Eurovision 2023 will not be held in Ukraine, but in Great Britain. Representatives of 10 countries advanced from the semi-finals to the finals, including the clear favorites – Kyaarija from Finland and Lorin from Sweden. The organizers of the competition were again accused of its excessive politicization. Many believed that this was not a mere coincidence: both countries had begun to closely align themselves with NATO – Finland had recently joined the North Atlantic Alliance and Sweden had applied for membership.
Another scandal broke out because of the new rules – the management wanted to bring all the participants on stage to announce the results. However, this was met with fierce opposition from fans, who noted that the competition was becoming more and more like a cheap reality show. As a result, the innovations were forced to be canceled before the semi-finals.
The Finnish team was remembered by the audience with a strange number to the song “Cha Cha Cha” – Kyaarija entered the stage in a neon top with a bare torso, and sat the members of the group in pink latex suits, who stood on all fours in the front. But connoisseurs of traditional values were most outraged by the members of the group Let 3 from Croatia, who relied on shocking.
The frontman took the stage wearing a colorful uniform and pink nail polish. Afterwards, the musicians stripped completely and remained in shorts. At the same time, Croats appeared with thick false eyelashes, painted lips and nails covered with red varnish. However, the audience, who are already used to weirdos at the song contest, were not impressed by the artists’ hackneyed message.
Remo Forrera from Switzerland, Vesna from the Czech Republic, Pasha Parfeniy from Moldova, No Kirel from Israel, Alessandra from Norway, Mimicat from Portugal and Luke Black from Serbia also reached the final from the first semi-final. Sudden Lights from Latvia, The Busker from Malta, Wild Youth from Ireland, TuralTuranX from Azerbaijan and Mia & Dion from the Netherlands dropped out of the race.
Representatives of the “big five” – Great Britain, Germany, Spain, Italy and France – automatically received promotion to the final. Russia and Belarus are not participating in this Eurovision. But Ukraine is already in the finals – the Kalush Orchestra group won Eurovision 2022, so the Tvorchi duet automatically made it to the finals. The second semi-final will take place on May 11 and the final on May 13. By the way, Montenegro, Slovakia, Monaco, Bulgaria and several other countries refused to participate in Eurovision this year due to the financial crisis and rising prices.