{"id":801749,"date":"2026-05-17T00:46:17","date_gmt":"2026-05-17T00:46:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/801749\/"},"modified":"2026-05-17T00:46:17","modified_gmt":"2026-05-17T00:46:17","slug":"bulgaria-wins-the-eurovision-song-contest-with-daras-bangaranga","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/801749\/","title":{"rendered":"Bulgaria wins the Eurovision Song Contest with Dara\u2019s \u2018Bangaranga\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

VIENNA \u2014\u00a0Bulgaria triumphed on Saturday night at the Eurovision Song Contest<\/a> in Vienna, held under the shadow of controversy over the continued participation of Israel.<\/p>\n

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The win by Dara was an upset. Her song, \u201cBangaranga,\u201d is an upbeat dance-pop banger that features intense dancing and an infectious chorus. <\/p>\n

The fever dream of a tune started dialed up to 11 and continued apace. It captivated the audience in the Wiener Stadthalle, receiving some of the loudest cheers. <\/p>\n

This is the first win for the Balkan nation, which will host next year\u2019s competition.<\/p>\n

Israel placed second with Noam Bettan\u2019s \u201cMichelle.\u201d The song, which is sung in Hebrew, French and English, is about being in a toxic relationship and learning to put yourself first. <\/p>\n

When the popular votes were announced Saturday for Israel, sending it temporarily to the top of the rankings, the arena filled with boos. <\/p>\n

Saturday\u2019s grand final, which saw artists from 25 countries compete, also marked the 70th anniversary of the contest, celebrating its deep roots in European pop culture with a medley of classic Eurovision songs performed by contemporary stars.<\/p>\n

The contest\u2019s origins were partly about \u201cattempting to bring Europe closer together, particularly following the Second World War,\u201d Martin Green, the executive in charge of the contest, said in an interview last week.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat sort of DNA stayed with it in a couple of ways,\u201d he added. \u201cIt\u2019s still a show that tries to bring the world together.\u201d<\/p>\n

But for a competition whose motto is \u201cUnited by Music,\u201d this year\u2019s edition has been overshadowed by discord and controversy. Ireland, Slovenia, Spain, the Netherlands and Iceland have all withdrawn from the contest in a dispute over the continued participation of Israel, citing the war in Gaza as well as attempts by the Israeli government to encourage mass voting for its entry.<\/p>\n

Some die-hard fans of the contest have also made their displeasure known, with some vowing to skip the contest after following it for decades, while pro-Palestinian protests have been held in this year\u2019s host city, Vienna.<\/p>\n

\"NoamNoam Bettan from Israel with the song “Michelle” performs during the rehearsal for the final of the 70th Eurovision Song Contest on May 16.Jens B\u00fcttner \/ dpa \/ picture alliance via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Eurovision bosses had said they would be closely monitoring the voting this year after concerns about the result being influenced. The Israeli broadcaster KAN received a formal warning last week over videos encouraging people to \u201cvote 10 times\u201d for Israel.<\/p>\n

Viewers at home cannot vote for their own country. <\/p>\n

Green said he respects countries and fans who are boycotting but hopes they will one day return. He has defended Israel\u2019s participation, stressing that KAN, responsible for the country\u2019s entry, is independent from the Israeli government.<\/p>\n

The contest executive faced scrutiny<\/a> on Friday, however, after he appeared to suggest in an interview that there would \u201ctheoretically\u201d be nothing to stop Russia, having been excluded in 2022 over the war in Ukraine, from returning to the contest in future on the same grounds.<\/p>\n

During Bettan\u2019s performance, a few Palestinian flags were waved and some in the audience turned their backs. There were also boos during Tuesday\u2019s semifinal. A chant of \u201cstop the genocide\u201d was audible on the broadcast, and two protesters were forcibly removed from the crowd.<\/p>\n

Bettan told NBC News this week he was aware of the commotion while performing on Tuesday. The booing continued throughout the song, but he said he looked \u201cfor the Israeli flags in the crowd, and I saw a lot of people cheering and I heard a lot of positive noise.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bettan, born to a French Jewish family, has sought to stay away from the political fights over his participation, saying he was competing to deliver a \u201cgood, positive message to the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"EurovisionLinda Lampenius from Finland performs “Liekinheitin” during the rehearsal for the final of the 70th Eurovision Song Contest on Friday.Jens B\u00fcttner \/ dpa \/ picture alliance via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Saturday\u2019s contest kicked off with Denmark\u2019s S\u00f8ren Torpegaard Lund. The staging for his \u201cF\u00f8r Vi G\u00e5r Hjem,\u201d or \u201cBefore We Go Home,\u201d evoked queer clubbing culture.<\/p>\n

Greece\u2019s Akylas brought a different energy entirely with \u201cFerto,\u201d a jokey song filled with TikTok-ready dances that saw the singer don a beanie with cat ears as he jumped around the stage singing about conspicuous consumption.<\/p>\n

Moldova\u2019s \u201cViva, Moldova!\u201d brought a high-energy campiness extolling the virtues of rapper Satoshi\u2019s home country.<\/p>\n

Australian pop icon Delta Goodrem represented her home country with \u201cEclipse,\u201d a dancy power ballad that showed off Goodrem\u2019s impressive vocals and saw the singer lifted high in the air on a platform that extended from a glittering golden piano.<\/p>\n

Finland had been a heavy favorite with its entry \u201cLiekinheitin.\u201d The song, performed by violinist Linda Lampenius and vocalist Pete Parkkonen, featured a potentially combustible mix of open flames and a flowing dress.<\/p>\n

Sweden performed 20th with Felicia\u2019s EDM track \u201cMy System,\u201d which saw lasers dominate the stage as the singer alternated between a face mask and sunglasses to cover her face.<\/p>\n

In a Zoom interview last week, Felicia said the song was deliberately retro. \u201cIt feels so nostalgic,\u201d she said, \u201clike 2010 is coming back.\u201d She wanted the performance to have a celebratory feel, \u201cjust party onstage together with my dancers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Closing out the show was the host country, Austria, with Cosm\u00f3\u2019s \u201cTanzschein,\u201d an ode to clubbing.<\/p>\n

While organizers will be happy that the contest went off largely without incident, it\u2019s not clear if any of the five boycotting broadcasters will return in 2027. The issue of Israel\u2019s continued participation threatens to remain a flashpoint for years to come.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"VIENNA \u2014\u00a0Bulgaria triumphed on Saturday night at the Eurovision Song Contest in Vienna, held under the shadow of…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":801750,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[51,50,52],"class_list":{"0":"post-801749","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-stories"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116587160423222665","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/801749","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=801749"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/801749\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/801750"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=801749"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=801749"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=801749"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}