They’ll be going up against 24 other finalists in the 57-year-old competition viewed by some 125 million people worldwide and hailed by its legion of devoted fans as harmless, kitschy fun that allows Europeans to forget their differences — and economic troubles — for at least one night.

As last year’s winner, oil-rich Azerbaijan is hosting the annual competition. Few think it stands any chance of a repeat victory, but the country hopes the hundreds of millions of dollars it has invested in preparing for the event will serve as a public relations coup and mitigate misgivings about its poor democracy and human rights record.

Strong favorite Loreen, a 28-year-old Swede of Moroccan-Berber descent, will be venturing a racier outfit and sultrier performance than the grannies. Her song “Euphoria” even stands a chance of fair international commercial success — it’s already topped the Swedish charts for six weeks and gone platinum five times.

The winner is picked by juries and television viewers across the continent, so a broad appeal is deemed key to success.

Other serious contenders include Italy’s Nina Zilli and her lively ode “Out of Love,” Zeljko Joksimovic of Serbia with the slow and stripped-down “Nije Ljubav Stvar,” and Romania’s entry Mandinga, a band fronted by sultry vocalist Elena Ionescu, with their brash attempt at exotica “Zaleilah.”

The host country, a comparatively little-known former Soviet republic, has dug deep to make sure it’s also a star.

The new Crystal Hall concert venue, a light-bathed arena on a point jutting out into the Caspian Sea, cost $134 million to build and was put up in a speedy eight months. Countless more millions have been deployed embellishing the capital, Baku, and buying a huge fleet of brand new London-style taxis.

Such profligacy has aroused concerns about the spiraling costs involved in holding the contest in times of austerity.

“At the moment, if the costs are growing more and more every year and it needs to be more splendid, there are countries that would have huge difficulties, especially with financial situation in Europe at the moment, in organizing it,” said Annika Nyberg Frankenhauser, media department for the European Broadcasting Union, under whose auspices Eurovision is held.

Amid the glitz, antigovernment activists have held a number of small protests in the week running up to the final, seizing on the opportunity of the increased international media presence to draw attention to what they describe as the government’s authoritarian style of rule.

On Friday, police quickly shut down a small flash mob near the competition venue, roughly dragging away dozens of demonstrators and stuffing them into waiting buses, at least of one which bore a Eurovision logo.

Here’s a look at favorites and wacky wonders:

ENGELBERT HUMPERDINCK

Engelbert Humperdinck of the U.K. had turned 20 and was already a seasoned pop performer by the time the first Eurovision Song Contest was held — in 1956. In the 1960s, his manager convinced him to change his stage name from Gerry Dorsey to Engelbert Humperdinck— after a 19th century German composer — and he went on to become a less raunchy version of Tom Jones. Amid all of Eurovision’s hyper-kinetic dance and pop acts, the 76-year-old’s “Love Will Set You Free” stands out as good old-fashioned crooning.

BURANOVSKIYE BABUSHKI

The gray hairs are taking over Eurovision. The (old) girls from Buranovskiye Babushki from the Russian Urals are doing their bit to confirm all those stereotypes about shawl-wearing grannies. They are almost certainly the first Eurovision contestants to perform part of their song in the obscure Udmurt language, which is distantly related to Finnish. Their sheer adorableness gives them universal appeal and their folky, up-tempo “Party for Everybody” is hard to dislike completely.

JEDWARD

The irrepressibly, and often annoyingly, enthusiastic Jedward twins from Ireland first came to prominence in 2009 on the British television talent show “The X Factor.” They failed to win but have since fashioned a faintly successful pop career. They are competing for the second year running, possibly because the last thing Ireland wants now is to win and have to host the expensive contest next year. Jedward’s song “Waterline” is pretty odious fare, both tinny and thumping at the same time.

LOREEN

Sweden’s Loreen is the bookmakers’ runaway favorite. The 28-year-old of Moroccan-Berber descent easily swept aside all rivals in Sweden’s competition to pick its entrant for Eurovision. Her song “Euphoria” even stands a chance of fair international commercial success — it’s already topped the Swedish charts for six weeks and gone platinum five times.

MANDINGA

Romania’s entry, a band fronted by sultry vocalist Elena Ionescu, is performing its richly overdone attempt at exotica in both Spanish and English, possibly seeking the Iberian vote. It’s song “Zaleilah” is a global mishmash: Cuban horns, lashings of salsa, a generous dollop of Gypsy frenzy, and even a smattering of bagpipes. An earphone malfunction hurt rehearsals but bookmakers still expect a strong showing.

ZELJKO JOKSIMOVIC

At the staid end of the spectrum, Serbia’s Zeljko Joksimovic is playing it straight with his slow and stripped-down “Nije Ljubav Stvar.” He is a Eurovision veteran, having come second in 2004 and penned Serbia’s entries in 2006 and 2008. He has struck an international note by releasing versions of his song in English, Spanish and Russian — and even produced an Azeri version this week at a party in Baku. His chances aren’t bad — countries from the former Yugoslavia often perform well due to their habit of voting for one another.

NINA ZILLI

“Out of Love” is a brassy, lively ode by Italy’s Nina Zilli that could spring a surprise. Italy has passed on the competition most years, citing a lack of interest, but Zilli’s confident performance could turn that around. The first part of her stage name is a tribute to jazz artist Nina Simone, and if you listen really really hard, you can hear those hints of soul.

The extravaganza is viewed by some 125 million people worldwide. Now in its 57th year, it’s an epic battle of plastic pop pitting performers from 42 nations against one another. Musically, it’s a global laughingstock (that’s part of the charm) — but for host countries, the event can serve as a valuable PR platform. To authorities, the contest also risks exposing what critics say is rampant repression and cronyism.

The finals — in which British crooner Engelbert Humperdinck is touted as a hot favorite — are held Saturday in the new $134 million Crystal Palace concert hall on a point jutting out into the Caspian Sea.

As darkness falls, Baku’s entire skyline turns into a glaring, electric testament to profligacy and confidence. The city’s renovated Art Nouveau and Islamic-era architecture increasingly competes for attention with constructions like the wavy, glass-fronted Flame Towers complex, whose three skyscrapers light up at night in a playful LED display.

The upscale restaurants and exclusive designer boutiques hint at a burgeoning moneyed elite riding high on the riches generated by the two decade-long oil boom.

While the country grows ever richer, many in Azerbaijan, a nation of some 9 million Turkic language-speaking people, are once more embracing their Islamic heritage, which was suppressed during Soviet times. Headscarves are an increasingly common sight, and a ban on their use in schools announced in 2010 drew sharp public protests.

As Islam flourishes, however, rights activists also say that blatant trampling of democratic freedoms is being ignored by Western powers eager to exploit Azerbaijani oil wealth. Advocacy groups are using the global attention generated by Eurovision to publicize rights issues they say have been overlooked for years.

“Both local rights activists and international human rights groups view this as an opportunity to highlight to the world just what is going on in Azerbaijan, which doesn’t normally receive a lot of press coverage,” said Max Tucker, Azerbaijan campaigner for Amnesty International.

For the West, Azerbaijan has long been mainly about oil.

The nation has been drawing in foreign prospectors, including many Americans, since as far back as the final decades of the 19th century. The country is a geographic minnow compared with neighbors Iran, Russia and Turkey, but its location and natural resources give it an outsized role in history.

Within six decades of the construction of the first modern wells in the 1840s and subsequent investment by foreign tycoons like the Nobels and the Rothschilds, Baku accounted for more than half of oil production worldwide.

That early energy boom withered during the Soviet interlude, but resumed again in the post-independence 1990s.

While there is disagreement on exactly how much oil the country has, the general consensus is that proven reserves lie somewhere north of 7 billion barrels.

On top of that, Azerbaijan is also estimated to sit above around 850 billion cubic meters (30 trillion cubic feet) of natural gas.

BP has loomed largest among the international energy majors. The company has a 34 percent stake in the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli oil field off the Caspian Sea shore. The reserve is so massive, geologists initially believed it to consist of three separate fields.

Other big players that have partnered up with national oil company SOCAR include U.S. majors Chevron and ExxonMobil, Norway’s Statoil, and Turkiye Petrolleri.

Azerbaijan’s calibrated ambivalence toward U.S. geopolitical antagonists Russia and Iran have made it a particularly appealing source of energy to the West.

Tensions with Iran have deepened in recent months over Azerbaijani suspicions that Tehran supports radical religious extremists in its midst.

Relations with Russia are cordial but undermined by what Baku perceives as Moscow’s support for neighboring Armenia, with which Azerbaijan fought and lost a bitter six-year conflict over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh territory from 1988.

The West’s cozy relations with Azerbaijan have drawn vehement criticism from rights activists, who maintain that economic interests have trumped concerns over democracy.

The U.S. State Department’s own 2010 human rights reports speaks of limitations on freedom of expression and assembly, impediments to political activities and a flawed election that secured a new term for President Ilham Aliyev in 2008. After changes to the law in 2009, Aliyev, who inherited power from his late father in 2003 in a move that many have described as a monarchic-style handover, will be permitted to run for office indefinitely.

Journalists who have bucked the trend by reporting on alleged corruption in government have often faced repercussions.

In a prominent recent case, investigative reporter Khadija Ismayilova received an envelope stuffed with intimate photographs that she was made to understand would be made public if she didn’t stop her aggressive reporting. Instead of backing down, Ismayilova went public with the blackmail threat. Covertly filmed footage of her at home was posted online days later.

Undeterred, Ismayilova has since reported for Radio Free Europe about how Aliyev’s family has allegedly profited from the construction of the newly built concert hall in which the Eurovision contest is to be held.

Several small Arab Spring-inspired political rallies have been broken up violently by police over the last year. People linked with the meetings have ended up behind bars for lengthy sentences on unrelated charges or been enrolled into military service, despite being exempt. Similar attempts to hold anti-government rallies ahead of the Eurovision finals have also been robustly shut down.

As is typical in other energy-rich authoritarian post-Soviet states, Azerbaijan’s government has sought to mitigate criticism of its poor democratic record by pointing to economic achievements.

Rapid economic growth has created a class of new super-rich. But it has also cut the number of people mired in poverty fivefold over the past eight years to around 7.6 percent of the population, according to government figures released in January.

Those figures are roughly in line with World Bank data.

Still, beyond the fringes of Baku, life is notably harder. Average monthly salaries stand around $450, which explains why the giant SUVs that jam the city’s smooth, broad streets are not often seen elsewhere.

Economic experts warn that as the end of the peak of the frenzied oil boom beckons, Azerbaijan will need to adopt a less state-dominated model. But many worry that market proponents are being thwarted by political hardliners.

International coverage of democracy concerns has been met with unvarnished scorn by Azerbaijani authorities, who say Azerbaijan is the victim of a smear campaign by international rights groups.

“We are a democratic country,” presidential spokesman Ali Hasanov said this week. “We are located at the crossroads of Asia and Europe. We could remain in Asia, but we have chosen the way of European development.”

A number of police officers are expected to go on trial for deploying live rounds against rioters.

The events stunned the country and exposed seething social tensions in the otherwise stable oil-rich Central Asian nation bordering China and Russia, prompting international concern.

Authorities argue that the Zhanaozen disturbances were organized by individuals seeking to sow political instability.

HRW says defendants were beaten and ill-treated into giving statements incriminating themselves and others.

“Torture is a serious crime. The defendants’ allegations need to be investigated and anyone responsible brought to account,” said Mihra Rittmann, a Central Asia researcher at HRW.

One person detained by police and held in custody for two days died several days later in hospital from injuries apparently sustained in custody, the group said.

Interior Ministry officials have previously denied all claims that participants in the disorder in Zhanaozen were mistreated.

Allegations of physical abuse will raise doubts about the prospects for a fair trial. Hearings began last month and some defendants are being tried for charges that could see them receiving jail terms of up to 10 years.

Kazakhstan is an increasingly important source of oil and gas, as well as uranium, zinc and copper. The Northern Distribution Network that supplies U.S. and coalition forces in Afghanistan goes through the former Soviet republic’s vast steppe territory.

The defendants ranged in age from 22 to 32 years old. Local newspaper Ak Zhaiyk reported that they included two citizens of neighboring Uzbekistan.

The lack of transparency in the case has raised concerns over the fairness of the trial.

Western Kazakhstan-based rights activist Togzhan Kizatova told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty that the relatives of the accused had been pressured not to seek assistance from advocacy groups.

“They told me they were afraid, that they were being threatened,” Kizatova said. “It is natural that the parents are afraid, they say they want their relatives to get out alive.”

Officials say several other individuals also wanted on terrorism charges have fled the country.

The killing of two police officers in western Kazakhstan last June was linked to indigenous terrorist groups and prompted security operations in which two more police officers and nine suspected terrorists were killed.

The Jund al-Khilafah militant group claimed responsibility for two blasts in late October in Atyrau. Only one person — the man engaged in setting the bombs — was killed. The group of five defendants convicted Wednesday were jailed in connection with these attacks.