American Reacts to Eurovision Song Contest EXPLAINED 

Eurovision is not a singing contest, it is a song contest.

I feel like this video only shows the negative and ridiculous side of Eurovision. There is so much more to it and also really talented and amazing people participating.

Winning the contest will make you a national hero forever. In Germany we had Nicole and Lena. Everybody knows their names and songs still after years.

The funny thing - the "Got Talent..." formula was developed by Simon Cowell for the British TV and then sold to other countries. And "The Voice" is a Dutch invention sold to the rest of the world.

Tyler, it’s not a singing competition, it’s a SONG contest. Sometimes the songwriter performs their song and other times, they choose someone else to perform it.

It is a song contest, not a singing contest. Americans only focus on the vocal performance, but everything matters. Instrumentals, staging, vocals, performance, outfits. Also despite Eurovision sometimes having a reputation of being camp and too silly (although not as much anymore), it produces a lot of hits and it’s basically its own genre. The top songs and others usually chart around Europe, and some become certified classics.

Eurovision is so fun because it can be so goofy, also the fact that it makes a bunch of people in Europe come together with their community. Growing up with eurovision made me love it so much

Finland's currently only win is from 2006, and let me tell you, that was a huge thing for us. Lordi pretty much blew everything out of the water. Ever since then there has generally been some pretty good buzz around our songs but we've been among the last what comes to placements. Hopefully we'll fare better this year with Käärijä.

Okay, let me clear up two of the myths here: 1. It's not really an advantage for the big five (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and UK) to be automatically qualified for the grand final. All other countries have to win the juries and audiences over for the semi finals, which is why they get a lot more momentum at the pre parties and their songs are heard more often. The big five's songs get much less attention, so it has to be a super great song/ performance, surprising and truly outstanding to get any chance of getting goog results. 2. About the troll entries: Yes, hosting a Eurovision is expensive, however, it also brings in a lot of tourist money to the countries, so having to host the next Eurovision is less of a reason to make a troll entry. Only Ireland once admitted of trolling the event for this reason, because they won three times in a row and got tired of hosting it over and over again. Also, it's not mandatory to host the next Eurovision, if you win. You are totally free to say no. Usually the runner up will offer to host instead (like the UK offered to host for Ukraine, who won last year and cannot host this year, for obvious reasons). Most countries absolutely want to perform well and get as much points as possible. However, depending on the national pre-selections there can be some tensions and frustration. And sometimes local juries and voters just send something that's not to be taken super seriuosly. It can be a deliberate choice to make your country look humorous or open-minded. If you dare to dive deeper into the madness called Eurovision I recommend you check out the following videos: All winners from 1956-2022: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-fJ-i8qCD5Ck.html A funny ultimate guide to Eurovision: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-qReWsTIkMe4.html

OMG girl. I'm an American who moved to Europe and now Eurovision is LIFE. It's streaming on Peacock in the States this year, you've gotta watch it. It's fucking incredible. AND! For the first time this year, countries outside of Europe can vote for their faves - including the United States.

Eurovision is easily the biggest event of the year in my family. It's one of the few things we all watch together. My little niece even puts her dolls on chairs, so they can watch the show too, lol! Also, Lordi wasn't a troll entry. Their act was absolutely iconic and so are many many others. The announcement of the voting results is just as much part of the show as the songs.

Because ESC is such an old contest, many of us Europeans have memories from childhood when our parents let us watch it and because it was so late at night it was hard to stay awake. Then we waited for the results and like everything feels longer as a child it felt like it took forever to find out who wins... It's crazy, it's party. I woke my kid tonight to watch it. ❤ And his grandma remembers watching the contest as a child as well. It's a fun tradition every year.

The best part is that each country has their own broadcast, in the UK it's hosted by Graham Norton, and he spends all night making half drunk mostly sarcastic back handed commentary - It's great!

You should totally react to a "winners of Eurovision" video! It will show you the quality of music over the years and some of them might surprise you as to who they were! 😎👍

I'm British. I'm proud to be European, especially when we celebrate Eurovision. ❤️

14:40 - the Spanish song where the woman falls down wasn't a mistake. It was a comedian performing, and he had dancers with him, but one was apparently a comedian. Her falling down was part of the comedic act that the whole song basically was.

The "undead costumes" song, Hard Rock Hallelujah, by Lordi, is actually a really good song, and Lordi are an established band in their home country. It was a well-deserved win, even if some commentators were surprised and thought it was a joke entry. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-gAh9NRGNhUU.html

Eurovision "borders" is based on European Broadcasting Union Area, which includes basically entire Mediterranean (which explains Israel and some North African countries occasionally thinking of participating). Australia was invited to participate because their strong BBC connections had them watching it for decades as religiously as in Europe.

By the way, it's the "Eurovision Song Contest", not the "European Song Contest". Eurovision is an association of broadcasters, mostly from Europe, but also from countries outside Europe (e.g. Israel). Even Australia takes part in the Eurovision Song Contest. The ESC has a huge fan base in Australia, and they were allowed to be there for the 50th anniversary of the ESC as special guest. It was planned to be a one-time event, but they've been there every year since (as an "associated member" of Eurovision). In recent years it has also become more and more common to sing the songs in native language. And of course there are not only fun performances, but also many serious contributions, mostly very catchy and modern and sometimes extremely innovative. The transition between art and trash is sometimes fluid. And surprises are always guaranteed.

Eurovision is fun, it´s camp and most importantly, rather than being about winning or loosing it, it is about having a great time together, and standing together. Last year was a good example of that. Great to see how much fun you had with it! :)

Actually a country doesn't have to be located in Europe. They just have to be members of the European Broadcasting Union, so that includes Israel and Morocco (who just entered once) for example. The exception is Australia, who were allowed to enter for the special (I think it was 50th?) anniversary show. Eurovision had a massive following in Australia because they have so many first generation European immigrants and they had broadcast the show there right from the beginning. After that show, it was agreed that they could continue to participate - on the proviso that they can't host if they win, because of the distance from Europe.

Honestly, for everyone who never watched eurovision, you don't know what you're missing. That's pure pure fun, one of the highlights of the year without a doubt. But in the middle of such trolling and fun, some artists and bands are amazing. A few years ago I discovered Go_a from Ukraine, what an awesome band, everybody knows ABBA thanks to eurovision. Awesome show

Being Italian I cannot be quite offended by the fact the guy didn't specify that the whole contest is based on our very own Italian Song Contest: Sanremo. I think the oldest in the world.

For a short introduction you could always check one of the most brilliant mid time acts in Eurovision “Love Love Peace Peace” .. Eurovision in a nutshell 🤣

Eurovision 1974 was the starting point for a world carreer when ABBA won with "Waterloo". In the Nordic countries hard rock and metal are VERY popular, so Lordi was representative of the Finnish music scene. And they won deservedly. There are reels with the winning songs from every year since the beginning in the 1950ies and you can watch how popular music evolved through the decades.

I'm hosting a eurovision party this year, we have one every year. It's evolved from a chance to get drunk and laugh at the bad acts, to getting quite into it and getting quite passionate about our faves. It helps that most countries are taking it more seriously, and the quality of the songs are often pretty good. We stan Graham Norton.

Countries trying to lose on purpose is a myth and/or an excuse for some countries for being bad and having a low budget. Nowadays everyone is trying their best, in 2023 there's only one song that can be considered classic Eurovision troll, and even that one is actually political satire rather than a joke or losing on purpose.

Even IF the US would be part of, you need to remember some things. 1. No matter who host it, it will be broadcast in European prime time. That means 21:00 CET. 2. Even if you win, you (like Australia) would have to host it in a European country. You can assign hosts and will pay for everything, but it will not be held in the US. 3. Eurovision is held in multiple languages, so a lot of the time, the host will speak in french and not english. So, even if Eurovision would try to get into the US market, my knowledge of the US people tells me they are not gonna watch it. Also in my experience people are gonna go there expecting to win (or at least place very high), root very hard, and when they don't get many points abandon it almost immidately. The US is never interested in competing if they don't think they can win.

1:37 It’s not really a singing competition. It’s a song competition. It’s not just about great vocals, but more about great songs and a great live performance of them. Naturally, vocals talent, staging etc. helps, and unintentionally insufficient vocals will drag it down. 1:56 It’s literally bigger than the Super Bowl. 2:36 Yeah, you’d think… NBC launched the American Song Contest in 2022 as a song competition between U.S. states based on the Eurovision Song Contest concept. It flopped and wasn’t renewed for a second season in 2023. 3:30 The Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) has never been exclusively European, but it has always been predominantly European. It’s organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which is an alliance of public service media organisations within the European Broadcasting Area (EBA). The EBA has always included North Africa and most of the Middle East in addition to Europe. Associate members of the EBU from outside the EBA may participate upon invitation. That’s how Australia is in it. 5:24 NBC has the US rights to Eurovision, so you can stream it through Peacock. 6:23 That’s Verka Serduchka. Ukraine’s entry in 2007, finishing in second place. A Eurovision icon. 6:59 Sure, that might be a part of it, but knowledge of English is fairly widespread in Europe (as it is globally), so back when entries had to be in each nation’s own national language(s), the UK and Ireland had an advantage they quickly lost when everyone could choose whichever language they wanted to perform in (which often is English). 7:34 I honestly doubt it’s been deliberate. 😂 8:40 Once again. You really don’t have to look any further than Peacock. 😄 10:10 Sure, people often read politics into the voting. But it could simply be that people often vote for songs coming from a similar cultural sphere as oneself. 🤷🏼‍♂️ Granted, occasionally there’s a more obvious political component. Ukraine’s entry won last year. Although it was a splendid entry, it’s hard to ignore that the war likely had an impact on the hearts and minds of voters. 11:46 I’m not sure it’s actually a rule that the winning country (or actually the winning member broadcaster) has to host the following year. I think it’s more like a tradition and an expectation than an actual rule. But I could be wrong here. 18:12 Yes, NBC does. 😉

🇫🇮 Hi from Finland! Lordis whole thing is being a "undead band from hell," those costumes are not Eurovision only. Their older songs are absolute BANGERS!!! It's a shame that not many finnish people didn't go to their gigs after they won, compared to other countries. (I was way too young so that's my excuse.) They have official horror comics and a movie. The winning song is Hard Rock Hallelujah which i highly recomend, along with Who's Your Daddy and Would You Love A Monsterman.

The country in which Eurovision is most popular outside of Europe is Australia, as most of us aren't far removed from Europe. We are actually allowed to compete now. I think people either want to get to know us or feel sorry for us down here, because we are now getting invites to other stuff, like legitimate South American international football tournaments etc. Will Ferrel and Rachel McAdams made a comedy for Netflix about Eurovision too. The whole thing is a little crazy but the way this video condenses the competition trivialises it a bit. The monsters from Finland are called Lordi - they're a band that existed outside of Eurovision and plays metal festivals etc. I actually saw a full length documentary about the band and the sacrifices they make for their art. ABBA were pretty much discovered and popularised through winning Eurovision a long time ago.

Eurovision has its own dedicated RU-vid channel that will broadcast both semi-finals, and the grand-final live. Enjoy 😉😁😂

and, every year, half of Europe goes insane, and it's on youtube. also, it's not really just a singing competition, it's a SONG contest. staging, presentation, yadda is all part. also, they opened international voting it's crazy it's party plus, the fandom is amazing, and we all get genre blind, for about 2 months. it's great. i should turn this into a drinking game... i do want to add, that the US has this great thing, where a lot of things that are fine over here, are not okay in the US...

Finland with Lordi is amazing! There performance the following year to open the show is great :D

You need to do more Eurovision videos, there’s so much to see and learn and your reaction was amazing, embracing all the eurovision chaos ❤️ I would love to see more!

Eurovision just brings the family together and have a good time even if you don’t do too well

There is actually a Eurovision movie starring Will Ferell and Rachel McAdams. Will Ferrell has been obsessed with Eurovision for ages, and wanted to make a movie about it. There is also a episode in a show called Father Ted (a comedy about Irish priests) where the main characters are asked to write and perform a song for Eurovision because Ireland didn't want to win that year as they didn't want pay to host it again

It is massively popular...people host parties to watch the whole show...🎉

Each country has a mini-competition in the months before where they select a bunch of singers/bands to compete to represent their country. One of my fave bands won the German preliminary round, so excited for them & Germany has been at the bottom so often I think it'll be a great chance to move up the rankings, they don't care so much if they win or not, they're looking forward to the experience & meeting the other artists! 🙌 Australia has an amazing band this year too.

LORDI!!! Finland did a great move that year. I saw Lordi a couple of days ago with Sabaton and Babymetal. Just have to say i love them! And i'm from Sweden... 😄

Eurovision this year starts on 9th May, with the Final on Saturday 13th. It is being hosted in Liverpool. Ukraine won last year due to an overwhelming public sympathy vote, but isn't able to host for obvious reasons, the UK stepped in as host because we came 2nd, although we are assured it will have a distinct Ukrainian flavour.

I love Eurovision! 😁 It's almost like celebrating a holiday during the final for me. My whole family comes together packed infront of the TV with gold hats and all 😂 Even though we're all adults now and don't live together anymore, me and my siblings still gather at my moms house for this 🙂

161 million watched ESC last year. This year they are aiming for 170.

The pirate song is unironically one of my favorite performances over the years.

ABBA won with Waterloo many years ago. I think that was their big entry to the world stage

In the early 80s a young German lass won with a song called 'A Little Peace' (sorry my keyboard doesn't have the German lettering). She sung the song in German, but when she won and repeated the performance she sang each verse in different languages. It was both clever and extremely touching. I used to love Terry Wogan doing the tongue-in-cheek commentary too, although Graham Norton is almost as good. I think the 'voting for your mates' aspect is really funny.

You are right, it's the biggest musical competition in the world. The fandom is massive. What you said about the stages - every year stage reveal is a whole event.

It’s a major event in our family. We take it in turns each year to host a Eurovision party at our house and we all draw countries out of a hat before it starts (we usually have 3 countries each as there are so many countries competing). There is a prize for whoever drew the winning country and also a joke prize for whoever drew the country that got nil points. It’s the best 😁

Australians love Eurovision. We even have an entry each year now.

Eurovision is almost celebrated on a near religious level. there are literally hundreds of Eurovision parties across the UK for the final. it's wacky as hell, it's cheesier than a cheese factory, the voting is mental - but that's why we have this crazy affection for it. check out previous winners, Lordi. 👍 some classic bangers were born at Eurovision.

Eurovision just brings the whole Europe together just like a big family meeting lmao. Everyone supports each other and I love it

In addition to Abba's Waterloo, there are many famous Eurovision songs which many people don't even realize are Eurovision songs ;) E.g. "Volare", also sung by Dean Martin, is from Eurovision 1958, and the song used in this Chaplin clip ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-uxPRZL09hGg.html is originally Luxembourg's Eurovision entry 1967, "L'Amour est blue" :D Just a few examples!

It's fun to watch together with friends on the final evening. We drink, have fun, make hilarious comments on the different performances and make bets on who is going to win. We have a great time every year.

As an American who’s watched 9 years of Eurovision, you’re missing out!

Best part is that I was on a concert with Lordi (the band in death costumes), Babymetal and Sabaton....they where awesome, and ended the show with this song you saw 🤘🤘 keeper up the awesome work 👍👍

I'm a fan of eurovision since 2006 and I'm only 20 years old. I grew up with eurovision and it's a huge part of my life. Of course it's fun and there are a lot of jokes entries but at the same time there are also a lot of serious and good songs. Also every year is different since the countries always send different songs. Therefore basically every new year is a surprise :)

Lordi, the band from Finland, dresses up like that at all there performances. And existed before and still do, saw them yesterday.

Let's hope Finland wins second time with Käärijä - Cha cha cha 🎉💚🇫🇮

Eurovision is a must watch yearly song festival/competition for EU, it’s where the funniest (that turn into memes) and most amazing performances are made. They have a wide range of genres like folklore, metal, pop, ballad, opera, dance, rock etc…

To be fair, that 'undead' group, called Lordie, actually is always on stage like that. They're in makeup for about eight hours before each show.

It would be great to see you do a reaction video to this years actual Eurovision Song Contest. The final is broadcast live on Saturday 13th May. Maybe drag Ryan in to react with you. It would be cool to see you both reacting to the madness that is Europe...

The guy that made the video almost gets it, but not quite. Nobody enters to lose - except Ireland that one time - the performers don't show up to not win, they take it seriously even when they're taking the mick or it seems completely nuts. That's part of what makes it fun.

Americans have competed in Eurovision as part of other acts. Most notably Katrina and the Waves,whose lead singer is from the USA. They won for the UK in 1997 with “Love Shine A Light”.

With Finland (Lordi) these were not costumes, this was the first time in history when Finns actually didn't put makeup on and showed how they actually look like.

The video is a good explination for a beginner, but there's a lot that's based on opinion. The big 5 don't deliberately under perform, they just tended to not take it too seriously (this has changed recently with Spain, the UK, Italy and France doing quite well). The political voting isn't really entirely political, it's mostly based on culture's being very similar and being able to understand each other's songs. The point about countries deliberately trying to not win isn't true either. Yes, it is expensive to host but countries really do want to host it due to the tourism it brings, it is just that most of the smaller countries don't have the budget to spend on good costumes, staging, so their entries tend to not be "as good". Overall, the ESC is more than a song contest, it is hours of entertainment that is watched by over 200 million people world wide.

Eurovision week feels like sports event. First stay up for 2-3h for semis and get to sleep after midnight (yes Finland here) and then final night votes are done maybe at 1:30am? And after weeks (months since national finals start running in Jan) od excitement and anticipation and last push and getting winner, the Sunday after and probably a week after that, you suffer PED..post-eurovision depression because it's over ;)

I'd love you to react to more Eurovision stuff, like all winners or something :D It's always fascinating to see Americans learn about Eurovision, it's awesome :)

Tyler, I watch very many of your videos and am delighted with the joy that you’ve expressed over Eurovision. Your desire to learn about new things is a delight and we love following on your journey of discovery. 👍😀

I absolutely loved this. When you grow up with the camp comedy of Eurovision you are used to the wackiness. To see Tyler’s reaction is priceless and hilarious! 😂

America's Got Talent is a spin-off from Britain's GT. The Voice was a Dutch invention.

it is not a singing competition! it’s a SONG contest, where the best song is chosen to be the winner

Lordi won for Finland I think in 2006 last full televote. On purpose and thanks to the metal community uniting. They are and where and already well established band and the costumes are just part of their normal act.

That video is a little outdated, even when it came out it was outdated. He generally explain how it was like 20 years ago but nowadays it has become much more serious and a lot less trolling (which is both good and bad). Also, singing in your own langue and having cultural themes are starting to become more popular again, which I love. I think most countries that participates today want to win because it's like a huge ad for your country (with hundreds of millions of watchers) and you got a lot of the money you spend back with tourism.

Eurovision Song Contest is fantastic...I have been fortunate to have been to 3 contests live, Oslo 2010🇳🇴, Copenhagen 2014 🇩🇰 and Stockholm 2016 🇸🇪 ... brilliant experiences , so much fun...🎵🎤 To celebrate the 60th anniversary in Vienna 2015 Australia 🇦🇺 was invited to compete and is still in it. 🙂 An American did win it once..in 1997, representing the United Kingdom.

Just so you know, the comedy acts and acts that are just their to do whatever and deliberately loose is mostly in the past, now it is taken more serious as a song competition as the artists and countries do want to win and therefore there are less comedic songs and even if they are comedic, they normally have a good beat to them. This year’s Eurovision Song Contest is next week and I know it is gonna be amazing with the UK hosting🔥🥳 also just to inform you, it is not a "singing competition" but much rather a "song competition", yes songs with vocals get a lot of points from the juries, but most of the audience doesn't really care about that, if the song and beat is good and the staging is amazing, we'll most likely vote for that song🔥

This was adorable haha. Please watch it this year! I wanna see you react.

The politics bit is overblown and usually something said by people who are only casual observers. Whats more important is things like expat communities and cultural/musical ties. For example Poland often score well in the UK partly becausr we have a large Polish community. French speaking acts usually do well in countries with French soeaking populations because they can understand the lyrics. Some countries also send in acts who are already stars in their home countries and who are often also famous in neighbouring countries. For example Russia's entry in 2016 came third and he'd alrrady toured as a co-headline act with that years winner from Ukraine.

It’s the most inclusive thing too. 😊 great fun. The singing is great but the voting is the best. In the US, Eurovision 2023 will be broadcast exclusively on Peacock. You can either stream Eurovision live or watch it on demand. The first semi-final will take place on Tuesday, May 9, starting at 3 p.m. ET in the US. At the same time on Saturday, May 13, you can tune in to watch the finals.

That was a really good explanation of the Euro song contest. Being a music lover I ignore the show but switch on for the voting which in itself takes about an hour and is very entertaining.

This is beautiful to watch the Eurovision seed be planted in your brain and grow 😆

One thing I would say it's that countries are NOT deliberately trying to lose. It's just that with almost 40 countries taking part each year, most countries aren't going to win so a couple of countries don't allocate resources for acts to be successful (well, it's a lot of money)

Like he said, the rules are always changing. There was a time when one of the rules was that you had to sing in your own language, but that's not the case any more. I may have missed it, but he didn't mention ABBA, who shot to global fame having won Eurovision in 1974. That year it was hosted by the UK, and took place in Brighton. I'm sorry, but if the US were allowed to compete, they would just spoil it! They wouldn't understand it, and would be there just to win and prove how good they think they are, not to have fun, which is what it's all about. 😊

ironically i really liked france's "moustache" song... even years later its one of my top entries ever

Looking forward to you reacting to the eurovision this week as its in Liverpool, by the way I love your channel ❤

Welcome to the wonderful world of Eurovision!😍 You're in for an absolute treat!👍

Thank you! I have been waiting for you to watch Eurovision like forever! Please do a video with all the Eurovision winners 🤗

They are streaming this also an RU-vid. The second half final begins in Eleven minutes btw. ^^ This year's final is on saturday.

Greetings from Bulgaria! We don't participate already couple of years and I am going insane - I miss it! Of course I watch it live here in RU-vid. Dear Tyler your reactions were pure gold 😍

The former Swedish Eurovision general Christer Björkman actually tried to introduce it to the US, on NBC, American song contest 2022, but it didn't take off.

Your reaction to this was brilliant. I do hope you get to watch Eurovision in all its gloriousness!

The US actually held their own version of Eurovision last year, where all of the states competed against each other. AleXa, Oklahoma's representative, won with the song Wonderland. It obviously didn't capture the essence of Eurovision, and wasn't really that well received, but AleXa did great and absolutely deserved the win.

It actually starts tomorrow till saturday and from what I heard this is the first year its also broadcasted in the US. So you can watch it this year.

Abba were first seen on Eurvision and won with Waterloo, the rest is history😊😊

Wow!! Even in Australia, we know all about Eurovision. We are especially fond of the year that ABBA won for Waterloo in 1974!!

Eurovision is amazing!!! Lordi from Finland are a great band and fully deserved the win. I love how crazy and camp it all is. The semi finals start this Tues evening and the final is sat 13th May. It's broadcast on the BBC in the UK, so maybe BBC US will show it? It's common to hold a Eurovision party where alcohol is almost essential, and we like to prepare food from different countries taking part. It's an awesome night with friends

I really like your reaction videos, Tyler. Very interesting and entertaining. You have a good sense of humor.

I'm sure somebody has already said it, but SONG contest, not SINGING contest. And yes, Eurovision is huge. It's here this year, (Ukraine won last year, but obvs can't host, so it's here again, cos we came second), tickets were released in batches, and sold out in under an hour each time.

You need to remember that hosting the Olympics also brings a lot of money to the country that is hosting. Eurovision, not so much. The monsters that won from Finland didn't dress up for the competition. That is how they dressed up for every gig before and after Eurovision, and they wanted to win and they won because the song was good.

Finland's band is a huge famous metal band who always dressed liked that they no surprise winning

Best bit about the whole thing is to gather a bunch of people, commenting, drinking, snacking, and having fun. Even better if everyone dresses up in their campiest, glitziest outfits and make a party out of it.