Eurovision 2024: What We Know So Far (as of July 2023)

Eurovision season never ends, so on and so on. Let's get into it.

Eurovision 2024

Host Country: Sweden

And oh boy do they make that clear. In past years, SVT has been extremely proactive in getting the ball rolling, and this year is no exception. One way in which we see that is in the host city selection, speaking of which...

Host City: Malmö (Malmö Arena)

The council in Gothenburg claimed that they have found a solution to the weak roof problem. Örnsköldsvik, who hosted the second chance round of Melodifestivalen 2023, also applied. Stockholm had apparently been preparing since March, and the Stockholm City Council prefers Friends Arena over Tele2. The deadline for submitting bids was 12/6.

On 15/6, Aftonbladet reported on a "secret" 123-long list of host city demands from SVT. Some such demands include:

• Up to 3500 hotel rooms available during the week of the final

• Fixed hotel prices for the two-week period leading up to the contest, with prices reported and guaranteed throughout the period

• An arena available for seven or eight consecutive weeks, incl. the week after the final for stage dismantling; to be available in mid-March for a visit by the heads of delegation

• Press centre with room for 1200 journalists (cf. 500 since 2021)

• Workspaces for accredited journalists

• Spacious room for televised press conferences

• 600+ volunteers

• A space in the city for 1500-2000 people and a 200-300-metre turquoise carpet, to be held the Sunday before the week of the show (i.e. 5/5 or 12/5)

• A venue for the official Euroclub with a stage, open every day between 23:00 and 3:00

• A venue for Eurovillage with daily live performances

• Organization and execution of a possible post-final party

• Pay for all costs surrounding the event excluding the production of Eurovision itself, which is covered by SVT. The city can sign agreements with the required subcontractors, e.g. arena, hotels, transport companies

This is complicated by the fact that Taylor Swift announced her international tour dates up to August of 2024, and she will have a show at the Friends Arena in Stockholm on 17/5, just one day before one of SVT's planned Grand Final dates. Although it is possible that she will have to delay that show or just somehow cancel it, as was done with Magic Mike and the M&S Bank Arena. Regardless, this then put Stockholm's bid at some risk, especially as they preferred hosting in Friends Arena over Tele2 Arena. Taylor Swift has since posted even more dates in the Friends Arena on the same week of 17/5.

On 20/6 however, Dagens Nyheter reported that Stockholm's bid involves building a whole new temporary arena in Frihamen, close to SVT headquarters and would have a capacity of between 11180 and 14700. The proposal is supported by the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce and the tourism company Visit Sweden. The Eurovillage would be in Kungsträdgården, same as 2016.

Some fans also noted that for Eurovision 2013 and 2016, SVT announced both host cities on the 8th of July (8/7/2012, 8/7/2015). Even for the 2000 contest, the host city was announced on 5/7/1999. Goteborgs-Posten reports that the team for Gothenburg has sent the final supplementary information on 30/6, while political forces in Stockholm are against the temporary arena. The Malmö proposal is highlighted as being relatively cheap, while Örnsköldsvik would use a cruise ship(!!) to solve the accommodation issue.

On the 7th, SVT announced that Malmö will be the host of Eurovision 2024. Shortly after the announcement, Tobbe Ek from Aftonbladet reported that Malmö was the only real option, as Gothenburg's arena was too old, Örnsköldsvik has too few hotel rooms and flights to it, and Stockholm's Globen was under renovation while football teams were not willing to leave the Tele2 and Friends Arenas. Malmö stood out (as previously mentioned) as the cheap option and the reliable one.

Hosts: unknown

Obviously the pair of Måns and Petra Mede immediately come to mind, but there are a few obstacles there: first off, Måns lives in London now, not Sweden; and second, Petra Mede works for TV4 now, which is a rival channel to SVT. It's not impossible to hire someone from a rival channel just for Eurovision, but it would be a weird look. Plus (IIRC) Tobbe Ek from Aftonbladet said on the Euro Trip podcast that Petra Mede has back problems, to the point where she would not be able to host a 2-hour-long show in one go.

Other names that have been posited include Sanna Nielsen (Sweden 2014 "Undo"), as well as Farah Abadi (Melodifestivalen 2022-23 co-host, 2023 Swedish jury spokesperson). Some people however pointed out that if media figures publicly offer to host the show, it likely means that they were never approached for the role by SVT and thus will not be selected. So far, Sanna Nielsen has written about it on Instagram, so maybe we won't see her as one of the hosts next year. But not much is known publicly in that department.

Other rumoured names include Sarah Dawn Finer and Oscar Zia.

Show Dates: 7th May, 9th May, 11th May

This was announced alongside the host city. It feels insane (as a Eurofan who joined in 2021) to already know the show date discussions in JULY, but I guess that's SVT for ya. They CARE about Eurovision.

Rule Changes: jury reform? Show shortened by an hour?

On 14/6, TV2 in Norway reported that the EBU are discussing the jury system, and that in fact NRK has been communicating with them regarding the system. The NRK official added that the assessment by the Eurovision Reference Group will be completed and decided upon in January. Specifically, according to Norwegian head of delegation Stig Karlsen during a guest appearance on a podcast, NRK are planning to propose a 70/30 televote/jury split to the EBU during a meeting in September. Karlsen also believes that autotune may find a place in Eurovision in the coming years, similar to the newly introduced autotune in MGP.

On 16/6, Aftonbladet reported that SVT are planning to shorten Eurovision airtime by a full hour. In the same document detailing the 123 points to fulfill for a host city, it was revealed that SVT have plans to broadcast semi-finals between 21:00 and 23:00, and the final between 21:00 and 0:15. This contrasts greatly with previous years, where the final in Liverpool went about 15 minutes overtime, and went from 21:00 to 1:15. It is not known what SVT plan to cut in order to achieve this, be it the jury voting sequence, flag parade or interval acts.

Eurovision Reference Group: member changes

Astrid Dutrenit (NPO), Sietse Bakker (NPO), Yuval Cohen (KAN), and David Tserunyan (AMPTV) have left the group, while Ebba Adielsson (SVT) and Ana Maria Bordas (RTVE) have joined. Bakel Walden (SRG SSR) is the new chairperson. This was criticized by some Eurovision fans, with the most easterly countries now represented in the group being Italy and Sweden, whereas they had members from Armenia and Israel previously. Coming back to Ebba Adielsson, she is also the Executive Producer for ESC2024, which is a good time to talk about...

Directors: Ebba Adielsson (Executive Producer), Christel Thoise Willers (Executive Producer for communication, press, brand and event), Tobias Åberg (Executive in Charge of Production), Johan Bernhagen (Executive Line Producer)

With the exception of Adielsson who had previously been the head of SVT Entertainment, all of the above names have already had previous hosting involvement in ESC2013, while Åberg and Bernhagen were also involved in hosting ESC2016. Åberg also worked with the BBC in Liverpool as a technical expert. "Executive Line Producer" refers to finances and overall technical production. Remaining positions to be filled shortly. It is speculated that Edward af Sillén (main Swedish commentator since 2009) may be brought back to write the scripts for the show, just like he had done with 2010 (when SVT wasn't even hosting), 2013, 2016, and he was also responsible for the iconic interval act "Love Love Peace Peace".

Budget: unknown

But most likely to be very low, perhaps in the range of 12-15 million euros. 2013 and 2016 are famously some of the cheapest Eurovisions since the 2010s, despite many praising the production of the latter in particular. Furthermore, Swedes have said that currently SVT do not have much funding, and that under right-wing governments (which Sweden are right now) productions were cheap.

Some even speculate that we may have another LED-less Eurovision, akin to 2018, and that this will be done in the name of "sustainability". Indeed, this may even tie into the actual theme and slogan of the contest itself.

Interval Acts: ABBA songbook?, Zara Larsson?

Despite confirming that they will not perform on the Eurovision 2024 stage ("you don't have to be there to celebrate ABBA"), Bjorn and Benny have said that they may consider appearing at the show in person for the 50th anniversary of ABBA winning Eurovision.

World-famous pop star Zara Larsson has said in an interview that she would "love to be part of the interval act next year". However, she also said that she doesn't know whether she would be "up to compete in the competition", despite watching the contest every year and being very proud to be a Swede in this regard. Larsson also says she is interested in working with Loreen. On 1/7, Larsson confirmed during Nyhetsmorgon that she is currently in talks to perform at Eurovision 2024.

Pre-parties:

• Barcelona Eurovision Party (4th - 6th April 2024, Sant Jordi Club, Barcelona, Spain)

Some of the tickets are already on sale at the official website bcneurovision.com, and go for 35 euros and up.

Non-participating Countries (so far): Andorra, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovakia, Russia

Pretty much what you'd expect. Although unlike previous years where RTVS would say that there is no interest in Slovakia (which is not true because they were one of the most active ROTW voting countries as reported by eurovision.tv), they clarified this year that they are simply not able to afford the costs of participation.

Although it is not surprising to see Andorra yet again absent from the contest, it was reported on RAC1 that according to Susanne Georgi (Andorra 2009), the Andorran government in fact does have an intention to return to Eurovision, although it would also require the cooperation of the national broadcaster. A more precise date range is not yet known, but Georgi rules out 2024 due to the Games of the Small States of Europe (which, bizarrely, are being hosted by Andorra in 2025). In addition, Georgi also says that she has procured the necessary funds to return to the contest.

It is not known what will happen with Australia, as their contract to take part without invitation ended with 2023. On the topic of associate members of the EBU, it is also not very likely we will see Kazakhstan in Sweden, as they are not even doing Junior Eurovision later this year.

After a series of dramas where 2023 Romanian representative Theodor Andrei said that he was repeatedly ignored by TVR during the process of Eurovision amidst allegations of TVR money laundering, many Romanians are now calling for Romania to withdraw from the contest. It is not known whether this will happen, but an online poll was conducted last year regarding participation.

Debuts/returns: Luxembourg, North Macedonia?, Monaco?

On 12/5, the day before the grand final of Eurovision 2023, the EBU announced that Luxembourg will return to the contest after 30 years of absence. Wonder who's written an entire separate blog post on that...

Among the countries that withdrew after 2022, the most likely to return seems to be North Macedonia. They broadcasted Eurovision 2023, and are in fact taking part in Junior Eurovision 2023 in Nice. Furthermore, upon their withdrawal, they explicitly stated that they had a view of returning in 2024. The MRT Program Council also held a meeting in late February discussing Eurovision participation, with the director saying that North Macedonia should participate in both Junior and adult Eurovision as soon as the broadcaster emerges from the financial crisis.

After having delayed the launch of their new public broadcaster, the broadcaster has since been renamed "TVMONACO" and will be launched on the 1st of September this year. If they are able to be accepted into the EBU by early December, then they will be able to take part in Eurovision 2024. Recall that in the 2023 Monegasque budget they had previously put away 100 thousand euros for taking part in ESC2023. With both of these cases, although it looks extremely likely, neither are officially confirmed so I have to put a question mark after them.

There is also a non-zero chance for Montenegro to return, however at the moment it seems somewhat unlikely. If they return, there is a good chance Enisa will be selected. Enisa is from Brooklyn NY and represented New York in the American Song Contest, but her parents are Montenegrin-Albanian and she also speaks fluent Albanian and has visited Montenegro several times. She revealed on Twitter last year that she was supposed to represent Montenegro in Eurovision 2023 with the song "OLE", however that fell through as RTCG were not able to finance the entry.

There had previously been hope of Turkey returning to Eurovision, after Turkish opposition candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu was placed by many as quite likely to win the 2023 Turkish elections. However, despite big cities such as Istanbul, Izmir and Ankara voting for Kilicdaroglu in majority, Erdogan still won the election in the end. A return to the song contest is thus extremely unlikely in the next few years. Although TRT has recently started copyright striking several Youtube videos which feature Turkish Eurovision performances.

According to Stig Karlsen on the aforementioned podcast guest performance (a Hungarian podcast), the EBU wants Hungary to return to the contest, and Karlsen expressed hope that discussions between the EBU and the Hungarian delegation could lead to a comeback perhaps not in 2024 but 2025.

Participating Countries (so far): Austria, Azerbaijan, Croatia*, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece*, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, Moldova, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom*

Countries with asterisks are implicitly understood to be taking part despite a lack of public statements. France has confirmed participation but not provided any further information.

Austria are returning to an internal selection. This was confirmed to Kleine Zeitung by ORF program director Stefanie Groiss-Horowitz. Groiss-Horowitz also stated that due to a talent show being broadcasted in spring of 2024, a national final was "not an option for ORF". Currently, they are "in the process of setting up the mode for our internal selection of experts". It was also reported that Peter Schreiber has joined ORF as a "Eurovision scout", in addition to Eberhard Forcher and Lukas Hildebrand. On 25/7, Conchita Wurst commented on Schreiber's Eurovision call post on Instagram with a heart-eyes emoji, and wrote "I'll send you a DM", prompting speculation that the 2014 winner may be interested in returning to the contest. One other possible interested name is Slomo, who applied last year, and liked Schreiber's post. Another possible name is Julia Steen, who is Teya and Salena's manager and who recently wrote new songs with Teya which she intends to send to the Austrian broadcaster. Other interested names are Thomas Glan and Dominik Gassner.

On 14/7, Ictimai TV, the Azerbaijani broadcaster, opened song submissions for Eurovision 2024. The submissions will close on 30/9.

Croatia have yet to officially confirm presence in Malmo, but their agreement with the city of Opatija to host the Croatian national final Dora extends to 2024.

Cyprus are selecting their artist using a new national selection named "Fame Story". CyBC and Panik Records have now signed an agreement to use this reality TV show for their artist. It has been compared by some to the Spanish "Operacion Triunfo" or the Italian "Amici". In this case, contestants will receive classes on singing, acting, styling, social media management, and public relations. In addition, and unlike some reality shows, the contestants will be able to communicate with the outside world, and the show will not focus much on the contestants' daily lives. The song will be internally selected after the conclusion of the show. According to Eurovisionfun, a Greek Eurovision news site, castings for the show will take place during the summer. The show will be broadcast starting in late September with the final taking place around Christmas. Episodes will be broadcast daily, and one participant will be eliminated each week. There will be famous artists on the jury, for example discussions are being had with Anna Vissi (Greece 2006). On 10/7, TV presenter Nikos Koklonis announced that he will be the host of Fame Story, and that there will be 15 participants on the show. In addition to the chance to represent Cyprus in Malmo, the participants will also get opportunities for concerts and contracts with different record labels. So far, over 1000 applications have already been received. Koklonis also revealed that there will be non-singers who will also fulfill the roles of judges and coaches. On 20/7, the official trailer for Fame Story was released, and submissions were opened.

Czechia have yet to confirm Eurovision 2024 participation. According to Head of Press Ahmad Halloun, the decision will be made in August or September.

Denmark are returning to their national final DMGP. In a bizarre statement from May saying that "it is hard to know what people in Albania think" and that Breaking My Heart was "too advanced for the general population of Europe", Erik Struve Hansen, the manager of DMGP, stated that they are already looking at their upcoming national final.

On 5/7, ERR reported that the chief producer of Eesti Laul (the Estonian national final), Tomi Rahula, will be stepping down from this post after having been in this role for 5 years. Karmel Killandi, the chief editor of entertainment programs, said that they "want to face autumn with innovations and summer is the best time to analyze the finished season and also earlier years". In addition, the detailed plans will be revealed in a few months according to Killandi. It is not yet known who will become Rahula's successor as the Eesti Laul chief producer. This change in personnel has been welcomed by fans on social media, who deemed Eesti Laul under Rahula to be too "safe" and mainstream.

Finland are returning to their national final as well, named UMK. The application period starts on 21/8 and lasts for 3 days, which is earlier than the usual September. The rulebook has also been published. One possible name is Lola, who was seen in early June to be writing a new song with Elsie Bay (MGP 2022/23), with the possible intent of sending it to UMK. Around the period of UMK 2023, there were also reports that Yle are planning to move the national final away from Logomo in Turku, which hosted the last 2 editions. The plan is to move to a place where they can sell "four or even six times more tickets".

It was reported some days after the grand final of 2023 that ARD, the German broadcaster, will continue to participate in Eurovision for Germany. It should be noted that longtime German commentator, Peter Urban, has stepped down with 2023 being his last year of Eurovision commentating. His successor will be announced in due course. Some fans have speculated that it could be Konsi, who is currently the resident German JESC commentator, and also travelled to Liverpool alongside the eurovision.de team.

Some days after the grand final, it was claimed by Greek media outlets that ERT will return to a national final for Eurovision 2024. This has neither been confirmed nor denied by ERT thus far. However, Eleni Foureira (Cyprus 2018) has now said that she is interested in returning to Eurovision, but to represent her home country Greece. On 19/6, Eleni alongside Helena Paparizou performed a medley of "Fuego" and "My Number One" at the Greek award show MAD VMAs. A few days later, Silia Kapsis, an Australian singer of Greek origin, posted an Instagram story of her in the studio with Dimitris Kontopoulos, a member of the "Dream Team" which had been responsible for several Greek (and Russian) Eurovision entries in the past. Whether this amounts to anything relating to Eurovision is not yet known. Cypriot-Greek-English singer Antigoni released a song named "Nervous" on 11/7. This was one of two songs she had submitted to ERT for 2023 which she had co-written with Connor Mullaly and Amira El-Shafie, and she will try again with the other song for 2024.

On 15/6, the submissions for Icelandic national final Söngvakeppnin were opened, and they will close on 10/9. The participating songs will be revealed in January, and the shows will take place in February and March. As usual, all songs must have an Icelandic version which must be performed in the semi-final, but in the final an English version can be sung if such a version has been prepared.

In a rare act, Ireland also opened song submissions on 15/6, as opposed to late September as in 2022. Instead, the submissions are closing in late September this year. Furthermore, the submission website makes no mention of the Late Late Show, leading fans to speculate that for once Ireland may actually have a separate national final that is not on a late night talk show. Regardless, the national final will take place in "early 2024". On 20/6, Irish artist Roisin O , who had an album reach number 3 in Ireland in 2022, also said in an interview with Independent.ie that if she had enough support she would "definitely give it [Eurovision] a go", and that she would want to do it right since the whole process takes six months. Indie artist Orla Gartland was also tagged on Twitter by Irish Eurofans asking her to submit a song, and she responded "omg imagine", and then later "shoutout to the unreal amount of people who have tweeted me in the last 24 hours tweeting me to go for Eurovision 2024".

Israel is returning to their national final "HaKokhav HaBa", known in English as "Rising Star", which had previously already been used between 2015 and 2020 as Israel's national final. It will be broadcast by Keshet 12. On 24/7, the hosts and judging panel for the show were announced. The hosts are the same ones who hosted between 2015-2020. The judging panel will be led by Aden Hason, who composed Israel's 2018 Junior Eurovision entry. In addition, it was also announced that casting has already begun, and the auditions will be filmed in September, while the program itself is expected to be broadcast in November.

On 15/5, it was reported that Eurovision will continue to be broadcast on Rai 1 in 2024. Furthermore, Sanremo 2024 will be Amadeus' last Sanremo for the time being, as he will step down as host and director after 2024 but does not rule out returning to host the show in a few years. In early June, Dagospia reported that Annalisa, Elodie, Emma Marrone and Arisa could accompany Amadeus in presenting the festival, rather than taking part in it. However, All Music Italia reported later that Amadeus apparently wants Annalisa to take part in the festival. The rules for Sanremo Giovani were also published, and only three young artists from Giovani will enter and participate in Sanremo 2024, as opposed to six last year. Domani reported on 21/6 that there are rising chances that Andrea Delogu and Ema Stokholma to be co-hosts for Sanremo 2024. On 3/7, Dagospia reported that Amadeus is trying to have Meghan Markle appear at the festival. On 7/7, it was announced that the final of Sanremo Giovani will take place on 20/12. Amadeus also announced that Sanremo proper will take place between 6/2 and 10/2. On 10/7, Amadeus announced changes to the festival. *All* songs will be presented and sung on the first night, while the artists will be split into two groups for the second and third nights. Those artists that do not sing in one night will act as co-hosts, introducing the artists that will be singing that night. The fourth night will be covers night, where artists can sing any songs including their own. The demoscopic jury will also be replaced with a "radio jury". More precisely, the Press Jury votes on the first night and on covers night, while the televote and Radio Jury will vote on the second, third, and fourth (i.e. cover) nights. In addition, only the televote will vote on the last night, prior to the superfinal. The overall split prior to the superfinal is thus 26.6% Press Jury, 26.6% Radio Jury, and 46.8% televote. And in the superfinal, the votes are reset and all three juries will have nearly equal voting power, except the televote which will have 34% of the vote. The submissions close on 27/11, and the 23 "big" contestants will be announced between 1/12 and 20/12. The winner of festival is required to represent Italy in Eurovision 2024.

On 26/6, it was found that a new Eurovision website for Luxembourg, eurovision.lu, had been set up. Xavier Bettel, the Luxembourgish prime minister, said on 28/6 that should Luxembourg win, they are ready to host the 2025 edition of the contest, because it would have a positive impact on the local hotel industry and promote tourism. After a live countdown on the Eurovision Luxembourg website ended at 10:00 CEST on 3/7, RTL revealed that a national final will take place on the 27th of January 2024 to select the Luxembourgish entry for Eurovision 2024. For artists with their own song or (inter)national songwriters with a song, they may apply until the 1st of October. For singers who do not have their own song, they can apply until 16/7, the week after which they will be contacted by RTL, and production auditions will take place either on 21/7 or 22/7. After then, they may be paired up with the song from (inter)national songwriters. Whether the singer has a song or not, they must prove that they either hold Luxembourgish citizenship, have lived in Luxembourg for at least three consecutive years, or can prove that they have "a cultural background and a proven link" with the music scene in Luxembourg. Specifically, if the singer has neither lived in Luxembourg for three years nor hold citizenship, they must be "actively involved on a national scale through their musical practice, and work regularly and closely with cultural institutions and recognized cultural players on the Luxembourgish scene". Submissions take place through the eurovision.lu website. Both the auditions and the national final will take place at the Rockhal in Esch-sur-Alzette, or Esch/Belval. One interested name is CHAiLD, a Luxembourgish artist who shared the national final announcement on his Instagram story with the caption "it's starting, let's do this". On 11/7, Dave Gloesener, head of Eurovision at RTL (and possibly head of delegation?), said in an interview that "the public will have their say" in deciding the Luxembourgish representative, that is to say the national final will have a televote. In addition, they plan to not only broadcast the national final on TV, but also online where there will be commentaries in three(!!) different languages. Finally, he said that the return of Luxembourg "is not a one-shot thing", and that they aim to "do very well ... next year, and to turn a new Eurovision page for Luxembourg". On 23/7, RTL posted a photo gallery of singers without original songs who had taken part in the first round of auditions in Rockhal. They were judged by a 5-member jury, which consisted of Jules Serrig, Jenny Fischbach, Sandra Bintz, Eric Lehmann and Sam Steen (for 21/7) and Dave Gloesener (for 22/7). According to RTL, there were about 100 singers at the auditions, which mostly sang ballads according Gloesener. He also replied to several fans on Twitter saying that the name of the national final will be announced soon. One other interested artist is Naomi Ayé, a young Luxembourgish singer who came second in the French edition of "The Voice Kids" in 2020.

In mid-April, the Maltese broadcaster TRM announced a songwriting camp for MESC 2024. It took place between 12/6 and 15/6, with names such as Tom Hugo (from KEiiNO) and Greta Tude taking part.

In another rare act, Moldova has confirmed Eurovision 2024 participation in Sweden. Daria Capatina, who is also the head of children's content at TRM, has confirmed to ESCPlus that Moldova will be present in Sweden next year. Although Capatina also said that Moldova will not be in Nice for Junior Eurovision 2023. Regardless, past behaviour from Moldova was that TRM would not say a word regarding Eurovision until the participant list is released, after which they start planning the national final and the like. Fans are thus speculating that Moldova may be preparing early this year.

Some people have been calling for a national final to be reinstated, following the last national final being the Nationaal Songfestival back in 2012. Mia Nicolai suggested in a tweet on 24/5 that she may be interested in doing Eurovision again next year. According to unofficial sources, some other names who have expressed interest in representing the Netherlands specifically for 2024 include The Jordan, Ziggy Krassenberg, De Bankzitters, Kris Kross Amsterdam, Stefania (Greece 2020-21), Zoe Tauran, April Darby, Kraantje Pappie & Bizzey, Joost Klein, Goldband, Douwe Bob (NL 2016), and Vinchenzo. On 12/7, AVROTROS announced that Twan van de Nieuwenhuijzen has been appointed as the new Dutch Head of Delegation, as well as the chairman of the Dutch selection committee. Van de Nieuwenhuijzen had worked as the EBU Head of Contest between 2021 and 2023, and was one of the main persons responsible for setting the running order of the shows. He replaces Eric van Stade, who will now step down as the committee chairman. The committee will also be further expanded in the future. In addition, AVROTROS has now opened song submissions for 2024. Despite prior rumours, they will continue with an internal selection. Song submissions are open until 30/9, and for the first time will not require a set artist for the song. Nonetheless, entries will be shortlisted, and shortlisted songs will have to be performed live before a decision is made by December.

Norway is returning to their longstanding national final Melodi Grand Prix. The songwriting camp for MGP started in early April in Oslo. Submissions for the national final started on 9/6, and in a change from previous years where songs would be released on the week of each show, any Norwegian songs released on or after 1/9 can be submitted to the national final. NRK hopes that this will lead fans to "put pressure" on artists and MGP editors to pick certain songs for the contest. Regardless, as usual, the MGP lineup will be released in January. The submissions will close on 31/8. On 10/7, the Norwegian Head of Delegation Stig Karlsen was interviewed by Eurovision Norway, and he revealed that some artists are already in talks for MGP 2024.

Portugal are known to have not taken part in many contests that were hosted by Sweden, most recently when they missed out on both 2013 and 2016. It is speculated by Portuguese Eurofans however that we will indeed see Portugal in Malmo, as there is a member of RTP in the Eurovision Reference Group.

On 14/7, RTS confirmed to OGAE Serbia that Serbia will participate in Eurovision 2024, and that there will be a national selection to decide the entry. One interested name is Zorja, who was a fan favourite in PZE22 and placed third in the final. A return to Pesma Za Evroviziju has not yet been officially announced via any sort of news article, but submissions were opened on 26/7.

Although no official announcement has been made yet, it seems very likely that Slovenia will continue to participate in Eurovision next year. One interested artist is July Jones, who took part in EMA 2022 with the song "Girls Can Do Anything", and had apparently also prepared a proposal for 2023 before Joker Out had been internally selected. The selection method for 2024 is unknown, but July Jones has already responded on Instagram on 17/7 that she is ready to apply to EMA 2024. Raiven (EMA 2016, 17, 19) also posted around the same time that she was writing a new album in London.

Spain is returning to their national final Benidorm Fest. However, in a departure from the previous two editions, RTVE have invited artists to enter a casting phase for the national final. Furthermore, several Spanish fans have complained that winning Benidorm Fest and representing Spain in Eurovision 2024 will now entail a lot more promotion for RTVE, with the artist having to appear at numerous RTVE events to sing. Eva Mora, the assistant head of delegation who was brought on after 2021, was also dismissed of her role, with Ana Maria Bordas (who had been the head of delegation from 2017-2021) returning to the delegation. This dismissal was understood to be Eva's disagreements with Maria Eizaguirre, another influential figure in RTVE and the Spanish delegation. On 26/7, a press conference took place presenting the 2024 edition of Benidorm Fest. The two semi-finals will take place on 30/1 and 1/2, while the final will be on 3/2. The 16 competing artists will be revealed during the Latin Grammy Awards on 11/11, which will be broadcast live by RTVE. In addition, it was also announced that there will be a songwriting camp in September, which seeks to bring together "international composers" to develop potential songs for the festival. It was however noted that songs from this camp will not have priority entry into Benidorm Fest. RTVE will also internally contact established artists and invite them to apply to enter the festival. Submissions were opened, and will close at midnight of 11/10. One interested name is New Fantasy. Megara from Benidorm Fest 2023 also intends to return and submit a song for 2024.

On 29/6, SVT announced format changes for Melodifestivalen 2024. There will be an additional 2 songs competing in the contest bringing the total number of songs up to 30. Those 30 songs will take part in 5 heats, with each heat consisting of 6 songs. From each heat, 2 songs will qualify for the final. Directly after the final heat, 2 more songs will qualify from the non-qualifiers; in particular, all the songs from the heats which placed 3rd or 4th will once again be up for voting via app or SMS in a live program from the arena. The two qualifiers will be determined by a sum of the votes those entries had already received, plus the votes the entries receive during this extra voting round. There will thus not be any second chance round, or Andra Chansen as it was previously known. This gives 12 finalists, the same as previous years. Submissions will open on 25/8 and close on 15/9.

Between 30/5 and 1/6, the SUISA songwriting camp took place in Zurich, where the songs are usually submitted to the Swiss broadcaster for consideration in Eurovision. Among others, it involved Elsie Bay, Linda Dale (Queen of Kings songwriter), and Teya from Teya and Salena, with the latter tweeting that she thinks it is very likely for the 2024 Swiss entry to come from this songwriting camp, and also thinks that fans will love the song. SRF confirmed on 7/7 that Switzerland will take part in Eurovision 2024, although they did not specify their selection method.

According to Ukrainian rumours, the reason Ukraine has yet to confirm Eurovision 2024 participation is that UA:PBC may be looking into changing the rules of Vidbir, the national final. Such rule and format changes would involve bringing back semi-finals and unbanning certain artists from competing in the national final. One example is The Hardkiss, who narrowly came second behind Jamala in 2016, and whose lead vocalist Julia Sanina went on to co-host Eurovision 2023. There are rumours that The Hardkiss are once again interested in taking part in Vidbir, however at the moment they (and ironically also Jamala) are barred from re-entering the selection as they had performed in Russia after 2014. Rumours are that UA:PBC are looking to change this rule, not just for The Hardkiss but also for artists such as Alina Pash and Max Barskih.

It was reported shortly after Eurovision 2023 that the BBC had been "eyeing up" Sophie Ellis-Bextor to represent the UK in Eurovision 2024. However, this was later denied by Ellis-Bextor herself. Regardless, the selection process this year will (likely) not involve TaP Music, but this is because they never had a contract with the BBC rather than the poor result attained by Mae Muller.

So that's all I know about Eurovision 2024 so far! No video yet, because I'm at my internship and I can't exactly bring my Blue Yeti into this quiet environment. You can, however, watch this video about Malmo that I recorded on a whim:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJtGtjmickw

Do let me know if you find more information that I may have missed.