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On Saturday, acts representing 25 countries will compete at the Eurovision Song Contest, the high-camp competition that is also world\u2019s most watched cultural event. The winner is chosen by a combination of votes from music industry juries in participating countries and viewers watching at home. Sometimes, they reflect the strength of individual performances; other times, politics comes into play.<\/p>\n
Who is most likely to triumph at this year\u2019s event in Malmo, Sweden?<\/p>\n
It won\u2019t be Joost Klein, a madcap musician representing the Netherlands. On Saturday morning, Swedish police said in a statement that they were investigating a man \u201csuspected of unlawful threats\u201d toward a Eurovision employee, and that officers had passed on a file to prosecutors. A few hours later, Eurovision organizers said in a statement that it was Klein under investigation, and that \u201cit would not be appropriate\u201d for him to compete while a legal process was underway.<\/p>\n
Here are the five acts who may have the best chance at winning, based on European bookmakers\u2019 odds and online chatter.<\/p>\n
The bookmakers\u2019 favorite is Baby Lasagna, representing Croatia, with \u201cRim Tim Tagi Dim\u201d \u2014 a madcap three-minute mixture of heavy metal and dance music.<\/p>\n
The song begins with Baby Lasagna \u2014 real name Marko Purisic \u2014 singing to his mother that he\u2019s a \u201cbig boy now\u201d and wants to leave his family\u2019s village for the city. \u201cI\u2019m going away and I sold my cow,\u201d he sings, before calling for the villagers to join him one last time in a local folk dance.<\/p>\n
In a recent interview, Purisic said that although the song may seem a little ridiculous, it was also a serious attempt to draw attention to Croatia\u2019s ongoing problem with youth emigration.<\/p>\n
Purisic said that winning the song contest wasn\u2019t his aim. After a long career as a rock songwriter for hire, he said, last year he considered changing tack, and applied for a stable job in Croatia\u2019s tourism industry. But with the success of \u201cRim Tim Tagi Dim\u201d \u2014 which has had millions of views on YouTube \u2014 he now hoped to build a career as Baby Lasagna, he said. \u201cIf I do that,\u201d he added, \u201cthen I win.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
By Saturday morning in Malmo, Israel\u2019s representative, Eden Golan, had risen in European bookmakers\u2019 rankings to be second mostly likely to win, according to Oddschecker<\/a>, a betting aggregator.<\/p>\n This comes after months of campaigning from pro-Palestinian groups and some Eurovision fans to get the contest\u2019s organizers, the European Broadcasting Union, to ban Golan from taking part because of Israel\u2019s war in Gaza.<\/p>\n These tensions were clear at Golan\u2019s semifinal performance on Thursday, when some audience members booed, while others tried to drown them out with cheers.<\/p>\n Golan\u2019s song was initially called \u201cOctober Rain,\u201d<\/a> an apparent reference to last year\u2019s Hamas attacks in southern Israel. The European Broadcasting Union, which runs Eurovision, objected that the title and some of the song\u2019s lyrics were overly political, and asked Israel to change them. Golan tweaked the song, which is now called \u201cHurricane<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Representing Israel on the world stage \u201chas such huge significance and meaning, because of what we\u2019re going through,\u201d Golan said in a recent interview. \u201cI won\u2019t let anything break me, or move me off track.\u201d<\/p>\n Read <\/em>The Times\u2019s profile of Golan<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n In recent weeks, the dark spectacle of Bambie Thug\u2019s track \u201cDoomsday Blue\u201d has won the Irish entrant fans on social media \u2014 as has the singer\u2019s outspoken pro-Palestinian stance and criticism of Israel\u2019s involvement in Eurovision.<\/p>\n Eurovision organizers ban artists from making political comments on its stages, saying the competition is meant to unite, not divide. But the Irish entry \u2014 real name Bambie Ray Robinson \u2014 has tested those rules. At a Tuesday news conference, Bambie Thug, who is nonbinary and uses they\/them pronouns, said that Eurovision had demanded they remove pro-Palestinian slogans from their outfit. On Thursday, Bambie Thug wrote on Instagram<\/a> that \u201cmy heart and prayers are with the people of Palestine.\u201d<\/p>\n At one point during Bambie Thug\u2019s semifinal performance on Tuesday, the singer stood in the middle of a pentagram, encircled by burning candles. Then they danced seductively with a man dressed like a demon. As the track ended, the phrase \u201cCrown the Witch\u201d appeared on huge screens at the back of the stage.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Switzerland\u2019s entrant, Nemo, has an absurdly catchy track called \u201cThe Code,\u201d in which they sing rap and sing operatically about their journey to realizing they were nonbinary.<\/p>\n \u201cI went to hell and back \/ To get myself on track,\u201d Nemo sings in the chorus: \u201cNow, I found paradise \/ I broke the code.\u201d<\/p>\n Throughout its 68 year history, Eurovision has often featured L.G.B.T.Q. performers, with past winners including Dana International, a transgender woman, and Conchita Wurst, a drag act<\/a>. Yet this year is the first time Eurovision has prominently featured nonbinary acts like Nemo and Bambie Thug.<\/p>\n In a recent video interview, Nemo, 24, said they were \u201camazed\u201d that Eurovision fans were connecting with their \u201cdeeply personal\u201d track. \u201cI think the message behind the song is quite universal,\u201d Nemo said: \u201cWe all know that feeling of wanting to break free from something \u2014 everyone has a code to break.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n In 2022, months after Russia\u2019s invasion, Ukraine won Eurovision with Kalush Orchestra\u2019s track \u201cStefania.\u201d This year, Alyona Alyona<\/a> and Jerry Heil, a rapper and singer representing the country, are among the favorites to win.<\/p>\n
\nIreland<\/h2>\n
Bambie Thug<\/span><\/h3>\n
\nSwitzerland<\/h2>\n
Nemo<\/span><\/h3>\n
\nUkraine<\/h2>\n
Alyona Alyona and Jerry Heil<\/span><\/h3>\n