You may not know, but the greatest thing in entertainment happens every year, and yes, it’s in Europe. Imagine this, not all, but most of the countries in Europe (and Australia?) come together to in a huge battle with fire, acrobatics, pirates, babushkas, drag queens and turkey puppets (#Neverforget Ireland 2007). While this may not seem like it could be coherent in any way at all ever, Eurovision manages to pull it off, well, most the time.
The Eurovision Song Contest is an annual song contest in which all the countries in Europe, give or take a few, plus Australia as of 2015, send a musical entry to compete in the World’s largest entertainment program. All the countries (excluding the “Big 5” of Germany, France, Spain, Italy and the United Kingdom) first compete in a series of two semi-finals intended to weed out the weaker songs, but sometimes sinking masterpieces with them (RIP Iceland 2016). The songs that do qualify to take one of the coveted 20 semi-final spots will advance onto the grand final to compete to win the Eurovision song contest. In the 2016 Eurovision song contest grand final, voting was split for 50% of the vote by professional juries from each country, and 60% tele-vote from the viewers at home. This year, the winner, Jamala from Ukraine, placed 2nd in Jury Voting and Tele-Voting crowning, her the winner with her song “1944.”
Now you might be thinking, wouldn’t this just be some angry hyper-political disaster set to music, and it is in the best way! Eurovision has yielded some of the greatest music of our generation and possibly of all time. From Russian grandmothers baking on stage to drag queen flying across the stadium, Eurovision satisfies all entertainment you could’ve ever possibly wanted. Now, here are some highlights from Eurovision’s storied history during the 21st century to help you truly understand.
- Verka Serduchka- Dancing Lasha Tumbai
- Dustin the turkey- Irelande Douze Pointe
- Pastora Soler- Quedate conmigo
- Lena- Taken by a stranger
- Yohanna- Is it true
- Greta Salome- I hear them calling me
- Alex swings Oscar sings- Miss Kiss Kiss Bang
- Aminata- Love injected
- Conchita Wurst- Rise like a phoenix
- Margaret Berger- I feed you my love
- Nina Zilli- L’amore E Femmina
- Buranovskiye Babushki- Party for everybody
- Raphael Gualazzi- Madness Of Love
- Marija Serifovic- Molitva
- Bojana Stamenov- Beauty Never Lies
And the greatest song ever performed at Eurovision
Mans Zelmerlow & Petra Mede- Love Love Peace Peace
And if you’re still confused, Mans Zelmerlow & Petra Mede made a pretty accurate tutorial here.
