Eurovision 2014 as a song contest and geopolitical lens

Eurovision academic Karen Fricker offers a preview of the big stories surrounding the annual song contest this year... from which country will claim Crimea's public votes... to discussions about gender and sexuality being prompted by Austria's entry, a bearded man in drag.

Fricker discusses some of the other performers to watch this year. You can watch a video featuring Wurst in the embedded video player below:

As for Fricker's own personal pick? She says Israeli singer Mei Finegold's Same Heart is a "real angry-woman song" and a strong pop contender.

"It's a good, upbeat pop song that hopefully she's going to perform well on stage," Fricker says.