SOUND VISION AND
MARION MCMULLEN turns the spotlight on Eurovision ahead of this Saturday’s song contest
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Italy’s northern The Eurovision Song industrial city of Contest announced Turin is hosting Tiktok as its official the competition, which entertainment partner last year was viewed for the 66th by 183 million competition. The people. Italy’s social media act, Mahmood platform is and Blanco, featuring special will be programming, performing music playlists the song Brividi and behind the at the event at scenes the Pala content. Olimpico
Arena. 1
The UK’S Eurovision hopes rest on Tiktok star Sam Ryder, pictured left. The 32-year-old from Essex attracted 12 million followers covering songs during lockdown and caught the attention of music stars like Justin Bieber and Alicia Keys. He will be singing Space Man, a track he co-wrote with Grammywinning songwriter Amy Wadge, who has previously worked with Ed Sheeran and Max Wolfgang.
Pop star Mika, below, will host proceedings with singer Laura Pausini and presenter Alessandro Cattelan. Mika is best known in the UK for his 2007 album Life in Cartoon Motion. 2
Sam will be hoping to do better than recent UK entries. We’ve featured at the bottom of the Eurovision leaderboard for the past two contests, coming in last place in 2019 with Michael Rice’s Bigger Than
Us, and James Newman’s, right, Embers scoring “nul points” in
2021.
Graham Norton, below, is returning for his 13th Eurovision Song Contest and will be commentating live from Turin. The grand final will be broadcast on BBC1 and BBC iplayer and on BBC Radio 2 and BBC Sounds on Saturday. 3
Russia will not be taking part in this year’s contest following Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. The European Broadcasting Union said in a statement that the inclusion of a Russian entry would bring the contest into “disrepute”.
Italian rock band Måneskin, who managed to triumph in Rotterdam last year with their song Zitti E Buoni, will be back to perform at this year’s event, delivering a live premiere of their new single Supermodel. 4
Ukraine is currently the favourite to win the competition on Saturday. Kalush Orchestra, pictured below, are expected to top voting with their song Stefania. It mixes Ukrainian folk music with hip hop. 10
TV host
AJ Odudu will be our Eurovision spokesperson. The Strictly star will be delivering the results of the UK professional jury vote live from Salford. 10 POINTS GO TO... AJ Odudu has a vital role