LAST WEEK the Cardinals picked an American to lead the Catholic Church, but there are no Americans in the annual Eurovision Song Contest — and that’s a good thing. The U.S. dominates so much of global politics and now even a major religion. The Eurovision Song Contest is fun to watch precisely because the U.S. is completely irrelevant to it.
Let’s be honest, it’s been a rough time for Americans who love the arts, science, and culture. Widespread government layoffs and proposed cuts in funding for arts programs, libraries, research, and education leave us feeling as if we are witnessing the deaths of our beloved cultural, education, and research institutions. Add this to growing economic concerns and existential angst about basic human rights and equality, we may need an uplifting distraction.
It has been especially difficult for the LGBTQ+ community, with what seems like daily attacks on gay and transgender rights. Luckily for us, though, the Grand Final of the 69th Eurovision Song Contest, also known in some circles as the “gay world cup,” is being live streamed in the U.S. this week (Saturday, May 17, on Peacock). Over 160 million people around the world will be watching it.
This contest is the longest running televised song competition in the world. Held annually since 1956, representatives of European nations (and a few select others) vie for the glass microphone trophy and the honor of their country hosting the following year’s competition. That’s it. No million dollars, no record deals. Sometimes winners will receive additional rewards from their home country, and clearly it is a really big publicity opportunity, but that’s outside of the official competition. Several famous musicians competed or won in the past: ABBA, Maneskin, Celine Dion, Julio Iglesias, Olivia Newton-John, Bonnie Tyler, Flo Rida, and Katrina and the Waves are just a few of them. Winners are selected through a combination of an official, international jury, and viewer votes.
This year, 37 performances will compete in Basel, Switzerland, the host country of last year’s winner, Nemo. Rules are quite strict: songs must be original and less than 3 minutes long; the lead vocals must be performed live; and no more than 6 performers can be onstage during any single performance. The competition doesn’t allow overt references to political events or persons (but there are always plenty of subversive ones, like Let3, Croatia, 2023), or promoting political, commercial, or other causes in any aspect of the performance. There are no guidelines for musical genre and participating countries have some variation in how their representatives are selected.
The lack of specific guidelines means that there is usually a great diversity of performances. Some, like Conchita Wurst (Austria, 2014), go for a ballad, while others, like Lordi (Finland, 2006) are heavier, louder, and wartier. There can be grandmothers (Buranovskiye Babushki, Russia, 2012); other times acts are more akin to performance art (Rudolfo Chikilicuatre, Spain, 2008); and sometimes it’s just plain weird (Dustin the Turkey, Ireland, 2008). The campiness and artistry was brilliantly captured in Will Ferrell and Rachel McAdams’ 2020 movie, EuroVision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga, that came out when the contest was canceled because of the pandemic.
Bigger than the Super Bowl
Around 180 million people watched last year’s competition — that’s 50 million more people than watched the NFL’s 2025 Super Bowl between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Kansas City Chiefs. Why should you watch it? Well, because it is fun — and because we’re not competing in it.
There has been plenty written about LGBTQ visibility in the Eurovision Song Contest or the role of politics and current events in the show. Europe takes it seriously — although most viewers see it as a fun evening spectacle to watch at home or at a watch party, and maybe play some themed bingo. For Americans, it’s also fun because we are not in it. No Americans in sight. No American exceptionalism, patriotism, competitiveness; also no attempts at ideological cleansing. We get to experience Eurovision as a joyful counterpoint to the attacks on cultural diversity and inclusion efforts here in the United States, because it is fundamentally a fun and sparkling display of creativity, linguistic diversity, and cultural pride.
Watching this competition gets us out of our echo chambers and reminds us there is a whole big, beautiful world out there that has nothing to do with us.
As an anthropologist who has followed Eurovision for decades, I use it as a teaching tool to engage students, colleagues, and friends in conversations about identity, history, and aesthetics. We can admire the diversity and beauty of talented artists — musicians, costume designers, lighting and special effects people; we can marvel at songs in languages we rarely (or never) hear; we can revel in the competition’s hallmark campy silliness, with absolutely no dog in the fight. Watching this competition gets us out of our echo chambers and reminds us there is a whole big, beautiful world out there that has nothing to do with us. And we can also learn that while this is a competition, the beauty is in the diversity of performances; not taking ourselves too seriously; learning about different peoples, languages, and places; and taking a moment to enjoy some campy fun. All the challenges in the world will still be there after the winner is announced, but maybe we’ll be a little more joyful, a little more celebratory, and, just maybe, a little more optimistic.
About the author
Sarah B. McClure is a professor of Anthropology, and a Public Voices fellow of The OpEdProject and the University of California Santa Barbara. She is also an avid Eurovision Song Contest fan and hosts annual watch parties for her students and colleagues, complete with bingo.
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