Eurovision Song Contest 2012
The Eurovision Song Contest 2012 was the 57th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It consisted of two semi-finals on 22 and 24 May and a final on 26 May 2012, held at the Baku Crystal Hall in Baku, Azerbaijan, and presented by Leyla Aliyeva, Nargiz Birk-Petersen, and Eldar Gasimov. It was organised by the European Broadcasting Union and host broadcaster İctimai Television, which staged the event after winning the for with the song "Running Scared" by Gasimov himself and Nigar Jamal as Ell and Nikki. It was the first time the contest was hosted in Azerbaijanonly four years after the country made its debut.
Broadcasters from forty-two countries participated in the contest. returned to the contest for the first time since. Meanwhile, withdrew due to security concerns in relation to the ongoing Nagorno-Karabakh conflict with Azerbaijan, while did not participate due to financial concerns.
The winner was with the song "Euphoria", performed by Loreen and written by Thomas G:son and Peter Boström. The song won both the jury vote and televote and received 372 points out of a maximum of 492.,,, and rounded out the top five, with Albania achieving their best result to date. Out of the "Big Five" countries, Germany, Italy and Spain all managed to rank within the top 10, finishing eighth, ninth and tenth, respectively.
The lead-up to the contest was met with political concerns and protests surrounding the host country, including its human rights record and allegations by advocacy groups that Baku was carrying out forced evictions in the construction of the contest's venue.
Location
Azerbaijani broadcaster İctimai Television got the right to host the 2012 edition of the Eurovision Song Contest after winning the with the song "Running Scared" performed by Ell and Nikki. Baku, the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region, was named the host city for the contest, with the venue being the Baku Crystal Hall, built a few months prior to the contest on the city's coastline.Shortly after Azerbaijan's victory at the 2011 edition, officials announced that a new 23,000-seat concert venue was to be built near National Flag Square in Baku, as a potential venue for the event. Three days later, other venue options were revealed by organisers, such as the 37,000-seat Tofiq Bahramov Stadium and the Heydar Aliyev Sports and Exhibition Complex. On 2 August 2011, Alpine Bau Deutschland AG was awarded the contract to construct the Baku Crystal Hall. Preparations for construction began in the area shortly after the announcement. Even though the full cost of the contract was not named, the government allocated 6 million AZN for the construction of the venue.
On 8 September 2011, Azad Azerbaijan TV reported that Baku Crystal Hall would be the venue of the contest, but no formal confirmation was made at the time neither by İTV nor the European Broadcasting Union. On 31 October 2011, Ismayil Omarov, the director general of İTV announced that a decision on the venue choice would be taken by the steering committee in January 2012. On 25 January 2012, it was confirmed that the Baku Crystal Hall would be the venue of the contest. Even though the venue had an extended capacity of 23,000 people, only 16,000 people were able to attend each show. Tickets for the contest became available online for purchase on 28 February 2012.
Participants
On 17 January 2012, the EBU initially announced that forty-three countries would take part in the 2012 contest. The 57th edition saw the return of Montenegro, who was last represented by Andrea Demirović in 2009. Poland decided not to participate, due to the financial burden of the UEFA Euro 2012 and the 2012 Summer Olympics. Armenia, who had originally planned to participate, later withdrew their application due to security concerns related to the ongoing Nagorno-Karabakh conflict with Azerbaijan, subsequently reducing the number of participating countries to 42.| Country | Broadcaster | Artist | Song | Language | Songwriter |
| RTSH | Rona Nishliu | "Suus" | Albanian | ||
| ORF | Trackshittaz | "Woki mit deim Popo" | German | ||
| İTV | Sabina Babayeva | "When the Music Dies" | English | ||
| BTRC | Litesound | "We Are the Heroes" | English | ||
| VRT | Iris | "Would You?" | English | ||
| BHRT | Maya Sar | "Korake ti znam" | Bosnian | Maja Sarihodžić | |
| BNT | Sofi Marinova | "Love Unlimited" | Bulgarian | ||
| HRT | Nina Badrić | "Nebo " | Croatian | Nina Badrić | |
| CyBC | Ivi Adamou | "La La Love" | English | ||
| DR | Soluna Samay | "Should've Known Better" | English | ||
| ERR | Ott Lepland | "Kuula" | Estonian | ||
| Yle | Pernilla | "När jag blundar" | Swedish | Jonas Karlsson | |
| France Télévisions | Anggun | "Echo " | French, English | ||
| GPB | Anri Jokhadze | "I'm a Joker" | English, Georgian | ||
| NDR | Roman Lob | "Standing Still" | English | ||
| ERT | Eleftheria Eleftheriou | "Aphrodisiac" | English | ||
| MTVA | Compact Disco | "Sound of Our Hearts" | English | ||
| RÚV | Greta Salóme and Jónsi | "Never Forget" | English | Greta Salóme | |
| RTÉ | Jedward | "Waterline" | English | ||
| IBA | Izabo | "Time" | English, Hebrew | ||
| RAI | Nina Zilli | "L'amore è femmina " | English, Italian | ||
| LTV | Anmary | "Beautiful Song" | English | ||
| LRT | Donny Montell | "Love Is Blind" | English | ||
| MRT | Kaliopi | "Crno i belo" | Macedonian | ||
| PBS | Kurt Calleja | "This Is the Night" | English | ||
| TRM | Pasha Parfeny | "Lăutar" | English | ||
| RTCG | Rambo Amadeus | "Euro Neuro" | English | Rambo Amadeus | |
| TROS | Joan Franka | "You and Me" | English | ||
| NRK | Tooji | "Stay" | English | ||
| RTP | Filipa Sousa | "Vida minha" | Portuguese | ||
| TVR | Mandinga | "Zaleilah" | Spanish, English | ||
| RTR | Buranovskiye Babushki | "Party for Everybody" | Udmurt, English | ||
| SMRTV | Valentina Monetta | "The Social Network Song " | English | ||
| RTS | Željko Joksimović | "Nije ljubav stvar" | Serbian | ||
| RTVS | Max Jason Mai | "Don't Close Your Eyes" | English | Max Jason Mai | |
| RTVSLO | Eva Boto | "Verjamem" | Slovene | ||
| RTVE | Pastora Soler | "Quédate conmigo" | Spanish | ||
| SVT | Loreen | "Euphoria" | English | ||
| SRG SSR | Sinplus | "Unbreakable" | English | ||
| TRT | Can Bonomo | "Love Me Back" | English | Can Bonomo | |
| NTU | Gaitana | "Be My Guest" | English | ||
| BBC | Engelbert Humperdinck | "Love Will Set You Free" | English |
Returning artists
Four artists returned in this year's contest. Kaliopi had intended to participate for with the song "Samo ti", which placed in 26th position in the pre-qualifying round. She would then go on to represent. Jónsi had represented with the song "Heaven", which placed 19th. Željko Joksimović for Serbia, had represented with the song "Lane moje" which placed second, and had co-hosted the with Jovana Janković. Jedward had represented, and returned for a second consecutive year, after their 8th-place finish with the song "Lipstick". In addition, Martina Majerle, who represented, returned as a backing vocalist for Slovenia.Lys Assia, who won the first Eurovision for, entered the song "C'était ma vie", written by Ralph Siegel and Jean Paul Cara, into the. The song, however, only came eighth in a closely fought national selection. Assia attended the event in Baku as a guest of honour.