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Eurovision 2025
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Musings on the byways of popular culture
Musings on the byways of popular culture
by 142 Comments
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Estonia’s song “Espresso Macchiato” is catchy and silly. Winner or dead last.
No audible booing for Israel I’m sure it’s there though. No cutaway shots of thr crowd for this one.
Trying to fool us that it’s the French entry. Cunning.
Just realised that’s it’s an open air stadium.
Enjoying the Swedish presenters.
Norway is our favourite so far, Lithuania were awful. Making make get more generous as the level in the wine bottle goes down.
UK entry “What the hell just happened?”. Very Taylor-Swifty and well performed. Should get votes, which is an achievement itself for a UK entry these days.
First time I’ve heard it and caught bus off the verse of Billy Joel’s My Life in it.
Thought the staging was embarrassingly poor. A real sense of will this do? We’ve had black and white Flying Dutchman and the flames of hell. A chandelier – that’s it?
If San Marino win with a song called Tutta l’Italia (All Of Italy) I think it’s only fair they should renounce their independence.
Jedward moonlighting for Iceland.
Hazel is splendidly nuts.
Lithuania with a bit of prog – quite a thing to achieve in three minutes.
A bit Cocteau Twins from the black lagoon.
I quite like it.
Me too. I always expect to hear one song that I like a lot and that will almost certainly not win. So far, that’s Lithuania. Just my cup of miserablist dark goth-adjacent prog.
One I really like that might actually have a chance: Latvia. Six ladies with a very Medieval Baebes vibe to them. I’d be very happy for them to take the prize, although I know from bitter experience that my support has probably just doomed them.
I loved Latvia, The Light didn’t, so alas, it’s low in our overall score.
I also really liked Latvia. They were never going to win but it was an excellent song.
They sounded a little like Värtinnä from Finland- a compliment in my book.
Yes thought it was Yes crossed with Les voix Bulgaren
Sorry I meant Latvia
Netherlands song written by Neil Innes, surely.
Unremarkable tripe.
But it will do really well
That’s show business.
Oh my!
Erika from Finland is killing it.
Some viewers’ hearts aren’t as strong as they were.
One deadly Finn
Italy’s piano is the longest I have ever seen. Boring song, I’m afraid. Even if you wear wacky clobber and make up – you do need a memorable song.
Yes, very dull. Based on the make-up alone, I thought this would be much more interesting.
Also giving me very strong Dire Straits
Vibes – not quite the vibe for eurovision
It’s hard to capture the diabolical essence of Satan/Hades in a stadium in Switzerland so hats off to Poland for trying.
Amazingly, Germany score even less than we do in recent competitions. This one isn’t going to improve their fortunes I’m afraid.
Disagree will do well I think – catchy as hell
Oh don’t mind me – I am often very, very wrong when it comes to picking the winners.
Can we agree the Swiss comic is spectacularly unfunny – literally thinks gags
About how rich we are is funny.
I like her. I think that’s just playing with a stereotype.
I think she might be proof that some comedy isn’t universal. Still, she’s on live TV, doing gags in front of a massive audience using a second language. I could do no part of that sentence.
Greece – me and my rock.
Is it humanly possible not to mention Nana Mouskouri when watching Greece’s entry? No. It isn’t.
That apocalyptic inferno she stands in reminds me of our last Greek beach holiday.
Can I just take a moment to praise Graham Norton? I know he traditionally has a drink for Wogan and describes him as the voice of Eurovision, but I think GN is much better.
Towards the end of Wogan’s reign, IIRC he went too far with the “let’s make fun of the wacky foreigners/acts/presenters/costumes” comments. He sounded slightly too cynical, a bit “Isn’t this all beneath us, really?”, about something that obviously brings millions of people a lot of entertainment (for whatever reason).
But Graham gets it just right: he clearly loves the whole thing, and points out some of the madness of it all while still praising the good singers, dramatic staging, etc. Long may he continue.
Ageee – I’m on YouTube so no GN, sadly.
Big trousers are back in.
They never went away chez BC.
It will take some doing to be worse than this.
Armenia are imagining dragons and it ain’t good.
We quite liked it. It’s no Finland but vastly better than several others [cough *Lithuania*]
Even the Swiss aren’t rich enough to want to do it twice in a row
Loving Malta – song, singing, staging.
Our joint favourite so far.
Top five nailed on
Very Lady Gaga-ish sound, I thought. Not my favourite (see above), but it could do very well.
“From the sublime to … Portugal.” Savage!
Athlete. They say there are no second acts but popping up as Portuguese entry is quite the career move.
Malta. Meh-ta more like. Agree that the performance was memorable but I wanted to be blown away by it – but the big chorus didn’t come.
Have you seen Portugal?
Nul points for Portugal, from the NZ jury.
Malta – unfortunate Christina Aguliera like writhe a thon.
She was serving early noughties pop r and b
Are you telling me I’m wrong?
There’s a definite theme of well-built women in thigh-high boots this year.
I like the Denmark song.
Just put it on, the Denmark one had subtitles about being your Hallu I was hoping it would continue to hallux and a song about the big toe. I was disappointed.
Again, crying over how little UK put into the staging.
Sweden has this year’s wacky entry. Oh my aching sides.
By which I mean the sides of my mouth due to all the yawning during the song.
“SAUNA!” Zzzz…. Yes, just awful from start to finish.
I expect it will get hundreds of points.
We have a new leader!
A French ballad is as certain on Eurovision night as a Scandi bange. Graeme has somewhat ruined the beauty for me.
The French one would have been better if it had begun as a tribute to Sam Beckett’s Happy Days with the singer buried up to her neck in sand to start with.
Strange you say that. I was going to say that Malta’s staging (the giant lips) made me think of Beckett’s Not I
This is peak Afterword bantz
Watching the catch-up bit (the bestish part as you don’t have to hear all the songs) The best part is the voting of course.
I see what you mean about Malta @black-celebration
France often come up with something quite lowkey and dignified and this is another one of those.
So low key I’ve forgotten it already.
I forgot it while it was happening.
We attempt to assert our superiority over the rest of musical Europe by sending awful songs. The French are still baffled by why their lovely well-sung songs never win.
This San Marino song is like a sauna song reprise without the charm.
San Marino bringing in the all-important Cossack “hey!” element.
Walking on the stage with an accordion is the kiss or death I’m afraid. Basic stuff.
Eurovision 101: attractive woman/women with flexible attitude to clothes? Vote winner. Accordion? Vote loser.
See also: a weird instrument that is only played in your country and distracts people from the vocals, going too zany even for Eurovision, death metal and/or screaming vocals … Steer clear of these if you want to win.
What with Athlete going out for Portugal and Add n to x for AlBania we are tripling our chances of a win.
Your top 5 and bottom one please.
I loved Albania’s tribute to Nosferatu.
This Albania song is giving me Mastermind game cover image vibes.
Arf!
Malta, Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, Austria in no particular lar ways.
Albania last in all ways.
Uk in bottom 5 sadly.
1 – Sweden
2 = Finland/Malta
4 – Norway
5 – Armenia
Then lost of also rans
Last, and by some considerable distance, Lithuania
I really really want Latvia to win. They won’t. They should.
Agree.
1. Latvia
2. Finland
3. Denmark
4. Austria
5. France
Last – Sweden, I’m afraid.
I got confused up there between Lithuania and Latvia – Latvia’s one is the one I liked. The prog one in with the ladies with twigs on their heads.
Absolutely. I might have to look at a map to remind me of where Latvia is, but I have just become passionately Latvian.
1 Malta or Finland (in a perfect world/my world: Latvia)
2 Sweden, although I’ll be unhappy if it does this well
3 Israel – maybe unlikely given, well, you know, but Eurovision loves a big ballad
4 Netherlands
Bottom few: UK (mostly down to the dull staging), Portugal
I liked Latvia, Finland, UK. The rest were at best forgettably anonymous or at worst just poor. God knows what the voters say.
I liked it better when they had a Flatleyesque show at half time rather than just other songs.
Re the half-time acts: can’t we just have Riverdance every time? It was genuinely astonishing that first time, and no other interval bit has come close.
I recall seeing the full Riverdance theatre show years later. I’m not a big dance fan, but sitting three rows back during the finale, with the company in a line making the stage practically bounce up and down with their perfect timing and precision, was unbelievably thrilling.
Kneecap there not accepting Ireland went out in the semis
Glad to see the Slipperman has made his appearance at the interval.
The long shadow of Scooter hanging over Europe still. Thank god for the Alpenhorn.
An interval song about dabbing with the words “check it out” repeated.
What next, the Fonz walking on with a song called “Sit on it?”
Ooh – an Alpine horn!
First shout of JUST GET TO THE VOTING here.
I wish we were losing Nemo at this point.
A little of him goes a very long way. Yes, you won, now be off with you.
My good lady didn’t hear the inverted commas when I mentioned his ‘singing’.
Do the interval bits get longer every year? I mean, really, how long do people need for voting? It’s not one of the great decisions of our age, is it?
Show us the final act, allow 5-10 minutes for voting, a bit of time for counting the votes (although I expect AI will soon do it all instantly), and whoosh, on to the exciting bit.
Just seen Estonia’s effort and their tribute to Max Wall.
Hurrah Topo Gigio.
Is this mouse famous?
He was many years ago.
Icelandic Jedward going down badly with the juries I see.
Yes – their turn for the Euro-spoon I think.
In the final reckoning, San Marino secured exchange-student EuroSpoonie.
Have to say UK doing better than I thought. Maybe the singing on the jury show was better.
More Albanians around Europe than Danes.
And the Eurovision organisers breathe a huge sigh of relief.
Nearly an embarrassing situation with Israel there. Well done Austria. Singer’s voice is remarkable.
Well done, Austria. Good voice, powerful staging. Not enough of a tune for me, but I’m usually wrong about what other people will like.
It should have been Latvia though. Is there *no* justice in the world?!
Still, at least that’s hopefully the last I see of Nemo.
Well, I voted three times for Finland, twice for Switzerland and once for Italy. Don’t really get the hype for JJ, he was a bit Nemo Light for me (and yes; I admit that Finland’s Erika was a bit Käärjä Light, but still very good).
Can’t believe Sweden got 4th place with that repetitive silly song about saunas…I only voted for it (once) in the Swedish final to make sure Måns Zelmerlöv didn’t win (and I think I wasn’t alone).
The worst entries in the final for me were Spain, Netherlands, Germany, Greece, France and Albania, in order of appearance. If I had to pick one as the very worst…France. Just NO.
What is the problem with Måns Zelmerlöv ?
He’s a mediocre artist with an inflated ego, he’s slimy and tries very VERY hard to be charming, which isn’t charming at all. His entry this year was a worse version of the song he won the ESC with (and that one wasn’t very good either, IMO the animation probably won it for him).
And that’s before we start getting into his personal problems, which aren’t my business, so I won’t get into them…and most of them didn’t go public until after the Swedish competition, so that’s not why he didn’t win!
I don’t know anything about him as a person (and based on what you’ve said, I think I’m better off not knowing), but I still think his Heroes is, by some distance, the best Eurovision song since Waterloo.
I always disliked the bit in the chorus that goes: “Hero-uh-ows, herow-uuh-ows”, also; the lyrics annoy me overall, the country-ish bit at the beginning of the verses…no? Just me? I’ll admit that it isn’t the worst song Sweden won the competition with (Diggiloo, Diggiley comes to mind instantly, closely followed by Take Me To Your Heaven), but it annoys me every time I hear that chorus when he’s trying to sing the word Heroes in a prolonged, wailing style, sounding like a dog singing! 😀
Edit: “Best Eurovision song since Waterloo”???? Many, many, MANY other winning songs are better IMO. Including a couple of better ones from Sweden!
That’s amusing @Locust.
Several of your hate objects were my favourites-
i have a soft spot for songs with a minimum of flashing lights and a concentration on the song itself.
Am i a Euro-fogey? damn right i am
At least we agree about Switzerland’s entry…
But I don’t think anyone should go to the Eurovision Song Contest for good, classy, and subtle music; that’s what the rest of the year is for.
The ESC is for everything else AND the kitchen sink – kitchy, weird, over the top, glittery, unsubtle and as far from tasteful as possible is what I want from the ESC. It is, in fact, the whole point of the ESC. Which is why I ranked Finland higher than Switzerland, which (although I liked it a lot) is too good a song and too tasteful a performance to be a true ESC entry!
I enjoyed that. Thanks for taking part.
The Afterword Eurovision winner for 2025 is Latvia! It’s a strange and complicated song with unintelligible lyrics that sounds a bit prog – so very much in this community’s “wheelhouse”.
Those countries wanting this honour in 2026 should avoid:
Doof Doof Doof
Silly costumes, dorky humour
Accordions
Making heart shapes with the fingers
Just listened to that for the first time – I enjoyed it more than I expected! Nothing to compare it to, since I didn’t watch the show and haven’t knowingly heard any of the others.
But a bit prog? No, no, no. Not even a bit.
Honestly I can hear shades of Yes in there – Jon Anderson singing the bit at around 40 secs.
Yoiks! I’ll have what you’re having!
And also the theme of woodland spirits and fairies…it’s at the very least prog-adjacent.
Yeah, yeah – tell that to Mr Wilson and his graphene-coated, steel and glass intergalactic prog-metallers…”it’s all about the fairies, Steve – or it’s just not prog!”
Erm. So who won?
It’s not about the winning, Freddy, it’s about the taking part
Nice to see “Tomorrow Belongs To Me” as the new Euro anthem. Well done Austria.
Austrian winner reminded me of Iggle Piggle – astonishing voice and probably deserved to win.
Latvia was my best of the night. I did rather like the Belgian EDM entry though that didn’t make it out of the semis.
I’ve just had a notification that Remember Monday are playing the Cambridge Junction on November the 5th. Tickets are £26.50 each. What the hell just happened, indeed?
By November they might need to change the name to Remember Us
Remember who?
That’s showbiz!
Reminds me of a HORA (Hoary Old Rock Ancedote) concerning record label pluggers finding increasingly creative ways to promote their acts’ singles to Radio 1 DJs in the 70s.
On one occasion an elephant was hired to walk around Broadcasting House, sporting a huge sign saying “DON’T FORGET…THE HOT NEW SINGLE BY—“.
No one can remember what band it was.
Perhaps they should ask the elephant because of course ….
My wife had a great idea about Eurovision. To stop all the politically-motivated voting, simply broadcast the songs and number them. After the scores are all in – the country is revealed.
(I quite like that idea.)
Some Eurovision become internationally popular, even when they don’t win.
Goodness gracious me. This was a surprise.
https://fb.watch/zMrZ-euvmc/
sorry if you can’t watch that. It’s some indian schoolkids dancing enthusiastically to the Swedish sauna song..
One big fan favourite on Saturday was the return of Käärijä and Baby Lasagna, two old faves from previous years.