Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Eurovision 2016: The contestants from Westlife's Nicky Byrne to the singer performing naked with wolves

The song contest might be naff but it'll never be boring

Jess Denham
Wednesday 27 April 2016 10:32 BST
Comments
The 2016 contestants will be hoping to follow Sweden's Mans Zelmerlow to glory in Stockholm
The 2016 contestants will be hoping to follow Sweden's Mans Zelmerlow to glory in Stockholm (Getty Images)

Conchita Wurst is sadly not performing in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest, but the latest bunch of contestants have most definitely still got us talking.

From Belarus’ plans to have IVAN perform stark naked surrounded by live wolves to to Ukraine’s song about the mass deportation of Tatars under Stalin and Ireland finally sending a Westlife member, the show looks set to be far from boring.

Romania’s Ovidiu Anton has been expelled before his moment in the spotlight after the country’s national broadcaster failed to pay outstanding debts stretching back to 2007, while Australia has for some reason been invited to join in again despite still not being a European country.

Joe and Jake will represent the motherland in 2016 after winning our national final, Eurovision: You Decide. The duo (yes another duo, even after last year’s awful Electro Velvet) will sing “You’re Not Alone” after bonding over peri-peri chicken while competing on The Voice.

You can watch videos of all the songs on the official Eurovision website, but here’s a quick spin through this year’s, *ahem*, talent.


For those not yet in the know, Eurovision’s newly-revamped voting system should also make things more exciting. For the first time, the jury vote and public vote will be delivered separately, with the latter only added on at the very end of the night. The suspense might just kill us.

Join us for the live final in Stockholm, Sweden on Saturday 14 May to see if we make it.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in