Eurovision more relevant than ever, experts say

You might have already heard, but this year the Eurovision Song Contest is in Liverpool. I think the Eurovision style of music has changed over the years. If we think back to ABBA, that is very much a traditional Eurovision style. You've got a chorus, you've got a certain beat to it, but Eurovision has really changed now and it's not the same show it was 20, 30 years ago. I would say back in those days you would have to have a key change, you would have to sing in English and have a dance routine, but really the past winners for the, certainly the past decade have all been very different. You've got Portuguese jazz song, sung entirely in Portuguese, you've had the Israeli entry, which was a kind of anthem of empowerment, if you like, a Dutch ballad. So there's no real rules anymore when it comes to what is a Eurovision winner and certainly the Eurovision sound I think has changed.

I have to say first of all that the biggest thing that comes out is toxic relationships. There are a lot of entries which deal with this, which also deal with issues of anxiety, sadness. So it's a very heavy contest this year in terms of mental health issues, but I've noticed this phenomenon, the songs addressing mental health issues more and more in recent years, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic. So this is actually about a third of all entries are dealing with toxic relationships, anxiety issues, what I would call emotional and mental health issues.

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