Eurovision is the colourful, over-the-top, cheesy and fabulous international music competition that is broadcast every year across Europe, Asia, the US and Australia to millions of fans and ironic supporters! The Eurovision Song Contest Final always offers an evening of fun and excitement, packed with wacky musical delights.
The Eurovision Final 2022 airs on Saturday 14th May. Come along and explore the ballads, pop songs and other tuneful entries from some of the hopeful nations right here. Plus, we’ll explain how the competition works and consider how the Eurovision Song Contest can add a melodious edge to your next EFL lesson!
History of the Eurovision Song Contest
The Eurovision Song Contest has been entertaining music fans for over sixty years with thousands of great and not-so-great songs.
A firm favourite across Europe, whether as genuine top musical entertainment or a guilty pleasure, the show is watched by millions of viewers every year.
From the regular pop and rock songs, dance numbers and traditional ballads to the outrageous and bizarre performances, crazy costumes and wacky lyrics, everything goes at Eurovision. We can’t wait to see what gems the competition produces this year!
The Eurovision Song Contest has been broadcast every year since 1956, which makes it one of the longest running TV shows in the world.
With so many fabulous, cheesy and quirky songs on show, there is always lots to chat about in the run up to the Grand Final.
The Eurovision Song Contest Spreads Around the Globe
This year, the competition will be held in Turin, Italy (in the 12,350-seat PalaOlimpico), as this is the home nation of last year’s winner, the glam rock band Måneskin.
The city of Turin is pushing the boat out with its preparations for the spectacular event! The Eurovision Village offers a hub of excitement throughout the contest with visitors able to enjoy all types of entertainment from live shows and DJs and special events and public viewing of the Eurovision performances.
Eurovision will also be broadcast in America this year, streaming live on Peacock starting at 3pm Eastern Time. We bet our American visitors will be over the moon!
Australia was also invited to compete again this year. It seems Eurovision fever is spreading far and wide to cover most of the globe – we look forward to seeing where its magic will touch next!
How Does Eurovision Work?
There are 25 successful countries in the Grand Final of Eurovision in 2022. These include the winners from each of the two semi-finals during the week. The UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain – ‘the big five’ – qualify for the Final automatically every year, as these countries give the most money to support the competition..
Eurovision Song Contest Voting
Since 2019, there are twice as many votes to count, making it less likely that a country will end up with ‘nil points’. Voting is split between each country’s jury and all the votes from viewers in all the countries.
The juries and the public voters award a set of points from one to eight then 10 and 12 for each of the top 10 places. Votes are then combined and announced at the end, meaning the overall winner is kept under wraps right until the end of the show for even more dramatic tension!
Viewers at home can vote up to 20 times for their favourite song, but they can’t vote for their own country. The lucky winner gets to host next year’s event!
Eurovision and Brexit
There have been a number of controversial incidents at Eurovision since Brexit. In 2019, there was a controversial side to the UK’s entry, as some people thought Michael Rice’s ballad Bigger Than Us was an anti-Brexit song. The lyrics included lines such as:
“I will make it clear, it’s me and you. We can have this love that we never lose. It’s bigger than us” and “I won’t give up and I won’t let go … It’s bigger than us. And it’s bigger than you and me.”
Many thought the message was that the EU is bigger than the UK and that the UK shouldn’t leave the European Union. Certainly, many people in the UK feel this way, especially those involved in education, as there is a worry that Brexit could affect language learning.
SuRie and the Brexit Invasion at Eurovision 2018
This isn’t the first time that Brexit discussions have appeared at Eurovision. In 2018, SuRie represented the UK with a powerful performance. During her song, a stage invader grabbed her microphone to rant about Brexit.
The invader was identified as the rapper and political activist ‘Dr ACactivism’, who has a history of stage invasion. SuRie handled the unsettling moment with stoicism and grace – well done SuRie!
1. SuRie represented the UK in Eurovision 2018 – and had to deal with an anti-Brexit stage invader
#MeToo and the Eurovision Song Contest
Politics was also relevant at Eurovision in 2018, when Israel won the competition thanks to the performance of Netta, who wowed the audience with her quirky and powerful pop song, Toy.
The song’s lyrics aligned it with the #MeToo movement with Netta singing “I’m not your toy, you stupid boy” and struck a chord with voters who sealed Netta’s victory for 2018.
2. Netta representing Israel in 2018 with the quirky, powerful pop song “Toy”
Non-English Languages Winners at Eurovision
The Eurovision 2017 winner was Portugal with the stunning song Amar Pelos Dois sung by Salvador Sobral. This was the first non-English language winner for a decade.
This gentle jazz tune featured stringed instruments and was quite a departure from the usual energetic pop songs and power ballads that tend to dominate the contest.
This year, we also see a non-English song as one of the favourites. Let’s check out the contenders…
The Best Eurovision 2022 Songs
There are many exciting songs in the Eurovision 2022 Final and we’ve been keeping an eye on the performers (or should that be an ear?). Here are some of our favourites:
Italy – Mahmood and Blanco – Brividi
Italy’s entry Brividi will be performed by Mahmood and Blanco. A previous entry from Mahmood, Soldi, won at the Sanremo Music Festival in February 2019 with its exciting mix of trap, hip-hop and Arabic. This time, Mahmood will pair up with Blanco to perform a classy ballad.
Greece – Amanda Tenfjord – Die Together
A popular song and one of the favourites this year in the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 is Greece’s entry, Die Together by Amanda Tenfjord. This swirling, layered song is a modern power ballad – always a favourite style at Eurovision.
Luckily for us in the UK, this song is entirely in English so we can enjoy it without any translation required!
Czech Republic – We Are Domi – Lights Off
Another top contender this year is from the Czech Republic. Lights Off is a powerful and euphoric pop song with big beats and dramatic vocals. This one is sure to raise the roof and is proving popular with viewers.
UK – Sam Ryder, Space Man
Sam Ryder will perform the UK’s entry for 2022, Space Man, which is an uplifting and powerful rock-pop song. It opens with the emotive line:
“If I was an astronaut, I‘d be floating in mid-air / And a broken heart would just belong, to someone else down there.”
This song looks perfect for Eurovision, so 2022 could be the UK’s year – the bookies agree that we could stand a good chance, with odds standing at 6/1 the day before the final.
Ukraine – Kalush Orchestra – Stefania
Eurovision has always been a highly political contest and Ukraine is the favourite nation to win this year, for obvious reasons. Ukraine’s entry is from Kalush Orchestra, an all-male rap band that blends hip-hop with folk motifs taken from traditional Ukrainian music.
The emotive song Stefania is sung entirely in Ukranian and is an ode to the lead singer’s mother and his longing for home.
Ukraine last won the Eurovision Song Contest in 2016 with Jamala’s 1944. We can’t wait to see if they will triumph again with this poignant performance for 2022.
Eurovision in the EFL Classroom
The Eurovision Song Contest is a fun and interesting way to incorporate an advanced writing exercise into your next EFL lesson. Students can discuss the contest and review some of the songs, looking at some lyrics and considering the different styles of performance.
For more advanced students, it is also an option to consider the political elements to some of the songs and the other aspects affecting the voting. The political side of Eurovision will change each year, depending on current events in the political landscape.
Eurovision is an ideal time to get multimedia involved in your EFL teaching by viewing videos of the Eurovision entries readily available on the internet.
Students can watch the Eurovision songs, discuss them and write their own reviews to find their favourite tunes and lyrics – and give their tips for the winner!
For other similar lessons, check out our posts about music in the EFL classroom, including how sound is connected with emotion.
Update:
Congratulations to Ukraine, winners of Eurovision 2022! The bookmakers’ favourite took the prize with a total of 631 points. Ukraine pulled in 439 points from the public vote to secure the top spot with ease.
Ukraine’s fantastic Arabic-influenced, hip-hop folk-pop song, Stefania, hit the perfect note with the public to push the jury’s choice, the United Kingdom’s Space Man, into second place. Spain finished third with a high-energy pop song, SloMo, while Sweden took the fourth spot with an emotive rock ballad, Hold Me Closer.
We were so excited that the UK finished in second place! Well done to Sam Ryder for a great performance. It was especially sweet for us after our disappointing results in the last few years, including finishing last in 2019 and 2021. Commiserations to Germany, the last place finishers this year.
Well done to every country taking part in Eurovision 2022 – and especially to the winners, Ukraine!
Share your thoughts on Eurovision
Did you watch the Eurovision Song Contest 2022?
Which was your favourite song this year?
How do you feel about Eurovision’s connection with politics?
How would you incorporate the Eurovision Song Contest into an EFL lesson?
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Attributions
- “SuRie (United Kingdom 2018)” by Wouter van Vliet, EuroVisionary is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
- Netta representing Israel with the song “Toy” during a rehearsal before the grand final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 in Lisbon. Image by Dewayne Barkley, EuroVisionary [CC BY-SA 4.0], via Wikimedia Commons
Russia are gonna win but I like Italy’s song best – really melodic. I think the UK will do well this year. Don’t like the French song, that bloke annoys me.
Thanks for your comment, Ringo! I agree Italy’s song was lovely. Sorry but I actually quite liked the French entry – very catchy! What did you think of the winning song by Jamala?