If the Eurovision Song Contest was more like the Champions League, some countries and broadcasters would have six entries, and some would go through twenty qualifying rounds to reach the Semi Final with a single song. Would the Song Contest be better with six Italian songs on Saturday night? Four more Melfest entries? A chance to pick a second song from Festival da Canção?
In our Contest, as it stands, everyone has one seat at the table.
This is great because it means we don’t risk a homogenised sound from a single broadcaster, and we can hear from countries you would never otherwise hear from. But with a single representative coupled with some, shall we say, interesting National Final choices, some great acts and songs are left behind.
Is there a way to get one of those National Final songs into the Song Contest as a wild card? Is there a voting constituency which is unrepresented? And how would it be selected?
Around the world
The recent phenomenon of Eurovision’s Rest of the World vote, introduced in 2023, was presumably designed to give viewers in non-competing countries a stake in the Contest. Yet they have no representation of their own. There is no song from the Rest of the World.
Trying to arrange one song to cover this broad constituency could be chaotic. If we’re honest, the extensions for Brand Eurovision have had mixed results over the years. The slipstream of Will Ferrell’s Eurovision movie wasn’t enough to push the American Song Contest over the edge, whereas other efforts like Eurovision Canada remain in development hell.
However, if, say, an act that finished second in a National Final (or sixth at Sanremo, given the quality) really wanted to have a go, could we give them a shot as a wild card under the Rest of the World banner? It’s a better option than picking up the phone to San Marino, as appears to be the fallback option as things stand.
Could a performer from a smaller country who may have lost out in an under-resourced National Final even benefit from such a scenario?
Snap Back To Reality
There are some practical problems with such a suggestion… Who exactly would be in charge of this? The EBU couldn’t take it on, and the host broadcaster would be quite busy enough. Then there’s the question of finding a song with which the rest of the world would be happy at a time when the phrase ‘United by Music’ is somewhat stretched.
The EBU has been in this space before. As part of the Eurovision Again initiative, the EBU organised a Second Chance Semi Final. All of the eligible songs were whittled down to 26 songs with the help of a jury, before the watching public voted to decide a winner…. Which was Iceland’s Greta Salóme.
It’s an idea with so many logistical issues and complications that you may well dismiss (probably correctly) as mad. But one thought sticks in my mind; why is it that the Rest of the World gets a vote? It’s presumably to engage an audience which is really into the Eurovision Song Contest but can’t take part. Is there an argument that they should have the full experience and not only vote but also have their own song?
After all, there was a time when Australia loved Eurovision but had no skin in the game. Now, it’s hard to imagine the Contest without “Good evening Europe and good morning Australia”?
Think About Things
There would be no shortage of amazing songs to choose from, and no shortage of engagement from the Eurovision community for such a Contest within the Contest. But given recent times, the EBU has quite a lot to deal with as things stand, and someone would need to be in charge of a Rest of the World delegation to get the nuts and bolts sorted.
For now, the best hope for Eurovision fans in supporting those who lost out is supporting those acts by buying their music, merchandise and so forth. And if you want a competition, there are always our friends over at Second Cherry.
Eurovision has always been about experimentation from the start. The Rest Of The World getting a vote is one such experiment. While we can debate how such a song should be chosen, there’s a strong case that we should build on that sooner rather than later.