Forty-two countries participated in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest in Kyiv. And while the artists speak dozens of languages — Croatian, Armenian, Maltese, Georgian, and Norwegian, to name a few — only seven artists chose to include lyrics that weren’t in English. English is essential to winning hearts and minds across borders, right?

Maybe not. This year’s winner — Portugal’s Salvador Sobral — sang his number Amar pelos dois entirely in Portuguese. Owing to its soft tones and nasal sounds, Portuguese is a language that works well with themes of nostalgia and melancholy. And surely singing in his mother tongue helped Sobral feel every word even more than if he had chosen English.

His victory came as a pleasant surprise in an era of globalisation, where pop music has become yet another commodity, and one that rushes toward homogeny across markets. It’s the so-called “fast food music” phenomenon that Sobral controversially spoke of after his win. Looking back, his jazz-influence ballad is without question one of the most deserving winners on a thematic level: Celebrate Diversity was the official slogan of this year’s contest.

Sobral won with a song sung entirely in a non-English language exactly ten years after Marija Serifovic won for Serbia with “Molitva” — the last non-English language song to win.

Portuguese may be spoken only in Portugal, but the music — and his performance — were enough to help music professionals and everyday folks relate to it. It’s important to note that he won both the jury vote and the televote.

The simple conclusion is that a song doesn’t have to be sung in English, the lingua franca of pop, in order to win Eurovision. But that is perhaps too much of a reduction.

It might be fairer to say English is necessary for the win if you’re singing a pop song. But neither “Amar pelos dois” nor “Molitva” could be considered contemporary pop. Both have a strong ethnic identity — the most obvious being their chosen language — and both were performed with an emotion and clarity not normally associated with the frequently disposable tracks that clutter Spotify and, if we’re being brutally honest, Eurovision.

To win Eurovision you need a good song with shape and musicality. But you also need that indescribable X Factor that might just come through singing in one’s native tongue, which helps the artist connect to the song on a more visceral level. “Authenticity” is a buzz word these days and singing in a foreign language can feel decidedly inauthentic.

Jamala, who sang of the painful deportation that her great grandmother faced under Stalin, has frequently re-iterated that her Eurovision winning song “1944” was deeply personal. That it contained significant portions in Crimean Tatar may have helped her reach that dark, stirring place that helped her secure victory.

Back in 2008, a year after Marija Serifovic had won, 22 out of 43 countries sang at least partially in a language that was not English, including twelve out of twenty-five finalists. That’s nearly half. The trophy, however, went to Russia’s Dima Bilan and his English-language entry “Believe“. The next seven winners were all sung entirely in English.

Other languages made a brief return in 2012, when eighteen out of forty-two songs were performed at least partially in a language other than English, including ten out of twenty-six finalists — seven of which made it to the top ten.

Of the non-English-language songs in the Top 10, all but one — Nina Zilli’s “”L’amore è femmina” — were ballads. When people are oozing pain (Albania’s “Suus”) or pleading for a lover to stay (Spain’s “Quedate Conmigo”) Europe doesn’t mind not understanding all the words.

However, neither 2008 nor 2012 inspired a long-lasting trend. In 2016 just three countries sang entirely in a non-English language. This year the number was seven and included Portugal, Hungary, Croatia, Belarus, Italy, Spain and France.

But, as in 2012, we see that a high percentage of these songs did rather well. In fact, five of the seven managed to make the televote top 10.

The ever-changing language rule

When Eurovision was first established back in 1956, there were not strict rules regarding the languages in which the songs could be sung. Ten years later, in 1966, organisers decided that artists had to perform in their country’s language, after Sweden’s Ingvar Wixell had performed his 1965 entry “Absent Friend” in English.

Then, in 1973, that rule was dropped. Artists could perform in whatever language they wanted. ABBA famously used that rule to perform their 1974 winning entry “Waterloo” in English, helping lay the foundation for their global career. The rule that each country had to perform in their own language returned in 1977, but then reversed again in 1999. That year Charlotte Perrelli won with “Take Me To Your Heaven” — the English-language version of “Tusen och en natt” (which she sang to win Melodifestivalen that year).

Winners by language

So far, there have been sixty-five winners of the Eurovision Song Contest (as four countries won in 1969). They have performed in thirteen languages. English leads the list with thirty-one wins.

It should be noted that both of Ukraine’s winning entries, in 2004 and 2016, although sung mostly in English, also contained parts in Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar, respectively.

English: 31**
Last winner:1944” (Ukraine 2016)

* “Wild Dances” (Ukraine 2004) contained parts in Ukrainian.
* “1994” (Ukraine 2016) contained parts in Crimean Tatar.

French: 14
Last winner: “Ne partez pas sans moi” (Switzerland 1988)

Dutch: 3
Last winner:De troubadour” (The Netherlands 1969)

Hebrew: 3
Last winner:Diva” (Israel 1998)

German: 2
Last winner: “Ein bißchen Frieden” (Germany 1982)

Spanish: 2
Last winner:Vivo cantando” (Spain 1969)

Italian: 2
Last winner:Insieme: 1992” (Italy 1990)

Swedish: 2
Last winner:Fångad av en stormvind” (Sweden 1991)

Norwegian: 2
Last winner:Nocturne” (Norway 1995)

Danish: 1
Last winner:Dansevise” (Denmark 1963)

Croatian: 1*
Last winner:Rock Me Baby” (SFR Yugoslavia 1989)

* The language Riva performed in was called Serbo-Croatian in 1989.

Serbian: 1
Last winner:Molitva” (Serbia 2007)

Portuguese: 1
Last winner:Amar pelos dois” (Portugal 2017)

ANYWAY, where do you stand on language at Eurovision? Do non-English language songs work particularly well in ballads and in non-pop songs? Let us know your thoughts in the comments box below. 

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Cruz
6 years ago

Hello t? e?ery one, the contents present at this web site are in f?ct remarkable for ?e?ple knowledge, well,
?eep up t?e good work fellows.

Gabriel
Gabriel
6 years ago

Great article! The analysis was pretty accurate and I personally have the wish that more countries send songs in their native languages! The one thing I’d correct about it is stating that Portugal is the only country that speaks Portuguese. If you consider only European countries, then you’re correct. But that wasn’t mentioned, so you can infer that Portugal’s the only country in the world that speaks this language, forgetting to mention Brazil, Angola, Mozambique, Cape Verde, St Tomé and Príncipe, East Timor and Guinea-Bissau. Besides this confusion, great article!
Obrigado, e que venha ESC Portugal 2018!

Unknown Melody
Unknown Melody
6 years ago

This article is quite confusing, calling bilingual songs non-english or even entirely not in english.

ZanderZion
ZanderZion
6 years ago

I really hopes that Portugal itself will promote, influence, encourage and campaign the next year ESC to have more countries to sang in their own language. I like to witness ESC that is really used to be before during the old times.

Fatima
Fatima
6 years ago

I don’t think Sobral won because he sang in Portuguese, it was more to do with the “thing” he did on the night stood out, just as Serifovic had 10 years earlier. Eurovision voters like people who do their own thing. So I’m inclined to think that if there is a native language rush in 2018, none will succeed. I think we’re more likely to see victory from a song on J-Pop or K-Pop style, with a hook line in English which everyone can remember and sing.

L'oiseau
L'oiseau
6 years ago
Reply to  Fatima

I have a feeling that there is a start of a backlash trend against singing in English. I work with people of many nationalities. After the Portuguese victory, everyone was praising the fact that Salvador sang in Portuguese and how boring Eurovision has become now that the majority sings in English. But we can only see that in next episodes. To be continued… 😉

chicken kyiv???
chicken kyiv???
6 years ago

I have no doubt that at least a dozen countries will rush to copy whatever won last year as they always do, and so we will see slower songs, and songs in their native language, not a good year for me 😛 but as hinted at in the article these dont last. In 2018 a song in English will likely win, and in 2019 we’ll be back to predominantly English entries.

chanson
chanson
6 years ago

Someone downthread has already said the same thing about Artsvik. But in the review video for “Fly with Me” Deban said he and Artsvik talked in English and he was surprised to discover she doesn’t give interviews in English and uses a translator. No idea how good her English is, but I’m guessing good enough to understand the lyrics…

L'oiseau
L'oiseau
6 years ago
Reply to  chanson

It’s not a question of the singer understanding or not the lyrics. I guess they do… It’s a matter of interpreting each word in a way that the message comes across in a much more effective way. For example, Lucie from the UK gave a stunning performance, not only vocally, but because she was interpreting every word in a way that the message comes across much more vividly than other performances. It’s like “owning” the lyrics and make them your own words… A bit like acting. You can only do that perfectly in you sing in your native language or… Read more »

Michael
Michael
6 years ago

I don’t think that singers should sing in English unless they can speak the language fluently. Part of the reason that Salvador did so well was not only that Portuguese is a good language to sing melancholy songs in, but Salvador was able to emote much better in his native language, even though his English is good. On the other hand, you have singers like Artsvik and Fusedmarc who probably barely understand what they are singing and the performance suffers as a result. Azerbaijan had this problem for years, when they sent songs that potentially could have won, but the… Read more »

oggy
oggy
6 years ago

Portugal’s victory in Eurovision 2017 is at once an allusion to countries that always use English such as Swedish & Azerbaijan. But it is also an allusion to Russia that always uses a block system for voting. If at any time Eurovision organizers recommend the participating countries (actually not mandatory) to use the language of their respective countries, I am sure some countries such as the Caucasus (Russia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, & Georgia) will withdraw from Eurovision for good. Although Portugal’s victory in 2017 is a glorious return of a non-English-speaking country in Eurovision which has the support of many parties,… Read more »

oggy
oggy
6 years ago
Reply to  oggy

But, some country will send Billingual song & maybe it will be majorty in Eurovision. I think some country will use billingual song is like Greece,Cyprus,Iceland,Finland,Slovenia,Poland,Netherland,& Belgium.

Denis
Denis
6 years ago
Reply to  oggy

Once victory doesn’t make it a return. You must look at over several years. If another native language song wins next year then it might be a return.
However I wouldn’t bet on native language. 85% of entries will be in English and the winner will most likely be in English

Thanos
Thanos
6 years ago

Actually I prefer non-English languages when they are used in a more upbeat song. Take for example Italy (best song this year), Belarus or France this year.

Zion del Rosario
Zion del Rosario
6 years ago

Australia might try sending an entry in an Aboriginal language.

Zebb
Zebb
6 years ago

After this year some b.c. may take this thing like slovenian has made but I wouldn’t hope for much shiftings. You cannot know how much native-sung songs were rejected by various broadcasters to have a conclusion were ‘crime’ takes its roots. Maybe submitters have self censored themselves under influence of market that much that b.c. doesn’t even need to intervene already.
But I’m in for this changes, just for shaking swamp a little bit.
Still, I have more questions how EBU is going to develop rules and regulate juries. The latter this year was solely cringeworthy thing.

Philip27
Philip27
6 years ago

I really loved the Estonian songs of the late-’90s (Maarja’s 2 songs in ’96 & ’97 & Koit’s song in 1998 especially), and the language was very pretty, so I wish Estonia would give their native language another go… Same with Norway, one of my favorite countries in the ’90s, the fact that only Alvedansen was in Norwegian since 1999 is simply criminal… I’d also love to hear some rock songs in other languages (LOVED Turkey’s Deli in 2008, the Turkish lyrics made it sound badass)…

Aaron GR
Aaron GR
6 years ago
Reply to  Philip27

Totally agree. Estonian sounds so bright and musical even when it’s not being sung. And Deli killed it with their Turkish.

Khm
Khm
6 years ago

That would be good, but it won’t happen. Reason? Well, some discographic companies want their ESC songs to chart in other countries, and that’s hard for other languages than English. Unless we aren’t talking about Latin American singers as the Despacito ones, and they are highly overrated.

Zebb
Zebb
6 years ago
Reply to  Khm

Well this year there’s pretty good result for portuguese song that worked for some non-portuguese markets. Good precedent, not enough for an impact though, rather an exclusion.

Hada
Hada
6 years ago
Reply to  Khm

That’s a good point. Salvador sang in Portuguese, which is a “small” language… that has 400 million speakers on the other side of the pond. Same with Spanish singers, and in Latin America Spanish-speaking countries listen to music in Portuguese and viceversa, while Italian singers usually find success here too, and amongst their own and each other’s countries. Salvador and Francesco will go on to be successful without ever needing to sacrifice their own languages.

Other languages like Serbian, Estonian, or even Swedish don’t have that luxury.

James
James
6 years ago
Reply to  Hada

Korean and Japanese begs to differ.

Luke
Luke
6 years ago

I want the language rule back as to me I would love to hear more native language songs in the contest and could you ban my country (UK) from singing in English one year as we have other amazing languages, I think the contest is becoming boring with so many English songs

oggy
oggy
6 years ago
Reply to  Luke

Are you want if UK send Scottish song,Welsh,or Irish song? even Spanish or Hindi/Punjab song?

L'oiseau
L'oiseau
6 years ago

Thanks wiwibloggs for this very good article. I think everything boils down to authenticity and artistic integrity. Songs in English, performed by non-native speakers, very often come across as not very authentic because the singer doesn’t put the message across as she or he would, if they would sing in their language. I guess that was the X-factor for “Molitva”, “1944” or “Amar pelos Dois”. Remarkable exceptions are of course singers from the Nordic countries or Dutch-speaking countries, due to the language similarities. What is so negative about the use of English is not its predominance, but the fact that… Read more »

Aaron GR
Aaron GR
6 years ago
Reply to  L'oiseau

Yes! There’s a place for every language, when used thoughtfully and artistically. “Fly With Me” was so cool and hypnotic – singing it in Armenian would’ve been perfect.

As for songs in Swedish, I was rooting for “Road Trip” in Melfest – it sounded great! Catchy, upbeat and a ton of fun.

L'oiseau
L'oiseau
6 years ago
Reply to  Aaron GR

Exactly. I would pay to see Artsvik performing Fly with me Armenian! 😉

Flynn
Flynn
6 years ago

I think we’ll get a few extra countries not using English or doing half English/half other language but we’ll still end up with 30+ songs solely in English. Some languages certainly have strong areas. Slavic languages sound naturally good at slow/dramatic ballads, Romance languages sound good in mid tempo pop songs/ballads, English sounds naturally good at uptempo stuff and Germanic languages sound great at rock tracks. But that doesn’t mean if written and sung correctly we can’t have strong songs in other genres, I mean just looking at Romance languages I can think of “N’oubliez Pas” for a good slow… Read more »

Colin
Colin
6 years ago

I surely hope we might get more non-English songs next year. It doesn’t *have* to be a native language (Croatia 2017, Austria 2016 and Latvia 2007 have proven that if the accent is right, any language can do), but sometimes I feel it’s such a shame we never hear one’s mother tongue (e.i. Azerbaijan, Armenia, Russia – for years now, Sweden, ect.). This should be encouraging for sending non-English songs. Italy and Albania, for example, have a fairly easy task – just don’t translate the existing song. Same with Iceland – pick an Icelandic version (although, admittedly, both versions in… Read more »

Roelof Meesters
Roelof Meesters
6 years ago

It does NOT work for pop songs, keep those in English. Ballads (especially Balkan ones) could and should work in another language. Serbia needs to sing in Serbian it would be an easy top 10, like Hungary this year. Belarus and Italy DID work but they had easy sing-along things that could be used in any language. I don’t care about the language too much, the song just needs to be good.

Polegend Godgarina
Polegend Godgarina
6 years ago

Occidentali’s Karma is the quintessential pop song, and it worked. A catchy hook can work in any language. Of course, romance and slavic languages have an advantage because they sound better.

James
James
6 years ago

Have you tried listening to pop songs sung in other languages?

Zebb
Zebb
6 years ago

Roel, your last sentence has just cancelled your first.
I would enjoy a lot of songs from contest in native languages, and some of them were really damaged while changed to english only. Not fluent english speaking people will most likely check full text or trivia to get full meaning of their favourite song(s), so it applies for any other language as well as for english.

escphbelgium
escphbelgium
6 years ago

It should depend on the artist, not the broadcasters. If an artist prefers to sing in English, then they could sing in English. If an artist prefers to sing in their native language, then they can sing in their native language. If they want to go bilingual, then they can go bilingual.
It shouldn’t matter what language they sent, if we can just focus on the music (the mood, the tone, the instrumentation, etc.) then all of us can get lost in the sea if melodies and enjoy the song contest.

Ranting Ruby
Ranting Ruby
6 years ago

Point of information, Jovana – Portuguese is also spoken in Brazil, not just Portugal! (but I guess you meant “only” regarding Europe, right?)

James
James
6 years ago

Greece’s “This is Love” sounds better in Greek, Slovenia’s “On My Way” in Slovenia sounds more emotional in Slovenian, “In Too Deep” in Serbian sounds much more heartfelt and of course, Albanian “Bote” will always be my preferred version from Lindita.

“Verona” and “Breathlessly” in Italian=Great
Paper in Icelandic=Way better.

Justin K.
Justin K.
6 years ago

When the lingua franca of practically the entire planet is English, it’s never going to go away unless rules are imposed to force or encourage countries to include their officially recognised languages. Sweden at least puts in the effort to include Swedish tracks in MelFest, while Iceland’s NF requires the song to be sung in both Icelandic and English (which they need to change, btw). Regardless of language, it just boils down to having a quality song–looking at everything in the Top 3 the last ten years, you can’t deny that they all pretty much deserve their finishes. Sure there… Read more »

Darren
Darren
6 years ago

I think Portugal’s win was just one of those things, like Germany in 2010. Something which may not be repeated. An anomaly if you will 🙂

I’m sure we might get about 7-10 countries going native next year but the highly likely outcome is that the winner will be an English language song, as they generally tend to do better anyway. I would love to see Azerbaijan, Armenia, Russia and Sweden go native for a change, they have cool languages.
I’ve a hunch Australia is going to win next year anyway, so we’ll be back to English language songs again.

TACV
TACV
6 years ago

Just a correction to the article. Portuguese is not only spoken in Portugal. Portuguese language is the 6th most spoken language by native speakers in the world. It is the sole official language of Portugal, Brazil, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Angola, and São Tomé and Príncipe. It also has co-official language status in East Timor, Equatorial Guinea and Macau. As the result of expansion during colonial times, a cultural presence of Portuguese and Portuguese creole speakers are also found in Goa, Daman and Diu in India; in Batticaloa on the east coast of Sri Lanka; in the Indonesian island of… Read more »

Darren
Darren
6 years ago
Reply to  TACV

Yes but in terms of Eurovision, from which the article is referring to, Portugal is the only Portuguese speaking country.

We may get Brazil in a few years though, the way the country intestinal I see heading, but until then, it’s just Portugal 🙂

Jonas
Jonas
6 years ago
Reply to  Darren

In terms of Eurovision too, there are plenty of Brazilians living in Europe (for example).

L'oiseau
L'oiseau
6 years ago
Reply to  TACV

That is very true. Unfortunately none of these countries have shown enthusiasm for Eurovision (although Salvador’s song is still charting in Cape Verde). But on the other hand you forgot to mention the Portuguese diaspora, which include second and third generations of emigrants in some European countries that do understand Portuguese. Also, there are bid Portuguese-speaking communities of Brazilians and Cape Verdeans especially in Western Europe.

Jonas
Jonas
6 years ago
Reply to  L'oiseau

Oops, I just repeated your point about Brazillians living in Europe. #MyBad

I disagree with your choice of word “unfortunately”, though, as I don’t want to see Brazil in the contest. There are far too many countries already. Most of them have legitimate reason to be there, but Brazil….?

Jo
Jo
6 years ago
Reply to  L'oiseau

Maybe Cape Verde, they also have a dream to join the EU. Brazil in the contest means points every year for Italy more than for Portugal. Italy has a big diaspora in Brazil and they like Italian music. Portugal would get something for the language. Also points for Germany (diaspora), and Spain (language).
But this ain’t happening at all.

Denis
Denis
6 years ago

Let’s not get carried away here! Two songs since 2000 have won singing in entirely native language, that’s not significant of anything. I predict nothing will change next year. Some countries will try native but English will prevail and majority of countries will sing in English.Next year’s winner will most likely be in English, and we will have the same procedure in 2019! English is the most used language in the world and most people understands it, that’s why countries stick with English. The native language rule will never return to ESC. The contest has evolved since then and is… Read more »

James
James
6 years ago
Reply to  Denis

Just reform the language rule in a way that will encourage competing countries to utilize any other language besides English, especially if so many competitors can’t even enunciate well in a language that aren’t even their primary spoken language.

Rich Isaac
Rich Isaac
6 years ago

Would love to see the language rule back! Or a “25% rule”? I would love to see more non-English songs. Thanks for the article!

Aaron GR
Aaron GR
6 years ago

Great article, Jovana.

One of the things I love most about Eurovision is hearing different styles of songs sung in many beautiful languages. English is definitely over-represented every year.

Another thing I love about Eurovision is when countries and artists balance the desire to win against the desire to try something unexpected. Artists that do that usually come across as more interesting, playful and daring. And sometimes THAT combination is the X factor that leads to a high score.

Darth Thulhu
Darth Thulhu
6 years ago

This was an exhaustively-researched piece. Thanks for the thorough analysis.

To answer the question: Yes, there will be at least a one-year flurry of non-English songs, in the usual follow-the-leader trend. Whether it lasts will depend on if a non-English song wins *next* year. Two back-to-back non-English winners would give the trend legs, otherwise it will just implode again.

Hada
Hada
6 years ago

At least next year, yes. Who knows after that, depends on what wins next year (maybe Italy will finally have the win it deserves, and in that case it will be in Italian). Slovenia already said it will implement a language rule for next year’s selection, let’s see how long it lasts.

Davve
Davve
6 years ago

The language rule will never return. ESChas evolved with time. You can not restrict music.

And lets not get ahead of ourselves, only two winners in the last 17 years has been entirely in national language… And those two has had that something extra I guess.

Thaf doesnt mean that Portugal are likely to win anytime soon again…

Non of those two songs are contemporary… And have not become major hits….

James
James
6 years ago
Reply to  Davve

Define “major hits”.

Siranush
Siranush
6 years ago

I really hope so! As a linguistics nerd, I love languages other than my own. I would be ecstatic if Georgia sent a Georgian song or Greece sent a Greek song!!

queen_raiden
queen_raiden
6 years ago
Reply to  Siranush

When Anri Jokhadze performed “I’m a Joker”, the beginning part was in Georgian but it would be nice to hear a full song in at least 50% Georigian. Last time Greece sent in a song with Greek is was “Utopian Land” but sadly that didn’t make the final. What I haven’t heard yet done in Eurovision since I started watching in 2010 was Azerbaijan performing a song in Azer(baijan)i (or partially in it). Russia has a lot of language from the many ethnic groups there (Buranovskie Babushki performing in Udmurt) and it would be interesting to hear an entry in… Read more »

PP
PP
6 years ago

In 2018 we will have more ballads, more old dates song from 50 ties, 60 ties liek Portugal 2017, much more male singers and more songs in native language. And winner will be Sweden , or some new juries loved countries Australia, Belgium,The Nehterlands

Jo
Jo
6 years ago

Yes! But I’m not very optimistic. More countries will probably sing with non-English songs in 2018 and 2019, but this trend will stop again. The next winners will also probably be in English. If you rewatch the Eurovision 2009 show, you will see that most countries performed in their own languages. In 2010 we had way less doing that. Since last year (specially after the “Il Volo case”), more countries have been abandoning their own languages because they are afraid of the juries. Others, like France, feel forced to add English lyrics to the song in order to achieving a… Read more »

Jo
Jo
6 years ago
Reply to  Jo

I also noticed that many Eurovision fans want this to happen, because they want to “understand the meaning of the song”, even though their favourites are usually songs without any meaning.

Dimitrios Daskalakis
Dimitrios Daskalakis
6 years ago

The entries from Belarus and Hungary were also quite brilliant. INCLUSIVITY HUN-eey!!!! Click those fingers!!!

Matt
Matt
6 years ago

To answer the question posed by the title: yes as people tend to copy what the winners do. That’s why so many songs have been in English lately, so I hope that Salvador winning helps push the trend back in the other direction. Personally, I think the songs should be sung in whatever language is most comfortable for the artist. I especially dislike it when a song is changed to English because they believe that is necessary for Eurovision success, oftentimes losing the message as well as the flow of the song. Iceland immediately comes to mind. If they want… Read more »

Dimitrios Daskalakis
Dimitrios Daskalakis
6 years ago
Reply to  Matt

True, Iceland would have been better this year in Icelandic

PP
PP
6 years ago

Iceland made mistake 4 times when they change language in 2007,2011,2012,2017
Sweden one time in 2004
Albania 2 times in 2014,2016
Serbia in 2015
France with english lyrics in song in 2001,2017
Italy with english lyrics in song in 2016

Hebbuzz
Hebbuzz
6 years ago

Songs win beause they are emotional, the singer has carisma and stage presence.
It helps if can you sing in your native language to sell/tell a story so that people believe you. Only if your foreign tongue is almost as good as your native, it’s of no difference.

Uk esc fan
Uk esc fan
6 years ago

I enjoy other languages, origo being my favourite of esc 2017, however as an English speaker and with English being the dominant language for business and trade there is definitely a place for it. I enjoy songs in native languages a lot, especially ones that build up an atmosphere and I can understand the message without knowing what is being said

Julia
Julia
6 years ago

Last winning song in German is Germany/RFN 1982, no Austria 1966 🙂

Polegend Godgarina
Polegend Godgarina
6 years ago

Here in Italy they show live tweets during the performances, and when Hungary/Portugal/Belarus came up (the only countries, other than Italy, not to use English verses/chorus), the public would cover them with compliments for using their own languages. Also, ALL these four songs ended on the left-hand side of the scoreboard with the televote.

So yes, I think more countries should use their own languages next year. Serbia especially – if there’s one country that doesn’t need a bland Swedish song, it’s them!

Branko
Branko
6 years ago

Would be interesting to know what Italian tweeted when Croatia sang parts of their song in Italian.

Polegend Godgarina
Polegend Godgarina
6 years ago
Reply to  Branko

He got 6 points in our televote (there’s barely any Croatian diaspora in Italy, and all the countries that got more votes – Moldova, Romania, Bulgaria, Ukraine – have a massive diaspora), so it’s clear that the Italians loved him. The tweets were mostly praising him for speaking our language with a perfect accent.