The Eurovision Song Contest has been around since the 50s. It was created to unite the countries of Europe after the Second World War and it has only grown since then. Last year’s edition was cancelled (and we all know why), so this year’s was most anticipated by the fans and the haters (especially the haters).
So what is Eurovision? Well, essentially it is a music contest where every European country and Australia (yes, Australia is allowed to participate) is represented by one song that doesn’t actually needs to be connected to the country itself. Nowadays, more than a music contest, it is a television show, and what a show we got to experience last Saturday evening!
There were a total of 39 countries competing for the big trophy that ultimately went to Italy. Italy has been away from the contest for a very long time, returning in 2011. Since its return, it has only been outside the final top 10 twice. They finally ended up winning this year with the band Måneskin and the song “Zitti e Buoni” (Quiet and good), a song about stereotypes and what other people say.
There are two types of vote in Eurovision: the public vote and the jury vote. Each is worth 50%. Italy won the public vote and got the 4th place in the jury vote (won by Switzerland, which got the third place overall). This is only the third non-English-language song to win this century and the second rock song to win after Lordi got the trophy in 2006.
But it wasn’t the only rock entry of the year. Finland (the same country from which Lordi won) also sent a rock entry named “Dark Side” and got the fourth place on the televote and sixth overall, so rock is very much alive, as the winning band said. It was indeed one of the most diverse years for Eurovision and it shows when we look at the top 5.
The second place went to Barbara Pravi, from France, with her song “Voilà”, which a lot of people say reminds them of Piaf. It is indeed a song to remind us of how beautiful the chanson française is.
The third place, as mentioned before, went to Switzerland, with a powerful ballad and the amazing voice of Gjon’s Tears. In fourth place, Iceland. The Icelandic song from last year, “Think About Things”, went viral on social media for a while and the same artist was chosen to comeback this year with the song “10 years”, getting one of the country’s best result ever.
Finally, in fifth place, Ukraine with a folk-ethno-eletronic-I-don’t-really-know-what song that was the second most voted by the public. It was the first time ever Ukraine sang in its native language.
But there was a lot more going on last Saturday, starting, of course, with the biggest headline in the media: the front man of the winning band doing drugs in the green room (this is the name given to the place where the artists stay after they perform and no, it is not green). There was a video circulating on the internet where it seems that the singer is actually taking drugs. This has already been proven to be fake. He was asked about this in the press conference and has done a drug test, which came back negative.
So, music wise, was there anything else interesting? Oh, yes, there was and where should I start? Greece got a top 10 with an 80s-inspired song and a green screen performance where the singer was dancing with white shorts. Surprised? You wouldn’t be if you’d seen Eurovision every year. Germany sent a song named “I don’t feel hate”, sang by a popular TikToker (is this a real word?) accompanied on stage by a woman wearing a middle finger outfit. It got zero points from the televote.
But Germany wasn’t the only country that got zero points from the televote. Spain, The Netherlands (host country and 2019 winner) and the United Kingdom, which also managed to get no points from the public. It’s a first. The UK keeps blaming Brexit for this even though they had terrible results way before Brexit. You might be wondering why the UK has bad results if they have such great artists. Well, you need to put in effort and that’s something they gave up on doing for as long as I can remember. “Embers”, the song James Newman sang on stage, is now the worst result ever in Eurovision and it is a shame because he is a great singer and songwriter. He got zero from the public and the jury, but took it very well.
So, what about the good songs? Well, apart from the top 5 that we’ve already covered, there were a bunch of other great songs for every style. We had Portugal bringing a 70s-inspired song about a sex worker they met in Amsterdam, Belgium with a pop-jazzy-creepy-vibe song, Lithuania with a super-happy pop song, Bulgaria with an introspective music and Flo Rida representing San Marino (yes, that Flo Rida).
How did this all go with Covid still happening? Quite well. Every artist had to send a video before the contest in case they couldn’t fly to the Netherlands but only the Australians weren’t allowed to fly there and had to perform from the other side of the world (getting their first non-qualification since they first participated in 2015). Other than that, only a member from the Icelandic band tested positive and they used a recording from a rehearsal.
Overall, Eurovision 2021 was an amazing music event with a live audience, a great winner and the best top five probably ever in the contest’s history. We cannot wait to see what Italy does in 2022!
Image credit: Sietske
