What are Eurovision’s rules?
Performances at Eurovision must obey a strict set of rules: Their songs must be originals unreleased prior to the contest, at most three minutes long, artists must be 16 or over, and a maximum of six performers are permitted on stage.
While the Eurovision stage has seen unusual sights from giant hamster wheels to bread-baking ovens over the years, there are limits to what performances may include: no live animals, adult content or commercial messages.
The Eurovision rules also ban political content in songs, though the deployment of this rule has been contentious. While many songs include references to peace, unity or even specific historical events, Georgia’s 2009 entry “We Don’t Wanna Put In” was disqualified over perceived references to Russian leader Vladimir Putin, while Israeli broadcaster KAN this year said it was required to make “necessary adjustments” to its entry “Hurricane” over apparent references to the Oct. 7 Hamas attack.
How are Eurovision songs introduced?
MALMÖ, Sweden — Because there’s such a tight turnaround between acts in Eurovision, the contest has traditionally played a little video before each act’s performance. They’re known as “postcards,” and oftentimes highlight locations in the host country.
This year each artists appears in a vertical video — the style popular on social media but normally eschewed by traditional broadcast media — and several do TikTok-style transitions between videos, a sign of the importance the app plays in the modern music industry.
Eurovision fans love to party
MALMÖ, Sweden — While many of the viewers watching tonight’s semifinal will be seeing the songs performed for the first time, a dedicated fandom will have had the chance to see most of tonight’s artists live over the past several months.
Thousands of fans flocked to parties in Madrid, Barcelona, London, Amsterdam and other cities to get their first glimpse at this year’s songs. And these events are crucial for new artists trying to get early buzz.
Martinus Gunnarsen, who along with his twin brother is competing for Sweden this year, said he noticed the excitement at the pre-parties.
“When we were performing and you could feel like every person in the crowd was such a Eurovision fan," he told NBC News. "And it was crazy. You know? The passion is so strong, but that’s what makes it fun.”
How security is gearing up for a controversial Eurovision
MALMÖ, Sweden — With Israel’s participation in Eurovision the source of boycott calls and protests, security in Malmö is tight. There’s a heavy police presence around the venue and at the hotels that artists are staying in. Last week Israel warned its citizens headed to Malmö to “consider the necessity of the trip.”
“We will have police officers from all over Sweden, coming to Malmö and also our Nordic police colleagues from Norway and Denmark will assist us during this week," police spokesperson Jimmy Modin told NBC News in a phone interview last week.
Malmö has seen several demonstrations against Israel since Oct. 7, but they have been peaceful, Modin said. “Nothing points to the demonstrations during Eurovision week to get violent either," he said.
Today, at the arena, security was not doing flag checks on people as they entered.
Can I vote in Eurovision?
You can. Even if your country isn’t participating, you can still vote for your favorite song. Starting from the semifinals, Eurovision allows anyone to vote here, for a small fee of just under 1 Euro ($1.08). In fact you have up to 20 votes you can allocate to whomever you like, and you can allocate multiple votes to a single artist. But each vote costs an additional fee.
For the grand final, you can start voting just before the first song until about 25 to 40 minutes after the last song. For the semifinals, you can vote after the last song for about 15 to 25 minutes, so act fast.
Malmö, Sweden, is home to Eurovision this year
The host city this year is Malmö, Sweden. The winner of the previous year’s contest (normally) gets to host the next one, so it’s Sweden’s turn because it won in 2023 with Tattoo by Loreen.
It’s the seventh time Sweden has hosted Eurovision — the country is tied with Ireland for the most wins — and this is the third time it’s taken place in Malmö.
Malmö, Sweden’s third-largest city after Stockholm and Gothenberg, is on the south-western coast of Sweden. The city is at the eastern end of the famous Øresund Bridge that connects the country with Denmark, which acted as the backdrop to a popular crime drama series, “The Bridge.”
What to expect from the first round of semifinals
Today’s semifinal kicks off at 3 p.m. ET/12 p.m. PT live from Sweden’s Malmö Arena, with the show opening with performances from three past Eurovision stars, before the contest itself kicks off.
Artists representing 15 countries are set to perform during tonight’s first semifinal for a chance to qualify for Saturday’s grand final, with another 16 set to compete in the second semifinal on Thursday. The top 10 acts from each semifinal qualify for the grand final, meaning five countries will be eliminated tonight.
Each of the 15 artists gets a maximum of three minutes to perform under Eurovision’s rules, which also restrict acts to six performers. The staging is entirely down to the competing countries, though — with competitors past using elaborate props, outlandish outfits, pyrotechnics or video graphics to stand apart from the pack.
After all 15 competing artists perform, there is an interval for the public vote to take place, with the audience treated to special performances from two familiar Eurovision faces: Irish musician Johnny Logan, one of only two people to have won the contest multiple times, and Benjamin Ingrosso, a pop star from host nation Sweden who took part in 2018.
Viewers will also get to see a sneak peek at the artists competing this year for the host nation as well as Germany and the United Kingdom, who get an automatic pass to Saturday’s grand final as the biggest financial contributors.
The interval is followed by the results. Eurovision voting during the grand final can be an infamously lengthy process, but it’s much speedier tonight, as the 10 qualifiers are announced all in one go.
What countries have been buying the most tickets?
Fans from over 80 countries will flock to Malmö Arena for Eurovision this year, with locals occupying the most seats. Swedes have purchased a third of available tickets, while British fans accounted for a fifth of total sales. Denmark, Germany, the United States and the Netherlands rounded out the top five.
“Malmö welcoming Eurovision fans and visitors from such large and diverse parts of the world is truly fantastic," said Karin Karlsson, managing director of Eurovision. "It clearly demonstrates the event’s appeal and its ability to unite people through music, culture, and diversity."
Malin Åkerman and Petra Mede tapped as co-hosts
MALMÖ, Sweden — Eurovision can be a long and drawn-out event, so having strong hosts is crucial. This year, Swedish broadcaster SVT turned to a familiar face for Eurovision fans: Petra Mede.
She hosted in 2013 by herself, and co-hosted in 2016 with the previous year’s winning Swedish contestant Måns Zelmerlöw. Joining her this year is Malin Åkerman, a Swedish-American actress, who has appeared in “The Comeback” and “Entourage.”
“There is no scene that I love more than the Eurovision because, you know, everyone has already decided that this is going to be a good night," Mede told NBC News in a Zoom interview. "You don’t have to convince anyone. There are no snobs in there. And so therefore, you know, once you get out on stage, my experience is that you’re just filled with love from the beginning.”
What countries are competing today?
The full list of performers tonight are:
- Cyprus — Silia Kapsis — “Liar”
- Serbia — Teya Dora — “Ramonda”
- Lithuania — Silvester Belt — “Luktelk”
- Ireland — Bambie Thug — “Doomsday Blue”
- Ukraine — Alyona Alyona and Jerry Heil — “Teresa & Maria”
- Poland — Luna — “The Tower”
- Croatia — Baby Lasagna — “Rim Tim Tagi Dim”
- Iceland — Hera Björk — “Scared of Heights”
- Slovenia — Raiven — “Veronika”
- Finland — Windows95man — “No Rules!”
- Moldova — Natalia Barbu — “In the Middle”
- Azerbaijan — Fahree feat. Ilkin Dovlatov — “Özünlə apar”
- Australia — Electric Fields — “One Milkali (One Blood)”
- Portugal — Iolanda — “Grito”
- Luxembourg — Tali — “Fighter”
Also, for the first time, Eurovision said this year the artists from the "big 5" countries — France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom — and host nation Sweden will each perform their entries in full live during the semifinals. But you can’t vote for them during semifinals.
Read the full set list here.