Eurovision is back – but not without controversy

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Eurovision Introduction

2:17Welcome to Switched On Pop. I'm producer Rihanna Cruz. I'm songwriter Charlie Herding. And I'm musicologist Nate Sloan. Nate, Charlie, somehow the flowers are blooming once again. The calendar says May. Here on Switched On Pop, I think you guys know what that means. It's the campiest time of the year. The Eurovision Song Contest is upon us once again. And usually it comes with those

2:50beautiful flowers this year with some storm clouds as well. Yeah. For those of you that aren't familiar, every year the countries of Europe and assorted other locales gather to display the best songwriting that their country that their country has to offer. That could mean whatever these countries want it to mean. The competition has given us such icons as Celine Dion. And my personal obsession as of late, Dutch musician Joost Klein. Check him out if you haven't.

LIMPY Experience

3:41This year's competition is the 70th edition and it's held in Vienna, Austria, following last year's win by the artist JJ and his song Wasted Love.

4:17I love that if you are from the home of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, you must, in your Eurovision song contest song, bring in the opera. Lots of operatic vocals in Eurovision writ large. This year, you mentioned storm clouds, Charlie. It's worth noting that while Eurovision seems to pride itself on being quote unquote apolitical, this year's edition is extremely politically charged, specifically focusing on the European Broadcasting Union's inclusion of Israel in the contest. This has been

4:53a hot button issue for the past few years of the competition. In 2026, specifically, there's been a notable boycott. Artists like Massive Attack, Kneecap, Brian Eno have all signed an open letter for said boycott. The 2024 winner Nemo even returned their trophy back to the EBU. And the countries of Ireland, Spain, Iceland, Slovenia, and the Netherlands, all Eurovision powerhouses have withdrawn their

5:25participation from the contest. So these are very real concerns that are impacting the general tenor around Eurovision this year and the way the competition is perceived. For an event which is so often very lighthearted, it's now very heavy. You know, as reporters, I feel like we need to cover the event in some way and including this boycott. How do you want to go about this this year, Rihanna? Well, personally speaking, you know, I am not going to watch the competition this year. I'm sure a lot of viewers out there are holding off as well. There's ample reporting on the boycott

5:59and the history of Eurovision if people want to check that out. But I feel like Eurovision is music news and we are a music podcast. Nonetheless, we do have kind of an obligation, as we have the past couple years, to sift through some of the big submissions to the competition. So for folks who choose to not watch, maybe this is sort of like, here are the highlights of the things you need to know that you're going to skip out on. Exactly. Even if you're joining me and not watching, you'll get the gist. And even if you don't want to

6:31listen to this podcast, you could skip to the end because we will have an unrelated bingo update for all here today. Eurovision is such a crucible for the development of new sounds in global pop that despite the turmoil surrounding this event, I feel like we have to check in and hear what is percolating out there across the world. What are the sounds that we might hear sort of proliferating throughout our pop charts in the future? Okay, so there's many countries that are choosing to participate

7:03in this event. A number of them are at the very top of the game, you're saying. We're going to look at the top four. How are we going to evaluate them? So there's a couple things that go into judging these songs. The showmanship of it all is definitely important. You know, all of these songs have a visual component in the contest, and that kind of shapes people's perception of the music. But the three musical aspects of each song are its vocal qualifications, the song's composition, you know, is it new and exciting? Is it pushing boundaries?

7:37And a general impression of the song. How does it make you feel? What does it leave you with? You know, are you going to be thinking about it 10 minutes from now when the next entrant is on screen? You know, you got to think about all of these things and put them together. It is a song contest after all. So we will be looking at the songs, sans the live performance. Okay, so we're getting rid of the visual because it's a podcast. Yeah. We're talking how good is the song itself, lyrics and music? Yeah. How good is the performance? And then a little bit of je ne sais quoi, that little extra,

8:10how does it make you feel? Yeah, there's always a je ne sais quoi when it comes to Eurovision.

Delta Goodrum Analysis

8:13So without further ado, let's get into it with the top four songs. Coming in at number four, we have the artist Delta Goodrum and her song Eclipse, representing the not European but still participating country of Australia. One touch, one kiss, all my life for a night like this. The worst times for us, only love exists. The Eurovision Song Contest eclipses just Europe. As a reminder, the European Broadcast Union

8:57includes nations including in North Africa, the Middle East, and one of the associate members, not a current full-fledged member, is Australia, who somehow gets to still participate. This song feels like classic Eurovision. It's got the soaring strings. It's got the build into the anthemic chorus. It's got lyrics that when you first listen to them, you're like, yeah. And then you listen to them again, you're like, what? Like, what does it mean when we eclipse? Like,

9:30I don't understand. Like, doesn't one thing eclipse another thing? So how do you eclipse together as a verb? If someone could explain that to me, I'd be, you know, very grateful for a lesson in astronomy. So great place for us to start. Delta Goodrum. Amazing name, by the way. Yeah, I had never heard of Delta before. Apparently, she is one of Australia's highest selling female artists, like, of all time. Her debut album in 2003 sold millions of copies and stayed at number one for 29 weeks. I could see it as, like, if Christina Aguilera was the

10:05American entrant if we were in Eurovision, you know, kind of, like, on the same plane, maybe, of fame. But this song has an 8% chance of winning, according to bookies. Anything can happen. These are pretty good odds for the Eurovision bookmakers. Eclipse has good mature vocals. I think they're delivering in that department. The song goes from this ballad, as we hear at the beginning of the song. Shadows in the moonlight, dancing with the sun. Planets are aligning to love as one.

10:45And it won't be... Maybe that's your definition of eclipsing, Nate. The opening line, shadows in the moonlight, dancing with the sun. Planets are aligning to love as one. So when we eclipse is when we come together as one, so there's no light emerging. Our bodies are perfectly together. Am I reading this correctly? I still find it inscrutable. But I do love the opening line, shadows. Very dramatic.

11:16It's funny that it doesn't sound... I don't feel like I have my ear on the sound of Australia, but the beginning is very sort of like... It feels like 50s Hollywood, Lawrence of Arabia. It feels like it's hinting towards more Middle Eastern style sounds, but with orchestra and harp and... It's very over the top.

11:39Yeah, I know that we're not considering the visual aspects of the song, but you're kind of on the money, Charlie, because the music video is her playing the piano in the middle of a desert. So I think that's kind of the vibe that she's going for. Australia has many deserts. Yep, that works. So the song starts in this ballad space, and then as we move into the chorus and get to the end of it, we move into this folk pop, almost stomp, clap, beat. There's this massive chorus and stacks and

12:10stacks of vocals. You just described every Mumford & Sons song. I'm very curious what's going to happen. If you take away the banjos from Mumford & Sons, maybe you'd get something close to this song. You know, very like One Republic adjacent. You know what I mean?

12:42I really don't like this, and it has to do with my reporting on the AI company, Suno. When you make generative AI music, so often the song... I feel like the regression to the mean of its idea of pop music is begin in a ballad, and then in the chorus go a little bit EDM with a four-to-the-floor kick thing that nobody asked for. Obviously, that's derived from pop music conventions, but they're very old. They feel very tired. This is a way of building 2010's

13:16ballad EDM crossover. It doesn't feel relevant, and unfortunately, because of the way that AI is making so many of these copycat kind of songs, it doesn't feel alive and real. It doesn't leave me with that je ne sais quoi. It makes me feel a little flat, even though the vocal performance is powerful. Unfortunately, I think the arrangement is too polished and perfect and represents something which is inhuman. I hear you. I felt that way until I got two minutes into this song. Every Eurovision song

13:49is three minutes max, so in the back third of this track, she switches it up a little bit and gives it that real element that kind of puts it over the edge for me. Let's turn it around. Let's turn it around.

14:00Oh, yeah.

14:16Okay, let's go. Let's go. Wow. This is like Celine Dion and Bon Jovi made a power ballad together with, I feel like they're trying to impress the Viennese with this unbelievable sort of classical style piano that happens as well. I like it a lot more now. Charlie, say it. Say it. What happens? What do we get? What do we get? Say it. What do you mean? What do I get? I take it back? What happened? Well, you haven't said it. No, what happens harmonically? Oh, there's a modulation, obviously. Every song in Eurovision modulates in the final third. You got to up the ante, but this one is

14:51a good one. That was kind of a surprising one with that little piano interlude. Yeah. Y'all, I know I'm hung up, but is it not that one thing eclipses another? Like, it's not just that you eclipse. You have to eclipse something. What are we eclipsing? Well, she just says when we eclipse. What is, like, I don't, I, okay, I'm not loving your reaction here. You're just looking at me like I'm a crazy old man shaking his fist at the sun. Nate, you kind of have to turn your brain off with these lyrics. Like, Eurovision, you need to kind of shut off the part of your brain that

15:22understands logic. Stop trying. Okay, I accept. That's all I needed to hear. That's all I needed to hear. So we have vocals. We have interesting composition with that key change, even though I wish it was more of the song, but nonetheless. And the je ne sais quoi of this track, eclipse, it grew on me a little bit. When I listened to it the first time, I kind of threw my head in my hands. It was like, oh my God, not this. As soon as it got to that little piano break, I was energized. So I like it and I think it'll play well live. So we have Delta

15:54Goodrum at number four. Moving on, next up at number three, we have the artist Søren Topegod

Søren Topegod Lund Analysis

16:02Lund from Denmark. Apologies if I butchered that. I don't speak Danish. The song For Vigar.

16:26I don't know. You have to play more for me. It's not doing much for me yet. It's kind of hard because I do think the whole track is kind of underwhelming, but let me move to the next chorus.

16:52When we listened to the verse at the beginning, I was getting like reggaeton meets industrial. The chorus feels more like classic Eurovision, but I agree. It's not really pushing my buttons. I mean, obviously I speak fluent Danish, but Rihanna, maybe for those who don't, what is this song about? So the title translates to before we go home and is about a night at a club with neon lights and smoke and an on again, off again lover that you can't escape. As it stands, it has an

17:2311% chance to take home the trophy. I think this is kind of a fan favorite from what I've gathered from the Eurovision subreddit. The thing is, though, I don't really connect with this song. You know, there's this kind of ethereal club vibe. There's this intense thumping indicating something darker, right, when he hits the Fovigarhem part. So there's some like techno synths happening. There's a lot of cinematic percussion.

18:07Feels very trailer music. It feels like trailer music. You're like watching a, it's like a C tier Hans Zimmer track. There's one thing about this track that I think is of note. I don't know if I like it, but the pre-chorus sounded very familiar to me. And I'm wondering if you guys can hear what I can hear.

18:33Um, oh.

18:40Oh my gosh. Wait, this is another melo. Is this a Charlie Puth song? What is this?

18:48Not quite, but you're kind of close. Is it a Gaga track? Again, close. Oh my gosh. It is One Last Time by Ariana Grande. Never would have gotten that. Let's hear it. So one last time you'll find me, the one who takes you home. And here's the Eurovision song again. Yeah, it's my time. It's an acoustic game.

19:14To be fair to our Danish friends, I feel like that is a common melodic motive that we could probably find in a lot of songs. I definitely hear it in the Ariana. Charlie, I wonder if you said Lady Gaga because it also sounds like, uh, shallow a little bit. I'm falling.

19:33I'm falling. It's that same motion. The melody goes one, two, three, and the chords follow underneath. I guess they're going like one minor two and then probably one in first inversion. Yeah. So good ears, Rihanna. But I think this is probably a wider kind of melodic harmonic phenomenon than, than even just those two songs. All right. All right. I was like, maybe Sauron is a secret arianator out there in the world. It is. Aren't we all? It seems entirely plausible. What I'm learning from this song is I am fundamentally

20:06not European because if this is a favorite, it's so clear that I'm just in a different musical culture and that there's something I'm not catching on first listen. I dig it. I feel a little differently. I, it's not like setting my world on fire, but it's cool. One of the things I love about Eurovision is how many of these songs have like double meanings, you know, they'll have some personal narrative, but then there's some kind of larger theme as well. Like Rihanna, you mentioned, uh, Juiced earlier. I remember his song Euro Papa was kind of about his

20:37family, but it was also this like larger meditation on, on borders and, uh, and international travel. So like, I'm curious if we're going to get a song that has like one of these double meanings coming up. It's so funny. You mentioned that because the next entrant coming in at number

Aquilas Analysis

20:53two with the second best odds in the competition has these double meanings and that's Greece's Aquilas and his song Ferto. Oh, I'm really looking forward to some folk instrumentation. We have not gotten that yet in a Eurovision entry and I feel like we're going to get it right now.

21:22There it is. Do it. This has something for everyone. This is sick. Oh yeah. This track has a 15% chance of winning and low-key I'm throwing myself behind Ferto. I love this song. As we've heard in the entries from Australia and Denmark, I feel like there's been a lack of these high energy goofy songs in the competition this year. And so I think Aquilas really stands out from the rest of the crowd.

21:58Every part of this song is peak Eurovision, high energy silliness. The chorus is built around the word Ferto, which in Greek translates to bring it. So he's singing about all of these things that he wants, like real estate and sashimi tuna, as he's saying, bring it, give it to me, right? Like I want it. And of course, the essential folk instrumentation. You got to have some sort of acoustic folk instrument in your track to demonstrate your nationality or heritage while blending it with

22:30the most over-the-top electronic sounds that make people dance. As if it's still the 90s though, right? Like so much Europop still sounds like the 90s to me. I feel like I just took a time machine to another time. I believe that instrument in the post-chorus is the Lyra from Crete.

23:02Bowed fretless instrument that has a sort of violin-esque sound, a precursor to the violin. So after the breakdown, we have this clubby, auto-tuned verse that switches up the vibe. It really does have something for everyone.

23:36In this verse, Ockelos is talking about how he wants everything. This track is essentially an ode to hedonism, something I like, along with the Greek instrumentation. He's also singing in multiple languages. He sings in English. He sings in Greek. But he also sings in French at the start of this verse. And at the beginning of the song, he sings in Spanish as well. It's taking a worldly approach, perhaps designed for everybody in the competition to connect. Maybe his goal is to get more votes

24:07from these other countries. We play on this post-chorus breakdown even further with a little bit of video game music. We have a bit-crushed section in the song.

24:26I want to play that game. It's a video game. Aquilas is winning. I think this has a really good chance. It'll perform really well on stage. It actually reminds me of my favorite Eurovision song from the past few years, the song Cha Cha Cha by Karya from Finland in 2024. It has a similar construction and is kind of bridging the gaps between this clubby and industrial vibe.

25:04I can totally hear that, Rihanna, but I was actually going to compare it to a banger from one of your favorite Eurovision artists, the Estonian great, Tommy Cash, Espresso Macchiato, right? Mi amore, mi amore, espresso macchiato, macchiato, macchiato, por favore, por favore, espresso macchiato, espresso macchiato. Multilingual vote pandering set to a Euro pop, Euro dance beat. Yeah.

25:40For sure. So the construction and composition of Ferto is there for me. It leaves an extremely positive impression. I've been singing it all week. So that really just leaves the vocals. And if you weren't sold by the rapping and the autotune, Aquilas slows it down in the final verse and kind of switches the meaning of the song on its head. Whoa.

26:23Oh my gosh. I'm not sure if we've just honored a completely disrespected Freddie Mercury, but I did not expect that bridge. It's a wild pivot. And he's singing in Greek that all of this he's doing for his mom, talking about the fact that he grew up poor and saying to his mother, look at all the things we didn't have. I'm going to make sure we never lack again. So when he's singing about like buying houses, buying sushi grade tuna, buying all of these really expensive things, you think it's about hedonistic pursuits.

27:05But actually, the last verse flips it and he's reflecting on his past growing up without much money. So it's the classic Eurovision switch. But also a little bit of mama. Life has just begun. That's where I'm hearing Freddie Mercury as well. It's like lyrically we're singing about our mom.

27:23We got the piano. We got the layered vocals. Smart move. This is why I come to Eurovision. You know, I'm really bummed that this contest is marred in such dark politics and understandably. But what it has to offer when it's going well is a style of music, which is unlike what I typically expose myself to. Rihanna, you opened up by saying that it's a contest of the best songs in the European Broadcast Union. I don't think that's what Eurovision is. I think it is a competition of the best Eurovision songs.

27:56They are their own sound. They are their own thing. Whatever that means in the eyes of the EBEU. Yeah. I think Fertzo kind of checks off all the boxes. While I would love Akylas to take it home, he is in second in terms of odds. People are predicting that this year's winner comes not from Greece, but from Finland.

Linda Lampenias Analysis

28:16With the duo Linda Lampenias and Pete Parklinen and their song Lickenheiten, which translates to flamethrower. Ooh. Lots of fire motif in Eurovision. They're always there. Oh, sans football, sans football. Oh, pina, huma, mocha, gula, ma.

28:41Sa'ot, sa'ot. In her duo. That post-chorus is giving me life. Linda Lampenias is a classical concert violinist who also goes by Linda Brava. And Pete Parklinen is a singer-songwriter. For Finnish people tapped into both Eurovision and classical violin, I can imagine that this is like earth-shattering, groundbreaking collaboration.

29:13This track to me feels like quintessential Eurovision, where it's intense, it's arresting, has the orchestral flair in the violin, ultimately is not too risky, but catchy nonetheless. I'm not surprised that they're a front-runner either. You know, Finland, I think, represents the part of Eurovision where they say, oh, this is a political event. But, you know, Finland is one of the newest members of NATO. They joined in 2023. In 2022, Russia was kicked out of the Eurovision Song Contest for its invasion in Ukraine,

29:49which leads to the current boycott on this week's event. As Israel is waging a war against Gaza, southern Lebanon, Iran all at the same time, member nations are declaring that that is a great contradiction to oust one state for going to war and not the other. So I think Finland represents a sort of bright star in a dark moment. This submission, Likenheiten, is an interesting choice because they tend to keep their submissions silly. We heard Karya earlier with Cha-Cha-Cha. That was the 2023 entrant from Finland.

30:21After that, in 2024, we had No Rules from Windows 95 Man, which you'll remember as the denim song. No rules! Last year, we had the track It Come from Erika Vickman, where she climbs a giant phallic-looking microphone stand. It come, it come, it come, it come.

30:59So this kind of self-serious violin, songwriter, Imagine Dragons-y track is an interesting choice, and maybe they're trying to, like, legitimize themselves as an actual contender rather than, like, a joke. Play it. I don't want to like a four to the fat violin.

31:45I was going to say, it's like, the violin takes this song to the next level, 100%. Without it, it would be a great song. With it, it is superb. Her tone is incredible. My God, she plays with such, like, power. Every note, it just, like, explodes off the instrument.

32:18This elevates this to another level. Although, I believe, I don't know if the rules have changed, but Eurovision got rid of playing live instruments at the competition, and that only voices would be heard. I'm very curious how this will be performed. Yeah. It's all backing tracks. No, no. Wait, how recently? That can't. I remember the Ukrainian entry rocking that flute solo pretty hard, you know, I don't know, four or five years ago. Well, you'll be happy to know that the EBU has granted Linda Limpinius special permission to play the violin parts live.

32:55Oh, look at this. You're right. Quick backing track, Eurovision history. Originally, in Eurovision, you had to perform everything live, and then in the 70s, some instruments were kind of hard to replicate live, and so you could have them on stage and kind of air guitar them. For the next 20 years or so, there was a sort of hybrid model where some things would be mimed live, and then there would also be an orchestra to perform alongside with you. The orchestra was cut in the late 90s as a cost-saving measure, leaving only vocals performed on stage since then.

33:27It was also required for a while that your backing vocals would also have to be live, but once the pandemic happened, in order to limit the number of people on stage, basically, Eurovision went to a karaoke contest, if you will. Everything was backing tracks, one vocalist. If it was a group, multiple vocalists, obviously. But yeah, this is exciting. 2026, we're going to hear some live instruments again. Wow. So anytime I saw an instrument, it was just like the equivalent of lip syncing? Yeah, basically. More or less. I'm sure, you know, maybe there's been exceptions here or there, but that is my understanding.

34:01Wow, fascinating. So, Lichen Heighton has this technical violin prowess. I know we're not talking about the visuals, but Linda Lampenius is beautiful and gorgeous and looks like a goddess, and she's playing this violin while strutting down the catwalk, and it's a really arresting visual, and that's gotta count for something. She's an equal part next to Pete in this track, and I think that's really lovely as well. The violin and the vocals are designed to kind of be in conversation with one another, as if it's a duet, but the duet is with the violin.

34:36Yeah. The vocals are there, the composition is there. There's really that lasting impression of the track. You know, how does it make you feel when it's over? However, the way that the song ends is really interesting to me, because it ends in this big climax that doesn't have a denouement. Like, it just stops.

35:04Anti-drop. Yeah, and the title of the song is Flamethrower, right? So it makes me think that the point is to, like, sound like Pete is getting lit on fire, like he's kind of burning with Joan of Arc style. Ooh. And then the track just ends, and it leaves the audience wanting more. You know, it's over, and I want more than these three minutes of Lichen Heighton. Nothing wrong with leaving some support for this show comes from AT&T. You know what's great about summer? All those plans we made, they finally make it out of the group chat.

35:35Seems like there's more time to fit everyone in. Whatever you've got in store this summer, capturing those moments is a must, and you can do that with the iPhone 17 Pro from AT&T. The center stage front camera framing auto-adjusts to fit everyone into group selfies. You don't even have to turn your phone. No awkward cropping or asking strangers to take it. Just the perfect group selfie every time. And AT&T makes sharing those moments with everyone easy, because you've got to share the pic or it didn't happen, right? Right now at AT&T, ask how you can get iPhone 17 Pro on them with eligible iPhone trade-in, any condition.

36:08Requires trade-in of iPhone 15 Plus or higher, excluding iPhone 16E and 17E. Requires eligible plan. Terms and restrictions apply. Subject to change. Visit att.com slash iPhone for details. Support for this show comes from Limpy. Limpy believes classrooms don't create artists. Studio sessions do. It's a one-year program for songwriters, producers, and artists set in one of the most beautiful towns in Norway. I've been there. It's real. And when we left off, Limpy had invited me to come speak. And I'd said yes without quite knowing what I was about to walk into.

36:41What I walked into was a working studio complex. There were 20-odd studios fully kitted out with 70 students from all over the world rotating through these studios every single day. Upstairs is the main performance hall, and it's this beautiful, giant lofted ceiling, huge windows, gorgeous sound. That's where Limpy brings its mentors every week. Grammy winners, Billboard chart toppers, who give lectures on melody, top lining, collaboration, marketing yourself, the secrets of production, all these kinds of things.

37:12Then those mentors walk down to the studios and actually sit in on the sessions, giving concrete feedback on the songs that you're working on and how to improve them. After I gave my own workshop, I walked down to those studios myself just to hear what the students were making. And that's when it really clicked for me. Every door I passed by had a totally different sound. I heard songs from at least 30 different students that day, and every single one sounded professional, but not in this homogenous kind of way. One student's record was nothing like the next, and yet they were all collaborating and understanding each other's work.

37:47Most importantly, I feel like every one of them really knew exactly what they were writing and why. It's an experience that I wish I'd had. That's what 20 studios, 70 students, and a year of daily sessions produces. More on that in a bit.

Eurovision Top Four

38:00If you are interested, you can apply now at limpymusic.com. That's L-I-M-P-I music.com. Applications close May 31st.

38:10Support for this show comes from AT&T. You know what's great about summer? All those plans we made, they finally make it out of the group chat. Seems like there's more time to fit everyone in. Whatever you've got in store this summer, capturing those memories is a must. And you can do that with the iPhone 17 Pro from AT&T. The center stage front camera framing auto-adjusts to fit everyone into group selfies. You don't even have to turn your phone. No awkward cropping or asking strangers to take it. Just the perfect group selfie every time.

38:40And AT&T makes sharing those moments with everyone easy. Because you gotta share the pic or it didn't happen, right? Right now at AT&T, ask how you can get iPhone 17 Pro on them with eligible iPhone trade-in. Any condition. It requires trade-in of iPhone 15 Plus or higher, excluding iPhone 16e and 17e. Requires eligible plan. Terms and restrictions apply. Subject to change. Visit att.com slash iPhone for details.

39:05And wanting more means you might vote for them. Okay, so we just listened to four frontrunners.

Wild Card Entries

39:10And I can totally see why the odds makers have put these at the top of the running to win Eurovision song contests. But, you know, part of the joy of Eurovision, as you said, Rihanna, is also to celebrate the wild cards, the weirdos, the international freaks amongst us. What else should we be tuning into, even if it's not necessarily going to take the top crown? This year, several countries come back to the competition after years away, one of which is the country of Bulgaria, who hasn't competed in the past three years.

Bulgaria's Dara

39:42Their return is with the artist Dara and the track Bangaranga. Oh, I love this track immediately. I haven't heard it yet, but this is it. Yes, it's not as good as Skrillex's Bangarang, but it's really close. I was going to say, contrary to popular belief, this track is unrelated to Bangarang by Skrillex.

40:17Instead, Dara says, I'm the Bangaranga. Which is? What does that mean? Hmm. Exactly. I have no idea what she's talking about. Well, is it not Bulgarian? I'm going to guess that this is just a nonsense word. It's a state of mind, guys. You either get it or you don't. All right, let me hold on. Google Translate. Bangaranga, detected as not the right language. Let's try that. Let's go Bulgarian to English.

40:49The Bulgarian language does not have a word called Bangaranga. I am not a linguist, but I feel pretty confident saying that. Absolutely not. It translates as Bangaranga. Yeah, no, no. This is, I don't know. If I have to explain to you guys, I'm not sure you're ever going to get it, honestly. I hate that. You just have to know it. Look deep into your soul and find your Bangaranga. Oh, I love some nonsense. This is not my favorite song in the competition by any means. Again, Eurovision states that a song can't be over three minutes, but this song feels like

41:24it's a million years long. It's tough to get through. There's a cool tempo breakdown after the first chorus, but the song repeats the same thing over and over and over again. It's because it's the Bangaranga. I appreciate the Bulgarian reed instrument that we get in the breakdown.

41:57I appreciate that this is in a lineage of songs like Welcome to the Jungle, Welcome to the Machine, and then Welcome to the Bangaranga. I can't do this one. This one's pulling teeth for me, I gotta say. The next track is a little bit better in my eyes. It's from another country returning to the competition after a two-year absence from Romania, and the song Choke Me by Alexandra Capitanescu. This track I've described as if Lady Gaga was the singer in Evanescence.

42:32Do what I say, and don't you ever betray me, you are here to obey me, are you not? Oh, my God. I want you to show me, show me, show me, show me, burn, for you to control. I want you to show me, show me, show me, show me, show me. Okay, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, what? Yeah, where do we start? The Lady Gaga imitation, the Mozart Queen of the Night aria interlude.

43:15Was that Mozart? It reminded me of Nemo's The Code.

43:30From 2024, right? Exactly, that's what I was thinking of as well. Very code-coded, yeah, definitely. The talk singing in the pre-chorus sounds so much like Lady Gaga. I love the rasp in her voice and this note that she hits as we move into the chorus, where she's like, ah! Like, it's so awesome. Oh, my God, this song is so extra.

44:03I thought Eurovision was supposed to be a contest of peace. This is a very violent song. First BDSM entry in the Eurovision catalog. People don't really like it because of that reason. The general fan vibe that I've gathered is that people think this is too explicit for the live broadcast. I can kind of see where they're coming from. Yeah, a family-friendly event. I kind of feel like if Choke Me came out in America, I mean, instantaneously, like, no, Lady Gaga sounded like,

44:35but that it's coming from Eurovision, I'm a little bit more intrigued. Well, on that point, I do think this song is very American, and I think that's why it's not connecting with the Eurovision audience. This has, like, nu-metal, butt-rock-y elements that don't play well to a European audience, you know? And I think that's the song's downfall, even though I'm like, this is pretty epic. Yeah, I mean, as someone who loves butt-rock and Lady Gaga and has just come back from a European vacation, I feel like you have not done a good job of being an ambassador to our culture.

45:08Or how are there not more votes for this track? Exactly. Maybe if I was watching this year, I could vote for this one, but I won't be, so. All right.

Bingo Update

45:16What else is the wild card? Last but not least, we have another sleeper hit. That's Moldova's Satoshi and the aptly titled Viva Moldova. I love this song. It's like a multicultural jock jam. It's exactly what you would expect it to be. Viva Moldova! Aloha! Adio veda loca! Aloha! Europa! Palma de Mallorca! Saluti! A tutti! Moldova is on duty! Ye una! Ye nova!

45:46Welcome to Moldova! Moldova! What? Yeah. Wow. All right. What is this song about? Well, it's about Moldova. I heard him say Moldova is on duty at one point. Yeah. I mean, it's in several different languages, including Spanish and Italian. He's saying, long live Moldova. Greetings to everyone. Moldova is on duty. Goodbye, crazy life. Hello, Moldova. Like, that's what he's saying. It's very, very simple, but fun.

46:16Ode to Moldova. We need more of those. They do say goodbye, Europe. See you later. Uh-oh. Moldova is coming. Whoa. Interesting. See, this is the part where it's like, it's really unfortunate that this event cannot avoid the really negative political repercussions that it's found itself in, because there's so many participants who have something to say, who are trying to make their claim in culture, especially from small member nations that don't otherwise get to be heard.

46:47And I think Moldova's just doing an amazing job of saying, come on to Moldova. I want to go now. It's like a tourism ad. It's a great one. They're not going to win. They know they're not going to win. So instead, they're just being like, this is all that Moldova has to offer. Isn't it awesome? Say goodbye to Europe and hello, Moldova. I love that. I mean, I'm looking up tickets on kayak right now. What's the capital of Moldova? The capital city of Moldova is... Kishinau. Not something I can pronounce. Are there direct flights from LA to Kishinau? We got to figure it out, Nate.

47:17I'll board a plane right now. This song is doing it for me. What a journey you've taken us on, Rihanna. And I appreciate, you know, for those who aren't going to be watching, getting to get a sense of the important things, you've given it to us. Hearing all these entries, knowing where the bookmakers stand, I feel like I have a pretty good sense of what the vibe is in Europe right now musically, where a lot of these different countries are in terms of promoting their sounds. I mean, Moldova is just kind of putting themselves right out there.

47:48Other countries are doing the same. I am noticing a trend this year where the songs are less risky than we're used to from Eurovision. I wonder if the general politically charged tenor of the competition and the swirling politics of Eurovision and the EBU at the moment are making it so that contestants are playing it safe and not pushing the boundaries. I wonder if there's a correlation there because largely the crop of contestants this year are kind of lackluster in my eyes.

48:20Certainly we didn't listen to every entry, but yeah, I would say I didn't hear anything like some of the entries in past years that really just made my jaw drop, made me kind of blown away in this way that only Eurovision can provide. So we'll see if the contest is able to sort of regain that mantle in the future. Maybe an alternative path from watching this year could be just going and watching the Will Ferrell film, Eurovision, which is a great comedic mockery celebration of what Eurovision

48:53wants to be. You bring that up every year, Charlie. Yeah, I was just going to say, Charlie loves that movie. I love that movie. And he represents Iceland, right? Which is not participating this year. So let's all go support Icelandic. Oh my God. I mean, when Rachel McAdams sings in Icelandic at the end of that movie, I mean, I was bawling. She's got range. It's got everything. It's got laughs. It's got tears.

49:18Check this out, y'all. Eurovision is a musical competition. Speaking of competitions. Nice transition. Thank you. Great segue, Nate. I appreciate it, guys. We launch our annual bingo game at the beginning of the year, and we've been getting some chatter from listeners that there might be some squares to check off. We're kind of reaching the half point of 2026. So Charlie, can you pull up our bingo card and we can go through and see if there are any

49:48new entries to check off? Bingo.switchedonpop.com. Uh, yes. Number one, Big Beat Revival. Don't think it's happened. Number two, Guitar Solo's return. I think highly dependent upon another prediction, which we're going to get to shortly. I don't think it's happened yet. Three, Animated Avatars Rise Again. Not yet. We're waiting for K-pop Demon Hunters 2. Four, Madison Beer Breakout. Has it happened, Rihanna? No. That was really awful. No, not happening. A year of beer. Sorry, everybody. It's not to be. Five, Old Time Religion Worship Song hits the top 40.

50:22I'm not sure if we've crossed that one yet. I don't think so. Six, Timbaland Style Production hits the top 10. Can we count Stateside by Pink Panther is? Let's listen for a second. Will you pull it up? Yeah. Specifically, it's the remix of Stateside with Zara Larsson. I'm freezing outside. I feel my skin tight. My coat is in. Yeah. I look up at you. I'll check your paint. I think so. I think that's an easy thing. I mean, which Justin Timberlake song is that? Something off of Future Sexual. Get your sexy on.

50:52Go ahead. Sexy back. Sexy back. Sexy back. The sexy back is the reference. Okay. Yeah. So we've crossed off Timbaland Style Production number six. That's going on. If it's on your bingo card, you might be getting close to bingo. A little bit. A little closer. Seven, certified human label.

51:22Rise of AI going to create the need to be able to say who is human and who is not. Rihanna, Spotify did just announce that they will be giving a special label to verified accounts so that they can try to label what is and is not human. Now, I think that's happening at just one DSP. It's not across the entire music ecosystem. I think it counts. I think your prediction has come true. I think it counts as well. Amazing. So maybe I was so far off with Madison Beer, but it's circled around. Oh, you've got some good ones. And other ones that I said are right. Which is great.

51:53All right. Number eight, Drake goes country. It's going to happen. Not happened yet. Iceman's coming out soon. Oh, OK. There's still time. Number nine, Bruno Mars makes a return with Ska. We were way off.

52:07Didn't happen. Ten, Gen Alpha Takeover. Have we had an artist born 2010 to 2024 who's reached the top 40? I don't think so yet. Still could happen. 11, brass goes big. Heavy brass song reaches the top 20. I don't think like main instrument brass. No. Number 12, the death of auto tune. Any major like hit with completely raw, unprocessed vocals, tuning issues in the top 10? I haven't heard it yet.

52:37Not exactly. Number 13, narrative over form. A structurally unconventional narrative song reaches the top 40. I think we could argue that our last episode, Olivia Rodrigo's Drop Dead, Killing Off the Second Verse. We didn't mention in that episode how she never repeats the hook the same way twice. I think that might, I think that might, uh, might do it. Well, we've got an email from a listener, Michael Murphy. Yeah. Who claims that he's checked off every square, but three. What? He's going to say that Ray is an example of a new narrative form.

53:12Hmm. Interesting. Like the end credit track fan, for instance. That's not a hot 100 hat. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, she only had a Where's My Husband, and I don't think that that qualifies as a very sort of soul traditional song. Let's keep going. Okay. Number 14, piano ballad charts in the top 10.

53:32Okay. Michael says, Sienna Spyro, Die on This Hill. Yeah, but it's not in the top 10. It was top 40, maybe. It reached number 19. It peaked at 19 on the Hot 100. Was our rules top 10? It's a top 10. Wow, we're really being sticklers here. Sorry, Michael. 15, instrumental hit lands on the Hot 100. I don't think we've heard that, no. Not yet. We need Skrillex back. Yeah. 16, horrifying music emerges.

54:02Some kind of new horrifying rap genre that Nate pontificated about. I don't think we've seen it yet. No, not yet. 17, album sequel hits number one. Not yet. Number 18, Spanish language number one. Did we get that after the Super Bowl? I believe after the Super Bowl halftime show, Bad Bunny hit number one on the Hot 100 with DTMF off of Debitiramos Fultos. So I think that's an easy check off.

54:33That's what I was banking on. So I'm happy it came through. Well done. All right. Number 19, cover song, Comeback. We haven't heard it yet. Number 20, my favorite prediction I made, a Nepo Baby parent duet. We haven't seen it. Come on. J.J. Abrams on the new Gracie Abrams album. He is a synth head. He loves synthesizers. I just, I want to see that happen. Okay. Number 21, a major Jamaican star in the top 20. Not yet. All right. 22, Rihanna. I believe this is on you. Rock revival.

55:04A guitar driven band breaks the top 20. Now, I don't think we should have said guitar driven band. I think this is what we're about to see. As of this taping, Charlie XCX just announced a rock song coming out tomorrow. And we're all waiting on Beyonce. Whereas Renaissance Act 3, the rock version, this is going to happen this year. There's just no doubt. Yeah. I think I'm pulling for the residual effects of the Charlie XCX slash rumored Beyonce rock moment to usher in a bunch of guitar songs by bands into the Billboard Hot 100.

55:42Time will tell. Maybe we can revisit that one in the back half of the year, see if it's come true. Okay, great. Number 23, Jam Band's Breakthrough. A jam band album reaches the top 20? Don't think so. No. Number 24, this is one of my favorites, Rebecca Blackassance. Rebecca Black surpasses her previous peak of number 58 with Friday. She is DJing, getting her name out there, but I don't think we have the song yet. Might happen. Not yet. Finally, number 25, the Rebel Alliance, a major political anthem breaks into the top 20.

56:14We heard Bruce Springsteen give us the streets of Minneapolis. That song didn't have the legs that I think we might have hoped to capture that moment. So I don't believe we have crossed the threshold there, but we have checked off a few. It's very possible that someone could have bingo out there. If you do, let us know. If you don't, you can get your bingo card. We'll drop it in our show notes. The year is young. Yeah, it's still possible. We'll have to review all of my... Michael wrote us a long email with a lot of different boxes they checked off.

56:45So we'll have to review those a little more granular way and get back. But I suspect we are still waiting for the true B-I-N-G-O. We're only in Q2. There's two and a half other Qs to get through. Here's my Q. Who's going to read the credits? Switched on Pop is produced by Rhianna Cruz, edited by Lissa Soop, engineered by Brandon McFarlane, illustrations by Iris Gottlieb, video by Nick Ripps. Our music is by Zach Tenario and Jossie Adams of Archiris. We're a member of the Vox Media Podcast Network, a production of Vulture, which is part of New York Magazine.

57:17You can subscribe at nymag.com slash pod. Find us anywhere you get your podcasts. We are Switched on Pop on every platform. Subscribe to our newsletter on Substack. And what else? We got merch on the website. Check it out. Switchedonpop.com. What else, guys? We'll be back with a special episode this Friday. I'm chatting with Rostam about his spectacular album, American Stories. It is definitely worth a listen. I'll see you on Friday.

57:47Until then. Until then. Thanks for listening. Thanks for listening. Thanks for listening. Support for the show comes from Limpy, the Lillehammer Institute of Music Production and Industries. Limpy believes classrooms don't create artists. Studio sessions do. It's a one-year program for songwriters, producers, and artists built by actual hit songwriters. Here's why I keep talking about it. I've made nearly 500 episodes of Switched on Pop. And I'll tell you the truth. At the very beginning, I didn't entirely know what I was doing.

58:18I got good by doing a lot of it, studying and observing the grades, but most importantly, collaborating with Nate and other journalists, writers, musicians, and learning from all of them. And I deeply believe that songwriting is the same. You get great at writing songs by writing a lot of them alongside people who are also writing them, with mentors who have already done it and surrounded by other songwriters, producers, and artists. There's no shortcut. You just got to write a lot of songs. That's exactly what I saw at Limpy. You see students leaving with over 100 songs in their back pocket and an international network already built out.

58:53And that international piece, I think, really matters. You know, as an American, you can spend your whole career inside your own scene. But pop is global, and the people writing the next decade of hits are in Seoul, Stockholm, Lagos, and in Lillehammer. Limpy puts you in rooms with 70 of them for a year in one of the most beautiful towns on Earth, where there's nothing to distract you. All you got to do is work on your craft. You can ask anyone in my life, I've spent the last six months bragging about getting to go to Norway and thinking about the next time that I'll get to go back. If you're a songwriter, a producer, an artist who'd rather be making music than sitting in a lecture hall,

59:26you should go check it out. Because as Limpy says, classrooms don't create artists, studio sessions do. Apply now at limpymusic.com. That's L-I-M-P-I music.com. Applications close May 31st. We'll see you next time. We'll see you next time. We'll see you next time. We'll see you next time. We'll see you next time. We'll see you next time. We'll see you next time. We'll see you next time. We'll see you next time. We'll see you next time. We'll see you next time. We'll see you next time. We'll see you next time. We'll see you next time. We'll see you next time. We'll see you next time. We'll see you next time.

59:56We'll see you next time. We'll see you next time. We'll see you next time. We'll see you next time. We'll see you next time. We'll see you next time. We'll see you next time.