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Scotsman
13-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Scotsman
Whopping 90% of kids set to tune into Eurovision - thanks to popularity of competition legend Sam Ryder
A whopping 90 per cent of UK children will be tuning into Eurovision this year - thanks to the so-called 'Sam Ryder effect' sweeping through schools. Sign up to our Arts and Culture newsletter, get the latest news and reviews from our specialist arts writers Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Young Brits are set to embrace the upcoming Eurovision with open arms (May 13 - May 17) thanks to the widespread popularity of musician Sam Ryder - the UK's highest-scoring Eurovision entrant of all time. Since his iconic 2022 Space Man performance that catapulted the UK back to Eurovision glory, 70 per cent of children say they are now Eurovision fans. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Research commissioned ahead of this year's competition in Basel by easyJet has found Eurovision fever is well and truly alive in Gen Z and even younger, and inspiring a new generation of wanderlusters. Spain has emerged as the most popular 'adopted' Eurovision nation among British youngsters, followed by Italy and Switzerland Over 90 per cent of children plan to watch at least some of Eurovision this year and two-thirds (66 per cent) of adults say the contest is influencing younger generations to learn more about different cultures and inspiring a desire to visit new places across the continent. A further 57 per cent of mini-fans say they will support an 'adopted country' during the contest, after being inspired to learn more about its culture, language and style. With nearly half (46 per cent) of young fans saying the different costumes are their favourite part of the competition, easyJet is celebrating the upcoming competition in Basel by re-creating Eurovision's most unforgettable looks with some of its youngest superfans. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The re-imagined acts include Lordi's monster metal moment and Abba's glitzy 70s glam. However it is Sam Ryder's now-legendary sparkly space-inspired jumpsuit that almost half (47 per cent) of British children voted as the most iconic Eurovision look of all time. Ryder's legendary outfit is what's inspiring six-year-old Franklin to watch this year's competition. Franklin said: "I love Eurovision because it's so much fun! "Dressing up like my favourite Eurovision performers, like Sam Ryder, makes me feel like I'm part of the show. I can't wait to watch the Grand Final and see all the amazing performances this year!" Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Michael Brown, easyJet's director of cabin services, praised the newfound interest from the next generation into Europe's biggest singing competition. Michael said: "Kids across the country are totally tuned in to Eurovision and it's fantastic to see how it's inspiring the next generation to learn more about the vibrant and varied cultures and places across Europe. "As the largest airline in Basel, we're incredibly proud to be flying more visitors to the city throughout the contest than any other airline and, connecting fans from across the UK and Europe and celebrating what makes Eurovision such a unique and unifying event." Martin Green, Director of the Eurovision Song Contest, said: "The Eurovision Song Contest is about more than music – it's a calling and a celebration of creativity, diversity, and culture. It's thrilling to see younger people embrace this spirit, as they discover the magic of Eurovision and explore new cultures.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Top 10 iconic Eurovision looks as voted for by British children are: 1. Sam Ryder (Great Britain, 2022) (47%) 2. Abba (Sweden, 1974) (33%) 3. Subwoolfer (Norway, 2022) (31%) 4. Lordi (Finland, 2006) (29%) 5. Tix (Norway, 2021) (24%) 6. Jedward (Ireland, 2012) (21%) 7. Loreen (Sweden 2012 and 2023) (19%) 8. Jamie Lee (Germany, 2016) (15%) 9. Nemo (Switzerland, 2024) (15%) 10. Pirates of the Sea (Latvia, 2008) (14%) The Top 10 destinations in Europe kids would like to visit after being inspired by their Eurovision entries are: 1. Italy (36%) 2. Spain (27%) 3. Switzerland (26%) 4. Norway (21%) 5. Croatia (17%) 6. Denmark (16%) 7. France (16%) 8. Greece (14%) 9. Germany (13%)
The Age
13-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Age
The strangest and most underrated performances (yes, it's a turkey) in Eurovision history
The Eurovision Song Contest was launched in 1956, as a means of uniting the countries of Europe in song. Shocking the rest of the world with campy performances, truly crazy stunts and song lyrics that leave your head shaking was just a happy by-product. Each participating country – some are occasionally banished for awful performances – sends a three-minute song, to be performed live by a singer or a group of up to six people. They are then scored by professional juries and television viewers – think the Oscars meets the Logies – who assign one to eight, then 10 and finally 12 points to their 10 favourite songs. Loading There is a well-worn history of Eurovision that will take you through the high-profile highlights, from Cliff Richard (in 1968) and Julio Iglesias (1970) to Celine Dion (1988), Engelbert Humperdinck (2012) and, of course, ABBA, who won in 1974 with Waterloo and are wheeled out as living proof that someone who wore satin on the Eurovision stage can not only live to tell the tale but make a quick billion, to boot. This is the alternative history. There are some less-known performances that should have made the history books, which teach the all-important lessons that make a performance memorable and give an artist (and country, and song) a fighting chance to carve off their slice of the Eurovision meringue. Nothing is ever too strange With a stage look that stepped straight out of J.R.R. Tolkien's oft-overlooked second-best bestseller Lordi of the Rings, Lordi are the Eurovision-winning act that represented Finland at Eurovision in 2006. A mash-up of monster masks, glam rock, horror make-up and, somewhere in all that, a kind of post-KISS vibe, Hard Rock Hallelujah hit Eurovision hard. Of course, they won, and the rest is Eurovision history. If you're shopping fabric, don't go past satin French twins Sophie and Magaly Gilles – known on stage as Sophie & Magaly – dialled up the shimmer in this memorable performance, representing Luxembourg in 1980. Their song Papa Pingouin ('Daddy Penguin') is memorable, but best remembered here are the ABBA-inspired satin jumpsuits they wore on stage. Setting aside the shocking risk of static electrocution, this is the shimmery glam look that defined Eurovision in the '70s. (Shame it landed a year late.) Yodelling? That's a hard yes It is almost surprising there isn't more yodelling in Eurovision, but this 2017 performance put Romanian entrants Ilinca and Alex Florea on the stage in Ukraine performing Yodel It! Written by Alexandra Niculae and produced by Mihai Alexandru, Yodel It! was a hot mess of genres and techniques, a bit of rock, a bit of pop, rap vocals from Florea and, of course, Ilinca's yodelling. Nothing has lit a yodelling fire like this on stage since The Lonely Goatherd. When in doubt: clowns Djambo, Djambo, Switzerland's entrant for Eurovision in 1976, is a poignant reflection by an old man playing a barrel organ for coins in the street on his younger days as a clown. But, let's be honest, the poignancy stops there. Peter, Sue and Marc, a Swiss group from Bern, were wearing so much denim the screen almost warped. And Djambo, Djambo himself? He was smirking on stage the whole time. When you run out of clowns: vampires Romanian singer Cezar brought It's My Life to Eurovision in 2013, performing the song in what looked like a sparkly, sequin-studded robe borrowed from the wardrobe of Drag Dracula. Chuck in some dancers and a lot of wafting red sheets and you have … well, who knows. In musical terms, Cezar was genuinely compelling, belting out a Bohemian Rhapsody -beating falsetto set to an electronic dance beat. Shame about the Dracula shtick. Move over, Beelzebub, the Prince of the Undead is in town. Bring Your Nana to Work week is real It may have gone down in Eurovision history as one of the greatest shtick moves ever, but Buranovskiye Babushki rocked the house. An Udmurt-Russian ethno-pop band comprising eight elderly women from the village of Buranovo, Udmurtia (yes, they were legit), their song Party for Everybody was a showstopper. Alas, it came second, beaten only by perennial Eurovision winner Sweden. When you run out of vampires: turkeys The fact this was basically a novelty pop song – the Irish equivalent of sending Shaddap You Face to Eurovision – Irelande Douze Points, as the name suggests, was nodding to the fact that the objective of any song in Eurovision is to secure 12 (douze, in French) points. The inspiration? The preceding year's Irish entrant, They Can't Stop the Spring, performed by Dervish, had been ranked 24th out of 24 competing countries. Jim and Keith. Hashtag no judgment Leave it to Norway… In 2022 they sent a British-Norwegian pop trio named Subwoolfer to compete: Keith and Jim the wolves – wearing stylised yellow wolf-head masks, no less – and DJ Astronaut (Carl-Henrik Wahl), wearing a gold space suit. The wolves were later revealed to be British singer Ben Adams and Norwegian singer Gaute Ormasen. Their song? Give That Wolf a Banana. The Eurovision Song Contest will be held May 13-17 and screened live on SBS and SBS On Demand.
Sydney Morning Herald
11-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Sydney Morning Herald
The strangest and most underrated performances (yes, it's a turkey) in Eurovision history
The Eurovision Song Contest was launched in 1956, as a means of uniting the countries of Europe in song. Shocking the rest of the world with campy performances, truly crazy stunts and song lyrics that leave your head shaking was just a happy by-product. Each participating country – some are occasionally banished for awful performances – sends a three-minute song, to be performed live by a singer or a group of up to six people. They are then scored by professional juries and television viewers – think the Oscars meets the Logies – who assign one to eight, then 10 and finally 12 points to their 10 favourite songs. Loading There is a well-worn history of Eurovision that will take you through the high-profile highlights, from Cliff Richard (in 1968) and Julio Iglesias (1970) to Celine Dion (1988), Engelbert Humperdinck (2012) and, of course, ABBA, who won in 1974 with Waterloo and are wheeled out as living proof that someone who wore satin on the Eurovision stage can not only live to tell the tale but make a quick billion, to boot. This is the alternative history. There are some less-known performances that should have made the history books, which teach the all-important lessons that make a performance memorable and give an artist (and country, and song) a fighting chance to carve off their slice of the Eurovision meringue. Nothing is ever too strange With a stage look that stepped straight out of J.R.R. Tolkien's oft-overlooked second-best bestseller Lordi of the Rings, Lordi are the Eurovision-winning act that represented Finland at Eurovision in 2006. A mash-up of monster masks, glam rock, horror make-up and, somewhere in all that, a kind of post-KISS vibe, Hard Rock Hallelujah hit Eurovision hard. Of course, they won, and the rest is Eurovision history. If you're shopping fabric, don't go past satin French twins Sophie and Magaly Gilles – known on stage as Sophie & Magaly – dialled up the shimmer in this memorable performance, representing Luxembourg in 1980. Their song Papa Pingouin ('Daddy Penguin') is memorable, but best remembered here are the ABBA-inspired satin jumpsuits they wore on stage. Setting aside the shocking risk of static electrocution, this is the shimmery glam look that defined Eurovision in the '70s. (Shame it landed a year late.) Yodelling? That's a hard yes It is almost surprising there isn't more yodelling in Eurovision, but this 2017 performance put Romanian entrants Ilinca and Alex Florea on the stage in Ukraine performing Yodel It! Written by Alexandra Niculae and produced by Mihai Alexandru, Yodel It! was a hot mess of genres and techniques, a bit of rock, a bit of pop, rap vocals from Florea and, of course, Ilinca's yodelling. Nothing has lit a yodelling fire like this on stage since The Lonely Goatherd. When in doubt: clowns Djambo, Djambo, Switzerland's entrant for Eurovision in 1976, is a poignant reflection by an old man playing a barrel organ for coins in the street on his younger days as a clown. But, let's be honest, the poignancy stops there. Peter, Sue and Marc, a Swiss group from Bern, were wearing so much denim the screen almost warped. And Djambo, Djambo himself? He was smirking on stage the whole time. When you run out of clowns: vampires Romanian singer Cezar brought It's My Life to Eurovision in 2013, performing the song in what looked like a sparkly, sequin-studded robe borrowed from the wardrobe of Drag Dracula. Chuck in some dancers and a lot of wafting red sheets and you have … well, who knows. In musical terms, Cezar was genuinely compelling, belting out a Bohemian Rhapsody -beating falsetto set to an electronic dance beat. Shame about the Dracula shtick. Move over, Beelzebub, the Prince of the Undead is in town. Bring Your Nana to Work week is real It may have gone down in Eurovision history as one of the greatest shtick moves ever, but Buranovskiye Babushki rocked the house. An Udmurt-Russian ethno-pop band comprising eight elderly women from the village of Buranovo, Udmurtia (yes, they were legit), their song Party for Everybody was a showstopper. Alas, it came second, beaten only by perennial Eurovision winner Sweden. When you run out of vampires: turkeys The fact this was basically a novelty pop song – the Irish equivalent of sending Shaddap You Face to Eurovision – Irelande Douze Points, as the name suggests, was nodding to the fact that the objective of any song in Eurovision is to secure 12 (douze, in French) points. The inspiration? The preceding year's Irish entrant, They Can't Stop the Spring, performed by Dervish, had been ranked 24th out of 24 competing countries. Jim and Keith. Hashtag no judgment Leave it to Norway… In 2022 they sent a British-Norwegian pop trio named Subwoolfer to compete: Keith and Jim the wolves – wearing stylised yellow wolf-head masks, no less – and DJ Astronaut (Carl-Henrik Wahl), wearing a gold space suit. The wolves were later revealed to be British singer Ben Adams and Norwegian singer Gaute Ormasen. Their song? Give That Wolf a Banana. The Eurovision Song Contest will be held May 13-17 and screened live on SBS and SBS On Demand.
Sydney Morning Herald
07-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Sydney Morning Herald
The strangest and most underrated performances in Eurovision history
The Eurovision Song Contest was launched in 1956, as a means of uniting the countries of Europe in song. Shocking the rest of the world with campy performances, truly crazy stunts and song lyrics that leave your head shaking was just a happy by-product. Each participating country – some are occasionally banished for awful performances – sends a three-minute song, to be performed live by a singer or a group of up to six people. They are then scored by professional juries and television viewers – think the Oscars meets the Logies – who assign one to eight, then 10 and finally 12 points to their 10 favourite songs. Loading There is a well-worn history of Eurovision that will take you through the high-profile highlights, from Cliff Richard (in 1968) and Julio Iglesias (1970) to Celine Dion (1988), Engelbert Humperdinck (2012) and, of course, ABBA, who won in 1974 with Waterloo and are wheeled out as living proof that someone who wore satin on the Eurovision stage can not only live to tell the tale but make a quick billion, to boot. This is the alternative history. There are some less-known performances that should have made the history books, which teach the all-important lessons that make a performance memorable and give an artist (and country, and song) a fighting chance to carve off their slice of the Eurovision meringue. Nothing is ever too strange With a stage look that stepped straight out of J.R.R. Tolkien's oft-overlooked second-best bestseller Lordi of the Rings, Lordi are the Eurovision-winning act that represented Finland at Eurovision in 2006. A mash-up of monster masks, glam rock, horror make-up and, somewhere in all that, a kind of post-KISS vibe, Hard Rock Hallelujah hit Eurovision hard. Of course, they won, and the rest is Eurovision history. If you're shopping fabric, don't go past satin French twins Sophie and Magaly Gilles – known on stage as Sophie & Magaly – dialled up the shimmer in this memorable performance, representing Luxembourg in 1980. Their song Papa Pingouin ('Daddy Penguin') is memorable, but best remembered here are the ABBA-inspired satin jumpsuits they wore on stage. Setting aside the shocking risk of static electrocution, this is the shimmery glam look that defined Eurovision in the '70s. (Shame it landed a year late.) Yodelling? That's a hard yes It is almost surprising there isn't more yodelling in Eurovision, but this 2017 performance put Romanian entrants Ilinca and Alex Florea on the stage in Ukraine performing Yodel It! Written by Alexandra Niculae and produced by Mihai Alexandru, Yodel It! was a hot mess of genres and techniques, a bit of rock, a bit of pop, rap vocals from Florea and, of course, Ilinca's yodelling. Nothing has lit a yodelling fire like this on stage since The Lonely Goatherd. When in doubt: clowns Djambo, Djambo, Switzerland's entrant for Eurovision in 1976, is a poignant reflection by an old man playing a barrel organ for coins in the street on his younger days as a clown. But, let's be honest, the poignancy stops there. Peter, Sue and Marc, a Swiss group from Bern, were wearing so much denim the screen almost warped. And Djambo, Djambo himself? He was smirking on stage the whole time. When you run out of clowns: vampires Romanian singer Cezar brought It's My Life to Eurovision in 2013, performing the song in what looked like a sparkly, sequin-studded robe borrowed from the wardrobe of Drag Dracula. Chuck in some dancers and a lot of wafting red sheets and you have … well, who knows. In musical terms Cezar was genuinely compelling, belting out a Bohemian Rhapsody -beating falsetto set to an electronic dance beat. Shame about the Dracula shtick. Move over, Beelzebub, the Prince of the Undead is in town. Bring Your Nana to Work week is real It may have gone down in Eurovision history as one of the greatest shtick moves ever, but Buranovskiye Babushki rocked the house. An Udmurt-Russian ethno-pop band comprising eight elderly women from the village of Buranovo, Udmurtia (yes, they were legit), their song Party for Everybody was a showstopper. Alas, it came second, beaten only by perennial Eurovision winner Sweden. When you run out of vampires: turkeys The fact this was basically novelty pop song – the Irish equivalent of sending Shaddap You Face to Eurovision – Irelande Douze Points, as the name suggests, was nodding to the fact that the objective of any song in Eurovision is to secure 12 (douze, in French) points. The inspiration? The preceding year's Irish entrant, They Can't Stop the Spring, performed by Dervish, had been ranked 24th out of 24 competing countries. Jim and Keith. Hashtag no judgment
The Age
07-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Age
The strangest and most underrated performances in Eurovision history
The Eurovision Song Contest was launched in 1956, as a means of uniting the countries of Europe in song. Shocking the rest of the world with campy performances, truly crazy stunts and song lyrics that leave your head shaking was just a happy by-product. Each participating country – some are occasionally banished for awful performances – sends a three-minute song, to be performed live by a singer or a group of up to six people. They are then scored by professional juries and television viewers – think the Oscars meets the Logies – who assign one to eight, then 10 and finally 12 points to their 10 favourite songs. Loading There is a well-worn history of Eurovision that will take you through the high-profile highlights, from Cliff Richard (in 1968) and Julio Iglesias (1970) to Celine Dion (1988), Engelbert Humperdinck (2012) and, of course, ABBA, who won in 1974 with Waterloo and are wheeled out as living proof that someone who wore satin on the Eurovision stage can not only live to tell the tale but make a quick billion, to boot. This is the alternative history. There are some less-known performances that should have made the history books, which teach the all-important lessons that make a performance memorable and give an artist (and country, and song) a fighting chance to carve off their slice of the Eurovision meringue. Nothing is ever too strange With a stage look that stepped straight out of J.R.R. Tolkien's oft-overlooked second-best bestseller Lordi of the Rings, Lordi are the Eurovision-winning act that represented Finland at Eurovision in 2006. A mash-up of monster masks, glam rock, horror make-up and, somewhere in all that, a kind of post-KISS vibe, Hard Rock Hallelujah hit Eurovision hard. Of course, they won, and the rest is Eurovision history. If you're shopping fabric, don't go past satin French twins Sophie and Magaly Gilles – known on stage as Sophie & Magaly – dialled up the shimmer in this memorable performance, representing Luxembourg in 1980. Their song Papa Pingouin ('Daddy Penguin') is memorable, but best remembered here are the ABBA-inspired satin jumpsuits they wore on stage. Setting aside the shocking risk of static electrocution, this is the shimmery glam look that defined Eurovision in the '70s. (Shame it landed a year late.) Yodelling? That's a hard yes It is almost surprising there isn't more yodelling in Eurovision, but this 2017 performance put Romanian entrants Ilinca and Alex Florea on the stage in Ukraine performing Yodel It! Written by Alexandra Niculae and produced by Mihai Alexandru, Yodel It! was a hot mess of genres and techniques, a bit of rock, a bit of pop, rap vocals from Florea and, of course, Ilinca's yodelling. Nothing has lit a yodelling fire like this on stage since The Lonely Goatherd. When in doubt: clowns Djambo, Djambo, Switzerland's entrant for Eurovision in 1976, is a poignant reflection by an old man playing a barrel organ for coins in the street on his younger days as a clown. But, let's be honest, the poignancy stops there. Peter, Sue and Marc, a Swiss group from Bern, were wearing so much denim the screen almost warped. And Djambo, Djambo himself? He was smirking on stage the whole time. When you run out of clowns: vampires Romanian singer Cezar brought It's My Life to Eurovision in 2013, performing the song in what looked like a sparkly, sequin-studded robe borrowed from the wardrobe of Drag Dracula. Chuck in some dancers and a lot of wafting red sheets and you have … well, who knows. In musical terms Cezar was genuinely compelling, belting out a Bohemian Rhapsody -beating falsetto set to an electronic dance beat. Shame about the Dracula shtick. Move over, Beelzebub, the Prince of the Undead is in town. Bring Your Nana to Work week is real It may have gone down in Eurovision history as one of the greatest shtick moves ever, but Buranovskiye Babushki rocked the house. An Udmurt-Russian ethno-pop band comprising eight elderly women from the village of Buranovo, Udmurtia (yes, they were legit), their song Party for Everybody was a showstopper. Alas, it came second, beaten only by perennial Eurovision winner Sweden. When you run out of vampires: turkeys The fact this was basically novelty pop song – the Irish equivalent of sending Shaddap You Face to Eurovision – Irelande Douze Points, as the name suggests, was nodding to the fact that the objective of any song in Eurovision is to secure 12 (douze, in French) points. The inspiration? The preceding year's Irish entrant, They Can't Stop the Spring, performed by Dervish, had been ranked 24th out of 24 competing countries. Jim and Keith. Hashtag no judgment
