Eurovision 2021

The Eurovision Song Contest is a music event inspired by the Sanremo Festival (yes, really), held in a spirit of light-heartedness, tongue-in-cheek fun and harmony between the various countries.

Nobody expects to hear good music - after all, the rules state that competing songs can't run longer than three minutes - but rather to have fun soaking up some wholesome trash, complete with sequins, questionable costumes and pyrotechnics.

This year the event was held in Rotterdam, in the Netherlands, and saw Italy's own Måneskin take the crown.

The story of the final

As always, the stage saw a bit of everything: from the imitators of Britney Spears, Lady Gaga and Destiny's Child (Moldova, Cyprus and Serbia), to the usual eurodance tracks propelled by a cheesy, vaguely Middle Eastern-tinged drop (Azerbaijan, San Marino, Albania), the Gen Z quota (Bulgaria, Israel), the playful bits of trash (Germany) and the tearjerker ballads (Norway). Belgium's Hooverphonic remind us that at Eurovision there's room even for people who can actually sing, though their song is flat and lacks any real bite.

Finland, meanwhile, had a thought for anyone who, like me, was a teenager in the early 2000s: Blind Channel, with their "Dark Side" and a brazenly edgy attitude, resurrect nu metal. Which perhaps was better left resting among our teenage memories.

There are two versions of "Shum", the song presented by Ukraine: the first, with a more driving, techno-based rhythm - whose official video can be found on YouTube - references Chernobyl on the 35th anniversary of the nuclear disaster, complete with white anti-radiation suits, while the version performed at Eurovision draws instead on vesjanky, the spring dances of rural Ukraine.

"Shum" is the most atypical song of this edition, showered with points in the televote and also the most-voted song in Italy (this writer included), and it would certainly have deserved better than fifth place. The performance in the native tongue by Go_A, surrounded by dancer-peasants, did justice to a track that's now enjoying well-deserved success outside the competition too.

Lithuania also did well: with a disco track and a dynamic, tongue-in-cheek performance in full Eurovision style, they brought home their best result since 2006 (eighth place). Hats off too to Russia, whose bold rap - blending sounds borrowed from '80s/'90s crossover with traditional elements - urges Russian women toward self-determined, conscious empowerment (ninth place). Iceland's gentle giant didn't go unnoticed either: his "10 Years" is one of the most loved and most danced-to songs of this edition - unsurprisingly, YouTube hosts a step-by-step tutorial of the choreography, explained by Daði Freyr himself.

In third place was Switzerland's very own Sam Smith, who, despite a song thoroughly unsuited to the competition, managed to keep audiences glued to the screen thanks to his vocal talent and expressive delivery.

The juries' determination to hand France the win was obvious from the very start, but the truth is that this pop take on Edith Piaf won over the public too, even though the song works better on record than live. "Voilà" swept the televote in Belgium, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain, and it's still winning fans.

Winners without the trophy

Italy is one of the so-called "Big Five", one of the founding countries of the event - which dates back to 1956 - and, partly for this reason, one of the most beloved in the competition.

In 2017 our country was represented by Francesco Gabbani, the bookmakers' favourite and winner of the press award. It's no coincidence that his "Occidentali's Karma" had racked up 120 million YouTube views even before the final (for comparison, Måneskin's "Zitti e buoni" has 23 million views with the competition over and the win already secured). But that year it was Portugal's turn to take home the victory, whether because their representative, Salvador Sobral, suffered from serious heart problems, or because Lisbon, in 53 years, had never won before. We were closing in on a similar record ourselves, since Italy's last win dated back to 1990 with Toto Cutugno; had we not won soon, after so many near-misses, we probably would have stormed off again for another ten years, as happened in 1997.

In 2019 Italy competed with Mahmood and his "Soldi", which managed to blend a raw, autobiographical tale centred on an absent, small-minded father figure with an infectious, catchy rhythm, somewhere between pop, R&B, trap and a touch of electronica. The song was a triumph both at home and abroad, and its defeat sparked a genuine international uprising online. "Soldi" became the first Italian Eurovision entry to win the award for best lyrics and finished second, just 27 points behind the Netherlands - though, in the eyes of most, it deserved the win.

In 2020, due to the health emergency caused by CoVid2019, the event was replaced by a celebratory evening without competition, titled “Eurovision: Europe Shine a Light”; during which Diodato performed a striking version of his “Fai rumore” recorded at the Arena di Verona, which once again earned us the title of champions without a trophy.

Måneskin

With this kind of narrative behind them, it's no surprise that the bookmakers' odds had been putting us as favourites for weeks. And in the end, the win really did come, despite a performance with no set design or choreography, a callow lyric, a forty-year-old pentatonic riff, and a gender-fluid aesthetic and attitude so unconvincing on Damiano and co. that, by comparison, Achille Lauro looks like David Bowie.

Then again, when we talk about Måneskin, we're talking about a commercially successful phenomenon, driven by a carefully calculated image and a sticky-sweet sound design, therefore perfectly suited to Eurovision's target audience - but for that very reason, it's rather ridiculous to invoke “Fuori di testa” as some grand return of rock'n'roll, of great music, and above all of transgression.

Eurovision Song Contest 2022: where?

It can't be ignored, however, that Måneskin's victory could lead many people, especially young ones, to discover and fall in love with Eurovision, an event still far too underrated in our country, which we'll have the honour and pleasure of hosting next year. Rai 1's director, Stefano Coletta, said he was thrilled by this great opportunity to showcase Rai's production and editorial capabilities.

For now, the candidate cities are Rome, Bologna, Naples, Pesaro and Turin. The most likely options seem to be Rome, championed by Coletta himself, and Turin, since it had already been considered the year Gabbani took part. As for hosting duties, the name everyone agrees on is Alessandro Cattelan, who recently joined Rai and is highly fluent in English, possibly paired with Raffaella Carrà to cover the “over” quota - a familiar and much-loved face abroad, as well as one of the driving forces behind Italy's return to the competition.

Ride the wave of great music

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