Switzerland has won the Eurovision Song Contest with the spectacular mix of rap, rock and opera by Nemo and his The Code, which prevailed thanks to the overwhelming vote of the majority of the juries and the favor of the public’s televoting. Nemo received 591 points with this song about his self-understanding as a non-binary person, becoming the first artist from this community to win the contest. The duo Nebulossa, representing Spain with the song Zorra, came in twenty-second place with 30 points. 25 countries competed in the final.
Nemo went up almost crying to collect his trophy, the precious crystal microphone, on the stage of the Malmö Arena, the pavilion of the Swedish host city that hosted the 68th edition of the veteran public television festival. So much so that he broke the trophy and injured his finger, so that later at the press conference he showed his bandaged thumb.
On stage the winner said: “I want to say thank you; I hope that this contest can fulfill its promise and continue to defend the peace and dignity of every person in the world.”
His victory thus put an end to an edition that will be remembered for the tensions caused by Israel’s participation in the bloody Israeli military offensive in Gaza. The Israeli representative, Eden Golan, who was booed at some points during her performance singing Hurricane, took fifth place with 375 points, the bulk of them coming from televoting. This week, there have been two pro-Palestinian demonstrations in Malmö, on Thursday and Saturday, and a pro-Israeli counter-march also on Thursday, and in the hours before the final, a strong police force guarded the access to the Malmö Arena in the face of another protest over Gaza. .
The other issue that leaves its mark on the history of the festival is the unprecedented decision by the organizers, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), to disqualify a contestant from the final. The representative of the Netherlands, Joost Klein, was disqualified on Saturday, a few hours before the final, due to a complaint of inappropriate behavior filed by a production team worker.
Dutch public television Avrotros described the disqualification as “very disproportionate punishment” for “a threatening gesture,” and part of the public agreed, given the boos that the Eurovision executive supervisor, Martin Österdahl, received during the gala.
The silver went to Croatia with the catchy Rim Tim Tagi Dim by Baby Lasagna, for weeks the big favorite of the bookmakers, which had 547 points; and the bronze for the Ukrainians Alyona Alyona and Jerry Heil, who with their folk ballad and rapper Teresa
Switzerland is a veteran with honors in this competition, but it had been many years without repeating a victory. The first Eurovision Song Contest in history was held in Switzerland, and Switzerland won it. It was in 1956 in Lugano and the winner was Lys Assia with Refrain. The second Swiss victory came in 1988 from the then barely known Céline Dion, who sang Ne partez pas sans moi.
For the rest, it was a wild gala, as Eurovision galas always are, with a profusion of sparks, neon and traveling flights, presented with solvency and humor by Petra Mede – the third time she had done so – and Malin Åkerman. We listened with pleasure to the Frenchman Slimane, who came fourth with the ballad Mon amour; to the Italian Angelina Mango who with her cumbia La noia achieved seventh place; and to the Portuguese Iolanda with the saudade of her Grito.
The evening’s program included the usual divas with great voices and skimpy costumes, such as the representatives of Georgia, Slovenia or Austria; and there was a lot of Eurodance from the nineties, mixes of rap with things and some extravagant and aggressive proposals at the same time, like the discussed Doomsday blue by the Irish Bambie Thug.
The commemoration of the 50th anniversary of Abba’s victory with Waterloo at Eurovision in 1974, to which the current identity of this festival owes so much, was a little lackluster, in part because its members did not agree to appear in person at the final gala.
