Tips on how to win the Eurovision Tune Contest, in line with the consultants

[ad_1] <img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/4a4d/live/fd141e30-2ccc-11f0-b26b-ab62c890638b.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/4a4d/live/fd141e30-2ccc-11f0-b26b-ab62c890638b.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/4a4d/live/fd141e30-2ccc-11f0-b26b-ab62c890638b.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/4a4d/live/fd141e30-2ccc-11f0-b26b-ab62c890638b.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/4a4d/live/fd141e30-2ccc-11f0-b26b-ab62c890638b.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/4a4d/live/fd141e30-2ccc-11f0-b26b-ab62c890638b.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/4a4d/live/fd141e30-2ccc-11f0-b26b-ab62c890638b.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/4a4d/live/fd141e30-2ccc-11f0-b26b-ab62c890638b.jpg.webp" loading="eager" alt="Getty loreen and nemo embrace as nemo holds the eurovision song contest trophy aloft. loreen has long black curly hair and long silver nails, nemo is wearing a pink and red ruffled coat" class="sc-4abb68ca-0 ldLcJe"/> Getty Who will comply with within the footsteps of Loreen and Nemo because the winner of the Eurovision Tune Contest?

The Eurovision Tune Contest was watched by round 163 million individuals final 12 months – that means there are doubtlessly 163 million totally different opinions on what makes an ideal entrant.

Do you go for a soulful ballad, assured to depart Europe misty-eyed and full of affection and peace?

Or do you go for a tacky extravaganza, full with saucy takes on regional costumes and eye-popping staging that may have the complete continent (and Australia) raving of their residing rooms?

The proper tune

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/58f2/live/72c50e00-2ccd-11f0-8f57-b7237f6a66e6.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/58f2/live/72c50e00-2ccd-11f0-8f57-b7237f6a66e6.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/58f2/live/72c50e00-2ccd-11f0-8f57-b7237f6a66e6.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/58f2/live/72c50e00-2ccd-11f0-8f57-b7237f6a66e6.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/58f2/live/72c50e00-2ccd-11f0-8f57-b7237f6a66e6.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/58f2/live/72c50e00-2ccd-11f0-8f57-b7237f6a66e6.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/58f2/live/72c50e00-2ccd-11f0-8f57-b7237f6a66e6.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/58f2/live/72c50e00-2ccd-11f0-8f57-b7237f6a66e6.jpg.webp" loading="lazy" alt="Getty Images bearded drag queen conchita wurst performing at the 2014 eurovision song contest. she is wearing a gold brocade dress, has long dark hair and is holding a microphone while looking upward" class="sc-4abb68ca-0 ldLcJe"/> Getty Photos Conchita Wurst's Rise Like a Phoenix reveals that self-empowering songs will be very profitable in Eurovision

In line with Bennett, there may be some validity to this, with each Eurovision tune falling underneath six broad lyrical themes: "love, unity, self-assertion, partying, historical past and songs about making music".

He provides that "songs of self-assertion or lyrical self-empowerment do very effectively" - as seen with Austria's 2014 winner Rise Like a Phoenix (Conchita Wurst).

Maintain staging easy and efficient

Acts is likely to be tempted to go excessive on staging, however this might not be the way in which to safe victory, in line with our consultants.

Songwriter Thomas Stengaard co-wrote Denmark's 2013 winner Solely Teardrops (in addition to this 12 months's UK entry What the Hell Simply Occurred by Bear in mind Monday). He places his success down, partly, to its easy staging, which he says made it simple to recollect.

"When you requested a child to attract that staging, they might. It was a woman with no footwear on, two guys enjoying the drums and a flute man. Quite simple, nevertheless it labored."

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/533b/live/09547360-2cce-11f0-b26b-ab62c890638b.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/533b/live/09547360-2cce-11f0-b26b-ab62c890638b.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/533b/live/09547360-2cce-11f0-b26b-ab62c890638b.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/533b/live/09547360-2cce-11f0-b26b-ab62c890638b.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/533b/live/09547360-2cce-11f0-b26b-ab62c890638b.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/533b/live/09547360-2cce-11f0-b26b-ab62c890638b.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/533b/live/09547360-2cce-11f0-b26b-ab62c890638b.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/533b/live/09547360-2cce-11f0-b26b-ab62c890638b.jpg.webp" loading="lazy" alt="Getty Images emmelie de forest in a white dress sings with a man playing a bass drum on either side of her" class="sc-4abb68ca-0 ldLcJe"/> Getty Photos Solely Teardrops and its 'easy staging' was the 2013 winner

Vocal coach Carrie Grant, who led the UK's jury in 2014 and got here sixth within the contest as a part of Candy Goals in 1983, agrees.

"There may be nothing worse than having an artist whose stage has a lot of cash however their efficiency would not warrant it," she says. "It makes that efficiency appear worse."

The 2014 winner (and Carrie's private favorite) was Conchita Wurst – the primary act to win the competition with out backing singers or dancers on stage since 1970.

What made Conchita stand out was that she was a bearded drag queen. Carrie believes Eurovision followers love issues which are quirky and that "embrace the LGBT group".

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/23d6/live/46140e50-2cce-11f0-8ff1-59f5dcf8e9f5.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/23d6/live/46140e50-2cce-11f0-8ff1-59f5dcf8e9f5.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/23d6/live/46140e50-2cce-11f0-8ff1-59f5dcf8e9f5.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/23d6/live/46140e50-2cce-11f0-8ff1-59f5dcf8e9f5.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/23d6/live/46140e50-2cce-11f0-8ff1-59f5dcf8e9f5.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/23d6/live/46140e50-2cce-11f0-8ff1-59f5dcf8e9f5.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/23d6/live/46140e50-2cce-11f0-8ff1-59f5dcf8e9f5.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/23d6/live/46140e50-2cce-11f0-8ff1-59f5dcf8e9f5.jpg.webp" loading="lazy" alt="the band sweet dreams wave on the eurovision 1983 stage. two women in grey and yellow tracksuits and headbands wave on either side of a man in a blue and grey tracksuit" class="sc-4abb68ca-0 ldLcJe"/> Carrie Grant (proper) represented the UK within the 1983 tune contest – on a stage that simply featured three stools

However she provides that Conchita wasn't a gimmick however as an alternative "a superb singer who may ship what we name in vocal teaching 'cash moments'".

The secret is key

Minor-key songs more and more dominate Eurovision.

Bennett debunks the concept that "main equals comfortable, minor equals unhappy", including that "minor keys are extra a shorthand for emotional depth".

In 2023, 85% of finalists carried out in minor keys, in line with the Press Affiliation. Within the final 20 years, solely two major-key songs have gained - 2011's Working Scared (for Azerbaijan) and 2017's Amar Pelos Dois.

Professor Elizabeth Hellmuth Margulis, a researcher in music cognition at Princeton, highlights supply sensitivity – our intuition to affiliate a tune's sound with its supposed context. A number of bars of a techno tune, for instance, and we've a psychological picture of a darkish nightclub, and of the kind of DJ who would possibly carry out there.

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/511b/live/b76f2e20-2db6-11f0-8ff1-59f5dcf8e9f5.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/511b/live/b76f2e20-2db6-11f0-8ff1-59f5dcf8e9f5.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/511b/live/b76f2e20-2db6-11f0-8ff1-59f5dcf8e9f5.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/511b/live/b76f2e20-2db6-11f0-8ff1-59f5dcf8e9f5.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/511b/live/b76f2e20-2db6-11f0-8ff1-59f5dcf8e9f5.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/511b/live/b76f2e20-2db6-11f0-8ff1-59f5dcf8e9f5.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/511b/live/b76f2e20-2db6-11f0-8ff1-59f5dcf8e9f5.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/511b/live/b76f2e20-2db6-11f0-8ff1-59f5dcf8e9f5.jpg.webp" loading="lazy" alt="the trio remember monday in front of a tree. the woman of the left is blonde, the woman in the middle brunette and the woman on the right is a redhead. they are wearing white corsets, and the woman in the middle is also wearing pink ruffles" class="sc-4abb68ca-0 ldLcJe"/> Bear in mind Monday try to buck Eurovision traits with a major-key tune

This implies sure minor keys now instantly sign "Eurovision-ness" to audiences.

Bear in mind Monday's What the Hell Simply Occurred was written at a songwriting camp, with a number of songwriters working collectively at a countryside retreat to write down the proper tune for this 12 months's UK act.

The tune was deliberately written in a significant key to face out in a sea of minor-key songs - just like the UK's 2022 second-place entry, Spaceman by Sam Ryder (B Main).

Have a shock up your sleeve

Repetition is essential to make a tune stick within the thoughts, says Margulis. However songs ought to keep away from being too repetitive. Margulis says that what significantly makes a tune catchy is "not solely when they're heard repeatedly, but in addition once they throw in some form of shock twist".

Bucks Fizz's 1981 winner for the UK, Making Your Thoughts Up, is a traditional instance. First, the tune adjustments key, rapidly adopted by a memorable costume change through which the feminine singers' skirts had been ripped off to disclose shorter skirts – a joint visible and musical twist.

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/ed98/live/8f7669c0-2ccf-11f0-b26b-ab62c890638b.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/ed98/live/8f7669c0-2ccf-11f0-b26b-ab62c890638b.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/ed98/live/8f7669c0-2ccf-11f0-b26b-ab62c890638b.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/ed98/live/8f7669c0-2ccf-11f0-b26b-ab62c890638b.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/ed98/live/8f7669c0-2ccf-11f0-b26b-ab62c890638b.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/ed98/live/8f7669c0-2ccf-11f0-b26b-ab62c890638b.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/ed98/live/8f7669c0-2ccf-11f0-b26b-ab62c890638b.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/ed98/live/8f7669c0-2ccf-11f0-b26b-ab62c890638b.jpg.webp" loading="lazy" alt="bucks fizz performing at the 1981 eurovision song contest. the band stands in a row, with the two women on the outside. the woman on the length is wearing a red thigh-high dress, and the woman on the right a yellow one. the men are wearing white trousers, with the one of the left in a blue jumper and the one on the right in green. the women's discarded long skirts lie on the ground behind them" class="sc-4abb68ca-0 ldLcJe"/> Bucks Fizz's skirt-shedding routine helped win them the competitors in 1981

Earlier Eurovision winners had been usually mocked for his or her nonsense lyrics, like Sweden's 1984 winner Diggi-Lavatory Diggi-Ley, however Bennett argues this highlights Eurovision's robust deal with melody.

"Eurovision actually wants large melodic hooks. You need individuals throughout Europe to be singing that melody. The necessity for a really accessible, catchy refrain is crucial."

Key adjustments have lengthy been a method to introduce novelty into Eurovision songs. The 2000s noticed a number of winners comply with this components, together with Olsen Brothers' Fly on the Wings of Love for Norway (2000), and Serbia's Molitva in 2007.

However as Bennett factors out, although they're nonetheless current in round a fifth of finalists, no tune with a last refrain key change has gained since Molitva virtually 20 years in the past.

Stengaard's tune for this 12 months's UK act Bear in mind Monday is definitely stuffed with surprises. BBC music correspondent Mark Savage stated the tune featured "a dizzying array of key adjustments and tempo shifts".

The tune is the songwriter's reply to the query he asks himself each time he writes for Eurovision: "How do you stand out in a contest the place everybody desires to face out?"