How to watch, Céline Dion rumors, predictions, time, channel and controversies

BASEL, Switzerland — Fans from around the world have descended upon the 69th Eurovision Song Contest to rally behind performers from their home countries who have been battling it out onstage all week.

In total, there are 26 performances in the grand final: the countries that got through the semifinals, plus the host country (this year, Switzerland) and a group called the Big Five — France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom — which enter the final automatically because their countries make the biggest financial contributions to Eurovision.

As the artists gear up for an extravagant, glitter-dusted pop song contest featuring their wildly over-the-top performances, thousands of spectators gather at Eurovision Village, a convention center that’s been turned into a hub for fans. Some drape national flags on their backs, others paint the flags on their faces. Many find themselves dancing until the early hours at the EuroClub, which plays nothing but Eurovision hits.

The event is what members of the Remember Monday group representing the U.K. called a cultural phenomenon, likening it to the Super Bowl in the U.S.

“Everyone knows what it is,” Holly-Anne Hull said. “And everyone, whether they like it or not, is aware of who’s won it every year.”

Here’s what else to know.

How to watch and vote

Performers will battle it out during Saturday’s grand final, which airs at 3 p.m. ET on Peacock for viewers in the U.S.

The winner of the contest is decided by a mix of votes from national juries of music professionals and viewers watching at home. People all around the world can vote for the winner using the contest’s app or online.

Who are this year’s favorites?

Gambling on Eurovision is big business, and sports betting firms — who give their two cents on the odds of each contender — have a decent track record of identifying which songs will do well at Saturday’s grand final.

This year, the favorites include Sweden, which has won the contest seven times since the first Eurovision in 1956. The group KAJ, a trio of Swedish-speaking Finns, is entering this year with “Bara Bada Bastu,” an ode to the Nordic tradition of going to the sauna. The song, which features staging re-creating a sauna complete with dancers in towels, is the most-streamed song by far from this year’s contest, according to Spotify.

Another top contender is Austria. Singer JJ, an opera singer, uses extraordinary vocal range to hit high notes throughout his song, “Wasted Love.”

The Dutch entry is also considered a front-runner. Singer Claude’s “C’est La Vie” has a mixture of French and English lyrics, and it’s this year’s third most-streamed song of the nominees on Spotify.

Other eye-catching numbers to watch for

Eurovision songs cut across genres, and while many wouldn’t be out of place on a Top 40 radio playlist, sometimes they stand out for wild lyrics or eye-popping staging.

In addition to the Swedish sauna song, this year’s entries include Icelandic act Væb. The blond brothers don oversized silver outfits and jewel-encrusted sunglasses and energetically jump around the stage during their song “Róa,” which is about rowing a boat.

Finland’s Erika Vikman singing about a “lust trance” while wearing thigh-high leather boots in “Ich Komme.” The song reaches its climax with Vikman on a giant microphone suspended in the air with sparks flying out of it.

Being weird doesn’t guarantee a spot in the final, though. This year’s Irish entry was a dance anthem imagining a world in which Laika, the Soviet dog who died after being sent to space, not only lived but “has a party in the air” and “is dancing every night among the stars.” It didn’t make it past Thursday’s semifinal.

Have there been any controversies?

As was the case last year, Israel’s participation has drawn protests over the country’s war in the Gaza Strip. This year’s contestant, Yuval Raphael, survived the Hamas-led terror attack on the Nova music festival on Oct. 7, 2023. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) bars lyrics it views as political and last year forced Israel’s entry to change lyrics that referenced the attacks.

Martin Green, director of the Eurovision Song Contest, said in a statement that the EBU, which organizes the contest, “is not immune to global events but, together with our Members, it is our role to ensure the Contest remains — at its heart — a universal event that promotes connections, diversity and inclusion through music.”

“It is not our role to make comparisons between conflicts,” he added, noting that the EBU “remains aligned with other international organizations that have similarly maintained their inclusive stance towards Israeli participants in major competitions at this time.”

The entry from Malta also prompted controversy for its lyrics to Miriana Conte’s song, “Serving.” The original version featured the Maltese word for “singing,” which sounds like a vulgar word in English. That word has been omitted in the reworked version. The singer posted on her Instagram that the EBU had made her change the words.

In a statement to Sky News, NBC’s British partner, at the time, the EBU said that “if a song is deemed unacceptable for any reason, broadcasters are given the opportunity to modify it, or select a new one, before the deadline as per the rules of the Contest.”

The Italian consumer group Codacons also filed a complaint over offensive stereotypes in Estonian Tommy Cash’s “Espresso Macchiato,” which includes lyrics that reference “sweating like a mafioso” and being “addicted to tobacco.”

A spokesperson for Eurovision did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding Estonia’s entry.

A major surprise appearance could be in store

A question on many people’s minds is whether Céline Dion — yes the Céline Dion — will make an appearance.

The award-winning artist was 20 years old when she won the competition for Switzerland back in 1988. (Although she is Canadian, artists don’t need to be from the country they represent. For example, this year, the Swedish entry is from Finland and the Irish entry is from Norway.)

Dion appeared in a video at Tuesday’s semifinal saying she “would love nothing more” than to appear at the contest. The singer has been public about her stiff-person syndrome diagnosis and gave an emotional performance at the opening ceremony of the Summer Olympics in Paris last year.

Asked via email by NBC News about the possibility of Dion appearing in person at Saturday’s final, Eurovision spokesperson Sibylle Tornay said, “There are currently no changes regarding Céline Dion — we are still in close contact with her, of course her health is the most important thing and comes first.”

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