Eurovision 2023 is officially underway with meaningful new branding for Liverpool takeover

Eurovision season has officially begun with the BBC revealing the song contest’s official new logo and slogan.

Despite Ukraine winning the competition last year, Russia’s ongoing war in the country means that the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 will now be hosted in Liverpool.

It marks the first time in 25 years the UK will host Eurovision.

In a nod to Ukraine, the BBC has announced this year’s slogan will be ‘United By Music’ to highlight the “incredible power of music to bring communities together”.

The new visual identity, meanwhile, is a string of blue, yellow and purple hearts, which the BBC says are ‘inspired by the Ukrainian and UK flags’ and reflect ‘the joy and diversity of the contest’.

“With over 160 million viewers watching last year, the look of the vibrant, wider identity celebrates this shared cultural experience as ‘millions of hearts beat as one’,” the broadcaster said in a statement.

Every year, the Eurovision logo includes the flag colours of the previous year’s winner, meaning the ‘V’ in the logo will be blue and yellow to celebrate Ukraine.

“For this year’s theme, ‘United By Music’, our solution was inspired by research showing that when experiencing live music together, human hearts synchronise to beat in unison,” a statement reads.

“This insight led to the creative concept of 160 million hearts beating as one, an idea that captures the universal spirit of Eurovision.”

And the wait for Eurovision 2023 content is almost over, as the official handover and allocation draw begins tonight (Tuesday, 31 January) on BBC Two at 7pm GMT.

Hosted by pesenters Rylan Clarke and AJ Odudu, the handover and allocation draw will see this year’s entered nations divided into two groups — those who will compete in semi-final one, and those in semi-final two. 

The semi-finals will be aired on Tuesday, 9 May and Thursday, 11 May.

Eurovision 2023 will take place on Saturday, 13 May at Liverpool’s M&S Bank Arena.