Swiss artist Nemo has won the 2024 Eurovision Song Content, while UK entrant Olly Alexander finished in 18th place.
Held in the Swedish city of Malmo, Nemo emerged victorious at this year’s extravaganza with their song The Code amassing an impressive score of 591 points on the night. They became the first non-binary artist to ever win the competition.
Nemo said in his victory speech: " I hope this contest can live up to its promise and continue to stand for peace and dignity for every person in this world."
Croatia finished in second place, with Baby Lasagne’s song Rim Tim Tagi Dim proving popular with both the public and judges.
The UK’s entry, Years and Years star Olly Alexander and his song Dizzy, finished in 18th place out of 25, having received zero points from the public but 46 from the judges vote.
This year’s Eurovision wasn’t without controversy. In the run up to the event, there were calls from certain quarters for the event to be boycotted due to the inclusion of Israel in the contest. Protests over the country’s inclusion took place in the days leading up the event on account of the ongoing conflict in Gaza. A large demonstration cited the expulsion of Russia two years ago as cause for Israel to be excluded.
Israel, however, did participate with artist Eden Golan securing a fifth place finish with Hurricane.
Elsewhere, the entry from The Netherlands was disqualified on the day of the event. Singer Joost Klein was accused of threatening a member of the crew backstage earlier in the week and was subsequently removed from the show on account of the organiser’s “zero-tolerance policy towards inappropriate behaviour”.
Last year, Headliner spoke to Eurovision Loreen about her career so far and the pivotal role Eurovision has played in introducing her to new audiences. You can read the interview in full here.
Photo: BBC Pictures