Nemo romps to victory with “The Code”
Swiss singer Nemo celebrates after winning the final of the 68th Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) 2024 on May 11, 2024 at the Malmo Arena in Malmo, Sweden. (Getty)
The LGBTQ+ community had even more cause to celebrate Eurovision than usual this year: as it had a huge number of LGBTQ+ artists, including non-binary singer Nemo from Switzerland. Now, the 2024 results are in, and it’s Switzerland who have taken home the trophy.
The 68th Eurovision Song Contest was broadcast live from Malmö following Loreen’s 2023 win, with 37 countries battling it out to top the points table and earn the honour of hosting next year’s musical celebrations.
Nemo absolutely smashed it out of the park with their song “The Code”, sweeping past all the other entrants to secure an impressive victory. They received a final score of 591 points.
“The Code” was written by Nemo to explain how they came to terms with their identity. Their victory is a huge win for trans and non-binary visibility on one of the world’s biggest stages – viewing figures for this year are still to be released, but around 163 million people tuned into the semi-finals and finals in 2023.
The song includes the lyrics: “This story is my truth, I went to hell and back to find myself on track, I broke the code,” as well: “Somewhere between the zeroes and the ones / That’s where I found my kingdom come.”
In an interview with AP ahead of Thursday’s semi-final, Nemo spoke about how “beautiful” it is to be a non-binary artist on the world’s biggest music stage.
Another singer who did very well in the Eurovision 2024 results was fellow non-binary artist Bambie Thug.
Bambie Thug, who was Ireland’s entry, also did well on Saturday after breezing through the first semi-final, wearing a costume celebrating trans Pride. Bambie Thug got 278 points for their “ouija-pop” anthem “Doomsday Blue”, which some superstitious viewers thought contained a “hex” against someone.
Croatia, who alongside Switzerland were tipped to do very well this year by bookies, came second with the fun party anthem “Rim Tim Tagi Dim”, while the UK’s Olly Alexander sadly only reached 18th place out of 25 with “Dizzy“, written by Alexander and frequent Dua Lipa and Charli XCX collaborator Danny L Harle.
In their Eurovision 2024 victory speech, Nemo said: “I hope this contest can live up to its promise and continue to stand for peace and dignity for every person in this world.”
Eurovision 2024 results: top five entries
- Switzerland: Nemo – The Code
- Croatia: Baby Lasagna – Rim Tim Tagi Dim
- Ukraine: Alyona Alyona & Jerry Heil – Teresa and Maria
- France: Slimane – Mon Amour
- Israel: Eden Golan – Hurricane
Israel – who had faced protests about their inclusion in this year’s competition, due to the ongoing Israel-Hamas war – performed poorly in the jury vote, but came second in the public vote with a score of 323.
