The leitmotif of the Eurovision slogans has always been a nice, albeit superficial, touch to each year’s Song Contest. In a year where one broadcaster had to host on behalf of another, 2023’s “United By Music” one felt particularly strong. So good, in fact, that in November 2023 the EBU decided to adopt the slogan permanently.
Beginning in 2024, the Eurovision Song Contest would always be “United by Music”.
2024 had other ideas.
A Confluence Of Sound
To put it lightly, there wasn’t a lot of unity around Malmö 2024. Numerous unacceptable behaviours have been documented behind the scenes. The disqualification of Joost Klein—a first in the Eurovision Song Contest’s history—was undoubtedly influenced by a backstage culture that fostered anything but unity. To put it in modern parlance, the vibes were in shambles.
It is impossible for the Song Contest to unite much of anything when the news cycle is dominated by things other than the song that won the Contest. Nemo’s historic win was, at best, the third-most prevailing topic of discussion after the presence and behaviour of the Israeli delegation and Kelin’s removal. What should have been a triumph for the Contest and its first openly non-binary victor instead feels like a black eye on the institution as a whole.
It’s not as if there weren’t things to unite around. Nemo’s operatic bombast. Bambie Thug’s utterly arresting stagecraft. Ladaniva transcending language for a three-minute party where everyone is welcome. These were wonderful moments. They also aren’t going to be Malmö’s legacy.
Come Together
In its initial use, “United By Music” was a reminder of how the Eurovision Song Contest can bring people together. Today, it’s a bitter reminder to me of the ways that it can’t.
The unfortunate reality is that the idea of being united by music is almost hopelessly naive. It feels especially audacious after the events leading up to and during Malmö’s hosting of the Song Contest, it would be nice to set sociopolitical matters aside and let the songs alone determine a winner, but this simply isn’t how it works. Despite the EBU’s insistence to the contrary, the Song Contest is a political event. An event that pits countries against each other is going to be political. But that doesn’t mean it can’t be unifying.
If this slogan is going to stick around, the question must be asked: what, specifically, does it mean to be united by music?
Building Bridges
The EBU seems to believe that convening the broadcasters is, in a literal sense, enough to accomplish that goal. However, there is a massive difference between countries being collected in the same space and being truly together. A stage this massive ought to do everything it can to foster a greater level of togetherness. If Eurovision is to reflect who we are, it should evolve in a way that lets it reflect the best of who we are.
What does that approach look like? The answer might lie in some of the things we saw in 2023.
In Liverpool, the United Kingdom and Ukraine shared their cultures in a number of ways, both musically and otherwise – the phenomenal performance of ‘Ordinary World’ by Alyosha and Rebecca Ferguson is a great example of the former, while the adorable Ukrainian-inspired birds strewn about Liverpool were a lovely instance of the latter.
Of course, Eurovision as a whole is far more than just a pair of countries; more connections between more delegations and more countries have been made before, and the Contest has been better off for it.
The most extensive collaboration between active Eurovision artists may have been, somewhat paradoxically, the year when the world was forced to stay apart. As a big finish for the cancelled 2020 Contest’s replacement show Europe Shine A Light, 40 competitors contributed to a moving rendition of ‘Love Shine a Light’ alongside Katrina Leskanich. While the nature of this collaboration was necessitated by the times, it was a unifying moment. Perhaps there’s something to be made of that.
Unity isn’t always easy. We can never forget that it is an essential part of the Song Contest. It deserves more than the acknowledgement of a phrase, this year more than ever.