Switzerland Wins Eurovision, but the Vaunted Competition Is a Bit Less ‘United by Music’ Than Its Slogan Suggests

Lake Geneva at night
Eurovision 2024 – officially the Eurovision Song Contest – came to a conclusion Sunday night with a four-hour finale that left protestors outside the arena and presented fireworks on stage.
Switzerland’s Nemo has won the 68th song contest with “The Code,” despite entering the night as the bookmaker’s third favorite. Nemo saw off frontrunners Croatia and Israel with an enthusiastic performance of “The Code.”
“The Code” is a catchy song in which the performer rapped and sang operatically about a journey to the realization of identity: “I went to hell and back/To find myself on track,” Nemo sang in the chorus: “Now, I found paradise/I broke the code.”
Notably, what has in the past been a more gentlemanly competition was uncharacteristically fraught, overshadowed by protests over Israel’s inclusion and a shocking disqualification.
While anti-Israel pro-Hamas protestors attempted to sway opinion outside the event in Malmö, Israel’s entrant, Eden Golan, was led, along with Croatia’s entrant, in the public vote, which counts for 50% of the award.
Hamas –  the acronym for Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islamiya (Islamic Resistance Movement) – is a terrorist group and  the largest and most capable militant group in the Palestinian territories.
The protestors outside, however, failed to sway  public opinion and Eden was loudly cheered for her performance.
Despite the political divisions, the Swiss singer Nemo Mettler offered a high-drama song with a simple but effective stage show. It was a  comforting rallying point. Indeed, Nemo followed in the footsteps of previous queer, transgender, or drag contestants who were launched into the world at Eurovision, from Israel’s Dana International in 1998 to Austria’s Conchita Wurst in 2014.
Songs such as “The Code” and “Hurricane” defied Eurovision’s reputation as a showcase for bland euromush.
Indeed, the musical performances started to take on the appearance of a footnote  at the world’s largest live music event, after Dutch contestant Joost Klein was disqualified from the grand final an “incident” involving a female member of the production crew. On Thursday, Klein vented his disagreement with Israel’s presence at a press conference on Thursday. He verbally backed a journalist who had asked Israel’s contestant, Eden Golan, if she thought her presence might endanger the other performers as well as fans in attendance.
Golan’s powerful ballad, “Hurricane,” is a song about the traumatic experience of Hamas’s massacre on October 7 of last year. It was originally entitled “October Rain.”
Eurovision, which is followed by music fans across the globe, came about as war-torn Europe was rebuilding in the 1950s and the European Broadcasting Union was searching for a way to bring together different European nations via television. Drawing inspiration from the Festival della canzone italiana di Sanremo, or the Sanremo Music Festival, the contest was proposed by Sergio Pugliese of Italian broadcaster RAI and the first Eurovision contest took place in 1956 in Lugano, Switzerland.
Since 1957, only one entrant is permitted per country. Even though there’s no cash prize, the 42 countries that compete in it take it quite seriously. Last year’s final was watched by 186 million viewers across the globe.
Since 1973, entrants have been permitted to sing in the language of their choice, and most choose English. Until then, the performance had to be in one of the official languages of the entrant’s country.
The winner is chosen both by viewers, who vote via app or telephone and comprise 50% of the score, and by a professional jury.
Switzerland, notably, won the first Eurovision in 1956. Ireland has won the contest seven times, in 1970, 1980, 1987, 1992, 1993, 1994, and 1996, followed by Sweden with Abba in 1974, followed by six additional wins in 1984, 1991, 1999, 2012, 2015, and 2023.. France, Luxembourg, and the United Kingdom have each won five times; the Netherlands and Israel have each won four; Norway and Denmark, three; and Austria, Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, and Ukraine each won twice.
Eurovision, however, has not been a springboard to success and fame. Relatively few winners have gone on to achieve fame and fortune in the music industry. The most notable exception, is course, is ABBA, which won the 1974 contest for Sweden with the hit song “Waterloo.” In 1988, Céline Dion won the contest for Switzerland with “Ne partez pas sans moi.”
(Photo: Accura Media Group)