On Saturday, May 11th, for the first time in Eurovision history, the gala was in danger of being canceled due to security concerns. This was prompted by controversial protests demanding “free Palestine” and that Israel not be allowed to perform, right outside the venue in the Swedish city of Malmö.
A critical review of top 5 performances
However, in this edition, the performances lived up to the program. The song that conquered all of Europe with a total of 591 points was Nemo, representing Switzerland with “The code”. The song talks about the artist’s own process of introspection and how it feels to identify as non-binary. A liberating message of LGBTQ+ visibility.
After more than 10 years of being just on the verge of the semifinals, Croatia achieved second place with a total of 547 points. The artist Baby Lasagna with his song “Rim Tim Tagi Dim”, dazzled viewers with a rock performance and an exaggeratedly colorful staging.
Continuing with performances that sparked controversy was Ukraine’s performance. The country’s representatives Alyona Alyona and Jerry Heil with the song “Teresa & Maria”. An act with details that did not go unnoticed by the audience. At one point, the stage background changes from black to golden flashes simulating a bombardment. With this staging, they achieved third place with 453 points.
As is tradition, France has once again managed to make it into the ranking of best performances. Slimane achieved fourth place, with 445 points, thanks to the song “Mon Amour”. The Frenchman surprised us with this romantic ballad accompanied by a fairly minimalist staging, which made the power of his voice stand out even more.
The most controversial
And as expected, controversy entered the Malmö Arena, as fifth place went to Israel, in a performance amidst boos, which the organization couldn’t camouflage. Singer Eden Golan took to the stage with the song ‘Hurricane’. A performance that, for example, Belgium did not broadcast on television, in what could be classified as a clear stance against Israel’s participation in this edition.
And in 22nd place was Spain represented by Nebulosa with the performance of ‘Zorra’. A quite controversial song that seems to have not convinced the rest of Europe and has caused us to be 19 places lower than last year with Chanel and her hit ‘SloMo’.