Eurovision 2023 Will Be in Liverpool

Despite the controversy over initially allowing Russia to compete, Eurovision 2022 had a happy ending. After the massive outcry demanding the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) ban Russia for invading its neighbor Ukraine unprovoked, Putin declared his country was exiting the competition completely, including counter-banning the EBU-sponsored network that made Russia eligible to enter the competition in the first place. As for Ukraine, its originally apolitical entry took on added meaning as its cities were decimated, and it was not a giant surprise that the popular vote overwhelmingly gave it the win.

Despite President Zelenskyy's positive talk, Ukraine's capital city, Mariupol, will be unable to host the 2023 competition. (The euphemistic phrasing the EBU used as to why is "security concerns," a nice way of saying that the city is a bombed-out ruin, and holding it there is asking for Putin to attack.) That too was not a surprise. What was a surprise was the first runner-up, who stepped in to provide a venue for Ukraine to host from. The U.K.'s Sam Ryder, a TikTok artist, took home the best standing the country had received in decades in the competition. And that's how the U.K. went from coming in dead last with null points in 2021 post-Brexit to hosting the 2023 Eurovision competition.