As is customary, Europe celebrates its classic song festival called Eurovision in which all members of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) participate. It is the annual music festival with the largest audience in the world: It has reached an audience of 600 million viewers internationally! It has been broadcast uninterruptedly since 1956, so it is the oldest TV contest and it is still in force, which is why the festival was awarded a Guinness Record in 2015. This year, Eurovision 2018 took place at Altice Arena in the city of Lisbon, Portugal on May 8, 10 and 12.
The festival was known for primarily promoting the genre pop Recently different genres have been incorporated such as tango, arabic, dance, rap, rock, punk and electronic music. Read on to find out everything that happened at Eurovision 2018!
Theme and general review Eurovision 2018
The main slogan was "All Aboard!" translated into Spanish as "All on board." The Thematic addresses the importance of the ocean and maritime activities that represent a fundamental aspect for the economy of the host country. The emblem represents a snail, which transmits the values of diversity, respect and tolerance.
The event was conducted by Silvia Alberto, Catalina Furtado, Filomena Cautela and Daniela Ruah. Eurovision 2018 had a great participation of countries 43 in total! The winner was the country of Israel with the song "Toy" performed by Israeli singer and DJ Netta Barzilai. The song was screened as one of the award favorites for months before the festival. Each festival consists of elimination sessions: 2 semi-finals and a grand final throughout the different days of the event.
Before the start of the festival, it is customary to do the semi-final draw. In the case of Portugal, Spain, Germany, United Kingdom, France and Italy had automatic pass to the final. The rest of the countries competed to win their place in two semifinals on May 8 and 9 where the 10 countries with the highest votes in each semifinal entered the grand final on the 12th.
Semifinal 1
They contained 19 countries and the May 8. The list of countries that competed that night of the semifinal 1 of Eurovision 2018 is as follows:
- Belarus
- Bulgaria
- Lithuania
- Albania
- Belgium
- Czech Republic
- Azerbaiyán
- Iceland
- Estonia
- Israel
- Austria
- Switzerland
- Finland
- Cyprus
- Armenia
- Greece
- Macedonia
- Croatia
- Ireland
Only 10 countries obtained their passage to the final with the following order of preference of votes: Israel, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Austria, Estonia, Ireland, Bulgaria, Albania, Lithuania and Finland.
The five favorite songs and their votes were the following:
- Toy. Performer: Netta (Israel) - 283 points
- Fire. Performer: Eleni Foureira (Cyprus) - 262 points
- Lie to Me. Performer: Mikolas Josef (Czech Republic) - 232 points
- Nobody but You. Performer: Cesár Sampson (Austria) - 231 points
- La Forza. Performer: Alekseev (Belarus) - 201 points
Semifinal 2
The May 10 and 18 countries participated, the contenders are listed below:
- Serbia
- Romania
- Norway
- San Marino
- Denmark
- Russia
- Moldova
- Australia
- Netherlands
- Malta
- Poland
- Georgia
- Hungary
- Latvia
- Sweden
- Slovenia
- Ukraine
- Montenegro
The ranking of preference of the 10 countries that advanced to the final is as follows: Norway, Sweden, Moldova, Australia, Denmark, Ukraine, the Netherlands, Slovenia, Serbia and Hungary.
The top 5 voting in the second semi-final is shown below:
- That´s How You Write a Song. Performer: Alexander Rybak (Norway) - 266 points
- Dance You Off. Performer: Benjamin Ingrosso (Sweden) - 254 points
- My Lucky Day. Performer: DoReDos (Moldova) - 235 points
- We Got Love. Performer: Jessica Mauboy (Australia) - 212 points
- Higher Ground. Performer: Rasmussen (Denmark) - 204 points
Part of the big surprises of the night is considered the disqualification of Poland, Latvia and Malta whose songs were among the favorites during the previous months to go to the final of the contest. On the other hand, Eurovision 2018 was the edition where Russia and Romania did not qualify as finalists for the first time in history.
Final
The big day of the final took place on May 12. The participants were made up of the 10 countries classified from the first and second semifinals, in addition to the six countries that had automatic pass. So a total of 26 finalists competed in Eurovision 2018 and they gave a great show to the spectators.
The table of positions for the 2018 Eurovision final considering the 26 finalists is as follows:
- Toy. Performer: Netta (Israel) - 529 points
- Fire. Performer: Eleni Foureira (Cyprus) - 436 points
- Nobody but You. Performer: Cesár Sampson (Austria) - 342 points
- You Let Me Walk Alone. Performer: Michael Schulte (Germany) - 340 points
- Non mi avete fatto niente. Performer: Ermal Meta & Fabrizio Moro - 308 points
- Lie to Me. Performer: Mikolas Josef (Czech Republic) - 281 points
- Dance You Off. Performer: Benjamin Ingrosso (Sweden) - 274 points
- La Forza. Performer: Alekseev (Belarus) - 245 points
- Higher Ground. Performer: Rasmussen (Denmark) - 226 points
- Nova Deca. Performer: Sanja Ilić & Balkanika (Serbia) - 113 points
- Mall. Performer: Eugent Bushpepa (Albania) - 184 points
- When We're Old. Performer: Ieva Zasimauskaitė (Lithuania) - 181 points
- Mercy. Performer: Madame Monsieur (France) - 173 points
- Bones. Performer: EQUINOX (Bulgaria) - 166 points
- That´s How You Write a Song. Performer: Alexander Rybak (Norway) - 144 points
- Together. Performer: Ryan O'Shaughnessy (Ireland) - 136 points
- Under the Ladder. Performer: Mélovin (Ukraine) - 130 points
- Outlaw In 'Em. Performer: Waylon (Netherlands) - 121 points
- Nova Deca. Performer: Sanja Ilić & Balkanika (Serbia) - 113 points
- We Got Love. Performer: Jessica Mauboy (Australia) - 99 points
- Viszlát nyár. Performer: AWS (Hungary) - 93 points
- Hvala, ne! Performer: Lea Sirk (Slovenia) - 64 points
- Your song. Interpreter: Alfred García and Amaia Romero (Spain) - 61 points
- Storm. Performer: SuRie (United Kingdom) - 48 points
- Monsters. Performer: Saara Aalto (Finland) - 46 points
- Or Jardim. Performer: Cláudia Pascoal (Portugal) - 39 points
In the midst of great expectation, controversy and a list of favorites, it was announced to the big winning song of the night: Toy! Performed by the DJ / singer and Netta with a sweeping score. Her performance focused on Japanese culture, which generated controversy when she tried to appropriate Japanese culture since the outfits, hairstyles and makeup were evidently inspired by the culture of Japan.
Interesting facts about eurovision ...
In addition to the accusations about the performance of Netta Barzilai, there were other acts that gave a lot to talk about during the final. Such is the case of the SuRie's performance, in which a fan took the stage and took the microphone to express some of his political thoughts, the person was later identified as a political activist. The committee then offered SuRie a repeat performance, however the offer was declined and the show continued with the previously stipulated schedule.
Moreover, China censored some parts of the contestants' performances because they displayed symbols or dances that alluded to homosexuality during the first semifinal of Eurovision 2018. Reason why the EBU suspended its contract with the radio station in that country by arguing that it does not constitute a partner aligned with the inclusive values that are intended to be promoted and celebrated through music. The consequence was the suspension of the transmission of the second semifinal and the grand final in that country.
Get ready for Eurovision 2019!
We have Israel as our next host! Israel has served as the host country a couple of times: in 1979 and 1999.
The EBU announced on September 13, 2018 that the city that will host the event will be Tel Aviv for Eurovision 2019. It will take place in the days 14, 16 and 18 May at the International Convention Center (Expo Tel Aviv).
The contest will take place in the Pavilion 2 of the International Convention Center that has a capacity of approximately 10 thousand people. Considering this fact, Eurovision 2019 would have a smaller capacity than the previous edition in Lisbon. However, one of the largest newspapers in Israel announced that only 4 thousand tickets will go on sale. This, because the space of 2 thousand people will be blocked by cameras and the stage, while the rest will be reserved for the European Broadcasting Union.
Generally the sale of tickets begins between the months of December and January. It is important to consider that the distributor and prices vary every year, so you have to be aware of any news. Mid-tier prices have a average cost of 60 euros for each semifinal and 150 euros for the final contest.
Don't despair if you don't get your ticket in the first or second round. Since in this type of event, tickets can be reserved for dates close to the event for marketing reasons to publish the event with "sold out" or "sold out." However, to increase the chances of attending the contest, it is advisable to join official Eurovision fan clubs because they have a large part of tickets reserved for their members. The location is usually close to the stage!
Gal Gadot, the renowned Israeli actress was invited to host Erurovisión 2019, her participation has not been confirmed yet.
There were three possible cities to play the role of host: Tel Aviv, Eilat and Jerusalem, the latter had participated as the venue on the two previous occasions that the festival was held in the same country. The organizers of the event affirm that Tel Aviv corresponds to the city with the best proposal for the event, although all the proposals were exemplary. So far the festival has a participation of 30 countries.
On the other hand, there are some demonstrations against Israel as the venue for the contest. Israel faces a difficult political situation, so that the main reason for the disagreement is its political stance and the actions it has taken against other countries. Countries such as The United Kingdom, Sweden and Iceland consider that holding Eurovision in that country constitutes a violation of human rights and propose to exclude it from the event.
Additionally, the EBU has issued official statements announcing that the safety of the event is paramount for the plans to continue their course. The prime minister is expected to guarantee security in all aspects, as well as freedom of movement so that all fans who wish can attend the event regardless of their nationality. They consider that respect for the values of inclusion and diversity are fundamental to Eurovision events and must be respected by all host countries.
Without a doubt, music unites people, cultures and aligns emotions so that large crowds connect through melodies and lyrics. I invite you to visit the official page of Eurovision for more details on the 2018 edition and next year's progress.
Do not lose sight of the details for the next edition there will be much to talk about!