Eurovision 2024: What We Know So Far (as of June 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: likely one out of Stockholm (Friends Arena), Malmö (Malmö Arena), and Gothenburg (Scandinavium)

According to public information, those three are the biggest cities that have made bids. The council in Gothenburg claims that they have found a solution to the weak roof problem. Örnsköldsvik, who hosted the second chance round of Melodifestivalen 2023, also applied, but most people just treat them as a meme due to their small size. Stockholm has apparently been preparing since March, and the Stockholm City Council prefers Friends Arena over Tele2. The deadline for submitting bids was 12/6. Final decision expected in early July(!!), according to SVT head of press Camilla Hagert.

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 perhaps completely by coincidence, 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 now puts Stockholm's bid at some risk, especially as they prefer hosting in Friends Arena over Tele2 Arena.

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. The Dagens Nyheter article also mentions now that Ebba Adielsson estimates the selection to be made in mid-July rather than early July, and to announce the decision during the summer. Also, the committee will seek to find "a climate-friendly and sustainable collaboration".

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). So it may be possible that the host city will once again be announced on that day this year. Indeed, even Swedish media are reporting that we will get the host city next week as you're reading this. 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 Malmo proposal is highlighted as being relatively cheap, while Örnsköldsvik would use a cruise ship(!!) to solve the accommodation issue.

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: likely either 7, 9, 11/5 or 14, 16, 18/5

It feels insane (as a Eurofan who joined in 2021) to be having show date discussions in JUNE, 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.

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.

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): 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.

It is not known what will happen with Australia, as their contract to take part without invitation ended with 2023.

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 for 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.

Participating Countries (so far): Austria, Croatia*, Cyprus, Denmark, 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".

Croatia have yet to officially confirm presence in Sweden 2024, but their agreement with the city of Opatija to host the Croatian national final Dora extends to 2024. Furthermore, Croatia have had a very regular appearance at Eurovision in the past decade, having taken part in every single edition since 2016.

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". 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 September with the final taking place around Christmas. Episodes will be broadcast daily, and there will be 16 participants, one of which will be eliminated each week. There will be famous artists on the jury, for example discussions are being had with Anna Vissi (Greece 2006).

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.

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.

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.

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 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. Amadeus also said that it could be possible for the system of different co-hosts each evening to be scrapped. The rules for Sanremo Giovani were also published, and only three young artists from Giovani will enter the Big category of Sanremo 2024, as opposed to six last year. According to Radio Italia, Sanremo 2024 will take place between 6/2 and 10/2. Amadeus also announced that there will be rule changes in Sanremo this year, with fans speculating that it may have to do with the selection of a Eurovision act being separate to the festival winner, and/or somehow dealing with the situation of female singers being disadvantaged in the festival. Domani reported on 21/6 that there are rising chances that Andrea Delogu and Ema Stokholma to be co-hosts for Sanremo 2024.

On 26/6, it was found that a new Eurovision website for Luxembourg, eurovision.lu, had been set up. On the site is a countdown for 10:00 CET of 3/7, and it says "the national selection process launches in" above said timer. This may hint towards a national final, however exact details are not known yet. 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. Furthermore, the Luxembourgish candidate must have "a Luxembourgish cultural background", implying that singers not originating from Luxembourg may also be considered.

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.

The Netherlands will take part in Eurovision 2024, as confirmed by an AVROTROS spokesperson days after the 2023 grand final. What is in the air however, is the method of selection. Some people have been calling for a national final to be reinstated, following the last national final being the Nationaal Songfestival back in 2012, and having all Dutch entries since then be internal selections. Unlike last year where submissions were opened two days after the final, AVROTROS has now said that they will take some time for evaluation before opening submissions. 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 Kris Kross Amsterdam, Stefania (Greece 2020-21), Zoe Tauran, April Darby, Kraantje Pappie & Bizzey, Joost Klein, Goldband, Douwe Bob (NL 2016), and Vinchenzo.

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.

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 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.

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, executive producer Andrew Cartmell said that the BBC would be available to host a second year in a row in case the UK won on home soil, thus confirming 2024 participation.

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