By Taylor Brady, Staff Writer
Known for its quirkiness, diverse cultures, and endless amounts of talent, the Eurovision is a globally loved competition hosted annually. This year, thirty-seven countries worldwide came together to compete in the most renowned music competition. Since Eurovision’s creation in 1956, the tournament has grown significantly in size and popularity each year. Some famous artists you might know were discovered at Eurovision, such as ABBA and Celine Dion. Eurovision works as follows: there are two preliminary semi-finals, which ultimately progress into a grand final of twenty-five countries. The two semi-finals are performed on different dates. As of May 8th, the first semi-final concluded, leaving ten countries to move on to the next round. Cyprus, Portugal, Luxembourg, Serbia, Lithuania, Ireland, Ukraine, Croatia, Slovenia, and Finland made it to the grand final. The second lineup consists of fan favorites such as the Netherlands and our favorite, Israel.
Israel’s entry this year is a lament. The song's original intent was to be a tribute to the October 7th attack. But, after backlash for the lyrics being too political, the title was changed from “October Rain” to “Hurricane.” After Russia’s removal from the Eurovision because of the current war in Ukraine, many protestors in Malmö, the town where Eurovision is taking place, started calling out against Israel’s participation in the contest as well. Many of the countries participating have condemned Israel’s engagement to the point where they threatened not to take part in the competition next year if Israel were to win. There were rumors involving the Dutch contestant, Joost, for having an altercation with an Israeli journalist. During Israel’s questioning after the second semi-final, a journalist asked a question about the safety of other contestants, which Eden was hesitant to reply to. The Dutch contestant during that time was acting very immature; he yelled out for her to answer it, and covered his face with The Netherlands’s flag whenever she spoke. Later, he was disqualified for having a fight with a Swedish journalist who made fun of his parent’s death and filmed him illegally. Sadly for us, Israel did not win. Israel did, however, get an extremely impressive fifth placement with 375 points! Am Yisrael Chai!
The voting system for how the Eurovision works is through a jury and televoting. Each country that participates distributes points from a maximum of 12, then 10, and after, descending from 8-1 to their favorite countries. The same works for the television. The Eurovision concluded on the evening of May 11th with Switzerland claiming victory. The contestant for Switzerland, Nemo, won with their song “The Code”. The song is about their journey to discovering their identity as Non-binary. The song got a world record of 591 votes and is Switzerland’s first win since 1988 with Celine Dion.