BASEL, Switzerland (AP) — There has already been triumph and tears, singing onstage and within the streets, and a contact of political division, because the 69th Eurovision Tune Contest approaches its grand ultimate within the Swiss metropolis of Basel.
Musical acts from 26 international locations will take the stage on the St. Jakobshalle enviornment on Saturday in a spectacular, sequin-drenched competitors that has been uniting and dividing Europeans since 1956.
Right here’s all the pieces to know:
What’s Eurovision?
Eurovision is competitors wherein performers from international locations throughout Europe, and some past it, compete underneath their nationwide flags with the purpose of being topped continental champion. Consider it because the Olympics of pop music or the World Cup with singing as an alternative of soccer.
It’s a celebration of foolish enjoyable and music’s unifying energy, but in addition a spot the place politics and regional rivalries play out.
“It’s Europe’s biggest cultural event,” stated Dean Vuletic, an professional on the historical past of Eurovision. “It has been going on for almost 70 years and people love to watch it, not only for the show, for the glitter, the stage effects, the crazy costumes, but also because they like to see it as a reflection of the zeitgeist in Europe.”
Who’s within the Eurovision 2025 ultimate?
Of 37 international locations that despatched performers to Eurovision, 11 have been knocked out by public voting in semifinals on Tuesday and Thursday. One other six robotically certified for the ultimate: the host, Switzerland, and the “Big Five” that pay essentially the most to the competition — France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the U.Ok.
The 26 international locations competing Saturday, so as of efficiency, are: Norway, Luxembourg, Estonia, Israel, Lithuania, Spain, Ukraine, the U.Ok, Austria, Iceland, Latvia, the Netherlands, Finland, Italy, Poland, Germany, Greece, Armenia, Switzerland, Malta, Portugal, Denmark, Sweden, France, San Marino and Albania.
Favorites, based on oddsmakers, are KAJ, representing Sweden with “Bara Bada Bastu,” a jaunty serenade to the sauna. Dutch singer Claude can be extremely rated with soulful ballad “C’est La Vie.” Different favorites embody classically skilled Austrian countertenor JJ together with his pop-opera tune “Wasted Love,” and Israel’s Yuval Raphael, together with her anthemic “New Day Will Rise.”
What’s Eurovision music like?
Eurovision has a fame for campy europop with nonsense lyrics — previous winners embody “La, La, La” and “Boom Bang-a-Bang.” However It has additionally produced some enduring pop classics. And it helped make stars of performers together with ABBA — winners in 1974 with “Waterloo” — Celine Dion, Austrian drag performer Conchita Wurst and Italian rock band Måneskin.
This yr’s finalists vary from Lithuanian emo rockers Katarsis to an influence ballad Spanish diva Melody and Ukrainian prog rockers Ziferblat.
Campiness, humor and double entendres abound. “Espresso Macchiato” is a comic book ode to Italian stereotypes carried out by Estonia’s Tommy Money. Miriana Conte sings for Malta with the double entendre-filled “Serving” — carried out on a set together with a glitter ball and big lips, it’s traditional Eurovision.
It was as soon as extensively accepted that essentially the most profitable Eurovision songs have been in English, however that’s altering. This yr’s contest options songs in a file 20 languages, together with Ukrainian, Icelandic, Latvian, Maltese and Armenian.
Vuletic stated viewers today need “extra authenticity in Eurovision entries.
“They don’t just want a standard pop song sung in English,” he stated. “They want to also see something about the culture of the country that the song represents.”
How is the winner chosen?
As soon as all of the acts have carried out within the ultimate, the winner is chosen by a famously complicated mixture of cellphone and on-line voters from around the globe and rankings by music-industry juries in every of the Eurovision international locations. Because the outcomes are introduced, international locations slide up and down the rankings and tensions construct.
Ending up with “nul points,” or zero, is taken into account a nationwide humiliation.
Sounds enjoyable. How can I watch and vote?
The ultimate begins Saturday at 1900 GMT (3 p.m. EDT) and will probably be aired by nationwide broadcasters in collaborating nations, on streaming service Peacock in america and in lots of international locations on the Eurovision YouTube channel.
Throughout and instantly after the ultimate, viewers in collaborating international locations can vote by cellphone, textual content message or the Eurovision app — however not for their very own nation. Viewers within the U.S. and different nonparticipating international locations can vote all day Saturday, on-line at www.esc.vote or with the app. The mixed “rest of the world” vote is given the load of 1 particular person nation.
Is Eurovision a politics-free zone?
The competition’s motto is “united by music,” however the world’s divisions inevitably intrude.
Russia was banned from Eurovision after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and since then Ukrainian musicians — together with 2022 winner Kalush Orchestra — have competed underneath the shadow of warfare within the residence nation.
This yr’s contest has been roiled for a second yr by disputes over Israel’s participation. Dozens of former contributors, together with Nemo, have known as for Israel to be excluded over its conduct within the warfare towards Hamas in Gaza. Professional-Palestinian and pro-Israel protests have each taken place in Basel, although on a a lot smaller scale than eventually yr’s occasion in Sweden.
A handful of protesters tried to disrupt a rehearsal by Israeli singer Raphael on Thursday with outsized flags and whistles and have been escorted from the world. Organizers say they’ve tightened safety forward of the ultimate.
