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13-05-2024
STOCKHOLM: Swiss singer Nemo has won the Eurovision Song Contest in Sweden, with their song The Code.
A compelling hybrid of opera and hip-hop, it topped the jury vote, helping the 24-year-old gain an impressive score of 591 points.
The singer becomes the first non-binary artist to win Eurovision. Fittingly, they wrote the song to explain how they came to terms with their identity.
Croatia, which led the public vote, came second with the raucous party anthem Rim Tim Tagi Dim, while the UK’s Olly Alexander was consigned to 18th place, out of 25.
The Years and Years singer received the dreaded “nul points” from the public, but was saved from last place by the jury vote.
They awarded his song, ‘Dizzy’, 46 points.
This year’s contest was overshadowed by protests over Israel’s participation, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas.
Israel’s entrant, the 20-year-old singer Eden Golan, who received a mixture of boos and cheers as she performed on stage in Malmö, came fifth.
In their victory speech on stage, Nemo said: “I hope this contest can live up to its promise and continue to stand for peace and dignity for every person in this world.”
They later broke the contest’s infamous crystal microphone trophy, which appeared to fall to the stage as they waved it around in triumph.
Eurovision 2024: The top five contestants
Switzerland: Nemo-The Code
Croatia: Baby Lasagna-Rim Tim Tagi Dim
Ukraine: Alyona Alyona & Jerry Heil-Teresa and Maria
France: Slimane-Mon Amour
Israel: Eden Golan-Hurricane
Other artists voiced similar sentiments.
Bambie Thug, representing Ireland, screamed “love will triumph hate” as they finished their song, Doomsday Blue; while Portugal’s contestant, Iolanda, told the crowd: “Peace will prevail.”
Two former contestants, Alessandra Mele and Kaarija, pulled out of announcing their countries’ jury scores; Mele cited Israel’s participation as a factor, while Kaarija said “it doesn’t feel right” (to give out points).
However, there was a swell of support for Golan’s song, which came second in the public vote with a score of 323. The UK was one of 15 countries where the public gave the 20-year-old the maximum of 12 points.
Contestant disqualified
Adding to the drama, Dutch contestant Joost Klein was disqualified from the contest on Saturday, after he was accused of making “unlawful threats” to a female member of the production crew.
The singer was reported to police after the incident occurred backstage on Thursday. Organizers subsequently decided to exclude him from the contest, saying they had a “zero-tolerance policy towards inappropriate behavior”.
In a statement, Dutch broadcaster Avrotros called the decision “disproportionate” and said Klein had been filmed backstage when he had “repeatedly indicated” that he did not want to be.
Elsewhere, Eurovision was Eurovision.
Finnish artist Windows95Man performed a 1990s house banger with his trousers off, and Croatia’s Baby Lasagna sang about a country boy who sells his cow and moves to the big city. (Int’l Monitoring Desk)
