Americans will soon get a chance to vote in the Eurovision Song Contest, the musical competition that celebrates kitschy pop and helped launch the careers of ABBA and Celine Dion.
Eurovision’s pomp and spectacle draw comparisons to the Olympics. It’s watched by about 160 million people on TV in Europe and Australia. It remains niche entertainment in the U.S., an oddity from across the globe with unknown performers in weird costumes belting ballads, electropop and the occasional rock or country song. Not everything’s sung in English.
Voting rules are convoluted. There’s a popular vote and panels of music insiders from each country ranking performers. European geopolitics and migration patterns sometimes influence how people vote. This year, for example, Russia was banned because it invaded Ukraine. Ukraine’s entry drew mixed reviews but became a sentimental favorite and won.
Organizers said that allowing viewers around the world to vote was a response to increasing interest in Eurovision. One caveat: The list of eligible new countries is coming later. Some fans, however, worry about changing the competition.
“Our core values are all about inclusivity, and why not embrace the fans and the people that are living outside of Europe,” said Martin Österdahl, the contest’s executive supervisor. “Let them join the party and cast their votes.”
Swedish pop group ABBA celebrate winning the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest.PHOTO: ROBERT DEAR/ASSOCIATED PRESS
The music contest is organized by the European Broadcasting Union, a coalition of public broadcasters, and began in 1956 with seven countries. Presenters speak in French and English, and individual countries’ broadcasters add commentary. Eurovision has grown to about 40 countries today, with Israel joining in the 1970s and Australia in 2015.
Allowing Americans to vote could widen Eurovision’s fan base in the U.S. How voting works isn’t clear yet—it may happen through the Eurovision app, Mr. Österdahl said. A credit card is required as there’s a charge for voting.
“My friends that are already sort of into it are like, ‘Oh my God, we get to vote, this is so fun,’” said Sara McSorley. The 33-year-old marketing coordinator from Seattle turned several friends onto the show after hours of mandated YouTube sessions and a “Eurovision retreat” she planned at a rented house on a local island, complete with Italian-themed snacks to celebrate that year’s host country. “We’ll see if it’s part of the sell,” she said of voting.
Since 2016 Eurovision has aired on LGBT-themed TV network Logo, Netflix (not a live broadcast), and most recently Peacock, the streaming service owned by Comcast Corp.’s NBCUniversal. It will be on Peacock again next year, said Dave Goodman, a Eurovision spokesman. NBC didn’t reply to requests for comment.
Americans and other new voters won’t have the same power to choose the Eurovision winner as the countries that send performers. International voters will be in a “rest of the world” category that is treated as equal to one existing Eurovision country—so the combined total of voters in the U.S., Canada and any other eligible country in this new group, which could amount to millions of people, will have the same weight as any individual European country.
Sheldon Riley represented Australia during the 2022 Eurovision Song Contest.PHOTO: NDERIM KACELI/ZUMA PRESS
“It’s more of a symbolic gesture, because basically you’re saying millions of people around the world will be the equivalent of San Marino, which has a population of less than 100,000,” said Dean Vuletic, a historian of contemporary Europe who has written a book on the contest.
Allowing people in the U.S. and other countries to vote could be a step toward more Eurovision contestants coming from outside Europe. Eurovision is also trying to grow with spinoffs in other parts of the world. There are versions coming in Canada and Latin America. The “American Song Contest,” which had contestants from each U.S. state, aired on NBC earlier this year.
More international voters could drive interest in the contest and are welcome, said Saul Browne, a 14-year-old Eurovision fan from Glasgow, Scotland. But he’s wary of opening the door for Americans and others to compete in the European contest.
“It’s about Europe coming together as a continent,” he said, noting the Eurovision support for Ukraine this year. “As a whole world, it would be difficult to replicate that.”
Kalush Orchestra posed onstage with the Ukrainian flag and the Eurovision trophy after winning the contest in May.PHOTO: MARCO BERTORELLO/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES
Eurovision is famous for the political influences that shape its results as well as the appeal of a particular song. Viewers can’t vote for their own countries, but often support their neighbor—a Balkan bloc—or propel those with ethnic ties—Greece and Cyprus. Organizers call the effect of immigrants in richer European countries voting for their homelands “diaspora voting.”
Dr. Vuletic, the Eurovision academic, said global expansion may come at a cost. “There is something quirky and special and engaging about European countries coming together,” he said. “I’m concerned that by it going more global, the Europeanness of the contest will be diminished.”
Eurovision fandom already stretches far beyond Europe. Pedro Behrens, a private chef in Austin, Texas, fell in love with Eurovision while growing up in Venezuela.
He now organizes Eurovision parties, usually in gay bars in New York, where he used to live. He said he can’t wait to vote.
“I think it’s the campy side of it, the theatrical side on one hand, and the other is just a cultural explosion,” he said about why he loves Eurovision. “It’s like a little window to the world.”
Eye Cue represented Macedonia in the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest.PHOTO: EDDIE SUAREZ