Eurovision Song Contest: Why Gen Z have become its biggest fans

Now 67 years old, Eurovision has become loved internationally for great pop music and joyful camp. And it’s got a young fanbase who are more impassioned about it than ever, writes Nick Levine.

BBC culture \ By Nick Levine9th May 2023

There is no show on earth quite like the Eurovision Song Contest. Launched by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) in 1956 and held every year since – except for 2020, when Covid-19 made it impossible – it has grown into an uncategorisable but galvanising international extravaganza. The format is simple but has been tweaked over the decades. Each country sends an act to perform an original song of no more than three minutes in length. Then, after every song has been heard, each country awards two sets of points ranging from one to 12 to its favourite performances: one set is decided by a jury of industry experts; the other is voted for by the public. The winner is the act with the highest points total. In 2017, Portugal’s Salvador Sobral achieved an enormous score of 758 with his emotional ballad Amar Pelos Dois – a record that still stands.

Along the way, it has built a reputation for ahead-of-the-curve LGBTQ+ inclusivity, which has ever deepened its devoted gay fanbase and, more recently, helped to grow its Gen Z audience. In 1998, Israel’s Dana International became the first openly trans person to compete at Eurovision; she then made further history the same year as the first openly LGBTQ+ winner when her stunning club-pop anthem Diva topped the leader board. Seventeen years later, the contest was won by another queer icon, Austrian singer and drag queen Conchita Wurst, whose winning song Rise Like a Phoenix really showed off her mighty vocal range.

Eurovision has made a name for its progressive, LGBTQ+ inclusivity, thanks to performers including 2015 victor Conchita Wurst (Credit: Getty Images)

Though its popularity is still growing in North America – helped by Will Ferrell’s 2020 Netflix film Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga, an affectionate send-up – in many parts of the world it is already synonymous with polished songwriting, inventive staging and unabashed camp. “Eurovision is about community, kindness, acceptance, diversity and live performance,” says singer-songwriter SuRie, who represented the United Kingdom at the 2018 contest. “It also has a healthy smattering of competition to keep us all raising our games and striving to be the best versions of ourselves.”

The 2023 contest is being held in the UK city of Liverpool this week, building up to the grand final on Saturday. Acts from 37 countries are taking part, including several from outside of Europe. Inclusivity and cooperation have always been key tenets of Eurovision, which was founded in order to allow Europe’s national broadcasters to create a cost-effective live show by pooling resources, so inconvenient geography is not seen as a bar to entry. By virtue of its public broadcaster being a member of the EBU, Israel first competed in 1973 and has won four times, while Australia has been a Eurovision mainstay since 2015, when it was invited to take part as a one-off for the contest’s 60th anniversary because of its popularity with audiences there. Because it entered into the Eurovision spirit so fervently, the Antipodean nation has been asked back every year since.

Eurovision is well over 60 years old now, but in a way, it could almost have been designed with social media in mind – Rob Lilley

The contest is also full of musical quirks. Over the years it has evolved into a multi-genre smorgasbord where dance divas go head-to-head with rock bands, and rap acts rub shoulders with balladeers. Last year’s leaderboard was led by Ukraine’s Kalush Orchestra; their winning song Stefania blended hip-hop and traditional folk music with infectious pop hooks. It is customary for the winning country to host the following year’s contest, but because of the ongoing war in Ukraine, 2022 runners-up the UK are hosting on the winners’ behalf.

Eurovision has a rich history that includes helping to launch the international careers of Swedish pop legends Abba, who won the 1974 contest with Waterloo, and Canadian superstar Celine Dion, who claimed victory for Switzerland in 1988 with Ne partez pas sans moi. Four years before Grease made her an era-defining icon, Olivia Newton-John represented the UK at the 1974 event, finishing fourth behind Abba with Long Live Love. However, despite this impressive back catalogue and the contest’s fondness for nostalgia – among the special guests this year are Liverpool-born singer Sonia, who competed for the UK back in 1993 – Eurovision is not an institution in the shadow of its history: indeed, it is now more relevant than ever. According to the EBU, last year’s contest in Turin, Italy was watched by 161 million people across 34 markets where viewership was measured. That represented a rise of seven million year-on-year.

The secret of its enduring success

Even more impressively, Eurovision is now especially popular with Gen Z viewers, a demographic less wedded to live TV broadcasts than any other. In the 34 markets measured by the EBU, last year’s grand final attracted 56% of the total TV audience aged 15 to 24 – a proportion four times higher than average. So, it comes as no great surprise that for the second year running, youth-focused social media app TikTok has teamed with Eurovision as its “Official Entertainment Partner”. Rob Lilley, presenter and producer of The Euro Trip, a weekly Eurovision-themed podcast, says the contest’s fast-paced format makes it incredibly “Gen Z-friendly”. No song is allowed to exceed three minutes, and the “postcards” – or VTs – that introduce entrants to viewers last just 40 seconds each.

Abba are Eurovision’s most famous ever winners, triumphing as relative unknowns in 1974 with Waterloo (Credit: Getty Images)

“Viewers’ attention spans are shorter these days, but with Eurovision, there’s always something happening to grab your attention,” Lilley says. This could be the next country’s song, the interval performances that take place while votes are being counted, or each country in turn announcing its televote results. Lilley also points out that the show’s eclectic content and authentic live tension make it ripe to provoke online discussion: everyone will have an opinion on who does – and doesn’t – deserve to do well. “Eurovision is well over 60 years old now, but in a way, it could almost have been designed with social media in mind,” he says.

However, Eurovision’s Gen Z appeal is predicated on more than just the quirks of its structure. Whereas older generations have sometimes viewed the contest dismissively as “tacky” or a triumph of spectacle over songcraft – an unfair criticism given that the two often go hand-in-hand at Eurovision – younger viewers are more likely to perceive it as a world-class platform. “I think the secret to the contest’s ongoing success is the way it’s been able to adapt so that it’s still a relevant contest for credible acts to compete in,” says Daniel Rosney, who reports on Eurovision for the BBC. He points out that Italian band Måneskin have gone on to achieve “global domination” after winning in 2021 with their stomping rock song Zitti e buoni. In the months following their Eurovision triumph, Måneskin even climbed into the upper reaches of the Billboard Hot 100 with a funky cover of the Four Seasons’ Beggin’.

Eurovision is more than just a contest. It’s about loads of different cultures and people coming together because of music, and I think people unconsciously need this – Alessandra

Earlier in 2021, Duncan Laurence’s stunningly stark ballad Arcade became the first Eurovision song in 25 years to crack the Billboard Hot 100. Laurence had won the contest for his native Netherlands two years earlier, but Arcade became an even bigger success after going viral on TikTok. “TikTok has changed things in some ways – like streaming platforms did before that,” says Rosney. “It gives [Eurovision] artists a second chance at getting their songs heard.” This happened last year when Armenia’s Rosa Linn saw her folky Eurovision entry Snap become a global hit after it gathered momentum on the app. Linn’s success was even more remarkable given that Snap had finished Eurovision in a relatively lowly 20th place.

Singer-songwriter Daði Freyr, who was due to represent Iceland at the 2020 contest before it was nixed by Covid, and then finished fourth a year later after being re-selected, believes Eurovision has “had a huge impact” on his career. He says he “would never have written” his Eurovision songs Think About Things and 10 Years “in the way that I did” without keeping the contest closely in mind. “Eurovision is a huge opportunity to get your music heard by a wider audience,” he says. “I was very aware of this and tried to capitalise as much as I could so this would be as big a step [up] in my career as possible.” Freyr’s strategy paid off: although he never got to perform Think About Things at Eurovision, his warm-hearted track struck a chord with the contest’s fanbase during lockdown. It has now racked up nearly 130 million Spotify streams.

Last year’s competition was poignantly won by Ukraine’s Kalush Orchestra (Credit: Getty Images)

Freyr also argues that Eurovision appeals to “younger people” in particular because its inclusive spirit allows them “to be themselves and like whatever they like”. It is arguable that this ethos of radical acceptance is what unites the contest’s overlapping LGBTQ+ and Gen Z fanbases. Alessandra, a 20-year-old singer who is representing Norway at this year’s event with Queen of Kings, a techno-folk banger about owning her bisexuality, agrees with Freyr. “It’s a lot [easier] to be yourself in this community, and unfortunately that’s not always what it’s like in society,” she says. “Eurovision is more than just a contest. It’s about loads of different cultures and people coming together because of music, and I think people unconsciously need this.” Indeed, Eurovision 2023 has the theme “united by music”, a reflection of the “unique partnership” between the UK and Ukraine that this year’s contest is built on. But at the same time, this idea has almost certainly been guiding Eurovision since the very first contest in 1956. And long may it continue.

UK viewers can find Eurovision coverage on BBC TV and Radio this week

US viewers can watch Eurovision on Peacock, with the second semi-final streaming on Thursday May 11 at 3pm ET, and the final streaming on Saturday May 13 at 3pm ET.

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