Eurovision 2025 - Good or Brutal?
Although there were small improvements compared to last year, the Eurovision Song Contest and European Broadcasting Union need to do more more to fix the obviously rigged voting that makes a certain genocide committing country almost win for the second year in a row.
During Semi-Final 1, a ‘cheeky’ song titled “Made in Switzerland” was performed during the intermission, its lyrics included:
Eurovision is, non-political, strictly neutral
Doesn’t matter if you're good or brutal
Sigh…
I won’t do a long post about Eurovision this year. Instead, will just list a few random thoughts, some I had already shared on Twitter.
Overall, the entries this year felt like countries mostly sent safe bets. Eurovision songs Witchcraft, innuendo and moody goth boys: Your guide to all 37 Eurovision songs by Mark Savage on BBC is a useful reference to the entries this year.
I was rooting for Finland's Erika Vikman to win. Her song Ich Komme is about sexual pleasure, and I’m certain misogyny is the reason why the song didn’t receive more votes.
“Structured to mimic the pneumatic realities of lovemaking, it recalls iconic gay anthems such as Kylie's Your Disco Needs You and Donna Summer's Hot Stuff – and ends with Erika shooting into the sky astride a massive gold microphone that's definitely not a stand-in for a phallus.” — Mark Savage, BBC
Her sole performance on stage was fearless, with her strong presence and vocals, plus the giant microphone as the finale prop, it was the only performance that was worth winning first prize in my book.
Photo by Sarah Louise Bennett
Other participants I liked this year:
Albania’s Shkodra Elektronike
Belgium’s Red Sebastian
Cyprus’ Theo Evan
Czechia’s ADONXS
Germany’s Abor & Tynna
Lithuania’s Katarsis
Netherland’s Calude
Switzerland’s Zoë Më
Grew on me:
San Marino’s Gabry Ponte
Sweden’s Kaj
Before the competition started, there was the Blue Carpet opening ceremony on May 11 which I normally don’t watch. But when I heard there were protesters holding Palestine flags on both sides of the turquoise carpet, I wanted to take a look, to see how long would EBU and Basel tolerate having flags so visible. An hour into the ceremony, they disappeared. Shortly after that certain country’s turn on the carpet. These are a few screengrabs I took.
Thoughts from the two semi-finals:
Hazel Brugger is unhinged. Would be happy to see her return as a presenter next year.
Really ugly AI stage visuals for some of the performances, and quite worrying to think this could be the new standard.
Liked the song more after seeing it performed live: Italy (and appreciated it included sub-titles)
Should’ve moved to the finals: Belgium and Czechia
Favourite postcard: Australia’s Go-Jo visiting Cinematheque Berne
Martin Österdahl sheltered from getting booed, his catchphrase “good to go” now said by the presenters.
Booing silenced for TV viewers during you know who.
Hats off to the people holding up Palestine flags inside the arena.
From Dave Keating’s Gulf Stream Blues Substack:
Eurovision turns its back on English
“For the first time, more than half of countries have voluntarily chosen to sing in a language other than English at Eurovision - up from a fifth just five years ago.”
Eurovision 69 is the most sexual song contest in history
”A Maltese word resembling the c-word in English has been banned, while the song in Finnish can sing about an explosive female orgasm. Double standards?”
What the hell just happened at Eurovision...again?
”The song contest's new lax rules for public voting seems to have resulted again in votes being cast by people who haven't watched the show but want to make a political point. Eurovision is in trouble.”
Gabe Milne’s press accreditation didn’t get approved this year (we know why). He should consider it a badge of honour.
But he carried on and published a lot of videos on his YouTube channel during the week, sharing thoughts and also interviews with some of the competitors and other Eurovision regulars.