For the first time since 1992, Eurovision was held outside of Ireland, and it was thanks to Secret Garden, a Norwegian duo featuring Irish violinist Fionnuala Sherry. Their song “Nocturne” broke the Eurovision mold in more ways than one, primarily because it was a primarily instrumental piece, led by the violin. With only twenty-four words in the beginning and end, it had the fewest lyrics of any Eurovision winner.
In contrast to the folkloric song, along with the otherworldly production of the 1995 contest, Eurosong 1996 focused more on modernity and what NRK could do with some newfound technology. Due to the oil wealth Norway accumulated since the 1960s, it allowed the broadcaster to try new and creative things, most of which did not stick in future contests.
The clash between tradition and modernity shows through the thirty songs, culled down to a more reasonable 23 through an audio-only pre-qualifier, which featured mostly moody, low-tempo songs with some sprinkles of energy. The contrast between the winner, Ireland’s “The Voice”, and the commercial success in the United Kingdom’s “Ooh, Aah, Just a Little Bit”, revealed the disconnect between 1990s music trends and what is happening on the Eurovision stage. This forced a reckoning for what Eurovision could be, which led to changes in future contests for its viability.
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By the time Ireland hosted its third contest in a row in 1995, their hosting formula had been solidified. The previous two contests were in the Point Theatre in Dublin, from which things got predictable. Riverdance was a phenomenon, spreading across Europe and the world, though Lumen would not make the same splash the following year. The postcards showcased Ireland, albeit the same travelogue-esque places featuring a little bit of fishing. Even the scoreboards had a pretty uniform format, each one resembling Microsoft Excel spreadsheets in blue. Turning to Oslo in 1996, NRK tried several things to bring the contest closer to the present.
Before Poland played with visual effects in 2022 and 2023 to enhance their stagings, or even Armenia conjuring multiple Iveta clones in 2016, NRK would change the filter for each individual song. From the double images for Sebnem Paker to film strips for Marianna and Jasmine to even a spinning card effect for Lisa Bo’s “Liefde is een kaartspel”, they would not only showcase new technologies which Eurovision promoted, but also gave each song an individual touch.
While Eurovision had used digital scoreboards for eight years at this point, Eurosong 1996 tried to up the ante by utilizing blue screen technology, to add a more ambitious touch. This wasn’t the first time NRK used chroma keying technology, though; they had enough practice with their weather and youth programs. They tested out virtual reality here, so to “allow broadcasters to create sets that would otherwise be impossible and to change them quickly” Ingvild Bryn had to walk in a straight line, lest she end up in the wrong place and have the virtual scoreboard fall upon her!
From the outset, however, some changes were not always welcomed. To accommodate for the good luck wishes from different politicians across the continent, the traditional conductor’s bow would not be shown in the broadcast. This made some of the conductors bristle, because for all the debate about a live orchestra in the contest, they still wanted to show they had a place in the show. Ironically, in 1997, live music would be made optional, and the orchestra was done away with two years after that.
The oil rig-inspired set, which featured three different stages, allowed for more industrial touch to the contest. However, in decades to come, LED screens, complex lighting, and more refined camera angles would put this in the back burner, though the multi-stage idea would evolve through future contests, thanks to runways leading to satellite stages to which more intimate performances can bloom.
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“In the Eurovision Song Contest, you’ve always had trends,” Kato Hansen, an international Eurovision fan, commented during rehearsal week in Oslo. “So maybe now, there’s a trend now for ethnic songs.”
From “Bandido” and “White and Black Blues” getting top five placings in 1990, to Amina coming within a countback of winning the 1991 edition, to Cleopatra’s sweeping vocals in 1992, folk-adjacent songs had been on the rise at Eurovision. The success of Riverdance helped out with this trend, which saw a slow, Celtic-influenced musical class of 1995. Thanks to “Nocturne”, 1996 saw more of the same, especially as the top two of the audio-only pre-qualifier were “Den Vilda” and “The Voice”, two peas of the same pod. They would also compose two of the top three, with “I evighet”–the Norwegian host entry–finishing in second.
Taking it further than ever before, “Diwanit Bugale” represented France in 1996, as the first song written in Breton for the contest. Spoken in the northwest of France, Breton is a Celtic-based language with a complicated history inside its home country. While never being the main language of Brittany, with French being the main language of the wealthy and Breton only taught as an oral language if it was taught, Breton represented a counterweight to French nationalism with the latter establishing French as the main language of those living in France. While “Diwanit Bugale” only placed 19th on the night, Dan an Braz and his group L’Héritage des Celtes would become one of the major faces of a Celtic wave in their home country, with “La Tribu de Diana” by Manu being the hallmark of this phenomenon.
The winning song, “The Voice” continues the Celtic trend, and intersperses enchanting lyrics talking about an ethereal figure singing about how she is “the voice” which influences the world around her. However, taking a closer look at the lyrics, it also reflected the history of Ireland. From “I am the voice of your hunger and pain” commenting on the Great Famine of 1848 and the substantial exodus and its Irish population, to the plea for peace for the divided population of Ireland, it reflected Irish history and the complicated politics going on during the contest. At the time it was written, two ceasefires in 1994 held on, though before the Irish national final, the IRA breached the ceasefire. Nevertheless, the Good Friday Agreement was signed two years later, giving the line “bring me your peace” even more gravity than it did when it represented Ireland in Oslo.
The song would peak at #3 in Ireland, and became a moderate chart success across Europe, it also made the top ten in the Flemish charts in Belgium. However, as the votes came in, fans would leave the Oslo Spektrum out of disappointment for a fourth Irish win in five years. The Irish delegation celebrated politely, which according to Dave Cargill, “felt like a turning point…Even with all the new energy from Eastern Europe coming in, the voting system was still stuck in the past. Ireland’s victories showed it couldn’t capture the full spectrum of what Europe was becoming.”
Folk would help some countries find their footing in the contest, however. With the summery song “O Meu Coração Não Tem Cor”, Portugal garnered their best result to date at sixth place, coming within one twelve of making the top three. For Croatia, they would make the top five for the first time as an independent country with “Sveta ljubav”, after only coming in 19th in the audio-only pre-qualifier round. It would only be in the 2000s, where the televote was more prominent, where folk-influenced songs would not only see further success in the contest, but also hit the commercial highs which 1990s Eurovision entries lacked.
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Just before Eurovision 1996 premiered, George Michael’s “Fastlove” topped the charts in the United Kingdom; Mariah Carey’s “Always be My Baby” was number one in the United States, and Robert Miles’ “Children” dominated chart sales in Norway. In all three countries, one could see a mix of pop, R&B, and hip hop interspersed with alternative and Britpop.
One of the songs which missed out from the audio-only pre-qualifier was “Planet of Blue”, which represented Germany. A Eurodance track with lyrics that was an ode to going up to space and admiring Earth from a rocket, it missed out on qualification by two points, making it Germany’s only absence at the Eurovision Song Contest. Standing in contrast with the songs which eventually made it, it was closer to the present sonically, and embodied hopes for the future.
But that was nothing in comparison to “Ooh, Aah, Just a Little Bit”, a pop confection which would eventually be nominated for a Grammy for Best Dance Recording.
In The Great British Song Contest 1996, “Ooh, Aah, Just a Little Bit” won the 100% televote final at a canter, with almost three times the votes of the runner up, “I Gave You Everything”. In the week before Eurovision, it hit #2 in the British charts, and eventually topped them the week after. To this day, it’s the last Eurovision song to hit #1 in the United Kingdom, and the last to chart in the United States until “Arcade” did over twenty years later.
In the audio-only pre-qualifier round, “Ooh, Aah, Just a Little Bit” came in third place, indicating that some juries took an ear to what would be the potential future of the contest. This also wouldn’t be the first time a high-tempo song would do well; MeKaDo’s “Wir geben ne Party” came in third two years prior. On the night itself, despite Gina G sporting dancers and wearing a disco ball esque dress which Cher rejected, it came in eighth place, attributed to Gina G’s less than ideal vocals, along with the otherwise conservative jury.
Nevertheless, its impact leapt beyond the stage in Oslo, impacted the contest, and provided a neat bop for the masses. The divergence between Eurovision and commercial success resulted in a televote being tried out in five countries during the 1997 contest, and then further expanded in the following year in Birmingham. The impact came right away in song genres, with “Minn hinsti dans” from Iceland pushing the envelope further through its provocative staging accompanying the song. “Diva” winning a year later re-affirmed Eurovision’s choice to switch to a televoting system, which finally rewarded modern pop songs.
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Thirty years on, and musical diversity expanded after Eurosong 1996. The televoting instituted in 1997 ensured higher tempoed contests in the 2000s and in the last three years, along with more songs entering music charts across Europe and beyond. Notably, “Euphoria” became a Europe-wide hit after winning the 2012 editionFolk music in the Eurovision Song Contest hasn’t died, however: “Dinle” came in third in 1997; and a trio of folk-based dance songs: “Everyway That I Can”, “Wild Dances”, and “My Number One” won in the televote-only era. Even twenty years later, songs like “Bur man laimi” and “Bara bada bastu” show folk can still pull its weight in the main contest.
In terms of modernity in production and the times, Eurovision evolved leaps and bounds from the oil-rig inspired stage in Oslo. Seven years after the virtual reality scoreboard was tested out, Eurovision had their first reactive scoreboard, which allowed for the audience to follow the points in real time.
However, just like in 1996, Eurovision is at a turning point. While the talk of the day focused on how Eurovision songs could garner more public interest, now the public are more concerned about the public image of Eurovision itself. Eurosong 1996 took place several months removed of the Yugoslav Wars and with the Troubles in the background, but they were trivial in that context compared to the Russian invasion of Ukraine and Israel’s war on Gaza. With controversies revolving around the role of geopolitics in the contest, as well as the integrity of the vote, it feels like Eurovision has to make an important choice for the brand to survive.
Other than garnering another Grammy-nominated hit in 2026, what can Eurovision do so that it remains a vanguard of the future, rather than a relic of what was before?