History Recap / EurovisionSongContest2023

* AllIssuesArePoliticalIssues: Downplayed from the previous year, but still present given Ukraine's inability to host this edition due to the ongoing Russian invasion. Some songs are also considered to indirectly reference the conflict--for example, Croatia's "Mama ŠČ!" by Let 3 is, on paper, a satire on strongmen and feature the mustachioed singers dressed in military caps and gaudily-painted trench coats before stripping down to their underwear, which some interpreted as a subtle TakeThat to UsefulNotes/VladimirPutin and his perceived emphasis on hypermasculinity, whilst Czechia's "My Sister's Crown" by Vesna has lines sung in Ukrainian in a show of solidarity with their near-neigbours.

* DownToTheLastPlay: Whereas Sweden and Finland respectively won the jury and televote points (with, respectively, 340 and 376 points, with Finland even scoring better in its dominant bloc), Sweden ultimately prevailed because it fared better with televoters (second with 243) than Finland did with juries (fourth with 150).

* TheAce:
** Returning Baku 2012 winner Loreen of Sweden is largely seen as a high favourite by the bookies before she ever set foot in Liverpool. True to form, she wins for the second time, becoming just the second two-time winner after Johnny Logan of Ireland and the first woman to do so, as well as matching Ireland's record amount of overall contest wins (7).
** Italy continues its streak of top-ten placements since Kyiv 2017, with Music/MarcoMengoni's emotional ballad "Due vite" placing fourth, in the process improving on his seventh-place finish from Malmö 2013.
** Last year's winner Ukraine also continue their top-ten streak with Tvorchi managing to snag sixth-place with "Heart of Steel".
** Australia's final entry under their current contract, Voyager, would finish in ninth place with "Promise". This gives Australia its fifth top-ten result in the contest out of the eight contests it was participated in since debuting in 2015.

The 2023 edition of the '''Series/EurovisionSongContest''' was held at the M&S Bank Arena[[note]]informally known as the "Liverpool Arena" for branding reasons[[/note]] in UsefulNotes/{{Liverpool}}, UsefulNotes/{{England}}, UsefulNotes/UnitedKingdom from 9 May 2023 to 13 May 2023, following UsefulNotes/{{Ukraine}}'s win in Turin the [[Recap/EurovisionSongContest2022 previous year]] with "Stefania" by Music/KalushOrchestra. Due to the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian war, however, it was decided that Ukraine would not be able to host the following year's edition as most reigning winners do, and the United Kingdom (who'd finished second with "Space Man" by Sam Ryder) stepped in to host on Ukraine's behalf. This was the UK's ninth time hosting the contest, and the fifth time they hosted it instead of the previous winner.

* DidNotSeeThatComing: During the jury points presentation, when Greece gave Cyprus only 4 points instead of 12 as it usually goes, the entire audience could be heard gasping.