Eurovision 2024: Heroes

Today, at the time of writing this, a month has passed since the Eurovision Final and with enough distance it is time to talk, on a large scale, about what happened and the best way to do it is to put the spotlight on the main actors to make this edition of the contest famous for having done the very least to ensure the safety of not only the participants but also that of the press and dare I say the city of Malmö itself.

First the good and even what no one thought of when the selection of the participants began.

1. Switzerland

Obviously... Nemo is the undisputed winner of this year's contest. Since the beginning of the season, and in my opinion since the premiere of the official video clip of them song; you could guess them victory. Throughout the season, there were several viable options to win; however, all the candidates seemed to be missing something, as the date of the second semi-final approached, and through the rehearsals Nemo stood out above the rest.

The extraordinary work of the Swiss delegation made it clear that it would be difficult if not impossible to snatch the victory, "The Code" was part of a select group of songs, which had a personal meaning for the singer. 

What was achieved in the final only confirmed what many, including myself, knew would happen. Nemo, as I said before, won on them own merit, and gave Switzerland its first in 36 years. Switzerland can enjoy its victory and work to build a better path to 2025. For as Nemo said it: It is time to take the trip to hell and back to find our way to paradise and find ourselves.

2. Croatia

Where to begin with Croatia. I think that looking at it from a completely objective perspective, the proposals of the Croatian delegation tend to fall a little short. The Dora national selection, while having very clear audio problems, their musical proposals also tend not to be too risky. Far away was the time of Doris Dragović with Marija Magdalena and with two years in which qualification did not seem possible, the change came in 2023 with Mama ŠČ, who even got to participate in the final that same year.

Baby Lasagna deserves its own section, but for now I will limit myself to tell the story of a boy who was destined to participate in Eurovision. His journey is like that of few, Marko Purišić better known as Baby Lasagna, plays guitar since he was a child, and since he was young he has belonged to different bands, on a previous occasion he had already participated in Dora, but it was just this year when he sent "Rim Tim Tagi Dim" that everything changed and when he was notified by the official organization of Dora that he could participate his world took a turn.

Everything seemed unreal, since the sound of the Dora did not do him any favor, also it should be noted that this was the first time he went on stage to sing as a soloist and although the nerves and excess energy were noticeable, by the time the final of the Dora arrived it was clear that he was going to win. When it came time for the Pre-Partys, his extraordinary talent and self-confidence only increased to such a degree that not only did he win his semi-final but he came in second place overall.

This kind of story is not often seen and even though Croatia could not win, a second place is not bad at all, now with what he achieved at Eurovision, Baby Lasagna's story is far from over.  

3. Ukraine

Considering the very difficult situation in which the country finds itself, it is surprising that the selection of songs can be made. This year was no different, what was achieved by Alyona Alyona & Jerry Heil, honestly should not have surprised anyone. 

The song Teresa & Maria, is one of the best songs of this year, a message of empowerment and female union it's always important to keep in mind especially when we are in times of complicated conflict in the world, it should be noted that this song went as far as humanly possible. Ukraine once again demonstrates why they are one of the powers of the competition. 

4. Irland

When we ask any Eurovision fan which country has won the competition the most times for a decade almost consecutively, we usually get Ireland. Nowadays it is easy to forget, and rightly so, why this country is held in such high esteem. 

For several years Ireland usually finished in the top places, after several years we reached the decade of the 90's and this is where Ireland shone and showed what it was made of, because if you don't remember it was during this period where a single country won a total of four times; three in a row. In the wake of the new decade of the 2000's, something changed and this superpower failed to qualify surprisingly to anyone who has seen its long history of success.

The reasons for Ireland's failure to qualify could be due to many things such as: change in management, creatives trying to push their own creations instead of focusing on winning and honestly uncreative pop songs. On a personal level I must say that Brooke who participated in 2022 and despite not being one of my favorite artists, I thought she was going to make it to the finals, but fate had something different in mind.

It wasn't until Bambi participated that I actually believed that Ireland finally had something unique on their hands, my confidence began to soar when I found out that it was Bambi who had creative control of their song, they were free to create their vision and thankfully they shone. I can only hope that finally and after years of a rough patch the Irish delegation will go for the creative and unique instead of playing it safe, Bambi and their “Doomsday Blue” proved that it can be done and that the public responds well to what clearly resonates with the artist, who knows maybe they can even win, if they keep going down this path. 

5. Fans 

This season we have shown that we are the ones who support this organization. We have been the ones who have shown our disagreement with the way the contest has been carried out. I want to make it clear that it has been the fan press that was inside the designated area, who made known the facts of the unfortunate situations in which the artists and other colleagues were.

Through social networks (and I join in this) we have been the ones who commented on the critical situations in which both semifinals, not to mention the final, were found. It is thanks to our protests that we were able to achieve a great change, it stopped mattering where we came from or the language we speak, because what mattered was to protect us and not let a group of people with interests that had nothing to do with the contest win and decree what we could say or not.

So thanks to all the people who managed to build a path for change and show that our voice matters, that without us (without the fans), a contest like Eurovision cannot survive. 

Now it's time to heal and look towards 2025, and hope that the wounds close and we return to being a community united by music and not divided by politics outside of a musical contest, thought as a union not only of continents, but of people who in the face of all impossibility find something in common.