Eurovision Song Contest 2025 Grand Final

Host country: Switzerland (SRG SSR)
Venue: St. Jakobshalle, Basel, Switzerland
Hosts: Hazel Brugger, Michelle Hunziker, Sandra Studer
Date: Saturday 17 May 2025

N.B. Any use of “tonight” or “this evening” throughout this post means Saturday 17 May 2025. Any use of “Tuesday” means Tuesday 13 May 2025, whereas any reference to “Thursday” means Thursday 15 May 2025. Any use of “this year” means 2025, whereas “last year” means 2024 and “next year” means 2026. All times in this post are in BST.

To make this report easier to read, I've split it into sections. Click the applicable link below to jump to the section you want to read:
The Opening
The Songs
Televoting and Interval Act
Jury Results
Televoting Results
Jury and Televoting Comparison
Reprise
And Finally

The Opening

After the usual Eurovision ident, accompanied by Charpentier's Te Deum prelude, the Grand Final began with an opening film. This began with the hosts backstage recognising that the trophy had not arrived yet. An aeroplane appeared to be flying over mountains. The trophy was in a case, with inner padding, and the case was secured shut. Someone jumped out of the aeroplane, holding the case, and his descent was slowed with a parachute, but the case was dropped and a ski-er picked it up. Next, the case was carried by a cyclist through rough terrain. At a bridge, the case was dropped into a river, and rescued by a canoeist. Finally, the case was delivered by road to the St. Jakobshalle, Basel, where host Sandra Studer removed the trophy from the case and placed it on a column. According to Graham Norton, the opening film featured five very famous extreme sports athletes. Obviously, this opening film must have been pre-recorded, but it seems an extreme way of portraying the delivery of the trophy to the venue. It’s amazing how this must have been filmed, but it’s likely that the noticeably different stages in the journey must have been filmed separately, and edited together.

Nemo “The Code”

When the opening film ended, there was a seamless transition to Nemo performing their winning song from last year, that being “The Code” on stage in the venue. Unlike last year, the tilting spinning turntable was not used for this performance. Instead, the performance began with an overhead view of Nemo, with the illusion that light rays from overhead were creating light circles on the stage floor, though it was most likely the stage floor circles appeared independently of the light beams. During the opening verse, a front view of Nemo was shown, and they were surrounded by light beams from overhead. Strobe lighting appeared during the pre-chorus. During the first instance of the chorus, multiple light beams formed spectacular parabolic effects behind Nemo.

Flag Parade

As soon as Nemo finished singing, a voice-over announced “Welcome home to Switzerland. Welcome to Basel. This is the Grand Final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2025. Please welcome our amazing 26 finalists.”. This led seamlessly into the flag parade, in which all twenty-six finalists entered the stage, in the order they were planned to perform. For each finalist country, a pattern of multiple lines appeared on the background screen, starting from the bottom centre, radiating diagonally upwards on an angle. Horizontal lines also appeared on the upper half of the background screen. Both line patterns were in the applicable country’s flag colours. The applicable country name appeared on the background screen, and the voice-over announced the country name. As the country name appeared, the applicable artist entered the stage, carrying the applicable flag. The Top Secret Drum Corps, from Basel, were shown performing at the start and end of the parade, and at various points during the parade.

Opening Speeches

After the flag parade ended, the voice-over announced “Here are your hosts: Hazel Brugger, Michelle Hunziker and Sandra Studer”. A quick burst of fireworks appeared at the front of the stage, before the hosts Hazel Brugger, Michelle Hunziker and Sandra Studer entered the stage from the back. As they walked forwards, the slogan “United by Music” momentarily appeared within the frame, at the front of the stage. As the hosts neared the front of the stage, more fireworks briefly appeared both sides of the stage. Hazel, Michelle and Sandra gave a series of opening speeches.

This year, a decision was made to open the voting lines before the first song in the Grand Final. The lines opened at 20:17. Surprisingly there was no countdown to this moment. Instead, Hazel, Michelle and Sandra just said “Start voting now” and the message “Start Voting Now” appeared within the frame, at the front of the stage. After the lines opened, Hazel, Michelle and Sandra had a few more lines to say before the postcard for the first song. The last thing they said, in this part of the show, was “Let the Eurovision Song Contest begin”. A burst of fireworks, at the front of the stage, appeared before the transition to the first postcard.

Back to the top

The Songs

At 20:18 BST it was time for the first song. Each song was introduced by a postcard film, which consisted of (i) a swirling effect of tiny hearts to reveal a plain background, in one of the country’s flag colours, with the country name, in an italicised font, centred halfway up the screen, (ii) the artist looking into a letter box, to collect a postcard, showing a location in Switzerland, (iii) camera view of that postcard, (iv) transition to that location, where the artist took part in an activity, (v) view of the artist standing at the location, with the artist’s name in italicised capital lettering, above. At this point, horizontal lines appeared above and below the artist’s name, and diagonal lines appeared at each end of the artist’s name, in the country’s flag colours. This led to the transition to the stage ready, whereby the front-of-stage frame was lit in the country’s flag colours. The country name appeared, in an italicised font, within the front-of-stage frame. The song title and artist’s name appeared below the left-hand end of the country’s name, and the composer and author names appeared below the right-hand end of the country’s name. Finally, those details disappeared and the song began. Furthermore, BBC One / BBC One HD viewers in the UK had Graham Norton's commentary over the postcard films. I've mentioned some of Graham's comments at various points hereafter; if you saw the Contest outside the UK, you won't have heard his comments.

Song 1: Norway - Kyle Alessandro “Lighter” (18th place, 89 points)

It’s always tough being first to perform, but someone has to go first. I watched the Norwegian national final, Melodi Grand Prix 2025 Final, live, online from the UK, on Saturday 15 February 2025. It’s hardly surprising the winner was Kyle Alessandro “Lighter”, because this was the favourite to win MGP Final that evening. I also put this song top of my ranking in My Eurovision Scoreboard that evening. Likewise, this entry was on my “Definitely want to qualify” list, and among my predicted likely qualifiers, in the First Semi-Final on Tuesday evening. The opening verse is sung in a bouncy manner, and a soft beat could be heard. During the chorus, there is quite a powerful beat. The second verse has a powerful beat to it. This includes an instrumental break, which includes some eastern style elements. After that, the section starting “Silence fills the room” is sung quite softly, which provides a break from the livelier bits, before a final instance of the chorus. Tonight’s performance began with predominantly blue lighting, but by the first instance of the pre-chorus, this changed to red / orange lighting. Red / orange lighting was used until the start of the instrumental break, at which point the lighting colour went back to blue. Being as the song is called “Lighter” it’s hardly surprising simulated fire appeared on the background screen from the first to second instances of the chorus, and additionally, fire appeared at the front of the stage on the second instance of the chorus. Altogether a powerful song, the perfect finalist entry to open the Grand Final, though I’m not sure what style this is. Disappointingly, but unsurprisingly, this finished 23rd with 22 points in the jury vote. Thankfully, this did considerably better in the public vote; 12th with 67 televote points. Due to the difference of opinion between the juries and the public, this ended up 18th with 89 points overall. The public vote placing was, in my opinion, where this ought to have finished in both halves of the voting and overall; this wasn’t good enough for top ten.

Song 2: Luxembourg - Laura Thorn “La Poupée Monte Le Son” (22nd place, 47 points)

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 doll’s 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, in the run-up to Eurovision Week, I wondered if some would see this song as dated. This entry was on my “Definitely want to qualify” list during the Second Semi-Final on Thursday evening, but one I saw as a borderline qualifier that evening. In the Grand Final, this finished 22nd with 23 points in the jury vote, 19th with 24 points in the televote and 22nd with 47 points overall. I think this deserved better; somewhere around 13th to 17th in both halves of the voting and overall would have been more appropriate.

Song 3: Estonia - Tommy Cash “Espresso Macchiato” (3rd place, 356 points)

The Estonian national final, Eesti Laul 2025 Final, took place on Saturday 15 February 2025, and I watched it, online from the UK, on demand, three days later. The winner, Tommy Cash “Espresso Macchiato”, was top of my ranking in My Eurovision Scoreboard at the time. During the First Semi-Final, on Tuesday evening, this song was on my “Definitely want to qualify” list, and one of my predicted “Almost certain qualifiers”. Tommy sang this in a mixture of Italian and English during the Eesti Laul Final, and in the same mix of Italian and English during the Eurovision shows. It’s worth pointing out that lines “Mi like to fly privati" and “I work around the clocko” include English words that have been mis-spelled to sound Italian, but they are not proper Italian. Some lines are proper Italian though, including the chorus line “Mi amore”. As for the appearances of “please”, according to Google Translate, “Por favore” is actually Portuguese, not Italian. Some may perhaps see it as a cross between Spanish and Italian, as a play on words. Unsurprisingly, tonight’s performance of this song started with Tommy holding a coffee cup, just like the Eesti Laul Final. During the early parts of the song an exterior shot of “Winners Café” appeared on the background screen, with a simulated road on the stage floor, but at the start of the first verse, the café showed an interior scene, and a tiled floor was simulated on the stage floor. Later, the background screen changed to an aeroplane, with Tommy Cash on the side; the aeroplane appeared to flap its wings. Later still mountains appeared, with “TOMMYWOOD” in block capitals, just like Hollywood. Near the end, an overhead view of Tommy swirling, in a sea of coffee beans, on the stage floor was shown. All in all, “Espresso Macchiato” is a lively, catchy, fun song, themed around coffee, which I expected to do well (especially with the viewers) in the Grand Final. It’s hardly surprising this finished 2nd, with 258 points, in the public vote. To a lesser extent the juries liked this as well, because this ended up 9th with 98 points in the jury vote; I’m surprised this did that well with the juries. Consequently, this ended up 3rd with 356 points overall. Although a fun song, I think the jury placing is a truer representation of where this ought to have ended up in the public vote and overall; after all, there were plenty of other, superior quality songs more deserving of top three viewer and overall placings.

Song 4: Israel - Yuval Raphael “New Day Will Rise” (2nd place, 357 points)

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 represented Israel, and assess this entry solely on the song’s lyrics, and tonight’s live vocals and staging up against tonight’s other 25 finalists. Although the betting odds had this as favourite to win the Second Semi-Final, on Thursday evening, I wondered if external factors, outside the scope of Eurovision, would influence whether viewers in eligible countries would want to vote for this, or refuse to vote for this, which is why I saw this as a questionable qualifier that evening. Anyway, this qualified. As far as the song goes, drums 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. The opening verse includes the line “You are the rainbow of my sky”; presumably that has been included as rainbows have always been widely recognised as a symbol of hope. 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. For the Eurovision 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. Altogether, the song as a whole, is a pleasant ballad, Yuval has a beautiful voice, and this was appropriately staged at Eurovision. With this in mind, I think this entry genuinely deserved to be in the Grand Final. There was a considerable difference in place, and an enormous difference in points, between the juries and the public, because this finished 15th with 60 points in the jury vote, but won the public vote with 297 points. Consequently, this ended up 2nd with 357 points overall. One might have thought this kind of ballad would have appealed more to juries than viewers at home, but this shows that anything is possible in the Eurovision Song Contest. For the record, I ranked this entry 5th in My Eurovision Scoreboard whilst watching the Grand Final.

At this point, a short film containing clips of the Turquoise Carpet Parade was shown. As soon as this film ended, there was a seamless transition to the next postcard.

Song 5: Lithuania - Katarsis “Tavo Akys” (16th place, 96 points)

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”. The title means “Your eyes”. 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 had my doubts as to whether true rock fans would 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 doubted if they’d want to vote for "Tavo akys" either. Despite that, I predicted this entry to be a likely qualifier in the Second Semi-Final, on Thursday evening, even though this was only among my “Wouldn't mind qualifying” entries that evening. In the Grand Final, this finished 20th, with 34 points, in the jury vote, which was hardly surprising. As one might have expected, this did better in the public vote, 13th with 62 televote points, but even so, this still ended up 16th with 96 points overall.

Song 6: Spain - Melody “ESA DIVA” (24th place, 37 points)

The first Big Five entry of the night, that being Spain. The Spanish national final, Benidorm Fest, took place on Saturday 1 February 2025, and I watched it, online from the UK, on demand, one day late. The winner was Melody “ESA DIVA”, and that also happened to be the entry which topped my ranking in My Eurovision Scoreboard. Tonight’s performance began with Melody silhouetted against a white background. After the opening section, she could be seen accompanied by dancers. About two thirds of the way through, white steps appeared, and stone arches were simulated on the background screen. From the top of the steps, Melody sang really high pitched, and as she did so, the simulated arches appeared to shatter. Fair enough, opera singers have been known to shatter wine glasses, but it can’t be possible to shatter a stone arch with one’s voice. As the song drew to a close, the falling fireworks from overhead, near the back of the stage, provided the climax to this performance. Altogether, a powerful song, with a good beat, and castanets can be heard at times. Melody has a good voice, and demonstrated her talent to pitch really high. This finished 21st with 27 points in the jury vote, 22nd with 10 points in the televote and, anomalously, 24th with 37 points overall. Hence this was the first song of the night to end up placing lower overall than in either half of the voting. In my opinion, this was under-rated by the juries and public; 17th or 18th in both halves of the voting and overall would have been more appropriate for this entry.

Song 7: Ukraine - Ziferblat “Bird of Pray” (9th place, 218 points)

The Ukrainian national final, Vidbir 2025 Final, took place in Kyiv on Saturday 8 February 2025, and I watched it online from the UK, on demand, three days later. “Bird of Pray”, which won Vidbir 2025, is a rather unusual song. There are some really over-powering sections, and some high-pitched moments. The powerful sections must presumably be some form of rock. The title is interesting; its third word is spelt P-R-A-Y, as in say one’s prayers. If they are referring to a bird of prey, as in eagles and falcons, the third word should be spelt P-R-E-Y. The centrepiece of the Vidbir performance was the artificial mini garden, which was placed on stage, for the band to perform in. For the Eurovision performances, there was no on-stage garden. Instead, various effects were created with magenta and cyan coloured lighting, as well as smoke or dry ice. Just like at Vidbir 2025, one member of the band had an electric guitar, and another was seated behind a drum kit, but presumably those instruments were mimed rather than played tonight. Altogether, something out of the ordinary by Ukraine’s standards; some would have enjoyed this very much, but it wouldn’t be everyone’s cup of tea. I for one was not at all keen on this entry, which is why this ended up on my “Prefer not to qualify” in the First Semi-Final on Tuesday evening. In the Grand Final, there was a considerable difference of opinion between the juries and the viewers, because this 14th with 60 points in the jury vote and 6th with 158 points in the public vote. Consequently, this ended up 9th with 218 points overall. In my opinion, this was over-rated by the juries, let alone the public; I think a bottom five placing would have been more appropriate for this. As far as I’m concerned, Ukraine has sent songs over the years which are better than “Bird of Pray”.

The first break to allow broadcasters to show commercials occurred at this point. During this break, Sandra Studer performed part of her Eurovision Song Contest 1991 entry for Switzerland, “Canzone per te” (an on-screen caption showed the stage name she performed under in 1991, that being Sandra Simó). Next, Michelle Hunziker performed an extract of Italy's 1958 entry, “Nel blu, dipinto di blu” (aka “Volare”) - Domenico Modugno. Upon return from the break, Hazel stood beside a group of members of the audience, and asked someone in the audience to announce the next participating country, United Kingdom.

Song 8: United Kingdom - Remember Monday “What The Hell Just Happened?” (19th place, 88 points)

The second Big Five entry of the night, 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. The Eurovision 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 performance was the giant tilted chandelier. It’s likely this was there to tie in with the line “When I fell from the chandelier”, but that said, “chandelier” only appears once in the lyrics. The trio spent the rest of the performance around the giant chandelier. On one instance of the chorus, 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. Presumably, the swimmers were displayed to tie in with the line “Went up on the roof, jumped into the pool”. After a slowish bridge, there was one more lively section before the slow closing line. One other line that deserves a mention here is “Beauty sleep, sip my tea”; presumably that was included because tea is a popular beverage in the UK; however, there is only one instance of this line in the lyrics. 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. By the end of the Grand Final performance, it was anyone’s guess how well (or badly) this would with the juries and the public. In the end, this finished 10th with 88 points in the jury vote, which seemed quite impressive for the United Kingdom. Sadly, this ended up a very disappointing 25th with 0 points in the public vote; I think that was rather harsh. Due to the considerable difference of opinion between the juries and viewers, this finished 19th with 88 points overall.

Song 9: Austria - JJ “Wasted Love” (1st place, 436 points)

This entry was on my “Definitely want to qualify” list, and my “Almost certain qualifiers” list, in the Second Semi-Final, on Thursday evening. Furthermore, this was the favourite to win the Grand Final jury vote. According to the official Eurovision website, Johannes Pietsch, who performs under his stage name 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 instance of the chorus, what looked like a hull 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 lighthouses could be seen on the background screen towards 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 have come as an unexpected shock to ballad lovers. On the other hand, people who enjoy lively songs with electronic sounds may have felt that section comes way too late, and is too short. Anyway, this won the jury vote with a jury total of 258 points. This fared less well in the public vote, 4th with 178 televote points, but that was still more than enough for this to win the Contest with 436 points overall. Regardless of the Eurovision Song Contest 2025 result, this would make a good James Bond film opening song.

Song 10: Iceland - VÆB “RÓA” (25th place, 33 points)

I watched the Icelandic national final, Söngvakeppnin 2025 Final live, online from the UK, on Saturday 22 February 2025. VÆB are a duo of brothers Matthías Davíð Matthíasson and Hálfdán Helgi Matthíasson. At Söngvakeppnin, this song was sung in Icelandic, and the preview video version on the official Eurovision Song Contest website is also sung in Icelandic. I’m glad this entry was performed in Icelandic at Eurovision, because it’s great to hear a song in a country’s native language. This entry was on my “Definitely want to qualify” list in the First Semi-Final on Tuesday evening; however, I predicted this to be a questionable qualifier that evening. Amazingly, this qualified. The title means “Row”, as in rowing a boat. This song has a very catchy, lively chorus; it translates as “Rowing today, rowing tonight”, “Rowing to where the stars are bright”, “And nothing's ever stopping me now”. The verses contain rap; although I’m not keen on rap generally, I don’t mind it being here. I like the use of a stringed instrument during the introduction and after two instances of the chorus. Near the end there was a key change, which is customary for Eurovision songs. For tonight’s performance, Matthías and Hálfdán were accompanied by three dancers. During tonight’s performance, the lighting was generally a shade of blue, and blue pixellated patterns appeared on the background screen. However, red / orange lighting was used at certain points in the song. The duo and their dancers appeared behind what resembled a boat during the instrumental filler after the second instance of the chorus. Late in the song, and right at the end, smoke / steam jets, from the front of the stage, enhanced the performance further. Just like at Söngvakeppnin the duo wore silver outfits. These reminded me of Verka Serduchka’s outfit in 2007, albeit without a head star. Altogether a lively catchy song. Disappointingly, this finished 26th (last) with 0 points in the jury vote. Fortunately, this did better in the public vote, 17th with 33 televote points, but that was only enough for this to finish 25th with 33 points overall. This song deserved better; I’d have liked this to have finished 14th to 16th in both halves of the voting and overall.

Song 11: Latvia - Tautumeitas “Bur Man Laimi” (13th place, 158 points)

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. 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. The Eurovision 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 orange 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. In the run-up to Eurovision Week, I wondered how this would fare at Eurovision. I thought casual viewers seeing this for the first time, whilst watching the Second Semi-Final, on Thursday evening, might feel the same way as I did when I saw it for the first time whilst watching Supernova 2025 Final. Such viewers would be unlikely to realise what this song is about, and perhaps not vote for this. I ranked “Bur Man Laimi” just 6th in My Eurovision Scoreboard whilst watching Supernova, but since then, this song grew on me to the extent that after the Second Semi-Final performance, this was on my “Definitely want to qualify” list on Thursday evening. Sadly, I thought this would struggle to qualify that evening. After the Grand Final performance of this song, I wondered where end up, bearing in mind that viewers in countries which voted on Tuesday evening would have had their first chance to vote for “Bur Man Laimi” this evening, and some viewers might only watch the Grand Final. In the end, this finished a well-deserved 7th place, with 116 points, in the jury vote. That’s hardly surprising, I for one expected this to be a jury friendly song. Unsurprisingly, this fared less well in the public vote, 16th with 42 televote points, but even so, I was amazed this entry did that well in the public vote; I thought this might struggle to get a single digit score from the viewers. As a result, this finished 13th with 158 points overall.

Song 12: Netherlands - Claude “C'est La Vie” (12th place, 175 points)

After what happened to Joost Klein on the morning of the ESC Grand Final last year, I for one am overjoyed that the Dutch broadcaster AVROTROS decided to submit an entry this year. This year’s Dutch entry is Claude “C'est La Vie”; it’s sung mostly in French, with a few lines in English. The opening verse is sung softly and slowly, and piano notes can be heard. The pre-chorus is sung more powerfully, and in quite a bouncy manner. Singing it in a bouncy manner ties in well with the line “It goes up, it goes down” in this part of the song. Piano notes can be heard clearly here; in fact, they are more frequent than in the first verse. The chorus is very simple, consisting of “C’est la lalalalala vie”, “C’est lalalalala vie” “Oui c’est lalalalala, lalalala, lalalala vie”. Yes, this part of the song includes plenty of “lalala”; that’s been used at Eurovision before. This is the lively part; it’s sung in a powerful manner, and a beat can be heard. This part of song will be easy to remember. The second verse is sung more powerfully than the first, and has a beat. This is followed by the second instance of the pre-chorus. This time the first four lines of the pre-chorus are accompanied by a beat. The second instance of the chorus is longer than the first. One notable line of the bridge is “Oh, this rollercoaster”. Presumably this is a metaphor to life, which tends to have its ups and downs, just like riding a rollercoaster. I like the way Claude can pitch high at the end of the first line of this bridge. At the end of the bridge, I particularly like the brief musical filler before the outro. Tonight’s performance began with Claude performing on a predominantly dark stage. Yellowish light beams appeared around the venue at the start of the first instance of the chorus. Claude moved around the stage whilst singing the second verse and, and he was among three violinists during the second instances of the pre-chorus and chorus. Blue and yellow light beams were in use at the start of the second instance of the chorus. During the bridge, what looked like roses appeared on the background screen, though it was difficult to tell if they were actually roses. The stage was predominantly dark again for the end section. Altogether a pleasant song from the Netherlands; it’s either a ballad or a power ballad. I like the way the song starts softly and slowly during the first verse, builds up during the first instance of the pre-chorus, is quite lively until the end of the bridge, and slows down during the outro. We saw that technique from Portugal last year. Anyway, the simple staging, and variation in lighting, was what this called for. I’m surprised Claude sings this song mostly in French, when he is representing the Netherlands, but that’s what was wanted this year. French sounds to me like the perfect language for this particular song. In the run-up to Eurovision Week, I thought this ought to be liked very much by viewers in French speaking countries. This was on my “Definitely want to qualify” list, and one of my predicted “Almost certain qualifiers”, in the First Semi-Final on Tuesday evening. In the Grand Final, there was a considerable difference of opinion between the juries and viewers, in terms of points and placing, because this finished 5th with 133 points in the jury vote, but only 15th with 42 points in the televote. As a result, this ended up 12th with 175 points overall. This ought to have finished around 9th or 10th overall, to have been just inside the top ten. At least Claude managed to finish on the left-hand side of the scoreboard.

Song 13: Finland - Erika Vikman “ICH KOMME” (11th place, 196 points)

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 song 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 light 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 Erika in red capital letters on the background screen. Altogether, definitely the liveliest and most spectacular Grand Final performance so far, each part of the song has a beat and electronic sounds can be heard. This entry was on my “Definitely want to qualify” list, and my “Almost certain qualifiers” list, in the Second Semi-Final, on Thursday evening. In the Grand Final, this finished 11th with 88 points in the jury vote, 9th with 108 points in the public vote and 11th with 196 points overall. The jury result is understandable, but I’m surprised this didn’t do considerably better in the public vote; I thought this would have finished at least top five, if not three, in the public vote.

At this point Sandra and Hazel reappeared. Sandra was holding cases for the Eurovision Song Contest 2025 CD and DVD, and spoke about them. The DVD case, which Sandra was holding, contained this year’s sleeve, but obviously couldn’t have contained DVDs of this year’s Eurovision shows at this moment in time. After that, there was a seamless transition to the next postcard.

Song 14: Italy - Lucio Corsi “Volevo Essere Un Duro” (5th place, 256 points)

The third Big Five entry of the night, that being Italy. They went for something unusual by their standards this year. Unsurprisingly, the song was performed in Italian, but unusually an English translation of each line appeared at the bottom of the screen, which was useful for English speaking viewers. From the subtitles, I had the impression the title meant “Living life is easy”, but having looked at the official lyrics since the Contest, the title actually means “I wanted to be a tough guy”. Lucio was joined by another performer. Up until the end of the first instance of the chorus, one was seated at a grand piano whilst the other had a guitar, but for the rest of the song, both of them were standing on stage with guitars. Two giant amplifiers were on stage, though presumably those must have been for show, as the vocals and backing track would have been fed through the venue sound system. On the whole, this what I consider to be a ballad, which sounds like something out of the 1960s, perhaps inspired by the Beatles. I must admit, this is one of a minority of this year’s songs I hadn’t previewed before Eurovision Week, but from my first time full viewing of it in the First Semi-Final, on Tuesday evening, I consider it to be one of Italy’s weaker efforts compared to what they’ve sent in recent years. Put it this way, from my first impression that evening, it’s not exactly memorable. From my First Semi-Final and Grand Final performances of this entry, I expected a lot of casual viewers who just watch the Eurovision Shows without previewing any songs beforehand, and even more so those who only watch the Grand Final, to feel the same way as me about this. That made me wonder how this would score with the juries and viewers in the Grand Final. Anyway, during the Grand Final voting procedure, this turned out popular with the juries, because this finished 4th with 159 jury points. This fared less well, but still surprisingly high, with the viewers; 10th with 97 televote points. As a result, this ended up 5th with 256 points overall. Personally, I think this entry was over-rated by the public, let alone the juries. Perhaps my ranking in My Eurovision Scoreboard was too low, but if I had ranked this 11th to 13th that would have been generous.

Song 15: Poland - Justyna Steczkowska “GAJA” (14th place, 156 points)

I watched the Polish national final, Wielki Finał Polskich Kwalifikacji 2025, live, online from the UK, on 14 February 2025, and “GAJA” was the song which won that evening. During the Polish national final, this was performed in a mixture of Polish and English. Just like at the Polish national final, this entry was performed in the same mix of Polish and English during Eurovision Week. This was on my “Definitely want to qualify” and my “Likely qualifiers” lists in the First Semi-Final on Tuesday evening. According to Wikipedia, the song is named after Gaia, the personification of Earth in Greek mythology. That clearly explains the significance of the opening line “They call me Gaia”, and the first two lines of the first instance of the chorus, which in English are “They call me Gaia”, “I’m the Goddess”. Justyna sings the opening line and chorus in a somewhat unusual style; I’d say it’s the style of traditional church music, but it provides impact here. Some parts have a beat, but not the instances of the chorus or the bridge. For tonight’s performance, Justyna was accompanied by dancers, just like in the Polish national final. Blue light beams appeared in the early parts of the song, and waves appeared on the stage floor. An overhead view made it look as though Justyna and her dancers were performing in the sea, including within a whirlpool at one point in the song. During one instance of the chorus, yellow lighting was used, and an unusual pattern was on the stage floor. During the bridge, Justyna was raised into the air, though I’m mystified as to the significance of the pterodactyl which appeared on the background screen at this point in the song. The outro is a series of one-word lines, sung in a powerful manner; these words appeared in block capitals, one by one, on the background screen. The appearance of flames around the stage, as well as simulated fire on the background screen, provided the perfect end to this song. Altogether a very unusual entry from Poland. There was a considerable difference of opinion between the juries and the viewers, because this finished a disappointing 24th with 17 points in the jury vote, followed by a well-deserved 7th with 139 points in the public vote. Consequently, this ended up 14th with 156 points overall. I think this was severely under-rated by the juries; the public vote placing is roughly where this should have finished in both halves of the voting, and overall.

Song 16: Germany - Abor & Tynna “Baller” (15th place, 151 points)

The fourth Big Five entry of the night, 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, Abor was on stage, playing the introduction on a neon cello, whereas Tynna was atop what looked like a giant boom box. During the first verse, Tynna descended some steps to the stage, and performed the rest of the song there, whereas late in the song, Abor was atop the boom box with his cello. 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. Rising smoke jets provided a worthwhile enhancement to end the performance. Altogether, quite a lively, catchy song; if nothing else, this is a good disco song, and well staged at Eurovision 2025. Based on my viewing of the Second Semi-Final and Grand Final performances of this entry, I thought this could do reasonably well in the Grand Final, or alternatively go the way “We Will Rave” went in the Eurovision Song Contest Grand Final last year. In the end, this finished 13th with 77 points in the jury vote and 11th with 74 points in the public vote. It was good to see Germany get reasonably good scores from both the juries and the viewers this time; in fact, “Baller” placed slightly higher in the public vote than the jury vote, despite getting slightly fewer points from the public than the juries. Anomalously, this ended up placing lower overall than both halves of the voting, 15th with 151 points, and thus right-hand side of the scoreboard.

The second break to allow broadcasters to show commercials occurred at this point. During this break, Sandra and Michelle appeared. They introduced a film (which must have been pre-recorded) showing how props are moved on and off stage between performances. Props shown included lips and disco ball (Malta), giant amplifiers (Italy), trees (Sweden), tilted chandelier (United Kingdom). Hazel spoke to some members of the back stage crew in this film. Upon return from this break, Michelle introduced the next song.

Song 17: Greece - Klavdia “Asteromáta” (6th place, 231 points)

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. This was on my “Definitely want to qualify” and my “Likely qualifiers” lists in the Second Semi-Final, on Thursday evening. “Asteromáta” is 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. After 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. It’s hardly surprising this finished a well-deserved 8th with 105 points in the jury vote. Amazingly, the viewers at home liked this as well, because this finished 8th with 126 points in the public vote. As a result, this ended up 6th with 231 points overall; hence this managed to place higher overall than in either half of the voting.

The complete line-up of finalist countries was shown on-screen at this point. From this, viewers could see which 17 countries’ songs had been performed so far (Norway to Greece), and which had yet to be performed (Armenia to Albania).

Song 18: Armenia - PARG “SURVIVOR” (20th place, 72 points)

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, which is why this was on my “Prefer not to qualify” list in the Second Semi-Final, on Thursday evening, but it was obvious this was a likely qualifier that evening. In the Grand Final, this finished 18th with 42 points in the jury vote, 18th with 30 points in the televote and 20th with 72 points overall. This was another song which ended up placing lower overall than in either half of the voting. The jury score and placing is understandable, but I’m surprised this didn’t get more points in the public vote. I thought loads of hard rock and heavy metal fans all over Europe, Australia and the rest of the world would have voted for this, thereby leading to a televote score considerably higher than 30 points.

Song 19: Switzerland - Zoë Më “Voyage” (10th place, 214 points)

The fifth automatic qualifier of the night, that being this year’s host country Switzerland. There’s always the recurring conundrum for the host broadcaster; they want to send an impressive entry, but in their heart of hearts, they don’t seem to want to win again (or perhaps rather foot the bill for hosting again). Anyway, this was another of tonight’s songs that I didn’t preview before Eurovision Week, so my viewing of the non-competitive performance of this entry, in the in the First Semi-Final, on Tuesday evening, was my first time of hearing this song. “Voyage” is a ballad, sung in French. Zoë performed on a dark stage, with only her head and shoulders lit, presumably by a spotlight for much of the song. At times she was shown in full, and occasional appearances of a light creating a halo effect appeared. During the bridge, the song became lively, which was unexpected shock for ballad lovers, but anyway, it’s hardly surprising there were flashes of bluish white light in this part of the song. After the bridge ended, the song returned to a gentle pace. Small lights, which presumably were from audience members’ mobile phones, appeared all around the venue to provide further enhancement. Altogether an amazing ballad; an excellent host song, and Zoë has a beautiful voice. The dark stage, with mostly subtle lighting, was just what this song called for. Based on my First Semi-Final and Grand Final performances of this song, I thought this could be a magnet for jury votes, but fare less well with the public, in the Grand Final. My prediction was, all being well, this could finish on the left-hand side of the scoreboard, but I’m not sure this will be able to win. When the Grand Final results were announced, the difference of opinion between the juries and viewers, in terms of points and placing, was almost as great as it could be. As I anticipated Tuesday evening, this ended up doing very well in the jury vote, 2nd with 214 points. Sadly, this ended up 26th (last) with 0 points in the televote; although I expected it to do less well with the viewers, I didn’t expect “Voyage” to score anywhere near that badly in the public vote. Due to the extreme difference of opinion between the juries and public, this ended up 10th with 214 points overall. I think 10th overall was about right for this ballad (that’s where I ranked this entry in My Eurovision Scoreboard whilst watching the live show), but it would have been nicer for this to have finished around that sort of position in both halves of the voting, and amassed roughly half its overall score in in each component of the voting.

Song 20: Malta - Miriana Conte “SERVING” (17th place, 91 points)

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. The 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 have been confused by the different styles. I’m also mystified as to the significance of the different background images that appeared as the song progressed. On the whole, I didn’t think this entry was as wonderful as some seemed to think it was; as it happened, this was only good enough to be on my “Wouldn't mind qualifying” list in the Second Semi-Final, on Thursday evening, and I wouldn’t have missed this entry if it hadn’t qualified. However, I saw this as a likely qualifier on Thursday evening. There was a considerable difference of opinion between the juries and viewers, in terms of points and placing, because this finished 12th with 83 points in the jury vote and 23rd with 8 points in the public vote. Consequently, this ended up 17th with 91 points overall. It’s anyone’s guess as to why this did that well with the juries and that badly with the viewers; after all, with this style of song, one might have expected this to receive very few points from the juries and done considerably better with the public. At least this ended up placing roughly mid-way between the jury and public placings.

Song 21: Portugal - NAPA “Deslocado” (21st place, 50 points)

The Portuguese national final, Festival da Canção 2025 Final, took place on Saturday 8 March 2025, and I watched it online from the UK, on demand, the next day. I didn't see preview videos of the participating songs beforehand, so my online viewing of Festival da Canção 2025 Final was my first time of seeing / hearing any of the songs. Likewise, I didn’t see any of the lyrics or background information about the songs beforehand, so I had difficulty identifying component parts of some of the songs that whilst watching that national final. Anyway, the winner was NAPA “Deslocado”. At the time, I noticed the chorus is quite powerful and catchy, and a piano, drums and guitar could be heard at times. Between then and Eurovision Week, I found out a little more about this song. The title means “Displaced” in English. According to Wikipedia, the song was described as a nod to the band origins, them being composed of Madeirans living “displaced” in mainland Portugal. Looking at an English translation of the lyrics, the song includes the lines “I'm coming home” three times in succession, and later lines including “No matter how it may seem”, “I'll never belong to that city”, “I make my way thinking of returning” and “To my home, island, peace, Madeira” From what I can gather of those lines, the band members feel that mainland Portugal doesn’t feel like home to them, and they dream of returning to Madeira. For tonight’s performance one member of the band was seated at a grand piano, one was seated behind a drum kit, one had an acoustic guitar and two had electric guitars, though it’s most likely those instruments were mimed, rather than played. Just after the start, an image of the Moon and stars briefly appeared on the background screen. Yellow light beams were used in some parts of the song, and blue lighting was used at times. Altogether a very unusual style of song; a Wikipedia article I’ve found about this song describes it as “Indie rock”. In my opinion, it’s not a particularly memorable song. During the First Semi-Final, on Tuesday evening, I put this on my “Highly unlikely to qualify” list on two counts: (i) casual viewers who hadn’t looked at the lyrics, or done any background reading about this song beforehand, would have been unlikely to understand what this song is about, and (ii) I thought this entry was even more disadvantaged by being performed immediately after Sweden’s “Bara Bada Bastu” and before Norway’s “Lighter” on Tuesday evening. Furthermore, this was on my “Wouldn't mind qualifying” list on Tuesday evening. Having qualified against the odds and my expectations, I think Portugal’s “Deslocado” was in a difficult position again in the Grand Final, this time performed between Malta’s “SERVING” and Denmark’s “Hallucination”, both of which are considerably more memorable than “Deslocado”. Anyway, Portugal’s “Deslocado” finished 19th with 37 points in the jury vote, 21st with 13 points in the public vote and 21st with 50 points overall. Perhaps one might have expected the jury result to have been a little higher, but the public result is what I for one expected.

Song 22: Denmark - Sissal “Hallucination” (23rd place, 47 points)

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 later. 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 unique selling point for this song. Tonight, Sissal stood against what looked like a giant vertical banner 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, with a beat at times, and the waving vertical light beams looked effective (it’s clever how those were created). During the Second Semi-Final, on Thursday evening, I was a bit disappointed about Sissal’s vocals compared to DMGP, but I think she performed better in the Grand Final. This is another song which was only good enough to be on my “Wouldn't mind qualifying” list on Thursday evening, and I wouldn’t have missed this in the Grand Final if it hadn’t qualified. In any case, I saw this as a borderline qualifier at best on Thursday evening. By the end of the Grand Final voting procedure, there was a difference of opinion between the juries and the viewers, because this finished 17th with 45 points in the jury vote and 24th with 2 points in the public vote. If there was to be such a difference in terms of placing and points, I for one would have expected this style of song and performance to have got the tiny score from the juries and the higher score from the public. Due to the difference of opinion, this finished 23rd with 47 points overall. The jury placing is roughly where I think this should have finished in both halves of the voting and overall.

At this point Hazel and Sandra reappeared and gave a short speech. Part of their interval act “Made in Switzerland” from the First Semi-Final, on Tuesday evening, was shown (it was obvious this was a recorded clip). This was followed by the postcard for Sweden.

Song 23: Sweden - KAJ “Bara Bada Bastu” (4th place, 321 points)

I watched the Swedish national final, Melodifestivalen 2025 Final, live, online from the UK, on Saturday 8 March 2025. This was the final song in that night’s line-up, and the only song not in English that evening, yet it ended up winning. I wasn’t that keen on this the first time I saw this online prior to Melfest 2025 Final, but I liked it more when I played the song again, following the lyrics, and even more so whist watching Melfest 2025 Final, so by the time all 12 songs had been performed that night, I put this top of my ranking in My Eurovision Scoreboard. “Bara Bada Bastu” is in a dialect of Swedish, including some Finnish lines. I like the use of the line “Yksi kaksi kolme” before the first two instances of the chorus; this is Finnish for “One, two, three”. The chorus is very lively and catchy. I particularly like the chorus line “Bara bada bastu bastu”, which means “Simply sauna, sauna’; that’s the perfect hook for this song. The bridge could be seen as a bit repetitive, but it’s certainly unforgettable. Before the last instance of the chorus, there is a key change; which you would expect for a Eurovision song. Tonight’s staging included an open box filled with logs, with trees either side, and a fire atop another box in front. After the first instance of the chorus, the log storage box was turned over to reveal the large wooden structure to sit or stand on. I’m mystified as to the significance of that structure. After the key change, the use of green laser beams and rising jets were the perfect climax to this song. Altogether, a lively, catchy song; it’s hardly surprising this won Melfest 2025, and was strongly tipped to win the First Semi-Final on Tuesday evening. Furthermore, this was on my “Definitely want to qualify” list on Tuesday evening. This was the favourite to win the public vote and outright in the Grand Final. In the end, this finished 6th with 126 points in the jury vote, 3rd with 195 points in the televote and 4th with 321 points overall. It’s hardly surprising this style of song didn’t quite break into the top five with the juries, but I was surprised at Sweden’s public vote score; I expected this to receive at least 300 televote points whilst the public scores were unveiled, and perhaps finish second or third overall. Clearly this didn’t do quite as well with the viewers as anticipated.

The third break to allow broadcasters to show commercials occurred at this point. During this break, by Sven Epiney and Mélanie Freymond spoke from the crowd in St. Jakob-Park, where an outside viewing party of the Eurovision Song Contest was held. The crowd sang part of ABBA - “Waterloo” (Sweden’s winning entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1974). The giant screens, around four sides of a large box, at the centre of the stadium could be seen at times. Upon return from this break, Michelle Hunziker introduced the next song, France.

Song 24: France - Louane “maman” (7th place, 230 points)

The last automatic qualifier, and the last Big Five country of the night, 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 a trail of falling sand. Towards the end of the song, there were two trails of falling sand, which were cleverly arranged to intertwine each other. Presumably, the sand was intended to represent 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. Once again, France went for a song for which simple staging works best, though unlike last year, I think the sand effects were a necessary enhancement this time. There was a considerable difference of opinion between the juries and viewers, in terms of points and placing, because this finished 3rd with 180 points in the jury vote, but only 14th with 50 points in the public vote. As a result, this ended up 7th with 230 points overall. The jury result was hardly surprising, as this is very much a jury friendly song, but I think this was under-rated by the public; this ought to have finished within the top ten in the televote.

Song 25: San Marino - Gabry Ponte “Tutta L'Italia” (26th place, 27 points)

This is only the fourth time San Marino has qualified for the Grand Final since their 2008 debut. It’s a wonder they even qualified this time around though, because I saw “Tutta L'Italia”as a questionable qualifier in the First Semi-Final on Tuesday evening. “Tutta L'Italia” is sung entirely in Italian. I particularly like the introduction, and the instrumental fillers after the instances of the chorus. The chorus is particularly lively and catchy; the line “Tutta l’Italia, Tutta l’Italia, Tutta l’Italia” twice over means “All of Italy, all of Italy, all of Italy”. Other chorus lines translate as “Let us dance with a glass in our hands”, “Then tomorrow we’ll regret saying I love you”. I’m mystified as to why some lines of the second verse seem rap like though. Tonight’s performance began with a head of a mysterious figure on the background screen. During the second verse, an image of Vitruvian Man appeared on the background screen for some mysterious reason. Unsurprisingly, for a song of this style, strobe lighting, flames and fireworks appeared at times. Finally, an accordion player was present on stage; it wouldn’t be Eurovision without an accordion in at least one song. Altogether a very lively, catchy song to represent San Marino this year; it would be great as a disco party song, but even so, this ended up on my “Wouldn't mind qualifying” list in the First Semi-Final, and I wouldn’t have missed this entry if this had had not made it to the Grand Final. Unsurprisingly, this finished 25th with just 9 points in the jury vote. This entry didn’t do much better in the public vote either; 20th with 18 televote points. A sad disappointment for anyone who thought a catchy, fun song like this would do considerably better with the viewers than the juries, and thus get a substantial televote score. As a result, this ended up 26th (last) with 27 points overall, which is San Marino’s lowest placing in a Eurovision Song Contest Grand Final to-date. As far as I’m concerned, 20th to 23rd overall would have been ample (if not generous) for this entry.

Song 26: Albania - Shkodra Elektronike “Zjerm” (8th place, 218 points)

The final song of the Grand Final already; it's amazing how time flies! This is very much an eastern style song, in terms of the musical introduction, and the singing style. Just like in the official preview video, this entry was performed in Albanian. I’m glad it was sung in Albanian, because I think singing this in English, or any other language, would spoil it. Looking at an English translation of the lyrics, one section is “Imagine a minute, try, Without soldiers, With no orphans crying. No bottles in the ocean, Diesel smelling like lilac. The freedom of speech Taught in a school class.” If that part of the song is anything to go by, one could see this as a protest song, loosely connected with conflicts currently taking place, and environmental issues. I particularly like the chorus, and the instrumental filler after the instances of the chorus. However, I’m mystified as to why rap is used in the second verse; I’m not sure that suits this style of song. Tonight’s performance began with mostly red lighting, and interesting red patterns on the stage floor, during the first verse and first instance of the pre-chorus. During the first instance of the chorus, some white light was used, and white effects were used on the stage floor. In the rap section, red images appeared on one half of the background screen and stage floor, and white images appeared on the other half of the background screen and stage floor. Flashing lights and flame effects put in an appearance late in the song. Altogether, a good Balkan song, but during the Eurovision shows, I was concerned how some viewers, outside Albania, would react to a translation of the lyrics in their own language. Anyway, during the First Semi-Final, on Tuesday evening, this was a strong contender to qualify, even though this was only good enough for my “Wouldn't mind qualifying” list that evening. In the Grand Final, there was a considerable difference of opinion between the juries and the viewers, because this finished 16th with 45 points in the jury vote and 5th with 173 points in the public vote. Consequently, this ended up 8th with 218 points overall. This is an interesting and puzzling result; if there was to be a difference of opinion, I for one would have expected this style of song to have done better with the juries than the public. I think somewhere in the 11th to 15th range would have been more appropriate for this in both halves of the voting and overall; I’m not convinced this was good enough for top ten.

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Televoting and Interval Act

As soon as Beatriçe (of Shkodra Elektronike) finished performing, shots of the audience were shown. Shortly afterwards, Sandra, Michelle and Hazel reappeared. Michelle said everyone had seen and heard all 26 contestants, and they were now all united in the Green Room. Some shots of the Green Room were shown. Sandra, Michelle and Hazel reminded viewers that the voting lines were already open, and the voting methods that were available. Graham Norton outlined the voting procedure for UK viewers, including the fact that UK viewers could not vote for Remember Monday or vote by text or online. A recap of the songs followed with the phone numbers at the bottom of the screen. When the UK's song extract appeared, a caption at the bottom of the screen stated “UK VIEWERS CANNOT VOTE FOR THE UK ENTRY”. Were any UK viewers foolish enough to try dialling the voting stem with 08 at the end? Knowing that the lines would almost certainly be extremely busy during this recap (despite them having been open since just before the first song), I deliberately delayed voting until later. When I eventually tried voting, I successfully voted for: Finland, Sweden, Austria, Poland, Israel, Latvia, Greece, France, Netherlands, Estonia, Switzerland. Voting for 11 songs might seem extravagant, but they were my top 11 on My Eurovision Scoreboard during the Grand Final. Whilst the voting lines were still open, there was a series of acts, and intermediate fillers, as outlined below.

Interval Act 1: Swiss Eurovision Legacy

The first interval act was a series of performances from past Swiss representatives in the Eurovision Song Contest.

Peter, Sue & Marc - “Io senza te”

Peter and Marc (from the group Peter, Sue & Marc), along with Peter’s daughter Nina and Marc’s son Bruno, performed part of the 1981 Swiss Eurovision entry “Io senza te”. The staging consisted of three arched back boards, each of which had arched blue-green lines on. Two of the performers stood in front of the central board, one against the left board and one against the right board. Blue and green wavy lines appeared on the stage floor, and lighting was a blue / green colour, with some yellowish spotlights.

Paola - “Cinéma”

Paola sang part of the 1980 Swiss Eurovision entry “Cinéma”. Once again, there were three arched boards, but the background was pink glittery lines, radiating from a circle at the base. The rays from the centre board continued beyond the outer edge of the board. It would appear that board backgrounds for the previous act and this act must have been graphically simulated on the boards (presumably the boards must have had LED backs), and the pattern continued on the background screen. Paola performed against the centre board. She was joined by a group of dancers. Fireworks appeared towards the end of this performance.

Luca Hänni - “She Got Me”

Luca Hänni performed part of the 2019 Swiss Eurovision entry “She Got Me”. Being a much more recent Swiss Eurovision entry, it’s hardly surprising the staging was much more modern for this performance. At the start of this act, Luca was lowered on to the stage on a platform. He began singing whilst being lowered. Once he was on the stage, he was accompanied by a group of dancers. Staging included a mix of red and blue lighting, and the stage floor changed between red and blue. Some rising smoke effects, were used, and there were some flame effects close to the end.

Gjon's Tears - “Tout l'univers”

The final Swiss Eurovision Legacy act was most recent, that being Gjon's Tears performing the 2021 Swiss Eurovision entry “Tout l'univers”. Unsurprisingly, Gjon didn’t have the structure he performed on in 2021. Part way through, an overhead view revealed a galaxy on the stage floor. The background screen was full of stars, plus clouds passing around in a circle. Gjon was accompanied by a large group of dancers.

Next, there was a second recap of the competing songs, complete with the voting numbers. During this recap, Graham Norton reminded UK viewers of the voting numbers, and that UK viewers could not vote for the UK entry. After this recap ended, Hazel and Sandra introduced the second interval act.

Interval Act 2: Baby Lasagna and Käärijä

Käärijä represented Finland with the song “Cha Cha Cha” in 2023; they won the televote and finished second overall. Baby Lasagna represented Croatia with the song “Rim Tim Tagi Dim”; they won the televote and finished second overall. For this interval act, Baby Lasagna and Käärijä each had half the stage, and they took turns at performing their Eurovision songs again. Baby Lasagna began by performing a few lines of “Rim Tim Tagi Dim”; and then Käärijä performed a few lines of “Cha Cha Cha”. The performance continued to alternate between Baby Lasagna and Käärijä, each of whom performed a few more lines of their applicable songs. The resulting performance was quite unusual, to say the least, but it was clever how they knew when to switch over to have the ideal blending effect. When Baby Lasagna were singing, the dominant light colour was blue, and when Käärijä were singing, the dominant light colour was green. After the mashup of “Rim Tim Tagi Dim” and “Cha Cha Cha” had ended, Baby Lasagna and Käärijä performed their new collaboration song “#eurodab”. This part of the performance light beams in various colours, including blue and green.

Interlude

As soon as Baby Lasagna and Käärijä finished performing, a sting marked the start of another break to allow broadcasters to show commercials. During this break, Michelle spoke in the Green Room. Irvine played the Swiss alphorn there. Justyna and Michelle each tried playing the alphorn, without much success. Finally, clips of the opening act from the First Semi-Final, on Tuesday evening, were shown. Upon return from this break, Hazel and Sandra appeared on a tilting disc to introduce the next interval act.

Interval Act 3: Nemo - “Unexplainable”

Nemo, who on the Eurovision Song Contest 2024 for Switzerland, performed their new song “Unexplainable”. They began by performing the first verse on a predominantly dark stage, with very little lighting. By the start of the chorus, a ladder appeared, and some overhead lights were briefly lit. During the second verse, the stage was predominantly dark again, whilst Nemo held the ladder. Nemo performed the second instance of the chorus, which is double length, on the stage floor. Having been a slow, gentle ballad this far, the song suddenly transitioned into a lively rock song for the post-chorus, consisting of “Ooh” at high pitch, accompanied by an electric guitar and strobe lighting. The bridge was also lively, accompanied by more flashing lights. Finally, the outro (consisting of two lines) was back to a gentle pace, with very subtle lighting. On the whole, quite an unusual song really, which goes from a gentle ballad to a lively rock song. I think one would need to analyse the lyrics to understand the meaning of this song. For some reason the verses remind me of one of the tunes used for the hymn “O Jesus I Have Promised”.

This was followed by the third (and final) recap of the competing songs, complete with the voting numbers. This time, the song extracts were shown in reverse order of performance, i.e. 26 (Albania) to 1 (Norway). Presumably this was done to help viewers, who still hadn’t voted, remember the earliest songs more easily. During this recap, UK viewers heard Graham Norton reading out viewers' messages. Once again, when the UK’s song extract was shown, a caption at the bottom of the screen stated “UK VIEWERS CANNOT VOTE FOR THE UK ENTRY”.

At the end of this recap, Hazel and Sandra spoke for about 30 seconds to fill in time. Finally, there was an official countdown during the last 10 seconds of voting time (the number of seconds 10 down to 1 appeared on the background screen). Upon reaching zero seconds, the message “Stop Voting Now” appeared on the background screen, and the messages “LINES ARE NOW CLOSED” and “PLEASE STOP VOTING” briefly appeared in the bottom left-hand corner of the screen. Michelle spoke to some of the artists in the Green Room. Presumably this was to fill in time whilst a desk was put in place for Hazel and Sandra to present the results.

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Jury Results

At last, it was time to start the presentation of the voting results. The voting system first used in 2016 was used again this year. That meant the jury results from each country yielded one set of 1 to 12 points, and each country's televoting results generated a completely separate set of 1 to 12 points. Hazel and Sandra, who were now standing behind a desk, gave a short speech. A shot of Martin Österdahl, and the rest of his panel, was briefly shown, but Martin didn’t actually say anything; he gave a hand signal instead. Hazel said that signal meant there was a valid final result, and they were good to go. The caption “Good to Go” briefly appeared within the front-of-stage frame. The points from the jury voting were about to be presented in the traditional way first. Sandra announced the link to the first spokesperson.

All 37 countries, including the 11 non-qualifiers, voted in the Grand Final. The voting order was: Sweden, Azerbaijan, Malta, Netherlands, Slovenia, Armenia, Luxembourg, San Marino, Ukraine, Norway, Austria, France, Italy, Portugal, Denmark, Croatia, Latvia, Ireland, Poland, Montenegro, Greece, Serbia, Czechia, United Kingdom, Spain, Finland, Australia, Germany, Belgium, Israel, Albania, Lithuania, Iceland, Georgia, Cyprus, Estonia, Switzerland.

There was a substantial change in the presentation of the jury results this year. For each calling country, Hazel and Sandra appeared behind the desk at the centre of the screen. The applicable spokesperson appeared in a tall overlay window at the right of the screen, with the country name and counter (e.g. Sweden 1 of 37 countries) below. The spokesperson started speaking. During this time, the nine countries which received 1 to 10 jury points appeared, 1 at the bottom to 10 at the top, in a single column at the left of the screen. This list stayed on screen whilst the spokesperson continued talking. Eventually, the spokesperson said “And our 12 points go to” followed by the applicable country name. The camera cut to a full screen view of the applicable artist, in the Green Room, and the caption appeared in the bottom right-hand corner, e.g. 12 points from Sweden in a cyan box, with Austria underneath. Hazel or Sandra repeated the statement, e.g. Austria 12 points. Finally, the 1 to 12 points were put on to the scoreboard in one go. The scoreboard was shown in just over half the screen at the left, whilst the artist which had received 12 jury points appeared in a window occupying the remaining space at the right of the screen. The scoreboard was updated, to (i) reposition countries accordingly, and (ii) show the ten applicable countries’ scores from this round and cumulative scores at the right of their country name, and an up arrowhead at the left of their country name if they had gone up in position. The country which had received 12 jury points was highlighted with a cyan background. The advantage was viewers had plenty of time to read the 1 to 10 jury points before they were put on the scoreboard, and they could clearly see who received 12 jury points. However, the disadvantage was that the scoreboard was only displayed for a few seconds each time around, and thus viewers barely had chance to read the updated scoreboard.

Obviously, 16 finalist countries were still on 0 points after Sweden (first to call) finished announcing its jury points. Once Azerbaijan (second to call) had announced its jury points, 10 finalist countries were still on 0 points. After Malta (third to call) announced its jury points, there were just seven countries (Luxembourg, Lithuania, United Kingdom, Iceland, Latvia, Denmark, San Marino) still on 0 points. The Netherlands (fourth to call) gave Latvia, Lithuania and Luxembourg their first jury points, thereby leaving just four finalist countries (United Kingdom, Iceland, Denmark, San Marino) still on 0 points. Slovenia (fifth to call) was the first country to give no points to any countries still on 0. Luxembourg (7th to call) gave 6 jury points to the United Kingdom. This left just three finalist countries (Iceland, Denmark, San Marino) still on 0 points. Austria (11th to call) gave 8 jury points to Denmark, getting them off the mark. Only two finalist countries (Iceland, San Marino) were still on 0 at this point. Finally, Italy (13th to call) gave 6 jury points to San Marino. From this point, Iceland was the only country still on 0 points. Since Iceland was still on 0 after all 37 countries had announced their jury points, San Marino was the last country to get off the mark in the jury vote.

After Sweden (first to call) finished announcing its jury points, the top three was 1st Austria 12,2nd Switzerland 10, 3rd Netherlands 8. Ukraine was 6th with 5 jury points, and Israel was still on zero. Azerbaijan (second to call) gave 8 jury points to Ukraine and 12 jury points to Israel, but none Austria. As a result, the top three was now 1st Ukraine 13, 2nd Israel 12, 3rd Austria 12. Although Israel and Austria were on equal points, having received one set of 12 points each so far, Israel currently placed above Austria due to having performed before Austria. Already, it appeared as though there would be no runaway jury winner this year, unlike 2023 and 2024. However, this was the only time Ukraine and Israel were in the top two (or even top three) during the jury voting presentation. Malta (third to call) gave 7 jury points to Austria and 8 jury points to France, but none to Ukraine or Israel. Austria was back in the lead, with 19 points, whereas France was second with 15 points and Italy third with 14 points. The Netherlands (fourth to call) gave 10 jury points to Switzerland and 12 jury points to Austria. The top three was now 1st Austria 31, 2nd Switzerland 23, 3rd France 17. Austria and Switzerland remained in first and second respectively for the next four sets of results, although the gap between them fluctuated. After Ukraine (9th to call) announced its jury points, the top three was 1st Switzerland 63, 2nd Austria 60, 3rd France 49. However, once Norway (10th to call) had announced its jury points, the top three was 1st Austria 72, 2nd Switzerland 66, 3rd France 51. It now looked like there was going to be a “cat and mouse” situation between Austria and Switzerland for first and second in the jury vote. Of course, Austria (11th to call) was not allowed to vote for itself, but Austria gave no jury points to Switzerland either, thereby leaving the top two unchanged. Austria gave 6 jury points to France, keeping France in third place with a new score of 57. Austria, Switzerland and France stayed in first, second and third place respectively after France and Italy had announced their jury points. After Portugal (14th to call) announced its jury points, the top three was 1st Switzerland 82 2nd Austria 82 3rd Italy 64. It now took tiebreaker rule to put Switzerland ahead of Austria. Denmark (15th to call) gave 5 jury points to Austria, 8 jury points to Italy and 10 jury points to Switzerland, thereby making Switzerland a distinct leader. The top three was now 1st Switzerland 92 2nd Austria 87 3rd Italy 72. After Croatia (16th to call) announced its jury points, Switzerland, Austria and Italy were still in first, second and third place respectively. However, after Latvia (17th to call) announced its jury points, Austria was in the lead, Switzerland was in second place, and Italy was still third. At this moment, Austria was just one jury point ahead of Switzerland. Austria, Switzerland and Italy remained in in first, second and third place respectively after Ireland, Poland and Montenegro announced their jury scores. However, the gap between first and second fluctuated during this time.

A break occurred between Montenegro and Greece. At this point, the top five were: 1st Austria 136, 2nd Switzerland 127, 3rd Italy 92, 4th France 80, 5th Finland 63. At the other end of the scoreboard, Iceland was still last with 0 points. During this break, Michelle spoke to JJ from Austria, who was currently in the lead, followed by Zoë Më from Switzerland, who was currently in second place. Upon return from this break, Hazel and Sandra spoke briefly. Hazel said there were still 17 juries to go. The complete scoreboard, with the heading “20 of 37 National Juries Voted” was displayed. Hazel and Sandra announced the top five, from fifth to first.

After the break, Austria stayed in the lead, and Switzerland remained in second place, for the rest of the jury voting presentation. After Greece (21st to call) had announced its jury points, Italy was still in third place, and France was still in fourth place. Serbia (22nd to call) gave 12 jury points to France and no jury points to Italy. As a result, France was back in third place, and Italy was now fourth. France remained in third place from this point until the end of the jury voting presentation. The gap between first and second generally increased (but also sometimes decreased a little), until it peaked at 45 points after Iceland (33rd to call) had announced its jury points.

Austria became uncatchable on jury points alone as soon as Iceland (33rd to call) had announced its jury points. Austria’s leading score was now 237 points, and Switzerland was second with 192 points. With four countries still to announce their jury scores, the last of which was to be Switzerland, the maximum number of jury points still available to second-placed Switzerland was 3 x 12 = 36 jury points. Even if Switzerland had received 12 jury points from each of the remaining three other countries (Georgia, Cyprus, Estonia), and Austria had received no more jury points, the final top two would have been 1st 237 points, 2nd Switzerland 228 points. Effectively Austria had already won the jury vote, even though 3 countries (not counting Switzerland) had yet to announce their jury points. Had the EBU done jury voting only this year, and not bothered with televoting at all, Austria would have been the outright winner at this point. Of course, with televoting totals to follow, after the remaining jury results were announced, countries placed lower than Switzerland could still possibly have been in with a chance of winning outright.

Unsurprisingly Cyprus (which failed to qualify for the Grand Final) gave its 12 jury points to Greece. Obviously, Greece was unable to give any jury points to Cyprus this year; and thus Greece gave 12 jury points to France. In the Nordic area, the only exchange of 12 jury points was from Iceland to Sweden. Surprisingly, Denmark and Iceland received no jury points from other Nordic countries. This clearly shows that the Nordic countries don’t necessarily give their highest jury scores to each other, and that a Nordic finalist isn’t automatically guaranteed points from other Nordic countries. In the Baltic area, the only exchange of 12 jury points was from Lithuania to Latvia. Clearly the Baltic states don’t necessarily give each other their top two jury scores when they have the chance to. Ireland (which failed to qualify for the Grand Final) gave just 2 jury points to the United Kingdom. Clearly, Ireland doesn’t necessarily give 12 jury points to the United Kingdom. On this occasion, Ireland gave its 12 jury points to Austria. Spain gave no jury points to Portugal, and Portugal gave no jury points to Spain. Evidently Spain and Portugal don’t necessarily give each other jury points, let alone top jury points. A more detailed analysis of voting, within various country groups, is available here.

Once the spokespersons from all 37 countries had announced their jury voting points, the scoreboard looked like this on screen:

1	Austria	258	14	Ukraine	60
2	Switzerland	214	15	Israel	60
3	France	180	16	Albania	45
4	Italy	159	17	Denmark	45
5	Netherlands	133	18	Armenia	42
6	Sweden	126	19	Portugal	37
7	Latvia	116	20	Lithuania	34
8	Greece	105	21	Spain	27
9	Estonia	98	22	Luxembourg	23
10	United Kingdom	88	23	Norway	22
11	Finland	88	24	Poland	17
12	Malta	83	25	San Marino	9
13	Germany	77	26	Iceland	0

At this point, Michelle spoke to JJ from Austria, who had won the jury vote.

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Televoting Results

Hazel and Sandra reappeared to present the results of the public vote. Sandra explained how the televoting works. In each of the 37 countries, the public's phone / text / app votes were totalled up, and converted to 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 12 points to the top 10 voted-for songs. However instead of going around all the 37 countries and having the spokespersons announce each country's televoting points in the same manner as the jury points, all 37 countries' televoting points were added together behind the scenes to produce one total televoting score for each finalist. In addition, countries which did not take part at all this year, including outside the European Broadcasting Area, were eligible to vote as part of a Rest of the World online vote; their top 10 voted-for songs were converted to a 38th set of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 12 points and added to the applicable finalist totals. Hazel and Sandra took turns to announce the total amount of televoting points each finalist had received from each of the other 36 countries, plus Rest of the World. Just like in 2019 to 2024, they announced the televoting totals starting with the finalist that had the lowest jury score, which was Iceland, and worked their way up the scoreboard until they reached Austria, which had won the jury vote. Graham Norton's comments, which BBC One / BBC One HD viewers in the UK heard, are shown in square brackets.

Sandra: OK Iceland, from the public, you have received 33 points. [Oh, I’m so pleased. That is terrific. No-one is going home tonight with the dreaded nul points]
Hazel: The next country to be receiving points is San Marino, let’s see how everyone around the world has voted; San Marino, you get 18 points. [Not the result they were hoping for.]
Sandra: We continue with Poland; [I imagine this will be a big vote.] Poland the audience has awarded you 139 points. [She’ll be pleased with that, right up there to 5th place.]
Hazel: Next, we’re looking at Norway, you also get some points, let’s see how many of them you get, 67 points.
Sandra: Luxembourg, you are next; from the public, you have received 24 points. [That’s Laura Thorn; I thought she would do rather well with the jury vote, but obviously didn’t.]
Hazel: We continue with Spain; the audience have awarded you 10 points. [Oh, that is harsh. I don’t know what Spain have to do. I mean Melody put on such a great show.]
Sandra: Now let’s see how many points you get Lithuania, 62 points. [Putting them in 11th place right now.]
Sandra: That’s seven countries who know their final points score, nineteen to go.
Hazel: You know, I really do understand how this works now. Next up, Portugal.
Sandra: Portugal, the audience have awarded you 13 points.
Hazel: Next is Armenia, the public gives you 30 points. [Not so great, but again, no-one going home tonight with the dreaded nul points.]
Sandra: Now looking at Denmark, from everyone around the world who voted, you get 2 points. [Oh, such a popular performance here in the hall, and yet it did not translate.]
Hazel: Next up Albania, from the public, you get 173 points. [Wow, look at them, in 2nd place now, Beatriçe quite shocked. I’m not sure you’ll stay there Beatriçe.]
Sandra: Now Israel, [This is going to be a big one.] the audience have awarded you 297 points. [I don’t think that will be enough to win.]

N.B. I’ve done a post-Contest analysis in a spreadsheet. At this moment, 868 televote points had been allocated to the scoreboard so far, and there were 1336 televote points left to share among the remaining fourteen finalist countries. From my analysis, it would, in theory, have been possible for all the remaining fourteen finalist countries to stay at least one point below Israel at this stage, depending on the spread of the remaining televote points. Obviously, Austria would have had to have received 98 televote points or less, and the rest of the televote points would have had to have been spread among the countries which placed second to fourteenth in the jury vote. With over three fifths of the original number of televote points still available, anything was still possible. Unsurprisingly, I didn’t know how many televote points had been allocated so far, or how many were left, whilst watching the televote sequence as I hadn’t been deducting the televote scores from the maximum available as they were announced. Anyway, the voting procedure continued as follows:

Hazel: That means we have a new leader on the scoreboard. We continue with Ukraine; the audience has awarded you 158 points. [I think they’re pleased with that. Creeping up to Remember Monday.]
Sandra: And now let’s see how many points you get Germany; from the audience, you Germany get 74 points.
Hazel: Malta, the audience have awarded you 8 points. [No, that is astonishing. Miriana was, at one point, tipped to win this thing; it was the song of Eurovision. Extraordinary that the people watching at home did not respond to it.]
Sandra: Let’s hop over to Finland; Finland points are coming towards you, but how many of them? [Here we go, that doesn’t bode well for Finland.] Finland, from the audience, you are getting 108 points.

With just ten countries left to receive their points from the public, the scoreboard looked like this at this point (countries which had already received their televote totals are in bold):

1	Israel	357	14	Greece	105
2	Austria	258	15	Estonia	98
3	Albania	218	16	Lithuania	96
4	Ukraine	218	17	Malta	91
5	Switzerland	214	18	Norway	89
6	Finland	196	19	United Kingdom	88
7	France	180	20	Armenia	72
8	Italy	159	21	Portugal	50
9	Poland	156	22	Luxembourg	47
10	Germany	151	23	Denmark	47
11	Netherlands	133	24	Spain	37
12	Sweden	126	25	Iceland	33
13	Latvia	116	26	San Marino	27

N.B. From my post-Contest analysis, in a spreadsheet, 1216 televote points had now been allocated to the scoreboard, and there were still 988 televote points left to share among the remaining ten finalist countries. It was still, in theory, possible for the remaining ten finalist countries to all finish at least one point below Israel, which was still in the lead. Unsurprisingly, I didn’t know how many televote points were still available at this point during the live broadcast.

Just like last year, the hosts didn’t say there were ten countries left. Instead, Sandra went straight on to announce the next country’s public vote score.

[OK, this is it, oh come on.]
Sandra: We continue with the United Kingdom, from the public, you get 0 points. [Oh no! Second year in a row for the United Kingdom, with zero points from the public, but a great reaction here in the hall; lots of love. So that’s it, one below, one below Olly from last year; they came 19th ].
Hazel: Let’s hop on to Tommy Cash’s bouncing private plane, and looking at the points Estonia gets. Estonia, from the audience, you get 258 points. [He is our new leader, oh no, just behind Israel.]
[I’m so upset for the girls (Remember Monday), that really isn’t fair, but that’s Eurovision.]
Sandra: Now receiving points is Greece; what has the audience awarded you? You get 126 points.
Hazel: Now, the next country to be receiving points is Latvia. Latvia you get 42 points. [Not too shabby, they’re on the left-hand side of the leader board at least].
Sandra: Let’s see how many points you get Sweden; [OK, this could be big, but then I said that about Miriana Conte.] 195 points. [No, we’re not going to Sweden next year.]

With just five countries to go, there was a break to show the scoreboard, as it currently stood, centred on screen. The scoreboard now looked like this (countries which had already received their televote totals are in bold):

1	Israel	357	14	Germany	151
2	Estonia	356	15	Netherlands	133
3	Sweden	321	16	Lithuania	96
4	Austria	258	17	Malta	91
5	Greece	231	18	Norway	89
6	Albania	218	19	United Kingdom	88
7	Ukraine	218	20	Armenia	72
8	Switzerland	214	21	Portugal	50
9	Finland	196	22	Luxembourg	47
10	France	180	23	Denmark	47
11	Italy	159	24	Spain	37
12	Latvia	158	25	Iceland	33
13	Poland	156	26	San Marino	27

Sandra announced that there were only five countries left to receive their points from the audience. Hazel announced Israel was still in the lead, and that any of the five countries still awaiting their public vote scores (Netherlands, Italy, France, Switzerland, Austria) could still pass Israel and win.

N.B. From my post-Contest analysis, in a spreadsheet, 1837 televote points had now been allocated to the scoreboard, and there were still 367 televote points left to share among the remaining five finalist countries. It was still, in theory, possible for the remaining five finalist countries to all finish at least one point below Israel, which was still in the lead. On the other hand, it was still, in theory, possible for any one of the five remaining finalist countries to get enough televote points to finish at least one point ahead of Israel and win. Unsurprisingly, I didn’t know how many televote points were still available at this point during the live broadcast.

Netherlands, the audience have awarded you 42 points. [Ooh, that is harsh. That’s sort of inexplicable; again, a really engaging performance, and a very pretty song.]

At this point, all the countries on the right-hand side of the scoreboard had received their televote points. The remaining countries still awaiting their televote points (top four of the jury vote) were all on the left-had side. For the rest of the results presentation, only the left-hand side of the scoreboard (top 13) was shown at the left of the screen, and the remaining two thirds of the screen were used to show the applicable artist in the Green Room. This is the first time this has been done.

Hazel: And now Italy, we don’t want to keep you waiting much longer, [Please don’t] the audience have awarded you 97 points. [Not enough to get them to the top of the leader board. Have Israel snuck a win, with one single point?]
Sandra: Next up France; let’s see how many points you get from the public, 50 points. [Ooh. It’s down to two countries here, Switzerland and Austria. Israel may be the winner of Eurovision Song Contest 2025.]

Sandra: There is so little time left now. Five days ago, 37 countries were in the running to win the Eurovision Song Contest 2025. Now only three potential winners remain.

Michelle returned from the Green Room to be with Hazel and Sandra at this point.

Sandra: OK on top we have Israel currently number one.
Hazel: But Austria and Switzerland have yet to receive their points from the audience.

Green Room shots of the artists representing Israel, Austria and Switzerland were shown, left to right, across the screen, at this point. The current scores for those three countries were shown alongside the applicable country names.

Next up Switzerland, Switzerland the viewers all over the world have awarded you 0 points. [Oh, my goodness. Well, Remember Monday are in very good company.]
Please give a round of applause for Zoë Më.

[I wonder if Israel have won this thing. The way the voting is going, it seems like it may all be over. If people aren’t reacting to songs like that.]

Hazel: My goodness I cannot take this anymore.
Michelle: No, I’ve only been here a few minutes and it feels like a marathon, I have to tell you.
Sandra: It’s time for the final reveal.

Green Room shots of the artists representing Israel and Austria were shown, left to right, across the screen, at this point. The current scores for those three countries were shown alongside the applicable country names.

It has all come down to this, in just a few seconds we will know the winner, and one of these artists will take home the trophy tonight.
Israel, after your jury points, and after your points from the audience, you are currently in the lead with 357 points. You will not get any more. [Austria need 100 points here, 100 points and they can win it.]
Austria, you can still win, if the audience awarded you at least 100 points, the night is yours. [This is quite tense.]
Austria, from the audience, you have received 178 points. {He did it, JJ has done it, he has won. And the EBU will be breathing the largest sigh of relief that they’re not faced with a Tel Aviv final next year. JJ is bringing it back to Austria. Such a sweet, unassuming boy, that is adorable.]

Altogether, announcement of the televoting totals took just over 13 minutes. Just before the scoreboard was shown for the final time, the UK's televoting results were displayed in a column at the left of the screen, and Graham Norton read each of the ten scores out. Did other countries' broadcasters present their own televoting points in a similar manner?

When the scoreboard was shown for the last time (with Austria's televoting total included), it looked like this:

1	Austria	436	14	Poland	156
2	Israel	357	15	Germany	151
3	Estonia	356	16	Lithuania	96
4	Sweden	321	17	Malta	91
5	Italy	256	18	Norway	89
6	Greece	231	19	United Kingdom	88
7	France	230	20	Armenia	72
8	Albania	218	21	Portugal	50
9	Ukraine	218	22	Luxembourg	47
10	Switzerland	214	23	Denmark	47
11	Finland	196	24	Spain	37
12	Netherlands	175	25	Iceland	33
13	Latvia	158	26	San Marino	27

Here is a summary of the televote totals, in order of announcement:

Finalist	Televote Total
Iceland	33
San Marino	18
Poland	139
Norway	67
Luxembourg	24
Spain	10
Lithuania	62
Portugal	13
Armenia	30
Denmark	2
Albania	173
Israel	297
Ukraine	158
Germany	74
Malta	8
Finland	108
United Kingdom	0
Estonia	258
Greece	126
Latvia	42
Sweden	195
Netherlands	42
Italy	97
France	50
Switzerland	0
Austria	178

Austria won with a final score of 436 points. With a possible maximum of 12 jury points from each of the other 36 countries (including the 11 semi-finalists which failed to qualify), i.e. 12 x 36 = 432, plus 12 televoting points from each of the other 36 countries and Rest of the World, i.e. 12 x 37 = 444, the maximum achievable score this year was 876 points. Thus, Austria won with 49.77% of the maximum possible score, which is less than half of this year’s maximum possible total. The record for the winner with the highest percentage of the maximum possible score since 1975 still rests with United Kingdom - Brotherhood of Man "Save Your Kisses For Me"; 80.4% in 1976.

An in-depth analysis of the jury voting and televoting is available here.

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Jury and Televoting Comparison

Perf Order	Finalist	Jury Total	Jury Count	Jury Place	Televote Total	Televote Count	Televote Place	Combined Total	Combined Place	Tele-Jury Pts Diff	Tele-Jury Place Diff
1	Norway	22	7	23	67	17	12	89	18	45	11
2	Luxembourg	23	7	22	24	5	19	47	22	1	3
3	Estonia	98	21	9	258	36	2	356	3	160	7
4	Israel	60	14	15	297	34	1	357	2	237	14
5	Lithuania	34	7	20	62	11	13	96	16	28	7
6	Spain	27	5	21	10	3	22	37	24	-17	-1
7	Ukraine	60	16	14	158	25	6	218	9	98	8
8	United Kingdom	88	16	10	0	0	25	88	19	-88	-15
9	Austria	258	31	1	178	33	4	436	1	-80	-3
10	Iceland	0	0	26	33	9	17	33	25	33	9
11	Latvia	116	18	7	42	9	16	158	13	-74	-9
12	Netherlands	133	23	5	42	14	15	175	12	-91	-10
13	Finland	88	15	11	108	21	9	196	11	20	2
14	Italy	159	22	4	97	18	10	256	5	-62	-6
15	Poland	17	7	24	139	22	7	156	14	122	17
16	Germany	77	14	13	74	18	11	151	15	-3	2
17	Greece	105	16	8	126	18	8	231	6	21	0
18	Armenia	42	10	18	30	5	18	72	20	-12	0
19	Switzerland	214	31	2	0	0	26	214	10	-214	-24
20	Malta	83	15	12	8	4	23	91	17	-75	-11
21	Portugal	37	9	19	13	2	21	50	21	-24	-2
22	Denmark	45	7	17	2	1	24	47	23	-43	-7
23	Sweden	126	21	6	195	35	3	321	4	69	3
24	France	180	25	3	50	11	14	230	7	-130	-11
25	San Marino	9	3	25	18	3	20	27	26	9	5
26	Albania	45	10	16	173	26	5	218	8	128	11

N.B. Tele-Jury Pts Diff: the difference between the total number of televoting points and total number of jury points a country received. Calculated as follows: televoting points total - jury points total. Thus, if a country received fewer televoting points than jury points (e.g. France) this is negative; if a country received more televoting points than jury points (e.g. Israel) this is positive.

Tele-Jury Place Diff: the difference between the televoting place and jury place of a country. Calculated as follows: jury place - televoting place. Switzerland was 2nd in the jury voting and 26th in the televoting (24 places lower than jury voting, shown as -24). Poland was 24th in the jury voting and 7th in the televoting (17 places higher than jury voting, shown as 17). Due to movement of other countries on the scoreboard, the actual from and to placings, and number of places which a particular country e.g. Poland moved on the scoreboard at the moment its televoting total was announced may have been different.

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Trophy Presentation

As soon as Austria was confirmed as the winner, JJ proceeded from the Green Room to the stage. Due to the long walk, shots of fireworks going off at the centre of St. Jakob-Park were shown between images of JJ descending flights of stairs. Having reached the stage, Nemo presented the winner's trophy to JJ. As JJ picked up the trophy, he took the opportunity to give a short speech, whilst fireworks went off on stage. After that, Michelle, Sandra and Hazel appeared together on stage for the last time to give their closing speeches.

Reprise

After all the closing speeches, JJ performed the winning song “Wasted Love” again. Unlike the main performance earlier, JJ did not have his sail boat, and the background screen images (e.g. lighthouse) and monochrome effects were not used, in this reprise performance. Instead, JJ performed the whole song standing on the stage, next to the trophy stand. After the second instance of the chorus, confetti fell onto the stage, and strobe lighting was used during the lively section near the end. Afterwards, closing credits appeared at the left-hand side of the screen, accompanied by music. UK viewers also saw the BBC's own additional credits at the bottom of the screen. Finally, the Eurovision ident accompanied by Charpentier's Te Deum prelude "Marche en rondeau" marked the end of the show.

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And Finally

Altogether another great Contest. Well done to the Swiss broadcaster SRG SSR for producing the two semi-finals and Grand Final. Most of the songs in the Grand Final were OK or very good. My only “Definitely don't want to qualify” country on Tuesday evening, that being Croatia, didn’t qualify. Fair enough, my only “Prefer not to qualify” country (Ukraine) qualified from the First Semi-Final, on Tuesday evening, and one of my “Prefer not to qualify” countries (Armenia) qualified from the Second Semi-Final, on Thursday evening. I would have preferred Slovenia or Belgium to have qualified instead of Ukraine on Tuesday evening, and Montenegro to have qualified in place of Armenia on Thursday evening. Nonetheless I appreciate many people have different musical tastes to me. At the end of the day, I cannot possibly expect to have all the songs I personally like the most qualify for the final and have all the ones I dislike eliminated in the semi-finals. This year it was obvious that Ziferblat - “Bird of Pray” (Ukraine) was a likely qualifier on Tuesday evening, and that PARG - “SURVIVOR” (Armenia) was a likely qualifier on Thursday evening, and even I would have been shocked if either of those hadn’t qualified. The Grand Final was a spectacular show, in which the 26 artists entertained the world with their diverse range of different songs, and there was a good selection of opening and interval acts to add to the evening. I for one enjoyed watching the Grand Final very much.

Congratulations to JJ for winning with a combined total of 436 points overall. Having won the jury vote with 258 points, JJ also proved quite popular with the public, because he finished 4th with 178 points in the televote. This was Austria’s third Eurovision Song Contest victory to-date. Austria: Winners 1966, 2014, 2025. 11 years' gap between their two most recent wins (2014 - 2025). At least that's a much shorter gap than their previous gap (1966 - 2014; 48 years). Interestingly, that’s the lowest absolute winning score in a Eurovision Song Contest Grand Final since the introduction of the current two-part voting system in 2016. Admittedly the number of voting countries, and hence maximum possible achievable score, has varied since then, but with 36 countries able to vote for Austria in the jury vote, and the same 36 countries plus Rest of the World able to vote for Austria in the public vote, the maximum achievable score this year was 876 points. Thus, Austria won with 49.77% of this year’s maximum possible score; which is less than half this year’s maximum possible total. Still, that was enough for JJ to win this year.

Well done also to Yuval Raphael from Israel, who won the public vote with 297 points, and finished second overall with a combined score of 357 points. To those who think that Yuval’s ballad “New Day Will Rise” is not televote friendly, think back to 2017 when Salvador Sobral’s “Amar pelos dois” (Portugal) won the public vote with 376 points, and Kristian Kostov’s “Beautiful Mess” (Bulgaria) finished second in the televote with 337 points.

This is the third year running in which the jury vote winner ended up winning outright, and the televote winner became the overall runner-up. However, unlike the last two years, going by the audience shouting “Austria” as JJ was about to receive his televote score, it was evident that the audience, in the venue, expressed a preference for Austria (jury winner) to win outright this time. Even so, some have since noticed that Austria received no 12-point scores, whereas Israel received 13 sets of 12 points, in the public voting. Like it or not, Austria won outright fair and square. Once all the televote totals had been put on the scoreboard, except Austria’s televote score, Austria only needed 100 televote points to pass Israel and win. As a result, 178 points from the public was more than enough for Austria to win, despite that being only the fourth highest televote total. Austria managed to receive 5 sets of 10 televote points, thereby amounting to 50 of their 178 public vote points. The remaining 128 televote points which Austria collected were from lower value scores; a good achievement in itself.

Commiserations to Remember Monday; after receiving a reasonable 10th place with 88 points from the juries, they finished second last with zero points in the public vote. As a result, the UK ended up 19th with 88 points overall. Still, Remember Monday did the UK proud tonight; at least they ended up with a higher overall score than Olly Alexander last year, despite anomalously finishing one place lower than Olly. The question is, where does the BBC go from here in finding a winning song for the UK in 2026, or thereafter? The UK will need to make the effort to choose songs which will achieve high scores and placings from both juries and viewers in future years.

Commiserations to Gabry Ponte, who represented San Marino with “Tutta L'Italia”. Despite finishing 25th (2nd from last) with 9 points in the jury vote, and 20th with 18 points in the public vote, Gabry Ponte ended up 26th (last) with 27 points overall. This is San Marino’s lowest placing, and first time of finishing last, in a Eurovision Song Contest Grand Final since their first ever entry in 2008. Furthermore, this is the second year running that the country which finished last in the Grand Final was one which qualified via one of the semi-finals. Although it is disappointing for any country to finish last in the Grand Final, unfortunately someone has to come last. Being as Gabry Ponte had to qualify via the First Semi-Final, on Tuesday evening, he can have the feeling his result could have been worse than last in the Grand Final (i.e. failed to qualify), unlike the years when an automatically qualifying nation finishes last in the Grand Final. It’s worth pointing out, this was only San Marino’s fourth time of qualifying to the Grand Final.

Well done to all 26 finalists, no matter where on the scoreboard they placed. Don't forget, 20 of this year’s finalists already did well just to get past the applicable semi-final in the week; 11 countries' songs were eliminated in the semi-finals, and thus, their artists didn’t have the chance to perform in the Grand Final. At the end of the day, the most important thing is not to win, but to participate.

Roll on the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest from Austria. Can ORF do as well or better? Time will tell. Mark my words, next year's Contest will tell another story as far as the results are concerned, especially if the EBU retains the method of separate jury and televoting points from each country. Who knows, the UK might win next year!

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