Eurovision week is here. And really, have we ever needed the silliness, the joy and love of Eurovision more?
That said, many will be relieved that – so far – there’s less of the backstage drama this year, although protests about Israel’s participation are still a feature.
The buzz
Malta has played a strong media game, with the controversy about ‘Serving Kant’ (kant = singing in Maltese) featuring on Newsnight a few weeks ago. Yes, it sounds exactly like you think it would when sung. Inevitably the various broadcasters stepped in and now the song is simply called ‘Serving’. But with no jury votes in the semi finals this year, media hype matters to get those televotes up. To that point, Estonia’s ‘Espresso Macchiato’ , a pastiche of Italian stereotypes, has received a lot of coverage. I guess it’s ironic, or something.
The frontrunner is Sweden’s ‘Bara Bada Bastu’. This is a song in Swedish but by a Finnish band about the Finnish pastime of sauna. This is a crowd favourite in the style of recent runners-up Cha Cha Cha (Finland) and Rim Tim Tagi Dim (Croatia). In any other year, I’m not sure this would be the winner but there are few standouts in 2025, so maybe the bookies will be right again.
If anyone could catch Sweden, it could be Austria or France.
With similarities to last year’s winner, Austria is an operatic-vocals number with an upbeat twist. I like it. France has been in a groove of sending simply-staged, beautifully sung, heartfelt ballads recently. This year is no exception and ‘Maman’ might clinch it for them. Listen out for the last word of the song.
The others
There’s a real mixture of styles this year with healthy amounts of folk/trad influenced tunes, which I always welcome at Eurovision, and a smattering of 90s style techno beats. General lack of key changes all round.
I’m enjoying the Icelandic Jedward-esque duo singing about their rowboats, Irish entry about space-dog Laika, Greece, Latvia, and Belgium’s dance track. And a shout out for Denmark – Sissal says she has a mission to make it cool for a mum to be a pop star.
The innuendo (though actually it’s more in your face than that) is brought to you this year by Malta (as mentioned earlier), Australia ‘Milkshake Man’ and Finland ‘Ich Komme’. Australia is catchy and might do better than expected.
And what of the UK?
Positively, the UK has committed to trying new styles and artists at Eurovision over coming years. Remember Monday, who are great singers with a stage background, deliver a solid bop, with hints of country, modern musical and interesting tempo changes. It reminds me too much of Katy Perry’s ‘Last Friday Night’ but it’s a good performance and very hard to see how the audience at home will react. Anything in the top half would be a good outing for the UK.
Look forward to seeing everyone’s comments on the night!
Eurovision week is here! The song contest (the ESC) was established to foster peace and understanding through music. Has it ever been more needed? As we settle in for two semi-finals (Tuesday and Thursday) and the grand final (on Saturday) here are ten talking points.
What’s this year’s chat?
The ESC is no stranger to political controversy and this year you can’t get away from the impact of the Israel-Gaza conflict. There’s substantial agitation to boycott this year’s contest due to Israel’s participation and many fans have felt Malmo’s scaled-back hosting is a considerable let-down on last year’s extravaganza in Liverpool, partly due to more of the production budget being spent on security. Israel’s song is a beautifully performed, emotional ballad, though the lyrics have been rewritten twice for falling foul of strict rules on non-political themes. Hard to know how the song goes down in the arena. Aside from that controversy, there’s a lot of talk of the influence of last year’s hugely popular runner-up – Finland’s Cha Cha Cha. You’ll see it’s not hard to draw some comparisons with this year’s favourite.
So it’s super serious this year?
Not quite…Eurovision has become a massive deal over the last decade and has also moved away from identikit pop entries of the noughties, to largely cross-genre entries, often with a much stronger focus on the country’s language and music heritage. This year there’s a mixture of interesting, dark, rock & metal inspired tunes, alongside pop bops, zany performances, ballads and floor-fillers.
What makes a Eurovision winner?
The ESC fan community follows the contest from national selections, getting deep into the back stories of the songs and performers. But when all’s said and done, most people watch the songs for the first time during the TV show. So you have only three minutes to grab the viewer’s attention, through a combination of catchy, memorable song, strong vocals and stand-out staging that works with the song.
The 90s are back!
If you were a fan of early 90s dance culture, there’ll be lots to love in this year’s songs. The Netherlands ‘Europapa’ is pure techno, with added 2Unlimited, and Austria’s song ‘We Will Rave’ is similarly retro dance, while Finland’s artist is literally called Windows95 Man (this is the main zany entry this year).
All rise for the King and Queen of Eurovision
Please be upstanding for the King of Eurovision, Johnny Logan, who will appear on stage this year as an interval act in the first semi-final. Until Loreen’s win last year, Johnny was the only artist to win the ESC twice (for Ireland in 1980 and 1987, with ‘Hold Me Now’ – one of my all-time favourites).
However, reigning supreme this year will be legendary Swedish Eurovision host Petra Mede. She’s presented twice before, including performing the second-most loved interval act (after Riverdance, obvs) ‘Love, Love, Peace, Peace’. Nobody does it better.
Ok, so who are the favourites?
Two songs have been leading the pack. The early favourite was Croatia’s ‘Rim Tim Tagi Dim’, though Switzerland’s ‘The Code’ has been hot on its heels. Of these, Croatia likely has more general appeal. However, there’s huge love for the Netherlands ‘Europapa’, which although seemingly a bit of fun, has a heartfelt message at its core. Ukraine and Italy are also likely to be top contenders.
The Bangers
Eurovision has become known for producing some absolute bangers. There are fewer than usual this year but, as ever, you can count on Sweden to bring a slickly-produced hit. Cyprus also sticks to its tried and tested formula, while Lithuania’s also popular. Honourable mention to Luxembourg, who’re back in the contest for the first time in over 30 years.
The Quirky
Lots of quirky songs this year. Many of these are strong fan favourites, with interesting personal stories or issues behind the lyrics but mostly they’ll divide the crowd. Some will soar in the vote and some will spectacularly fail to qualify, as they’re just too marmite. In this group we’re looking at: Ireland, Portugal, Belgium, Norway, Greece, Armenia, Serbia, Slovenia and Estonia.
The Meh
There’s several serviceable but forgettable songs, which IMHO are the group at risk of the dreaded NQ – not qualifying for the grand final. I’m looking at you Albania, Iceland, Australia, Denmark and Poland.
The Big 5
The Big 5 get a free pass to the grand final but this year the UK, France, Germany, Spain and Italy will all perform in the semi-finals. How will they do? Well, France is sending another crooner, an approach that has worked well for them in recent years, while poor Germany looks set to continue its terrible run of form. Italy has a very strong contender – possible top five finisher – and Spain has a controversial (because of the title and content) song about female empowerment but I doubt it’ll trouble the left-hand side of the table. As for the UK, we have an experienced performer in Olly Alexander but unfortunately it’s a weak song ( I cannot get past the Steps-Tragedy electro-chimes) by Eurovision standards. On the upside, for the first time in forever the UK has invested in some decent staging and production, though the boxing-shower room-in space theme might not land with the voting public. I doubt the UK will make it into the top ten but you never know – that’s the fun of Eurovision.
A week before Eurovision and we’re pitching up in Liverpool city centre to do a full-scale recce.
Going anywhere with Lachlan requires a lot of advance planning – thinking about parking for the wheelchair car, toilet facilities, cafes we can get his wheelchair into comfortably – and that’s in addition to my own obsessive need to plan everything out in my head.
Getting into the city all went smoothly and as we were driving in right past the waterfront, we (well, Lachlan and I) were up to a 10 on Eurovision anticipation. First mission was getting some merch for L.
Merch mission
Not yet 11am on a Sunday morning and already there was a 20 minute queue at the Eurovision pop up store. But the tingle of standing with our tribe was lovely – the city is full of folk giving a silent nod of recognition to each other and exchanges of appreciation of particularly excellent tshirts. Swag acquired courtesy of ££ from Granny, we carried on exploring.
By chance we came upon the Liverpool Lush store. It is magnificent, spread over 3 floors of an old building, and even has a bath bomb belt (like the conveyor belt in Yo Sushi). I knew there was some kind of hook up with Lush and Eurovision. Sure enough, super friendly staff were happy to help out and told us about planned activity for the next day.
Lush bomb belt
We went to explore the waterfront area to figure out where the arena and fan village were situated. It was hot and sunny and the area was uncomfortably busy so we gave up on the village and instead walked up towards the hall where the welcome ceremony was happening that night but, a bit disappointingly, the entire area was hoarded off and roads closed, so you couldn’t see anything at all.
While we had planned to do something else the next day, in the morning, the blog-hosts running the Lush Live Lounge announced that Norwegian EV royalty, Keiino, (whose pop-Sami joiking song slayed in 2019) were going to be at Lush, so L and I headed into the city.
You might have seen our updates about this on social media but we managed to get in to Lush and get a spot near the front – there were some folk with kids and the EV audience is nothing but lovely – and waited for Belgium’s Gustaph to come out.
Gustaph, who did a perfect acoustic version of Because of You
We didn’t really know what to expect but they said they’d take a couple of questions from the audience after Gustaph had sung his song and L started writing almost straight away. I was super impressed by his confidence and that he asked a good question. Couple of logistical issues getting the mike to reach him and explain that, no, it needed to be pointed towards his Tobii computer, not his mouth…but it all worked and Gustaph was visibly moved at getting a question from L. He was so impressed that he had got to ‘interview a Eurovision artist’. A magical day.
Eurovision fans will already be singing along but for the uninitiated, these ditties feature in three fan favourites (Austria, Finland and the UK if you’re wondering). Catchy and memorable is what it’s all about in modern Eurovision after all.
The level of professional fandom in Eurovision is epic. Very much being in the amateur-fan space, I’m no expert but for those of you who like to do a little prep, here’s a quick rundown of this year’s performances. Bear in mind that with so many countries now participating, there are two semi-finals during the week. While this makes the Saturday night final manageable, unfortunately it means that some of the more outrageous performances don’t make it through to the final – so watch on Tuesday and Thursday nights to to get the full Eurovision experience. Fingers crossed, Lachlan and I will be at both semi-final rehearsals on Tuesday and Thursday!
Others may disagree but overall I think this year’s songs feel a little beige compared to 2022. There’s no equivalent to the joyous, bonkers-ness of ‘Give that Wolf a Banana’ or ‘Chisinau a Bucharest’. It’s also a year of bops, rather than the absolute bangers. It’s all just a little bit more reflective.
Irrespective, Eurovision is pure joy so I doubt spirits will be dampened.
First up, let’s address this year’s front-runners.
Undoubtedly it’s Sweden’s to lose. 2012’s runaway winner Loreen is back. Perhaps this doesn’t reach the heights of Euphoria, and that could be her undoing, but nobody does emotional angst like Loreen and Tattoo is still fantastic. She’s an absolute note-perfect pro (though there’s been a little unease at rehearsal clips) and Sweden are the Eurovision masters. The only other spanner in the works is that the giant toastie machine staging hasn’t transferred particularly well from the much-larger Swedish final stage to Liverpool.
Defending their title this year, Ukraine are back with Heart of Steel. It’ll score well but I doubt this is in the running.
Fan favourite and hotly anticipated as a potential winner is Cha, Cha, Cha from Finland. An unusual song (sort of rock, metal, electronica and rap) which highlights reliance on booze to face nights out. The fans love it though it’s hard to tell how the televote scores it could go marmite. Definitely one to watch.
Austria will be hoping to score well with their commentary on the music industry which takes the form of a song about being possessed by the spirit of horror writer Edgar Allan Poe to write a song (the 0.003 you hear relates to the £ artists are paid for Spotify streams). Yeah I know, but it’s fab, honest. Also firmly in the fab-u-lous category is Belgium’s 90s, vogue-ing Because of You. Retro, yes. Does the crowd love it? You bet.
Another fan fave and social media hit is Norway’s Queen of Kings, described as a Game-of-Thrones-pirate-shanty-esque pop hit. It’s fine and definitely catchy but I’m not a huge fan. Similarly, there’s a lot of hype about Israel’s Unicorn. In theory this is a feminist anthem but after a few listens, I think it’s a hot mess. I’m none the wiser about what power unicorns possess that might help the lass.
The UK has a great catchy pop bop. I don’t think this is a winner but it should do well. This is Lachlan’s favourite this year (though he also likes Sweden, Austria and Poland).
And so to my own favourites….
I adore the entry from Czechia My Sister’s Crown – a song about female empowerment in English, Czech and Ukrainian. Actually listen to this on repeat. Please do the right thing voting audience…
A strong contender from La Zarra with disco-francais Evidement. This is everything you want to hear from France – an elegant disco hit you can’t not dance to. Love it. And the clips from rehearsals suggest the staging is magnifique so this is rising up the bookies’ lists this week.
Not as polished and unsure if they’ll qualify but I’m always after something fairly dark so I do like both Georgia and Serbia. Estonia and Armenia both have strong female vocalists and should qualify. A wild card is Spain’s electronica-flamenco Eaea. I love this take on traditional song and many fans are very excited about it but it’s another marmite. The staging and performance will be key though as Spain pulled off second place last year due to stonking choreography and performance then they’ll be hoping to play to this strength again.
I’m always an absolute sucker for a bit of a national folk vibe, so full marks to Moldova (who absolutely know how to do Eurovision) for Soarele si Luna and a nod to Albania’s heartfelt Duje.
Eurovision always has something for the metal-heads and this year you’re spoilt with, two – yes, two – metal (or at least semi-metal) songs. Germany have gone full-on glam-metal while Australia have an unusual track.
The possible non-qualifiers:
Poland, which gets an eye roll from me – watch the video.
Malta – sax and a chorus of ‘I look better in my sweater.’ Meh.
Netherlands – having a bit of a howler in live vocals in this otherwise-decent duet.
Portugal – doing their usual quirky thing.
San Marino – I can’t beyond the early line ‘I can smell you like an animal’. Nope. Can’t bear it. Worst song of the year.
Romania – yawn. Second worst.
Croatia – unfortunately this is the only properly bonkers song this year. Almost certainly doesn’t qualify.
Greece -forgettable pop, even though points for the show’s youngest performer (he’s 16).
Ireland – ach Ireland, what are you doing to us? Still searching for their lost Eurovision mojo. Inoffensive but you’ve heard this song a million times before.
Anything else not mentioned above falls into ‘fine but forgettable’ category (yeah that’s quite a few what with their being almost 40 songs) – some will qualify and end up right hand side of the table on Saturday night, some won’t make the grade.
But, Eurovision is nothing if not unpredictable these days, given the new voting system, so what do I know.
Look Aboot Ye 