Swiss Nemo’s “The code” was for a long time one of the favorite entries in the Eurovision song contest, but both Croatia and Israel have been higher on the betting companies’ lists in recent days.
Nevertheless, it was a Swiss win when this year’s debated edition of the music competition was decided in the Malmö arena on Saturday evening.
New for this year was that the TV viewers could start voting before the first artist took the stage. Already when the scores from the 37 national jury groups were presented, Switzerland had taken the lead. After the viewer votes, which weigh as much as the jury votes, were distributed, it was clear that Nemo won with a total of 591 points.
However, Switzerland was not the favorite of the TV viewers, but their fifth choice. Instead, viewers gave the most points to Croatia, followed by Israel.
Israel, whose participation in this year’s competition has been met with major protests due to the war in Gaza, finished in fifth place, while Norwegian twin duo Marcus & Martinus, who represented Sweden with the entry “Unforgettable”, reached ninth place.
Switzerland has one long history in Eurovision, where they competed 63 times since they made their debut in – and organized – the premiere program in 1956. They have won twice, with Lys Assia in 1956 and with Céline Dion and her acclaimed “Ne partez pas sans moi” in 1988.
24-year-old Nemo has said himself that the winning song, whose number was created by the Swedish choreographer Benke Rydman, is about accepting yourself. She identifies as non-binary and wants to send a greeting to other queers.
– To be a part of this has been so special. To know that a song that changed my life, where I talk about my own story, has inspired others to be true to themselves… that’s the craziest thing I’ve been a part of, she said at the press conference after the broadcast.
Last year’s Eurovision winner Loreen performed in Saturday’s final. Photo: Jens Büttner/dpa
At the same time, he had to smuggle in the non-binary rainbow flag because it is not allowed according to the EBU rules.
– It’s a double standard. Maybe Eurovision needs to change a little.
On the general rope before the final, Nemo raised some questions because she did not appear at the flag ceremony at the beginning of the competition. According to information provided to Norwegian VG, the delegations from Switzerland, Ireland, Great Britain and Portugal also sat in crisis meetings with the organizer EBU during Friday evening, as the countries considered dropping out of the competition.
A total of 25 countries competed for the win in the final – 19 who qualified via the semi-finals and the six directly qualified countries of Great Britain, Germany, France, Spain, Italy and host Sweden.
After hosts Petra Mede and Malin Åkerman kicked off the competition’s 68th final show, Sweden’s Marcus & Martinus were the first to enter the starting field.
Originally, 26 countries would have taken part, but the Netherlands’ Joost Klein was disqualified shortly before the final after an incident with a female production worker – one of several controversies surrounding this year’s competition.
The Dutch television company was critical of the decision to wash Klein, and chose not to leave their voices on the broadcast.
Beside them competing artists, a number of Swedish celebrities appeared in the program, from Björn Skifs and his 50th anniversary “Hooked on a feeling”, via Sarah Dawn Finer in the role of the Martin Österdahl-celebrating bureaucrat (when the EBU director appeared in the broadcast, he was met in the place of burop) to Alcazar with an Abba medley.
The 50th anniversary of Abbas’ Eurovision win in Brighton was celebrated. Photo: Tobias Schwarz/AFP
That this year marks 50 years since Abba won Eurovision in Brighton was marked in several ways, culminating in a salute from the Abbatars and a subsequent “Waterloo” performance by Carola, Charlotte Perrelli and Conchita Wurst.
Last year’s gold medalist Loreen was responsible for the final interlude. She then presented the winner’s trophy to Nemo. Shortly afterwards, the glass figurine broke – but it was quickly replaced with a new one.
– I broke the statuette and it can be repaired, and it seems that something needs to be repaired in Eurovision as well, he said.
During the broadcast was demonstrators in place outside the arena and it became noisy at times. One person was arrested on suspicion of violence against an official and seven people were taken into custody, but no one was injured.
Criticism of Israel’s participation was also felt in the broadcast itself, including when both Norwegian Alessandra Mele and last year’s runner-up, Finnish Käärijä, refrained from handing out their countries’ jury votes and were replaced. Ireland’s Bambie Thug also had a watermelon, a symbol of support for Palestine, with him in the greenroom. After the broadcast, he directed sharp criticism at the EBU and described the experience backstage as “terrible”.
Nemo says that his experience of this year’s competition has been “crazy, and not just in a positive way”.
– Several things felt like they weren’t about love and community, and that made me very sad. At the same time, there is so much love here too, so many cultures coming together and people who love music, and that gives me hope.
However, she believes that Eurovision needs to work hard to continue to stand for love and peace in the future.
– What I love about Eurovision is that it is a place where you can be yourself. I hope that place can continue to grow and challenge itself, because we need contexts like that, or the world isn’t very fun to be in.
But right after the win, Nemo preferred not to think about the future.
– Tonight I only think about tonight. Tomorrow is a new day.
Facts. The result in the Eurovision song contest 2024
1. Switzerland. Nemo – “The code” (591 points, 226 from the viewers and 365 from the jury groups)
2. Croatia. Baby Lasagna – “Rim tim tagi dim” (547 points, 337 from the viewers and 210 from the jury groups)
3. Ukraine. Alyona Alyona & Jerry Heil – “Teresa & Maria” (453 points, 307 from the viewers and 146 from the jury groups)
4. France. Slimane – “Mon amour” (445 points, 227 from the viewers and 218 from the jury groups)
5. Israel. Eden Golan – “Hurricane” (375 points, 323 from the viewers and 52 from the jury groups)
6. Ireland. Bambie Thug – “Doomsday blue” (278 points, 136 from the viewers and 142 from the jury groups)
7. Italy. Angelina Mango – “La noia” (268 points, 104 from the viewers and 164 from the jury groups)
8. Armenia. Ladaniva – “Jako” (183 points, 82 from the viewers and 101 from the jury groups)
9. Sweden. Marcus & Martinus – “Unforgettable” (174 points, 49 from the viewers and 125 from the jury groups)
10. Portugal. Iolanda – “Grito” (152 points, 13 from the viewers and 139 from the jury groups)
11. Greece. Marina Satti – “Zari” (126 points, 85 from the viewers and 41 from the jury groups)
12. Germany. Isaak – “Always on the run” (117 points, 18 from the viewers and 99 from the jury groups)
13. Luxembourg. Tali – “Fighter” (103 points, 20 from the viewers and 83 from the jury groups)
14. Lithuania. Silvester Belt – “Luktelk” (90 points, 58 from the viewers and 32 from the jury groups)
15. Cyprus. Silia Kapsis – “Liar” (78 points, 44 from the viewers and 34 from the jury groups)
16. Latvia. Dons – “Hollow” (64 points, 28 from the viewers and 36 from the jury groups)
17. Serbia. Teya Dora – “Ramonda” (54 points, 32 from the viewers and 22 from the jury groups)
18. Great Britain. Olly Alexander – “Dizzy” (46 points, 0 from the viewers and 46 from the jury groups)
19. Finland. Windows95man – “No rules!” (38 points, 31 from the viewers and 7 from the jury groups)
20. Estonia. 5minus x Puuluup – “(We don’t (yet) know anything about these drugs” (37 points, 33 från titartna och 4 från jurygrupperna)
21. Georgia. Nutsa Buzaladze – “Firefighter” (34 points, 19 from the viewers and 15 from the jury groups)
22. Spain. Nebulossa – “Zorra” (30 points, 11 from the viewers and 19 from the jury groups)
23. Slovenia. Raiven – “Veronika” (27 points, 12 from the viewers and 15 from the jury groups)
24. Austria. Kaleen – “We will rave” (24 points, 5 from the viewers and 19 from the jury groups)
25. Norway. Riddle – “Ulveham” (16 points, 4 from the viewers and 12 from the jury groups)
Eurovision song contest was organized by SVT in Malmö arena, with Petra Mede and Malin Åkerman as presenters.
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