内容摘要：Tighe suspects that if she hadn’t been hired through the special hiring authority, she might still have a job, given that no one else on her team was let go.

Tighe suspects that if she hadn’t been hired through the special hiring authority, she might still have a job, given that no one else on her team was let go.

“It’s Europe’s biggest cultural event,” said Dean Vuletic, an expert on the history of Eurovision. “It has been going on for almost 70 years and people love to watch it, not only for the show, for the glitter, the stage effects, the crazy costumes, but also because they like to see it as a reflection of the zeitgeist in Europe.”Of 37 countries that sent performers to Eurovision, 11 were knocked out by public voting in

. Another six automatically qualified for the final: the host, Switzerland, and the “Big Five” that pay the most to the contest — France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the U.K.The 26 countries competing Saturday, in order of performance, are: Norway, Luxembourg, Estonia, Israel, Lithuania, Spain, Ukraine, the U.K, Austria, Iceland, Latvia, the Netherlands, Finland, Italy, Poland, Germany, Greece, Armenia, Switzerland, Malta, Portugal, Denmark, Sweden, France, San Marino and Albania.Favorites, according to oddsmakers, are

, representing Sweden with “Bara Bada Bastu,” a jaunty serenade to the sauna. Dutch singer Claude is also highly rated with soulful ballad “C’est La Vie.” Other favorites include classically trained Austrian countertenor JJ with his pop-opera song “Wasted Love,” and, with her anthemic “New Day Will Rise.”

Eurovision has a reputation for campy europop with nonsense lyrics — past winners include “La, La, La” and “Boom Bang-a-Bang.” But It has also produced some enduring pop classics. And it helped make stars of performers including ABBA — winners in 1974 with “Waterloo” — Celine Dion, Austrian drag performer

and Italian rock bandCollaborations are few and pointed. Shelton and Stefani harmonize beautifully on “Hanging On’"; he does

on “Heaven Sweet Home,” an affecting meditation of mortality. He taps Josh Anderson for the slow-burn closer “Years.”Shelton might live a very different life than the characters found in his songs, as is often true of any larger-than-life celebrity performer. But make no mistake, this is a giant pop country record, with limitless potential for radio ubiquity.

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