Everything you need to know about Eurovision 2023 (2024)

It is a must-see event for fans of song and kitsch aesthetics. The final of the 67^th edition of Eurovision will be held on Saturday, May 13, in Liverpool, UK. Here's what you need to know.

An exceptionally relocated 67th edition

Although the Ukrainian group Kalush Orchestra won the contest last year, following a surge of European solidarity after Russia invaded the country, Ukraine is unable to host Eurovision 2023 on its terrority, as is customary for the winning country.

So it is the United Kingdom, which came second in the competition last year, that is hosting this 67^th edition on behalf of Ukraine, in Liverpool, in the northwest of England.

Teeming with festive events organized in conjunction with the semi-finals on May 9 and 11, the city where the Beatles were born is expecting 6,000 spectators on Saturday night to watch the final live. "Eurofans" will watch in the M&S Bank Arena, a huge hall on the banks of the Mersey River equipped for the occasion with a 450-m² stage, which was inaugurated by King Charles III and Queen Camilia before their coronation.

Festivities under the sign of solidarity with Ukraine

This second edition of the competition since the return of war to Europe will again be held under the sign of solidarity with Ukraine. The ceremony of the final will open with a performance by last year's winning group Kalush Orchestra, who will cover the song "Voices of a New Generation," while some emblematic former Ukrainian candidates from the contest will perform on stage during the traditional parade of flags of the finalist countries.

For symbolic purposes, the stage was designed by Julio Himede, in the form of a "big hug," "opening its arms to Ukraine, to the show of artists and guests from around the world." The city of Liverpool, twinned with that of Odesa, has inaugurated the monument "symbol of hope" for Ukraine: a statue of a man holding a book, from which a dove with a Ukrainian flag escapes. For the time being it has been installed at Strawberry Field, a former orphanage in Liverpool immortalized in song by the Beatles, which has become a site open to the public, but the goal is to install it in Ukraine when peace returns.

For this latest edition, Ukraine will be represented by the electro duo Tvorchi, whose song "Heart of Steel" pays tribute to the "heroes" of the siege of the Azovstal factory in Mariupol in 2022, and "symbolizes the strength and courage" of the Ukrainian people. Russia, meanwhile, is still excluded from the contest since the invasion of Ukraine.

26 finalist countries in the running

Of the 37 countries participating in the world's largest music competition this year, only 26 will compete in the final on Saturday.

The semi-final rounds held on Tuesday and Thursday allowed 20 countries to qualify to join Ukraine – which automatically qualifies as the previous winner – and the "Big Five": Germany, Spain, France, Italy and the United Kingdom, which automatically qualified as they are the competition's founding states and the largest financial contributors to the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which organizes it.

They are Sweden, Croatia, Switzerland, Moldova, Czech Republic, Israel, Finland, Portugal, Serbia, Norway, Albania, Cyprus, Estonia, Belgium, Austria, Lithuania, Poland, Australia, Armenia and Slovenia.

Australia again

In addition to the large number of European countries taking part in the contest, Eurovision 2023 welcomes Australia for the ninth consecutive year. They qualified in the second semi-final on Thursday night.

The country, where Eurovision has been broadcast every year since 1983, has been invited by the EBU to participate since 2015, due to the popularity of the program among the Australian public. It is not the only non-European country to participate in the 2023 edition: Israel, whose first participation dates back to 1973, is also represented.

Sweden and Finland favorites with "Tattoo" and "Cha Cha Cha"

Represented by the singer Loreen, who has already carried her country's colors and won the contest in 2012 with the song "Euphoria," Sweden is seen as the big favorite of the contest with "Tattoo," a grandiloquent love song with electro beats. If she wins on Saturday, Loreen would become the second artist to win Eurovision twice as a performer since it was launched in 1956, after Ireland's Johnny Logan in 1980 and 1987, dubbed "Mister Eurovision" by the contest's fans.

Finland is also given the same odds as Sweden by bookmakers, with its frenetic electro track " Cha Cha Cha" by the singer Käärijä, who is recognizable by his neon green puffy bolero showing his bare chest, which has seen images of his performances widely shared on social media.

In any case, the two artists promise much-awaited performances.

France represented by La Zarra and her song "Evidemment"

It's been a long time since France won Eurovision: The last victory dates back to 1977, with the song "L’Oiseau et l’Enfant" performed by Marie Myriam. But in 2021, the singer Barbara Pravi came close to first place with her song "Voilà," coming second in the contest.

Once again, a singer with a great voice will represent France this year: the Quebec singer La Zarra with her track "Evidemment," with intonations deliberately inspired by Edith Piaf and an electro-disco rhythm. The artist will perform dressed in a gigantic black sequin mermaid gown, sporting more than 6,000 crystal studs and sequins, for a stage performance where she is raised up on a platform.

In April, the artist canceled two concerts in Amsterdam and London for "personal reasons," which have been widely commented about online in recent weeks, but La Zarra was keen to reassure the French public in a recent message published on social media saying that she is "determined more than ever to wear the French colors with pride and love." In France, the contest will be broadcast live on France 2 from 9 pm and hosted by the iconic duo Laurence Boccolini and Stéphane Bern.

For the first time, "the rest of the world" can vote

For more than 60 years, the contest has enjoyed unparalleled popularity and longevity. It now has more than 200 million viewers around the world and its audiences are growing beyond the European borders and the participating countries.

For this 67^th edition, the EBU, the competition's organizer, has decided to allow viewers from non-participating countries to vote online for the semi-finals and final for the first time. These votes, gathered under the banner "the rest of the world" and converted into points, will carry the same value as the votes of a single participating country on Saturday.

"This choice is above all a way to create a new source of money to finance the Eurovision machine. Even if this decision stems from the popularity of the contest acquired throughout the world in recent decades, it should not sway the final public vote," said researcher Florent Parmentier, secretary general of Cevipof (Sciences Po Paris) and Eurovision specialist.

As usual, in addition to the international jury, viewers in the participating states will vote via text or online but are unable to vote for the candidate representing their own country.

Game of Thrones actress Hannah Waddingham among the presenters

Accompanied by Ukrainian singer Julia Sanina and British singer Alesha Dixon, as well as Graham Norton, the historical commentator of Eurovision in the UK, British actress Hannah Waddingham will co-present the contest's final. The three women also presented the two semi-finals earlier this week.

The actress, who is also a singer, is best known for her role in the global hit series Game of Thrones, where she played the character of Septa Unella, and in the series Ted Lasso, where she plays the owner of AFC Richmond football club.