A look at who could win the Eurovision finals

This weekend marks the grand final for the Eurovision Song Contest. It's a global talent competition that actually began in 1956. 16 groups from around the world performed in Thursday semifinals with only 10 acts advancing to a coveted spot in the finals. Besides the so-called Big Five European countries that automatically advance, this week's winners qualifying for the final leg of the competition include artists from Austria, Poland, the Czech Republic and many more. Alicia Michelle joins us now. She's a Eurovision YouTuber. I had never heard of such a thing before, a Eurovision YouTuber.

What is that? I mean, look, I followed the Eurovision Song, the season starts pretty early, you know. So this is like the end of a very long journey for me, so to speak. It almost sounds like the election cycle here in the United States in some ways, but let's move on from that. So how does the voting process work? So yeah, we have the votes made up of 50% juries. These are juries of industry professionals, some music folks sometimes past Eurovision participants on the juries, and then you've got the televote. But one thing that was interesting about Eurovision this year was we no longer had the juries in the semifinals. So we're really going to hear what the juries think for the first time on Saturday evening, but the public has really already made their voices heard, and that's like kind of the semifinal process.

So we've got 20 songs that the European public, and well, wait, not just the European public, actually the world, because this is the first year that people outside of Europe have had the opportunity to vote at the Eurovision Song Contest. Oh, wow, I had no idea. I lived overseas for about a decade, so I am familiar with the Eurovision Song Contest, but it's kind of a new concept here in the United States. So kind of big picture. Is it a big deal to win? It's a huge deal to win. I mean, if we look at some of the past Eurovision winners from ABBA to Celine Dion and even more recently in 2021, Monoskin. So this really can be an artist or band's introduction to the world.

So it's a huge deal. Kind of launching point. So look, last year Ukraine won and would normally host, but for security reasons, the final is being held in Liverpool, England. Will Russia's invasion of Ukraine and its alleged war crimes against civilians be addressed? I think that the BBC in conjunction with the Ukrainian broadcaster have really decided to put together a show that feels both celebratory, but also does kind of take moments, I would say throughout the course of the show to sort of recognize what is exactly going on. So even just at the semifinal one that we had on Tuesday evening, there was a tribute performance that sort of spoke to what some people were experiencing at the invasion. So I think that there's a nice balance of recognizing what is actually happening, but then also taking moments to sort of be optimistic and celebratory for Ukrainian culture and of course music and their wonderful track record at the Eurovision Song Contest. And Alicia, if you had to handicap it, who do you think is going to take the top prize? I mean, we've got a two horse race between Sweden and Finland, but they're not the only folks that are going to wow us on the stage.

So yes, I think it is a two way race between Sweden and Finland right now, but there's going to be so many other interesting acts. And I mean, honestly, you never know what's going to happen on the stage at Eurovision. Alicia, Michelle, I love your enthusiasm for this and explaining what a Eurovision YouTuber is. Thanks so much. Thank you.

Entertainment, Music