Verity Ritchie
patreon
The Bisexual Eurovision Playlist | Patreon Exclusive
🕑 Added 2023-05-30 17:05:07 +0000 UTC...And this is the last of our Eurovision... erm... bundle? ...for 2023!
This playlist includes all of the out bisexuals we could find in the history of Eurovision, plus some notable songs/performances which convey bisexuality in some way or another! And below is a list of all of these performances along with descriptions and citations to enhance your musical experience! Enjoy!
[Note: Researching the sexuality of various European artists can be difficult due to linguistic barriers but we did our best!]
Patrick Juvet - Switzerland 1973
Juvet is the earliest Eurovision performer for whom we found a reliable source for his bisexuality - he came out in his 2005 memoir. We also found this accidentally bi performance he did the same year as he competed in Eurovision.
Sara Tavares - Portugal 1994
Tavares competed in Eurovision in 1994 and she took to the Eurovision stage again in 2018 as an interval act. She came out as bisexual in 2021 on a podcast (run by the writer of the 2017 Eurovision winning song, Luísa Sobral) when she discussed her song about the first woman she fell in love with.
Ping Pong - Sameach - Israel 2000
We’ve spoken about the flag controversy that got Ping Pong disowned by their broadcaster in the main Eurovision video. The music video for their Eurovision song also got them in trouble as it featured suggestive … cucumber choreography … as well as gay and lesbian kisses. Ping Pong called themselves a “bisexual group” and performed the first gay kiss on the Eurovision stage, though it's not clear if any of them actually are bisexual.
Sadly, one of the band members who performed the kiss, Roy Arad, resigned from his job in 2020 due to allegations of sexual misconduct, and it seems like he was using his Eurovision fame to prey on girls.
I Wanna - Marie N - Latvia 2002 (winner)
The performance features cross dressing and dancing with a man and a woman. The song itself was not a radio success, indicating that the win was largely due to the performance. As far as we know, Marie N is not queer.
“Sleeping Beauty” postcard - Eurovision 2002
A postcard advertising “new experiences” in old Estonian towns. It seems that by “new experiences” they meant “bisexual threesomes." The timestamp is 6:25.
t.A.T.u. - Russia 2003
t.A.T.u. gained fame as a teenage “lesbian couple." While their relationship was only for the stage, one member, Julia Volkova, later confirmed she was actually bisexual (she also said some very homophobic things about gay men).
t.A.T.u. competed in Eurovision in 2003 when the EBU famously banned them from kissing and they performed again in a 2009 interval act with a flowery tank.
Knut Anders Sørum - Norway 2004
Sørum came out as bisexual a decade after his performance in a Norwegian gay magazine.
The Ark - Sweden 2007
Lead singer Ola Salo is the first bisexual to be out at the time of competing in Eurovision. He has been openly bisexual for most of his career and the band has released several queer and bisexual songs.
Serebro - Russia 2007
One of the band’s members, Olga Seryabkina, came out in 2019 and revealed that she and another band member, Elena Temnikova, were in a four year relationship while they were in Serebro together.
Blue - UK 2011
One of the band members, Duncan James, was out as bi at the time. He later came out as gay, saying: “I’m still attracted to women, I could still easily sleep with a woman. [...] ‘I could still be romantically and sexually involved with a girl. But I still call myself gay. I’m a gay guy. I like men, so that makes me gay. [...] I do say I’m gay, but I don’t really care about labels. I don’t really care if people want to call me bisexual or gay.”
Another band member, Lee Ryan, came out as bi in 2019 (but he’s also a shit person).
Loreen - Sweden 2012 (winner)
Loreen came out in 2017. Her 2012 winning song, "Euphoria," remains one of the most popular winning acts of the last few decades.
Douwe Bob - The Netherlands 2016
Bob was openly bi at the time of his Eurovision performance. He came out in an interview for a gay TV channel which asked him what his “gayest trait” was to which he replied, “That I have sex with men.”
Nina Kraljić - Croatia 2016
Kraljič came out as bisexual in 2021 when she spoke about the pressures to be conventionally attractive, smile, nod and keep your opinions private if you want to succeed in the music industry.
MELOVIN - Ukraine 2018
Melovin came out in 2021 during a festival performance, and explicitly labelled himself as bi in an instagram post.
Duncan Laurence - The Netherlands 2019 (winner)
Duncan was out at the time, and he also brought up his bisexuality in a Eurovision press conference. He’s the first person to win Eurovision while out as bisexual.
Senhit - Freaky! - San Marino 2020
A bisexual music video with lyrics that could be read as referencing bisexuality (“Some people think our love is freaky, freaky, freaky / They say we cray, I must be faking”). "Freaky!" never made it to the Eurovision stage because Eurovision was cancelled due to covid in 2020, but Senhit got to perform a different song the following year.
She is one of those Italian singers who’ve had gay rumours for years but she’s never made any statements about her sexuality and is a very private person.
Efendi - Cleopatra - Azerbaijan 2020
Another song that didn’t make it to the stage because Eurovision 2020 was cancelled. Includes lyrics “Straight or gay or in between."
Montaigne - Eurovision 2021
Montaigne is openly bi and also brought a bi flag to the green room. For covid reasons they couldn’t attend Eurovision in person and instead performed in a studio in Australia. Montaigne has also just come out as non-binary!
Måneskin - Italy 2021 (winner)
At the time of their Eurovision victory, band members Victoria and Ethan were already out [NSFW link] as bisexual and “sexually free”, respectively. Måneskin like to lean into bisexual chic and featured a gay kiss in their winner's reprise.
WRS - Llámame - Romania 2022
This performance includes bisexual choreography which we discuss in the video! wrs hasn’t made any statements about his sexuality.
Ronela Hajati - Sekret - Albania 2022
The Eurovision performance includes bisexual choreography, "scissoring" while singing about a secret lover, and bisexual lighting. Hajati hasn’t made any statements about her sexuality.
Chanel - Spain 2022
A month after her Eurovision performance, Chanel opened Madrid Pride with a speech in which she said: “Thanks to all the men and women I loved for teaching me how to love without prejudice." According to Wiwibloggs, this is not the first time she referenced her attraction to both men and women, but neither of us speaks Spanish so we’re having a hard time verifying that. She later attended pride wearing a shirt with the word “queer” on it and bisexual eyeshadow but she’s never officially labelled her sexuality so this one is not 100% official but we’re tentatively including her anyway!
Achille Lauro - Stripper - San Marino 2022
This performance is only bi through mixed signals and bisexual chic: the song is about a relationship between a man and a woman, but the performance featured a gay kiss and glam rock styling. Achille Lauro loves bisexual chic and provocation, but he’s not labelled his sexuality and if anything, from interviews, seems like a straight man.
Alessandra - Norway 2023
Alessandra is half Norwegian and half Italian and her song was inspired by the time she lived in Italy: “I am bisexual and when I lived in Italy I had to hide who I was because some of my friends and relatives would not approve it.”
Loreen - Sweden 2023 (winner)
Loreen returns to Eurovision, this time as an out bisexual! Unlike most returning acts which usually flop, she won again, making her only the second person to win Eurovision twice.
In case you missed any of our Eurovision content:
The [Queer] Politics of Eurovision
Performing Bisexuality - Patreon Video
