It is the Stanley Cup of kitsch: A pop spectacle beloved by gay audiences and watched by millions around the world. This Saturday, 27 nations will compete in the Eurovision Song Contest final in Vienna. Here’s what you can expect.
Eurovision 101
How many countries compete? There were 40 competitors this year, but after the semifinal rounds, there will be only 27 competing on Saturday. (Seven of those countries got their spots in the final automatically: The host country, Austria; special guest Australia; and the five major financial contributors to the contest, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the U.K.)
How many people will be watching? Organizers expect a global audience of 200 million, which would be almost double the U.S. viewership of this year’s Super Bowl. Last year, Eurovision got an estimated 195 million viewers worldwide.
Do I know any of these bands? Probably not; the ranks of Eurovision alumni include a lot of one-hit wonders, novelty acts (remember Dschinghis Khan, anyone?) and groups famous only in their home countries. However, past Eurovision acts like Sweden’s ABBA and Quebec’s Céline Dion (who competed for Switzerland in 1988) got their big breaks at the song contest and kickstarted internationally successful careers.
Who decides the winner? Viewers in participating countries get to vote by app, phone or text message for their favourite song, but they can’t vote for their own country’s song. Each country also has its own jury of music professionals who rank the songs in order of preference. Together, the viewer votes and the juries’ rankings for each country produce a point score, with 12 points being the highest a country can give. The song awarded the most points wins.
How can I watch it on Saturday night? The grand final streams live on the Eurovision website at 4 p.m. (ET).
Four reasons to watch
1. THE AUSTRALIAN INVASION
At about 14,000 kilometres from Europe, Australia would make an unusual Eurovision victor – but it’s possible. The country, which had a Eurovision viewership of more than three million last year, was invited under this year’s theme of “Building Bridges,” and their entry, Guy Sebastian’s Tonight Again, is among the bookmakers’ top five favourites to win.
The odds, however, are currently on Sweden’s Mans Zelmerlow.
2. THE CONCHITA COOL FACTOR
Last year’s Eurovision got a big boost with the victory of bearded Austrian drag queen Conchita Wurst, which she called a win for tolerance. Now, with the contest hosted in Vienna, the city is hoping to bolster its liberal, progressive reputation abroad.
For Eurovision, Vienna has changed some of its traffic lights to show same-sex couples instead of the usual single, gender-neutral figure. “Vienna is … known by some communities as one of the most open cities,” Martin Stanits, a hotel association spokesman, told Reuters. “But with Conchita Wurst and Eurovision, this image is finally reaching a wider audience.”
Ms. Wurst is one of the hosts of this year’s Eurovision contest, but opted to take a smaller role to avoid overshadowing the contenders.
3. KITSCH AND THE KREMLIN
Civil war in Ukraine, the annexation of Crimea and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s legal crackdown on “gay propaganda” made Russia an unpopular presence at last year’s Eurovision, where fans booed Russian contestants Anastasia and Maria Tolmachevy. This year, Eurovision’s sound technicians will reportedly use “sound reducers” and other techniques to muffle any booing from the audience.
Ukraine is absent from this year’s competition, and Russia’s entry, Polina Gagarina’s A Million Voices, is a pacifist plea for diversity. It is bookies’ second-most favoured song to win.
Ms. Wurst, meanwhile – who was denounced last year by the Russian Orthodox Church as an “abomination” – said Thursday that she would “love to spend at least a week” with Mr. Putin to get to know him better.
4. DISABILITIES GET THEIR DAY
This year’s Eurovision includes several firsts for disabled performers.
For the first time ever, deaf Eurovision viewers will get to see the contest presented in International Sign Language. The team of six deaf artists and two hearing interpreters will “tell stories and convey the emotions behind the songs,” rather than translating lyrics, a spokeswoman for Austrian broadcaster ORF told the BBC.
The contestants at Saturday’s final include Monika Kuszynska, who is partly paralyzed and is the first Eurovision contestant to perform from a wheelchair.
Finnish punk band PKN – whose four members all have intellectual disabilities including Down Syndrome and autism – will not be at Saturday’s final, having been eliminated in a qualifying round. But the band is still pleased to have come that far. “We didn’t make the finals,” drummer Toni Valitalo told Finnish television. “But we won the whole contest.”
With reports from Associated Press and Reuters