good song – it just isn’t fun. It was mainstream. It followed the assignment. 

Käärijä with Cha Cha Cha fully embraced the spirit of Eurovision. It is catchy, fun and had a myriad of genres from Heavy Metal to K-Pop. The public also agreed. 

So my fear is…

• Are countries going to stop taking risks and send in mainstream acts in order to appease the jury? 
  
• Are we going to have a Eurovision filled with pop princesses doing 1 minute dance breaks to a generic beat all the while pouting their pumped up lips…(Ok I got triggered here >.<*) 
  
• Is Eurovision going to turn into a weeklong “X-Factor”?

Well…let’s find out!

(One positive aspect of Sweden winning…we might see Petra Mede host the next Eurovision. She is a legend!)

Thanks for reading!

Laura xoxoxoxoxo