Let’s take a look into how Eurovision has evolved over the years… (Picture: PA)
The Eurovision Song Contest has been held annually since 1956, and it’s safe to say things have changed over the years.
Just seven countries participated in the first contest, with Switzerland emerging victorious.
Fast forward to 2023 ahead of the contest taking place in Liverpool in the United Kingdom, and everything is bigger. This year, 31 countries will take part across two semi-finals with the hopes of filling 20 final slots.
There have also been over 1,500 songs sung at Eurovision since it started, with some going on to achieve global success, millions of record sales, and earn stardom for the performers.
But how have the songs evolved over time?
Well, to get technical on you, Eurovision songs have become more fond of minor keys and four beats in a bar, while long introductions and lyrics featuring ‘la la la’ are increasingly rare, research shows.
Mae Muller will take to the stage for the UK in Liverpool this year (Picture: Jeff Spicer/Getty Images)
One of the most familiar musical ingredients, the key change, also looks to be on the way out, with next week’s contest in Liverpool marking the first time they have not appeared in a single song.
There’s a fun fact you can whip out at your Eurovision parties!
The findings are likely to reflect a range of factors, including ‘more acts submitting songs that are authentic to them’ and a need to ‘get people on your side immediately,’ experts said.
Having conducted an analysis of the 1,373 songs that have appeared in the Eurovision final from the first contest to the most recent in 2022, the PA News agency found the following…
Minor keys were rare for many decades, but they have accounted for more than half of songs every year since 2005 with one exception (2013) and hit a high of 73% in 2021.
We’ve seen some iconic moments on the Eurovision stage over the years (Picture: Johannes Simon/Getty Images)
Time signatures have become more standardised, with a strict four beats in a bar appearing in over 90% of songs in almost every year since the late 1970s.
As mentioned, the “la la la” has fallen out of fashion: where once it was a staple of every contest, in the past three decades it has appeared in only nine finals.
Something else that’s been scrapped is long intros.
Yep, introductions once tended to average about 10 seconds – sometimes ballooning to 14 seconds – but have shrunk dramatically in recent years, averaging under 10 seconds since 2013 and five seconds or lower since 2015.
‘It’s no surprise intros have got shorter – in the TikTok and streaming eras, getting people hooked straightaway is essential,’ according to Steve Holden, host of the official Eurovision Song Contest podcast.
‘With only three precious minutes, you have to get people on your side immediately.
‘We are generally impatient, so every second counts – some could argue there’s no time for waffle in a modern Eurovision entry. With dynamic staging too, it’s important an act makes an impact in the first few seconds.’
From Abba to Loreen, some performances will never be forgotten (Picture: Pablo Blazquez Dominguez/Getty Images)
The findings reveal that songs in a time signature other than a strict 4/4 used to be quite prevalent – in both 1964 and 1966 they accounted for half of all entries – but from the late 1970s four beats in a bar became increasingly the norm, often (as in 2011 and 2021) to the exclusion of any other measure.
Unusual time signatures have yet to disappear completely, however.
Serbia & Montenegro and Macedonia had songs with seven beats to a bar in 2005 and 2007 respectively, while this year’s entry from Latvia features sections in 5/4.
The exact line-up of this year’s final is yet to be decided, with the countries due to be whittled down on May 9 and 11.
These countries will then join last year’s winners Ukraine in the final on May 13, along with the UK, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain, who all automatically qualify for a place as the biggest financial contributors to the European Broadcasting Union.
But regardless of who makes it to the final, one thing will definitely be missing from this year’s Eurovision: a key change.
Experts have found Eurovision intros have got shorter (Picture: Olle Lindeborg/AFP via Getty Images)
It’s thought TikTok has had an impact on how songs sound today (Picture: Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images)
For the first time, none of the semi-finalists, or the countries already in the final, have entered songs that contain this musical feature – one that appeared in more than three-quarters of entries in the late 1960s, and which was still turning up in around a half of songs in the early noughties.
‘Key changes and Eurovision have long been the perfect marriage but they are associated with what some may call a stereotypical Eurovision song,’ Holden says.
‘In the modern Eurovision age, more and more acts are submitting songs that are authentic to them, and they may not feel a key change is necessary. There is no point shoehorning one in if it doesn’t feel right.’
Who knows though, maybe they’ll make a comeback.
Their decline has been a fairly recent development, dropping to around a third of songs at the start of the 2010s, then falling to 15% in 2014, 8% in 2017, 4% in 2022 and none at all this year.
This trend, along with the growing prevalence of shorter introductions and minor keys, mirror the findings of a similar study last year by PA News that analysed 70 years of UK number one singles – all of which is likely to reflect ‘the advance of technology, which has upended previous ways of working in music production and composition,’ according to chart analyst and historian, James Masterton.
We’re also hearing less ‘la la las’ and key changes (Picture: Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic)
‘When you are doing it organically by playing live instruments, your instinct is to change things up a little to stop a song becoming tedious – and once upon a time that meant changing key. Now everything is on a computer screen you can be more subtle and shift the harmonics instead.’
One area where the history of Eurovision differs markedly from that of the pop charts is representation, with a strong mix of female and male artists from the very first contest in 1956, and only nine years in its entire history where all-male acts have been in the majority.
While the contest has also become more diverse in terms of ethnicity, this has been a slower process: all-white acts have made up at least 80% of entries in every year save two: 1999 and 2021.
A few bursts of ‘la la la’ have graced Eurovision songs for many decades, appearing in a quarter of entries in both 1969 and 1970, and 13% of entries as late as 2001.
But as with key changes, there are no songs in this year’s contest – whether already in the final or hoping to get there – with any trace of this lyrical hook.
More: Trending
‘We may not be getting many la la las, but we are seeing lots of replacements,’ notes Holden, pointing to the ‘da da da’ in the chorus of this year’s entry by the UK, I Wrote a Song by Mae Muller, or the repeated chants of ‘ah oh ah oh’ in Promise by the Australian entry, Voyager.
‘Also, there has been a winning song called La La La – by the Spanish singer Massiel in 1968 – so surely no la la la could ever top that.’
The 1,373 songs that have appeared in every Eurovision final from 1956 to 2022 take just over 66 hours to hear in full, so if you want to get through them all before the final, you better get started.
Got a story?
If you’ve got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk entertainment team by emailing us [email protected], calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we’d love to hear from you.
There’s been a lot of change over the years…
