The Grand Final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2024 in Malmö, Sweden, finished on Saturday night with Switzerland’s victory with the song 'The Code' performed by Nemo.
After the very last set of scores had come in, The Code was announced as the clear champion with a points tally of 591. Croatia finished in second place with Rim Tim Tagi Dim by Baby Lasagna on 547 points, followed by Ukraine (453 points), France (445 points) and Israel (375 points).
The final results. Credit: EBU
If there is a code for winning the Eurovision Song Contest, Nemo has broken it. In their music, Nemo deals with themes such as gender identity, mental health and finding one's place in this world. Nemo is the first nonbinary artist to win Eurovision, and said that they feel proud not only for themselves, but the community of people who are nonbinary or gender fluid.
In the following press conference, Nemo said that they hope there will be more empathy and understanding of each other. "We need to talk with each other and I hope tonight can be a way of remembering that."
After coming off the stage, Nemo said they felt overwhelmed. "I'm mostly just really grateful for this experience and all the friends I've made along the way. This was one of the most queer representations we've seen at Eurovision which was amazing, I want to shout out all the other queer artists this year."
Nemo described The Code as a unique and special song that has been elevated through the staging, and they thanked their team. The song came about when Nemo went to songwriting camp. They said that they went expecting to write songs for other people, but were asked, "Would you consider going to Eurovision yourself?"
United by Music
Switzerland, Croatia and Israel were among the favourites to win the song contest. After the semifinal, Israel with Hurricane by Eden Golan jumped up in the odds and was predicted to finish second after Croatia. In the jury vote, Israel was in 12th place but advanced to 5th place after the televote. Golan said Hurricane is a love song about strong feelings but the lyrics have also been interpreted as referring to 7 October.
United By Music was the official slogan for the Eurovision Song Contest in Malmö. Israel thought that the love message in Hurricane would conquer the Eurovision Song Contest despite the demonstrations against its participation.
The Eurovision Song Contest will now be returning to Switzerland in 2025, for the third time. The last time Switzerland won was in 1988 when Céline Dion won with Ne Partez Pas Sans Moi - Nemo is proud to have their name alongside Céline's. Switzerland was not only the first country to ever host Eurovision, but they also took the first win.
