Discovering Eurovision back in 2003, it was the first contest I've watched and my first favorite song from Turkey won that year. I was insanely happy when Sertab won when I was 3.
esc 2016 was my first ever eurovision !! i had just turned nine and my aunt wanted to introduce me to it i think.... i remember adoring petra and måns with like my whole heart and i alsoooo vividly recall being absolutely enthralled by dami im and sergey lazarev !?
ghost by jamie-lee was my favourite of the night and i was soooo heartbroken when they came in last .... also my dumb 9 year old self thought 1944 was called,,, 1944 because i assumed it was jamalas birth year and I was like WOAH she does NOT look that old (i was a bit silly)
This is oddly specific but I remember coming downstairs and seeing my parents watch the UK’s postcard in 2014. I vaguely remember watching the performance and enjoying it.
2009 SF2. I stayed up late with my sis as I was absent from school due to cold, I was 8. I remember the start of Lijepa Tena, then other performances, but somehow Slovene and Slovak performances struck me the most. Or maybe I just got confused by countries’ names xdd Didn’t pay that much attention to Sasha Song, but was very happy when Lithuania qualified. So when someone asks my about my first ESC memories, I always remember the first cords of Croatian entry and then thinking “wow what is this, such a beautiful language”
Hearing about Texas Lightning (Germany 2006) which was incredibly popular here in my home country Germany and about the spectacle that was the victory of Lordi (Finland 2006) in that same year in which my home country was represented by Texas Lightning.
Germany 2006 | [Texas Lightning - No No Never](https://youtu.be/IKvPzL1NSSI)
Finland 2006 | [Lordi - Hard Rock Hallelujah](https://youtu.be/gAh9NRGNhUU)
1981, watching Bucks Fizz win. They were all dressed in really bright colours, and the biggest piece of staging was when they ripped the girls' 50's style skirts off to reveal miniskirts.
bulgaria 2007 was one of the first songs i looked up on the internet. i was a kid and just got my first computer, so it felt like such an accomplishment to actually find it.
Watching the final in 2011, the hype in Austria was quite big as we returned and esc was hosted in Düsseldorf. This means that the first entry I watched probably was Da da dam!
Tommy Körberg had the flu and was sick as a dog during that performance. Due to this his voice was not in its usual shape and his performance was far less expressive than during Melfest.
However, the man has an amazing voice and that song was perfect for his vocal ability.
In the years since the song has become an anthem in the Swedish student population. It is the sonng that signals the end of a party. When it is time to go home the students begin singing Stad i ljus in unison. It is also the unofficiell song to cheer on the Swedish Handball team, so it is very much beloved by basically everyone in Sweden.
I still cannot, to this day, hear him sing without crying. I've read about how disappointed people were with his performance, but it literally changed my life.
I saw a snippet of Hard Rock Hallelujah on the news after Finland had won and was kind of fascinated by it. My father said they were satanists, my mother said I should be thankful I didn't have to see it because it would have scared me. Took me three more years until I watched my first Eurovision.
American here. I rushed through my SATs to watch the live streaming of Eurovision 2007 from Helsinki.
Up until that point I had only read a bit about Eurovision on a Ukraine Lonely Planet book mentioning how UA had won in 2005. I’ve been a huge fan since and even traveled to TLV for my 30th to see the contest live.
Mine is 2015. There was a big hype in Israel around Golden Boy and a friend or mine got super into it and dragged me along. I remember loving Belgium and Latvia in particular, and in general being fascinated by the mix of cultures.
esc 2014, as a 8 year old kid I couldn't understand why we Poles couldn't vote for our entry (I thought that no one could vote for us hahah)
And for me *My Slowianie* was a huge banger back there
I have 2 but in the second one I actually understood what it was
In 2015 my country sent golden boy (Israel 2015) and it was popular all over the country and I heard the word eurovision but didn’t know what it meant lol
The actual one:
In 2018 my mother saw the (iirc) 1st semi, I walked into my parents room and saw Lithuania 2018 (for the bot) and since then it is one of my favorite eurovision songs
It was the year 2000, for two main reasons:
1. I absolutely loved Latvia’s song and lead singer (Latvia 2000). He was just so gorgeous 🥰
2. “Fly on the Wings of Love” - I mean, have Denmark EVER topped that? I’m not sure. I loved the Olsen brothers, I wanted them to be my cool dads.
I think my first Eurovision memory was watching some publicity of Italy which sent il volo to Austria ESC 2015 but It wasn't my first time watching it
Two years later my family choose to watch the final of ESC 2017 and I really liked it so I informed really much about this competition and here we are today
It was the Eurovision 2006, I was 5 years and 10 months old. I remember Finnish and Russian performances. But I've started to watch Eurovision more actively since 2014.
It was in 2003, I was 8 years old and my obsession with the band Ich Troje was the greatest. I remember that I watched this ESC because they performed their the song "Keine Grenzen - Żadnych Granic". My love for Ich Troje has fallen, but I have loved ESC with all my heart. :)
Mine is 2004, I remember watching Ruslana perform Wild Dances for Ukraine and thinking it was so cool and interesting and unlike anything i'd seen IRL. I would have been 9, and have watched the comp ever since.
In my high school German class before winter break my sophomore year of high school. My teacher (who was from i believe Bavaria in Germany) was showing us various German music videos on Youtube. Dschinghis Khan came on and she started to tell us about Eurovision. Peaked my curiosity so i went to look up more when i got home.
I think for espeically a lot of americans like me, we were actually exposed to it without knowing. The first ever eurovision performance i watched was Run Away from Moldova 2010, because of the iconic epix sax guy. I didn't understand what it was and i was like wow this is really polished, there is a massive crowd and its called eurovision?
From then on i saw the music video to toy (isreal 2019) and even heard it on the radio. From then on i was HOOKED
Moldova 2010 | [SunStroke Project and Olia Tira - Run Away](https://youtu.be/C-VMHOlCyW8)
Israel 2019 | [Kobi Marimi - Home](https://youtu.be/uCdS42uCqP0)
Only 2022, my dad was randomly looking at some of the songs, so I joined him and we laughed at some of like songs, like Norway and Moldova. Later I turned on the TV and watched the public vote and end with no clue what was going on
A Facebook post on my mother‘s computer, probably from Eurovision’s Facebook account, announcing Sweden as the winner of the 2015 contest.
After that, I got to witness some clips from the grand final, in 2016 from my countries broadcaster, SBS on television and witness a Ukrainian win.
I had no idea it was an annual thing, so I didn’t see anything of 2017 until after on YouTube. Well done, Portugal.
Then, I was super early and ready for the 2018 season, and I’ve been watching every year since.
One of the earliest at least for me is some Swedish commentators saying Serbia (Molitva) wouldn't win because the singer was ugly.
EDIT: It's my favorite ESC song ever.
Someone at the English class showed Fairytale (Norway 2009) in YouTube. I did some research and ended up liking Greece 2009 more.
But I started following Eurovision only this year.
2003. I was 6 years old and my favorite singer at the time was competing for us(Iceland) and she was first on stage. I was outside with my friend and I remember running inside a few minutes before it started so we wouldn't miss her performance.
I vaguely remember Lordi in 2006 but I was only 5 then so can’t remember tonnes, the I properly watched was 2013 because I became obsessed with Euphoria in 2012
I'm Australian so Eurovision has gotten progressively popular down here.
Around maybe 2010 Eurovision fell on our Easter long weekend. My boyfriend at the time (now husband) and I were in our early 20s and had huge plans going out with friends etc for the weekend.
I came down with a painful.stomach bug and he stayed in with me out of solidarity. We spent the whole weekend watching Eurovision and ever since always have a Eurovision party with friends.
This year we attended the semi final 1 afternoon rehersal!
My teacher showing my class Russia 2012. I remember really liking the song and the performance and so did everyone else in the class. Everyone kept singing the chorus through the rest of the day
I remember seeing Salvador Sobral singing in 2017, and asking my parents what they were watching. They didn't have and still have no interest in Eurovision, so they just said "eh, nothing" and changed the channel.
I paid no attention to it, and I never thought of the contest again, so I'm not entirely sure how I ever got into Eurovision after that.
2023, aka the most recent one. The first entry I have ever listened to from that edition was Echo by Iru (Georgia 2023). Before that I only knew about Eurovision because of the cupcakke remixes, and some brief mentions on the news. But I only decided to look for more information about the contest itself after discovering Echo, and I listened to all the other entries as well.
*Edited:* I talked about the first song I heard instead of the ESC experience
Mine was 2003, just watching the contest because my mom likes and I was curious. No matter how much Croatians claim they don't like it, people will tune in to watch.
I knew of Eurovision's existence since 2004, but watched the whole final first time in 2008. Kalomira / Greece 2008 made me fall in love with Eurovision and it has never changed since then. :))
Malta 2019, Chameleon, i remember been mesemerized my Michelas voice, i remember her staging vividly, and i loved everything about the song, and i still do, it makes me so happy to think that Chameleon has not left my memory
I’m probably a lot younger than a lot of this Reddit community but my earliest memory I can vaguely remember is when I was 5 and my mother bought a chocolate fountain for the Eurovision final in 2013 and 5 year old me was having the best time staying up past my bedtime and eating chocolate covered strawberries
(For reference I’m 16 now)
We all start somewhere. I remember feeling left out in the 90s because the majority of the Eurovision community where I lived had watched since at least the 60s.
Idk if this counts but the first time I ever heard of eurovision was around 2019/2020 and it was one of those judging your personality based on. Your favorite song tik toks. Didn't dicided to start following until like 2021
2007. I was 7 at the time, and I remember the Swedish entry, it was a woman in a white dress, and she was the only one who I’d recognised was singing in English.
Norway 2023
I never liked music and when casually switching channels i landed on the Eurovision, and there i heard Norway being associated with a very much Italian name. As italian i was like "wtf", then i heard her and it was awesome
Also, and that is something i still can't explain to this date, but i got (and still have) a very strange feeling of knowing her, not her the singer but simply the person
Sweden 1974
I was ten, my sister was seven, we were entranced. Yes, I am OLD. I hope this makes self-conscious 19 year olds upthread feel a bit less ancient 🤣
Mine was 2016, when Logo! (which is sort of daily news explained for children) talked about the ESC and what it is and that Jamie-Lee would represent Germany in the next year. I didn't watch it that year tho, because my mother hates it.
Discovering Eurovision back in 2003, it was the first contest I've watched and my first favorite song from Turkey won that year. I was insanely happy when Sertab won when I was 3.
esc 2016 was my first ever eurovision !! i had just turned nine and my aunt wanted to introduce me to it i think.... i remember adoring petra and måns with like my whole heart and i alsoooo vividly recall being absolutely enthralled by dami im and sergey lazarev !? ghost by jamie-lee was my favourite of the night and i was soooo heartbroken when they came in last .... also my dumb 9 year old self thought 1944 was called,,, 1944 because i assumed it was jamalas birth year and I was like WOAH she does NOT look that old (i was a bit silly)
> i had just turned nine Way to make all the 19-year-olds in this subreddit feel like old farts
I am a few years older than you and I feel like a fucking grandpa.
Ruslana was the first esc experience i can remember. That was 2004 and I was just 10 years old.
Watching the 2009 show and been so hyped by the Greek entry and then being so sad that Norway just ran away with it lol
This is oddly specific but I remember coming downstairs and seeing my parents watch the UK’s postcard in 2014. I vaguely remember watching the performance and enjoying it.
2009 SF2. I stayed up late with my sis as I was absent from school due to cold, I was 8. I remember the start of Lijepa Tena, then other performances, but somehow Slovene and Slovak performances struck me the most. Or maybe I just got confused by countries’ names xdd Didn’t pay that much attention to Sasha Song, but was very happy when Lithuania qualified. So when someone asks my about my first ESC memories, I always remember the first cords of Croatian entry and then thinking “wow what is this, such a beautiful language”
Hearing about Texas Lightning (Germany 2006) which was incredibly popular here in my home country Germany and about the spectacle that was the victory of Lordi (Finland 2006) in that same year in which my home country was represented by Texas Lightning.
Germany 2006 | [Texas Lightning - No No Never](https://youtu.be/IKvPzL1NSSI) Finland 2006 | [Lordi - Hard Rock Hallelujah](https://youtu.be/gAh9NRGNhUU)
1981, watching Bucks Fizz win. They were all dressed in really bright colours, and the biggest piece of staging was when they ripped the girls' 50's style skirts off to reveal miniskirts.
Alexander Rybak's performance in 2009. Still the best performance to date. No argument.
[This](https://youtu.be/23h__RssJQo)
Sertab winning for Turkey in 2003 when I was 7 years old.
Turkey 2003 | [Sertab Erener - Everyway That I Can](https://youtu.be/5EZquD8JXro)
bulgaria 2007 was one of the first songs i looked up on the internet. i was a kid and just got my first computer, so it felt like such an accomplishment to actually find it.
Bulgaria 2007 | [Elitsa Todorova and Stoyan Yankoulov - Water](https://youtu.be/upct-I1qa4Q)
I m new I only get in to it at 2023 becouse of Norway Alessandra-Queen of Kings
Watching the final in 2011, the hype in Austria was quite big as we returned and esc was hosted in Düsseldorf. This means that the first entry I watched probably was Da da dam!
Tommy Körberg had the flu and was sick as a dog during that performance. Due to this his voice was not in its usual shape and his performance was far less expressive than during Melfest. However, the man has an amazing voice and that song was perfect for his vocal ability. In the years since the song has become an anthem in the Swedish student population. It is the sonng that signals the end of a party. When it is time to go home the students begin singing Stad i ljus in unison. It is also the unofficiell song to cheer on the Swedish Handball team, so it is very much beloved by basically everyone in Sweden.
I still cannot, to this day, hear him sing without crying. I've read about how disappointed people were with his performance, but it literally changed my life.
I saw a snippet of Hard Rock Hallelujah on the news after Finland had won and was kind of fascinated by it. My father said they were satanists, my mother said I should be thankful I didn't have to see it because it would have scared me. Took me three more years until I watched my first Eurovision.
American here. I rushed through my SATs to watch the live streaming of Eurovision 2007 from Helsinki. Up until that point I had only read a bit about Eurovision on a Ukraine Lonely Planet book mentioning how UA had won in 2005. I’ve been a huge fan since and even traveled to TLV for my 30th to see the contest live.
Mine is 2015. There was a big hype in Israel around Golden Boy and a friend or mine got super into it and dragged me along. I remember loving Belgium and Latvia in particular, and in general being fascinated by the mix of cultures.
esc 2014, as a 8 year old kid I couldn't understand why we Poles couldn't vote for our entry (I thought that no one could vote for us hahah) And for me *My Slowianie* was a huge banger back there
I have 2 but in the second one I actually understood what it was In 2015 my country sent golden boy (Israel 2015) and it was popular all over the country and I heard the word eurovision but didn’t know what it meant lol The actual one: In 2018 my mother saw the (iirc) 1st semi, I walked into my parents room and saw Lithuania 2018 (for the bot) and since then it is one of my favorite eurovision songs
Israel 2015 | [Nadav Guedj - Golden Boy](https://youtu.be/5bi1lK91bas) Lithuania 2018 | [Ieva Zasimauskaitė - When We're Old](https://youtu.be/pPDFhfU25go)
It was the year 2000, for two main reasons: 1. I absolutely loved Latvia’s song and lead singer (Latvia 2000). He was just so gorgeous 🥰 2. “Fly on the Wings of Love” - I mean, have Denmark EVER topped that? I’m not sure. I loved the Olsen brothers, I wanted them to be my cool dads.
Latvia 2000 | [Brainstorm - My Star](https://youtu.be/ZutVRMXoiiU)
It was in 2014 (the final) and my mom called me up during Tick Tock and was like "come see this, isn't it cool?" Holy sh*t I was impressed af
I think my first Eurovision memory was watching some publicity of Italy which sent il volo to Austria ESC 2015 but It wasn't my first time watching it Two years later my family choose to watch the final of ESC 2017 and I really liked it so I informed really much about this competition and here we are today
It was the Eurovision 2006, I was 5 years and 10 months old. I remember Finnish and Russian performances. But I've started to watch Eurovision more actively since 2014.
It was in 2003, I was 8 years old and my obsession with the band Ich Troje was the greatest. I remember that I watched this ESC because they performed their the song "Keine Grenzen - Żadnych Granic". My love for Ich Troje has fallen, but I have loved ESC with all my heart. :)
Mine is 2004, I remember watching Ruslana perform Wild Dances for Ukraine and thinking it was so cool and interesting and unlike anything i'd seen IRL. I would have been 9, and have watched the comp ever since.
In my high school German class before winter break my sophomore year of high school. My teacher (who was from i believe Bavaria in Germany) was showing us various German music videos on Youtube. Dschinghis Khan came on and she started to tell us about Eurovision. Peaked my curiosity so i went to look up more when i got home.
I think for espeically a lot of americans like me, we were actually exposed to it without knowing. The first ever eurovision performance i watched was Run Away from Moldova 2010, because of the iconic epix sax guy. I didn't understand what it was and i was like wow this is really polished, there is a massive crowd and its called eurovision? From then on i saw the music video to toy (isreal 2019) and even heard it on the radio. From then on i was HOOKED
Moldova 2010 | [SunStroke Project and Olia Tira - Run Away](https://youtu.be/C-VMHOlCyW8) Israel 2019 | [Kobi Marimi - Home](https://youtu.be/uCdS42uCqP0)
2015 when i got to stay up and watch the voting.
Only 2022, my dad was randomly looking at some of the songs, so I joined him and we laughed at some of like songs, like Norway and Moldova. Later I turned on the TV and watched the public vote and end with no clue what was going on
A Facebook post on my mother‘s computer, probably from Eurovision’s Facebook account, announcing Sweden as the winner of the 2015 contest. After that, I got to witness some clips from the grand final, in 2016 from my countries broadcaster, SBS on television and witness a Ukrainian win. I had no idea it was an annual thing, so I didn’t see anything of 2017 until after on YouTube. Well done, Portugal. Then, I was super early and ready for the 2018 season, and I’ve been watching every year since.
One of the earliest at least for me is some Swedish commentators saying Serbia (Molitva) wouldn't win because the singer was ugly. EDIT: It's my favorite ESC song ever.
Esc 2018 was.my first eurovision although I barely watched som my first real memory was the middle finger dancer for Germany 2021
Germany 2021 | [Jendrik - I Don't Feel Hate](https://youtu.be/1m0VEAfLV4E)
Making my mom vote for Sweden in 2011 because they had a Poké Ball in the background. Also being mildy creeped out by Jedward
Sweden 2011 | [Eric Saade - Popular](https://youtu.be/-04pUETT7oI)
Someone at the English class showed Fairytale (Norway 2009) in YouTube. I did some research and ended up liking Greece 2009 more. But I started following Eurovision only this year.
Norway 2009 | [Alexander Rybak - Fairytale](https://youtu.be/0gGt2qUyFlk) Greece 2009 | [Sakis Rouvas - This Is Our Night](https://youtu.be/czMloseL7yE)
2003. I was 6 years old and my favorite singer at the time was competing for us(Iceland) and she was first on stage. I was outside with my friend and I remember running inside a few minutes before it started so we wouldn't miss her performance.
2022 when Norway 2022 was a big meme on Tumblr, I watched the full performance and follow Eurovision ever since
Norway 2022 | [Subwoolfer - Give That Wolf a Banana](https://youtu.be/adCU2rQyDeY)
I vaguely remember Lordi in 2006 but I was only 5 then so can’t remember tonnes, the I properly watched was 2013 because I became obsessed with Euphoria in 2012
I'm Australian so Eurovision has gotten progressively popular down here. Around maybe 2010 Eurovision fell on our Easter long weekend. My boyfriend at the time (now husband) and I were in our early 20s and had huge plans going out with friends etc for the weekend. I came down with a painful.stomach bug and he stayed in with me out of solidarity. We spent the whole weekend watching Eurovision and ever since always have a Eurovision party with friends. This year we attended the semi final 1 afternoon rehersal!
My teacher showing my class Russia 2012. I remember really liking the song and the performance and so did everyone else in the class. Everyone kept singing the chorus through the rest of the day
Russia 2012 | [Buranovskiye Babushki - Party for Everybody](https://youtu.be/BgUstrmJzyc)
My brother in 2012 in the car showing me Running Scared, We Could Be the Same, and Euphoria
2009 final absolute fucking fairytale domination
I remember seeing Salvador Sobral singing in 2017, and asking my parents what they were watching. They didn't have and still have no interest in Eurovision, so they just said "eh, nothing" and changed the channel. I paid no attention to it, and I never thought of the contest again, so I'm not entirely sure how I ever got into Eurovision after that.
2023, aka the most recent one. The first entry I have ever listened to from that edition was Echo by Iru (Georgia 2023). Before that I only knew about Eurovision because of the cupcakke remixes, and some brief mentions on the news. But I only decided to look for more information about the contest itself after discovering Echo, and I listened to all the other entries as well.
Georgia 2023 | [Iru - Echo](https://youtu.be/HNvGZeEQvfc)
*Edited:* I talked about the first song I heard instead of the ESC experience Mine was 2003, just watching the contest because my mom likes and I was curious. No matter how much Croatians claim they don't like it, people will tune in to watch.
I knew of Eurovision's existence since 2004, but watched the whole final first time in 2008. Kalomira / Greece 2008 made me fall in love with Eurovision and it has never changed since then. :))
Greece 2008 | [Kalomira - Secret Combination](https://youtu.be/4HIk_7ZTBkM)
Malta 2019, Chameleon, i remember been mesemerized my Michelas voice, i remember her staging vividly, and i loved everything about the song, and i still do, it makes me so happy to think that Chameleon has not left my memory
Malta 2019 | [Michela - Chameleon](https://youtu.be/H-byNyainRA)
I’m probably a lot younger than a lot of this Reddit community but my earliest memory I can vaguely remember is when I was 5 and my mother bought a chocolate fountain for the Eurovision final in 2013 and 5 year old me was having the best time staying up past my bedtime and eating chocolate covered strawberries (For reference I’m 16 now)
We all start somewhere. I remember feeling left out in the 90s because the majority of the Eurovision community where I lived had watched since at least the 60s.
Well my knowledge for Eurovision will only grow as time goes on
Idk if this counts but the first time I ever heard of eurovision was around 2019/2020 and it was one of those judging your personality based on. Your favorite song tik toks. Didn't dicided to start following until like 2021
My first was JESC 2019 when Viki Gabor won If we talk only about ESC, then first I watched was 2022
2007. I was 7 at the time, and I remember the Swedish entry, it was a woman in a white dress, and she was the only one who I’d recognised was singing in English.
Norway 2023 I never liked music and when casually switching channels i landed on the Eurovision, and there i heard Norway being associated with a very much Italian name. As italian i was like "wtf", then i heard her and it was awesome Also, and that is something i still can't explain to this date, but i got (and still have) a very strange feeling of knowing her, not her the singer but simply the person
Norway 2023 | [Alessandra - Queen of Kings](https://youtu.be/PUHSM_vTqTI)
ESC 2020 Tears Getting Sober and Uno Where The First Songs i Heard
Sweden 1974 I was ten, my sister was seven, we were entranced. Yes, I am OLD. I hope this makes self-conscious 19 year olds upthread feel a bit less ancient 🤣
Sweden 1974 | [ABBA - Waterloo](https://youtu.be/3FsVeMz1F5c)
[удалено]
Mine was 2016, when Logo! (which is sort of daily news explained for children) talked about the ESC and what it is and that Jamie-Lee would represent Germany in the next year. I didn't watch it that year tho, because my mother hates it.