- Title: "Big Five" nations look ahead to the Eurovision grand final
- Date: 13th May 2016
- Summary: ***WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** JOURNALISTS LISTENING (SOUNDBITE) (English) SPANISH EUROVISION CONTESTANT, BAREI, SAYING: "I'm the same person. Nothing has changed, I mean, personally. But of course this is the biggest opportunity I've ever had and I'm gonna take it, you know, with both hands" BAREI AT NEWS CONFERENCE FRENCH EUROVISION DELEGATES SEATED JOURNALISTS (SOUNDBITE) (English) FRENCH EUROVISION CONTESTANT, AMIR, SAYING: "I believe that everything that happens to us in this life happens for a good reason and even if sometimes we don't understand why something hurts us on the moment, later on we will get to understand why it has happened and what we've learned from this. So I don't know if I should call it luck or destiny." JOURNALISTS
- Embargoed: 28th May 2016 19:48
- Keywords: Eurovision Song Contest final fans
- Location: STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN
- City: STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN
- Country: Sweden
- Topics: Arts/Culture/Entertainment,Music
- Reuters ID: LVA0024HN7OT5
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:The "Big five" nations consisting of Germany, Spain, France, Italy and Great Britain remained hopeful on Friday (May 13) ahead of the glitzy Eurovision final in Stockholm.
Following the earlier dress rehearsal the contestants held news conferences and stated their expectations for the competition ahead.
The so-called Big 5 countries and hosts Sweden qualified for the final automatically and did not compete in the semi-finals.
Representing Spain, the artist known as Barei commented on the size of the opportunity ahead of her:
"I'm the same person. Nothing has changed, I mean, personally. But of course this is the biggest opportunity I've ever had and I'm gonna take it, you know, with both hands," she told the media.
French contestant Amir said that everything "happens for a good reason" and he was not sure if the outcome of the competition would be luck or destiny.
Germany's Eurovision hope, 18-year-old Jamie-Lee explained she just wanted to be happy with herself following the show.
During the news conference, Italy's contestant Francesca Michielin wanted to convey the message behind her song:
"But my goal at Eurovision is not the success, it's to share a message, a beautiful message of peace and love with all the audience. We are living in hard times in Europe you know. I love the people, every day build and think that differences is not a beautiful thing but with my song I want to say that in diversity there is enrichment for ourselves and we are different so we are beautiful," Michielin said.
The British duo, Joe and Jake told journalists they had been given a lots of advice before coming to Stockholm, but their main aim was to be "as happy and relaxed as possible".
Eurovision organisers expect more than 200 million viewers to tune in from Australia and New Zealand to China and the United States, where Saturday night's final is being broadcast live for the first time in both countries.
The internationalisation of the contest is underlined by the performance of U.S. singer Justin Timberlake who is set to premiere a new song during the final. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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