Eurovision 2024 – the 68th Eurovision Song Contest – after the first semi-final. 15 songs competed for ten places in Saturday’s concert. This year’s Polish representative, Luna, with the song “The Tower” did not advance to the finals.
This year’s Eurovision officially started on Sunday, May 5, when the representatives of 37 countries appeared on the traditional Turquoise Carpet. The 68th Eurovision Song Contest takes place in Sweden for the seventh time, this time after last year’s victory of Loreen’s “Tatoo”. For the third time in history, the competition came to Malmö.
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During Tuesday’s – first – semi-final, a total of 18 artists and bands performed. 15 teams fought for a place in Saturday’s final. In addition, their songs were performed by representatives of Germany, Sweden and Great Britain, who – according to the Eurovision rules – have guaranteed places in Saturday’s concert. Tuesday’s semi-finalists included the song “The Tower” by Luna, who represents Poland in Malmö.
Luna (Poland)PAP/EPA/Jessica Gow/TT
Poland was represented for the first time at Eurovision by Edyta Górniak, who took second place with the song “To nie ja” in 1994. This was the best result of Polish artists so far. In 2003, the group Ich Troje took seventh place, and in 2016, Michał Szpak with the song “Color of Your Love” took eighth place. Last year’s Polish representative Blanka took 19th place.
In 2000, 2002, 2012 and 2013, Poland did not participate in the competition.
The following advanced to the finals: Teya Dora (Serbia), Iolanda (Portugal), Raiven (Slovenia), Alyona Alyona and Jerry Heil (Ukraine), Silvester Telt (Lithuania), Windows95man (Finland), Silia Kapsis (Cyprus), Baby Lasagna (Croatia) ), Bambie Thug (Ireland), Tali (Luxembourg).
Eurovision 2024. First semi-final
“Euphoria” and the return of Eurovision stars
The first Eurovision concert opened with the performance of stars of previous editions of the competition: Eleni Foureira (representing Cyprus in 2018), Erica Saade (representing Sweden in 2011) and Chanel, who represented Spain in 2022. During the voting break, three-time Eurovision winner Johnny Logan, who performed Loreen’s 2012 winning hit “Euphoria”, and Swedish singer Benjamin Ingrosso appeared on stage.
This year’s Eurovision hosts are Swedish comedian and TV presenter Petra Mede and Swedish-American actress Malin Åkerman. Mede is already known to the Eurovision audience. She hosted competition concerts in 2013 (individually) and in 2016 together with Måns Zelmerlöw.
Malin Åkerman in Petra MedePAP/EPA/Jessica Gow/TT
READ ALSO: The most popular songs of Eurovision 2024. List
Eurovision 2024. Who will perform in the second semi-final?
During Thursday’s semi-final, 16 teams will fight to advance to Saturday’s concert. Representatives of France, Spain and Italy, who are guaranteed to take part in the final, will also present their songs.
The 16 semi-finalists are: Sarah Bonnici (Malta), Besa (Albania), Marina Satti (Greece), Nemo (Switzerland), Aiko (Czech Republic), Kaleen (Austria), Saba (Denmark), Ladaniva (Armenia), Dons (Latvia) , Megara (San Marino), Nutsa Buzaladze, Mustii (Belgium), 5miinust and Puuluup (Estonia), Eden Golan (Israel), Gate (Norway) and Joost Klein (Netherlands).
SEE ALSO: Eurovision 2024. How to vote and how are the votes counted?
A short history of Eurovision
The Eurovision Song Contest has been organized since 1956 by the European Broadcasting Network, and its formula is inspired by the oldest European song festival, the San Remo Festival. Since then, only one edition of the competition has not been held – in 2020, due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the EBU canceled the competition that was to be held in the Netherlands.
Every year, the final is broadcast to many countries on all continents. And according to official estimates, the competition attracts up to 600 million viewers. According to the EBU, last year the final concert attracted a total of 162 million viewers in the 38 countries where it was broadcast.
Interestingly, in 2015, during the 60th edition of the competition, the Australian team took part as a full participant. This was the first time that a country that was not an active member of the EBU could take part in Eurovision.
This year, teams from 37 countries took part in the competition. 26 of them qualified for the final – ten from each semi-final, plus the Big Five (France, Spain, Germany, Italy and Great Britain) and Sweden – the host country of the competition.
How was Poland’s representative for Eurovision selected?
A 5-person commission appointed by Telewizja Polska decided that Luna would represent Poland at Eurovision. Its members included: music director of Radio ZET Łukasz Pieter, music journalist of Radio Eska Michał Hanczak, vocalist Kasia Moś, journalist of the Viva.pl website and president of the Association of Eurovision Song Contest Lovers OGAE Polska Konrad Szczęsny, as well as a music journalist associated with Radio Dla Młodych and producer of music programs and deputy director of the Agency for Entertainment Creation and Fixtures TVP Piotr Klatt.
Each committee member indicated ten favorites and assigned points on a scale from 1 to 10. Luna’s song collected the most points, 34 points, thus winning the national preselections. Second place with 33 points went to Justyna Steczkowska with the song “WITCH-ER Tarohoro”, and third place ex aequo, receiving 23 points each, went to the songs: “Jesień – Tańcuj” performed by Kayah and the Dagadana band and “Midnight dreamer” performed by Marcin Maciejczak.
SEE ALSO: It has been announced who will represent Poland at Eurovision 2024. What do we know about Luna?
This year’s Eurovision participants on the “Turquoise Carpet”Reuters
photo-source">Main photo source: PAP/EPA/Jessica Gow/TT
