After the UK flopped in the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest, there’s an appetite for another kind of Brexit. But this wouldn’t be a good idea.
Kate Miller-Heidke performs Zero Gravity during the Grand Final of the 64th annual Eurovision Song Contest: an oddball, meteoric and sincere performance.
Abir Sultan/EPA
Long known as a spectacle of quirky Euro-kitsch, this year’s contest more closely resembled singing TV shows such as The Voice. Notable exceptions, however, were Iceland’s Hatari and our own Kate Miller-Heidke.
Eleni Foureira performs Cyprus’s 2018 Eurovision entry, Fuego, in the first semi-final in Portugal.
Jose Sena Goulao/EPA
Since it began in the 1950s, Eurovision has embraced everything from metal to the global juggernaut of Scandi-pop, and of course the Eurodance and disco synonymous with Eurovision.
Nathan Trent from Austria performs Running On Air during the Grand Final of the 62nd Eurovision Song Contest in 2017.
EPA/SERGEY DOLZHENKO
Despite the peace and prosperity brought about by the EU, it continues to be seen as remote and antidemocratic. How can this be fixed ? One possibility is the creation of a Commissioner for Happiness.
Iron Maiden at Ottawa Bluesfest in 2012.
ceedub13/flickr
For many years now the UK has been a Eurovision laughing stock, despite a wealth of pop talent. What about if it was to pick one of these sure-fire rockstar winners instead?
Donald Trump in Scotland – musicians have asked that he refrain from using their songs at his political events.
David Moir/Reuters
The golden days of the 1960s protest song may be past, but music is still used across the world as a vehicle to voice political views. More than a sideshow, it can be a form of mobilisation and an expression of ‘soft power’.
Ukraine’s Jamala reacts to winning the Eurovision Song Contest with the song 1944.
TT News Agency
This year’s Eurovision had it all: geopolitical debates, a boycott threat, great music and a cracking Australian entry. Russia is outraged by Jamala’s winning song about the deportation of Crimean Tartars - but the contest has always had political nuances.
Leave had a 20 point lead over Remain in a recent YouGov poll – but this Brexit referendum concerned Britain’s membership of the Eurovision Song Contest, not Europe.
Australia has struggled to forge cultural ties with the Asia-Pacific region. But SBS’s deal to develop an Asian Eurovision could change this - there is more to the event than music, costume reveals and wind machines.
Jamala has been chosen to represent Ukraine at the 2016 Eurovision contest with her song ‘1944’.
Inna Sokolovksa/EPA
The word Waterloo only entered the public consciousness 200 years ago after a battle. Now, it means many more things.
Not all eyes are on the prize: Eurovision is often as much about undeclared alliances, voting blocs and political paybacks.
Andres Putting (EBU)/Eurovision
For the first time, Australians can vote for this year’s Eurovision winner. But it’s as much a political battlefield as a song contest – so hopefully the Russians have forgotten the “shirtfront”.
Description: 2014 Eurovision Song Contest winner Conchita Wurst poses for a photograph in Sydney, Thursday, April 30, 2015. The Austrian performer and pop artist is in Australia to perform at the Logie Awards. () NO ARCHIVING.
AAP Image/Dan Himbrechts
Eurovision is popularly heralded as the song that unites Europe, but recent controversies about gender, social justice and human rights paint a different picture.
SBS’s support for Eurovision has been rewarded with our inclusion this year in the contest.
EPA/ Joerg Carstensen
Yesterday, it was announced that for the first time, Australia would be given a competitive place in the Eurovision Song Contest. Not only this, but Australians can also vote (and let’s not overlook the…
“God save the Wurst: Conchita rockte London” – at least, so said the Austrian free newspaper Heute. Conchita Wurst continues to follow her Eurovision win with TV interviews and club openings, and is joining…
Wurst embraces a wide spectrum of individuals who recognise their own gender performance as imperfect.
Georg Hochmuth/EPA
Four songs in to the final of the Eurovision Song Contest on Saturday night, six Icelandic men in a band called Pollapönk took to the stage dressed in fluorescent suits and declared to an ecstatic house…
If the UK’s Molly doesn’t luck out, it’s not due to collusion.
EPA/Joerg Carstensen
It’s that time of the year again. One of the biggest events in Europe’s (and the world’s) cultural calendar, the Eurovision song contest is legendary. The attention paid to this bizarre show is enormous…
Jessica Mauboy (left) and SBS Eurovision hosts Sam Pang and Julia Zemiro.
AAP Image/SBS
And so we wait, anxiously, to see Australia at an event that celebrates the rich cultural tapestry that is the panoply of European states. Nah, who am I kidding? We’ve got a guernsey at the Eurovision…