Line #37 YMMV/EurovisionSongContest


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4	* AndYouThoughtItWouldFail:
5	** In 2006, many thought that the band representing Finland, Music/{{Lordi}}, was a ridiculous idea and that they had no way of winning, with commentators poking fun at it during the broadcast. At the end of the show, Lordi [[CurbStompBattle curb-stomped the competition]] and scored the highest amount of points in the contest at the time, and is today remembered as one of the most iconic Eurovision songs ever.
6	** When Moldova brought back Sunstroke Project to represent them in 2017, they were believed to either disqualify or finish low in the final, being overshadowed by other songs. Not only would Moldova be the first country to qualify of their semi-final, but at the final, they would go on to get third place by the televote and also finish in third place, which is as of now, the best results Moldova has ever had.
7	** In 2019, Serhat returned to represent San Marino after having done so three years ago. His disqualification that year alongside San Marino's poor track record led many to believe that San Marino would face another miss at the final. On the night of the first semi-final, San Marino was announced as one of the last qualifiers, earning the country its second spot in the final since 2014, and in the final, while they didn't do so well with the juries, they finished 10th in the televote and ended up coming in 19th place, which is still San Marino's best placement.
8	** When Stef "Gustaph" Caers won the Belgian National Final in 2023, his song was not that well received and was expected to not do well no matter if he qualified or not. The Grand Final told a different story. Gustaph received many points from the juries, landing in 7th place, and even though he didn't get as many from the televote, that did not change his position at all, which gave Belgium their best result since 2017.
9	* {{Anvilicious}}: While France 2019 entry "Roi" wasn't hated by any means (it finished 16th) there were a respectable amount of viewers who found the song and performance too preachy with its message about [[CaptainObviousAesop tolerance and non-prejudice against people with different gender identity, body shape or race.]] Especially since Israel's hosting of the contest was already brimming with it.
10	* AudienceAlienatingEra:
11	** The 2005-2009 period is often regarded this way for Spain. After the highly successful first ''Operación Triunfo'' era (2002-2004), with all three entrants picked out of said show cracking the lower half of the top 10, Spain suffered a massive slump with low-quality entries selected in chaotic national finals. 2008 is particularly divisive within the fanbase, as a joke entry endorsed by a comedy TV show was sent. Also, the second ''Operación Triunfo'' era (2018-2019), while not ''that'' terrible in terms of song quality, failed to match the success of the first, with both Amaia & Alfred and Miki ending up in the bottom five. Spain went back to internal selection for 2020, but their choice Blas Cantó was set to disappoint when the event was cancelled. He was given his chance to return immediately, but, when he got it, was one of four entries to fail to get any televotes, and got jury points from only 2 nations, one of them being, ironically enough, the UK, who failed to score in either medium. Spain immediately set up a new selection process in Benidorm (a downtrodden resort which had previously hosted a famous national music festival until 2005) with hope of improving their fortunes, and indeed, what was aimed as a long term process immediately got Spain into the top three for the first time since 1995.
12	** Sweden had a period from 2005-2010 consisting of entries being mediocre at best. With the exception of 2006, none of them finished in the top 10, finally culminating in Sweden not qualifying for the final at all in 2010, so far the one and only time. This prompted the national contest to change the voting system in 2011, wherein the number of points would correspond to the number of televotes more accurately, and since then, Sweden has fared ''much'' better, even winning the whole contest three times.
13	** Germany has this in waves. After a run of solid results in the '80s and early '90s, they received a single point in '95, were removed from the contest in '96[[note]]In an ironic attempt to keep Germany, the EBU let 29 prospective participants (excluding hosts Norway) submit audio tapes of their entries. 22 were selected to join Norway in the actual contest and Germany was one of the 7 losers.[[/note]] (their only absence), and placed poorly in '97[[note]]almost putting them in the relegation zone[[/note]]. Then [[MemeticMutation Guildo]] came along, brought them back to the top ten, and led to a few years of top ten results (two of them even in the top five!). Then they fell off again around 2005, finishing low for several years (including two last places) before roaring back with their second victory in 2010, which led to two more years of top ten results. Then 2013 came, and for four years (with the exception of 2014) they consistently finished in the bottom five, twice in last place and once with the dreaded ''nul points.'' They turned it around majorly with a fourth-place finish in 2018, but it was short-lived: 2019 and 2021 saw them fail to get any televoting points, but they still finished ahead of the United Kingdom thanks to the jury points, whilst they got no jury points - though with a small number of televotes to prevent nil points - the next year, one where Spain and U.K. broke long slumps. They would finish bottom ''again'' in 2023, but they got points from both the juries and the public that time. They got a bit better in 2024, where they surprisingly came 12th with more than 100 points, their best result since 2018.
14	** The UK was stuck in this era from around 1999 to 2022. Before 1999, they had only finished outside the top ten twice. Since 1999, they've only finished ''in'' the top ten three times (in 2002, 2009 and 2022 - though all 3 of those placed top 5), with five last places (two with ''nul points'' exacerbated by poor live performances of hitherto decently liked songs, one tied, one with a song that was critically derided, and one with a song seen as well sung but not authentic enough). Then, to general shock, Sam Ryder came out of nowhere with 'Spaceman' that handily won the Jury Vote and came second overall to Ukraine.
15	** The Netherlands had a pretty big one from the 2005 to 2012 period in which the country scored a total of '''0''' qualifications for the final. Fortunately, the non-qualification streak came to an end in 2013 in which the country finished 9th overall and since then, they only failed to qualify to final twice (2015 and 2023), and even managed to get their first win in the contest since 1975 in 2019.
16	* AwardSnub:
17	** The world's biggest singing competition is bound to have some divides on winners, not just from nationalism but also regional preferences and obviously personal preferences, but there are certain notable moments like when the feeds of voting announcements of countries bordering Russia got cut off before being restored and awarding ''douze points'' to Russia.
18	** Another example was Norway with the song ''Spirit in the Sky''. While the song proved extremely popular with voters, winning the popular vote with 291 points, it only earned a measly 40 points from the jury (most other songs on the top 10 earned at least 100 points from the jury). It didn't get better when word got out that, due to technical difficulties, the jury hadn't seen the entire song, and they weren't allowed a second performance.
19	** Despite having won the semi-finals with 177 points and the popular vote with 376 points, Käärijä's ''Cha Cha Cha'' (Finland's submission) still ended up narrowly losing to Loreen's ''Tattoo'' (Sweden's submission) by 57 points in the 2023 contest (''Cha Cha Cha'' got 526, while ''Tattoo'' got 583), much to the disappointment of viewers, who thought ''Cha Cha Cha'' was far more deserving of the win.
20	* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: A ''requirement'' to win. Heck, just count the whole thing. There's a national selection in most of the countries, which means that the best can only precede. What you're seeing is usually the best of the country. [[AwesomeMusic/EurovisionSongContest There's even an entire page of it here]].
21	* BreakawayPopHit: Music/{{ABBA}}'s 1974's winning entry for Sweden "Waterloo", the UK's 1996 entry "Ooh Ah Just A Little Bit" by Gina G, and Italy's winning 2021 entry "Zitti e buoni" by Music/{{Maneskin}} are probably the best known examples of this from the Eurovision. If you include the Interval acts then "Riverdance", from Ireland 1994 probably also counts since the music was a worldwide hit, and it spawned off a musical as well.
22	* BrokenBase:
23	** The 2015 announcement of [[GuestFighter Australia's participation]] was met with cheers and jeers. Some felt that their participation is a [[AscendedFanboy huge advantage for a country that loves Eurovision almost as much as Europe itself]], and definitely in keeping with the 2015 contest's TagLine (''Building Bridges'') promoting a sense of global unity, while others feel that Eurovision should be Europe-only, and Australia's participation will possibly open up doors for participation from non-European countries such as Brazil and Canada. In fact, Australia was invited back to the contest the following year in 2016.
24	** The choice of Music/GuySebastian as Australia's entrant has managed to [[http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/music/eurovision-2015-twitter-reacts-to-guy-sebastian-representing-australia-in-song-contest-20150305-13vnyk.html divide Australian Eurovision fans too]], with some labelling him as too safe and boring a choice, even though the entry was neither and placed 5th.
25	** This also happened with that year's entries for the UK and Finland, which many declaring that neither song had a chance of winning over the other countries' robust lineup of {{Pep Talk Song}}s and/or {{Power Ballad}}s.
26	** Political controversies and attempts by some countries to settle accounts with their political opponents with the help of the competition often becomes this for many viewers. In particular, since the second half of TheNewTens, practically every participation of Armenia and Azerbaijan, Russia and Ukraine has been overshadowed by scandals, mutual accusations and even diplomatic crises.
27	* CommonKnowledge:
28	** Russia was banned from participating in the 2022 contest because of the invasion of Ukraine, which is a yes and no statement. Yes, the invasion played a part in the banishment, but it wasn't the reason why. When Ukraine’s broadcaster UA:PBC appealed EBU to remove Russia from the contest on the same day of the invasion's start, EBU did not consider banning Russia because of the contest’s non-political nature. Following this, multiple other broadcasters urged EBU to reconsider the decision with some like Yle (Finland) and ERR (Estonia) stating that they would withdraw from the contest if Russia was allowed to be a part. One day later, EBU announced that Russia would not be participating, and the Russian broadcaster left EBU.
29	** No known footage of the 1964 Contest exists. It is commonly thought this was the result of a fire in a warehouse in the 1970s (which is also repeated on the official website). The actual reason is because it was never recorded, allegedly due to DR not having a tape recorder in the studio.
30	* CoveredUp: The Olsen Brothers won for Denmark in 2000 with song called "Fly On The Wings Of Love". Not many people remember that version. What they do remember is the cover version by XTM in 2003, which was a huge dance and club hit, especially in the UK and Ireland.
31	* CriticalDissonance: Since the introduction of the 50/50 voting format in 2009, it has been essential for contenders to avoid this if they wish to win. Several acts that have fallen into this trap include:
32	** 2011 UK representatives [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1dXMWWq6y8 Blue]] were considered to be one of the favorites to win and even received a credible 5th place in the televoting. However, they were ranked 22nd by the juries, leading to an overall 11th place result, barely missing the top ten. In the same year, the inverse happened to Slovenia's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNP3nfvoqps Maja Keuc]] and Austria's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsBC5AB1tFo Nadine Beiler]], who placed 4th and 5th among the juries respectively, but only placed 22nd and 24th (out of 25 finalists) in the televoting. They finished 13th and 18th respectively in the final event.
33	** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtjdTPnCcu0 Robin Stjernberg]] of Sweden in 2013 was ranked 3rd by the juries, but came in 18th in the televotes, ending up with a 14th place result.
34	** Poland’s MaleGaze-friendly entry in 2014 "My Słowianie - We Are Slavic", came in 5th in the public voting with 162 points. The juries on the other hand wanted nothing to do with the gimmicks, only placing it 23rd with 23 points, leading to a 62 point overall total and a 14th place result.
35	*** Poland are this in general. In 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017, the Polish entry wouldn't have qualified if Jury votes were the only votes. In 2018 and 2019, the former with a folktronica song that was seen to have hit potential, and the latter with a controversial bilingual folk rock ballad whose video’s depiction of Christianity was removed when it was uploaded onto the ESC website, the jury vote prevented them from qualifying, by just 1 point on the latter occasion.
36	** Malta are also this in general. During the 100% televote era, they initially did well, but got nul points from televoters in 2006[[note]]Their only points were from Albania's jury.[[/note]], and failed to qualify in 2007 and 2008. The televote dragged them out of the final in 2010, 2011, 2015 and 2017. The televote also caused them to finish in the twenties in the final, the worst victim being Firelight in 2014 - 6th in juries and 24th in the televote, the system in place made them finish 23rd overall. Malta only failed to make the jury top 10 in the semis in 2022.
37	** Romania became this upon their first NQ in 2018. The juries disagreed with all of their non-qualifications, all caused by the televoters, which previously caused Romania's success. However, in 2022, the televote saved them, especially with most jury votes to Romania being cancelled out in the voting scandal.
38	** Italy's 2015 entry came first in the televoting, but due to the 5th place given by the juries, Il Volo ended up in 3rd place. This was the first time that the winner of the televoting did not win the contest.
39	** 2016 was the first time neither the winner of the jury vote (won by Australia) nor the winner of the televote (won by Russia) would end up winning the contest. Because of the opposing views from both voting parties (Australia 4th with public, Russia 5th with jury), they ended up cancelling each other out leaving with Ukraine (2nd in jury and public) the winner overall. The split voting system introduced that year made the CriticalDissonance particularly obvious. Most notable was Poland's Michał Szpak, who ranked second to last in the jury votes, with only 7 points, but ended third in the public vote with 222 points, finishing eighth in the overall rank.
40	** Pretty much ''all'' of Australia's post-2017 entries fell victim to this where a high jury score would be cancelled by a poor televote:
41	*** 2017's contestant, Isaiah Firebrace, who received a respectable 4th place by the juries with 171 points, but received a disappointing 25th place from the televoting with just 2 points from Denmark. Surprisingly enough, they managed to stay on the top 10 overall with a 9th place result.
42	*** 2018's Jessica Mauboy scored 90 points and 12th place with the jury, but 9 points (and last at 26th place) with the televote, causing her to finish at 20th overall.
43	*** 2019's entry downplayed this with Kate Miller-Heidke gaining just over half her points from the jury (153, 6th place) relative to the televote (131, 7th place). However, more lopsided scores from the likes of Norway and North Macedonia (both discussed further down) caused Australia's overall score to fall to 9th overall.
44	*** While 2021's Montaigne failed to qualify for the final, the semi-final was still an example, scoring 26 points (14th) with the televote but last (16th) with the public at 2 points. Australia's COVID restrictions restricting Montaigne from leaving the country may not have helped here, with the broadcaster SBS having to send their entry in remotely for review instead.
45	*** 2022's contestant Sheldon Riley also received 2 points (and 24th place) from the televote but 123 points (and 9th place) from the jury, allowing for a respectable 15th place finish overall. Part of the reason is attributed to it being lost in the high amount of male ballads that year (including the 2nd-placed UK as well as Poland, Switzerland and Azerbaijan)
46	*** 2023's entry, the synth-metal band Voyager, won the 100% televote semi-final 2 but also ultimately fell victim to this in the grand final. The band scored 130 points (6th place) with the jury, but just 21 points (and 20th overall) with the public. Regardless, Voyager still achieved a [[RuleOfThree 9th place finish]] in an odd-numbered year. In this case, it is believed fans of rock and metal music overwhelmingly preferred the theatrics present in Finland's (and to a lesser extent, Croatia's) entry with similar-styled entries from Slovenia and Germany also suffering poorer than expected televote scores.
47	** Austria, seen by not even the biggest fans of former Bulgaria backing vocalist Cesar Sampson as a contender in 2018, held off the Mediterranean title rivals of Israel and Cyprus, as did Sweden, in the jury, but Sweden got only 21 televotes, and Austria only 71, and Israel and Cyprus thundered ahead. Denmark and Italy had very poor jury scores but stormed into the top 10 once the points of the televotes were added, with Italy close to the Cypriot-Israeli title race.
48	** In 2019, Norway in terms of those favoured by the public (they were only 15th with the jury, but got more televotes than any other song), and Sweden and unfancied North (formerly FYR) Macedonia with the tastemakers.
49	** Moldovan cult icons Zdub Si Zdub was the most serious case of this in 2022 - near last with the jury vote but the second best tele vote behind Ukraine’s landslide score. The Serbian and Norwegian entries also benefited from this as well, with both of them going from somewhere in the middle of the leaderboard after the jury vote to 5th and 10th respectively after the public vote, while the inverse happened with Switzerland - they did well with the jury, and got zero points from the public, which landed them near the bottom.
50	** This happened both ways in 2023: the professional juries put Croatia second-bottom with just 11 points, whereas the public votes put them seventh. (This might be more because of the performance - which really needs [[https://youtu.be/hGuGfdEJ5Pw to be seen to be believed]].) Austria went the other way with this - they finished eighth in the jury vote but, despite being a fan-favourite, could only scrape together 16 points from the public, putting them 22nd.
51	* DancingBear: Lots of examples, whenever an act is most remembered for the gimmick than for the song or singer. Just to mention a couple, if you ask anyone, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=waYpnAexrUA the Russian act for 2006]] was about a ghost girl coming out of a piano, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_xRmEkR6KE Ukraine 2011]] was about a woman doing sand drawings and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iN3d_V7KVLE Azerbaijan 2013]] was about a guy dancing inside a glass box. In all three cases, the person remembered didn't sing a note.
52	** Moldova does this nearly every year. It's gotten to the point that anybody outside of Europe will only remember one of Moldova's performances, the one from 2010. It's not even its proper name, but everyone knows it as "that Epic Sax Guy song".[[note]]Also an AscendedMeme: [=SunStroke Project=] later released a remix of the song titled "Epic Sax".[[/note]] The "Epic Sax Guy", in fact, made a triumphant comeback in 2017 as [=SunStroke Project=] reemerged with "Hey Mamma" to claim third place -- Moldova's all-time high. Acts like Zdob Si Zdub and [=DoReDos=] have done bizarre visual shows for the tiny exclave between Ukraine and Romania, too.
53	** The hosts of 2016 made fun of this trope and presented us with [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMgW54HBOS0 this]]. A collection of some of the most famous gimmicks featured in Eurovision.
54	** Creator/StephenColbert chose to represent the USA after Eurovision began broadcasting there in 2016 and gave yet another parody. Enjoy [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTP17rWuUMo The Living Life]]; who knows if it was influenced by "Love Love Peace Peace", but it does feature a lot of the same repeated quirks.
55	** In the 2020 Finnish selection process, Erika Vikman used a literal one for the stageshow of her Schlager candidate "Cicciolina", a disco entry so 90's that it was even in its own language, and a major fan favourite. However, it lost the selection process to a more demure tune and the event was scrapped anyway days later.
56	* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff
57	** The show is quite popular in Australia, where SBS shows it on tape delay for primetime (complete with their own commentators in recent years; they used to carry the BBC's feed). Also the subject of a CutawayGag during the OpeningMonologue of the 2013 edition, which showed an Australian family staying up to watch it live. They fell asleep on the couch. It reached its apex when the EBU, in honor of the ESC's 60th anniversary, invited Australia to participate as a one-off GuestFighter in 2015. The song was very well-received, and placed 5th in the final event; Australia has stuck around ever since, even ''nearly winning'' in 2016.
58	** There's a small but growing group of people in the US who wish that BBC America would air the contest. Some want to watch it because they truly are fans of European music and would like the opportunity to find more potential artists to listen to, others just hear all the snark that Europe throws at it and are interested due to BileFascination. In 2016, the event was picked up by an American broadcaster: however, it ended up being Creator/{{Logo}}.
59	* HamAndCheese: Some of the most memorable acts are those who decide to simply have fun and ham it up knowing that their chances of winning are terribly slim. Acts of this kind are pretty much Moldova's specialty (for evidence, just take a look at [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHAY_OVN_gY Zdob şi Zdub]] or [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1kjPaVAeeE DoReDos]]), but this trope is also one of the reasons why Spain has failed to get over ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfeCIvOxXBo Baila el Chiki-Chiki]]''.
60	* HarsherInHindsight:
61	** Or hilarious, depending on your sense of humor: while presenting the votes in 1996, host Ingvild Bryn noted that none of the countries had ''nul points'', remarking that host country Norway were notorious for it. One year later, Tor Endressen's "San Francisco" became the fourth Norwegian entry to receive ''nul points'', a dishonor it shared with Portugal that year.
62	** The (planned) 2020 edition's tagline "Open Up" became darkly ironic when a global pandemic forced its cancelation, amid countless countries issuing strict quarantine orders to citizens. It then became fittingly (and optimistically) poignant when it was announced they would be using it again for 2021.
63	** Watching the voting of the year 2000 becomes very uncomfortable after realising that at the exact same moment, more than 20 people died in a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enschede_fireworks_disaster firework explosion in the Netherlands]]. It’s briefly touched upon by the spokesperson from the Netherlands who mentions that there are no public votes due to a disaster with an unspecified loss of life, but the commentators simply gloss over it and continue to crack jokes.
64	** The Hungarian entry from 2018 is about the singer Örs Siklósi losing his father at a young age. Unfortunately the same would apply to Örs himself, as he passed away from leukemia at 28 in 2021.
65	** The winning song of the 2016 contest, "1944" by Jamala for Ukraine, told of the plight of her Crimean ancestors as they were forced out of their lands in World War II. Almost six years later, the song gained renewed attention during Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Jamala herself would be forced out of Ukraine with her children to escape the war.
66	** Iceland's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGegovbGTOg first entry]] in 1986 is "Gleðibankinn", which means "The Bank of Fun". 22 years later in 2008, [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008%E2%80%932012_Icelandic_financial_crisis economic crisis strikes]].
67	** The 1993 postcards had the competitors exploring Ireland. For Denmark's Tommy Seebach, he led his band through a distillery, followed by them all enjoying drinks. Ten years later, Seebach would die from a heart attack, which many ascribed to longtime alcoholism (exacerbated by the fact that his entry in '93 finished near the bottom and relegated Denmark from the following year's contest).
68	** In 1977, the United Kingdom had a song called "Rock Bottom", whose chorus started "Where are we? Rock bottom." That finished second. Between 2003 and 2021 inclusive, the United Kingdom would finish rock bottom five times - including two "nil pointers" and two back-to-back last placers (albeit with the cancelled 2020 contest in between).
69	* HeartwarmingInHindsight:
70	** Following from the 2020–2021 Belarusian protests, watching and listening to Litesound (semifinalist, Baku 2012), Naviband (seventeenth, Kyiv 2017) and VAL (entrant, Rotterdam 2020[[note]]withdrawn entry due to the contest's cancelation[[/note]]) will be delightful GuiltyPleasures thanks to [[https://wiwibloggs.com/2020/08/15/what-is-happening-in-belarus-how-are-eurovision-personalities-reacting/256719/ their support for the anti-authoritarian protesters]] and all of these submitted songs are TheFutureWillBeBetter SelfEmpowermentAnthem, it's implied that all of them never give up from themselves and the protests.
71	** Some Ukrainian entries like 2005 Greenjolly's MusicForCourage "Razom Nas Bahato"[[note]]Which became the unofficial anthem of the actual protest, Ukrainian Orange Revolution[[/note]] and 2011 Mika Newton's positive message song "Angel" hit differently during Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Especially 2022 Kalush Orchestra's "Stefania" which released few days before the invasion, is a song about good memories from their mother, it's implied that some Ukrainians lost or missed or feeling inseparable with their moms (or other family members) during the war. Which later {{Exploited\|Trope}} by their [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8Z51no1TD0 official video]] that features impact of warfare on civilians, especially the mothers who protect their children during the war.
72	* HilariousInHindsight:
73	** Following Ireland's run of three wins between 1992 and 1994, British commentator Terry Wogan remarked before the Irish entry from '95 that, "They say they don't want to win, but believe me, they do!" Ireland ended its streak and then some that night, plummeting to fourteenth place. One year later, though...
74	** Pretty much every joke referencing Finland's lack of success prior to 2006 (a popular joke compared different Finnish temperatures to Finnish occurrences - "-300 degrees" is comparable to "Finland winning Eurovision"). In particular, the 2005 ''Congratulations: 50 Years of the Eurovision Song Contest'' special had an extended riff on the subject. Host [[Music/KatrinaAndTheWaves Katrina Leskanich]] mentioned that Finland had been the country with the longest participation to never win the contest, "and they're ''angry!"'' This prompted a performance of "Waterloo" by famed Finnish shouting choir Mieskuoro Huutajat. ''Literally one year later'', [[Music/{{Lordi}} a band]] with a similarly loud sound [[CueTheFlyingPigs cued the flying pigs]] and earned Finland the biggest victory in the history of the contest at the time.
75	** The same year Finland won, the representative of what was then Serbia and Montenegro, while broadcasting their votes from Belgrade, remarked that "we didn't have a song for you this year.[[note]]They ''did'', but had to withdraw at a late stage, so while they didn't perform they still got to vote, the only time a non-participating country voted in the contest until 2024's final.[[/note]] But next year, we'll have the ''best'' song." They were as good as their word: the next year, newly-independent Serbia won the whole contest, with Belgrade hosting in 2008.
76	** In one of the interval sketches of Sweden's hosting of Eurovision 2013, an EBU "reporter" called Lynda Woodruff mistakes Copenhagen for Malmö when she's going to introduce the Swedish culture to the audience, which she does by counting several of Denmark's specialties instead (geographically, Malmö is really close to Denmark, and practically seen as Danish by both countries, so it was sort of a common mistake). Guess which country won the contest and which city got to host it the next year?
77	** One interval act that got cut after the dress rehearsal offered a look into the future, where every country in the world participated in Eurovision. Alongside typical Eurovision contestants like Norway and Russia, other countries taking part include South Africa, Brazil, and Australia. The first two are still waiting on their invitation, but one year later, guess who was invited for the first time?
78	** During the 60th anniversary show, ''Eurovision’s Greatest Hits'', after the performance of 1973 winning song "Tu te reconnaîtras" (Wonderful Dream), co-host Graham Norton remarked that "Of course I too had a wonderful dream, yeah that Greece and Cyprus gave someone else 12 points", noting the infamous voting bloc between the two nations. Ironically in that year’s Eurovision (2015), Greece and Cyprus would both give their respective 12 points to Italy.[[note]]Though there were other times in the '80s and '90s that one of the countries didn't give each other 12 points, this was the first year that ''neither'' of the countries did so![[/note]]
79	*** Whilst that year saw both nations give their 12's to Italy, Cyprus gave 6 points to Israel and Greece gave none. Why was this ironic? Greek rnb singer Eleni Foureira was so taken aback by the Israeli entry Golden Boy, penned by Doron Medalie, she did an own language cover version of it. This led to her attempting to represent Greece with a song produced by Doron. It wasn't selected, but 2 years later, she represented Cyprus after Greek Swedish super producer Alex P's wanted artists were unable to enter, became a sensation, and placed 2nd. Who wrote the song that beat hers? Medalie! Furthermore, they collaborated again with her new-found status and his elevated further.
80	** In the interval act of the 2016 contest finale, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMgW54HBOS0 "Love Love Peace Peace"]], the then incumbent winner and host Måns Zelmerlöw jokingly advises against winning Eurovision with a song about war, as Abba did with "Waterloo" back in 1974. Come the end of the show, Jamala wins with "1944", a song about the Soviet deportation of Crimean Tatars.
81	*** That same year, in the "Story of ESC" song, Mans and Petra sing that Eurovision "[will] take over the world and then conquer Mars!" In 2018, science-fiction writer and Obie Award winner Catherynne M. Valente released ''Space Opera'', which is about humanity having to send a representative to an intergalactic song contest in order to not be obliterated. So, in a sense, Eurovision ''does'' take over Mars (and, if the parody isn't obvious enough, the names of each chapter come from different Eurovision songs, and the beginnings to each section contain quotes from thematically relevant Eurovision songs).
82	*** Later, in the same song, they jokingly sing "When Sweden gets twelve points from Norway/It's clearly just good taste" as a way to poke fun at how Sweden benefits from Nordic bloc voting. Then, when the jury vote comes around, Norway gave Sweden...nothing. And the televote only gave them 7.
83	** Austria and Germany in 2015 both got nul points. In 2018 they were in 3rd and 4th place with 342 and 340 points, respectively.
84	** The interval act in 2010 featured flash mobs dancing in cities across Europe, one of which was Düsseldorf in Germany. Which would be the following year’s host city.
85	** In 2021, the Spain entry was the song "Voy a quedarme" (Literally: I will Stay) by ex-boyband singer Blas Canto, who released a translated version closer to the event. Just before the contest, he released another version of the English translation with the UK's entry James Newman - and neither act got even one televoting point between them, and just 6 jury points, all for Blas, and 2 from the UK!
86	** After [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Norway_attacks far-right terrorist attacks in 2011]], Norwegian televoters seemed to [[TakeThat give their preferences]] to a TwoferTokenMinority singer Tooji to represent their country in 2012. [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norway_in_the_Eurovision_Song_Contest_2012#Final Well, just look at the televote results from each regions!]]
87	** Belarus 2008 entry, "Hasta la vista" is a BreakupSong. 13 years later, Belarusian broadcaster BTRC was expelled from the EBU on 1 July due to violation of the contest's rules against political propaganda entries.
88	** The grand final of the 2022 contest in Turin opened with not an Italian song, but "Give Peace a Chance," by Music/JohnLennon, due to ongoing crises - most notably that in Ukraine. When Ukraine won the contest and was unable to host given those circumstances, who should step up to take on hosting duties but Lennon's hometown of Liverpool?
89	* HoYay: Beside a [[ActorShipping Singer Shipping]] trope, there's nothing weird to have so many of these kind of moments due to the show's large amounts of LGBTFanbase (not to mention the ''[[HomoeroticSubtext deliberate]]'' examples mentioned on the main page).
90	** Ireland's 1994 winning entry, "Rock 'n' Roll Kids" by Paul Harrington and Charlie Mc[==]Gettigan, is a nostalgic ballad about people that were once close growing apart with age, and it can be easily be interpreted as romantic with lyrics such as "I was yours, and you were mine". In fact, the performance features lots of tender eye contact between the two singers.
91	** Italy's 2021 Damiano David of Måneskin [[https://twitter.com/Morena_3v/status/1396254963513311236 kissed and hugged]] both of the other male band members on stage at the winner's performance.
92	** Norway's wolf-masked duo Subwoolfer is a good HoYay thing for UsefulNotes/FurryFandom in 2022 with some of their somewhat suggestive lyrics:
93	--->Not sure I told you but I really like your teeth \
94	That hairy coat of yours with nothing underneath
95	* HypeBacklash:
96	** Many winners of their respective years usually get thoroughly bashed once it gets popular; usually by those who didn't find the song very appealing in the first place, as well as the fans of the other potential winners (especially the runner up). Several winners have a huge amount of dislikes on [=YouTube=], although now the dislikes are not publicly visible anymore unless you use a specific browser extension.
97	** After Malta's Destiny was a favorite in the odds for most of the buildup to the 2021 contest, the Maltese delegation started a large online campaign, advertising their entry "Je me casse" in pretty much whatever space they could find. Unfortunately for them, the overpromotion led to fans growing tired of the song right before the final. As a result, Malta received 208 points from the national juries but only 47 from the televote, leading to a disappointing seventh place overall.
98	[[/folder]]
99
100	[[folder:L-W]]
101	* LGBTFanbase: Goodness gracious, '''yes'''. The entire program is {{camp}}ier than a chorus line of drag queens, not to mention that a huge number of performers are themselves members of the LGBT community (of which Conchita Wurst is the well-known example.) There's a [[https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/eurovision-2018-lgbt-song-contest-saara-aalto-conchita-wurst-fans-gay-audience-a8335116.html reason]] [[https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/music/have-you-noticed-that-eurovision-is-very-popular-with-gay-people-1.3081243 why]] the contest is [[https://www.researchgate.net/publication/295082264_The_gay_Olympics_The_Eurovision_Song_Contest_and_the_politics_of_LGBTEuropean_belonging often referred to]] in the media as the "[[FanNickname Gay Olympics]]".
102	* MandelaEffect: A lot of germans are firmly convinced, that the contest was called only by its french name "Grand Prix de la Chanson de l' Eurovision" until some point in the 70s, 80s or 90s. Despite the fact, that the english name was used in every german TV broadcast over the decades.
103	* MemeticBadass: Valentina Monetta, Serhat and Senhit, three singers who all have represented San Marino separately and more than once, have all gotten this status thanks to their good songs ([[SoBadItsGood though they may be more mixed in that]], at least for Serhat and some of Valentina's songs), the fact that all three have represented the smallest country currently in the contest (and second smallest in the show's history, after Monaco), and also succeeding in getting San Marino to the final. Between 2011 and 2021, San Marino has almost always been represented by one of these three (except in 2015 and 2018). There are jokes that San Marino would have a guaranteed victory if the three collaborated and represented the nation together and that it would take place in Valentina's backyard, since Valentina is the only one of the three who actually comes from San Marino (Senhit is Italian, Serhat is Turkish). Plus, Senhit managed to get Music/FloRida on stage with her in 2021.
104	* MemeticMutation: [[MemeticMutation/EurovisionSongContest See here]].
105	* MisBlamed: British critics of Eurovision have a habit of blaming their terrible results since the early 2000's on the rest of Europe hating them for various political decisions, such as the Iraq war in 2003, and Brexit after 2017. However, many have argued that their AudienceAlienatingEra is based on the poor quality of their entries (which have generally ranged from SoOkayItsAverage to outright terrible) citing the success of Jade Ewen in 2009, Blue in 2011 (5th in the public vote), or even Lucie Jones in 2017 (the juries placed her in the top 10) as proof that the United Kingdom can be major contenders if they actually put effort into creating a memorable song and promoting it properly, which was proven in 2022, when they won the jury section and thereby second spot behind Ukraine.
106	** Some Irish fans have blamed their nation having made just 3 top 20 places since 2006 (the first two with Jedward, who represented the nation twice in a row in 2011 and 2012), and just 1 final since 2013, on the fact caricature character Dustin The Turkey Represented them in 2008 and didn’t qualify.
107	* {{Moe}}: While she came last place in 2016, Germany's Jamie-Lee Kriewitz was still seen as TheCutie for being young, dressing in a lolita fashion and apparently having a tendency for adorable head-gear.
108	* NoSuchThingAsBadPublicity: The decision for Austria to send in drag queen Music/ConchitaWurst in 2014 was rather controversial for conservative viewers and nations, with some even going as far as saying that she would turn the contest into "a hotbed of sodomy". Ironically, the reason why Wurst’s persona even exists is due to her advocacy towards tolerance, and if anything, the controversy caused even more people to look into and adore her and her song. Especially considering that she won, it’s safe to assume her message of tolerance was heard loud and clear.
109	** The entire nature of Netta and Toy is about this, even with its positive message, at a time of increased agitation about Israel, particularly with domestic political problems, and its government's relationship with nationalists, such as Donald. The uninhibited nature of the song meant that it went viral instantly, including in Africa, and even some Arab League countries, and picked up over 20 million views before the contest began, with a further 7 million the day after its win, enabled by nations with a variety of opinions on, and trust in, Israel.
110	* OvershadowedByControversy:
111	** It's a matter of debate on whether the UK’s Nul Points in 2003 was more because of anti-British sentiment from the Iraq War, or Jemini's horrifying off key singing, but obviously having both factors going against the UK clearly didn’t help.
112	** Russia's Tolmachevy Sisters in 2014 received a lot of boos from the audience when they made it to the final and when they received high votes, not because of their song (they came in 7th), but because of anti-Russian sentiment due to the Crimean conflict and its stance on gay rights.
113	*** The same thing happened in 2015 with Russia's Polina Gagarina who came in second. She was in tears in green room during the first part of the voting when she was in the lead, allegedly because of how loud the crowds were booing whenever she received high scores, prompting one of the hosts to chastise the audience for making it about politics above music. Once Sweden took the lead people were loudly chanting for Sweden to win just so that Russia would not.
114	*** Russia was accused of choosing Julia Samoulova for 2017 because they knew the audience would never boo someone in a wheelchair. However, Julia was controversial for different reasons: she had previously traveled to Crimea via Russia to perform, which led to Ukraine banning her from entering the country for three years, preventing her from performing in Kiev that year. She was given the chance to perform via satellite link (which would have made her the first participant ever to do so), but Russia declined and withdrew a month before the contest. Julia did perform in Portugal 2018, and while she wasn't booed (and received 3 televoting points from Ukraine), she didn't advance to the Grand Final either.
115	*** The entire episode after Russia's illegal war on Ukraine in 2022, with Russia barred from ESC after Nordic and Baltic nations threatened to withdraw if Russia's as-yet-undetermined entry was allowed to compete. Ironically, in the prior 10 days, Ukraine had to replace its selection process winner as entry with its runner up due to alleged forgery of documents relating to travel to Crimea in 2015, and then ended up winning the entire contest due to a tidal wave of support from the rest of Europe.
116	* {{Padding}}: Many entries have lyrics that's just filler to help a song reach the required time limit.
117	** Lampshaded in a Swedish song parodying the contest called "''Värsta Schlagern''" (loosely translating into "The Worst Hit Song"; Schlager is a term referring to a particular style of pop music that is prevalent among Nordic Eurovision entries and hopefuls), where the lyrics for the verse between the first and second chorus go[[note]]Translated from Swedish[[/note]]: "''Now it gets tricky to figure out// something new to say, but so what?// This is merely padding, anyway// and people will soon forget it''."
118	** Some of the shows can fall into this too, mainly when there is a gap between the Interval act finishing and when the votes are going to be announced, especially if there is a problem with the verification. This has lessened in the final since 2016 (as the public votes can be verified during the jury voting), but is still present in the semifinals.
119	** Whilst an integral part of the Contest nowadays, the postcards themselves were added for this reason: as a result of dissatisfaction with the 1969 result, Finland, Norway, Portugal and Sweden withdrew from the Contest, leaving just 12 countries left, so the producers included videos of the act about to perform in their country's capital[[note]]or Paris, in the case of Switzerland, Luxembourg and Monaco (as well as France, obviously)[[/note]].
120	** Played for laughs in 2024, when the Big 5 entries started to perform in the semi-finals.
121	---> '''Petra Mede:''' Yes, we managed to find a way to make the contest [[DeadpanSnarker even longer]]!
122	* QuirkyWork: The contest has been described elsewhere on this site as a demonstration of just how ''weird'' the European music scene can get. Some of the more surreal entries can look like they were put together after a bad acid trip.
123	* RetroactiveRecognition: Lúcia Moniz, who represented Portugal in 1996 and got them their best finish ever up to that point (6th place, which would remain their best result until Salvador Sobral won twenty-one years later), would later become better known for playing Aurélia, Creator/ColinFirth's love interest in ''Film/LoveActually.''
124	** Music/JulioIglesias represented Spain in 1970, prior to finding international success later in the decade. His song, "Gwendolyne," finished fourth.
125	** Pretty much the universal reaction to non-fans discovering that "Nel blu dipinto di blue" (aka "VOO-LAA-REE!") and "L'amour est bleu" (better known in English as "Love is Blue") started out as Eurovision entries is, "Wait - THOSE were Eurovision songs?" Both, in various forms, are the only Eurovision entries to top the Billboard Hot 100 charts in the United States.
126	** Similarly, ''Theatre/{{Riverdance}}'' was created as an interval act for the 1994 contest, which was hosted (for the second of three consecutive years) by Ireland. It was far and away the highlight of the show, to the degree that some people speculated Ireland's record-breaking win that night was at least partially out of respect for ''Riverdance.''
127	* SacredCow:
128	** Music/{{ABBA}}, who got Sweden's first win ever in 1974. May the heavens protect you if you bad-mouth them in the slightest.
129	** Then there's of course Music/CelineDion, winner for Switzerland in 1988, who has become one of the most famous international singers of all time since then.
130	** 2009 gave us Norway's Alexander Rybak, who won the competition with a landslide 387 televotes and held the record for over a decade. His entry remains as one of Eurovision's most beloved and memorable acts, and his cameos in later editions have repeatedly been met with pure delight. It's not uncommon for ESC fans to rank "Fairytale" as one of the best ESC songs, if not ''the'' best ESC song, ever.
131	** Sweden's Loreen earned this status in 2012 when she won with the instant mega-hit "Euphoria". She is especially revered in Sweden; when she performed in one of the interval acts in Melodifestivalen 2015 (Sweden's national selection for ESC), she was showered with love and adoration from every direction. Swedes practically ''begged'' her to return to ESC, and her ShockingElimination in the 2017 Melodiefestivalen was met with outrage. Her eventual return and historic ''second win'' in 2023 cemented her status as a Eurovision legend, but surprisingly, her SacredCow status was actually [[SubvertedTrope subverted]], as her overall win despite Finland's '''133-point televote lead''' led to a wave of criticism against both her and the juries.
132	** Serbia in 2007 (Marija Serifovic with "Molitva") counts as well; it's still fondly remembered despite being roughly 10 years ago she won. In fact, when there was a poll counting the best Eurovision entries of ''all time'' in early 2010's, she was ranked ''second.'' (ABBA was in first).
133	** The (in)famous Johnny Logan, the only three-time winner (once as a singer, once as singer/songwriter, and once as songwriter). The two songs he performed, particularly his second, "Hold Me Now," are still considered high watermarks for the contest. "Hold Me Now" was even voted the third-greatest ESC song in 2005, coming behind only "Volare" and "Waterloo."
134	** Music/MansZelmerlow, as a winner and one of Sweden's cheesiest hosts. His winning song "Heroes" is held up almost as highly as his presenting gig the following year and the interval act "Love Love Peace Peace".
135	** 2023 gives us Käärijä from Finland for bringing one of the quirkiest songs (and the only song that year to have the entire audience chanting his name during the results announcement), but also being the friendliest and funniest contestant who befriended nearly everyone else. And Lord(i) help you if you insult him in front of a Finn because the entire country of Finland in particular is VERY protective of him for having the most successful Finnish song to date. It is possible that he may go down as one of the most memorable entries in 2023.
136	** More hosts that are held dear to Eurovision include the UK's (Irish) commentators Terry Wogan and Graham Norton, and Sweden's Petra Mede. Norton and Mede gladly became the faces of Eurovision hosting by the 2010s.
137	* ScrappyMechanic: There is nothing in the ESC rules saying that the national entrants ''have to'' be selected among numerous artists and/or songs by the wider public and for various reasons, some countries sometimes decide to just have their TV bosses pick a song and an act - which usually goes just about as well as you'd expect. The reasons for that unpopular measure being taken are usually lack of suitable candidates, something about the last performance having gone wrong and [[DemocracyIsFlawed the public vote being blamed]] or attempts to cut costs. It's not uncommon that a country goes from national preselection to network bosses picking an act to not showing up at all before giving it a go again years later
138	** Yes and no: while internal selection has a mixed track record at Eurovision, it's paid off handsomely for several countries. Two of the top three countries in 2018 (Austria and Cyprus) internally selected their songs and performers, while victorious Israel picked their singer through a national final and the song was chosen by the Israeli broadcaster. Several winning acts have also been completely chosen internally (Conchita Wurst and Duncan Laurence). In fact, the Netherlands have not used a single public selection since 2012, the final year of their infamous run of not qualifying, and have only missed one final since, with a song that was unveiled prematurely and a singer whose dress was widely derided; and their NonGameplayElimination in 2024.
139	* [[ActorShipping Singer Shipping]]: Eurovision is not completely free from this trope, oddly enough.
140	** There was slight shipping between Alexander Rybak/Lena Meyer Landrut (winners of 2009 for Norway and 2010 for Germany, respectively), when Rybak playfully [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=inZ0aRRg6Rw tricked Lena into kissing him]], when she was receiving the 2010 ESC trophy from him. There were a few misunderstandings between them too that could come off as {{Adorkable}}.
141	** In 2012, this trope sparked between Kaliopi/Can Bonomo (Contenders for F.Y.R. Macedonia and Turkey, respectively), when he was complimenting her and vice versa, claiming they're going to work together and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blIzjX-qGoE sharing a few friendly cheek-kisses.]] The comments on Website/YouTube is what makes this trope qualify.
142	** In 2015, the Lithuanian contenders, Monika and Vaidas, showed [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtB_slM63JA a lot of chemistry while singing their happy song about love.]] They even included a kiss, which was longer and more passionate every time they performed the song. The shipping was imminent.
143	** Also in 2015, Elnur Hüseynov from Azerbaijan and Loïc Nottet from Belgium appeared in a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHRuMxcdXPo video together]], talking about the "bridges" they had with each other's country (due to the 2015 slogan Building Bridges). The interactions between them and the suggestive lyrics of the Belgian song created a proper shipping moment, as some comments on Website/YouTube pointed.
144	--->'''Elnur Hüseynov:''' Rapapap, rapapap...\
145	'''Loïc Nottet:''' ...Tonight?\
146	'''Elnur Hüseynov:''' Tonight!\
147	'''Both:''' laugh
148	** In 2017, the Belarus and Romania acts both included kissing between the duets.[[note]]The Belarusians actually are an off-stage couple, so if that case does count as shipping is debatable.[[/note]] Meanwhile, several joint appearances of UK's Creator/LucieJones and Spain's Manel Navarro -- most notably a duet cover of Martin Garrix's "In the Name of Love" -- also sparked some minor shipping (and loads of unconfirmed relationship rumors that [[http://www.lavanguardia.com/television/20170511/422494767960/manel-navarro-amor-pareja-lucie-jones-eurovision-2017.html made it to the press]] over in Spain). Needless to say, [[ShipSinking this ship sank completely]] when Lucie married her long-time boyfriend later in the year.
149	** The first neighbourly top 2 since 2009, Netta and Eleni of Israel and Cyprus respectively. Their so-called rivalry had a unique twist due to the latter's regular work with the former's songwriter. They shared a heart gesture when celebrating qualifying, Netta used the picture to clap back at Salvador Sobral's critique of her song, and re-did the gesture, as well as passionately embracing in front of fans and the media, when Eleni gigged at an Israeli rnb festival alongside their 2015 contestant whose song she had previously covered, amongst others, and at the birthday party of the songwriter in question, Doron Medalie. Furthermore, Netta later made a post which was defending Israel's home entry (ironically called "Home", by Kobi Marimi, whose insta was largely a travel blog until winning the Israeli selection), a gravelly, classical religious ballad - and still used that post to reaffirm how much she liked Foureira (mentioning the fact that "Fuego" had long odds prior to rehearsals, just like "Home" has). Marimi DID do his own version of Fuego during the Rising Star selection process.
150	** Of the [[https://archiveofourown.org/tags/Eurovision%20Song%20Contest%20RPF/works 1,000+ works of Eurovision fanfiction on Archive of Our Own]], nearly ''half'' ship Italy's 2018 representatives, Ermal Meta and Fabrizio Moro.
151	** 2021 brought us Efentix (Efendi of Azerbaijan and Tix of Norway). It started off as a one-sided crush, but got big enough to get its [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYryAOtvDX8 own dedicated video]] on the official Eurovision youtube channel.
152	** 2023 saw the blossoming of a close friendship between Finnish representative Käärijä and Bojan Cvjetićanin, frontman of Slovenia's act Joker Out. First meeting during the pre-parties -- and initially communicating entirely through body language because of Käärijä's limited English -- their bromance leant heavily on the "romance" side, including going on a "dinner date" in Liverpool and promising to keep seeing each other after the contest. It got to the point where an Austrian zoo played ShipperOnDeck and gifted both of them an adoption of a baby seal. Attention for the relationship exploded a month later when Bojan not only made good on his promise to visit Käärijä in Finland, but guested at one of his gigs and joined the choreography. Let's just say that fans were very excited to see [[DoubleEntendre Käärijä riding Bojan on-stage]].
153	** Speaking of Käärijä, fans were quick to pair him up with Kateryna Pavlenko (from Music/GoA), referring to the two as Mom and Dad, King and Queen, or Neon-Green Eurovision Royalty. Kateryna was happy to fan the flames in [[https://twitter.com/tearsmadrigale/status/1660608031267209217?s=20 this interview]]:
154	--->'''Kateryna:''' In 2021, I felt some energy, some connection to space which said to me, "Kate, you should be in green because in the future you will meet a prince in green and together you will unite in the halls of Eurovision."
155	** Teemu Keisteri / [=Windows95man=] and Henri Piispanen, the Finnish representatives in 2024, had absolutely 0 personal space with each other throughout UMK and Eurovision itself, with the Finnish broadcaster YLE happily playing ShipperOnDeck with their promotional videos which even included a Q&A in the form of a ''candlelit dinner''.
156	* SoBadItsGood:
157	** Few of the entries that never even made it to the finale could count, but none more so than Estonia's 2008 entry, "Leto Svet" by the comedy group Kreisiraadio. The song is both baffling and bizarre - mixing lyrics in Serbian, German and Finnish - and is full of grammatical errors, yet manages to be oddly catchy at the same time. Kreisiraadio's entry was such a troll move that they even changed one part of the lyrics during the live performance which roughly translated to "summer fucks", thus breaking the rules of the contest. How bad was the entire performance? So bad that the audience was audibly booing both after and ''before'' their entry! [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRh9PzNYD-8 It needs to be seen to believe]].
158	** Similarly, "Irlande Douze Pointe" by Dustin the Turkey from Ireland the same year. A turkey hand puppet provoking the audience to give them exactly what they delivered, zero points. Featuring lyrics that say greetings in multiple languages, including "God save the Queen" and out-of-tune bagpipes at the very end. Again, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ps3kxGo_gro it needs to be seen to believe]].
159	* SoBadItWasBetter: The hilariously bad acts are often more enjoyable than the half-decent ones. A joke that's often made in the Netherlands (and probably in other countries too) when the contestant of this year is revealed: 'I thought it was impossible, but true, they found a worse singer than last year. Why can't we just send a band like (decent Dutch band)?' 'I think it's against the rules to send someone who can actually sing.' Stopped applying in Netherlands circa 2014, even less so when winning 5 years later.
160	* SoOKItsAverage: There have been a number of times where songs will place poorly not for actually being bad, but for simply slipping into the background compared to the more noticeable acts. Switzerland's 2011 act and Portugal's home entry in 2018 were both well-received by fans, but both finished last due to not standing out enough. Portugal's act, in particular, was generally well-regarded and finished with a (for their meager position) respectable 39 points (higher than most songs that place last - compare it to Spain's 5 points when they bottomed out the scoreboard the year before).
161	** This was a major factor in the United Kingdom's post-2002 AudienceAlienatingEra, especially during the late 2010s. After the failure of novelty songs from the likes of Jemini, Scooch, Daz Sampson and Electro Velvet, UK selection committees focused on singer-songwriters and talent show finalists, but their focus on being taken seriously meant their chosen picks lacked personality, and the singers often failed to measure up to the vocal talent of other more serious rivals. As a result, the United Kingdom's representatives ended up missing out on votes from the juries and public and doing just as badly as their sillier predecessors - Michael Rice came last in 2019, and in 2021, James Newman ended up equaling Jemini's Nul Points (and considering he had twice as many points to play for as them thanks to the current split voting system, the result's arguably even more embarrassing). U.K., however, had a major revival in 2022, due to a more impactful tune from a singer with a major fan base.
162	** 2022's televotes broadly showcased this, as many of the entries that did well with national juries suffered with the public (e.g. Switzerland receiving no televote points at all. It probably wasn’t helped by the fact that it was in the first quarter of the show, and came just before Norway’s crazy, but definitely more memorable, entry. The viewing public just simply forgot about it. Switzerland also got a hard time due to fans expecting a more impactful entry from them after their title chases in 2019 and 2021, their Easy Listening Waltz-ballad Boys Do Cry about male emotional shortcomings being coincidentally released on International Women’s day - giving an unfair and unintentional impression of Whataboutery, even though the song itself was an attack on toxic and unrealistic Masculinity - and also said song being released in NFT form, and the jury qualifying it over allies Albania and Austria, who made rare forays into more energetic than what they usually send- though overly chaotic - music. Armenia’s future Viral Sensation Snap was also low-placing due to being more restrained than the songs around it). This is primarily due to them being technically competent but not very distinctive or interesting ballads in a contest that had already got ''plenty'' of them, all sequenced very close together. The juries loved them, but viewers were bored to tears and reacted accordingly (with Graham Norton outright saying that these songs were likely to suffer just by virtue of being lumped in with lots of other very similar ones.)
163	*** This also is probably why Moldova did so well in the televote, they came straight after the ballads that were all lumped together, and their energetic and wacky song not only pulled the audience out of their boredom, it also stuck in their memories a lot better.
164	* SuspiciouslySimilarSong:
165	** The songwriter of Sonia's "Better the Devil You Know," the United Kingdom's 1993 entry, said it was basically his attempt to re-write Music/{{Wham}}'s "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go." It worked pretty well: the song took second place.
166	*** The more obvious George Michael lift would probably be the Turkish entry that year, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDMTi3kydZ8 "Esmer Yarim,"]] which sounds remarkably similar to "Faith" (possibly by virtue of also using the BoDiddleyBeat).
167	** In 2010, Ukrainian entry Alyosha had to change her song after her entry "To Be Free" was judged to be a copy of the Linda Perry and Grace Slick song "Knock Me Out" (and because it was allegedly made available publicly in 2008, which is also a no-no in the Eurovision rules). As if Ukraine hadn't gone through enough ESC 2010 finalists to begin with; they had already scrubbed Vasyl Lazarovych's "I Love You" after fans complained about the singer that the Ukrainian broadcaster had selected for them. Vasyl participated against 19 other performers in a more "open" selection competition; he finished 7th.
168	** In 2013, Cascada's song for Germany, "Glorious", was accused of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ertVfWmnMa4 plagiarizing last year's winner "Euphoria"]] (and yes, the chorus ''does'' sound similar); however, its producer challenged the claims by saying that while they had a right to investigate, "if you look at the composition in a waveform, you will see that [[ThreeChordsAndTheTruth 10,000 pop songs have similar courses]]." They were later cleared of plagiarism charges, but some people still think they ''may'' have [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXpYbIMsMFE stolen]] from a [[Music/SwedishHouseMafia clan of mobsters from Sweden]] instead.
169	** By 2015 pretty much every unique song composition seems to have been exhausted, but the Cypriot entry is especially similar to a mash-up of "Taking Chances" and [[Music/BillyJoel "She's Always a Woman".]] The 2015 winner, Sweden's "Heroes", is also accused of being too similar to David Guetta's "Lovers on the Sun". While released in 2015, "Heroes" was actually written in 2013 - a year before the Guetta song. Some people have also felt that the song, particularly during the chorus, has shades of "[[Film/EdgeOfTomorrow Love Me Again]]"
170	** While many favoured Sergey Lazarev to win for Russia in 2016, many also criticized Russia for seemingly copying what Sweden did in 2015. This based on Lazarev being similar looking to Måns Zelmerlöw and the stage show for his song using the same basic concept as with Zelmerlöv's ''Heroes''. Zelmerlöw himself, who hosted the show that year, did not seem to see the similarities (or care if he did).
171	** Some viewers noticed the opening part of the Germany entrant Levina's song "Perfect Life" in the 2017 contest was similar to "Titanium" by Music/DavidGuetta featuring Music/{{Sia}}.
172	** Some viewers felt Austria's song for the 2017 contest, "Running on Air" by Nathan Trent had a similar arrangement as Music/TakeThatBand's "Never Forget".
173	** Also in 2017, the thudding and earthy beat at the start of Cyprus' tune "Gravity" by Hovig was widely seen as resembling the beat of Rag n' Bone Man's recent worldwide hit, "Human."
174	** When Netta won for Israel in 2018, her song "Toy", whilst already long-viral, would gain extensive publicity in USA. However, it meant that, during the summer, Universal Music attempted a lawsuit against the song for parts of its chorus sounding like the "Seven Nation Army" chant. It meant that, 7 months later, Jack White (The White Stripes' vocalist) was handed royalties for the song's success out-of-court to prevent a copyright dispute, after Doron held regular meetings with Universal over the summer.
175	*** Czech Republic's most successful act Mikolas Josef ringing in "Worth it" by Fifth Harmony with his self-made song "Lie to Me", and the Ori Kaplan-style hook.
176	** As it had the same songwriter as its predecessor, it was easy to call Cyprus' 2019 bid a "Replay" of "Fuego".
177	** In 2020, Cyprus' song was seen as suspiciously similar to "Lose Control" from the Italian house act Meduza, Bulgaria was seen as very obviously based off Music/{{Billie Eilish}} (With neighbouring Romania's to a lesser extent also based off her), and Armenia was easy to compare to the song that Music/{{Normani}} and Music/{{Megan Thee Stallion}} had released for ''Film/BirdsOfPrey2020'' ("Diamonds"), as both were hip hop and r&B inspired, production reliant, songs whose lyrics centered around diamonds and female sexual self determination, though both songs were released at a very similar time, and Athena's self written tune did not rely on a famous interpolation, whereas Normani's is carried by her singing parts of "Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend" - comparisons were also made of Athena rapping "I start it/I Make it/I Write it/I Work it" in the first part of her song's refrain to Music/{{Ariana Grande}}'s 7 Rings (another song, like "Diamonds", that is reliant on a sample of a historic song from a musical), and it's "I want it/I got it" part, which was a likely inspiration for "Chains On You", though she never mentioned one particular inspiration but rather several.
178	** The following time Armenia participated, they had a near opposite inspiration for their song. Backing vocals gave Lumineers vibes to Rosa Linn’s gentle ballad “SNAP” which got Armenia back into the final but with its worst place.
179	* TearJerker: On the first viewing, you may be moved by [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=671tCjePT3w Rona Nishliu's]] semi-final performance of "Suus" for Albania in 2012. However, watching it again after you find out about the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qafa_e_Vish%C3%ABs_bus_accident horrible bus accident in Albania]][[note]]which left Albanian viewers unable to watch the contest live[[/note]] that happened the day before and after you find out that she dedicated her performance to the victims of the accident makes you realize that she's not visibly holding back tears just because of the mood of the song...
180	** 2017 victor Salvador Sobral scored Portugal their first win in their over fifty years of contest participation, and with a record score of over 700 points. Unfortunately, his health issues were well-known even before the contest, to the point where his sister Luisa had to step in for one of the rehearsals. A few months after winning, Sobral announced he would be taking a break from music to get heart surgery and recover. He marked this with [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QP3j7jROw8k a tearful concert]], capped off by a sing-along of his winning "Amar pelos dois" that left him sobbing. Fortunately he recovered after the surgery and he's set to go touring again.
181	** 2017 Israeli spokesperson Ofer Nachshon announced during the voting that the Israeli public broadcaster, responsible for the country's first 3 victories, would be shut down immediately after the contest, thought to be the end of Israel's participation at the contest. He thanked Europe for Israel's 44 years of participation and the hosts and audience clapped for him. Luckily, the replacement broadcaster starting participating the next year, starting with Israel's 4th win.
182	* TookTheBadFilmSeriously: Long after Western Europe stopped taking it seriously, the fall of the Soviet Union and the breakup of Yugoslavia led to a number of new countries seeing appearing in it as a serious mark of independence, a show of national pride, and even as an advert for tourism. Then of course there's the UsefulNotes/MisplacedNationalism between bitter rivals. %% The western countries, who actually pay for it, were somewhat bemused. ("bemused" in which sense? Find a better word.)
183	** This reaches SeriousBusiness levels in Russia, where state TV channels and officials are so serious about the contest that almost any loss or dispute is immediately assessed as deliberate anti-Russian antics and attempts to use the contest as a weapon of geopolitics. There is no need to say how narmy it looks.
184	* ValuesResonance
185	** The winning song of the 1961 contest, ''Nous les amoureux'', performed by French singer Jean-Claude Pascal, is a song about forbidden love between the singer and his lover. Later, Pascal explained that the song was about a taboo of homosexual relationship.
186	** French entry of the 1968 contest ,''La source''. The song deals with the topic of rape, which considered controversial for songs at the time of the contest.
187	[[/folder]]

Context YMMV / EurovisionSongContest