Every year, millions of us around the world consider it worthwhile to tune into the annual song celebration that is Eurovision. Some of us even choose to gather en masse for this tradition, be that at the live shows or a local venue to celebrate this TV-show come event. People with a variety of interests, from multiple cultures and traditions, all tuning in to experience the phenomenon.
What exactly is this phenomenon? At its root a song contest, it is as simple as that. Yet it is a show which can capture the imaginations and hearts of people across the world, both positively and negatively. As a fan of the show it is easy for me to shine a light on the successes of the show but over its lifetime it has not been without its critics. Alongside such controversy comes potential risk.
Accusations of unfair voting have plagued the show, leading some to call for boycotts. Rules and limitations imposed on songs, particularly regarding the contest’s “no politics” rule, can present further controversies and complications for those involved in certain circumstances. Other sceptics present the contest’s associations with certain genre’s of music, sometimes regarded with less critical acclaim as an image destroyer. Throw on top of all this that the contest is a competition between broadcasters, broadcasters who may have very different ideas and budget restraints for those involved to tackle.
So whilst many tune into this show, the reasons a person might want to get involved on a professional level are less clear cut. Does the show have enough cultural or sentimental significance to justify a participation on its own? Is the show a good move for someone’s career? Does it vary depending on the role involved in the contest and how directly linked it is? Well the only way to find out is to ask!
Why Should Anyone Care About Eurovision, Let Alone A Professional?
With all these factors at play, I wanted to find out in particular the impact of Eurovision both at a professional and a cultural level from a wide variety of people with connections to Eurovision. Then equipped with whatever new knowledge, maybe just maybe some insight on the reasons why Eurovision is important to the people involved with it would come to light.
So the Question Remains
In what ways does participation in the Eurovision Song Contest have an impact on allowing the expression of culture and how has it impacted careers?
Let’s find out, shall we?
Cheryl Baker/The Fizz
The 1981 Eurovision Song Contest was won by the United Kingdom’s entry Making Your Mind Up. The song performed by a new group, calling themselves Buck’s Fizz was the first of several commercial hits the group would go on to achieve. These days three members of the original band continue to make music together under the name The Fizz. You can check out their discography and find links to their merchandise shop at www.thefizzofficial.com.
The group were kind enough to tell me about how their experience doing the contest had an effect on their lives. Member Cheryl Baker (who also represented the United Kingdom at Eurovision 1978 as a part of Co-Co) had this to say about the experience:
“As far as The Eurovision Song Contest is concerned, it changed my life. It opened doors into television and theatre work – these are doors that I probably would not have opened. The impact of winning was life changing and phenomenal.”
Cheryl Baker of The Fizz (Eurovision 1978 & 1981, United Kingdom)
You would certainly hope being successful in the contest would be a very worthwhile experience. The extent of this worth is potentially less obvious. Is it Eurovision itself that helps to create opportunities or is Eurovision just a coincidence in an artist’s journey along the way. Baker’s experience seems to quite strongly suggest the show can act as a major springboard and not only one into the music industry.
Looking at Cheryl’s International Movie Database (IMDb) profile alone shows the sheer number of roles in other areas of the entertainment industry she has had over her career. Alongside Eurovision themed quiz shows or highlights, her career has also taken her to many seemingly non-Eurovision related programmes. From hosting shows like Record Breakers to starring in pantomimes like Cinderella, Cheryl’s career is diverse and Eurovision likely helped raise her profile and experience to get her there.
The Fizz 
Cheryl Baker
Rambo Amadeus
In 2012, Rambo Amadeus’ song Euro Neuro essentially opened the Eurovision Song Contest, being the first entry of the first semi final. The song famously featured the line “I got no ambition/ For high position in competition with air condition” and went on to fulfill this ‘prophecy’ by failing to qualify to the grand final. So presumably Rambo was not participating in Eurovision expecting to blow the competition away and gain opportunities on the grounds of contest results.
So why exactly would Eurovision be a worthwhile experience for him? If you aren’t looking for the stardom of winning Eurovision or simply didn’t end up with as good a result as the likes of Buck’s Fizz, what exactly would make Eurovision worthwhile? Had Eurovision still been significant to Rambo and maybe even his career?
“After my romance with Eurosong, nothing was changed. Neither for me, my work or my life, nor for the Eurosong contest. It was like a love between two males. Some of sex, but no children.”
Rambo Amadeus (Eurovision 2012, Montenegro)
Overall, pretty clear record companies weren’t fighting over him after the contest then but then again he had made it blatantly obvious that wasn’t his goal from participation. Rambo who calls himself a “media-manipulator” describes Eurovision as if it was an intimate love of his, even using a non-official name for the contest, very fitting from a man who uses sarcasm and humour in his work… and in his response here.
At the same time though we can see Eurovision was a brilliant outlet for Rambo to be creative. Where else would you see performance art on such a scale, in such a way. I’d hazard a guess to suggest maybe this is one of the things Rambo might love about Eurovision.
And whilst Eurovision may not have turned Rambo into an overnight global name, it doesn’t seem to have done his career any harm. His work goes on (as it always has done you could say) and can be enjoyed both on his website ramboamadeus.com and on his YouTube page.
Rambo Amadeus
Lizzy Howell
It’s not just singer’s who take part in the Eurovision Song Contest though, contrary to what the name may suggest. For as long as the contest has existed it has had television broadcasts capture the performances. These days the vast majority of viewers watch rather than solely listen to the songs. As a result many dancers have taken to the Eurovision stage to bring a whole new life to the melodies being performed.
One such dancer who has performed on the Eurovision stage is Lizzy Howell. You may well know Lizzy from her viral dance performances that can be found on popular social media platforms like TikTok and YouTube. She took to the stage as a part of fellow YouTuber, Bilal Hassani’s 2019 entry Roi. For someone with already such a large platform, I wanted to know the reasons behind why she wanted to do Eurovision.
“Eurovision has opened my eyes to so many cultures. As someone who lives in the US, I didn’t realize how many countries there were! I’ve met amazing people from all over the world that I consider family. Forever grateful for my experience! “
Lizzy Howell (Eurovision 2019, France)
When people ask what exactly Eurovision is, I feel like many of us like to describe it as the world coming together for a celebration of different cultures and music. As a result, I find it somewhat exciting and reassuring that that appears to be exactly how Lizzy felt the contest was. What makes Eurovision so special for many of us, really is that mix of people uniting over a shared love for art. In many ways Eurovision has that draw for fans and those working on it alike.
Lizzy Howell
Kseniya Simonova
This art in Eurovision is even more diverse than simply song and dance though. Delegations use all sorts of artistic mediums to get their entries to resonate with the public. We have seen trapeze artists, stilt walkers, gymnasts and even hat kicking (hallingkast) feature in performances. Not only do these types of performances require talented performers to successfully pull them off but they also have to be dreamed up and choreographed in a way that translates in a live TV show.
One person who has done both such roles at the contest is Kseniya Simonova. The Ukraine’s Got Talent winner is well known for introducing sand art to many, through several TV appearances across the world. Her incredible designs can be viewed on her website http://simonova.tv/ and you can even experience the magic of her creating them before your eyes on YouTube. She was kind enough to share with me how the different roles she got to fulfill at Eurovision impacted her career.
“First of all, I really love Eurovision. So for me, it was first of all (a) big joy. And I think joy is very important.
After I performed with Ukraine in 2011, I got many proposals to make staging acts at big events, for example, I was invited to perform at Closing Ceremony of Special Olympic Games in Athens in summer 2011, as well as I was approached by many orchestras to perform with them on one stage – after Eurovision I came to Florence and performed with Toscana Symphony orchestra in Teatro Verdi, after that I was invited to perform at Rotterdam Symphony festival… so I got many interesting collaborations with musicians.
After my second appearance at Eurovision stage with Moldova in 2019, where I developed my snow animation, I started this genre at big stages.
Concerning comparison of 2011 and 2019, it was a totally different experience. In 2011 I was just a freelance performer and I didn’t do the staging. Mika sang and I drew. It was a vacation comparing to 2019 where I did all staging – from shooting directions to light and backdrop. And also performed a genre which is much more complicated comparing to sand animation. This so called snow art is very different. I was in touch with Marvin Diettman almost every day in the period of April before we arrived. I created not only my show art story but a scenario for the cameras – which camera goes on which minute. Lighting scenario. So I got a precious experience of working as a staging director.”
Kseniya Simonova (Eurovision 2011, Ukraine & Eurovision 2019, Moldova)
Perhaps surprisingly, for Kseniya doing Eurovision a second time seemed to have been a more hectic experience. This most likely reflects just how different a role she was fulfilling the second time around, even if a lot of that work went on behind the scenes. The more you learn about Eurovision the more you appreciate just how fundamental all the preparatory and chorographical work is. Seemingly small decisions can have a large impact on how the whole performance comes across to the viewers at home.
Despite all this I think Kseniya has made it quite apparent what a wonderful opportunity this is for a stage director. Not only do you get your creative vision on display to millions but you get the chance to work alongside many talented experts and grow and develop your work. That in itself is most definitely a “precious experience”.
In a similar manner to Cheryl Baker, you could argue this Eurovision experience in itself came about as a result of participation in the contest. Opportunities you simply may not expect such as having an artist perform at a sporting event, came about after Eurovision participation and have only allowed Kseniya to develop her career.
It is truly the icing on the cake that her work is not only deeply impactful on audiences at home but that the Eurovision journey she took to get her art out to them was a “big joy” in itself.
Moldova 2019 
Moldova 2019 
Moldova 2019 
Moldova 2019 
Ukraine 2011 
Ukraine 2011
Chris West
Growing your career out of something as enjoyable and culturally significant as Eurovision is exactly what author Chris West has done. Chris has written on a vast array of topics be that business creation, crime or poetry – he’s covered it! So maybe it is a little surprising that of all the topics in the world to choose from, Chris also devoted the time to write the book Eurovision! which explores European history using Eurovision of all things as its point of reference. Chris’ website https://www.chriswest.info/ is a great place to find out more about his work and of course purchase it. I cannot recommend the book enough if you want some sort of companion for enjoying the likes of Eurovision Again in some context.
Despite just being a random TV show on the surface, Eurovision was an important enough show that he chose to explore it in his work. I wanted to know the reason for this and the impact writing a Eurovision book had had on his career:
“I had written two books on UK and US history through the lens of postage stamps, and was puzzling what would be a good lens for the next topic I wanted to tackle, modern Europe (the copyright issues involved in reproducing stamps of multiple countries were horrendous). I was watching Eurovision with my other half, as we always do, and she turned to me and said this was my way in. Spot on, of course. Researching the book was a blast – I watched all the contests on YouTube (except for 1956 and 1964, which are lost) and felt like the luckiest prospector in California in 1849. I was lucky with my publisher, who got the book reviewed in all sorts of places like the Times Literary Supplement. Good for the career? Arguably. Good for the ego? Oh, yes. But even if those hadn’t happened, the project would have been joyful: a celebration of our wonderful contest and of Europe itself.”
Chris West (Author of “Eurovision!”)
It is somewhat amusing to think that Eurovision is such a regular component of so many of our lives that we do not even think of it as the culturally rich time-capsule it is. In that sense no wonder so many people want to get involved with the contest and share a part in that history. Over half a century of music after its original conception, Europe is still living a celebration.
The way this contest manages to engage the world year after year is truly a phenomenon. The spin-off shows have never quite lived up to their big sister, we just all seem to love to praise and/or hammer her, something is unique about Eurovision. I would certainly imagine this may have helped enamour Chris as he wrote and researched the book, as well as his publisher, the newspapers and consumers. Eurovision is just something fun to write about, fun to work on even and that fun seems to spread.
Chris West
Conclusions – Is Eurovision At all Worthwhile or Important?
So what could possibly make Eurovision a worthwhile experience to actively engage in as a part of your work? Well, if these various accounts are anything to go by, quite a lot frankly!
On the sides of career advancement a number of common themes came up:
- Exposure of work to millions
- A collective hub of industry leaders, collaborating
- Networking
- Mentorship and development
Eurovision can quite clearly be worthwhile for those who wish to grow their audience and experience something new and fresh. The contest allows many people to unite and produce incredible work that people tune in year after year to consume. But even for more established artists and professionals with many connections at their disposal and many years of experience behind them, the contest can still be worthwhile. Tradition and culture can be celebrated and shared so readily on this platform that the temptation to have some fun and forge your own part of European history, may well be a draw for many. Very few may reach the immense heights of world domination, but even for those who don’t maybe just maybe there is a deeper worth to this silly song contst.
The contest is so culturally rich, people will continue to want to get involved with, love and follow Eurovision for many more years. Of that I am sure. Whether or not it is a career maker you would want to be on, I’m less sure. So is Eurovision worthwhile?
In many ways I’ll leave that up to you!
Thanks To All The Contributors To This Article
I hope you enjoyed reading the experiences of Cheryl Baker (The Fizz), Rambo Amadeus, Lizzy Howell, Kseniya Simonova and Chris West. All of whom have been incredibly generous in sharing their experiences and I do hope you check out their work. And of course if you enjoy articles like this and ESC Essence in general it would certainly help me if you share the article. Until next time folks!