The final of Eurovision is already tonight. Favorites this year - Croatia, Israel and Switzerland

We tell you what the finalists of the competition were remembered - and why the participation of Israel caused mass protests

On May 11, the final of Eurovision will be held in Malmas (Sweden) in 2024. According to the results of the semi -finals, which took place on May 7 and 9, 26 countries will compete for the victory. Russia does not participate in the competition, as in the previous two years-the country was removed due to a full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation to Ukraine in 2022.

According to the largest British bookmakers, the highest probability of victory in Croatia is 43%. Next comes Israel - 20%, then Switzerland - 15%. The chances of other countries to win are considered minimal.

Croatia this year is represented by the performer of Baby Lasagna (real name Marco Purishic) with the song “Rim Tim Tagi Dim”. The composition with the elements of Havi-Meutal, Trape and Techno is inspired, according to Purshich himself, the stories of many young Croats who left the country: the lyrical hero of the song sells his cow in the village, says that he will be bored with a cat and goes to a big city in search of a better life. Baby Lasagna himself, a native of the Croatian Umag, lived for some time in Germany, where he wrote songs for Gothic-metal Mono Inc. (The album has become very successful in the country).

Member of Switzerland - NEMO rapper (Nemo Mettler) with the song The Code. Mettler defines themselves as a non -bureau person and ask to use the pronoun “they” in relation to themselves. The composition itself is devoted to their experience of adopting their own identity: “To find the right path, I broke the code,” one of the lines says.

In 2024, Ukraine is represented by the duet of Jerry Heil and Alyona Alyona (Yana Shemayeva and Alena Savranko) with the song “Teresa & Maria” - about the unification of women in the face of the enemy (the song is recorded in Ukrainian and English): “Mom Teresa and Virgin Mary, barefoot, as if along the blade, walked along the ground. Mother Teresa and Virgin Mary with us. All primadonns were born by ordinary women. ” The discussions about the participation of the duet began at the stage of national selection for Eurovision-on the day of the final, the DIY voting application fell due to the influx of users, and the competition was extended for a day. One of the participants in the selection said that the singers bribed the jury. They were also accused of insulting the mother of Teresa. Nevertheless, they went to the main competition and became one of the favorites of bookmakers.

If you do not take into account the forecasts of bookmakers, the singer from the Netherlands of Yost Klein looks also a confident contender for victory. His track "Europapa" has already taken first place in the charts of the Singles of the Netherlands. The performer himself describes his style as a mixture of “typical song for Eurovision” and Gabber . In general, the Russian listeners can recall the performance of the Little Big group with one difference - in the final of the Dutchman’s song there is a lyrical penetrating insert, thanks to which it becomes clear that it is dedicated to the deceased Father Klein, who taught the performer that “the world does not know borders” .

On the afternoon of May 11, it became known that Yost Klein was removed from participation in the competition due to a complaint about “inappropriate behavior”.

The most famous participant in Eurovision of this year can be called Olli Alexander, representing Great Britain. Aleksander is known, first of all, as the frontman of the Years & Years, as well as the actor-, among other things, he played a role in Gaspar Noe's film “Entrance to the Void”, in 2013 starred in the series “Molocosos”, and in 2021 played the main role in the series “This is sin”. At Eurovision, he performs with the song “Dizzy” - about how feelings can turn his head. Bookmakers consider the chances of the victory of Alexander minimal (0.3%), which is generally not surprising: over the past ten years, the UK has risen above twentieth place only three times (in 2022, Sam Ryder took second place), occupying mainly or the penultimate lines of the rating. However, the fame of Alexander can clearly help the country on the audience vote.

One of the most powerful numbers - the Georgian performer Nutza Buzaladze. The first verse of the song “Firefighter” begins with the lines: “Turn the fire, put out the fire. Did we build an empire, just to watch how they burn? ” In 2014, Buzaladze represented Georgia at the New Wave festival in Latvia, where she took first place. In 2017, she took part in the national selection for Eurovision, but took second place in it. In 2023, the singer participated in the twenty-first season of the American show American Idol.

A separate plot at the competition develops around the Israeli participant Eden Golan. Against the backdrop of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, her participation in the Eurovision Song Contest is accompanied by mass protests: on Thursday May 9, on the semifinals day, from five to six thousand people entered the rally in Malmoy. Among them was the activist Greta Tunberg, who also expressed himself against the decision to allow Israel to “Eurovision”: “We cannot be silent during the genocide,” she said. On the central square of the city, other promotions and a concert called "Song Contest without Genocide" are also planned.

At the same time, Golan’s song “ Hurricane ” was made to the competition only after changing the name and text - initially it was called “October Rain” (“October rain”) and was dedicated to the victims of the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. However, the European broadcasting union (EBU) saw this violation of the rules of "political neutrality." On Wednesday 8, during the rehearsal, Golan booed, after which the Prime Minister of Israeli Benjamin Netanyahu publicly supported her, noting her resistance before the “wave of anti-Semitism”. EBU also forbade demonstrating on the air the symbols of Palestine.

Directly Golan is connected with Russia. The singer was born in Israel, but in childhood with her parents moved to Moscow, where she lived up to 13 years. In 2015, she participated in the Russian national selection of “Children's Eurovision”, in 2016-performed on the “children's new wave” in the Crimea (including sang with a duet with Nyusha). In 2018, she entered the final of the fifth season of the show “Voice. Children ”as part of the Pelagia team.

According to the results of the audience voting in the semifinals, the Israeli performer went to the next tour. The final of the competition can be viewed in the evening of May 11.

"Jellyfish"