Russia's Sergey Lazarev, a huge pop star
in the country, is widely tipped to win with his techno ballad, You Are The
Only One.
Australia,
France, Sweden and Ukraine are also hotly tipped for success in the
competition.
The running order for
the contest was unveiled on Friday, with the UK's Joe and Jake performing
second last.
The duo, both of whom are former
contestants of The Voice UK, were chosen to
represent Britain in a public vote in February.
Joe and Jake qualified for the final
automatically as the UK is one of the biggest financial contributors to
Eurovision, so the pair did not have to perform at the semi-final.
The contest will
be broadcast in the UK at 20:00 BST on BBC One, with commentary from Graham
Norton.
Other finalists include Ukraine - whose entrant
Jamala is the first ever Crimean Tatar to perform at the contest.
Her politically
charged song 1944 is not typical Eurovision fare - its lyrics include
references to Stalin, Crimea, and claims of ethnic cleansing.
The song has
angered Russia, which annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, as tension between
the two countries grew.
Ireland was knocked out
of the contest after former Westlife singer Nicky Byrnefailed to qualify in
Thursday's semi-final.
It has been a
bad year for Scandinavian entries.
Denmark and
Norway were knocked out in the semi-finals, which were decided based on a
combination of public and jury voting. Iceland and Finland also failed to make
it through.
However, as reigning
winners, Sweden has automatically advanced to the grand final.
The Czech
Republic has also made it to the final - the first time it has qualified since
the semi-final system was introduced in 2004.
Australian X Factor winner Dami Im, who
was mentored by pop star Dannii Minogue, was voted through to the final with
her song Sound Of Silence.
Despite being on
the other side of the world from Europe, Australia was invited to join
Eurovision for its 60th anniversary in 2015, when contestant Guy Sebastian
finished in fifth place.
Russia favourites
A victory for
singer Sergey Lazarev would mean Russia would host the contest next year for
the second time - the country first won in 2008.
Russia is known
for its controversial laws regarding homosexuality, making it an unusual host
for an event with a strong LGBT following.
Lazarev told the BBC the LGBT community will be welcomed to his country if he wins the contest.
"Gay life
exists in Russia, he said. "There is more talk and rumours about problems
than exist. I just want you to come and see everything yourself."
No comments:
Post a Comment