Five keys to understanding Eurovision: from pop geopolitics to Chanel's candidacy

Everything is ready to find out which country will win the glass microphone, the award of the Eurovision Song Contest.

This year it is celebrated in Turin on May 10, 12 and 14 after the victory of the Italians Måneskin in 2021. The event, followed by hundreds of millions of people every year, is a host of contradictions.

It calls itself the apolitical European song contest, but not all its participating countries are in Europe and much of what happens in it, starting with its own birth, is pure geopolitics.

For the first time in a long time, Spain is among the prize favorites.

And that the election of our candidate, Chanel, was so controversial that she reached the Congress of Deputies.

Reunify Europe after World War II and do it with something as universal as music.

That was the mission of the festival when it held its first edition, in the city of Lugano (Switzerland) on May 24, 1956. The event, in which only seven countries participated, was also a way of taking advantage of that invention called television to create an international event that would cover several markets at the same time, through the different public channels of the continent.

But you don't have to be European to sing on it.

For example, Canadian Céline Dion won it in 1988, representing Switzerland with the theme

.

In fact, it is not necessary to be a European nation to participate in it.

Morocco participated only once in 1980. Others such as Israel and Armenia continue to do so.

And also Australia, which arrived at the contest in 2015, after years of demonstrating that it has a huge base of

from Oceania.

The rule establishes that the country's state broadcaster must be part of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), even if it is not within the physical European borders.

Eurovision is the most watched non-sporting event in the world.

The EBU confirmed that the 2021 edition achieved a global audience of 183 million viewers and in 2016 its broadcast exceeded 200 million.

In the Scandinavian countries it is a true cultural phenomenon.

An average of 3.7 million Swedish viewers have followed the space in some editions, with many more connecting with the broadcast for at least one minute.

These are impressive figures for a country of 10 million inhabitants.

Instead, the Spanish public maintains a love-hate relationship with him.

His level of interest fluctuates much more than the people from the north.

In the last 20 years, it has gone from 12.8 million and an 80% screen share of Rosa López's participation to 4 million and 29% of Blas Cantó last year.

It depends on the candidate.

Even so, it always achieves data much higher than the average of La 1 de Televisión Española.

Sometimes, such media exposure also has its effect on the music industry.

This is the case of the most recent winners, the Italians Måneskin.

For the last 12 months, they have been making songs on the charts of half the world, including the complicated American and British markets, with songs like

and the song with which they won, sung in Italian,

.

Passing through the European song contest also contributed to the international success of our Raphael and Julio Iglesias, in addition to other number ones such as the Swedish ABBA and Céline Dion herself.

Despite how

, how tacky, how frivolous this musical competition that fails to call itself apolitical may be, what happens on its stage explains to a great extent what is happening in Europe.

Without going any further, the bookmakers give this year as favorites to the representatives of Ukraine, Kalush Orchestra, with a wide difference over the second classified.

In addition, the organization expelled Russia from the competition last February.

Another clear example of this connection has been the results obtained in recent years by the United Kingdom, for decades one of the great musical powers of this contest, with five victories.

Although his participation in Eurovision had been mediocre for a long time, voting in favor of Brexit in 2016 has cost him dearly in the contest.

It was second to last classified in 2018 and last classified in the 2019 and 2021 editions (in 2020 there was no competition for the first time in its history due to the coronavirus).

In recent years, the British representatives stoically endure the disdain of the rest of the participants.

Let us remember that the votes are made up of the points designated by a jury of experts from each participating country and the popular votes of the audience of those countries.

Mahmood, who almost won the 2019 edition, received extra support as a member of the LGBTI+ community of Arab origin representing Matteo Salvini's Italy.

That same year was the year of the controversial presence of the Palestinian flag during the multimillion-dollar television broadcast, in which Israel participated as a contestant.

The Icelandic band Hatari and Madonna, invited to perform in the final, waved it at some point during the gala.

Not to mention the years when the Soviet Union was not welcome at the contest.

He decided to create his own: Intervision.

And Vladimir Putin fantasized a few years ago about reviving it.

That love-hate relationship between Spain and the contest has become clear as almost never before with the selection process for this year's candidate.

RTVE revived the Benidorm Festival in January and the matter reached the Congress of Deputies.

Chanel, the Spanish representative, started her participation as an absolute unknown.

After her live performance with the

theme during the semifinal, she managed to place herself among the candidates with options for victory, only behind the favorites of the audience Tanxugueiras and Rigoberta Bandini.

Had it not been for the excessive support of the professional jury created by RTVE, Chanel would not have been selected.

, unions and political parties asked for explanations.

But the truth is that her Beyoncé proposal is among the five favorites of bookmakers, after Ukraine, Italy, Sweden and the United Kingdom, in what may be the year of forgiveness after leaving the European Union.

As anachronistic as it may be for a good part of the public, the festival seems to be in good health.

Its American version has just been released in the United States.

The American Song Contest has preferred to present itself as a

, in the style of

and

.

For eight weeks, the 50 states of the country, Washington DC and 5 US territories compete.

The final is broadcast this Monday, May 9.

The proposal, very different from the original, has not been very successful, with very discreet audience data on the NBC network.

But a new edition for 2023 has not yet been ruled out. A Canadian version is already being prepared for that year, while an Asian edition is suspected, although it has not yet materialized.