Eurovision Song Contest 2018

The Eurovision Song Contest 2018 was the 63rd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Lisbon, Portugal, following the country's victory at the 2017 contest with the song "Amar pelos dois" by Salvador Sobral. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Rádio e Televisão de Portugal (RTP), the contest was held at the Lisbon Arena, and consisted of two semi-finals on 8 and 10 May, and a final on 12 May 2018. The three live shows were presented by Portuguese television presenters Filomena Cautela, Sílvia Alberto and Catarina Furtado, and Portuguese-American actress Daniela Ruah, marking the first time that the contest was presented by four hosts.
Forty-three countries participated in the contest, equalling the record of the 2008 and 2011 editions. Russia returned after their absence from the previous edition, and for the first time since 2011, no country that participated in the previous edition withdrew.
The winner was Israel with the song "Toy", performed by Netta and written by Doron Medalie and Stav Beger. Cyprus, Austria, Germany, and Italy rounded out the top five, with Cyprus achieving its best result to date. Israel won the public vote, and came third in the jury vote behind Austria and Sweden. Further down the table, the Czech Republic also achieved its best result to date, finishing sixth.
The EBU reported that 186 million viewers watched the contest, surpassing the 2017 edition by over 4 million.
The Lisbon Arena is a multi-purpose indoor arena built for the Expo '98 and has a capacity of 20,000 attendees, making it the largest indoor venue in Portugal and among the largest in Europe. It is located in the Parque das Nações (Park of Nations) riverside district in the northeast of Lisbon, which was completely renovated to host the 1998 world's fair. It is connected by metro to the nearby international airport and by train (Oriente Station) to the rest of the country and Europe.
On the day of the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 final, it was reported that Portuguese broadcaster Rádio e Televisão de Portugal (RTP) would accept the challenge of organising the 2018 contest in case of a victory. Following Sobral's triumph, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU)'s Executive Supervisor for the Eurovision Song Contest, Jon Ola Sand, issued the hosting invitation to RTP during the winner's press conference. The following day, the director-general of RTP, Nuno Artur Silva, confirmed that the broadcaster would organise the contest in 2018 and mentioned the Lisbon Arena as a likely venue to host the contest. On 15 May 2017, RTP appeared to have confirmed Lisbon as the host city, but clarified the following day that no final decision had been taken regarding both the host city and venue.
The basic requirements to select a host city were set out in a document presented by the EBU to RTP following their win in Kyiv:
Besides Lisbon, other cities signalled their interest in bidding to host the 2018 contest: Braga, Espinho, Faro, Gondomar, Guimarães, and Santa Maria da Feira. The mayor of Porto, Rui Moreira, declared he would not be interested in "spending millions of euros" to host the contest, but he would support a bid from the Metropolitan Area of Porto (Espinho, Gondomar, and Santa Maria da Feira).
On 13 June 2017, RTP representatives met with the Eurovision Song Contest Reference Group at the EBU headquarters in Geneva. During the meeting, RTP officials attended a workshop covering several topics related with hosting the Eurovision Song Contest and learned from the experience of the Ukrainian broadcaster UA:PBC. They also had the opportunity to present their first plans for the 2018 contest, including multiple proposals for the host city and venue.
On 25 July 2017, the EBU and RTP announced that Lisbon had been selected as the host city, overcoming confirmed bids from Braga, Gondomar, Guimarães, and Santa Maria da Feira. In addition, RTP indicated the Parque das Nações, where the Lisbon Arena is located, as the site for the shows.
Key: † Host venue
The Eurovision Village was the official Eurovision Song Contest fan and sponsors area during the event weeks, where it was possible to watch performances by contest participants and local artists, as well as the live shows broadcast from the main venue. It was located in Lisbon's downtown Praça do Comércio (also called Terreiro do Paço), a large central square open to the Tagus river.
The EuroClub was the venue for the official after-parties and private performances by contest participants. Unlike the Eurovision Village, access to the EuroClub was restricted to accredited fans, delegations, and press. It was located at the "Ministerium" club, next to the Eurovision Village.
The "Blue Carpet" event, where all the contestants and their delegations are presented before the accredited press and fans, took place on 6 May 2018 at the Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology (MAAT) in Lisbon's Belém district. This preceded the official Opening Ceremony of the 2018 contest, which took place at the nearby Electricity Museum.
Eligibility for participation in the Eurovision Song Contest requires a national broadcaster with active EBU membership, or a special invitation from the EBU as in the case of Australia.
It was initially announced on 7 November 2017 that forty-two countries would participate in the contest. Russia confirmed their return after their absence the previous edition, while Macedonia's participation was provisionally blocked by the EBU due to unpaid debts by its national broadcaster MRT. However, ten days later, it was announced that Macedonia would be allowed to enter the contest, raising the number of participating countries to forty-three, equaling the highest number of participants with the 2008 and 2011 editions.
The contest featured two representatives who also previously performed as lead vocalists for the same countries. Alexander Rybak won for Norway in 2009 performing "Fairytale" (and also sang entry No. 1500) and Waylon placed second for the Netherlands in 2014 as part of The Common Linnets performing "Calm After the Storm".
The contest also featured Jessica Mauboy, representing Australia, after taking part in 2014 as the interval act for the second semi-final, performing "Sea of Flags". In addition, the contest featured four lead singers previously participating as backing vocalists, two of them for the same countries. Lea Sirk backed for Slovenia in 2014 and off-stage in 2016, and Equinox member Vlado Mihailov backed for Bulgaria in 2017. Cesár Sampson, representing Austria, backed for Bulgaria in 2016 (also as a dancer) and off-stage in 2017. SuRie, representing the United Kingdom, backed for Belgium in 2015 (also as a dancer) and was the musical director again for Belgium in 2017. Sara Tavares, who performed in the interval act, was the representative from Portugal in the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest, with the song "Chamar a música" reaching 8th place.
Active EBU member broadcasters in Andorra, Luxembourg and Slovakia confirmed non-participation prior to the announcement of the participants list by the EBU. Despite hopes expressed by past Turkish representatives Sertab Erener (2003 winner), Hadise (2009) and maNga (2010), Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey Bekir Bozdağ and Turkish broadcaster TRT denied any plans for a return of the country.
Kazakh broadcaster Khabar Agency became an associate member of the EBU on 1 January 2016. This opened up the possibility of their participation since 2017, under the condition of a special invitation, as for Australia. The country was not invited in 2017 but broadcast all the shows. Turkvision Song Contest 2014 winner Zhanar Dugalova expressed interest in representing her country at the 2018 contest; however, the country was not invited in 2018 either and it did not appear on the final list of participants.
Kosovan broadcaster RTK, with the support of national broadcasters across the Balkans (except for Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia), expressed hopes to become an EBU member in order to debut at the 2018 contest; however, the EBU clarified that this was not possible due to the limited international recognition of Kosovo and the country not being a UN member.
The theme for the contest, "All Aboard!", was unveiled on 7 November 2017 in a press conference held at the Lisbon Oceanarium. Its visual design features oceanic motifs that allude to Lisbon and Portugal's location on the Atlantic coast and to the country's seafaring history. Alongside the main emblem, which depicts a stylised seashell, twelve supplemental emblems were designed to symbolise different aspects of the marine ecosystem.
The stage design for the 2018 contest was revealed on 5 December 2017 and was designed by German production designer Florian Wieder, who also devised the stage concepts for the 2011–12, 2015 and 2017 contests. Drawing inspiration from Portugal's nautical heritage and culture, the circular stage consisted of a series of overhead LED edge-lit concentric circles depicting an armillary sphere, with 28 pairs of 4.5m × 13.5m vertical wooden 'ribs' at the rear of the stage to represent sea waves.
Unlike in previous years, RTP decided against implementing LED screens or projections into the stage design, influenced by the stage performance of "Amar pelos dois" the year prior and Sobral's comments upon receiving the winner's trophy, where he stated "music isn't fireworks, music is feeling." The decision was not embraced by all participating countries; some delegations opted to continue using video content, computer-generated graphics and "more [props] than ever before" during performances, which was met by mixed reaction.
The postcards, filmed between March and April 2018, involved the act emerging from a door into Portugal to take part in a themed activity, such as mountain biking, making a salad or pastel de nata, or visiting popular attractions. The location where the activity took place was written in Portuguese at the start of the postcard. At the end of the postcard, the act posed for the camera, the slogan's hashtag appeared on the bottom corner of the screen, and song information was printed onto the country's flag. All the postcards had the same score, composed by Luis Figueredo.
RTP and EBU announced on 8 January 2018, that the contest would be hosted for the first time by four female presenters, consisting of RTP hosts Sílvia Alberto, Filomena Cautela, and Catarina Furtado, together with actress Daniela Ruah. It was the first time since 2015 that the contest did not feature a male presenter, and the second consecutive year that the presenters were all the same gender. It was confirmed on 4 May 2018 that Cautela would also host the green room.
The Blue Carpet opening ceremony was hosted by actress Cláudia Semedo [pt], radio host Inês Lopes Goncalves [pt], actor/TV host Pedro Granger [pt] and actor/director Pedro Penim [pt]. Granger and Penim moderated the press conferences, as well.
On 27 April 2018, the EBU announced changes to the jury voting system for the 2018 contest. Each ranking position between first and last would be assigned a predefined value, starting with the value of 12 for a first rank and decreasing exponentially for lower ranks. The sum of these scores for all twenty-six songs from the five jury members then create the national jury result for each participating country. The exponential weight model gives more weight to higher-ranked songs, thereby lessening the impact of an individual juror placing a song lower in their rankings on the final result.
The draw to determine the allocation of the participating countries into their respective semi-finals took place on 29 January 2018 at 13:00 CET, at the Lisbon City Hall. The thirty-seven semi-finalists were divided over six pots, based on historical voting patterns as calculated by the contest's official televoting partner Digame. The purpose of drawing from different pots was to reduce the chance of "bloc voting" and to increase suspense in the semi-finals. The draw also determined which semi-final each of the six automatic qualifiers – host country Portugal and "Big Five" countries France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom – would broadcast and vote in. The ceremony was hosted by contest presenters Sílvia Alberto and Filomena Cautela, and included the passing of the host city insignia from Vitali Klitschko, mayor of Kyiv (host city of the previous contest) to Fernando Medina, mayor of Lisbon.
With the approval from the contest's reference group, Italy broadcast and voted in the second semi-final following a request from Italian broadcaster RAI, as the date of the first semi-final coincided with the scheduled final of the fifth season of The Voice of Italy.
The first semi-final took place on 8 May 2018 at 20:00 WEST (21:00 CEST). Nineteen countries participated in this semi-final, with the running order published on 3 April 2018. Israel won the most points, followed by Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Austria, Estonia, Ireland, Bulgaria, Albania, Lithuania and Finland. The countries that failed to reach the final were Azerbaijan, Belgium, Switzerland, Greece, Armenia, Belarus, Croatia, Macedonia, and Iceland. All the countries competing in this semi-final were eligible to vote, plus Portugal, Spain, and the United Kingdom.
The interval, which solely consisted of pre-recorded segments, included a performance of "Amar pelos dois" by 2017 entrants Alma, Blanche, Kristian Kostov, Manel Navarro, Martina Bárta, Norma John, and Svala; "Planet Portugal", a video sketch inspired by National Geographic featuring Herman José; and "Esclopedia", a video skit about the contest's history. The Portuguese, Spanish and British artists were then interviewed, and clips of their competing songs were played.
The second semi-final took place on 10 May 2018 at 20:00 WEST (21:00 CEST). Eighteen countries participated in this semi-final, with the running order published on 3 April 2018. Norway won the most points, followed by Sweden, Moldova, Australia, Denmark, Ukraine, Netherlands, Slovenia, Serbia, and Hungary. The countries that failed to reach the final were Romania, Latvia, Malta, Poland, Russia, Montenegro, San Marino, and Georgia. All the countries competing in this semi-final were eligible to vote, plus France, Germany and Italy.
The interval acts included a dance medley of "Puppet on a String", "Dschinghis Khan", "Making Your Mind Up", "Euphoria" and Riverdance, performed by the presenters; a pre-recorded segment depicting the recording of the postcards; a short documentary about the Portuguese 1974 entry "E depois do adeus" and its impact on the Carnation Revolution; plus new instalments of "Esclopedia" and "Planet Portugal". The French, German and Italian artists were then interviewed, and clips of their competing songs were played.
The final took place on 12 May 2018 at 20:00 WEST (21:00 CEST). Twenty-six countries participated in the final, with all forty-three participating countries eligible to vote. The running order for the final was published on 10 May 2018. Israel won the contest with the song "Toy", performed by Netta and written by Doron Medalie and Stav Beger. Israel won with 529 points, also winning the televote. Cyprus came second with 436 points, with Austria (who won the jury vote), Germany, Italy, the Czech Republic, Sweden, Estonia, Denmark, and Moldova completing the top ten. Slovenia, Spain, United Kingdom, Finland, and Portugal occupied the bottom five positions.
The final was opened by Portuguese fado singers Ana Moura and Mariza performing "Fado loucura" and "Barco negro" respectively. This was followed by the flag parade, introducing all twenty-six finalists, accompanied with music by Portuguese scratching duo Beatbombers. The interval acts included a medley of "Ter peito e espaço", "Nova Lisboa", and "Reserva pra dois", performed by DJ Branko and featuring Sara Tavares & Plutónio, Dino D'Santiago, and Mayra Andrade respectively; a video sketch about the history of Portugal in the Eurovision Song Contest, featuring Suzy; an interview with Polina Bogusevich, winner of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2017; and Salvador Sobral, who performed his new single "Mano a mano" and his winning song "Amar pelos dois", the latter in a duet with Brazilian singer Caetano Veloso, with both songs featuring piano accompaniment by Júlio Resende.
The spokespersons announced the 12-point score from their respective country's national jury in the following order:
The ten qualifiers from the first semi-final were determined by televoting and/or SMS-voting (50%) and five-member juries (50%). All nineteen countries competing in the first semi-final voted, alongside Portugal, Spain, and the United Kingdom. The ten qualifying countries were announced in no particular order, and the full results of how each country voted was published after the final had been held.
Below is a summary of all 12 points received in the first semi-final. In the jury vote, Israel received the maximum score of 12 points from seven countries, with Austria receiving three sets of 12 points. Albania, Bulgaria, and Cyprus were awarded two sets of 12 points each, and Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Estonia, Ireland, and Lithuania were each awarded one set of 12 points. In the public vote, Cyprus received the maximum score of 12 points from five countries, with Estonia and Ireland receiving three sets of 12 points. Czech Republic and Lithuania were awarded two sets of 12 points each, and Albania, Armenia, Austria, Belarus, Finland, Greece, and Israel were each awarded one set of 12 points.
The ten qualifiers from the second semi-final were determined by televoting and/or SMS-voting (50%) and five-member juries (50%). All eighteen countries competing in the second semi-final voted, alongside France, Germany, and Italy. The ten qualifying countries were announced in no particular order, and the full results of how each country voted was published after the final had been held.
Below is a summary of all 12 points received in the second semi-final. In the jury vote, Sweden received the maximum score of 12 points from nine countries, with Australia and Norway receiving three sets of 12 points. Moldova and Romania were awarded two sets of 12 points each, and the Netherlands and Serbia were each awarded one set of 12 points. In the public vote, Denmark received the maximum score of 12 points from six countries, with Moldova receiving five sets of 12 points. Romania and Serbia were awarded two sets of 12 points each, and Hungary, Norway, Poland, Russia, San Marino, and Ukraine were each awarded one set of 12 points.
The results of the final were determined by televoting and jury voting in all forty-three participating countries. The announcement of the jury points was conducted by each country individually, with the country's spokesperson announcing their jury's favourite entry that received 12 points, with the remaining points shown on screen. Following the completion of the jury points announcement, the public points were announced as an aggregate by the contest hosts in ascending order starting from the country which received the fewest points from the televoting.
Below is a summary of all 12 points received in the final. In the jury vote, Austria received the maximum score of 12 points from nine countries, with Sweden receiving eight sets of 12 points. Cyprus received the maximum score from six countries, Israel was awarded five sets of 12 points, and Germany received four sets of 12 points. Estonia was awarded two sets of 12 points each, and Albania, Denmark, France, Italy, Lithuania, Moldova, Norway, and Serbia were each awarded one set of 12 points.
In the public vote, Israel received the maximum score of 12 points from eight countries, with Lithuania receiving five sets of 12 points. Serbia received the maximum score from four countries, and Cyprus, Denmark, Italy, and Ukraine were each awarded three sets of 12 points. Albania, Czech Republic, Estonia, Germany, and Moldova received two sets of maximum scores each, and Bulgaria, Hungary, the Netherlands, and Spain were each awarded one set of 12 points.
The European Broadcasting Union provided international live streams with no commentary of both semi-finals and the final through their official YouTube channel. The live streams were geo-blocked to viewers in Bolivia, Canada, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, United States, Uruguay and Venezuela due to rights limitations.
Countries may add commentary from commentators working on-location or remotely at the broadcaster. Commentators can add insight to the participating entries and the provision of voting information.
Following eventual winner Netta's performance of her song "Toy", critics of the song accused Netta of appropriating Japanese culture, with several users taking to social media to call the performance "offensive". The accusations were made after she wore a kimono and buns, as well as Maneki-nekos being shown during the performance.
The topic was debated on British morning show Good Morning Britain on 14 May 2018 in response, with television presenters Trisha Goddard and Piers Morgan defending Netta by stating that she was simply implementing elements of Japanese culture due to her own appreciation of it. English journalist Rebecca Reid disagreed, arguing, "It's not a beautiful, loving representation of real Japanese culture. It's a costume".
On 10 January 2018, it had emerged on Russian social media site VK that Alekseev had performed a Russian-language version of his EuroFest entry "Forever" (as "Navsegda") in May 2017 in Stavropol – before 1 September 2017, the submission deadline set by the EBU, potentially violating the rules of the contest. Six artists threatened to withdraw from the selection if it were allowed to compete, with Sofi Lapina actually doing so. Alekseev was ultimately allowed to compete by BTRC following a melodic revamp of the song, and went on to win the selection, thus earning the right to represent Belarus in the contest. However, on 23 February 2018, it was reported that the EBU had given Alekseev permission to perform his original English-language version of the song at the contest, and he would opt to sing that version of the song in May. A few weeks after that announcement, on 28 March 2018, Alekseev premiered a new version of his entry with a lighter intro and additional choir at the end of the track. He also confirmed that this version would be the one performed in Lisbon.
On 29 April 2018, during the first rehearsal of the Czech Republic's performance, Mikolas Josef reportedly sustained injuries to his back while rehearsing and was subsequently hospitalised. Josef subsequently posted an update on his Instagram, stating, "I can confirm that I got injured during the rehearsal and the situation got worse after several hours. I can't even walk now. Got back from the first hospital and I am now heading to another one". He also stated that he would, however, "perform no matter what". Josef's performance in the first semi-final on 8 May was slightly altered to accommodate his injuries.
During the Chinese broadcast of the first semi-final on Mango TV, the performances of Albania and Ireland were edited out of the show, along with their snippets in the recap of all 19 entries. Albania was cut due to a ban on television performers displaying tattoos that took effect in January 2018, while Ireland was censored due to its representation of a homosexual couple on-stage. In addition, the LGBT flag and tattoos on other performers were also blurred out from the broadcast. As a result, the EBU terminated its partnership with Mango TV, citing that censorship "is not in line with the EBU's values of universality and inclusivity and its proud tradition of celebrating diversity through music," which led to a ban on televising the second semi-final and the final in the country. A spokesperson for the broadcaster's owner Hunan TV said they "weren't aware" of the edits made to the programme. Ireland's representative Ryan O'Shaughnessy told the BBC in an interview that "they haven't taken this lightly and I think it's a move in the right direction, so I'm happy about it."
The performance of SuRie, who represented the United Kingdom, in the final was disrupted by a man who rushed onto the stage and grabbed her microphone, reportedly shouting "For the Nazis of the UK media, we demand freedom! War is not peace." The man, later identified as 'Dr ACactivism', a political activist from London, climbed into a camera run to get access to the stage. SuRie was able to complete her performance, and after the song the broadcast cut to an unscheduled interview in the green room. The EBU offered SuRie and her team the opportunity to perform again, but she declined. SuRie later revealed that she had suffered several bruises on her right hand. Shortly after the live broadcast on YouTube, the final was taken down and reuploaded in its entirety, with SuRie's interrupted performance edited out and substituted with her jury show performance from the previous evening. The official reupload also retains the unscheduled green room interview with the Ukrainian delegation that followed the stage invasion. The official DVD release also replaces the interrupted final performance with the previous evening's jury show performance. However, the BBC uploaded the original performance, including the stage invasion, to its YouTube channel.
In addition to the main winner's trophy, the Marcel Bezençon Awards and the Barbara Dex Award were contested during the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest. The OGAE, "General Organisation of Eurovision Fans" voting poll also took place before the contest.
The Marcel Bezençon Awards, organised since 2002 by Sweden's then-Head of Delegation and 1992 representative Christer Björkman, and 1984 winner Richard Herrey, honours songs in the contest's final. The awards are divided into three categories: Artistic Award, Composers Award, and Press Award. The winners were revealed shortly before the Eurovision final on 12 May.
OGAE, an organisation of over forty Eurovision Song Contest fan clubs across Europe and beyond, conducts an annual voting poll first held in 2002 as the Marcel Bezençon Fan Award. After all votes were cast, the top-ranked entry in the 2018 poll was also the winner of the contest, "Toy" performed by Netta; the top five results are shown below.
The Barbara Dex Award is a humorous fan award given to the worst dressed artist each year. Named after Belgium's representative who came last in the 1993 contest, wearing her self-designed dress, the award was handed by the fansite House of Eurovision from 1997 to 2016 and is being carried out by the fansite Songfestival.be since 2017.
Eurovision Song Contest: Lisbon 2018 is the official compilation album of the contest, put together by the European Broadcasting Union and released by Universal Music Group digitally on 6 April 2018 and physically on 20 April 2018. The album features all 43 participating entries, including the semi-finalists that failed to qualify for the grand final.