Eurovision Hopes: Ukrainian Kalush Orchestra and British Sam Ryder Favorite for Tonight’s Singing Competition

British booksellers are currently offering 7/18 Ukrainian wins at the Eurovision Song Contest in Turin, Italy. , should unite voters across Europe to support him.

Leader and writer Oleh Psyuk, who spends the entire week in Turin in his pink hat, told the BBC before the group reached the semi-finals:

“Victories in every sense are very important for our country. “So if we win, it will be another chance to show Ukraine to the world, remind people of Ukraine and raise morale across the country.”

band song Stefania It was originally inspired by Psyche’s mother, but phrases like “I will always go with you on bad roads” have been interpreted in the context of the current state of the country.

This week, Psyuk told the BBC separately: “The song was originally about my mother. None of the texts spoke of the war. But now for many Ukrainians it has become a symbol of this war. My perception of the song also changed.

Although the Eurovision Song Contest is officially apolitical, since its inception in 1956, competing artists have happily broken the system by inserting political lyrics into their songs. Politics is playing a more prominent role this year when the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) announced in February that Russia would be banned from competition following the invasion of Ukraine.

And the Kalush Orchestra was Ukraine’s second choice for the national competition, but it came to Turin when Ukrainian-born winner Alina Fashi traveled to Crimea in 2015, an area conquered by Russia one year. does. And therefore it was found ineligible to participate.

On the other side of the book, Sam Ryder, this year’s UK contender, is currently considered the second favorite to win.

This is a big change for the UK, which, although it is one of six countries to qualify for the final without qualifying for the semi-finals due to their long-term investment in EBU, has held out for almost as long. That the humiliating low scores of the decade. We will never know if this reflects the UK’s political isolation during the Brexit years, the country’s decision to leave the EU, if the music on offer was simply non-standard.

However, this year saw an almighty effort both creatively and to support the artist. Ryder songwriters cosmic man Among them is Grammy winner Amy Wage, who previously co-wrote with Ed Sheeran. Thinking aloudAnd Max Wolfgang, who previously wrote with John Legend et al. Additionally, Sam Ryder has over 12 million followers on TikTok, so he already enjoys a higher profile and larger fan base across Europe than many previous UK record holders.

Ryder considers himself lucky that the left side of the scoreboard doesn’t have the same success after recording in the UK, but the evening definitely belongs to the Kalush Orchestra and their country.