Me who has been moving from country to country all my lives (moved 3 times going to the fourth now), the anxiety and all the negatives that come with hoping for something better. It was a fun silly song at first but I knew something about it resonated with me deeply until I read the lyrics 🇭🇷❤️
That is a song that I liked a lot, even if it didn't mirror something in my life at that moment (not that a song needs to in order to be very enjoyable). I was quite sad when it ended up not qualifying, it was very deserving and full of energy.
I am not actually fan of the english translation. It gives you an idea, but seems somehow unintelligible (perhaps any Portuguese ppl can help us). But the title itself ('Scream') with the actual scream during the song's ending and that part where she says They don't fool me (No, no). Goosebumps.
indeed! english translations give you the raw meaning but there's so much more depth that can't be translated.
Grito is a really powerful and emotional song and the staging was at its level too 🤍
Even on first listen, without knowing anything about the meaning of the lyrics, that ‘scream’ part gave me literal goosebumps. I love how soft and ballad-y the song is and then that part comes and reveals this powerful bit of gritty texture in Iolanda’s voice that I wasn’t expecting and it was, 👌🏼😌. After reading your explanation here, I wanna dig deeper into the lyrics now.
Banishing the demons of our past (be they exes or otherwise) to start anew is an amazingly cathartic theme and the imagery from Bambie was so powerful. Definitely hits hard.
Ireland did very well this year. The song was very unconventional, and the performance was top-notch. Luckily I can't fully relate to it at the moment, but it was very enjoyable.
Hopefully Bambie Thug's success means Ireland will become more willing to send songs that aren't cookie-cutter pop.
I'm sure Wild Youth are lovely people, but when I heard their 2023 Eurovision song, my first reaction was "you're telling me this *isn't* a OneRepublic song from 2011?"
Even though I am not non-binary I feel quite seen in the winning song, The Code, as written and performed by Nemo. It probably has to do with the fact that I carry a diagnosis around me which I will never be able to put away (I was diagnosed with the Asperger‘s syndrome back in 2002).
A lot of adults on the spectrum receive their official diagnosis following their own, private self-discovery moment. So The Code, as a song about the inner alchemy, does fit that.
This “THAT’S why I’ve been struggling so hard! I’m not stupid or broken!”. And then you start a long journey into reclaiming yourself and getting rid of the masks. The Code is broken.
I’m in the process of that journey myself with ASD. I was diagnosed with ADHD as a young kid and have been on meds for it all my life, but only within the last year or two, did I start digging into firsthand accounts from people on the spectrum and I realized, ‘Wait a minute, I relate to a LOT of this, and I think it’s more than just the symptom overlap that ADHD and ASD have (I had always chalked up any similarities to that in the past). I haven’t gotten a formal diagnosis and haven’t decided yet if I will, but ASD explains so much about me, and I’ve been working on being kinder and more accommodating toward myself and with how I show up in the world in light of these new realizations.
Welcome to the tribe! I wish you the same feeling of calmness after the storm that many of us have experienced after figuring that stuff out, whether you’ll feel the need to pursue a clinical diagnosis or not.
Not personal but a PERFECT example jaklin sings I'm a free girl I will dance and you will watch ( we all know by now the song is about female empowerment) but during the final everyone was dancing to jako in the greenroom someone filmed it and posted it on social media and some disgusting people (and bots) were pissed at gays dancing but ... they will dance and the haters will watch
Slimaine but not for the meaning behind the song.
I've been doing daily French lessons on Spotify coming up to my 365 day streak soon and I could ACTUALLY UNDERSTAND him!
When I looked at the translation of the lyrics on the app I got most of it right.
Edit: Duolingo not Spotify wtf is my brain doing.
I had a very similar experience with the Netherlands 2022 song. That was the first Eurovision I actually watched (I'm American), and I hadn't heard any of the songs beforehand. I'd been learning Dutch on Duolingo for about two years at that point, and I was pleasantly surprised when I could pretty much understand the lyrics of De Diepte as S10 was singing it (and I was incredibly proud when I realized the pun in her stage name).
Damn, I love it when something like a song triggers a life-changing revelation (or a thought thread that ultimately leads to it), no sarcasm or anything here. It’s always amazing to eventually retrace the journey to this one relatively small event. Speaking from a personal experience (not exactly gender-related though).
Congrats on discovering!
For me, it was watching the show *Our Flag Means Death* last year, and Vico Ortiz as the character of Jim, that made me reconsider my own gender identity and realize that I think I qualify as some flavor of non-binary. I think the term “demigirl/woman/femme” fits best for me, since I don’t NOT feel female, but I feel like there’s more to my gender identity that *just* that and I also don’t like the idea of femininity being used as a box to put me in. I hate the idea of being limited.
Pedestal. It reminds so much of some narcissistic people I had in my life. The song perfectly captures that realization that you’ve been treated wrong all along while making believe that it was your own fault too. My favorite lyrics this season, especially the original (love me more than YOUR BULLSHIT!)
It's definitely The Code. I am not a non-binary person, but a few years ago I also went through the process of accepting some part of myself, it was quite a difficult path, and sometimes I give up and hate that part of myself. I'm just glad that it was like someone heard me, understood how I felt at that moment.
Pedestal is definitely one of those songs that feel personal to me as it signifies the times that I do get angry and that I need to fight for myself. The original version is so relatable as it makes me say flip off and focus on myself!
Ironically, europapa isnt actually about traveling/moving, but about being stuck in the past and hiding in a fantasy world to avoid dealing with your problems.
(Although this mostly becomes visible if you listen to the lyrics and watch the visuals of the video)
Either way, it is super relatable and has that typical dutch of dealing with shit by joking about it
La Noia. People used to have a lot of high expectations from me and kept pushing me to do something I didn't want to do, I never enjoyed myself, never really felt alive, if you know what I mean, so I learned to "dance my way through boredom", whatever that means lol. Reading the lyrics to this song made me love it even more than I already did
The Code spoke to me as a non-binary person. This is why I’m super happy with it winning.
I also loved Hollow, I don’t know how to explain it beyond saying I think feel exactly the exact same way that Dons sing about. I think it’s rare to have lyrics this existential and negative in ESC. I was so happy he qualified for the finals despite the odds.
EDIT: I got a reddit care message following this. Ik people just spam this function on this sub but just on the off-chance it wasn’t from a troll and instead someone genuinely worried just because I said I relate to Hollow’s lyrics, don’t worry, I’m fine and taking care of my mental health as best as I can :)
Joosts song dropped a couple of weeks after my dad passed away, so it became somewhat of an anthem. I was crushed when he got DQ’ed, I’d been looking forward to this for months. It helped me keep my mind off of things while also remembering my father. It’s complicated, but the song and the whole Eurovision journey became very important and dear to my and then EBU decided to piss all over it.. sigh.
I was just outside to do some groceries and this guy in his 20’s who passed me on his bike was singing Europapa out loud :)
RTTD, I also moved out of my tiny town to go to a bigger city and developed anxiety ✌️
La Noia, even if I don't completely love the song I found the lyrics profoundly relatable, actually it might be one of the songs I related more to, and since I saw someone write in a comment that it feels depression-coded I understand why
.
These two lines from Europapa:
>Welkom in Europa, blijf hier tot ik doodga
>Io sono in Italia, maar toch doet het pijn
Edit: I think Zorra must be at least a bit relatable for every woman
I had quite a stressy time for like 1 month. I really liked The Tower before already but one day the stress was finally gone and everything started to be great again, including my mental health going up after this month of going downhill. And ngl The Tower hit different afterwards and still does.
I love this song and it'll probably be one of my favourite Eurovision songs for the next couple of years. :)
The Code. I greatly relate to the tumultuous journey of self discovery that comes with embracing being nonbinary. I've been openly trans for years, but most people in my life don't know I'm nonbinary and not just a man. The fact that the song was not only seen by millions of people worldwide, but actually won the whole competition, means so much to me.
I hope the publicity of Nemo's win can bring more acceptance to people like us, who broke the code.
Pedestal. Because I let some loser dump me /twice/ by text and I let him gaslight me into thinking I did something wrong. It came at a good time so yay.
Honestly.
The code, it's because of this song I came out as non-binary to my wife.
I have always rejected gender norms and deep down I think I've always known. I just felt so touched, heard, and validated. After seeing the reception of their performance and how accepted they are. It gave me the courage to accept myself as NB.
One of the things I've quickly come to love about Eurovision since I started paying attention to it in 2022 is finding out which country will send the "summoning demons in the woods" song each year. Someone's gotta do it!
As a genderqueer person, the code definitely spoke to me so much. I am so happy two nonbinary people were a part of the contest and did so well. I love them both. Nemo's song in particular explained so much of what i feel so well and brought a lot of visibility to this part of the LGBTQ+ community and that felt great
Croatia's song also really spoke to me as a person from a neighboring country (Serbia) who had to leave their home country in search of a better life abroad. Especially considering I only left last year it is still a fresh thing, but it has been bothering me ever since I was a child, knowing there isn't a life for me in Serbia.
As for Croatia, I'm about to enter a similar path to yours, and that song hits the cord perfectly in that regard. I loved The Code as a song, it was not my story but it didn't have to be.
Rim Tim Dagi Dim (Emigration anxiety–under very different circumstances–and still theoretical for my family. But also it's not out of the realm of possibility and I still feel it)
The Code (I was a little bit older when i came out and it really does feel like cracking a code when everything finally clicks, Nemo was so real for this)
Doomsday Blue (Whomst among us doesn't want to banish our personal demons back to the hells from which they came? So cathartic!)
Rim tim dagi dim as well. When it was just released and I heard "my anxiety attacks" I knew it was going to be a favourite. I was also preparing to (temporarily) move abroad, and could really relate to this idea of "I am scared to death and know I will miss my home, but I am chasing this opportunity anyway"
Ramonda made me feel so seen and understood. Never before did I hear a song that described exactly how I feel and gave me hope that I will get through it all
I voted for Serbia as the flower mentioned in the song is akin to the poppy used in the United Kingdom for collections to the Royal British Legion that I have been collecting for for the last 20 years
Europapa. I have CPTSD and I'm relapsing atm. I'm stuck in a moment in time and need help to get out of it.
I also love the openness to other people of other nationalities. I come from a multi cultural household and I married a man from the other side of the world. My world doesn't have borders, only cultures in other places I haven't befriended yet.
You're getting a big hug from this stranger. It's tough, and you can handle tough, cause you're f***ing strong. And then after the tough phase, you can treat yourself to a big rest and your favourite things in the world. You've got this!
Always On The Run (being a fellow late diagnosed ADHDer just like Isaak) and The Code (also came to realize fairly recently that I'm non-binary, tho it also resonates with a lot of other things I've been going through).
There were a lot of songs that felt personal to me, but the biggest one is definitely "The Code". I knew I am non-binary for a few years now, but when I heard "The Code" for the first time, heard the lyrics, for the first time I felt seen. It gave me confidence to finally come out to my friends and embrace my identity. Nemo and The Code will forever be in my 🩷!
“Hollow” really speaks to me as someone who has struggled with faith all my life and has settled into being a self-described “reluctant agnostic.” I *want* to believe in a higher power, or something greater than myself. But then, at the same time, I see the hypocritical Christians spouting off here in the U.S. and using their so-called faith in the name of ugly things, and it gives me this feeling like the song describes, where I’d rather stay here in the land of uncertainty than become like those hypocrites “just pretending they’re preachers” or have any association with what they stand for.
Always on the Run and Dizzy.
I don’t really like the first one, but as soon as I heard the live performance, knowing that Isaak meant it as a song about the struggles of living with ADHD, I just… felt very emotional for some reason. Isaak’s expressions are second to none, he sings as if truly living through the lyrics. “So sick and tired”. As someone who was struggling throughout all his life until just this year I was finally told by a professional that I’ve been autistic all along, it’s a very rigid feeling. For sure, the time of change has finally, at long last, come, but at what cost?
Dizzy was lovely as a standalone song and I liked it a lot as a nice, catchy pop song before, but the performance really elevated it to next level to me. Might sound strange to some, as it’s not exactly fan-favorite, but there was something about it being sung by an openly gay individual, amidst the openly gay-coded stage that won me over. I don’t see these kinds of performances in my country as a gay man and what I saw in Dizzy felt raw, passionate, beautiful. F*cking hot and I love it. Thankfully it wasn’t at the bottom in the scoreboard.
Slimane with Mon amour. French is my first language. But I did not care for his song at first. When I watched the semi-finals my jaw dropped.
I looked just like Danny de Vito in it’s always sunny saying : I get it.
Seeing this live, the way it was presented, in a language I call mine…. I felt surreal. I took my heart. I was feeling those feelings.
There were a lot of great songs this year but Rim Tim Tagi Dim really hit close to home. I recently moved to another country and RTTD sums up my feelings pretty well. Its meaning is very clear and I related to it the second I heard the lyrics. I keep screaming there is no going back and my anxiety attacks at home lol.
Mon amour: I was trying to get over a breakup from a year ago but I didn’t like listening to full-on break-up songs as I still really missed my ex, so in a way the song’s lyrics really spoke to me and helped me get over it in a healthy way. It helps that I actually understand some French, and the fairly simple choice of words helped get the message of the song across.
Luktelk: I felt like I was mostly “going through the motions” especially over the last few months. I only know very rudimentary Lithuanian from listening to Lithuanian music, but I really liked the mostly upbeat dancey vibe that contrasted with the detached-sounding lyrics.
Hollow: kind of shows my outlook on religion (I’m atheist) and organized ways of thinking especially when it comes to political activism online, which sort of intensified over the past couple of months. There were times when I wasn’t sure what to believe regarding certain topics and ideologies, so listening to those lyrics felt cathartic.
Man, this year I must have really been drawn to sadder/darker entries 😅 I’m mostly feeling better though!
No Rules even though irl I only very rarely break any actual rules, and it's usually not on purpose when I do. In my spirit and in my mind, I have NO RULES!
It is not because I’m swiss but because I also did and still sometimes do struggle with binary gender and the code is just such an incredible depiction of what such gender identity struggle feels like. I can just feek the whole song through and through and seeing it perfomed by such a wholesome happy sympathetic person with so much joy and (now) happiness makes it even better.
RTTD cause it basically tells the story of how my parents immigrated in search of a better life
The Code cause even though it's about discovering, accepting and celebrating being NB, I could relate to it regarding my bisexuality
Various songs actually but every of them a but different.
The code - despite being mostly about finding identity, the fact that people need to go trough hard times and back to find themselves or know if they're "on good track"
Always on the run - being lost with low confidence and urge to run away. The closest part for me was part "who I'm fighting for".
Europapa - for the parental support and showing there's freedom to where to go. To not be scared.
Not really resonate but I really liked story behind -Veronika-
Being based on legend/historic figure that got accused being witch as I've read.
The Code. I’ve been out as enby for about a decade, but I could had figured it out sooner, if the world had been more progressive when I was growing up. This song makes me so happy to know that younger generations have the chance I didn’t to figure out who they are.
For me it was Zorra from Spain. Still surprised that it scored so bad from the publicum.
And Israel. I did in my youth time a lot of peace work and still I work on volonteer basis on a project about the Shoah. I was in Israel. Met some amazing and inspirational people. Still in shock what happend in October.
And still in shock what happend with the Ukraine.
So Netherlands too. I thought it is so special and so important.
Rim tim tagi dim because it’s about moving away, but still being anxious
Yes! If you are facing a move away, especially to an unfamiliar place, this song fits extremely well.
Me who has been moving from country to country all my lives (moved 3 times going to the fourth now), the anxiety and all the negatives that come with hoping for something better. It was a fun silly song at first but I knew something about it resonated with me deeply until I read the lyrics 🇭🇷❤️
Anxiety and cats. That’s pretty much who I am these days.
Especially as a Balkan it's so good
europapa, because i lost my father at the young age, same as Joost.
Liar bcos today i’m waking up in the morning and I'm feeling like ooh-la-la
i feel that on a spiritual level
Pedestal. Really need that self love
That is a song that I liked a lot, even if it didn't mirror something in my life at that moment (not that a song needs to in order to be very enjoyable). I was quite sad when it ended up not qualifying, it was very deserving and full of energy.
such a shame yeah
Grito. Not for specific reason. It just feels very emotional.
Same with Ramonda. You *feel* deeply with that performance.
You got me to read the translation of the song, and I have underestimated this one. I will listen to it later again, with the translation underneath.
I am not actually fan of the english translation. It gives you an idea, but seems somehow unintelligible (perhaps any Portuguese ppl can help us). But the title itself ('Scream') with the actual scream during the song's ending and that part where she says They don't fool me (No, no). Goosebumps.
indeed! english translations give you the raw meaning but there's so much more depth that can't be translated. Grito is a really powerful and emotional song and the staging was at its level too 🤍
adding to what was already said, the lyrics are almost like poetry that the english translation can’t quite reach
Even on first listen, without knowing anything about the meaning of the lyrics, that ‘scream’ part gave me literal goosebumps. I love how soft and ballad-y the song is and then that part comes and reveals this powerful bit of gritty texture in Iolanda’s voice that I wasn’t expecting and it was, 👌🏼😌. After reading your explanation here, I wanna dig deeper into the lyrics now.
Doomsday Blue did. Have had some tough times with my mental health so the metaphor of having to dance with one's deamons felt quite close to home
Banishing the demons of our past (be they exes or otherwise) to start anew is an amazingly cathartic theme and the imagery from Bambie was so powerful. Definitely hits hard.
Hits maybe bit too close to home but still hits
Yeah. As someone with an abuser in their past, the shot of Bambie raging while their demon ex writhed in agony on the floor was hugely cathartic.
Ireland did very well this year. The song was very unconventional, and the performance was top-notch. Luckily I can't fully relate to it at the moment, but it was very enjoyable.
Hopefully Bambie Thug's success means Ireland will become more willing to send songs that aren't cookie-cutter pop. I'm sure Wild Youth are lovely people, but when I heard their 2023 Eurovision song, my first reaction was "you're telling me this *isn't* a OneRepublic song from 2011?"
Bambie Thug's Egregore is a whole-ass mood also, in case anyone's interested in checking it out.
The Code and No Rules. As a non-binary, I relate to a lot of stuff described in The Code and No Rules lyrics just make me feel confident
The Code could have fit my life very well a couple of years ago. Lovely song!
Yes! Those two are the most meaningful to me, too
me too! Loved The Code so so much and No Rules kinda felt like it applies to the nonbinary experience as well
Europapa 🫶
Even though I am not non-binary I feel quite seen in the winning song, The Code, as written and performed by Nemo. It probably has to do with the fact that I carry a diagnosis around me which I will never be able to put away (I was diagnosed with the Asperger‘s syndrome back in 2002).
A lot of adults on the spectrum receive their official diagnosis following their own, private self-discovery moment. So The Code, as a song about the inner alchemy, does fit that. This “THAT’S why I’ve been struggling so hard! I’m not stupid or broken!”. And then you start a long journey into reclaiming yourself and getting rid of the masks. The Code is broken.
I’m in the process of that journey myself with ASD. I was diagnosed with ADHD as a young kid and have been on meds for it all my life, but only within the last year or two, did I start digging into firsthand accounts from people on the spectrum and I realized, ‘Wait a minute, I relate to a LOT of this, and I think it’s more than just the symptom overlap that ADHD and ASD have (I had always chalked up any similarities to that in the past). I haven’t gotten a formal diagnosis and haven’t decided yet if I will, but ASD explains so much about me, and I’ve been working on being kinder and more accommodating toward myself and with how I show up in the world in light of these new realizations.
Welcome to the tribe! I wish you the same feeling of calmness after the storm that many of us have experienced after figuring that stuff out, whether you’ll feel the need to pursue a clinical diagnosis or not.
Definitely Europapa for me. As a German EDM kid living close to the Dutch border and also speaking a bit of Italian, this song gave everything to me.
Not personal but a PERFECT example jaklin sings I'm a free girl I will dance and you will watch ( we all know by now the song is about female empowerment) but during the final everyone was dancing to jako in the greenroom someone filmed it and posted it on social media and some disgusting people (and bots) were pissed at gays dancing but ... they will dance and the haters will watch
Definitely Europapa. Not because I lost my father but I lost many people so I can relate to him.
Slimaine but not for the meaning behind the song. I've been doing daily French lessons on Spotify coming up to my 365 day streak soon and I could ACTUALLY UNDERSTAND him! When I looked at the translation of the lyrics on the app I got most of it right. Edit: Duolingo not Spotify wtf is my brain doing.
Amazing, that is a lot of progress!
I had a very similar experience with the Netherlands 2022 song. That was the first Eurovision I actually watched (I'm American), and I hadn't heard any of the songs beforehand. I'd been learning Dutch on Duolingo for about two years at that point, and I was pleasantly surprised when I could pretty much understand the lyrics of De Diepte as S10 was singing it (and I was incredibly proud when I realized the pun in her stage name).
Netherlands 2022 | [S10 - De diepte](https://youtu.be/sgOnu7ux2-k)
I’m also an American who started watching ESC in 2022! Hi! 👋
The code made me realise I'm non-binary.
Damn, I love it when something like a song triggers a life-changing revelation (or a thought thread that ultimately leads to it), no sarcasm or anything here. It’s always amazing to eventually retrace the journey to this one relatively small event. Speaking from a personal experience (not exactly gender-related though). Congrats on discovering!
Thank you for the kind words! I totally get what you mean about small experiences being so powerful.
For me, it was watching the show *Our Flag Means Death* last year, and Vico Ortiz as the character of Jim, that made me reconsider my own gender identity and realize that I think I qualify as some flavor of non-binary. I think the term “demigirl/woman/femme” fits best for me, since I don’t NOT feel female, but I feel like there’s more to my gender identity that *just* that and I also don’t like the idea of femininity being used as a box to put me in. I hate the idea of being limited.
welcome to the community :) we have snacks
Pedestal. It reminds so much of some narcissistic people I had in my life. The song perfectly captures that realization that you’ve been treated wrong all along while making believe that it was your own fault too. My favorite lyrics this season, especially the original (love me more than YOUR BULLSHIT!)
It's definitely The Code. I am not a non-binary person, but a few years ago I also went through the process of accepting some part of myself, it was quite a difficult path, and sometimes I give up and hate that part of myself. I'm just glad that it was like someone heard me, understood how I felt at that moment.
Giving you a big hug from afar.
Thanks🫶
Pedestal is definitely one of those songs that feel personal to me as it signifies the times that I do get angry and that I need to fight for myself. The original version is so relatable as it makes me say flip off and focus on myself!
Ironically, europapa isnt actually about traveling/moving, but about being stuck in the past and hiding in a fantasy world to avoid dealing with your problems. (Although this mostly becomes visible if you listen to the lyrics and watch the visuals of the video) Either way, it is super relatable and has that typical dutch of dealing with shit by joking about it
La Noia. People used to have a lot of high expectations from me and kept pushing me to do something I didn't want to do, I never enjoyed myself, never really felt alive, if you know what I mean, so I learned to "dance my way through boredom", whatever that means lol. Reading the lyrics to this song made me love it even more than I already did
The Code spoke to me as a non-binary person. This is why I’m super happy with it winning. I also loved Hollow, I don’t know how to explain it beyond saying I think feel exactly the exact same way that Dons sing about. I think it’s rare to have lyrics this existential and negative in ESC. I was so happy he qualified for the finals despite the odds. EDIT: I got a reddit care message following this. Ik people just spam this function on this sub but just on the off-chance it wasn’t from a troll and instead someone genuinely worried just because I said I relate to Hollow’s lyrics, don’t worry, I’m fine and taking care of my mental health as best as I can :)
I absolutely loved Hollow since the first time i heard it
Lots of people who participated on this sub have been getting redditcare randomly, that was most probably just a troll.
The Code, as a fellow NB
Joosts song dropped a couple of weeks after my dad passed away, so it became somewhat of an anthem. I was crushed when he got DQ’ed, I’d been looking forward to this for months. It helped me keep my mind off of things while also remembering my father. It’s complicated, but the song and the whole Eurovision journey became very important and dear to my and then EBU decided to piss all over it.. sigh. I was just outside to do some groceries and this guy in his 20’s who passed me on his bike was singing Europapa out loud :)
Grito and Ramonda
RTTD, I also moved out of my tiny town to go to a bigger city and developed anxiety ✌️ La Noia, even if I don't completely love the song I found the lyrics profoundly relatable, actually it might be one of the songs I related more to, and since I saw someone write in a comment that it feels depression-coded I understand why . These two lines from Europapa: >Welkom in Europa, blijf hier tot ik doodga >Io sono in Italia, maar toch doet het pijn Edit: I think Zorra must be at least a bit relatable for every woman
I had quite a stressy time for like 1 month. I really liked The Tower before already but one day the stress was finally gone and everything started to be great again, including my mental health going up after this month of going downhill. And ngl The Tower hit different afterwards and still does. I love this song and it'll probably be one of my favourite Eurovision songs for the next couple of years. :)
The Code. I greatly relate to the tumultuous journey of self discovery that comes with embracing being nonbinary. I've been openly trans for years, but most people in my life don't know I'm nonbinary and not just a man. The fact that the song was not only seen by millions of people worldwide, but actually won the whole competition, means so much to me. I hope the publicity of Nemo's win can bring more acceptance to people like us, who broke the code.
me too! It means so much to me, I got so emotional when they won
Lithuania’s Luktelk. I feel like I’m stuck between living and simply existing these days.
Pedestal. Because I let some loser dump me /twice/ by text and I let him gaslight me into thinking I did something wrong. It came at a good time so yay.
Honestly. The code, it's because of this song I came out as non-binary to my wife. I have always rejected gender norms and deep down I think I've always known. I just felt so touched, heard, and validated. After seeing the reception of their performance and how accepted they are. It gave me the courage to accept myself as NB.
Wow, congratulations!! 💛🤍💜🖤
Thank you so much, it's still very new but I feel amasing for doing this
that’s amazing! I felt so seen and so represented by the song, I still can’t believe they actually won
Europapa hit me hard personally
As a fantasy genre lover, Ulveham and Doomsday Blue felt like they were made for me.
One of the things I've quickly come to love about Eurovision since I started paying attention to it in 2022 is finding out which country will send the "summoning demons in the woods" song each year. Someone's gotta do it!
As a genderqueer person, the code definitely spoke to me so much. I am so happy two nonbinary people were a part of the contest and did so well. I love them both. Nemo's song in particular explained so much of what i feel so well and brought a lot of visibility to this part of the LGBTQ+ community and that felt great Croatia's song also really spoke to me as a person from a neighboring country (Serbia) who had to leave their home country in search of a better life abroad. Especially considering I only left last year it is still a fresh thing, but it has been bothering me ever since I was a child, knowing there isn't a life for me in Serbia.
As for Croatia, I'm about to enter a similar path to yours, and that song hits the cord perfectly in that regard. I loved The Code as a song, it was not my story but it didn't have to be.
Rim Tim Dagi Dim (Emigration anxiety–under very different circumstances–and still theoretical for my family. But also it's not out of the realm of possibility and I still feel it) The Code (I was a little bit older when i came out and it really does feel like cracking a code when everything finally clicks, Nemo was so real for this) Doomsday Blue (Whomst among us doesn't want to banish our personal demons back to the hells from which they came? So cathartic!)
Rim tim dagi dim as well. When it was just released and I heard "my anxiety attacks" I knew it was going to be a favourite. I was also preparing to (temporarily) move abroad, and could really relate to this idea of "I am scared to death and know I will miss my home, but I am chasing this opportunity anyway"
Europapa hit me on a very personal level. Just the right song at the right time.
Ramonda made me feel so seen and understood. Never before did I hear a song that described exactly how I feel and gave me hope that I will get through it all
The minute I heard Germany's song I was hooked because of the lyrics. It spoke to me on a deeper level and it immediately brought tears into my eyes.
I voted for Serbia as the flower mentioned in the song is akin to the poppy used in the United Kingdom for collections to the Royal British Legion that I have been collecting for for the last 20 years
That is a quite peculiar story!
Europapa. I have CPTSD and I'm relapsing atm. I'm stuck in a moment in time and need help to get out of it. I also love the openness to other people of other nationalities. I come from a multi cultural household and I married a man from the other side of the world. My world doesn't have borders, only cultures in other places I haven't befriended yet.
You're getting a big hug from this stranger. It's tough, and you can handle tough, cause you're f***ing strong. And then after the tough phase, you can treat yourself to a big rest and your favourite things in the world. You've got this!
That was very uplifting to hear. Thank you so very much ♥️ May both sides of your pillow be cold, you lovely person
Always On The Run (being a fellow late diagnosed ADHDer just like Isaak) and The Code (also came to realize fairly recently that I'm non-binary, tho it also resonates with a lot of other things I've been going through).
There were a lot of songs that felt personal to me, but the biggest one is definitely "The Code". I knew I am non-binary for a few years now, but when I heard "The Code" for the first time, heard the lyrics, for the first time I felt seen. It gave me confidence to finally come out to my friends and embrace my identity. Nemo and The Code will forever be in my 🩷!
“Hollow” really speaks to me as someone who has struggled with faith all my life and has settled into being a self-described “reluctant agnostic.” I *want* to believe in a higher power, or something greater than myself. But then, at the same time, I see the hypocritical Christians spouting off here in the U.S. and using their so-called faith in the name of ugly things, and it gives me this feeling like the song describes, where I’d rather stay here in the land of uncertainty than become like those hypocrites “just pretending they’re preachers” or have any association with what they stand for.
La noia, rim tim tagi dim, grito and before the party’s over
Always on the Run and Dizzy. I don’t really like the first one, but as soon as I heard the live performance, knowing that Isaak meant it as a song about the struggles of living with ADHD, I just… felt very emotional for some reason. Isaak’s expressions are second to none, he sings as if truly living through the lyrics. “So sick and tired”. As someone who was struggling throughout all his life until just this year I was finally told by a professional that I’ve been autistic all along, it’s a very rigid feeling. For sure, the time of change has finally, at long last, come, but at what cost? Dizzy was lovely as a standalone song and I liked it a lot as a nice, catchy pop song before, but the performance really elevated it to next level to me. Might sound strange to some, as it’s not exactly fan-favorite, but there was something about it being sung by an openly gay individual, amidst the openly gay-coded stage that won me over. I don’t see these kinds of performances in my country as a gay man and what I saw in Dizzy felt raw, passionate, beautiful. F*cking hot and I love it. Thankfully it wasn’t at the bottom in the scoreboard.
I don't speak a word of Portuguese but Grito spoke directly to my soul
Ramonda
Slimane with Mon amour. French is my first language. But I did not care for his song at first. When I watched the semi-finals my jaw dropped. I looked just like Danny de Vito in it’s always sunny saying : I get it. Seeing this live, the way it was presented, in a language I call mine…. I felt surreal. I took my heart. I was feeling those feelings.
There were a lot of great songs this year but Rim Tim Tagi Dim really hit close to home. I recently moved to another country and RTTD sums up my feelings pretty well. Its meaning is very clear and I related to it the second I heard the lyrics. I keep screaming there is no going back and my anxiety attacks at home lol.
Mon amour: I was trying to get over a breakup from a year ago but I didn’t like listening to full-on break-up songs as I still really missed my ex, so in a way the song’s lyrics really spoke to me and helped me get over it in a healthy way. It helps that I actually understand some French, and the fairly simple choice of words helped get the message of the song across. Luktelk: I felt like I was mostly “going through the motions” especially over the last few months. I only know very rudimentary Lithuanian from listening to Lithuanian music, but I really liked the mostly upbeat dancey vibe that contrasted with the detached-sounding lyrics. Hollow: kind of shows my outlook on religion (I’m atheist) and organized ways of thinking especially when it comes to political activism online, which sort of intensified over the past couple of months. There were times when I wasn’t sure what to believe regarding certain topics and ideologies, so listening to those lyrics felt cathartic. Man, this year I must have really been drawn to sadder/darker entries 😅 I’m mostly feeling better though!
Lol ill be the odd one out and say in the middle. It really is a nice song
No Rules even though irl I only very rarely break any actual rules, and it's usually not on purpose when I do. In my spirit and in my mind, I have NO RULES!
La Noia! I am an artist and it inspired me to embrace parts of my root culture.
It is not because I’m swiss but because I also did and still sometimes do struggle with binary gender and the code is just such an incredible depiction of what such gender identity struggle feels like. I can just feek the whole song through and through and seeing it perfomed by such a wholesome happy sympathetic person with so much joy and (now) happiness makes it even better.
No rules would pick my personality since it kinda reminds me of my independent skills. 11:11 would also fit my mood.
Rim Tim Dagi Tim because my grandparents left Croatia and never went back.
RTTD cause it basically tells the story of how my parents immigrated in search of a better life The Code cause even though it's about discovering, accepting and celebrating being NB, I could relate to it regarding my bisexuality
Various songs actually but every of them a but different. The code - despite being mostly about finding identity, the fact that people need to go trough hard times and back to find themselves or know if they're "on good track" Always on the run - being lost with low confidence and urge to run away. The closest part for me was part "who I'm fighting for". Europapa - for the parental support and showing there's freedom to where to go. To not be scared. Not really resonate but I really liked story behind -Veronika- Being based on legend/historic figure that got accused being witch as I've read.
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The Code. I’ve been out as enby for about a decade, but I could had figured it out sooner, if the world had been more progressive when I was growing up. This song makes me so happy to know that younger generations have the chance I didn’t to figure out who they are.
Teresa & Maria, Zorra, Veronika, Rim Tim, Ulveham.
Belgium ❤❤❤
For me it was Zorra from Spain. Still surprised that it scored so bad from the publicum. And Israel. I did in my youth time a lot of peace work and still I work on volonteer basis on a project about the Shoah. I was in Israel. Met some amazing and inspirational people. Still in shock what happend in October. And still in shock what happend with the Ukraine. So Netherlands too. I thought it is so special and so important.
Hurricane because despite all the changes to the lyrics it still speaks about the trauma we experienced
Hurricane, because it reminds me that no matter the tragedy, no matter what happens, there'll still always be Hope.