Eurovision Song Contest 2025 Second Semi-Final

Host country: Switzerland (SRG SSR)
Venue: St. Jakobshalle, Basel, Switzerland
Hosts: Hazel Brugger, Sandra Studer
Date: Thursday 15 May 2025

N.B. Any use of “tonight” or “this evening” throughout this post means Thursday 15 May 2025. All times in this post are in BST.

The Opening

After the usual Eurovision ident, accompanied by Charpentier's Te Deum prelude, the Second Semi-Final began with an opening sequence. At 20:02 the hosts Hazel Brugger and Sandra Studer appeared on stage to give their opening speeches.

The Songs

6 minutes after the start of the show (20:06 BST) it was time for the first song. Each song was introduced by a postcard film related to the appropriate country.

Song 1: Australia - Go-Jo “Milkshake Man”

It’s difficult being the first entry in the line-up, but someone has to go first. According to Wikipedia, the song “Milkshake Man” aims to be a "motivational push" for the listener, encouraging them to discover “the most colourful version of themselves and feel confident”. As far as the song goes, the first verse has catchy beat, and from what I can gather of its lyrics, I guess a milkshake could make someone happy when they are feeling sad. The pre-chorus is simple, a way of announcing some of the milkshake flavours the man sells. With regards to the chorus, it’s obvious that a milkshake seller would want to shake milk, along with flavourings, and his customers would drink the milkshakes having bought them. The beat continues through this part of the song. The second instance of the pre-chorus is different to the first, in that different flavours are mentioned this time. One could say this is an opportunity for Go-Jo to intentionally mention more of his milkshake flavours he didn’t have space for first time around. The bridge includes the French line “Excusez-moi, monsieur, avez-vous du lait pour moi?” for some mysterious reason; presumably a way to attract votes from French speaking countries. Just like in the official preview video, tonight’s performance began with a short section of Greensleeves can be heard, in a chiming style. During this moment, an image of Go-Jo on an old-fashioned TV set was shown. This was zoomed to full screen for the start of the first verse. Early on Go-Jo’s assistant held an electric blender, but at the end of the first verse, a caption “Now even bigger” appeared in a star. Suddenly a giant blender could be seen on stage. This was the centrepiece for the rest of the song. At the start of the first instance of the chorus, Go-Jo stepped into the giant blender, and shortly afterwards he stepped out wearing a different outfit. It’s amazing how he could change in about five seconds. The stage floor had a black and white checkerboard tile pattern, just as some cafés have. For much of the performance, two instances of MILKSHAKE MAN appeared on the background screen. After the bridge, splashes of milk and berry fruit appeared on the background screen. Altogether, a lively, catchy song, with a good beat; the ideal style of song to open a semi-final. Whatever happens to this song tonight, I think this is. Altogether, this is a catchy, fun song to open tonight’s show, and a good disco song. I wouldn’t mind seeing this on Saturday evening, but I wouldn’t miss it if it’s not there.

Song 2: Montenegro - Nina Žižić “Dobrodošli”

Now for something totally different; a power ballad from Montenegro. It’s great to see Montenegro back since their last entry in 2022. Nina sang the opening section quite softly, but built up, and became powerful as the song progressed. The instrumental section is amazing; I like some of the percussion sounds that are included there. Nina appeared to be under a spotlight for the whole of tonight’s performance. During the introduction, the camera panned around her, and waves appeared on the background screen. An eclipsed sun could be seen on the background screen whilst the first few lines were sung. Wavy line patterns appeared next, and by the first instance of the chorus, light rays could be seen in the background. As the song progressed, various patterns of light rays were used. Dry ice effects enhanced the whole performance still further. Altogether a very good power ballad, Nina has an amazing voice, and demonstrated her ability to sing in a powerful manner tonight. Best of all, it was sung in Montenegrin tonight. I think singing this in any other language would have spoilt it. This would be good for a James Bond film opening song. I’d definitely like to see this in the final, but it’ll be a miracle for this to qualify tonight.

Song 3: Ireland - EMMY “Laika Party”

According to Wikipedia, the song is a tribute to Laika, the Soviet dog who in 1957 became the first living being to orbit the Earth. The idea for the lyrics came after Emmy accidentally discovered Laika’s tragic story, prompting her to imagine an alternative fate in which the animal, instead of dying, experiences an endless party in space. It’s useful to know that background information if one wants to fully understand the lyrics. The “brave little girl” mentioned in the first verse is Laika, the dog which flew aboard the Sputnik 2 spacecraft, launched into low orbit on 3 November 1957. The chorus is about Emmy’s wish that Laika didn’t die on the mission, went on to live forever and enjoy an endless party in space (dance among the stars). “I hope Laika is alive” is obvious; Emmy’s wish that Laika is still alie in space. That said, the first time I heard the song, before I looked at the lyrics or read the background information, I thought those two chorus lines were “Like a party in the sky”. It took until I first looked at the lyrics to realise that those two lines start with Laika; the name of the dog. Casual viewers seeing / hearing this for the first time tonight, having not previewed / analysed any of this year’s songs beforehand, may mishear / misinterpret in the same way. The chorus has a beat, and Emmy sings the chorus lines in a bouncy manner. She pitches high towards the end of the last two lines, and stretches out the word “sky”. Electronic music, including a keyboard, can be heard after each of the last two lines. The centrepiece of tonight’s staging, for this act, was a large object that resembled a space ship. Emmy sang whilst standing on a platform at one end of the space ship. During the first two instances of the chorus, an image of a dog, as a galaxy of starts (with lines connecting the stars) appeared on the background screen. Obviously, in real life, a galaxy would be several orders of magnitude larger than a dog, but never mind, for this song, it’s a form of artistic licence. Fireworks provided the climax during the final instance of the chorus. Unsurprisingly, for a song of this style, dancers were present on stage, and dry ice effects were used during this performance. Altogether, "Laika Party" is lively, catchy song, containing plenty of electronic / synth music, and has a good beat, but I think it’s a much more “down to Earth”, safe song compared to Bambie Thug’s entry last year. I would strongly agree with anyone who thinks this is a late 1990s / early 2000s style song, because this reminds me very much of Aqua - “Barbie Girl”, which was released in 1997. I see this as a questionable qualifier, and if it gets to the final, this could end up where Austria’s “We Will Rave” did last year. I wouldn’t mind this in the final, but I wouldn’t miss it if it’s not there.

Hazel spoke to a member of the audience before the next postcard.

Song 4: Latvia - Tautumeitas “Bur Man Laimi”

The Latvian national final, Supernova 2025 Final, took place on Saturday 8 February 2025, and I watched it, online from the UK, on demand, one day late. At the time, I hadn’t seen any preview videos, or read any lyrics or background information about the ten finalist songs, so I had difficulty identifying component parts of some of the songs. The winner was Tautumeitas “Bur Man Laimi”. At the time, I found it a very unusual song, featuring a group of singers. Their style of singing as a group is somewhat out of the ordinary, with perfect harmony. As I thought whilst watching Supernova, the song was sung in Latvian. Looking at the Latvian lyrics since then, the song is undeniably repetitive, just as it seemed when I saw its Supernova performance. What sounded to me like “mirror, mirror, mirror, mirror” is actually “Nevar, nevar, nevar, nevar”. It’s difficult to tell exactly what the song means in English. According to Wiwibloggs, the title means “A Chant for Happiness”. I’ve found a few English translations of this song online, and they vary quite a bit. I was mystified as to the significance of what looked like strands of thread in the Supernova performance; the group members moved between them at times. The performance also included flashing lights, and dry ice effects at times. Tonight’s performance was very much the same as Supernova, including strands of thread and dry ice effects. Blue lighting was used up until the solo, except the two “Ļaudis dara vara tiltu” to “Sarūsēja ozoliņa salapoj” sections, during which orang lighting was used. Yellowish white lighting was used during the solo. For the rest of the song flashing blue and white lights were used. Altogether, something totally out of the ordinary, it’s amazing how the group members can sing in perfect harmony whilst moving in the manner they did. How this will fare tonight is anyone’s guess. Will anyone, other than me, want to vote for it? Casual viewers seeing this for the first time tonight may feel the same way as I did when I saw it for the first time whilst watching Supernova 2025 Final. Such viewers are unlikely to realise what this song is about, and perhaps not vote for this. I ranked that entry just 6th in My Eurovision Scoreboard whilst watching Supernova, but since then, this song has grown on me to the extent that after tonight’s performance, I’d definitely like to see this on Saturday. Sadly, I think this will struggle to qualify, which is a pity.

Song 5: Armenia - PARG “SURVIVOR”

This sounds to me like a hard rock song, and unsurprisingly, most of the song has a powerful beat. PARG sings the chorus in a very powerful manner, I like the way in which he stretches the word SUR-VI-VOR! three times in the chorus, interspersed with plenty of RA-RA. As one would expect, for a song of this style, flashing white lights, including strobe lights, featured heavily during the verses and instances of the chorus. Flames also appeared during the second instance of the chorus. Interestingly, what must be the bridge, seems a somewhat different style, lacking a beat and sung at a slower pace; a stringed instrument can be heard in this section. Unsurprisingly, the lighting was much more subtle during this part of the song; static red background lighting, and an overhead bluish white light. The beat returns for the closing section, so strobe lighting and flames returned for this section. Altogether, a very lively rock song, with an unexpected short soft section. This was appropriately staged, with harsh, punchy lighting for this style of song, but the lighting designer evidently remembered to adapt the lighting for the soft bridge section. It’s clever how after-images of PARG were created at times, and it’s amazing how PARG could sing powerfully whilst running at times. This is not my taste in music, but hard rock and heavy metal fans are likely to vote for this. I’d rather this doesn’t qualify, but I think this a likely qualifier.

Song 6: Austria - JJ “Wasted Love”

Johannes Pietsch, who performs under his stage name JJ, is representing Austria this year. According to the official Eurovision website, JJ is a countertenor with a distinctive voice, that can reach soprano heights. He demonstrates his ability to do this on each instance of the chorus in this song. Interestingly, the second instance of the chorus has more beat to it than the first instance. Surprisingly, after the second instance of the chorus, the closing section is really lively, which one would not normally expect for a ballad. For some reason, tonight’s performance of this song was in monochrome. During the early part of this song, JJ was sitting down. During the first verse, what looked like a hub and mast could be seen, and during the second verse, JJ raised a sail. Rough sea waves appeared on the background screen during the lively closing section, and a lighthouse could be seen on stage at the end. Altogether, a beautiful ballad for the most part, and JJ demonstrates his ability to sing at a high pitch, but the lively closing section may come as an unexpected shock to ballad lovers. On the other hand, people who enjoy lively songs with electronic sounds will find that section comes way too late, and is too short. This is almost certain to qualify tonight, and could possibly even win on Saturday night. I’d definitely like to see this in the final. Whatever happens, this is another song which would make a good James Bond film opening song.

A short break followed at this point. During this break, Sandra was carried through the audience. Pre-recorded footage of an over-60s Eurovision party was shown.

Automatic Qualifier 1: United Kingdom - Remember Monday “What The Hell Just Happened?”

The first of three automatic qualifiers to perform on a non-competitive basis tonight, that being the United Kingdom. The opening verse is sung slowly and softly, but after the first instance of the title the song changes to a lively pace. The unique selling point of this song is the manner in which the title is sung, including a powerful emphasis of “Happened” stretched out. Tonight’s performance of this song began with the trio against what resembled a giant quilted headboard during the opening section. The centrepiece for the rest of this song was the chandelier, which is tilted. The trio spent the rest of the performance around this. On one instance of the chorus tonight, an overhead view of the stage was shown. In this view, the stage floor appeared like water in a swimming pool, with synchronised swimmers around the chandelier. Obviously, the swimmers must have been computer generated, as part of an electronic image displayed on the stage floor, due to the rule of six. After a slowish bridge, there was one more lively section before the slow closing line. Altogether, quite a catchy and memorable song. The members of the group, Lauren Byrne, Holly-Anne Hull and Charlotte Steele demonstrate their ability to sing in harmony where required. Time will tell how well (or badly) this scores with the juries and the public on Saturday night. For now, the United Kingdom doesn’t need to rely on viewers voting tonight or this performance to get to the final.

Song 7: Greece - Klavdia “Asteromáta”

Back to tonight’s competing entries, which viewers in eligible countries can vote for. The Greek national final, Ethnikós Telikós 2025, took place on Thursday 30 January 2025, and I watched it live, online from the UK, that evening. The winner was Klavdia “Asteromáta”. I’m glad that entry won that night; because I thought it was the best of the twelve competing songs, which is why I put that top of my ranking in My Eurovision Scoreboard that evening. It’s what I would call a proper Greek style ballad, sung in Greek. I like the way in which Klavdia sings the early parts at a gentle pace, and it takes until about midway through for the song to get more powerful, with a beat. She slows again to sing the final two lines without beat. At the start of tonight’s performance, Klavdia was on a predominantly dark stage, with limited light on her. Gradually, subtle blue background lights appeared. At this point, it became clear that she was standing on a platform, with an artificial rock nearby. As the song progressed, flames could be seen, artificially simulated, on the background screen. After the short instrumental, which features some traditional Greek sounds, she was on the artificial rock. A tree could now be seen, surrounded by artificially simulated flames, on the background screen. Afer the appearance of a blue line image, the dominant lighting colour turned to red whilst the song drew to a close. A swirling galaxy of stars could be seen on the background, which was hardly surprising considering the line “Asteri mou” means “My star”. Altogether an excellent Greek ballad, with gentle and powerful parts, and Klavdia has a beautiful voice. I’d definitely like to see this in the final, and there’s a good chance this entry will be there, even though Cyprus is unable to vote tonight.

Song 8: Lithuania - Katarsis “Tavo Akys”

The Lithuanian national final, Eurovizija.LT Final, took place on Saturday 15 February 2025, and I watched it, online from the UK, on demand one day late. The winner was Katarsis “Tavo Akys”. This is clearly some sort of rock. Just like at Eurovizija.LT, tonight’s performance included someone with an electric guitar and someone seated a drumkit, though it’s likely those instruments were mimed rather than played tonight. Tonight’s background screen images were similar to Eurovizija.LT, including open countryside, followed by flying slates and flying rocks. I’m mystified as to the significance of those images, but that’s what Katarsis wanted for their performance. Dry ice effects were used tonight. According to the official ESC website, the opening section means “Empty words only fuel the fire, The houses are burning, they start to collapse, From her eyes, the greatest downpour, The foundations of everything have already begun to rot”. Those lines seem interesting; I wonder what message Katarsis are trying to put across with those words. During the part of the song in which the title can be heard, the tempo seems surprisingly slow for a rock song. Although it’s impactful, I have my doubts as to whether true rock fans will actually enjoy this enough to want to vote for it. I’m aware there are various forms of rock, but I always thought rock songs generally tend to be considerably faster than "Tavo akys". As for viewers who don’t like rock, I doubt if they’d want to vote for "Tavo akys" either. Still, this seems to be in with a good chance of qualifying. I wouldn’t mind this in the final, but I wouldn’t miss it if it’s not there.

Song 9: Malta - Miriana Conte “SERVING”

Well, the early sections seem to be sung rather rapidly. The section starting “Why should we let other people decide” seems quite catchy. The chorus is simple: the word “Serving” followed by two instances of the line “Do-re-mi-fa-s-s-serving”. A beat sequence, and some unusual sounds, act as a filler between the chorus lines. The bridge has the line “I've got a secret you should know”, sung at a high pitch, which is a significant contrast to nearby parts of the song. Tonight’s performance began with what looked like a disco ball within a pair of lips, and Mariam’s name in block capitals above the lips. Moving yellow roses could also be seen in the background during this time. A camera zoomed in towards the lips, and what was, in fact, half a disco ball, rotated to reveal Mariam. She began by singing within the giant lips, but upon reaching the first instance of “Why should we let other people decide”, she was lifted on to the stage floor. After the first instance of the chorus, predominantly red lighting used, and there was a burst of steam jets. Stacked arches appeared in the background during this time. Unsurprisingly, dancers were included in this performance, though, I’m mystified as to why Miriana and her dancers were on exercise balls for the closing section. Cheetahs or leopards appeared on the background screen during the closing section. The performance ended with a final burst of steam jets. Altogether, quite an unusual entry from Malta; they seem to have thought outside the box compared to the last couple of years, but is this too many styles for one song? People seeing this being performed for the first time tonight may be confused by the different styles. I’m also mystified as to the significance of the different background images that appeared as the song progressed. I wouldn’t mind seeing this on Saturday evening, but I wouldn’t miss it if it’s not there.

Song 10: Georgia - Mariam Shengelia “Freedom”

The musical introduction is powerful, to say the least. Mariam sings the first line softly, then after what sounds like a backing filler, she is accompanied by a beat. Just over a minute into the song, she sings really powerfully. She sings the first few lines of the English section softly, and the rest of the English section powerfully. I’ve noticed some Georgian lines which translate as “Ani and Bani, Gani and Doni, Years are passing, time is flying, Eni and Vini, Zeni and Tani, We will never give up this sky and mountains”. I’m mystified as to the significance of Ani, Bani, etc mentioned in those lines. The centrepiece of tonight’s performance was a ramp, which Mariam stood on. Initially, the stage lighting was blue, and clouds could be seen on the background screen. Four dancers were also on stage. Part way through, the colour scheme changed to red / orange lighting, and the dancers began waving giant white flags; I’m mystified as to the significance of the flags. At the start of the English section, Mariam stepped of the ramp and performed the rest of the song directly on the stage. Further changes to the lighting colours occurred, and during this time, various background images appeared, including mountains, followed by orange circles. Altogether, a power ballad which has a significant part sung in Georgian, followed by an English section and some closing lines. I wouldn’t mind seeing this on Saturday evening, but I wouldn’t miss it if it’s not there. In any case, I think it will be a miracle for this to qualify.

A short break followed at this point. During this break, Sandra spoke to some of the national commentators in their booths.

Automatic Qualifier 2: France - Louane “maman”

The second automatic qualifier to perform on a non-competitive basis tonight, that being France. According to Wikipedia, The song "Maman" is a tribute to Louane's mother, who died of cancer in 2014, when Louane was 17 years old. Tonight, Louane performed this on a predominantly dark stage, with limited lighting. That said, a brief burst of flashing lights appeared during the repeated “Maman” lines late in the song. For some reason she was on a bed of sand, with an additional trail of falling sand. I’m mystified as to the significance of the sand. Presumably, that represents the passage of time since her mother died. Altogether a beautiful ballad, or power ballad; the verses are sung softly, but the chorus is sung powerfully. Furthermore, Louane has a beautiful voice and sang well tonight. Once again, France has gone for a song for which simple staging works best. It’ll be interesting to see how this scores with the juries and public on Saturday evening, but for now, France doesn’t need to rely on viewers voting for this performance to get to the final.

Song 11: Denmark - Sissal “Hallucination”

Back to tonight’s competing entries, which viewers in eligible countries can vote for. The Danish national final for the Eurovision Song Contest 2025, Dansk Melodi Grand Prix 2025, took place on Saturday 1 March 2025, and watched it online from the UK, on demand, two days late. I like the electronic sound that can be heard from the start, and continues through the song. The chorus is sung in a powerful manner, but I’m not keen on the way Sissal sings “Hallucination” in the stretched-out manner. That said, singing the title in that stretched-out manner provides the selling point for this song. Tonight, Sissal stood against what looked like a giant sheet hanging from above the stage. Initially, white flashing light was used. During instances of the chorus, blue light beams appeared. Purple light beams were briefly used late in the song. Altogether, a catchy song, and the waving vertical light beams looked effective. However, I was a bit disapponted about Sissal’s vocals tonight compared to DMGP. I wouldn’t mind seeing this on Saturday evening, but I wouldn’t miss it if it’s not there. In any case, I see this as a borderline qualifier at best.

Song 12: Czechia - ADONXS “Kiss Kiss Goodbye”

The first four lines are sung slowly, and the next four are sung much more rapidly. During the pre-chorus, “You” and “Truly” are sung high pitched compared to the other lines of this section. The chorus is very powerful. The instrumental section, after the second instance of the chorus, features plenty of electronic sounds. Another song with a mix of styles, but they seem to go together well here. At the start of tonight’s performance, ADONXS was shown in a tight letterbox for some mysterious reason. Upon reaching the line “In a moment two of us collide”, the letterbox opened up, but bars remained at the top and bottom of the screen; presumably to create a super widescreen cinema effect. Four dancers, dressed in white, were present on stage. For some reason, for most of the song, the lighting was white, and the whole stage floor was lit white. Flashing white light was used at times. During the instrumental, orange light was used. After the instrumental, white light was used again. Altogether, a song with a powerful chorus, but I’m not particularly keen on this. I’d rather this doesn’t qualify, and in any case, I think this a borderline qualifier at best.

Song 13: Luxembourg - Laura Thorn “La Poupée Monte Le Son”

The Luxembourg Song Contest 2025 Final took place on 25 January 2025, and I watched it live, online from the UK, that evening. "La poupée monte le son" was the was the hot favourite to win that night, so it’s hardly surprising this won that night. I like the way this song is in French; it’s great to have a song from Luxembourg in French. Tonight’s performance began with an image of a house, with the camera zooming into the keyhole. Laura appeared to travel through a keyhole, into a room with a tiled floor. An old-style TV could be seen, with an image of the ESC 1965 Luxembourg artist France Gall. Suddenly, Laura was on the open stage, with what looked like a tiled floor, and what resembled a doll’s house behind her. The background changed for the final section, after the bridge. It has to be said, some of the distant shots which allowed the dolls house to appear in full made Laura look tiny. All in all, this is certainly a likeable, catchy song, with a good beat throughout, and the middle eight is noticeably different to the rest of the song which helps break it up. The snag is, will some see this as dated tonight? I’d definitely like to see this in the final, but this is clearly another border line qualifier.

Song 14: Israel - Yuval Raphael “New Day Will Rise”

I’m aware of the reasons why Israel’s participation continues to be controversial, but let’s remember this year’s slogan “United By Music”, cast aside the fact that Yuval is representing Israel, and assess this solely on the song’s lyrics, and tonight’s live vocals and staging up against tonight’s other 15 semi-finalists. Durms can be heard at the start. The song is mostly sung in English, however there is a French section after the first instance of the chorus and a Hebrew section near the end. I’m surprised a French section is included in the Israeli broadcaster’s entry; presumably this is to attract votes from French speaking countries. After the French section, there are two instances of the chorus, but the second of this pair is sung more powerfully than the first, which adds variety. The final instance of the chorus is noticeably different again to earlier instances. The chorus content is interesting. Presumably it means that under troubled times, there is still hope that things will be better in the future, but in the meantime, life has to go on as best it can. It’s anyone’s guess as to what message Yuval wants to put across through the chorus lyrics. Anyway, the song as a whole, is a pleasant ballad, and Yuval has a beautiful voice. For tonight’s performance, she wore a black outfit, and performed on a predominantly dark stage, with limited lighting. The centrepiece pf the stage was a spiral staircase, with illuminated beads. Yuval climbed this staircase during the first chorus after the French section. Whilst she was at the top, simulated falling water appeared on the background screen. Near the end falling fireworks appeared from the back of the stage. The question is, can this qualify tonight? At the time of the performance, the betting odds have this as favourite to win tonight, though I take that with a pinch of salt. The sad situation is, external factors, outside the scope of Eurovision, could influence whether people want to vote for this on pity grounds, or refuse to vote for this tonight, regardless of the quality of tonight’s live vocals and/or staging; therefore I see this as a questionable qualifier. In the light of tonight’s vocals and staging, and nothing else, I personally think this ought to be in the final.

Automatic Qualifier 3: Germany - Abor & Tynna “Baller”

The third and final automatic qualifier to perform on a non-competitive basis tonight, that being Germany. Germany’s national final, Chefsache ESC 2025 - Wer singt für Deutschland?, took place on Saturday 1 March 2025, and I watched live, online from the UK, that evening. The winner was Abor & Tynna “Baller”. This song was sung in German; and Abor & Tynna (who are a brother and sister duo) decided to keep it in German for Eurovision 2025. It’s great to hear a song in a country’s native language. According to Eurovision World, the title means “Shoot”. I like the combination of strings and electronic sounds in the introduction. The song starts with the opening instance of the chorus, which is four lines, twice over. I like the way in which “baller'” and “fall'n” are sung within the chorus. There’s a beat within the chorus, which appears twice more. The remaining two instances of the chorus are preceded by a verse and pre-chorus, which are noticeably different to the chorus. At the start of tonight’s performance, the sister was atop what looked like a giant boom box, whereas the brother was on the stage. Blue lighting dominated the performance, and strobe lighting was also used on instances of the chorus. At times, the title was flashed up, in capital letters, on the background song. Altogether, quite a lively, catchy song; if nothing else, this is a good disco song. This could do reasonably well on Saturday night, but then again, this could go the way “We Will Rave” went in the Eurovision Song Contest Grand Final last year. For tonight, Germany doesn’t need to rely on viewers voting for this performance to get to the final.

Song 15: Serbia - Princ “Mila”

Now for the last batch of tonight’s competing entries, which viewers in eligible countries can vote for. Serbia has gone for a ballad this year, sung in Serbian. It’s nice for Serbia to sing in its native language for once. The title means “Dear”. According to Wikipedia, "Mila" is a romantic love ballad; one of the messages is that when you love someone, sometimes you have to accept that you can't stay together. This explains the significance of the chorus, which means “Dear, You paid the price of me loving you. Dear, You brought back a life from the edge. There are many reasons for you, To love another, But I care so much to keep you”. Princ sings this quite powerfully, though I think he gets a little too over-powering on some chorus lines. I like the way the instrumental features the piano and some other musical instrument. Blue lighting dominated most of this performance, and dry ice was used in the performance. For some mysterious reason, the lighting colour changed to red during the instrumental. The final instance of the chorus included flame effects; I question the need for those in a song of this style. Perhaps it would have been better to have stuck with blue for the whole song, and done without flames or flashing effects which appeared late in the song. Altogether quite a good ballad from Serbia; Princ sang well tonight, demonstrating his talent to sing powerfully. However, I think one needs to read the background information to understand what this song is about. It’s questionable as to whether or not this can qualify. I wouldn’t mind this in the final, but I wouldn’t miss it if it’s not there.

Song 16: Finland - Erika Vikman “ICH KOMME”

The final song in tonight’s line-up; it’s amazing how time flies! Finland’s national final, Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu, otherwise known as UMK, took place on Saturday 8 February 2025, and I watched it live, online from the UK, that evening. The winner was Erika Vikman “ICH KOMME”. Although the title, which means “I'm Coming” is in German, the bulk of the song is in Finnish. The most memorable part of this is the chorus, dominated by four proper lines, each of which is preceded by two instances of "Ich komme". In fact, I think "Ich komme" overpowers the line that follows. The section starting “Let go ja anna tapahtuu” is clearly the bridge, and is sung in quite an unusual musical style, which not all listeners will like, but it’s certainly compliments the earlier sections well. Finally, several instances of the title, at a faster pace than the chorus, serve as an outro. For tonight’s performance, various stage colours were used, with strobe lighting added at times. Part way through the bridge, Erika stepped onto a tilted giant microphone stand, which was raised high in the air ready for the outro. Unsurprisingly, the outro was accompanied by considerable use of strobe lighting, as well as the title appearing on the background screen, in capital letters. Fireworks also appeared from the bottom of the elevated microphone stand, to enhance the outro still further. The song ended with in red lettering on the background screen. Altogether, definitely the liveliest and most spectacular tonight’s performances, each part of the song has a beat and electronic sounds can be heard. This was definitely the song to save for last tonight, and I’d like this in the Grand Final. Mark my words, this will almost certainly go to the final, and I’ll be shocked if this doesn’t qualify. See you Saturday Erika.

Televoting and Recap

After the songs finished, the hosts reappeared to announce the start of the voting at 21:38 BST. Some fireworks appeared at the back of the stage, and a message “Start Voting Now” appeared on the background screen. A recap of the songs followed. The UK voted in tonight's semi-final, and therefore UK viewers saw the voting numbers at the bottom of the screen during the recap. Lines closed 21:54.

Back to the top

My Preferences

Here are my preferences, based solely on all of tonight's performances:
Definitely want to qualify: Montenegro, Latvia, Austria, Greece, Luxembourg, Israel, Finland.
Wouldn't mind qualifying: Australia, Ireland, Lithuania, Malta, Georgia, Denmark, Serbia.
Prefer not to qualify: Armenia, Czechia.
Definitely don't want to qualify: (none)

So, these are the ones I want to see Saturday night: Montenegro, Latvia, Austria, Greece, Luxembourg, Israel, Finland, plus three (and no more) of Australia, Ireland, Lithuania, Malta, Georgia, Denmark, Serbia.

The UK voted this evening; I voted for:

My Qualification Predictions

Here are my predictions of which countries will and won’t qualify, based solely on all of tonight's performances:
Almost certain qualifiers: Austria, Finland.
Likely qualifiers: Australia, Armenia, Greece, Lithuania, Malta.
May qualify: Ireland, Latvia, Denmark, Czechia, Luxembourg, Israel, Serbia.
Highly unlikely to qualify: Montenegro, Georgia.

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Eurovision Song Contest 2025 Second Semi-Final Results

Here are the results, which were announced in a random order before 22:XX BST. Any use of "tonight" still means Thursday 15 May 2025.

My desired qualifiers: Montenegro, Latvia, Austria, Greece, Luxembourg, Israel, Finland, plus three (and no more) of Australia, Ireland, Lithuania, Malta, Georgia, Denmark, Serbia.

Actual qualifiers (in order of announcement): Lithuania, Israel, Armenia, Denmark, Austria, Luxembourg, Finland, Latvia, Malta, Greece.

Bold entries represent the actual qualifiers that match my “Definitely want to qualify” preferences, and italic entries represent the ones that match my “Wouldn't mind qualifying” preferences.

OUT: Australia, Montenegro, Ireland, Georgia, Czechia, Serbia.

I’m overjoyed that Latvia qualified; I didn’t think they’d qualify, especially as the semi-finals are decided by televoting only. Their entry this year “Bur Man Laimi” is really out-of-the-ordinary by Latvia’s standards, and of all 37 countries’ songs that were entered this year. It’ll be interesting to see how that fares on Saturday. I’m also glad Austria, Greece and Israel qualified, as they all had excellent ballads. In the case of Israel’s entry, I think Yuval Raphael’s “New Day Will Rise” genuinely deserved its place in the Grand Final.

Montenegro and Serbia are both out. Being as Slovenia and Croatia were eliminated on Tuesday evening, that means there won’t be a former Yugoslav country appearing on Saturday evening. I think it’s the first time that’s happened since 2013.

My only “Prefer not to qualify” country which qualified was Armenia. PARG’s “SURVIVOR” is not my taste in music. Still, I understand that a lot of people all over the world like hard rock and/or heavy metal, and they would probably have enjoyed Armenia’s entry very much, and wanted to vote for it.

Altogether six of my seven “Definitely want to qualify” songs qualified. Not bad I suppose. The only one which didn’t qualify Montenegro. To be fair, I managed to also get three of my seven “Wouldn't mind qualifying” songs to top up. I guess I can’t grumble at that. At the end of the day, I cannot expect to have all the songs I want in the final.

Anyway, no matter how I personally feel about which countries' songs went thorough and which ones didn't, all the artists who performed tonight deserve equal respect. Congratulations to the ten countries which qualified to the final, and commiserations to the six which failed to reach the final. So that means all 26 finalists are now confirmed and 11 countries have been eliminated (but will still vote in the final). Roll on the Eurovision Song Contest 2025 Grand Final at 20:00 BST Saturday evening.

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