Eurovision

The lyrics take an anti-EU stance, and the name of the song translates to I'll Teach You. A year later the head of the Belarusian broadcaster admitted the song was about the EU. Do you agree with the decision?

In the grandfinal:

First we have of course Ukraine with the song Heart of Steel by TVORCHI. They are two musicians, one of which who is originally from Nigeria. The song was inspired by the soldiers fighting in and around Azovstal factory. Yeah, I'm not kidding. The musicians say it's about 'not giving up in the face of danger'. The song itself is pretty good, so it's sad that the message is so bad. Watch them get a lot of votes again because it's Ukraine.

Lyrics excerpt: Don't care what you say. Don't care how you feel. Get out of my way, cos I got a heart of steel.

In the first semifinal: We have Switzerland with the song Water Gun by Remo Forrer which is about soldiers being sent to war against their will, but it sounds like something written by a 13 year old.

Lyrics excerpt: I don't wanna be a soldier, soldier. I don't wanna have to play with real blood. We ain't playin' now. Can't turn and run, no water guns.

Now we have Czechia with the song My Sister's Crown by Vesna. This is a group and their song is in English, Ukrainian, Czech and Bulgarian. Their song is basically about pan-slavism and how 'Russia won't drive a wedge between slavic countries'. Ukraine is symbolized as being the sister.

Lyrics excerpt (Translation): My sister won't stand in the corner, nor will she listen to you. My sister, wild at heart will never let you tie her down.

Then there's Croatia with Mama ŠČ! by Let 3. Now I actually really like this song even if I'm not in favour of it's message. It's a good rock song by a Croatian band who're known for their antics. The song has a lot of seemingly nonsensical lyrics but the overal message is that dictators are childish and start wars for no reason. And by that they mostly mean Putin, and they admitted to that. The band members are dressed up as military men in drag. Reminds me of the Putin is gay meme, pretty homophobic. The lead singer looks like Stalin/Putin in drag and another member is meant to symbolize Lenin in drag. That band member held two rockets at the end of the national performance with the word Njinle (Lenin). And the ŠČ is probably a reference to the Russian letter Щ.

Lyrics excerpt (translation): That little psychopath, evil little psychopath, alligator psychopath, momma, I'm going to war.

All the pro-Ukraine songs seem to be mostly in the first semi-final.

It's funny that Eurovision is somehow apolitical but all of this is okay, lol. And don't get me started on Israel and Azerbaijan participating not being a problem, or the main sponsor of Eurovision being Israeli (MoroccanOil).

But not all the songs are like this. My favourites this year are Germany, Moldova, Finland, Spain, Norway, Austria, Australia and Portugal.

I just remembered something. In 2022 and 2019 artists who won the national selection for Ukraine didn't participate in the end due to political problems. These artists are Maruv in 2019 and Alina Pash in 2022.

About Maruv: (from Wikipedia since I'm too lazy to write something) On 23 February 2019, Maruv won the final of Vidbir for the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 .[6] Her win was marred by controversy about her concerts in Russia.[7] The rights to her Eurovision song, "Siren Song", belong to the Russian record label Warner Music Russia[8][9] and the label had organised her first ever solo concert to be held in Moscow at Izvestia Hall on 6 April 2019.[10] After it became clear that she would be performing in two concerts in Russia the following months, Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Culture Vyacheslav Kyrylenko stated that artists who toured Russia or "did not recognise the territorial integrity of Ukraine" should not take part in Eurovision.

During the final, when asked on stage whether Crimea is part of Ukraine, she replied affirmatively,[11][12] and when asked if Russia was an aggressor, she replied: "If the country has a bad president, that doesn't mean that all the people who live there are evil".[13] After the show, when Ukraine's Channel 24 asked her to describe what was happening in Donbass and her position towards it, she replied: "This is a very difficult question for me to answer, because my relatives have lost their homes there and it is very difficult for me to talk about it. But I want peace to come at last and all this to be over."

On 24 February the National Public Broadcasting Company of Ukraine (UA: PBC) offered Maruv a contract; one of the terms forbid her to hold concerts in Russia.[15][7] Maruv saw no harm in performing in Russia claiming "performing concerts is my way of bringing peace," later she confirmed she was willing to postpone her concerts.[7] Maruv stated that the issue of not touring in Russia was not critical to her, and the major disagreement was about other conditions of the contract which she described as a cabal.

She said that she is a tax-paying citizen of Ukraine and genuinely loves her country, however she is not ready to turn her participation in the contest into the "promo-action of Ukrainian politicians". "I am a musician, not the baseball bat on the political arena", she said. The next day it was revealed that UA: PBC and Maruv were not able to reach an agreement on her participation in the contest.[17] Ukraine withdrew from participating in Eurovision 2019 as a result of the controversy, which they had been tipped to receive a high score.

*Maruv lives and works in Russia now.

About Alina Pash: Pash entered Vidbir 2022 with the song "Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors". She won the competition, thus gaining the right to represent Ukraine at the Eurovision Song Contest 2022.[1] However, after the competition, the Ukrainian broadcaster UA:PBC began investigating a trip Pash had taken to Crimea in 2015, under the suspicion that Pash had broken the law by not travelling there through Ukraine. In a statement, UA:PBC said "the artist's representative falsified a certificate provided to UA:PBC. The artist agreed with this decision of the organizing committee."[2] Following this investigation, it was decided via a mutual agreement between the broadcaster, Vidbir's organising committee and Pash that her participation in the contest would not go ahead.[3] Kalush Orchestra, who placed second in Vidbir 2022, were later selected to represent Ukraine at Eurovision with the song "Stefania".

*Funny part is that Alina Pash seems to be very pro-Ukraine, but even that is not enough it seems. She has close ties with Zelensky.

Yes, they said it.

And usually countries get fined if they promote political messages. Iceland was fined for having Palestinian banners in 2019, but this was okay

Totally not a normalisation of fascism there. (at 2:25)

I got banned from r/eurovision for dispelling myths about Bucha and saying the money from selling the trophy shouldn't go to Azov