Miriana Conte has to change the lyrics of her song “Kant”. This is what she wrote about it on her instagram: Currently filming the official ‘KANT’ music video, literally living my best life. We’ve just been notified that @ebu_hq has decided against using the Maltese word ‘Kant’ in our entry in the Eurovision Song Contest. While I’m shocked and disappointed, especially since we have less than a week to submit the song, I promise you this: the show will go on — Diva NOT down.
So Miriana Conte has to change the lyrics. But she is definitely not the first one to do so. Generally, the artists facing a lyric change can be divided in three categories:
Too explicit
Clearly, the reason Miriana has to change the lyrics is that they are too explicit. She sings that she is serving kant, but the English-speaking viewer can easily hear something else. Only one time before, the lyrics were too explicit. For that, we have to go back to 2022. The song “Eat Your Salad” from the Latvian band Citi Zēni started with the lyrics “Instead of meat I eat veggies and pussy”. Okay, the word ‘pussy’ wás sung, but not by the band. When singer Jānis Pētersons sang “Instead of meat I eat veggies and….” he turned the microphone to the audience, who finished the job.
Politics
There was a time when there was no rule about politics in Eurovision. But when there was, several lyrics had to be changed. It even lead to withdrawals of songs.
- In 2005, the Ukrainian rappers of Greenjolly won their national final. The song was a song of praise for the newly chosen president Yushchenko. “Yushchenko yes, Yuschchenko yes, is our president, yes, yes!” was not allowed. In a new version they sang about trust, we can and we will win.
- Rodolfo Chikilicuatre, who represented Spain, sang about Hugo Chavez and king Juan Carlos in his song. The two had a disagreement with eachother. Those lyrics had to be changed.
- The Irish Dustin The Turkey sang about Macedonia. Greek broadcaster ERT protested against it, and the name was left out.
- In 2009, the Georgian entry was called “We don’t wanna put in”. The lyrics had to be changed, but the Georgians refused. Georgia withdrew.
- The 2021 Belarusian entry was clearly political, said the EBU. They changed the entire lyrics but again the EBU rejected the song. Belarus withdrew and the broadcaster was suspended from the EBU shortly after.
- Israel had to change the complete lyrics of their 2024 entry too. They submitted another song but again it was rejected. Israeli broadcaster Kan submitted a third option, which was accepted.
Brands
No brands are allowed in Eurovision. That is why some lyrics had to be changed:
- Lotta Engberg sang about the ‘Bugg’ chewing gum and about Coca-Cola in 1987. She had to change the lyrics, and it became “Boogaloo”. The original version, “Fyra Bugg och en Coca-Cola” can be found on Spotify.
- Remember Valentina Monetta, representing San Marino 4 times? The original title of her first song in 2012 was “Facebook”. That was not allowed, so it became “The Social Network Song”.
- Belarusisan Teo sang about Google Maps in his song “Cheesecake” in 2014. He had to change it and in the end he sang about all the maps.
Is this a full and complete list? Maybe not. Feel free to contact us when you know more examples.
