The grand final of the Eurovision Song Contest kicks off in Liverpool tonight, with Sweden and Finland among the favourites to win.
The show will reflect the culture both of its host city and last year’s winner, Ukraine, who could not stage the show due to Russia’s invasion.
Kalush Orchestra, 2022’s champions, will kick off the show at 20:00 BST.
Ukraine’s 2016 winner Jamala, 2007 entrant Verka Serduchka and the UK’s Sam Ryder will also perform.
The UK will be represented by Mae Muller, whose track I Wrote A Song will be the last entry performed before the public vote opens.
“When I walk on stage, I’m going to have to take a second to really centre myself because those three minutes go really fast,” she told the BBC.
The show will be presented again by Alesha Dixon, Hannah Waddingham and Ukrainian singer Julia Sanina, with Graham Norton joining them during the voting stage.
Along the way, we’ll see a Vogue dancer dressed as a cat, a man escaping from a packing case, and lots of women writhing on the floor (it’s a thing, for some reason).
The interval will showcase the “Liverpool songbook” with tracks by John Lennon, Melanie C and Gerry and the Pacemakers performed by former Eurovision contestants.
And for the first time, countries that don’t compete will be given a say in the results – with viewers from the US, India and elsewhere contributing a “rest of the world” vote.
Here’s what else to look out for on the night.
1) The power of Poe
Austria’s Teya & Salena are the first act on stage, with a song about being possessed by the spirit of American poet Edgar Allen Poe, who compels them to write a hit song that earns them a contract with Universal records.
Underneath that, the song’s really a commentary on the music industry’s mistreatment of songwriters, At one point, the duo chant “zero dot zero zero three”, in reference to Spotify’s paltry royalty rate. “Give me two years and your dinner will be free,” they deadpan.
It’s all wrapped up in a slick electropop package that features the chorus, “Poe, Poe, Poe, Poe, Poe, Poe”. Which in German translates as “bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum.” Objectively amazing.
2) Finland’s cabbage worm
Not to be mistaken for Jim Carrey in Dumb and Dumber, Finnish rapper Käärijä has delivered one of this year’s most audacious Eurovision songs.
Cha Cha Cha is an unhinged mix of industrial metal, punishing techno and a happycore video game soundtrack, that talks about the spiritual fulfilment of getting blind drunk and dancing like an idiot.
He illustrates this by dancing like an idiot, in a costume that screams “the Incredible Hulk got stuck mid-transformation”.
Speaking to the BBC earlier this week, he revealed that his lime green bolero sleeves have been nicknamed “the cabbage worm”, in honour of a chain of Finnish sex shops.
Naturally, this is one of the favourites to win.
3) A mystery guest?
Rumours have been swirling all week that a mystery guest will make an appearance during the grand final. Some say it will be local hero Paul McCartney, others think it’s Princess Kate. The only thing we know is that we don’t know.
“I thought it was going to be Charles and Camilla giving out the points, but apparently it’s Catherine Tate,” joked Radio 2’s Eurovision commentator, Rylan Clark.
“There has been some stuff happening in rehearsals where it’s been a completely closed set,” divulged his co-host and Eurovision husband Scott Mills. “There’s a lot of secrecy and no-one will tell us what’s going on.”
“But,” Rylan added, “give me two drinks and I’ll tell you everything.”
4) Sweden’s Loreen is set to make history
For months now, Swedish star Loreen has been the bookmakers’ favourite to win Eurovision.
She’s already Eurovision royalty, having won the contest in 2012, and her latest entry is a precision-tooled earworm called Tattoo.
The lyrics are about a love so deep its engraved on your heart (like a tattoo, do you see?) but the whole thing’s just an excuse to show off Loreen’s powerhouse vocals, including an excellent “you-hoo-hoo” bit in the chorus.
She sings it while squashed between two giant LED screens – basically a space-age toasted sandwich maker – and while she’s usually note perfect, she went a little off-piste in one of this week’s rehearsals.
Asked about it in a press conference, the diva smiled and slowly laughed before replying: “Wasn’t pitch perfect, darling? What are you talking about?” What a legend.
5) The Adele impersonator representing Lithuania
Mae Muller isn’t the only UK hopeful in this year’s contest. Nicola Lambrianos – an Adele impersonator from Essex – is singing backing vocals for Lithuania’s entrant, Monika Linkyė. What’s more, she inspired Monika to take part.
The two performers met in a bar last year and, after striking up a conversation about music, Monika revealed she’d sung at Eurovision in 2015 (she placed 18th with the song This Time).
“I was beside myself because I’m obsessed with Eurovision,” Nicola told the BBC. “So I said to her, ‘Do you know anyone that could get me a ticket?'”
“I made a promise to get her a ticket,” said Monika, “then I went back to Lithuania and wrote the song in one evening.”
A couple of weeks later, she invited Nicola to Lithuania to sing in the country’s selection process… and they won.
“I saw all this confetti come down, and I looked over at her and said, ‘Did we not just joke about this four weeks ago?'” said Nicola. “And now I’m doing Eurovision – a dream I never, ever thought was possible.”
Source – BBC News
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