Gender roles, Corona cancellations, conflicts in the Caucasus or the war in Ukraine – something always overshadowed the largest music competition in the world. This year the Gaza war is casting its shadow over the event, which starts on May 7th with the first semi-final in the Swedish port city of Malmö.
As an organizer, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) recently felt compelled to condemn “targeted campaigns” against artists as “unacceptable”, even if it was understood that people wanted to express their views on the war in the Middle East. They support freedom of expression, but are firmly opposed to insults, hate speech or harassment.
Eden Golan represents Israel
Even though no artist was named, the background is easily linked to 20-year-old Eden Golan, who is representing Israel this year and had received death threats on her Instagram channel. The EBU had previously obliged Israeli radio to change the lyrics of the song “October Rain”, which was read as too political because it was understood as an allusion to the victims of the Hamas attack on Israel. Now the title is “Hurricane” – with the same music.
But there is not disagreement everywhere. As in the previous year, ESC fans from Austria, Germany and Switzerland have the chance to get in the mood for the competition together. The respective broadcasters will be working together on the supporting formats “Eurovision Song Contest 2024 – The Countdown” and “Eurovision Song Contest 2024 – The Aftershow” moderated by Barbara Schöneberger on May 11th.
And between the countdown and the aftershow, as is well known, there is the grand finale with 26 participants and before that the two semi-finals. A total of 37 countries are taking part again this year. Austria is one of those nations that have to compete for one of the 20 final tickets in one of the two preliminary rounds on May 7th or, in the case of Kaleen with “We Will Rave”, on May 9th. At the moment, according to the bookmakers’ forecast, things are looking good for the 29-year-old, who relies on freedom of movement in a disco atmosphere and hard beats, with a final appearance.
This also applies to Switzerland with Nemo and the song “Code” in the same semi-final. The Swiss entry is currently considered one of the favorites to win. In “Code” Nemo talks about life as a non-binary person, which puts the Swiss Confederation ahead of the Croatian singer Baby Lasagna and his hyped-up “Rim Tim Dagi Tin”, which is about the emigration of young Croatians. All in all, the field of favorites this year – unlike in many previous years – is still pretty much in flux. Not everything seems possible at this point, but a lot.
In any case, Malmö and the Malmö Arena with around 15,000 seats are ready, as the city with 300,000 inhabitants opposite Denmark also has experience with the event, which was already organized in 1992 and 2013. The Swedish comedian Petra Mede, who is having her third stint as a presenter after 2013 and 2016, also has experience – this time alongside Malin Åkerman. The celebration will once again be under the motto “United by Music”, the future permanent motto of the competition, which sometimes seems like a pious wish given the debates.
