Campy, crazy, and a complete carnival spectacle, “Eurovision 16” is coming to America. Imagine “American Idol” on steroids, the Grammys gone off-the-rails. Now, for the first time, we can tune in to see the over-the-top European singing contest that has been a tradition since 1956.
“It’s an eclectic mix of power ballads and bubblegum pop paired with intricate elaborate costumes and pyrotechnics, all wrapped up in national pride.”
Every year, each of the more than 40 participating countries submits an original song that is performed live on stage for the massive competition known as “Eurovision.” This year, not only will there be crazy European acts — Justin Timberlake is also slated to perform.
The televised portion of this year’s competition began May 10 and wraps up with performances by the remaining 26 nations in the Grand Finals on Saturday, May 14. Logo will carry the show at 3 p.m. ET and it will be streaming online at LogoTV.com. Celebrating the theme “Come Together,” this year’s competition will be held in the Globe Arena in Stockholm, Sweden.
“It’s an eclectic mix of power ballads and bubblegum pop paired with intricate elaborate costumes and pyrotechnics, all wrapped up in national pride,” says Logo TV.
The show is such a ratings beast in Europe it’s surprising it hasn’t landed here sooner. The semifinals and finals of last year’s contest drew nearly 200 million viewers, according to Billboard — about 75 million more viewers than the last Super Bowl.
The fun of it goes beyond just tuning in to see crazy singers. We’ve all done that for years on “American Idol.”
This is a European bonding tradition. “Eurovision” has become sport just to watch the show, which is best done when consuming mass quantities of alcohol so that you and your friends can make snarky comments until you finally realize you’re really into it and rooting for that bearded Austrian lady named Conchita Wurst, or that masked Finnish metal band. Note: Slightly bizarre acts often win —although Celine Dion did launch her career with a “Eurovision” win in 1988. And Abba got its start with “Waterloo” in 1974.
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Here’s how it works: The top tens from two semifinals make it to the finals, as do the songs from the “Big Five” (the UK, France, Spain, Italy, and Germany), whose entries are guaranteed. There’s a three-minute time limit. Songs are often sung in English regardless of the participating country’s native language, and vocals must be sung live. When all the songs have been performed, each country gets to vote, both by phone/Internet and through each country’s internal jury of five local music professionals.
Oh, and NPR reports that Australia is allowed to be part of it all — just because they are obsessed with it.
The winning country hosts the contest the following year.
It’s all wildly political. Everyone votes for their neighbors; nobody votes for France. The eastern Soviet bloc countries typically send their best-looking women, irrespective of talent. The Swedes are the usual Eurovision champions, having won six times with surprisingly good, catchy music. Norway has a long history of placing last.
This year’s favorite, according to Eurovision.com, is Sergey Lazarev.
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One act Lazarev won’t be facing is Ivan, a Belarus singer who wanted to perform naked and surrounded by wolves. In the end, Ivan appeared on stage during Thursday’s semifinals, fully clothed and accompanied only by harmless hologram wolves. Sadly, he did not make it to the Grand Finals.
No worries: We’ll always have this classic 2011 performance by Jedward, from Ireland, the all-time winningest country in the competition, with seven championships to its name.
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