Our favorite international music competition is back!
On May 10, the 2022 Eurovision Song Contest kicks off in Turin, Italy. The 66th edition of the global phenomenon is themed "The Sound of Beauty" and will feature dazzling performances from 40 different countries.
Italy, who won last year's contest with Måneskin's "Zitti e buoni," is playing host city for the third time and the first time since 1991. Måneskin, who went on to find international success and acclaim with their song "Beggin'," will return to the Eurovision stage for a performance of their new song "Supermodel" during the show's Grand Final.
The event will return to full capacity after last year's event was held with a limited audience of 3,500 in Rotterdam due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Eurovision has been responsible for helping to launch the careers of artists like Céline Dion, ABBA and Olivia Newton-John. For details on this year's competition—and who has the chance to join them!—keep reading.
The world's largest live music event, the Eurovision Song Contest is an over-the-top international songwriting contest featuring artists representing primarily European countries. Each country submits a song to be performed live, with competing countries casting votes to determine a winner. Fifty-two different countries have performed at least once.
Since 2016, professional juries and voters from each country each award a separate set of points from 1 to 8, 10 and 12. The top 10 countries in both the jury and fan vote receive points.
Twenty-five total acts will qualify for the Grand Final. Italy, France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom—called "The Big Five"—automatically advance to the Grand Final. They will be joined by the top 10 vote-getters from both semi-finals.
For a more detailed on how the Eurovision voting works, go here.
For the second straight year, Peacock is the exclusive home of Eurovision in the United States, both live and on-demand.
The first semi-final streams May 10, the second semi-final streams May 12 and the Grand Final streams on May 14. All three begin at 3:00 p.m. ET.
Two-time Olympian and NBC Sports commentator Johnny Weir is taking over hosting duties. A self-titled Eurovision superfan, Johnny host the Peacock stream from Los Angeles and provide pop-ins throughout the stream.
Forty countries will take part in Eurovision 2022, with Armenia and Montenegro returning after their absences from the last year's competition. In addition to The Big Five, participating countries include past winners like Netherlands, Sweden and Ukraine, plus smaller entries like Azerbaijan, North Macedonia and San Marino.
Russia, however, will not be competing. In February, the European Broadcasting Union banned the nation in the wake of the country's military assault against Ukraine.
In a statement, the EBU said the decision "reflects concern that, in light of the unprecedented crisis in Ukraine, the inclusion of a Russian entry in this year's Contest would bring the competition into disrepute. Before making this decision, the EBU took time to consult widely among its membership."
(E! and Peacock are both part of the NBCUniversal family.)
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