Welcome back to your regularly scheduled Eurovision coverage! We are U & C of UC Eurovision and we’re so glad you’re joining us for another year of Euro Bops and our opinions on them. 

If you want to know what Eurovision is (or if you need a refresher) you click here for our brief introduction, or you can click here for Eurovision history, or you can simply explore our posts from previous years to get a taste of what has happened in 2022 and 2023. 

This year we are getting a bit of a late start on the blog, but DON’T WORRY: We Have A Plan!

The plan is to post our thoughts on Each of the Thirty-Seven Countries’ Entries, One At A Time, DAILY (more or less), until the second week of May! Starting from our Least Favorite and ending with our Most Favorite. We’ll have links to where you can listen to the songs and watch the music videos, but most importantly you’ll be able to read our thoughts on each entry, and that’s what you’re here for. If you’re looking for unbiased reporting you can go to some of our favorite sources like Eurovision World and Wiwibloggs. 

Okay, the Eurovision 2024 Season is in full swing already and we have a lot to cover before the final contest on May 11th! 

Last year, Sweden won Eurovision with the song “Tattoo” by Loreen. (Not our favorite, but that’s another story.) Which means that Sweden now has the honor of hosting Eurovision Song Contest 2024. It will be held in Malmo which is about as far south as you can get while still being in Sweden.

If you didn’t already know, ABBA won the Eurovision contest for Sweden with “Waterloo” in 1974 – so this year is the 50th anniversary! A convenient time for Sweden to be hosting again (hmmm…) Sweden has won the Eurovision contest 7 times now (in 1974, 1984, 1991, 1999, 2012, 2015, and 2023) which means they are tied with Ireland for most Eurovision wins! Sweden is also a super important country in the global music industry (have you heard of Spotify?) and has a history of hosting fantastic music contests. Their annual national song contest (Melodifestivalen) is probably our favorite national contest of the season. When Sweden last hosted Eurovision in 2016, the hosts sang “Love, Love, Peace, Peace” which is ICONIC in its own right. 

Back to 2024…

Below are some videos about this year’s competition: from the host city of Malmö, to the fun ~Northern Lights~ inspired graphics for this year, along with the now permanent motto “United By Music” (because they liked it so much last year they said we don’t need to come up with a new one, which is sad because that means we won’t get fantastic mottos like “All Aboard!” or “True Fantasy” anymore).

There are 37 countries competing this year, ranging from Belgium to Azerbaijan. Among them there are the “Big 5” countries which automatically qualify for the Final every year (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the UK), also notably we have Luxembourg who hasn’t competed in Eurovision since 1993. Lastly, in spite of many protests and calls to ban them from the contest, Israel is competing in the apolitical Eurovision Song Contest (that has banned Russia since 2021). We do not condone Israel’s presence or participation in Eurovision this year, but our silly blogpost about fun songs that we enjoy is not the space for that conversation. 

In any case, we hope you follow along with UC Eurovision Thoughts™ this month. You can subscribe to be notified when we post and have our opinions sent straight to your inbox, or you can wait until the day of the Final and try to read everything in one sitting as you frantically get ready to attend our watch party ;)

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Here is the list of the 37 countries and their songs this year: 

Competing in Semi Final 1, May 7th	Competing in Semi Final 2, May 9th	Big 5 + Sweden
Cyprus: Silia Kapsis – “Liar” Serbia: Teya Dora – “Ramonda” Lithuania: Silvester Belt – “Luktelk” Ireland: Bambie Thug – “Doomsday Blue” Ukraine: alyona alyona and Jerry Heil – “Teresa & Maria” Poland: Luna – “The Tower” Croatia: Baby Lasagna – “Rim Tim Tagi Dim” Iceland: Hera Björk – “Scared of Heights” Slovenia: Raiven – “Veronika” Finland: Windows95Man – “No Rules!” Moldavia: Natalia Barbu – “In the Middle” Azerbaijan: Fahree feat. Ilkin Dovlatov – “Özünlə Apar” Australia: Electric Fields – “One Milkali (One Blood)” Portugal: Iolanda – “Grito” Luxembourg: Tali – “Fighter”	Malta: Sarah Bonnici – “Loop” Albania: Besa – “Titan” Greece: Marina Satti – “Zari” Switzerland: Nemo – “The Code” Czechia: Aiko – “Pedestal” Austria: Kaleen – “We Will Rave” Armenia: Ladaniva – “Jako” Denmark: Saba – “Sand” Latvia: Dons – “Hollow” San Marino: Megara – “11:11” Georgia: Nutsa Buzaladze – “Firefighter” Belgium: Mustii – “Before the Party’s Over” Estonia: 5miinust & Puuluup – “(nendest) narkootikumidest ei tea me (küll) midagi” Israel: Eden Golan – “Hurricane” Norway: Gåte – “Ulveham” Netherlands: Joost Klein – “Europapa”	United Kingdom: Olly Alexander – “Dizzy” Germany: Isaak – “Always On The Run” France: Slimane – “Mon amour” Spain: Nebulossa – “Zorra” Italy: Angelina Mango – “La Noia” Sweden: Marcus & Martinus – “Unforgettable”

And here is the Official Spotify playlist of all 37 songs: