eurosong:

Good afternoon folks, and welcome to today’s Eurovision statistical map! I had planned to release multiple maps today but I’m laid low with illness and really bad news - but I couldn’t miss out on a tradition that I’ve kept since beginning this blog back in 2012, releasing the annual map of this year’s lyrical content on the day of the contest! I base this map upon primarily what the singers themselves say about their songs. Sometimes, it’s hard to fit a song to a general category, and on other occasions, a song fits several, so I pick whichever I feel fits best.

The most typical topic for Eurovision lyrics tends to be about personal relationships - but this year, we have rather less than usual, especially about positive ones. And so many of the positive ones in their own right are layered with darkness: Spain’s tender love song is coloured by the bereavement during which Blas wrote the song, Greece’s lyrics abound with references to shadows and dark, and is in a minor key; Switzerland’s has a positive resolution but is musically sombre and with many dark lyrical motifs. Of this section, the only ambiguously upbeat positive relation songs for me are those of the UK and especially Iceland.

It’s rare for negative relationship songs to outnumber positive ones, but this year, that has indeed happened - maybe it’s a side effect of the pandemic? Austria, Estonia, Croatia and Israel all talk about the end of a relationship, whilst Belgium has a wry look at a bad one night stand, and Albania’s Anxhela can’t forgive herself for past deeds. In the place of the positive relationship songs, we have a bumper surfeit of songs that I’d categorise as being more about pure passion - with many, like Denmark, Serbia and Cyprus, seeming to take place on the dance floor - again, maybe influenced by pandemic cravings!

I expected that this year would have quite a few songs that were motivational or about overcoming difficulties - and we clock in with an impressive 10. Some of these songs are more self-motivational than anything, like France’s call for acceptance of herself, or Ireland’s quest to rise up against inner demons and find oneself. Others aim to motivate others - Czechia’s Benny said he literally wanted to just make people smile, whilst Slovenia encourages one to find inner strength and Romania preaches the importance of not forgetting to love oneself.

Like 2020, 2021 is a year with many songs with a political, social or existential message. This year, we have not just one but several feminist anthems - Russia, Malta, Latvia - which all overlap heavily with the motivational category. Elsewhere, Germany takes a stand against toxicity, Italy is a defiant defence of outsiderdom, and the hosts, Netherlands, sing a beautifully poetic song inspired by BLM encouraging people to find their roots and stand up for themselves.

We only get a few songs this year that I would primarily consider saudadic or melancholy about loss or nostalgia primarily - maybe most countries steered clear because this past year has provided a surfeit of that already. Portugal features a sex worker they met looking back on broken dreams, Norway at an unrequited love and Bulgaria at the passing of time.

The biggest lyrical outlier for me this year is Ukraine, who have taken their inspiration from traditional spring songs envoking nature and the change of season. Maybe it’s just me, but I also see an underlying symbolic optimism about our current situation in these lyrics; awakening the spring to go outside and love one another.

Good luck to all your favourites tonight and enjoy. May we never ever go without Eurovision for more than a year again!