May 15, 2018

On Saturday, May 12, Israel’s Netta Barzilai (usually simply called “Netta”) won the Eurovision Song Contest with her song “Toy.” The attention-grabbing anthem features Netta’s versatile voice clicking and chicken clucking into a boisterous dance song that carries a strong statement for female independence and against sexual exploitation and harassment—a direct result of the related Me Too movement. Netta is the first Israeli to win the hugely popular European contest since 1998, when pop singer Dana International took top prize with the song “Diva.” Greek-Albanian star Eleni Foureira, who represented Cyprus with the song “Fuego,” took second place this year just behind Netta. Cesár Sampson of Austria finished third with “Nobody but You.”

Netta raises the glass microphone trophy at the close of the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest in Lisbon, Portugal. Credit: Wouter van Vliet, EuroVisionary (licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0)

Held every year since 1956, Eurovision is the world’s largest and longest-running annual television song competition. This year’s contest took place at Altice Arena in Lisbon, Portugal. Each year’s winning nation hosts the following year’s contest. In 2017, Portuguese singer Salvador Sobral won Eurovision with the song “Amar Pelos Dois” (Love for Both of Us).

Long before “American Idol,” “The Voice,” “The X Factor,” or even “Star Search,” there was Eurovision. The show began as the “Eurovision Grand Prix” in 1956 and became the “Eurovision Song Contest” in 1968. Each year, primarily European countries submit one entry—one artist with one new and original song—to the Eurovision contest. Despite the great variety of nations participating, most songs are in English. The songs are each performed live—often with elaborate stage shows—and votes from the television audience are combined with those of a professional international jury to gradually narrow the competition to the “Grand Final” round. The final songs are then performed, and voting determines the overall winner, who performs again and receives the “glass microphone” trophy. This year’s competition began with 43 national entries; 26 took part in the Grand Final.

More than 50 nations have participated in Eurovision. All active members of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) can take part in the contest. The EBU is a professional association of national broadcasters that negotiates and advocates on behalf of public broadcasters in Europe. The EBU also includes numerous non-European nations. It operates the Eurovision network, the world’s largest provider of international sports and news broadcasts.

Swedish group ABBA’s superstardom began with the 1974 Eurovision contest, and the show kick-started the career of French-Canadian star Céline Dion (singing for Switzerland) in 1988. Other Eurovision winners have included French singer France Gall (1965) and the British group Katrina and the Waves (1987). In 1958, Italy’s Domenico Modugno placed third at Eurovision with his song “Nel Blu Di Pinto Di Blu,” better known as “Volare” (made famous by American singer Dean Martin). In 1994, Eurovision first presented the Irish dance production Riverdance to international audiences. Ireland has won Eurovision seven times, more than any other country.