Eurovision 2024: Switzerland’s Nemo wins and the United Kingdom ranks 18th

Swiss singer Nemo won the Eurovision Song Contest in Sweden with his song The Code.

A compelling hybrid of opera and hip-hop, it won the jury vote, helping the 24-year-old achieve an impressive score of 591 points.

The singer becomes the first non-binary artist to win Eurovision. Fittingly, they wrote the song to explain how they came to terms with their identities.

Croatia, which led the public vote, came second with the boisterous party anthem Rim Tim Tagi Dim, while Britain’s Olly Alexander was relegated to 18th place, out of 25.

The Years and Years singer received the dreaded ‘zero points’ from the public, but was saved from last place by the jury’s vote.

They awarded his song Dizzy 46 points.

This year’s competition was overshadowed by protests against Israel’s participation, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas.

Israeli contestant, 20-year-old singer Eden Golan, who received a mix of boos and cheers as she performed on stage in Malmö, came fifth.

In his victory speech on stage, Nemo said: “I hope this competition can keep its promises and continue to uphold peace and dignity for every person in this world.”

They then smashed the competition’s famous crystal microphone trophy, which appeared to fall onto the stage as they waved it in triumph.

Other artists expressed similar sentiments.

Bambie Thug, representing Ireland, shouted “love will triumph over hate” as they finished their song, Doomsday Blue; while Portuguese candidate Iolanda told the crowd: “Peace will prevail.”

Two former candidates, Alessandra Mele and Käärijä, withdrew from announcing their country’s jury scores; Mele cited Israel’s participation as a factor, while Käärijä said “it doesn’t seem right” (to award points).

However, Golan’s song received widespread support, coming second in the public vote with a score of 323. The United Kingdom was one of 15 countries where the public gave the 20-year-old the maximum by 12 points.

To add to the drama, Dutch contestant Joost Klein was disqualified from the competition on Saturday, after being accused of making “unlawful threats” against a female member of the production team.

The singer was reported to the police following the incident backstage on Thursday. The organizers then decided to exclude him from the competition, saying they had a “zero tolerance policy towards inappropriate behavior”.

In a statement, Dutch broadcaster Avrotros called the decision “disproportionate” and said Klein was filmed behind the scenes despite having “repeatedly indicated” that he did not want to be filmed.

Elsewhere, Eurovision was Eurovision.

Finnish artist Windows95Man performed a 1990s house banger without his pants on, and Croatian Baby Lasagna sang about a country boy who sells his cow and moves to a big city.

Bambie Thug gave one of the most memorable performances of the night.

The self-proclaimed “goth gremlin goblin witch” appeared on stage in a circle of candles, summoning a demon and then dancing a ballet with it, before screaming at the top of her lungs.

A success among viewers, he finally took sixth place, with 278 points.

This makes it Ireland’s best result in a quarter of a century.

The contest took place in Sweden, exactly 50 years after Abba gave the country its first Eurovision victory in 1974.

Rumors were circulating around Malmö that they would be marking their golden anniversary – although the band themselves denied it.

Ultimately, they only appeared in a short video, as their “abbatars” from the Abba Voyage virtual concerts in London.

The quartet briefly discussed the success of their song Waterloo, which was subsequently performed by three other Eurovision winners: Charlotte Perelli (1999), Conchita Wurst (2014) and Carola (1992).

It was a bit disappointing.

A more dynamic interval performance came from two-time Eurovision winner Loreen, who performed her new single Forever in a futuristic Barbarella-inspired set.

And Blue Swede frontman Björn Skifs opened the show with Hooked On A Feeling, the first ever Swedish song to reach number one in America.

Nemo wowed the audience with his lithe and athletic performance, singing an operatic falsetto while swinging dangerously on a turntable.

Their song, The Code, was a deeply personal account of the struggle to accept their non-binary identity.

In the lyrics, they sang: “Somewhere between the zeros and the ones / That’s where I found my kingdom“.

This victory represents a great moment for the LGBTQ community which has long considered Eurovision as a safe haven.

Last year’s winner Loreen, who presented Nemo with the crystal trophy on Saturday, recently told the BBC how important the support had been to her.

“Eurovision is a community that accepts diversity (and) different ways of being.

“It’s a very welcoming and loving space. And it’s us who create it, through creativity.”

Bambie Thug, who is also non-binary, ran up to Nemo after their victory and presented him with a handmade crown, which they wore for their final performance.

The UK improved on its performance last year, when Mae Muller came second last, but was still relegated to the bottom half of the rankings.

Singer Olly Alexander, a pop star from the band Years and Years, put on a spectacular performance, full of scantily clad men dancing in a dystopian shower room.

But his live voice was shaky and suffered compared to stronger artists from France, Portugal and Greece.

The star mocked her zero-point score to the audience, pretending to kiss the TV cameras when the results were announced.