One of the world’s greatest musical gatherings returns this weekend with the Eurovision Song Contest final. Forty-two countries will take the stage on Saturday in Stockholm to compete in the event’s 61st edition. Does hot favourite Russia deserve to win? Will Germany reverse its dire Eurovision run and will the United Kingdom finally present an act that won’t be the subject of punchlines and memes? We check out 16 of the big names taking part in this much-loved musical cheese-fest.
• Watch the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest final live on www.eurovision.tv on Saturday from 11pm
Australia
Sound of Silence, Dami Im
Back for its second appearance at the Eurovision finals, Australia continues to use the international platform to launch the careers of talent-show winners. This time around it's The X Factor Australia winner, singer Dami Im representing the island nation with Sound of Silence. However, while last year's debut entry – Tonight Again by Australian Idol inaugural winner Guy Sebastian – was a totally infectious R&B jam, Sound of Silence is a lumpy power ballad better suited to dingy karaoke bars than Eurovision.
* Saeed Saeed
Azerbaijan
Miracle, Samra
The not-so-much-in-Europe country has mostly fielded quality entries. Miracle is another song to be proud of. It is straight-out Europop, with a massive chorus that is perfect for television sporting montages. The performance will also be a visual treat, with pyrotechnics, Samra in a flesh-coloured bodysuit and her dancers resembling half-dressed Roman guards.
* Saeed Saeed
Bulgaria
If Love Was a Crime, Poli Genova
She is among this year’s top tips, and you can see why – this energetic strut runs with the time-honoured compositional crutch of comparing two hearts becoming one with illegal acts. Things get a bit nonsensical at one point with the lost-in-translation lyric: “If love was a crime then we would work miracles.” She has the Eurovision pedigree, however, having previously represented her country in 2001, and there’s a nice bit of untranslatable Bulgarian in the chorus for added kook value. There are echoes of Sia and Ellie Goulding in her timbre, while the sped-up chipmunk background-vocal motifs suggest she has this pop thing down pat. A definite shot at the title.
* Adam Workman
Denmark
Soldiers of Love, Light House X
Danish entries have always been heavy on twee. It was that earnestness that got them booted out of the competition last year after failing to qualify. This time around they seemed to get the balance right. The trio Light House X are a cross between Il Divo and One Direction and Soldiers of Love is a catchy anthem about love and togetherness – a subject that never fails to capture voters' attention.
* Saeed Saeed
France
J’ai Cherché (I’ve Been Looking For), Amir
Interesting fact: Amir Haddad was born with a hearing impairment and can only hear in his left ear. Fact No 2: this 31-year-old Israeli-French reality-TV star is currently one of the top three favourites and could bag France’s first Eurovision win in 39 years. He’ll certainly outperform 2011’s entry, Twin Twin, who bagged just two points. The hype might not prove misplaced – Amir’s self-written, multilingual electropop stomper sounds much like many other entries on the list, but is marginally better executed. In short: Amir is singing for an audience, and he knows it.
* Rob Garratt
Germany
Ghost, Jamie-Lee Kriewitz
It is official: Germany will look back at this period as their Eurovision dark age. Since winning the title in 2010, the country has been sliding down the polls and reached their nadir last year by coming dead last with zero points. Sadly, Ghost could suffer a similar fate: it's just plain boring, full of unnecessary melodrama and, most bizarrely, it lacks a chorus. You would expect more from a country that gave us such Europop royalty as Haddaway and Snap.
* Saeed Saeed
Greece
Utopian Land, Argo
It’s a pleasant surprise to see Greece’s entry make significant attempts to forgo the omnipresent anodyne styles of Eurovision electropop in favour of actually paying heed to its host nation’s musical traditions. Argo’s entry opens with flurries of Mediterranean string melodies and percussion, before suddenly lurching into a hip-hop dirge, complete with a laboured Greek rap. For this novelty we’ll excuse the markedly clunky English-language chorus. However, novelty is rarely rewarded by the judges and the song’s odd video – essentially three minutes of a topless man running in black and white – are unlikely to swing the floating voters.
* Rob Garratt
Ireland
Sunlight, Nicky Byrne
If you think Russian entry Sergey Lazarev is a pop throwback, check out the quiff on Nicky Byrne, who seems to have been cloned from left-out-in-sun Ronan Keating DNA. It’s unlikely that this steaming pile of generic-ness would have even made it onto a Boyzone B-sides album, however. Indeed, the only line that lingers in the memory long enough to bear repeating is the rather dubious “Just touch who you wanna/ Kiss who you gotta”. Tell that to the court, Nicky, and keep your hands where we can see them. In recent years, Ireland has won Eurovision with a frequency usually reserved in the Emerald Isle for cracking jokes and being gregarious. Not this time, we’re afraid.
* Adam Workman
Italy
No Degree of Separation, Francesca Michielin
Having sat out for 13 years, beginning in 1998, Italy has shown decent form since returning to the Eurovision fold in 2011 and Il Volo finished third last time. This year it is the turn of Francesca Michielin, who won the Italian version of The X Factor some years ago. Michielin delivers a stirring, swirling vocal performance as she sings about "no degree of space between us" and stars aligning together. It might take more than that for her to win the contest, but this entry will be competitive and popular – it has already racked up 15.7 million views on YouTube – and Italy is bound to collect plenty of votes from central and southern Europe. I'm not sure that will be enough, though.
* Nick March
Latvia
Heartbeat, Justs
After failing to qualify from 2011 to 2014, Latvia proves that its sixth place last year was no fluke with this rather arresting piece of electropop. Forget the opening verse where the English lyrics are truly mangled; from then on the song picks up steam and Justs unleashes a fantastic rock howl. Great stuff.
* Saeed Saeed
Malta
Walk on Water, Ira Losco
Malta tends to punch well above its weight, twice finishing as runners-up in the past 15 years. Ira Losco, who finished second in 2002, returns to the show, this time with Walk on Water, which is seen as a serious contender. It's easy to understand why, as Losco hews close to the ideal formula for Eurovision gold: the song itself is no more than a routine if energetic piece of Eurodisco, but she is sure to pack plenty of presence on stage, particularly as she announced on Sunday that she is pregnant. If Losco survives the semi-final eliminator she may well be walking away with the Eurovision crown on Saturday evening.
* Nick March
Norway
Icebreaker, Agnete
Icebreaker is the sound of two musical ideas – and not especially interesting ones at that – awkwardly spliced together by a barrel-scrubbing team of producers seemingly out of their depth. This ugly mash leaps between a windswept, post-Guetta minor-key verse and a slower, tub-thumping electro/bass club chorus that boasts all the subtlety of a sledgehammer. The 21-year-old Agnete does her earnest best, spending the bulk of the accompanying video in hysterics in the middle of an ice lake – get it? So much for Scandinavian subtlety.
* Rob Garratt
Spain
Say Yay!, Barei
There's a clear intent to Spain's 2016 entry – notably the country's first in history without a word of Spanish. And in case that concession doesn't translate the message to absolutely everyone, the track boasts a "la la la" chorus most pets will be able to sing along to. Channelling the predominant electropop ethos, Say Yay! is a relentless assault – the exclamation mark strangely necessary – starting at energy-level 10 and powering through with overwhelming summery bombast for nigh-on three minutes. Barei, an unusually seasoned pro at 34 with two albums to her name, screams charisma throughout and, coupled with such an infectious tune, could be hard to ignore.
* Rob Garratt
Russia
You Are the Only One, Sergey Lazarev
Vaguely resembling a member of Westlife had they been kidnapped and sent back to 1991, Sergey Lazarev apparently rose to fame in the early Noughties as half of the Russian duo Smash! (yeah, us neither). Nowadays, he rocks the kind of pecs that could get you in One Direction, and the kind of thumping electro-flecked pop that would be roundly ignored in the 21st century anywhere else but in Eurovision. The whole thing switches on a budget Bohemian Rhapsody moment ("Thunder and lightning, it's getting exciting"), but at least this out-of-date effort is mercifully short.
* Adam Workman
Sweden
If I Were Sorry, Frans
With the possible exception of Ireland, Sweden is as close to Eurovision royalty as there is, responsible for Abba's rise to worldwide fame after winning the 1974 contest. Sweden appears to be on a hot streak in the modern era, too – hosts this time out, winners twice in the past four years and tipped to finish well when the votes start being counted in the grand final. It's not hard to see why. Frans, a young man blessed with good looks and in possession of a decent collection of knitwear, delivers an Ed Sheeran-like performance against an achingly catchy, pared-down backing track. If I Were Sorry has already topped the Swedish charts and it might well finish top of the pile at Eurovision.
* Nick March
United Kingdom
You’re Not Alone, Joe & Jake
The UK last won Eurovision 19 years ago and has rarely threatened to break that winless streak since, managing only two top three finishes since Katrina and the Waves bagged victory in 1997. Worse than that, the UK has finished dead last three times since the turn of the century. What chance then, for Joe Woolford and Jake Shakeshaft, otherwise known as plain old Joe & Jake, and their song You're Not Alone? Not so much, especially as the lads put in an insipid boy-band-lite performance that fades from the memory as soon as the track ends. Not even its vaguely EU-friendly lyrics – "we're in this together" – are likely to help the Brexit-stressed UK entry finish too far up the field.
* Nick March
