The 68th Eurovision Song Contest in 2024 took place in Malmö on May 7th, May 9th and May 11th – hotel room vibes, Europe Day, 3 hours sleep. Read the review below.

You know the upcoming Eurovision is still far off when you set different priorities while booking and suddenly realize ‘oh Eurovision is going to take place when we will be there!’ – good that with little children your nights are not planned any differently than spending it at home (or in our case in the hotel) in front of the television. But what about the grand final? Eurovision is not only a big party right on place but also a big event all around the world, whether you watch in public or not, and you yourself as big Eurovision fan want to make it a party. So how did my best friend who became a mother for the second time not long ago respond to me? “Then we will have to watch it this late until the end!”, this lady’s vibe is my goal!

So yes, we have been in Estonia on holiday (almost) after probation time and early enough to be back for the birth of my brother’s and sister-in-law’s baby and realized that boarding is not taking place at 10-something but we already landed at 10 in the morning. A total mess but still worth it as everything can be fixed and made-up but missed chances not be brought back as we learned here. Therefore this year the articles about Eurovision are as well summed up as it would have been impossible for me to make up the articles on holiday.

Eurovision Semi-Final 1: With Estonian Art Ahead

As a mother of two I need to say that there is nothing more satisfying than a cozy night in front of the TV after spending a very exciting day with way too many impressions, too great people and many many amazing achievements: learning about the famous Estonian museum of art, having a blast at my favorite Estonian designer’s, Tallinn Dolls, and meeting a great Estonian painter whom I finally bought an image of my idol Piret Järvis-Milder from after more than ten years. But enough of that.

“Yes, we have found a way to make this show even longer.”
– Malin Åkerman, ESC 2024 Co-host

With pink as leading color of this year’s contest and two female hosts I got the impression at first that this year’s Eurovision (even though war has been going on) is under the sign of feminism or rather the strength of the female gender. Petra Mede is an unbeaten amazing entertainer, no surprise she is very popular among Eurovision fans. My favorite quote of her leaning on Eurovision hosted in Sweden was: “I did it alone, I did it with a man and now I am doing it with a woman. But enough of my love-life.”, the only thing that is a pity is that sadly Petra’s bad aging as well as her not-working methods against it were very well visible. But it could have as well been the darker hair or make-up. Whatever it is we love you anyway Petra!

Right behind that quote my second favorite line was: “Yes, we have found a way to make this show even longer.”, being constantly tired I, of course, worried if I can stand a TV-show in a very dark room for this long but I like that the big five are already performing in the semi-finals. It makes the impressions and personal rankings easier. The only confusing thing remain the running numbers.

Eurovision SF 1: Impressions an Ranking

1. Cyprus – Silia Kapsis “Liar”: The reincarnation of Britney Spears from the 90s. The song, her voice, as well as the overall performance were very strong. I love starters like these. It makes a mood for more.
2. Serbia – Teya Dora “Ramonda”: After the starter this entry was a rather disappointing appearance. Her singing was more of a hauling without any kind of dramaturgy.
3. Lithuania – Silver Belt “Luktelk”: Thumbs up! He sang in his native language, the song was very rhythmic and catchy and the performance on the whole was calling the audience for dance.
4. Ireland – Bambie Thug “Doomsday Blue”: Latest after this performance you would be awake. I liked the image of Bambie as it reminded me of Nina Sublatti from Georgia in 2015. However during her performance the girl confused me: the performance had a lot of almost everything which was a little bit too much. Was this performance actually child friendly?
5. United Kingdom – Olly Alexander “Dizzy”: The boxers that represented the gay-community probably had a cool song. They sounded typical boy-group from their voice. However I did not quite get the dance as well as the stage.
6. Ukraine – Alyona Alyona & Jerry Heil “Tessa & Maria”: Sisterhood and very patriotic, pretty much the female pendant to last year’s Ukrainian representatives but more of a statement. Singer Jerry has such an impressive voice. The song in combination with the voice had something of a prayer.
7. Poland – Luna “The Tower”: What a great artist, which a great performance! The singer had very good voice, she was a sovereign singer on the stage furthermore with the most beautiful stage.
8. Croatia – Baby Lasagna “Rim Tim Tagi Dim”: Croatian solo Rammstein, yes, that was him! His music was so familiar somehow which I just got by the Grand Final. I understand why he was a favorite to win. It was a very lively rocksong.
9. Iceland – Hera Björk “Scared Of Heights”: A sovereign comeback in gold with a timelessly popular and working song which made her better than ever.
10. Germany – Isaak “Always On The Run”: I must admit that in the national selection I would have wanted Max Mutzke to represent Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest again but Isaak proved that he was chosen for good. He had a beautiful song , especially with this very catchy „na na eh“. He was such a sovereign singer with a strong voice on stage just according to the motto: less is (indeed) more!
11. Slovenia – Raiven ”Veronika“: It was good that she sang in her native language. The song had the typical Eurovision seriousness and drama. However I must say that I liked her more in her postcard than on stage. She and her background dancers were too naked. Other than that she has a brilliant voice.
12. Finland – WINDOWS95MAN “No Rules!“: No rules! No words! Is he even allowed to run through the stage naked on the bottom? After I realized the Windows-logo thanks to my husband I finally understood the name of the artist. Even if the requisite was confusing it made me laugh a lot. It was a typical Finland great and funny 80s/90s-song which could have been for an anime or action-movie.
13. Moldova – Natalia Barbu “In The Middle“: The singer had a strong, melodic voice like Ana Soklic who represented Slovenia in 2020 and 2021. The stage was beautiful: plants, trees, colors… just as beautiful as the lyrics of the song. I was impressed by the violin-part and her voice.
14. Sweden – Marcus & Martinus “Unforgettable”: They sounded like every other male Swedish singer but they had a cool and hip song as well as a cool stage and dance; very modern lyrics and a futuristic stage and performance on whole.
15. Azerbaijan – Fahree Ft. Ilkin Dovlatov “Özünlə Apar”: A rhythmic song with a good singing but it rather sounded monotone despite the impressive voice.
16. Australia – Electric Fields “One Milkali (One Blood)”: A typical pop song for a singer like her but her voice is great. A pretty much likable song.
17. Portugal – Iolanda “Grito”: A very dramatic song sung in the native language – that was great for sure.
18. Luxembourg – Tali “Fighter”: French-English mixed song which was very rhythmic as well as a statement. The singer is a very attractive amazon who is simply beautiful and cute with her braids but she as well had class. What a great comeback for this country which I love. Luxembourg was literally on fire and very good for the closing.

See my personal finalists marked green.

Eurovision Semi Final 2: Father’s Day, Europe Day and a lot of Music

International Father’s Day (sadly not in Estonia), therefore they have celebrated the Europe Day (Euroopa Päev) at the freedom square (“Vabaduse Väljak”) of Tallinn with an open air stage and performing artists like Bedwetters, Nublu and actress Kristel Aaslaid hosting the evening (I can tell you that my children enjoyed they first concert experience with the Bedwetters even though we sadly missed Nublu because Raphael wanted to go have something to eat… well, children. And how do you celebrate Father’s Day better than going to see the A Le Coq Arena and the fan-shop? Luckily other than it is shown on TV with men going on the booze with their boys my husband afterwards spent the time with their children and gave me the chance to have a shopping tour with my best friend. Between that and going to the celebration of the Europe Day we made up to see the beauty of the Kadriorg Neighborhood and see the Song Festival Grounds of Tallinn (“Lauluväljak”) where Estonian’s gather yearly on February 24th to celebrate how they have gained their independence by singing back in the 1918 from the Soviet Union. It was a blasting feeling being as close as possible on this amazing building and sing yourself. Furthermore experiencing the pride of their nation as well as their passion to sing having their history in mind is even more admirable!

Info: Estonia is famous for its creative talents but the Estonian musicians I met at the airport of Berlin on their way to Tallinn told me that Tallinn got officially declared as music-city.

The Eurovision Song Contest we enjoyed with coffee and delicious as well as forbiddenly good looking pop-chocs. I must say that after French and Czech the Estonian patisserie is belonging to the most impressive one.

Eurovision SF 2: Impressions and Ranking

1. Malta — Sarah Bonnici “Loop”: The singer was as attractive as Eleni Foureira who represented Cyprus in Lisbon 2017: catchy and fiery, with a strong and self-confident song.
2. Albania — BESA “Titan”: From her appearance in the postcard I would have imagined a more poppy and lively song. In the end she rather sounded like a black rap-queen and reminded me of Alicia Keys. She looks traditional but was glamorously beautiful. For my taste the fast part in the bridge of the song would not have been necessary.
3. Greece — Marina Satti “Zari”: Oh god, what a performance… social media/Tik Tok in the beginning and very modern singer with a very impressive voice she could and was doing a lot with. Concerning the composition on the whole a lot was way too much and very much of a mess even though it had finalist potential obviously from the first impression. On the second run I just disliked her outfit but my highlight was traditional Greek dance (with hankies) and music combined with modern singing.
4. Switzerland — Nemo “The Code”: you watch Germany’s Next Topmodel and find him in Eurovision… very extravagant, obviously talented, the performance was good but the song was not necessarily good as everything was too messy mixed and broken for me.
5. Czechia — Aiko “Pedestal”: Wow! What a great voice, what a sovereign singer, what an amazing performance as well as amazing song. I am having a catchy tone. Simply cool and strong. She has it all.
6. France — Slimane “Mon Amour”: A calm change for an exception: A very clean song sung by a man with a very beautiful and strong voice and singing. He used his full body for the performance which was simply amazing.
7. Austria — Katleen “We Will Rave”: You cannot believe that she is actually from Austria, this sexy woman with a sexy performance and amazing voice and song. I loved her silver outfit in combination with the purple lights and her dance was daring but unbeatable!
8. Denmark — Saba “Sand”: A typical Eurovision song but a sovereign singer with a strong voice. She made the song very beautiful song so the performance. Also this entry had a very catchy “oohoo”.
9. Armenia — Ladaniva “Jako“: The most Armenian song ever(!) brought to Eurovision. I am so proud and happy. Singer Zhaklin also known as “Jako” brings a very youthful spirit and emancipated way of thinking to Armenian tradition and interprets it in her song which is why I love to sing it whenever it is on because I have heard these words myself. Unlike the radio version she sang her stanzas quite seemingly carefully but still spread an amazingly fiery spirit to the colorful stage and Armenia. I hope it will continue like this.
10. Latvia — Dons “Hollow”: His voice reminded me of the voice of someone whom you often hear the radio, someone from the charts whom I like. A very sympathetic looking singer with a cool blue outfit who could carry his song with this as whole composition.
11. San Marino — Megara “11:11”: Is the name of the band leaning on Hercules? If you don’t watch them (or even do) their song is quite cool and fits to them and I love the stage picture.
12. Georgia — Nutsa “Firefighter”: Again another amazon with fire and wild dances on stage. This entry was not necessarily bad but she was hardly standing out sadly but at least she was glowing a little bit more with her voice.
13. Belgium — Mustii “Before The Party‘s Over“: Also he had a typical boy-group-voice. This calm song was a nice change even if it was not the strongest one. However his voice strong voice and he is talented singer. Even though I must say that also these performers were too naked.
14. Estonia — 5miinutist & Puulup “(Nendest) narkootikumidest ei tea me (küll) midagi“: Even though they were not on my top during the national selection I must admit their entry became better with every watching. I had never seen Estonians freaking out like this for one representing team so they must have probably known what is good. In the end I saw them very high in rank with a song in their native language, the tradition instruments and the extremely catchy dance and contagious craziness and do not forget to mention this freaking title. My personal favorite was Marko Veisson from Puulup (the one with the very deep singing) about whom I learned that he is a university teacher.
15. Italy — Angelina Mango “La Noia”: A beautiful song sang in very passionate and strong Italian. Sadly there had already been too many of such women in this semi final so that she nearly lost the chance to stand out. However she had a beautiful stage with roses and costumes and a very catchy music carrying the song.
16. Israel — Eden Golan “Hurricane“: Again a beautiful alluring woman however with a calm and sensual song for a change this time. You could feel how the song was very deep.
17. Norway — Gåte “Ulveham”: A band with a singer who has an amazing voice. The performance was as well amazing yet crazy and rousing.
18. Netherlands — Joost “Europapa“: The song had a great energy right at the beginning. The singer was a crazy Dutch just like we know and cherish them with a funny suit. The song amazing anyway sung in his native language which is always a plus for me. With his outfit and whole performance the singer was matching the Europe Day Estonians have been celebrating thar day and was very multi-national.

Eurovision Grand Final: Impression Overload and Conclusion

Turning the watching of the Grand Final a big event was definitely not promised too much but just what it was: it had it all, so just thank you once again for this wonderful and emotional day! However waiting for the show to begin at 10 pm Estonian time makes one think: Do we really still need to adapt to British time or would it not be time to start the contest by central European time (this already sounds logical “central Europe”) with more and more Eastern European countries joining, watching and celebrating it even more than the Western Europeans. Time is coming to think and reconsider dear EBU. I loved seeing crown princess Viktoria again on place. It once again emphasizes the connection and meaning of the contest.

More than that I was excited about the jury-vote-announcement as I had very much to tell my friends from the day before: Birgit Sarrap (formerly known as Õigemeel before her wedding) who represented Estonia in Malmö eleven years ago with the song “Et Uus Saaks Alguse” (“For Things To Once Again Start Anew”) told me one day before that she is going to be spokeswoman for Estonia. Yes, you read it correctly, I had the chance to attend her charity-concert at the John’s church in Suure-Jaani, a suburb of Viljandi – talking about Viljandi after stumbling into the restaurant of Stefan’s (Estonian representative for Eurovision 2022 in Torino with “Hope”) family. In this context I want to mention that I am very proud of my German husband to have an extra view on Armenian things. The whole Estonia knows this restaurant because Stefan always talks about it in his interviews and I want to do the same: if you want to have the best Armenian meal go visit Armeenia Köök Soso Juures.

The experience with Birgit was a total blast and absolutely worthy and unforgettable. I am still hyped and thrilled about what a wonderful person she is and the exchanges we had. This made me probably be the happiest person with the brightest smile in the audience. Also she had a very beautiful way to express her appearance in Eurovision: “being back in Malmö after 11 years”. Also she cherished that more than just from Tallinn (1,5 hours of driving) I found her concert and came from Germany to see her. But back to the contest, the day of the grand final was just as busy with the last shopping to do, last things to see, friends to spend time with and to pack. But after being done with all this we could enjoy the show. Even though (as my friend noticed) quite tired and exhausted still keeping each other awake.

Final Ranking

1. France
2. Estonia
3. Armenia
4. Austria
5. Lithuania
6. Croatia
7. Luxembourg
8. Italy
9. Cyprus
10. Germany
11. Greece
12. Ukraine
13. Finland
14. United Kingdom
15. Israel
16. Sweden
17. Latvia
18. Norway
19. Spain
20. Georgia
21. Slovenia
22. Portugal
23. Ireland
24. Switzerland
25. Serbia

I am going without my color-code this time because summing it up it looks like the tops were the flops and the flops became the tops. It is probably like one other friend of mine says: “Jury votes be like, hey, let us look for someone from the LGBTQIA+ community and give all the points to him.”, so jury voting is not even about nation-friendship or geographical neighborhood any longer. To make a long discussion short also I belong to the people who would wish for more excitement and many-sidedness by the jury. Therefore I even more cherish the division from the televoting. If you have been missing the 26th finalist the Netherlands were disqualified because of misbehavior by its representative backstage. Punishments have to be but thinking of misbehavior by other participants with no aftermaths following I was left quite mispleased with this one.

I was quite sad for Estonia to be ranked bad as they were but it must have been as Estonians said: foreigners do not understand the background of this song to cherish it. However Armenia was celebrating to be back in the top ten after almost ten years and also Germany was celebrating its high achievement after years of disappointing zero points. Hamburg in particular had even more reasons to celebrate as one of the soccer teams, St. Pauli, was back in the German Bundesliga. Sadly the recording broke during Katleen’s most important part but it was not repeated since the damage was under one minute as we learned. Whether it affected Austria’s ranking I do not know but at least I do not hope so.

Regarding the victory of Switzerland it is probably as it was said in the German radio, by 1/3rd we have also won. Kind of charming I think but a deserved win. But what was most agreeable was to finally watch the show without Peter Urban’s unnecessary and misplaced comments. Estonian television in these means is way more professional.

How satisfied are you with the winner, the winning nation and the contest on the whole? Anyway we can be very excited. See you next year in Switzerland and stay tuned.

Last but not least I want to express my huge thanks to everyone who made this year’s Eurovision so unforgettable for us, you know who you are!

Love, Johanna