It’s interesting we’re now all talking about the 2025 Contest for more than a month. 2024 has finally come to an end. With it ends one of the most controversial years in Eurovision history that carries on into concern for the new year.
Controversy Before The Start Of The Contest
As the year 2024 began, the Eurovision Song Contest that was to be held in Malmo, Sweden had a lot to look forward to in preparation, but controversy was looming around the corner. It’s a controversy that has a lot to do with world events that happened months before the Contest..
On October 7, 2023, the terrorist group Hamas carried out multiple terrorist attacks in the sovereign state of Israel leaving thousands dead and many more abducted and held hostage. The Israeli government responded with brute force on the Palestinian territories. The months leading to the Eurovision Song Contest would consist of many more news stories of terrorist attacks and the government’s brutal retaliations. The reactions from the rest of the world were mixed and gave reflections of polarity and who took whose side. There were people that sympathized with Israel, angry at such a barbaric act of terrorism. There was also a widescale reaction to the Israeli government of how they dealt with the Palestinian people not just in this retaliation, but throughout the history of Israel’s existence in 1948.
The Eurovision Song Contest that was yet to be held was under huge scrutiny from the public. Israel was slated to be one of the 37 nations entered in the contest slated to begin 7 May of this past year. People who sided with Palestine didn’t wait to speak their anger. Many pointed out the perceived double-standard of banning Russia from the Contest for their invasion of Ukraine but Israel being allowed to compete despite the Israel-Hamas war. Months before the Contest, Iceland announced it threatened to boycott if Israel participated.
Would Israel Participate?
Israel and their corporation IPBC didn’t help much in the months leading up to the Contest. Months before, the network KAN announced their participant in the Contest would be the Russian-born Eden Golan. In February, the song entered was announced and it was titled “October Rain.” As made obvious with the title, the song intended to state a political message. Despite songs of social issues having been entered in past Contest before, the EBU frowns on songs with messages of political partiality and has long enforced political neutrality rules for lyrics. The EBU rejected that song as well as a second entered song entitled “Dance Forever” and gave KAN an ultimatum in early-March to clean up the lyrics or Israel would be banned from the Contest. KAN did a fix of the first song before the original deadline and retitled it “Hurricane” The EBU was still unsatisfied with the changes and instead of banning Israel, they extended the ultimatum. KAN did submit a final draft of the lyrics of “Hurricane” days later and the EBU approved it. The extension of the ultimatum led many to suspect that the EBU wanted Israel to compete all along.
Will Israel’s Participation Cause Problems?
Weeks after Israel’s participation was confirmed and their entered song was approved, Iceland would agree to compete over time but many participants in the Contest were unhappy. Many national finals saw stage invasions from protesters. Worldwide humanitarian organizations spoke their disapproval of Israel participating. Ten acts entered in this year’s Contest released a joint statement six weeks before the start of the Contest calling for an immediate and lasting ceasefire in Gaza and return of Israel hostages held by Hamas. The EBU would deliver their responses in April through their website and on social media. They gave their explanation of why Israel was allowed to participate and claimed EBU rules were not violated. Their explanation did not make much sense to people and people still saw it as a double standard. As the Contest neared, anger brewed among the public and protests started up. Security had to be made tight on the turquoise carpet for fear of drone strikes from Hamas.
In the rehearsals before the Contest, scrutiny was on the Israeli delegation to make sure no staging or costuming of Eden or her dances sent a political message. The staging would eventually be approved after some time and the dancer’s costumes were seen to resemble bandages. The costumes designed by Alon Livne were thought to evoke an image of a hurt, healing nation. As rehearsals neared its end and performers were set to perform in the semifinals, performers made it clear they would find a way to send a message. The most notable being Ireland’s participant Bambie Thug who had a pro-Palestinian message in an ancient Celtic language drawn on their body and 2011 Swedish entry Eric Saade who is of Palestinian ancestry wearing a Palestinian keffiyeh headscarf wrapped around his wrist as he performed his 2011 song “Popular” during the opening of SemiFinal One. Both entries were given warnings from the EBU for what they did.
As for Israel, things were not any easier. Eden Golan and her delegation needed tight security during their stay. Many Eurovision fans gave Eden the cold shoulder. The most notable being Joost Klein from the Netherlands who would also compete against Eden in the second semifinal. Even journalists gave Eden questions about her appearance and of her nation’s politics. Eden responded with grace when heated questions were asked while KAN journalists were rumored to be harassing other contestants who spoke opposition to Israeli participation. One notable participant, Joost Klein of the Netherlands, would completely disassociate himself with Eden in both private and public settings. He let his anger be known publicly.
The day before the Grand Final for which both Israel and the Netherlands qualified for, the news hit that Joost was banned from participating in the jury performance because of a claim a female journalist was assaulted by him. The following day, the day of the Grand Final, the EBU announced the Netherlands’ full disqualification from the Grand Final. Outside of Joost’ disqualification, protests of Israel’s participation were held all around Malmo including outside the Malmo Arena. There was fear Israel could win the Contest. There was also a bad feeling in the air and a feeling of discomfort among participants with many people expecting the worst. This Contest did not really feel like the contestants were United By Music.
During the Grand Final, the nervous feeling was very present among contestants and spectators but the show went on. The twenty-five performers did their performances in the Grand Final. Joost Klein was not there but Netherlands flags were still in the crowd. Eden Golan performed to boos in the crowd that were muted out from viewers through ‘anti-booing technology,’ The wait for the scores was extremely agonizing. There was also the fear that a possible win for Israel could sink the reputation of the Contest. During the customary approval of points by the EBU president, Martin Osderdahl was met with loud booing as most people felt he was most responsible for this mess. After the Jury Points were revealed, Israel stood at 12th position and their total of 52 jury points had too big of a gap over the leader to assure of any win. Televote points did give Israel an advantage with 323 points, but its total of 375 points was only good enough for fifth.
Israel Not The Only Controversy
If there was one year the EBU most had to question its anti-political stance, it was this very year. It wasn’t just Israel’s appearance that created a stir, although it was unquestionably the biggest. The other stir was the use of the Non-Binary Pride flag. The LGBT Pride flag has commonly been waved at Contests by both participants and spectators for many years. This year’s Contest featured two contestants who were openly non-binary: Ireland’s Bambie Thug and Switzerland’s Nemo Mettler. During the Contest, Bambie and Nemo were told not to use the non-binary flag on stage or in the green room. Spectators who brought non-binary flags were ordered to dispose of them. In the end, Nemo did sneak a flag past security before the Grand Final which they displayed in the green room. At the end of the Contest, which Nemo won, Nemo said “Perhaps Eurovision can use a little fixing.”
Eurovision Young Musicians Contest Held
Few people outside of Europe know that Eurovision is more than just song contests. The EBU has also been in promotion of artistic talents. The most noteworthy example is the Eurovision Young Musicians contest. Started in 1982, the Young Musicians contest is the one Eurovision event outside of the main Song Contest that has last the longest. This Contest is also the only Contest outside of ESC and JESC that is still active since the pandemic.
This year’s Contest was held in Bodo, Norway on August 17th and was the twenty-first edition of the contest. Eleven entries aged 12 to 21 from eleven nations participated. The small number of entries did show a recovery from nine entries back in 2022. It’s small number of participants showed how the contest is still attempting to recover after the pandemic. It may take years for the Contest to get back to its larger numbers of entries before the pandemic. Pianists made up the most entries of the contest. Switzerland’s entry Valerian Alfare became the first entry in the history of the contest to perform on a Euphonium: a brass instrument. Austria has won the Contest most often and this year’s winner, violinist Leonhard Baumgartner, made it a sixth win for Austria with his performance of Henri Vieuxtemps’ Violin Concerto #5 in A minor.
The Juniors Save The Year
Back on 16 November 2023, the Junior Eurovision Song Contest was held in Cannes, France. The winning song came from host nation France with Zoe Clausure’s “Coeur.” One thing we should take note is winning Junior Eurovision does not give the nation’s broadcaster the right to host the Contest the following year. Instead the network is given ‘first refusal.’ Despite hosting an excellent Contest in 2023, France’s network France Télévisions declined as there would the the upcoming Paris Olympics in the summer they would have to deal with and also because they did want France to have a monopoly on winning the Contest. The second-place nation Spain agreed to host the Contest with their network RTVE in charge of organizing.
In the months leading up to the Contest, Madrid would be decided as the host city with Caja Magical being the host venue. A total of seventeen nations agreed to participate. Entries were decided either through international selection or the national final and no controversies came about in the selection process. Three weeks before the Contest, flooding hit Spain damaging many regions of the nation. Most notably the Valencia region. It was one of Spain’s worst natural disasters ever with 231 deaths and €4 billion in property damage. With the tragic events that happened, RTVE made it a goal to shorten the Contest to 2 hours instead of the 2.5 hours last year’s Contest had. Another move by RTVE was cancelling out of the turquoise carpet event and holding an internal celebration instead. In the wake of journalism problems that caused problems in Malmö, journalist participation was limited.
During the Contest, there were problems, but they were minor in comparison to Malmo. The biggest problems were the AI images in the postcards that made many viewers uncomfortable, the scoring’s new system of a horizontal scoreboard and the displaying of jury points of countries giving entries 1 point, 2 points and so on until ten points. One disappointment was no interaction in the Green Room with a host and the participants as there normally is. One of the funnier moments came when scoring validation came with a big “Good To Go” message on the large LED. EuroFans can understand Martin’s absence.
Outside of those incidents and problems, Junior Eurovision went very well. The slogan for this year was Let’s Bloom and all seventeen performers bloomed on stage. The Eurovision unity and amity was very much there among the participants. The crowd was in a happy vibe. Finally the winner decided was well-received among the participants. When Georgia’s Andria Putkaradze was declared the winner, runner-up Victoria Nicole of Portugal applauded happily and Ukraine’s Artem Kotenko who finished third rushed over to hug him.
For EuroFans who were unhappy with the bad vibe and the enmity that happened in Malmo, Junior Eurovision was a welcome relief. The amity that was missing in Malmo was there in full force and the feeling of nothing but joy and excitement returned in Madrid. The Contest ended with Andria singing for the Winner’s Reprise and all the contestants joining him on stage, reminding us all what a Eurovision Contest should be as they were more United By Music than the adults were in May. The kids sure taught us adults a good lesson. Including those that send nasty messages to the winner on various social media sites.
As Basel 2025 Approaches
Even before Junior Eurovision held its Contest, there was already talk about 2025. Basel was decided to be the host city. There was a referendum in the Canton of Basel-Stadt where residents were to approve or disapprove of spending of an estimated 14 million Swiss Francs for the Contest. The majority voted ‘Yes.’
It’s worth noting ever since Joost’s disqualification back in May, many artists from 2024 and past Contests have opened up about how they too have been harassed by journalists at Eurovision. The biggest complaints were of harassment from the Israeli delegation. Many of the artists complaining of harassment from Israel were artists that spoke their opposition to Israel’s actions in the Israel-Hamas War. The EBU did respond with a new set of guidelines regarding journalists and their interactions with participants. The Contest in Basel will send a message if these new policies work for the better.
Most networks are getting set to decide their line-up for the national finals or hold auditions. Two nations have already held their national finals and already there was drama. Montenegro held their final and the winner was decided to be the band NeonoeN with their song “Clickbait.” Within days, it was revealed they played this song to a live audience before the eligibility date. That led them to be disqualified from performing. Expect more national final drama to come.
Israel will be back. Israel has confirmed itself as one of the thirty-eight nations to participate in Basel. Already there has been word of dissent. Slovenia’s broadcaster RTVSLO has asked for Israel to be removed from the Contest. As time goes by, it’s possible more dissent will come. Will we have a repeat of the controversies in Malmo? We can only wait to see.
In Memoriam
–Guy Bonnet, 78. French singer-songwriter who participated in three Eurovision Contests. His first participation in 1968 was in writing the song ‘La Source for Isabelle Aubrey, who finished 3rd. He represented France as a singer first in 1970 with the song ‘Maria-Blanche,’ finishing 4th. He would return to Eurovision as a singer representing France in 1983 with ‘Vivre,’ finishing 8th. 8 January in Montpellier.
–Humphrey Campbell, 66. Surinam-born Dutch singer. He represented the Netherlands in 1992 with the song ‘Wijs me de weg,’ finishing 9th. His backing singers during his performance included brothers Carlo and Ben and future wife Ruth Jacott who would represent the Netherlands the following year. 25 March in Dronten.
–Joe Cutajar, 83. Maltese singer. Paired with singer Helen Micallef as part of the duo Helen and Joseph, they represented Malta in 1972 with the Maltese-language song ‘L-imħabba,’ finishing 18th. He would have a successful singing career spanning over 60 years. 7 March in Valetta.
–Goran Fristorp, 76. Swedish singer. With singer Claes af Geijerstam, the two represented Sweden at the 1973 Contest as The Nova with the song “You’re Summer,” finishing 5th. The two would part ways after the 1973 to focus on solo efforts. Fristorp would continue to make music for decades and would compete at the Melodifestivalen five more times. 3 September in Hammenhog, Sweden.
–Colin Gibb, 70. English singer who sang lead for the band Black Lace. The band represented the United Kingdom on 1979 with the song ‘Mary Ann,’ finishing 7th. Mostly known for singing novelty hits, Black Lance’s biggest hit would be the 1984 hit ‘Agadoo.’ Three weeks before his death Gibb announced his retirement. Died 2 June.
–Joe Grech, 90. Maltese singer. Was the first-ever Maltese entry at Eurovision in 1971 with ‘Marija l-Maltija.’ The song which Grech wrote was the first-ever song in the Maltese language and finished 18th. Grech would have a successful music career spanning over half a century. 30 December in Malta.
–Francoise Hardy, 80. French singer who was very popular in French-speaking nations in the 1960’s mostly for her promotion of the ye-ye style of music. She was selected to represent Monaco for the 1963 Contest with the song ‘L’amour s’en va,’ finishing 5th. Hardy would continue to have an illustrious career in music and acting until her retirement in 2021. 11 June in Paris.
-Selami Karaibrahimgil, 80. Turkish musician and bureaucrat. He was a member of the Turkish group Modern Folk Trio who represented Turkey at the 1981 Contest with the song ‘Dönme Dolap,’ finishing 18th. From 1973 to 2009, Karaibrahimgil also worked for the Turkish Ministry of Tourism. 28 December in Turkey.
–Martin Lee (Martin Barnes), 77. British singer. He joined the British vocal group Brotherhood Of Man in 1972, just three years after it was formed. In 1976, Brotherhood Of Man was entered as the United Kingdom’s representative for Eurovision with the song ‘Save Your Kisses For Me:’ a song about his three year-old daughter which he co-wrote. The song won the Contest and would become a huge international hit. Lee would continue to be part of Brotherhood Of Man until his retirement in 2020. 29 September in England.
-Nenad Nakic, 74. Croatian bass player, composer and arranger. Was part of the band Riva that represented Yugoslavia in 1989 and won the Contest with ‘Rock Me.’ after Riva disbanded, Nakic would contribute to events in Zadar by setting up and organizing numerous festivals and events. 20 September in Zadar.
–Dickie Rock (Richard Rock), 88. Irish singer who was most famous for being part of the ‘showband’ era of Irish music in the 1960’s. He started his career as part of The Miami Showband until he decided to go solo in 1973. On his own, he represented Ireland at the 1966 Contest with the song ‘Come Back To stay,’ finishing joint 4th. Despite his solo pursuits, Rock would often return to performing with The Miami Showband on occasion. Hearing problems led to his retirement in 2021. 6 December in Dublin.
–Ekaterina Shklyaeva, 86. Russian singer who was part of the ensemble Buranovskiye Babushka. The ensemble represented Russia at the 2012 Contest with the song ‘Party For Everybody’s that mixed English lyrics with Udmurt lyrics. The song finished second in the Contest. 23 July in Russia.
–Emre Tukur, 55. Turkish pianist and former member of the Turkish band Klips ve Onlar. In 1986 when Tukur was just 17, Klips ve Onlar represented Turkey at the 1986 Contest with the song ‘Halley.’ They finished ninth and it was the first time Turkey achieved a Top 10 finish at the Contest. Emre would try to represent Turkey at Eurovision two more times in 1988 and 1989. 9 November in Turkey.
–Harry van Hoof, 81. Dutch conductor and composer. Conducted fifteen Dutch entries at Eurovision between 1972 and 1994. He also arranged Netherlands’ entries from 1972, 1973 and 1976, as well as worked on the Netherlands’ winning entry from 1975 ‘Ding A Dong.’ 1 June in Eindhoven.
And there you have it. That’s the summary of the year of 2024 for Eurovision. It started on a rocky note with one of the most controversial Contests ever but would find its soul again when Junior Eurovision was contested. The year ends on a nervous note with the 2025 Contest coming soon. Only time will tell how the Eurovision year of 2025 goes.
WORKS CITED
Granger, Anthony. “The Eurovision Participants We Lost In 2024” Eurovoix News. 30 December 2024.
<https://eurovoix.com/2024/12/30/the-eurovision-participants-we-lost-in-2024/>
WIKIPEDIA: Israel In The Eurovision Song Contest 2024. Wikipedia.com. 2024. Wikimedia Foundation Inc.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel_in_the_Eurovision_Song_Contest_2024>
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