ABSTRACT
Eurovision’s 1,500th entry, “That’s How You Write a Song,” did not offer any specific techniques for composing a successful contest entry, but scholars and critics have suggested a variety of strategies toward this end. These approaches tend to focus on three musical aspects of a song: its tempo, tonality (major or minor keys, including modulations), and compositional structure. This chapter examines dozens of songs from across the contest’s history to reveal changing trends in musical choices and aesthetic criteria, especially the shift from cheerful major-key songs to moodier or more dance-oriented entries in minor keys since around 2000. Case studies include the best-known Eurovision winner, ABBA’s “Waterloo” from 1974, paired with Neil Hannon’s parodic “Trafalgar” from 2007 as a counter-example of the formulaic Eurovision entry.
