Eurovision is slowly but surely approaching, as the multinational singing competition is something to look forward to every year in May! Particularly this year because it will be hosted in our very own Sweden, in Malmö, after Loreen received her second victory on the English stage. 

If you don’t happen to know what I’ve been talking about, let me enlighten you: The Eurovision song contest is a competition between multiple countries all over the world, though primarily in europe. In the months prior to the contest, each country selects their contestant to represent themselves. The song contest is divided into 3 nights, the first two nights there are the semi-finals, one on a tuesday evening and the second on the thursday evening of the Eurovision week. In these semi-finals, 10 finalists are chosen each night, for a total of 26 acts on the Saturday night special. Where do the 6 extra singers come from? They are composed of the “Big 5”(France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) plus the singer from the hosting country. 

Not all the participants have been chosen yet, as individual country’s contests are happening to determine who will perform. For now, we can look forward to Austria’s Silia Kapsis, France’s Slimane and the Netherlands’ Joost Klein. These are just a few names of the contestants already selected, and to keep updated you can look at the Eurovision website to check out your own country’s pick!

Another exciting thing to look forward to, is that this year a new participant is set to join the song contest: Luxembourg! This is only the beginning as the selection process is due to continue until mid-March. 

These types of international contests tend to spark lots of emotions and competitions, especially within international schools as the students take their national pride and cheer for their own country. Eventually, the voting process takes place within our own homes as the audience has the opportunity to vote and have influence on the winner! If you get the chance, I would highly recommend you look into Eurovision and tune in in May to hear these amazing new talents fight for next year’s host spot.