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Great, Now Americans Will Ruin Eurovision Too
Let’s just let this insane and beautiful cultural phenomenon be.
There is nothing that the USA sees that thinks it can’t have.
The latest victim in its present-day pop culture Manifest Destiny? Eurovision — the wacky, wild annual European singing competition that captives 200 million watchers every year.
That’s right, an American Song Contest will hit our TVs sometime in 2021. Whoopee.
This isn’t good news — not to a Eurovision superfan like myself. Not even to a Eurovision superfan who happens to be raised in the USA. Eurovision is magic captured in a bottle and USA couldn’t reproduce it if we tried.
Those who believe Eurovision is just a European version of The X Factor are immensely mistaken. Eurovision is a pop-culture behemoth difficult to describe. I hold it nearer to my heart than basically any show I watch. It’s exciting, cultural, beautiful, strange, and unbelievably delightful.
The rules are simple. Every country picks one song to represent them. Not a singer, a song. The 40-something odd countries then compete in two semifinals and one grand final over what’s called Eurovision Week. Every country can vote, in a European electoral college, for their top ten songs, through both a popular…
