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Eurovision Song Contest 2025 - Mod warning in the OP

yerwanthere123

Selection season has already started, so time to start the thread

Basel, Switzerland will host this year's edition after 'The Code' took the crown last year.

Semi Final 1: 13th May 2025

Semi Final 2: 15th May 2025

Grand Final: 17th May 2025

Would be great if RTÉ could build on last year's momentum and pull something else out of the bag this year, but not sure my expectations will be too high

Unfortunately I think it'll be another very messy year, with huge televote support for both Ukraine and Israel.

Mod note May 16th: We don't need to get bogged down in the Hamas/Israel conflict/details of the fallout from the October 7 attacks, that discussion can be had elsewhere boards. Focus on the songs and performances, please.

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Brian017

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123393086#Comment_123393086

I don’t think it’s live. My niece was in RTE on Thursday with Spotlight filming for it and I’m pretty sure she said it would be aired on the 9th but maybe she got the date wrong

Strazdas

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123393099#Comment_123393099

Oh right, that would explain it then. I imagine Emmy and the Irish delegation will be in Basel by Friday the 9th, so they have probably just done this for the sake of convenience.

odyssey06

The Beeb will be airing a send off of sorts for the UK entrant also on Friday 9th May, "When Graham met Remember Monday" … Graham Norton catches up with Lauren Byrne, Holly-Anne Hull and Charlotte Steele, collectively known as Remember Monday.

BBC1 from 22:40 - 22:55

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002bxkf

supereurope

31 years ago today…

https://www.rte.ie/archives/2019/0430/1046499-riverdance-thrills-eurovision-audience/

1994 was the last time the contest was held in April. From the late 60s until the early 80s, April was usual month for the contest, before it moved to May in 1984. The only other year after 1984 when an April date was chosen was 1988, also an RTÉ production of course.

I don't think we'll ever see another Riverdance, now that the EBU and host broadcasters seem to think everyone wants medleys from past performers as the interval act instead. I think it was announced this morning that one of the shows this year will have a Käärijä/Baby Lasagna performance. I don't know about anyone else, but I'm fed up of these medleys.

LordBasil

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123404387#Comment_123404387

Yeah, I think these past contestant medleys should only be used sparingly, ideally only in years marking ESC milestones like next year which will be the 70th Contest. Broadcasters should use ESC intervals to promote national music/dance like RTE did when they hosted so many times in the 80s & 90s.

Regarding this year do you think that we'll really see Sweden claim a record breaking 8th ESC win only 2 years after they equalled Ireland's 7 wins? According to bookies odds they are the runaway favourite before rehearsals begin. I think Sweden could win the televote but not with a Cha Cha Cha level score of 370+ points, I'm thinking more like Keiino 290+ points, but we'll see. Hopefully someone else can emerge, my money would be on France. If ever there was a year someone could surprise at rehearsals and put themselves in contention like Conchita(AUT 2014), Common Linnets (NED 2014) and Eleni (CYP 2018) did it is this year!

supereurope

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123404891#Comment_123404891

The first time in 2019 was great, because it was the first time. I also enjoyed the 2023 medley, it was a nice nod to Liverpool's music history and You'll Never Walk Alone was such a fitting song considering Liverpool was hosting because Ukraine couldn't. Otherwise, these medleys have been pretty forgettable, and if this is now the EBU's approach, then (as I said above), we'll never have another Riverdance.

I love Bara Bada Bastu (and it's rare I get excited over a Swedish entry) and I wouldn't be bothered if it won. However, the thought of another year of Petra, Lynda Woodruff etc turns me off, so if SVT just gives us 2024 again, then I'm out.

I think we might be heading for a "compromise" winner this year - like 2016 and 2019, the winning song will win neither the jury vote nor the televote but will pull in enough votes from both sides to take the overall win.

squonk

I’m less excited this year. I haven’t caught many of the songs yet but will do so over the next week. Last year I was much more excited at this stage. The 50th anniversary of ABBAs win, the final was back in Sweden and Bambi Thug looked like we’d get to the final at least for a change. I’ll enjoy the week this year but can’t get all in so far like this time last year.

Also, yes, stop the medleys. It’s silly at this stage. One of the attractions of Eurovision when I was growing up and watching in the 80s and 90s was seeing the host country in the postcards and getting a feel for their culture in the interval act. I think that’s even more important to know with all of the extra countries that came onboard in the last 20 years.

supereurope

The BBC has announced its spokesperson this morning, and it's one for the Dr Who fans:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/2025/eurovision-ncuti-gatwa-uk-jury-spokesperson

I've never watched Dr Who so it means nothing to me, but I'm sure it'll upset a certain type of person, so I'm on board with the BBC's choice.

That said, why has the announcement of the spokesperson now become a "thing?"

odyssey06

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123411062#Comment_123411062

I assume it is connected to the Dr Who episode that night with an intergalatic song contest.

squonk

Mention of the medleys hit me thinking. I’ve a feeling we’re at the beginning of a point where the durivision is starting to eat itself. BBC Radio 2 dud a countdown poll recently for the top ESC songs from the lady 25 years. I know the competition has become a bigger animal since the late 90s but I’d put some earlier winners well above some from the millennium onwards It feels like it’s grown massively into its own world to the point where it’s more focused on its own existence than the host countries I think that’s why you get silky medleys, stage and host announcements, song send offs etc

I liked the pre EBU incarnation as the logo and setup varied by year and reflected the aesthetics of the host country. Now it feels like champions leafue (I’m not really into soccer so forgive the analogy) but the general feel is the sane no matter where they host. Yes, the presenters duet some local colour but otherwise it’s not as unique..

supereurope

Has anyone checked this out yet? In advance of this year's contest, the Eurovision team has launched a non-stop ESC hits feed on YouTube.

I've tuned in a few times, and unless it's just a coincidence, I've yet to see a song from before 2004. The Eurovision social media team tends to have a "Eurovision only started in 2004" attitude and it seems the same here sadly. I do understand that the rights are owned by the EBU from 2004 so it's less complicated from that perspective, but still…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hs-ohS4O1N4

supereurope

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123411338#Comment_123411338

While my activity on this discussion group might suggest otherwise, I feel like Eurovision and I are drifting apart. I don't think there's any one factor why, rather multiple reasons…but I admit allowing pre-recorded backing vocals is probably a major reason.

When the orchestra was abolished back in 1999, Johnny Logan said the contest was well on its way to becoming a karaoke contest, so I think we were actually lucky that we had another 21 years of entirely live vocals before the EBU started to allow pre-recorded vocals. The EBU, of course, used COVID as a trojan horse for bringing in pre-recorded backing vocals, saying that these would ensure the contest could go ahead in 2021, as countries could bring smaller delegations and there'd be fewer people on the stage, lowering the transmission risk. That would make sense, of course, however the EBU then said that, as long as the six on stage rule was adhered to, countries could have as many backing dancers as they liked onstage. So it was never about smaller delegations or fewer people onstage then.

The problem then became that the EBU didn't seem to care if the pre-recorded vocals were actually being used for lead vocals as well. Some friends of mine attended Liverpool 2023, and they said Andrew from Cyprus really stood out as someone who was getting a lot of help with his lead vocals from the pre-recorded "backing" vocals (though it should be said that this was also possible "back in the day" as well, except live backing vocalists were used…to give an example, the BBC reported that Eleni Foureira did very little vocal heavy lifting on Fuego, replying heavily on offstage backing singers.)

I think we're now at the point where more and more lead vocalists are taking advantage of the rule, and I expect that by the end of decade, the EBU will say, just like with team orders in F1 and on-court coaching in tennis, "We can't police this, so we're just going to allow pre-recorded lead vocals."

Another big reason why I feel my interest is waning is because of how badly the EBU have been handling events of the last 18 months and how they've allowed things to become so toxic. I don't want to get in any sort of discussion about last year's backstage issues and disqualifications, so I won't say any more.

Sorry for the long message…but at least I cut out the bit where I talked about the EBU taking a bigger role in the contest since 2004, which started the path to the "standardisation" we now have.

LordBasil

With first rehearsals starting tomorrow, what are people's predictions for ESC 2025?

Mine are;

Ireland qualifies and comes like 18th in the final (Juries ignore it, OK televote result)

Slovenia qualifies and gets decent result in final.

Italy does much better than predicted, Dark Horse for the win…

Austria flop with juries, it kind of reminds me of 'River' (Poland, 2022) that was hyped up pre-contest but ended up being snubbed by juries and getting an average televote.

Finland misses out on the top 10.

Sweden do really well in the televote and OK with juries but not as well as predicted.

Winner: I can't call it but if I had to guess, I'd say France.

There's always shocks, bring it on :)

derb12

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123411861#Comment_123411861

Ok so I agree except:

I don’t think Ireland will qualify

I don’t think Slovenia will qualify but I’d say that Czechia will.

I agree about Italy and Austria. I don’t think JJ has enough stage presence.

I hope Finland get top 10 - I predict top 5.

I can’t decide between France and Sweden for the win.

yerwanthere123

My pre-rehearsal predictions:

Winner: France

Televote winner: Sweden

Jury winner: France

Biggest televote/jury gap: Israel I guess, though I do think The Netherlands is a possibility here too. I think he'll get a big jury score but a more muted televote score.

SF1 last place: Croatia, though I think both Azerbaijan and (sadly) Portugal could contend for it too.

SF2 last place: Georgia probably, most likely because of the inevitable 12 points from Serbia to Montenegro. Also think Latvia are in with a shout here.

Winner points: 512

Some comments:

Probably more wishful thinking, but I think France may take it with a big jury score, but possibly come as low as 5th in the televote. The Netherlands will come second in the jury vote, but barely come low top ten in the televote.
Agree with the above that Italy will do better than expected, can see him getting top five with the juries
Ireland will qualify reasonably comfortably but finish somewhere in the 16th-19th range in the final. Don't care where we end up, just want us to reach the Saturday night, there's always so much more hype when we actually make the final.

archfi

My picks for possible winners are Italy or Switzerland.

Half a thumb up for Sweden breaking away from the usual internationalist pap generic crap.

I also really like Ukraine's mishmash tune, great vocals but drop the English lyrics.

Headnod to UK but it's a bit OTT

No nod to Ireland, it's crap.

Plusses for Luxembourg and Portugal.

Own language songs for the win.

supereurope

This time 28 years ago, many of us would have sitting down to the watch the 1997 contest from The Point. Little did any of us know that the contest would never return to our shores.

freshpopcorn

Those were the days!

yerwanthere123

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123416655#Comment_123416655

I'd forgotten about subtitles being page 888 on teletext.

Did Eurovision ever attract hundreds of millions from though?

Strazdas

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123416882#Comment_123416882

Yes, it did but probably the very low hundreds. In the 90s, it was televised mainly in Europe and few other places…..perhaps an audience of 150m or something.

Strazdas

Emmy, her brother and her four backing dancers at Oslo Airport. As you can see, the two Eurosong dancers have been replaced.

supereurope

Marina Zatti, who sung last year's Greek entry, is also coming back to Eurovision this year as part of one of the intervals. Maybe I'm just old, but why? She finished 11th with a song that most people have probably forgotten. Hardly an "iconic" entry.

supereurope

This is front page of the RTÉ Archives today, from 30 years ago this very day:

https://www.rte.ie/archives/2025/0505/1508209-eurovision-song-controversy/

For what it's worth, I've always thought it was clear plagiarism but RTÉ was so desperate not to win, they were more than happy to allow the song compete with plagiarism allegations hanging over it - there was no way juries would vote for it in big numbers.

Interesting how it was left to RTÉ to determine if the song was clear to compete, I'd imagine it would be the EBU who would make the call nowadays.

yerwanthere123

Description of Emmy's first rehearsal.

Ireland — First Rehearsal:
Emmy’s silver playsuit has been replaced by a silver metallic dress with a pleated skirt, silver boots and a helmet-like hood.
She starts the performance spotlit on a shiny metal platform in the centre of the stage that looks like a lunar module, with her brother Erlend on keyboards at stage level in front, wearing a metallic silver shirt and his trademark star-shaped shades. There are four female dancers, all in silver trousers and black/silver vests, who dance in front of Erlend during each chorus.
So it has the same vibe and energy we saw at the Irish national final, but the routine is much more precise and polished, and the staging is on a Basel scale. The biggest difference is the impact of the neon lighting and LED walls – the floating bones are gone, instead replaced by neon planets and animated marching space cats for each set of bam bams. During the chorus the main LED wall features a constellation that forms the shape of Laika the dog out of stars. We’re not crying, you are.

https://x.com/EurovisionNewZ/status/1919339023857795317?t=D5uW7kn13dpMvOnwq7k-Ww&s=19

"More precise and polished" is good to hear, I hope it'll be enough. I've never thought we're not qualifying, and I'm sticking with it!

LordBasil

Feeling confident about Ireland's staging based on that description. Just to note the space cats are actually dogs, that was a typo in the original description.

Strazdas

Video of Emmy and dancers outfits:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCFdZeXItRU

Libertine07

The updates today are positive and we'll get some photos tomorrow. I'm still 50/50 on our qualification but at least we have a chance.

Austria sounds amazing, seems like Sergio Jaen really delivered again based on the update today:

"So what are we getting from Austria? WELL. First thing to note is that the staging is designed to be broadcast entirely in black and white, which we can only imagine was a huge technical challenge. It means the lighting is all about creating pockets of light and shadow, ramping up the light levels in sync with the tempo and drama of the song.

And goodness, what drama – both from JJ’s operatic vocals and the staging concept. The central prop is a simple boat that looks like it’s been made from packing crates, with a wooden mast and a white sail - JJ performs in the boat for the whole of the performance, clinging onto the mast as a storm begins in the second chorus. It appears to toss him around the stage, through a combination of some very clever camerawork and a wind machine cranked up to the max. JJ performs some wind-battered choreography that feels almost like contemporary dance, and as the tempo builds through the drum ‘n’ bass section at the end, so does the storm, with waves and stormclouds building on the LED screen, spinning camerawork, flashing strobe lights and JJ barely hanging on to the boat, but not losing the note for a second.

Right at the end, as an overhead camera shot makes it look like the boat is being sucked into a vortex on the LED floor, a huge lighthouse appears on the main LED wall like a beacon of hope in the darkness, and everything is still."

Dazler97

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123413173#Comment_123413173

I hope your right that Ireland qualify, starts tomorrow week and I can't wait where in the dreaded 2nd semi final but songs we are up against isn't that strong so we have a chance to get through. So far the odds are basically 50/50 to get through

yerwanthere123

Some photos of Emmy's first rehearsal

https://x.com/EurovisionNewZ/status/1919648969631641702?t=FK1oh6k220bvDU4ABV0KKg&s=19

Libertine07

Those photos look good and the staging is definitely better than what I was expecting.