Saucy cabin crew. Baking grannies. An ode to the wonder of Facebook. Oh, and Michael Ball – Eurovision is a wonderful annual showcase of the weird, the wild and the deliciously naff. You’ll never find a finer gathering of Europe’s eccentric pop talent.
Sam Ryder, Britain’s 2022 entry, hit the sweet spot by being both self-consciously cheesy, glittering in his rhinestone onesie, and a genuinely impressive singer. He was duly rewarded with second place. Can our hope this year – 25-year-old Mae Muller – similarly thread the needle? The early signs are promising. Her TikTok-tweaked single I Wrote a Song strikes a similarly arch but memeable note.
Twenty-five countries in total will compete in the competition’s grand final this Saturday (May 13), with the 10 best-ranked entries from two semi-finals tonight and Thursday (May 11) going through. The remaining five entries are reserved for automatic byes for the “Big Five”, that is competition’s five-largest financial backers, including the UK and host nation Italy. All 40 participating countries, including those knocked out in the semis, will get a chance to vote for the winner of the final.
Since its inception in 1956, Eurovision has displayed some of the most interesting, unconventional and down-right strange acts that the continent (plus Israel and Australia) has had to offer. And here they are – the most memorable and cringe-worthy acts to have graced the competition’s stage…
Sasha Bognibov – I Just Had Sex With Your Ex (Moldova, 2022)
Last year’s competition was a relatively straight-forward affair, largely dominated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Ukraine’s Kalush Orchestra’s eventual (and deserved) triumph.
Yet even amongst the geopolitical doom, there was room for some light. And that came courtesy of Moldova’s effortlessly crass contender. It’s hard to choose what was worse – Bognibov’s strained vocals, the bafflingly poor production, or the lyrics. (Altogether now: “I just had sex with your ex.”) Actually, no competition: it was those lyrics.
