For those of you who don’t know: The Eurovision Song Contest, often just called Eurovision, is the longest-running annual international TV song competition since 1956! 61 years of Eurovision, with this year being the first time that the final was broadcasted to the United States. (About damn time!) This year’s Eurovision Song Contest took place in the Ericsson Globe in Stockholm, Sweden, following Sweden’s victory at the 2015 contest in Vienna, Austria, with the song “Heroes,” performed by Måns Zelmerlöw. The event is broken down into three days, with 2 semi-finals and the final. This year, the semi-finals took place on May 10th and May 12th, and the final was this past Saturday, May 14th, with millions of viewers tuning in around the world.

42 countries participated in the contest this time around, with 4 returning countries (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, and Ukraine), after absences from previous contests. Australia also returned after being a special guest last year. Unfortunately, both Portugal and Romania withdrew this year. Some interesting facts: the Czech Republic managed to qualify for the final for the first time this year since their debut in 2007; Bosnia and Herzegovina also failed to progress out of the semi-finals for the first time ever as did Greece! With the latter being absent from the final for the first time since 2000! This year, the contest also invited surprise guest and American pop sensation, the one and only, Justin Timberlake! He performed as the first interval act in the Final with two songs, his 2003 hit “Rock Your Body” and his new 2016 single, “Can’t Stop The Feeling!” It was Timberlake’s first televised performance of the 2016 track, for the upcoming DreamWorks Animation film “Trolls.” It was also the first time ever that a global megastar performed during the interval in the contest’s 61-year-history! (Justin and Måns are BFFs now btw).

Although this year’s contest was filled with impressive visual effects, the interval act from the second semi-final should also be noted because it truly was an amazing performance that I will not forget. The act was called “Man vs. Machine,” choreographed by Fredrik Rydman, and it was definitely the first time Eurovision has ever done anything like it. (Go watch it!)

Believe it or not, I’ve watched Eurovision with my family for 11 years now! ELEVEN. It’s crazy to think that I’ve watched it for so many years. And this year with the new voting system, it became especially intense as we watched it come down to Ukraine and Russia. Mind you, I am both Ukrainian and Russian. And we were rooting for both countries.

Although, I personally wanted Australia to win and with the jury votes Australia did win first place. With the televoters, Australia came in second and in the final minutes of the Eurovision Final, Ukraine was announced as the winner of this year’s contest! With a record-breaking 534 points, Jamala won with her emotional and political song, “1944.” It was Ukraine’s second win, with their first win in the 2004 contest, with the song “Wild Dances” by Ruslana.

Jamala’s win is especially significant because her song concerns the deportation of the Crimean Tatars in the 1940s, by the Soviet Union at the hands of Joseph Stalin. Russia occupied and annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, and things have arguably not gotten better for the Crimean Tatars.

Also, as most of you know, Ukraine is still currently in an armed conflict with Russia. Thus, for such a political song to be recognized for its important message is a seriously big deal. It was also the first time a song with Crimean Tatar lyrics won the contest. Jamala’s personal, emotional, and political song, which truly showcased her vocal range, arguably follows the footsteps of Eurovision’s 2007 winner Serbia, with the song “Molitva” by Marija Šerifović, a powerful ballad which means “prayer,” whose meaningful lyrics touched the hearts of countless viewers around the world.

I cannot wait to see the amazing show Eurovision 2017 will bring and a huge congrats to Ukraine for winning this year! If you watched this year’s Eurovision, who were your favorites? Did your favorites make it to the top ten? And lastly, how do you feel about Jamala’s song “1944” and her win?